(Items - Rad) Companion Market

```
**Galactic Market**

```

**Gear Market**, ****Companion Market****, **Cargo Market**, **Vehicle Market**

Pets have somewhat fallen out of popularity over the centuries as people have both lost their connection with the natural world, and as other forms of companions have arisen to replace them, at least for some people. That being said, they are still common enough; many major cities have places to seek out pets, and colony worlds often have xenofauna that they've put to use in some way to make life easier. The laws around what kinds of pets are legal where, what the definitions are, and important details like that are often woefully underdeveloped, and care should be taken when travelling with any non-person lifeforms that might be against local regulation of some kind. Even droids, commonly considered harmless and a staple of the galaxy for hundreds of years, are sometimes outlawed. No matter what choice you go with, however, if you put in the time and care, you're sure to be happy with your new companion.

* Terra-Born Fauna
* Domesticated Xenofauna
* GeneWeave Species
* Non-Sapient Companion Droids

# Terra-Born Fauna

Throughout history, there have been thousands of animal species that have become well known to one culture or another, and some effort has been made to preserve them through the terrible events of galactic history. With little regard for the stability of the local biosphere, a hundred different worlds host some population of cats and dogs, horses, goldfish, lots and lots of rats, and likely anything else one could imagine. That's not to say many haven't seen significant changes; indeed, the vast majority of these, despite the best efforts of conservationists, represent less than 0.001% of the genetic diversity that used to exist, muddled with many, many generations of genetic changes to survive extreme climates, mutation over time, and a simple desire to create 'better' species. Now, a somewhat-familiar echo of many of these animals are available for purchase in pet shops across the galaxy.

## *Enclosure-Bound Pets*

A large number of the most popular pets from Terra, and indeed often the ones that it was easiest to bring live members of on colony ships, were those designed for life in a tank, cage, or other small enclosure. These sorts of pets continue to be popular, being cheap, easy to care for, and yet still good for some company. Generally, the costs for a pet of this type should be assumed to include a basic enclosure, as appropriate, and other supplies. However, more interesting options may be available.

## *Tiny Travelling Pets*

Some tiny creatures are both rugged enough to safely weather, and smart enough to be cautious of, the galaxy at large, and while they certainly couldn't be expected to keep up under their own power, are fine to travel by way of a pouch in a bag to peek out of, a shoulder to sit on, or other safe location. These pets tend to be more expensive, and take more time and care, but also are often smarter and have greater social capabilities than creatures of their size that spend life in an enclosure.

## *Base-Wandering Pets*

Expanding on the general idea of enclosure-bound pets, these typically-larger pets aren't a threat to their own or their environment's safety while within the confines of a ship or home, but aren't well suited to long trips into unknown locations. That doesn't necessarily save anything about their intellectual or emotional development; the primary shortcoming is often durability or mobility. Some of these pets still require some kind of specific living arrangements; these are assumed to be of negligible space and cost, unless specifically addressed for further detail.

## *True Travel Companions*

The galaxy is a dangerous place; gravity, atmospheric conditions, and temperature all vary, even within the confines of civilized space, and not every animal is suited for that. Those that can handle it, that respond well to training, and have good survival instincts, often find themselves as prized and well-loved companions. Genetic modifications have been made to many species to make this all a more achievable goal, but some still take to the task better than others.

## *Work and Utility Animals*

For eons, the domestication of larger animals for the help they could provide would prove pivotal in the survival of civilization. This would not stop being true as people spread across the stars, and while different kinds of animals would rise to fill various niches across the centuries, the end result is the same. Even though these animals are 'designed' for work and utility, many are complex individuals and make for perfectly enjoyable companions, although most are not suited for much travel.

## *Restricted and Combat Animals*

Unsurprisingly, in the age of genetic engineering, there would be numerous creations that would earn themselves a restriction even in a barely-regulated field. These animals are rarely available for purchase, usually needing to be sourced from a specialist, often one for the specific animal in question, and their ownership might require a license. Prospective owners should be careful to avoid altercation with governments that do not recognize the validity of these licenses, however.

# Domesticated Xenofauna

Far from every planet in the galaxy has any kind of life; many that do only have certain small niches of biosphere, or the lifeforms live in an exotic environment and cannot reasonably be made more durable. However, a rare few discovered lifeforms have the versatility and genetic adaptability of common fauna. These often catch on quickly, with many offering a wide variety of fascinating features and amazing designs unlike anything people are familiar with. Understandably, these tend to be some of the most expensive companions money can buy, but many argue it's worth the while.

## *Enclosure-Bound Pets*

Many creatures from alien worlds are used to exotic, and often very specific, environments. Low gravity and special atmosphere requirements are some of the more common ones, but in general, this makes them not suited for the galaxy at large. However, it is often a trivial matter to make an enclosure suited to these needs, allowing the animal to be happy, and for people to still enjoy their company. These enclosures often make up a significant portion of the cost for these kinds of pets, but most are designed to require nothing more than a small amount of power to run indefinitely, for safety.

## *Tiny Travelling Pets*

Terra was not the only life-bearing planet to produce durable, adaptable lifeforms; in fact, some planets perform even better at this task. While they're not well known, there are a variety of small alien creatures well suited to seeing the galaxy from a safe location with their owner, sometimes even providing a valuable, if minor, ability of some kind. Genetic modification of xenofauna is a far less well-mastered science than the same with terra-born stock, and as a result the market for these creatures will often slowly improve as people further hone their genetics.

## *Base-Wandering Pets*

While these creatures may have the environmental adaptability needed for travel, their lack of mobility, or perhaps their lack of galaxy-friendly survival instincts, makes them better suited for a life at home. Many of these creatures are quite intelligent, and no true domestication can happen in only a few hundred years, so they also tend to maintain a lot of natural personality and habit tendencies, unless take to with a great deal of care, dedication, and training. For these reasons, these pets are not recommended to first-time pet owners very often.

## *True Travel Companions*

In order to make for a suitable travel companion, creatures naturally have to have a decent degree of intelligence. Intellectual abilities in fauna makes domestication in short periods extremely difficult; thus, many of the creatures that have found their way into the realm of alien travelling companions seem to do so somewhat knowingly, in a manner of speaking. Like any companion, their cooperation with an owner relies on trust, time, and respective personalities, and many have been reported to go rouge and continue across the galaxy solo when not treated well.

## *Work and Utility Animals*

Worlds offering larger fauna suitable for labor in a variety of environments, even with the help of genetic engineering, are rare. Much of the time, promising species take sometimes standards of development in gene labs before they're useful, or adaptable, or profitable. However, those creatures that do pass the markets' tests often end up becoming popular on colony and industry worlds. Rarely suited for travel, most require some kind of permanent housing in a base; unlike most other cases, this is *not* included in prices.

## *Restricted and Combat Animals*

In what is likely a surprise to no one, some xenofauna are simply too dangerous to be available in pet stores, with abilities from the production of extreme chemical agents, to lethal combat potential, to a massive variety of xeno-biohazards. That hasn't stopped people from working to improve these features, nor has it stopped others from forming black-market shops for the sale of such creatures, but it does mean that you'd better have a very good reason if you're caught in the wrong place with one.

# GeneWeave Species

Currently the exclusive purview of the DNArtisan Companion Corporation, these creatures nevertheless are quickly becoming very popular due to being extremely easy to care for, and cheap, if often in short supply. Carbon-based lifeforms, they are entirely the work of genetic engineering and from-scratch genome design, proudly incorporating no more than 1% un-edited genetic code from existing species. They are extremely docile, gentle, playful, with mild sparks of intelligence, but nothing to write home about. They have long lifespans, consume extremely efficient, cheap food with no waste to be cleaned up, and certain varieties can be purchased both sterile, and with the ability to reproduce, although all varieties that can reproduce are firmly coded to have only one or two offspring in their lifetimes, to guarantee a non-stable stock outside the company.

## *Gen 1 Offerings*

The first line of species developed for the company's initial stock; they are all simpler lifeforms, with less complex biology and less impressive abilities, and more frequent quirks, but still massive capacity for companionship. The most popular varieties continue to be sold even as future development of more advance lines takes over the majority of sales.

## *Gen 2 Offerings*

The second generation of offerings from DNArtisan would prove to be their ticket to success; with some new-and-improved versions of the few popular species from gen 1, and including several more new varieties that were more complex, varied, useful, and often intelligent than their predecessors, GeneWeave Gen 2 is an appealing option for almost anyone.

## *Gen 3 Offerings*

Currently only containing a few yet-further updating versions of the classic gen 1's, the third generation is nonetheless a significant improvement in biological complexity, with rumors about coming additions to the line ranging from the development of mount-sized creations, all the way to ones capable of wielding magic. Only time will tell, as development was hindered considerably by the Collapse.

# Non-Sapient Companion Droids

Various forms of intelligence born of electricity and code have been around since the UGC; even general artificial intelligence has been in existence for several centuries, already. While the outright purchase of a sapient AI would be a rights violation akin to slavery, there are still various forms of pre-sapient companion droids, from tiny pet bots to complex multi-skilled utility droids, available in many galactic markets. They are organized broadly based on mental faculties and skill/social classifications; unlike the majority of forms of general AI, the intelligence matrix of these droids are inseparable from their physical computer cores, and thus are strongly connected to their physical bodies, durability-wise.

## *Task Bots*

For hundreds of years, people have been creating small, simple bots for almost any basic task you can imagine. Programmed only to operate within defined confines, working with known kinds of information to solve a somewhat simple problem. Simple sorting, relaying messages in a small area, very basic conversation, automatically summing cost totals at a street market, the possible uses are endless.

## *Skill Bots*

With significantly more computation power available, but more importantly, access to an expanded short-term memory, the ability to learn from that data, and the ability to make decisions based on learning, these units are far more useful. Capable of handing a few simple but more broad tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, or basic navigation, these bots still can't get significantly better at tasks over time, and can't handle anything outside their purview.

## *Pet Bots*

Possessing the same advantages as skill bots in terms of memory and learning ability, but focused on socializing and companionship rather than any ability to solve tasks or navigate any kind of technical problem. These bots offer a variety of personalities, which are independent of the chassis chosen, but will take on various different aspects unique to the chassis as well, such as modelling specific animal behaviors.

## *Utility Droids*

The most technically advanced class of AI available for purchase in the vast majority of the galaxy, these pre-sapient general AI's are equipped for broad kinds of problems, such as general repair, farming, sublight piloting, and have access to advanced forms of learning that allow them to store important insights in the long term, and improve their abilities significantly over time.

## *Companion Droids*

The most life-like droids you can legally buy, all manner of models exist for a massive variety of complex social tasks, often emulating emotional behavior extremely well, and often able to freely generate meaningful speech or other sounds not from existing sound files, as appropriate based on chassis.