Planet New London

DIAMETER: 10,723 km.

MASS: 4.90 x 10e24 kg.

TERRAIN: Terrestrial

TEMPERATURE: -46°C to 43°C

ESCAPE VELOCITY: 10.27 km/sec

Shrouded in an almost perpetual fog, not helped by the constant drizzling rain, the heart of Bretonia is planet New London, with its capital city and seat of government bearing the same name. Colonized in 19 AS, the vast majority of the Bretonian aristocracy lives here, although even the poorest citizen lives in relative comfort and security. A large majority of New London's population works to support Bretonia's obscenely large bureaucratic system, an almost impenetrable network of obscure titles, government offices and paperwork.

Most of the New Londoners are a dour and cynical sort, no doubt enhanced by the miserable weather, what with the fog and the acid rain, not to mention the atmospheric pollutants from the unregulated heavy industry used extensively in the formative years of the colony. Nevertheless, New London is a considered to be a desirable place to live, and attracts countless tourists and immigrants. The planetary population suffered during the bombardment during the war with Gallia, but is thought to be heavily inflated by Leeds refugees, which is an ongoing issue for Bretonia.

All of the major Bretonian corporations have offices on New London, including Bowex and Gateway. The Bretonia Police Authority's central headquarters is here, but the Armed Forces only have recruitment outlets on the planet, with the majority of the Armed Forces administrative capabilties kept in space.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Universal Shipping
* RGS Shipping
* Samura Industries
* Bretonia Police
* Border World Exports
* BMM
* Planetform, Inc.
* Independent Miners Guild
* Gateway Shipping
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Cryer Pharmaceuticals
* ALG Waste Disposal
* Junkers
* Gas Miners Guild
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Deep Space Engineering
* Ageira Technologies

* Bounty Hunters Guild

## News

Jane Gilliam, whose commendation for repelling a Corsair raiding party as an Armed Forces Captain featured in a CNS article in 800, was not so convinced. "We all knew even back then that The Line wasn't fit for purpose. The Heilbronn disaster should have seen it scrapped, but the Regents on Cambridge didn't want New London looking too closely and pressured the Norfolk to lobby to keep it. If William was still with us, he'd say the same."
The exact catalyst for the extra attention from the edge world pirates is unclear, with various commentators speculating on increased resistance to their operations in Rheinland, Hessian efforts in the deep Omegas, or a shift in their internal politics. Regardless of their true motivations, Interspace Commerce has recognised the elevated peril and adjusted its premiums in response.

While this troubling trend is observed throughout the Sirius colonies, Liberty is bearing the brunt of the crisis among the four major Houses. Remarkably, even Rheinland, where historical data indicated low Cardamine consumption, has witnessed a notable rise in medical cases linked to the illicit narcotic. Experts postulate that the extensive black market responsible for Cardamine distribution might be facing a shortage, or worse, that Outcast factions deliberately curtail the supply to bolster demand. Regrettably, no law enforcement agency has been available for comment on these concerns.
The long-standing debate over Cardamine's controversial nature, juxtaposing its euphoric and purported medicinal qualities with the genetic alterations it inflicts upon long-term users, continues to echo. A key point of contention revolves around the plight of innocent consumers caught in this crisis. Yet, according to independent polls, a substantial majority of our viewers maintains that the substance must remain banned.
In response to this escalating crisis, Cryer Pharmaceuticals has announced a forthcoming press conference. During the event, the company intends to unveil plans for an expanded production of Stabiline, their touted "wonder drug". This announcement promises affordable access to Stabiline for all patients grappling with Cardamine withdrawal, sparking a remarkable 15%% surge in Cryer Pharmaceuticals' stock following the revelation.

Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection.
Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source.

With the end of the war and Bretonia's withdrawal from Planet Gran Canaria, Poole's prominence waned. The cost of policing the system and maintaining infrastructure has significantly outweighed collected tax revenue in recent years, with Planetform's Terraforming Gas operations reporting disappointing year on year returns.DSE has already confirmed that it will begin deconstruction operations shortly, with the dismantling of the Cambridge jump gate expected to be completed by 833 AS.

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Planetform has confirmed its intention to withdraw prior to this point, while settling shareholder anxiety with the announcement of promising preliminary findings for a replacement site in Newcastle.

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While Bretonia is indeed witnessing an extraordinarily high rate of economic growth in particular, it may be the case that the strain of this effort is becoming untenable, and potentially the rewards misplaced. Timothy Ball, of the independent think tank Economic Review Institute, believes this may indeed be the case. "Bretonia's economy is definitely on the rise. While still not at pre-war levels, and not expected to be for some years, the recovery we've witnessed so far has been uneven", he says. "The reconstruction of damaged and destroyed public infrastructure is underway, but seems to be lagging behind the rate of recovery being enjoyed by several major corporations. This can be explained by various factors for a time, but unless rectified, at some point this inequality could become a major point of domestic political contention."

Yesterday at 2200 hours SMT, nearby Sheffield Station and Kingston Border Station received automated distress signals from Liverpool, indicating an emergency aboard the station. Guild patrols redirected from Sheffield arrived on the scene within minutes, finding the border station destroyed. Search and rescue operations headed by Guild and BPA units commenced immediately and successfully salvaged several escape pods bearing several dozen survivors, who were immediately delivered to hospitals on New London.
BPA spokesperson Sandra Halling held a press conference earlier this morning. According to joint police and BIS investigations, Liverpool was destroyed by antimatter explosives planted aboard the station. Their detonation caused a catastrophic chain reaction, resulting in the station's own reactors melting down and exploding. Of the estimated one-hundred-twenty persons on board at the time of the attack, seventy-eight have been reported as dead or missing.
\So far, no party has taken credit for this heinous attack. However, Bretonian police surmises that it was likely perpetrated by either the criminals known as the Mollys or the infamous pirate organization, the Lane Hackers. The attack occurred following a significant redeployment of local Armed Forces units to the Cortez system for the purpose of joint operations with Libertonian security forces. This, says Halling, may have allowed terrorist sympathizers to exploit undermanned BPA patrols and smuggle illegal explosives through Manchester's ice fields, onto Liverpool Station.
While investigations continue, Bretonian Police Authority has reinforced patrols within Manchester and established traffic controls at Kingston Border Station and Birmingham Station. Traffic to and from Liberty has been advised to reroute through the Cortez system.

Linsey Dawn - a prominent investigative journalist - has reported a large degree of 'disinterest' over the situation on Sprague according to her sources within the government. Going as far to say that "All they do is make sure supplies are dropped planet side. What happens after, they have washed their hands of it!". Dawn also reported that conflict among the different camps is becoming more and more common. The militias that are charged with the maintaining order of their respective camps have been raiding others to steal supplies she has claimed.
Maggie Weber, a spokesperson for the Government has suggested that the Kingdom is going through a troubling time reeling from the devastation of the war with Gallia. Later offering a message of assurance that the Militia System on Sprague is temporary and the short-comings will eventually be addressed.
Bill Douglas, one of the Border World Export captains who frequently deliver goods to Sprague has come out in opposition to the claims levied by Linsey Dawn. Stating that "This is a load of bollocks. Every supply run I make I hand off my goods to the local constabulary on Sprague. We do not need one of these journalists trying to spread lies at a time like this!".

## Rumors

* We used to handle the patrols throughout this system with the exception of the Dublin gate, where patrols from Suffolk take over. This works well for both ourselves and the Armed Forces, who can focus the majority of their efforts to drive the Gallic menace back. It is up to us to keep our civilians safe from terrorists and pirates.

* I was relieved on Canterbury yesterday. Did a return patrol along the Lane. I'm glad to be back home. I'll take the rain any day over Corsairs and Gaians interrupting my sleep.

* Just came back from a rough patrol into the Cornwall Field. Those bloody Corsairs have decided to move in and have a little party at our expense. It's like they came out of nowhere. You would have thought they might give us a break now that we have an armada up in Leeds to deal with. Used to be an easy job, New London was. That's just a memory now.

* There's been a spike in Molly and even Corsair raids across the House. I'm doing my level best not to say anything political in public, but if it hadn't been for Liberty pulling us into their war in Vespucci, the Armed Forces might be better off enough to help. As things stand? We're down a major border station, short staffed, and the economic forecast might as well be apocalyptic. I should just go private, might make ends meet if I did.

* They say that the Police Authority has been caught unawares of the Corsair threat because the director ignored most of the field reports from Cambridge during the last few years. The Corsairs were on the move towards New London and their activity in Dublin has been steadily increasing as well.

* The Bretonia Police Authority is a highly professional organization that takes pride in its highly ethical conduct. We view that detestable corporation called the LPI as an embarrassment to Liberty. They are more interested in staffing their factories inexpensively than maintaining law and order.

* My only experience with Molly attacks has been on the prison transport run to Newgate in the Manchester system. We're heading out momentarily with a crew of them brought in from the Essex yesterday. We have to keep them sedated and well secured, as they can get quite violent - not my favorite duty.

* This is the one of the best places to buy Gold, or you can head to Dublin for the producer's price. Just remember, that comes at an added risk of Corsair and Molly attack. I recommend sticking to the military patrol route from the gate to Graves if you go there.

* We focus our efforts in New London, Manchester, and Cambridge; the military takes over in Dublin and the systems bordering Bretonian core space. Needless to say, the military also handle the Gallic threat, although the police forces do on occasion interdict Gallic marauders looking for unprotected shipping.

* BMM views the Mollys as vicious hooligans with no morals whatsoever. We abhor their approach of extreme violence over sensible moderation. We refuse to have any dealings with those terrorists, and our company funds several bounties against them.

* New London serves as our supply base for the Thames Outpost - high in orbit above us. We purchase Food, H-Fuel, Oxygen, and Water. New London also supplies Graves and the Southampton Shipyard with these commodities.

* I used to be a BMM miner in the Somerset when I was a young bloke. Then they shut us down for good a few decades years back. Set some bad blood between the BMM boffins and us workers, that. Some of us went to the Mollys and IMG; I joined up with the Hunters.

* The Bounty Hunters in Bretonia are a different lot than those in Liberty. Some of us are former Bowex pilots; a few are former BMM types. Only a few are from the police. Me, I came from the IMG. Once we heard Gallia was moving south into the Taus, I decided to embark on a new line of work. I knew the Jump Hole network okay, and I could deal with an Outcast or Corsair. It was a natural fit. It's a little more risky then mining, but the pay's a lot better than chewing rocks.

* I almost caught a Corsair in the Cornwall Field yesterday. They've been gettin' real aggressive lately - walkin' all over that Police Authority, they are. The government called us in as backup until they get up to speed on those Border World pirates. I guess we'll be here for quite some time, heh.

* The Corsairs run their Artifacts from the Somerset up to Devon, then across to the Junker base of Trafalgar. Then they start to pillage to drag something back to their homes. I try to nab them before they can offload their artifacts - grabbing those after busting one of them open gets you a nice bonus from the Bretonian authorities.

* I heard those Corsairs found a Hole to Cambridge in the Somerset that nobody even knew existed. That's when all the trouble started in London. Before that, the Corsairs weren't that bad in Cambridge. Nothing much that interested them there. It's easier for them to hit shipping to and from Rheinland in the Border Worlds.

* Some of our traffic consists of Food shipments from Cambridge. We use London as a trans-shipment point, with cargos delivered to Southampton, the Essex and the Suffolk. On the return trip to Cambridge I usually take some Basic Alloys or Mining Machinery to the new BMM installation Peterborough.

* Our ships haul the raw materials like Basic Alloys to Graves before heading off to the other Houses with Gold. Unfortunately, these commodities are desired by the Mollys and Gaians alike, and there have been a fair number of attacks in recent years.

* Bowex handles many BMM Gold shipments to Liberty. We usually make the return run with Luxury Goods, although that's slowly changing to bringing in Boron and Side Arms. Priorities have to be made I suppose.

* New London used to be a hub for H-fuel exports. Leeds was our powerhouse of industry... now, now every day is just another fight to reclaim territory from endless enemies. I guess Tau-23 was just one gate too far.

* We're selling a load of Pharmaceuticals produced at the Cambridge Research Station orbiting Cambridge. Cryer produces enough at the facility to supply Bretonia and its adjacent Border Worlds, but it's a struggle to keep up with the demand of late. War may be a tragedy, but it's good for business in our case.

* The Cambridge Institute hasn't received any new shipments of Alien Organisms to study for several weeks now. Most of those shipments came through the Tau Borderworlds, but that route is practically shut down.

* All medicine that passes through New London is sent to the triage centres located throughout Bretonia. So many men get wounded every day, it's a struggle to keep them alive. The Cambridge facilities are running overtime to provide for everyone.

* Gateway is in partnership with the IMG, Bowex with BMM. Until we came along, BMM had IMG in a stranglehold since Bowex would refuse to ship their products in many cases, and they simply didn't have the means to ship goods themselves. We've had a rough time ourselves, since Bowex has powerful government connections that insure them many exclusive contracts with the Armed Forces and Police Authority.

* Gateway actually has very limited business on New London. We ship in Silver from our main base at Kensington by the planet Dover. We buy some basic commodities such as Food, Water, Oxygen and Basic Alloys. We also ship Mining Machinery to the IMG in Dublin and Cambridge.

* Sure, we find things among the scrapped ships and other debris. All kinds of things. Left over cargo pods with some goods still in them, stashes of Gold or Side Arms, probably hidden by Mollys. Stashes of Synthetic Marijuana, definately hidden by Gaians. All kinds of stuff. That's why you can find Junkers hauling just about anything.

* Trafalgar is a nice, quiet little corner of Bretonia. It is deep in the debris field, away from the beaten path. We don't get many visitors and that suits us fine. Scrapfields aren't the safest of places to be to begin with.

* There's a demand for Cardamine and Artifacts on this world, just like any other. Not that I've shipped that stuff myself of course. And I don't know anyone who has. Noone who's gotten caught anyway, heh.

* We pick up Gold on some of our return trips - always a stressful journey. It's as if you shine in the dark for the criminal elements like the Mollys and the Lane Hackers. They come like moths to a flame.

* We provide Optronics, H-Fuel and Engine Components for Bretonia. They are shipped from our plants in Honshu. It is a long and arduous journey through Liberty and the Independent Worlds, where Liberty Rogues are an ever present threat. Recently, Corsairs have started attacking our ships within New London itself. This is most unsettling.

* I don't understand how we became enemies of the Gaians. We are only engaged in tourism, not in the ecological change of planets like Planetform. The same New London elites that secretly support the Gaians enjoy the facilities on our cruise ships. I would say that is a bit hypocritical.

* We ship various Commodities and Luxuary Goods to our resort planet in Cortez, Curacao. Luxuary Foods produced at Cambridge are in strong demand there.

* The Gaians harass us endlessly throughout Bretonian space. So far they haven't harassed our operations in Liberty - Atka and California Minor - but there's no telling if those will remain safe from them. We've attempted to explain our views to the Bretonian public, especially on Cambridge and New London, but they continue to sympathize with those terrorists.

* We use New London mostly as a supply base for our headquarters at Canterbury, right across from the Kensington Shipping Platform near Dover. Most of our shipments consist of Consumer Goods, Food, Water and Oxygen.

* The Engine Components business has become very difficult. We used to be the exclusive supplier to Bretonia. Kishiro has become a strong adversary since the 80-Years War. I guess we'll have to cut our costs to remain competitive.

* It's a very difficult journey between here and Rheinland, especially when you are transporting something as alluring as Bretonian Gold. The Red Hessians and Corsairs will be waiting for us in Omega-3 and Omega-7 - you can be sure of that. And before that, you'll have the Mollys to deal with.

* What a cold and wet place this is. It's a long journey for our H-Fuel from Sapporo, Hokkaido. For the return trip we often pick up either Gold or Super Alloys for the Yokohama Shipyard in New Tokyo. Having to go around the Tau systems creates excessive delays and higher costs, but we are forbidden from crossing the Bretonian border into Tau space. Gallia could use that as an excuse to restart their war with Kusari.

* Bretonia is the largest source of Gold for the entire Sirius Sector. We are heading back to Yokohama with a load as soon as we can arrange the escort. Between Outcasts, Lane Hackers, Liberty Rogues, Xenos, Blood Dragons and Golden Chrysantemums, whomever we hire will have plenty to do.

* I'm making the daily run down from Waterloo to get supplies like Water, Oxygen, Food, and H-Fuel. I think I prefer it up there. At least you get to hang out around other Liberty folks, not just these stuffy Bretonians. Waterloo houses many foreign nationals - Republican, Universal, Samura and Kishiro all have offices there.

* Universal handles various levels of Commodities on the Manhattan to New London route. Our armored transports handle the Bretonian Gold bound for Manhattan, and the Luxury Goods on the return trip. If they're well escorted, they usually make it okay through the Independent World gauntlet. The same can't be said for all their escorts. Between the Liberty Rogues, Lane Hackers and Outcasts, they've got a lot to do.

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:45 UTC*