Dedalus Fall Setting (DF)

Timeline of the Dedalus Fall Setting

2071 — First successful Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) mining missions. Initial operations target water and carbonaceous materials.

2080 — Carbon-rich NEAs remain vital for off-Earth industry. The Moon dominates the cislunar economy, but reliance on NEAs continues.

2102 — Establishment of a mature cislunar economy. Lunar industry expands significantly.

2130 — First operational space elevator completed on Waigeo in Indonesia, spearheaded by international cooperation led by Japan. Enables vastly cheaper and more efficient access to cislunar space but soon proves too small and too remote.

2138 — Invention of the first practical long-duration ion drive. Drastically increases potential for slow but efficient interplanetary travel.

2145 — USA completes its own space elevator on Jarvis Island, focusing on military and commercial cargo transport to orbit.

2155 — China and ESA finish space elevators on Hainan and São Tomé and Príncipe respectively, expanding global access to orbit and solidifying their roles in the emerging cislunar economy.

2170 — Chaotic wave of exploration and early colonization across the solar system. Many ventures fail or are absorbed by larger players.

2195 — Second-generation colonies begin. These are launched from space habitats and successful early colonies rather than Earth.

2210 — Launch of the Mars Terraforming Initiative. Massive investment from Earth. Symbolic as much as scientific.

2225 — Mercury Industrial Boom begins. Night-side and twilight-zone settlements extract rare metals. Heavy investment from solar power harvesting firms.

2245 — Solar Alchemy Project officially launched. Ambitious Earth-based attempt to manipulate solar fusion processes and harvest exotic particles and elements from the solar corona using mega-mirrors and orbital infrastructure.

2265 — First large-scale practical fusion reactors come online. These installations require exotic materials, including those produced by the Solar Alchemy Project. Initially limited to major orbital platforms and high-priority installations.

2270 — Climate stabilization efforts on Earth begin to succeed. Massive orbital mirrors and solar shades contribute, in coordination with asteroid carbon capture systems.

2285 — Solar Alchemy Project achieves breakthrough in exotic matter synthesis. These are strategic materials for fusion power and other specialized uses.

2290 — Compact fusion reactors become viable for shipboard use but remain resource-intensive. Rare materials keep production limited to powerful states and megacorps.

2310 — Daedalus Fall: Catastrophic failure of the Solar Alchemy Project. Solar instability increases dramatically. Solar storms wreak havoc from Mercury to the Asteroid Belt. Massive losses in solar orbit infrastructure including the loss of all except the small Japanese space elevator. Earth prestige plummets.

2312–2350 — Widespread fragmentation of political and economic control. Colonies become de facto independent. Earth remains population center but loses coercive power. Apocalyptic cults and radical ideologies emerge.

2315–2330 — Rise of the Earth First movement. Following the Daedalus Fall, anti-space sentiment surges on Earth. The new Earth government calls for a rollback of space colonization and demands that colonies devolve and re-integrate. Most colonies ignore these edicts, accelerating Earth's loss of influence.

2335 — Formation of Earthforce, a militarized enforcement arm of the Earth government, intended to police and control off-world colonies. Cislunar stations and parts of the Moon are occupied. Colonies rapidly militarize in response using local 3D-printed weapons. Skirmishes erupt.

2340 — Fusion reactor designs no longer require rare materials. Decentralized manufacturing using advanced 3D-printing enables proliferation of cottage-industry fusion tech. Fusion-powered ships and habitats become common across the lawless outer system.

"Now" (Setting Present Day, \~2450) — Earth is still the most populated region but now heavily reliant on trade with self-sufficient colonies. Exploration and recovery efforts continue in Mercury ruins and abandoned solar orbit structures. High radiation limits drone use, pushing humans into dangerous salvage and diplomacy roles.

Adventure Seeds

• Abandoned mining base at an NEA. Small, rapidly rotating cylinder with high gravity gradient. Survivors abandoned in evacuation, xenophobic and radiation-scarred.

• Old base on Mercury’s dark side. Searching for data on surviving parts of Solar Alchemy project. Hazards: static electric charges in metals, seismic fissures, over-pressured living quarters holding plasma from Daedalus Fall.

• Using telemetry from previous mission to chase down a part of Solar Alchemy harvesting array and its exotic matter.

• Various space habitats governed by exotic dogma.

Mercury

Former mining colony destroyed by Dedalus Fall.

Mercury hosts an industrial boom starting around 2225, focusing on night-side and twilight-zone settlements mining rare metals.

Ruins of old Solar Alchemy Project infrastructure and plasma containment from Daedalus Fall remain as dangerous salvage sites. Heavy investment from solar power firms taps Mercury’s position near the Sun.

Sunward zone on Mercury? Surface temps reach 700K+ (about 430°C). Twilight zone is cooler, 250–350K (–20 to 80°C), still harsh but more manageable.

Sunward side features: molten metal flows (rivers or lakes of liquid iron or alloys), constant solar wind bombardment, extreme radiation, no atmosphere. Could have ruins of industrial sites designed to harvest solar energy directly from molten metal pools or process exotic materials.

Twilight zone is the prime candidate for settlements: milder temps, potential for trapped volatiles (like water ice near shadows), geothermal activity, but seismic quakes and fissures make stability an issue. Likely destroyed in Dedalus Fall.

Both zones would have extreme engineering challenges—structures must withstand thermal stress, radiation, and seismic instability. The sunward side’s molten metals could be used for exotic industry or as natural hazards in adventure sites.

Nearby asteroids and debris orbiting close to Mercury include volatile fragments from the Solar Alchemy disaster, valuable but hazardous for explorers.

• Vulcanoids: Hypothetical small asteroids inside Mercury’s orbit. If your setting includes them, they could be elusive, volatile sources of rare materials, hiding dangerous solar radiation or exotic phenomena linked to the Solar Alchemy Project.
• Near-Mercury NEAs: Some asteroids cross or get close to Mercury’s orbit. These would be hot, irradiated, and possibly full of exotic minerals altered by intense solar wind—prime salvage or mining targets, but extremely hazardous.
• Debris from Solar Alchemy fallout: Wreckage from the Daedalus Fall might have settled into unusual orbits near Mercury, including fragments of solar mirrors or exotic matter caches. Salvaging or investigating these could be a strong adventure hook.

Venus

Venus is a world of extremes, locked in a slow, strange dance with the Sun. Its day lasts longer than its year, creating long periods of relentless sunlight followed by equally long darkness. The atmosphere grows denser and hotter closer to the surface, crushing and toxic, dominated by thick clouds of sulfuric acid. This hostile environment shapes every aspect of life and technology, forcing colonies to cling to the high-altitude cloud layer where pressure and temperature become marginally more forgiving, and where survival depends on constant adaptation to a volatile, alien sky.

Venus colonization pre-Daedalus Fall consisted mainly of floating cities high in the atmosphere (50–60 km), where pressure and temperature are Earth-like. These cities hosted advanced biotech research and limited bio-industry, exploiting Venus’ extreme environment as a natural lab.

The dense atmosphere below provides strong shielding from radiation, allowing radio and other electromagnetic signals to travel downwards from cloud cities to the surface and lower layers. This makes Venus one of the few places in the inner system where exploration drones can work. However, ships orbiting above the atmosphere can not reliably use electronic sensors looking down, nor can the cities effectively scan upward into space. This creates a natural electromagnetic “blind spot” between space and the cloud layer.

After Daedalus Fall, many surface and lower atmosphere installations were lost or abandoned. When Earth ordered colonies to devolve after Daedalus Fall, Venus was one of the few places that did move back to Earth as available transport permitted, but some were left behind as there was a lack of ships. Some cloud cities survived, continuing limited research and habitation amid harsh conditions and fragmented infrastructure.

Venus today features only a few surviving high-altitude cloud cities, isolated and fragile amid ongoing solar storms and atmospheric turbulence. Surface and lower atmosphere bases largely failed or were abandoned, with colonists forced back to Earth due to unsustainable conditions.

Adventure locations include drifting, possibly derelict cloud bases—some frozen in place by persistent storm eyes—offering exploration into lost biotech research and remnants of the Solar Alchemy exotic material efforts.

A unique bioengineered membrane layer may exist below the cloud cities, stabilized by a sharp thermal inversion and specialized plants or biotech. This layer could be dense, hot, acidic, and toxic beneath but have an Earth-like atmosphere on top, forming a semi-solid floating platform strong enough to walk on or build upon. It’s an exotic ecosystem and an intriguing frontier for research, survival, and conflict.

Nearby bodies of potential interest:

• Venus Trojans: Small asteroid swarms near Venus’ L4 and L5 Lagrange points, likely chaotic and sparse. Could harbor remnants of early mining or hidden caches.

• Near-Venus Objects (NVOs): Asteroids crossing Venus’ orbit on eccentric paths, possibly rich in volatile or exotic materials due to solar proximity. Perfect for risky salvage or clandestine operations.

• Small Moons or Captured Objects: Hypothetical tiny captured bodies in eccentric orbits around Venus or in quasi-satellite orbits—rare but excellent for hidden bases or secret labs.

Cislunar Space

Cislunar space is a cluttered, hazardous frontier shaped by decades of expansion, conflict, and the aftermath of Dedalus Fall. The orbital environment around Earth and the Moon is choked with debris and derelict satellites, creating a dangerous “Kepler syndrome” that complicates navigation and transit. Most tiny objects have burned up by now, making previously inaccessible areas merely dangerous—still far from safe. Cylinder habitats and stations cluster around Earth, the Moon, and their Lagrange points, but many have fallen into disrepair or abandonment following the solar catastrophe.

The congested debris fields and damaged infrastructure of cislunar space create unique adventure zones. Smugglers and runners use risky passages through the junk fields to bypass patrols and cut time, but insurance companies aggressively deny claims tied to these routes. Salvage hunting remains profitable but lethal; most easy targets were stripped clean decades ago, leaving only hazardous, heavily contested wrecks. Intelligence on salvageable sites and hidden hazards is highly valuable—espionage, sabotage, and information warfare are staples of cislunar intrigue.

Luna

The Moon is politically and culturally fractured. Control is split between Earth-based powers, independent settlements, and external factions from the Belt and Jovian space. Moon gravity remains a constant problem: some cities rely on rotating structures to simulate Earth-like conditions; others use genetic engineering to adapt the human body. These differing approaches have hardened into cultural divisions between habitats.

Luna’s main exports are metals, silicates (for electronics), oxygen (for air and propellant), and hydrogen—including the fusion fuels deuterium and tritium. What the Moon lacks is carbon. Biochemicals must be imported and meticulously recycled. It's considered rude to eat and not use the restroom.

Early colonies began in lava tubes and expanded into deep excavations. Excavation mining expands the underground cities and is controlled by large entities with heavy machinery and security.

Regolith mining is something else: dangerous, dirty, and mostly handled by small independent crews—tough, low-gravity–adapted, and defiant. Derisively called “farmers,” they resist corporate and Earth control, making them central to black markets, sabotage ops, and pro-Luna movements. They despise fixed-price contracts and prefer to deal with outsiders and smugglers.

The most heavily guarded sites on the surface are the mass drivers that launch cargo offworld. These are run by external interests with a "shoot first, no questions" policy.

Various groups compete to monopolize supplies, but the "farmers" will usually sell you what you need—unless it's carbon-based. That’s always in short supply on the Moon.

Space Habitats

Space habitats are cylindrical stations in stable orbits—typically at Lagrange points or in heliocentric drift. They generate artificial gravity by rotation: the further from the central axis, the stronger the gravity. People live on the interior surface of the rotating shell, often in stacked layers. Spacecraft dock at the ends, where gravity is near zero.

Habitats are built from the center outward. "Down" always means toward the shell. A glowing light tube along the central axis provides illumination, supports plant growth, and doubles as a zero-gravity transit tunnel for rapid movement along the station's length. The outermost interior layer is often reserved for parks, farms, and elite estates. Below that lie habitation levels, then industry, and finally the lowest layers: warehouses, water tanks, and radiation shielding. In poor habitats, slums often crowd near the shell—where gravity is highest, radiation shielding thinnest, and life hardest.

Larger habitats can spin more slowly, offering gentler conditions and a stable artificial gravity close to Earth's. Smaller ones must spin faster, creating steep gravity gradients and dangerous fall dynamics: a dropped object follows a straight path while the habitat rotates beneath it, resulting in curved trajectories and unpredictable impacts. In larger, safer habitats, gliding from the zero-G center to the outer shell is a popular sport.

Here are five sizes of cylinder habitats and the living conditions they provide. Small habitats tend to be poor and demand hard labor, large habitats rich and with a large and comfortable middle class. There are exceptions, but this is the pattern.

200 meter diameter, 1,200 meters long Rotates at 3 RPM. The lowest level experiences nearly 2 G. Usable area: 750,000 m². Population: ~25,000. Vertigo is common, gravity gradients are steep, and living is hard. Most people are crammed into the residence level. The lower levels are too harsh for slums. Maintenance is costly; survival depends on strong repression or shared ideology. This is a hellhole.

400 meter diameter, 1,400 meters long Just over 2 RPM. Lowest level: 1.5 G. Area: 1,800,000 m². Population: ~60,000. Uncomfortable but livable. Vertigo affects newcomers. Gravity on the lower levels is unpleasant but tolerable. This is the smallest viable habitat—still poor, but able to sustain itself. Slums are likely.

600 meter diameter, 1,600 meters long Just under 2 RPM. Lowest level: 1.3 G. Area: 3,000,000 m². Population: ~100,000. Middle-class standard. Vertigo affects only the sensitive. Gravity is just uncomfortable on the bottom levels. Slums exist, but most residents enjoy a decent quality of life.

1,000 meter diameter, 2,000 meters long Rotates at 1,3 RPM. Lowest level: 1.12 G. Area: 6,000,000 m². Population: ~400,000. An affluent, comfortable habitat. If slums exist, they’re a societal choice—an underclass maintained by tradition or policy. Living here is good, unless the regime is repressive.

1,600 meter diameter, 2,600 meters long Rotates at 1 RPM. Lowest level: 1.2 G. Area: 13,000,000 m². Population: ~400,000. An affluent, comfortable habitat. If slums exist, they’re a societal choice—an underclass maintained by tradition or policy. Living here is good, unless the regime is repressive.

2,000 meter diameter, 3,000 meters long Less than 1 RPM. Lowest level: ~1.1 G. Area: 20,000,000 m². Population: ~600,000. Opulent. Gravity is gentle, conditions stable. There may be crowding during population booms, but otherwise this is a high-comfort environment. Slums are unlikely.

There's no sharp line between a habitat and a large spacecraft. Some habitats mount ion drives—weak but persistent engines—for slow migration or minor orbital changes. Most are static, repositioning only to avoid hazards.

Over time, habitats become political entities—city-states in space. Their small, isolated, self-sufficient populations make them ideal for ideological or experimental societies. Many are cults, whether religious, political, or corporate. Inhabitants may not realize how strange their lives are, having no external point of comparison. Control of water, air, and zero-G access gives elites enormous leverage.

Other habitats embrace openness and freedom. Some cluster into chains or rings, sharing infrastructure and transit. These tend to be more prosperous, stable, and internally diverse.

Smaller habitats tend to work at resource extraction, residents ride harvesters at work or serve in maintenance. Medium habitats add industry, these workers tend 3D printers and vat-grown crystal matrixes, safer an more comfortable jobs on the industrial level. Such a habitat may have a military. Large habitats have a middle class that does design, research and trade, commonly interacting with other communities. All habitats have a managerial class that direct the work being done.