The Foundry

A long time ago, when Hope was a young colony and corporate money was flowing in from every direction, Mjolnir Dynamics decided to begin exploiting the system’s asteroid belt. They set up a number of mining facilities throughout the Hope Belt, all connected by a single “hub facility” for processing raw materials into useful industrial goods. Then one day, everything went wrong. The looming specter of the war caused schedules and timelines to move forward, people got sloppy and made mistakes, and someone missed a passing asteroid. There was a collision, the facility was compromised and thousands died. In the next Mjolnir Dynamics press release, they announced an intention to pull out of the Hope System due to “unreconcilable logistical challenges”.

In the decades that have passed since then, the derelict hulk caught the attention of Hope’s freebooters. They moved in, swept up the corpses and patched up the holes - and just like that, the Foundry was born. Nowadays, it’s the very biggest of the so-called “pirate speakeasies”. The Foundry doesn’t have to worry too much about pissing off Xanadu or the Foundation, and they’re mostly left to their own devices. They don’t want to attract trouble of the wrong sort, though, so there is one iron-clad rule that you don’t break if you want to stick around: leave your bullshit at the door. It doesn’t matter whether it’s pirate bullshit, terrorist bullshit, government bullshit, whatever - the Foundry is neutral ground.

Several thousand people live and work in the Foundry - it doesn’t have the population of a city or even a large town, but there’s enough people that you don’t have to see the same faces every day if you don’t want to. Still, word gets around fast and station politics can get dramatic and complicated. The denizens of the Foundry are proud of the place, and it has its own culture - which outsiders can find bright, noisy and chaotic. There’s Foundry music, Foundry cuisine (heavy on the shellfish), and old Foundry grudges that no one remembers the reason for.

Scene: Glittering windows of triple-reinforced glass far above, letting in sunlight and showing the cold expanse of space. Huge mottled lines running up the steel walls of the Foundry, showing where holes and fault lines were patched to make it livable again. A bustling crowd moving through the Manufactory, picking their way between tin shacks and tents, and ducking under the mechanical arms of huge machines.

Landmarks

Manufactory. An enormous industrial complex built by Mjolnir Dynamics and repurposed into a makeshift shipyard; it makes up the “central” district of the station under glittering windows of reinforced glass, and many houses and businesses have sprung up organically amidst the looming hulks of industrial robotics. When the Foundry has a commission to work on, it’s not uncommon to see people going about their daily business as sparks shower down from the massive armatures working above.

The Scrapyard. Located on the side of the Manufactory nearest to the docks, this is a marketplace for “legitimate salvage” run by Somchai Mali, a reformed pirate. The locals treat it like a perverse antique show, sifting through the garbage for “treasures”, whether that’s a datapad that hasn’t been scrubbed and is stuffed with valuable information, or an expensive bit of kit that miraculously still works.

Water Gardens. This is the aquaponics complex that produces most of the Foundry’s food. Efforts have been made in recent years to make it a place of beauty as well as a source of sustenance, with walls covered in blooming algae and brightly-lit water tanks that brim with aquatic life. Behind the walls and under the ground, “the Vats” are still churning away on older designs that were designed when function was more important than form and parts were scarce. At night, the gardens are filled with strobing lights and the pounding music of the Foundry.

The Warrens. A habitation complex dug deep into the rock of the asteroid itself to house the corporate workers who once operated this place, the Warrens run beneath the entire main level of the station. Rooms are cheap and plentiful, but the ancient electronics and plumbing leave much to be desired; certain areas have degraded so much that they’re not worth fixing and are left dark and disused.

The Spire. A looming angular building that overlooks the Manufactory below, it used to be where managers and executives oversaw the facility. It has since been converted into a hotel, but retains something of its former purpose: if you’re staying at the Spire, you’re not a local, you don’t have local friends who are willing to put you up, and you’re not with a starship crew.

Problem Child. Founded by Sabine Canto, a conservationist who fled Xanadu with a variety of “invasive species” that the government wanted to take away from her. Now she’s an old lady, and the Problem Child is half-zoo and half-bar. People find her collection of gene-modded dogs, plasm cats, and even a twintail strangely soothing in a station that’s otherwise devoid of natural life, though the bar is more popular with visitors than locals.

Moody Blues. A club that specialises in “old-style” music with a Foundry twist - jazz and classical music punched up with the bizarre electronic modulations and notes common to the Foundry music subculture. It’s popular with locals, especially wistful old-timers who remember when the Foundry was a very different place. The owner, Andrei Achari, is an old ex-bounty hunter with a lot of conspicuous cyberware.

Flatline Radio. This pirate radio station popular throughout the Belt takes the form of a messy and chaotic sensor array on the “roof” of the Foundry, outside of the antigravity envelope. You can pick up their signal anywhere in the Belt pretty easily - they share news and alerts about danger and pirate movements, as well as regular broadcasts of copyrighted and stolen intellectual property (and a lot of homegrown stuff).

Cathedral of the Omnipresent. This is an old multi-purpose fabrication facility that has been reclaimed by the Machine Shintoist sect and is their headquarters. They have done something to it - they won’t let anyone see what - which they claim allows it to channel “the spirit of the machine”. It builds things at random intervals, bizarre and useless objects that serve no function and are highly abstract. Some of them fetch a high price as outsider art in certain collector circles.

Crouching Servo, Hidden Motor. A gym in the Warrens that specialises in physical therapy for those with older cyberware, run by Lee and Coda - though it is increasingly just a front for their more surreptitious work. Lee is an ex-firefighter with prosthetic legs made for jumping into tall buildings, while Coda is a veteran who used to serve in the Xanadian Special Forces. They both want to help the people of the Warrens, especially those who have been “trapped” by their corporate-installed cyberware - and they’re willing to step on toes to do it.

Notables

Tao Baker. The general secretary of the Foundry’s Personnel Union, the powerful and neutral organisation which is responsible for keeping the Foundry running. He spends most of his days adjudicating disputes between pirates and making sure that external politics don’t interfere with station business. (Studious, Patient, Candid)

Garrison Drayton. A fixer and pirate lieutenant never seen without an immaculate suit and a shark-like smile. It’s common knowledge that he works directly for the pirate baron, Ivan Friendly, and coordinates the activities of the Anti-Foundation Front within the Foundry. Specialises in recruitment for the AFF - if you’re desperate, he’ll offer you a deal that’s too good to be true. (Calculating, Vicious, Chummy)

The Morrow Sisters. Athena and Minerva Morrow, identical twins, are the owners of Flatline Radio. They’re a local fixture and the Foundry’s most prominent information brokers. Their life’s work is the “Black Library”, an open partition that hosts starship manuals, pharmaceutical formulae, and any other pirated software or data they can get their hands on and make available to the public. (Principled, Intense, Reserved)

Zacat Levi is the affluent owner of the Spire, the only real hotel in the Foundry. Originally from Xanadu, he is frustrated by what he sees as wasted potential in the “unruly, chaotic Foundry” and has few friends here. He is a prominent advocate for Xanadu’s interests in the station’s political theatre, and believes that the Foundry should shelter under the Xanadian government’s wing for stability and protection. (Aloof, Sophisticated, Curious)

Current Events

1	Rumours are going around that a Foundation gunship is prowling the Belt, searching for a specific group of pirates that went too far and drew their attention. Anyone with sense is hunkering down in the Foundry until it blows over, and that means a lot of old grudges and rivalries are getting rekindled between pirate crews.
2	An issue with the life support systems has turned the entire Foundry into a sweltering sweatbox. Tensions are running higher than ever, and the Personnel Union is having a difficult time figuring out where the problem is.
3	A famous scientist from Phoenix has defected and managed to slip into the Hope system, and they’ve chosen to seek refuge in the Foundry. Pretty much every faction wants to talk to or recruit them, and the Foundation are working just as hard to reclaim them.