NS SECTOR The most eclectic-looking – and to many the most beautiful – of the Three Sectors is NS, home to Nation’s Solution and its affiliated companies. Outside their common structural design, no two NS districts are the same. Some are medical gyro-zhans, white rings with clean doors and clear lights; some are grimy, bleak industrial lab areas with greenish corroded walls and strange smells; some are training centres, where future scientists and lab assistants attend classes in plain grey rooms with square windows; some others are beautiful ecological reserves, with imported atmospheres and plant species from every known world. Despite its visible variety and often beautiful environments, NS Megacorp Sector is also the smallest and less conspicuous of all three. Nation’s Solution is probably the largest and richest of all three Megacorps, but also the one that makes less of a display of it, so NS is the most discrete and unassuming of the Three Sectors. And it starts with its
people – unpretentious guolie bureaucrats, dressed in drab coats, all with the same modest, even indolent air, whether they are low-paid interns or senior executives.
SMART JIAN JIULING The Chief Sector Officer of NS is Smart Jian Juling, one of the most brilliant executives of the Megacorp sectors, and perhaps of all Tiantang. Although he is a serious, hard-working official, Jian’s quick mind and dry wit makes him look like he’s always enjoying himself, and he seems to breeze through the daily routine of his job – one of the toughest in the galaxy. Smart Jian has famously poor opinions on most businessmen, especially NS Sector CEOs and shareholders, and he doesn’t mince words when referring to them, ‘obtuse boors’ being one of his tamest terms. He knows he doesn’t need to be polite to them, while they in turn must abide by his policies, which are all for their benefit anyway.
permanent accommodation in NS sector, a fully-equipped lab and an enthusiastic staff of followers to work on any ideas he could come up with, asking only that, whenever he developed an idea, he came to them first. Thus Futou developed his most outrageous and far-fetched inventions, such as The Perpetual Feeding Machine and The Happiness Formula; however, neither his backers nor any of the other companies he has approached have been interested in any of his inventions after the health ray treatment, which he still maintains was stolen from him.
HAO-GONG
However, when any executive or official earns his respect, regardless of what company they works for or in what capacity, Jian invites them to work with him immediately. Many reject the offer, but Jian’s staff includes some of the most inventive, forward-thinking minds of the Three sectors, and even NS high-ups and investors are fascinated by Smart Jian’s methods and results.
PROFESSOR FUTOU One of the most unusual celebrities of NS Sector is Professor Futou Geng, an equally admired and reviled scientist that came to prominence thanks to his invention of ‘health rays’, a microwave frequency that accelerates the regenerating process of Corvo cells. Many companies rejected professor Futou’s health rays as quackery, but months later several NS subsidiaries developed a patent for a microwave-based treatment. Futou sued, and the companies settled the claim by hiring him as a freelance brainstormer. They gave him a
Like its sector, Nation’s Solution is the most discreet of the Three Megacorps; its brand rarely appears on its myriad of businesses, and most people don’t immediately relate the NS name to their products. Hao-Gong, however, is another story. Perhaps the most familiar brand seal in the entire Corvosphere, the Hao-Gong firm produces everything from the G-pills that Corvo take to survive in the void to half the processed food brands circulating in Tiantang. Its products, branches and franchises change name and packaging from one sector to the next, but the Hao-Gong seal is always there, and they make sure it stays that way, for virtually all Corvo associate Hao-Gong with their most basic needs. As the saying goes, ‘if you don’t know NS, you know Hao-Gong’. Hao-Gong’s most famous product are their G-pills, but they also sell all kinds of over-the-counter meds that all Corvo take for minor ailments. The Hao-Gong CEO that said ‘there’s no single Corvo home without a stash of Hao-Gong pills’ was not exaggerating. Hao-Gong products are in every shopping list, basic survival package and military issue requisition. They go from Dagun DrinkTM, the best-known and most consumed soft drink in the Corvosphere, to military-
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NS DISTRICTS
Megacorp Sector: NS
Bitter and ridiculed by the corporation-backed scientific community, Futou turned to his ever-growing mob of followers, who believe him a genius ahead of his time, and claim that his inventions will be standard Corvo technology in the future. Inspired by this cult of personality, Futou began a cycle of conference tours, to spread his thoughts that the Megacorps are cheating bloodsuckers, and preaches for free thinking and free development of ideas. His new motto is ‘power to the people’, and he advocates that energy should – and could – be free for everyone, showing outlandish prototypes and theories as supposed proof that it is feasible. Nobody takes him seriously outside of his circle and his growing fanbase across the Three Sectors, but his ideas fall short of making him a criminal. However, and despite his fall from grace in the mainstream, his fame keeps on growing. And for many radicals in NS and even Wang, he is nothing less than a hero.
grade first aid equipment and medical supplies. If Nation’s Solution finally defeats the other two Megacorps, it will be thanks to Hao-Gong and its iron grip on the industry of Corvo well-being; in fact, some economists speculate that Hao-Gong may eventually overtake NS and bump it off its place as the third corporate force in the Corvosphere. As might be expected from NS sector’s ‘less is more’ architecture style, the Hao-Gong district is one of the most unassuming of the Sector. Its offices are nice, comfortable and nearly devoid of decorations or distracting elements, save for a few soothing holo-vids in strategic spots, and of course the Hao-Gong logo everywhere.
THE OMEGA PLANT
Megacorp Sector: NS
The largest district in NS sector is the Orbital MassEnergy Generator Apparatus, or OMEGA – the biggest Quantum plant in the universe.
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A cross-shaped chain of thirteen gyro-zhans, spinning slowly amidst a constant, loud hum of machinery and vents, the district is a gigantic quantum energy provider, harnessing the sun’s energy through more than seventy thousand solar satellites to power countless quantum processors. These in turn power most of the NS districts, with all their energy sources and factories. In all, roughly two-thirds of the NS Quantum output come out of the OMEGA, either directly or through its uninterrupted convoys of quantum isotopes and processors to the entire sector. The OMEGA Plant employs several million Corvo workers, including platform supervisors, machine operators, transport staff and managers. They work for several different corporations, all of which own shares of the OMEGA itself. In fact, the Plant is officially a joint venture of at least two hundred separate companies, many of which were founded for the sole purpose of investing on its construction.
THE SECRET PORTAL Now and then a persistent rumour resurfaces among residents of NS sector. Some starport worker’s cousin saw the map on an underground newscast, or some secretary’s boss knows someone whose boss knows someone that’s in on the secret. Nobody has seen it, but millions believe the story: supposedly, a NS district discovered a Labyrinth entrance - one that’s NOT the Mehdi Gate of Tiantang. Corporate authorities are either unaware or bribed to stay clear of this Labyrinth entrance, supposedly a couple of AUs away from NS sector. As the story goes, an immense gyro-zhan, location classified, was built near the portal.
The Secret Portal is used for smuggling illegal goods for some corporations’ secret labs; according to some sources, these ‘illegal goods’ are kidnapped slaves from the colonies. According to another version, the smugglers are taking the slaves, carrying innocent NS workers off to some horrible fate or other at an undisclosed location. Nobody has recorded the location of, or even the log of a trip to, the Secret Portal; but if it exists, it would strongly affect Tiantang’s economy and space travel conditions. At least, the Tong mobs would pay dearly to use the Gate. Or perhaps it’s them who are using it under the authorities’ noses. Or perhaps it’s the authorities who are covering the whole thing up. If the Secret Portal was proven to exist, it would certainly become the prize of a bloody war between corporation, District managers and Tong gangs.
THE UNION SECTOR The Union Sector is the most unwelcoming of Megacorp properties, and one of the bleakest environments in all Tiantang, even darker and more oppressive than most of the zero-g slums. Made entirely of Industrial Districts – even its Management and Lodging Districts are a part of larger industrial complexes – The Union Sector looks like an entire world of factories, mercenary camps, training centres, shipyards and weapons manufacturers. Its people – the core of the Corvo Lian culture – are the same as their home: gruff, homely, dirty and hard-working. Their executives have rougher manners and use coarser language as well, and favour protective gear over fancy suits. But Union folk are proud of their sector because of that; they are proud of living without luxuries and giving the 100% to their job. Even their bosses prefer to toil and sweat in the name of the big machine instead of resting, and
they make it clear that they expect the same from their employees.
XI YUSHU THE CINDER LADY The Union Chief Sector Officer is Xi Yushu the Cinder Lady, called – only half-jokingly - Supreme Dictator Xi by those who have seen her or heard her talk. Stories conflict about how or why she got the ‘Cinder Lady’ nickname; some people say it’s because she likes to visit construction sites and has no problem with getting dirty, while others claim it’s because if a company gets out of line, she burns it to the ground. This metaphor gains credence because Xi has single-handedly closed more businesses and companies than three recessions put together, always because they fail to strictly comply with sector regulations. There’s another version, that claims that Xi got caught in a factory explosion and survived, with rescue crews surprised to find her covered in ashes, but unharmed, among the rubble. She doesn’t confirm or deny
any of these stories, but she makes it clear that she doesn’t find them funny.
Megacorp Sector: The Union
In person, Xi is grim and humourless to a fault, intimidating others not by raising her voice or acting violent, but by guilting them into compliance with her perpetual, disapproving scowl. Union officials seem to love her despite her ruthless approach to management – or perhaps they fear her because of it; but the mere fact that there are so few jokes about her demeanour should stand as proof of how much fear she inspires in her subordinates.
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THE BLUE DRAGONS MERCENARY CORPS Other than the Great Army of Tiantang, the best soldiers in the Great Ring are the Blue Dragons Mercenary Corps, a military unit belonging to the firm of the same name. As the GAT is the elite corps of all Tiantang, the Blue Dragons are The Union’s personal defence force, assigned to The Union Sector itself and to every security task where The Union or its subsidiaries have special interest.
BLUE DRAGON MERC Level 2 :: Corvo :: Crafty mov. 5 metres :: weight 62 kg :: height 165 cm 2
4
4
PHYSICAL STAT
8
3 6
8
2
INITIATIVE STAT
2
MENTAL STAT
CLOSE QUARTERS
4
STANDARD DISTANCE
4+
4 2
Reaper Plasma weapon (It ignores 1 point of armour). Extended range: 300 metres, damage 3.
EM Shield His armour value cannot be reduced or ignored by plasma or neural weapons.
Honourable Warrior He never retreats, and he disregards all damage penalties.
Even taken individually, Blue Dragons are very powerful mercenaries. Better have a drink with them than fight them.
The Blue Dragons have a reputation for fierceness, loyalty and discipline; they may not be high-class or highrank, but they sure are ready to lay down their lives for their employers. They in fact boast about their own rowdiness, and deride the GAT soldiers for being pampered dandies. The Union tolerates and encourages the rivalry between Blue Dragons and GAT, even when it turns violent, as it strengthens the loyalty and sense of identity of both units. The Blue Dragons Merc Corps is also the most speciesintegrated mercenary company in The Union, with an almost equal amount of Corvo and Human recruits. The Blue Dragons also count many Raag assault specialists among their number, and don’t reject even Iz’kal soldiers, although these are admittedly very few. Some Blue Dragons have exhibited soulbending abilities; when this happens, instead of ignoring the fact or playing it down as other merc groups do, The Blue Dragons give the soulbender an elite corps rank, assigning them to special ops according to their powers. This has led to several tall tales and urban legends about elite Blue Dragons that slew Ravager Heralds single-handedly, or flew through the air to take out an entire enemy crew by themselves. Most such stories are fancy, but they make for great holo-productions and action series, which the Corvo public loves.
UNION DISTRICTS YEN YARDS No list of Union businesses or Districts would be complete without Yen Yards, the Spaceship-building powerhouse that controls most of Tiantang’s military shipbuilders. A cluster of shipyard and landing-pad gyro-zhans, Yen Yards is one of the most important production centres in The Union, as its branches build military-grade spaceships for most Corvo fleets and expeditionary forces, including the Coalition.
Besides its dominant military business, Yen Yards produces many civilian all-en and gyrocycle models, usually marketed as the ride of choice for strong, uncompromising leaders; their SQ model (thus called for having a unique squared chassis) is one of the most recognizable vehicles across Tiantang, sold by all Yen subsidiaries in every sector.
The undisputed hub of arms manufacturing in Tiantang is Qun Pao District, also known colloquially as the District of Death. Through its hundreds of specialized subsidiaries, Qun Pao Arms, the best-known weapons maker in the galaxy, produces everything from vibro-knives to frag grenades, from neural rifles to orbital missiles.
Humantown is a violent place, not as bleak or deadly as a zero-g slum, but far more dangerous and ill-kept than any Corvo gyro-zhan district, with grimy streets filled with wall paintings and intoxicated, and often armed, humans. Corvo authority inside the District is all but absent; besides, humans themselves are far larger, stronger and more violent than the average Corvo. Save for their customers, tenants and military superiors, humans police themselves, and no Corvo enforcer would dare stand up to them. Independent militias and gangs rule Humantown’s streets, and they keep order by the rule of the strong.
Despite their success with plasma guns and neural combat models, Qun Pao’s real strength is its staggering variety of ballistic brands, from their universally-acclaimed Savant SMG to the modern Hu Pu 227 Kaive assault rifle, which allows a single soldier to bring down a warcycle. In fact, if the words ‘Savant’ or ‘Kaive’ are common usage in Tiantang and Coalition armies, it is thanks to Qun Pao.
However, most Humantown locals also have a stronger sense of community, solidarity and empathy than any Corvo society, and they are always there for each other. In all, it’s no wonder that Humantown gave birth to such human groups as The Black Watch or the Human Front itself.
Every day thousands of convoys leave Qun Pao district for the companies’ branches across Tiantang and in the Colonies; many people, Qun Pao ex-employees included, claim that more than a few of these convoys discreetly go to the Death Maze black weapons market. While it is true that thousands of Russ and Savant models are bought and sold by the Tong mobs through illicit channels, Qun Pao itself cannot be held accountable, when its weapons are freely available to the general population – with more success than any other company, too.
In fact, many Corvo businessmen oppose Humantown’s very existence, considering it a threat to all their society, and have long urged Union authorities to impose stronger restrictions in the District. The Union answered by setting up strict security protocols outside Humantown, to prevent humans from causing disturbances in other districts.
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QUN PAO
The Humantown District is thus known because it houses the greatest concentration of human inhabitants in the Three Sectors. Founded a few decades after the discovery of Earth, Humantown was originally conceived as a massive barracks facility in a mostly Corvo District, where the new flood of human mercenaries would have lodgings, training areas and access to the amenities and entertainment their species requires. Soon the millions of human soldiers outnumbered and eventually displaced Corvo workers, imposing their culture, customs and way of life on the area. Although all Humantown residents live officially offsector, either in some zero-g Slum or on board some space cruiser, the constant human traffic – and the families they leave behind – make Humantown the most residential of all Lodging Districts. Today, with more than 70 million human inhabitants, Humantown is the most populated human settlement outside Earth.
Megacorp Sector: The Union
Yen Yards began as a builder of combat ships back in Quanjie, when all-ens began production; across the centuries, it evolved to the largest starship manufacturer in the Corvosphere. Rumours abound about the dark deals by which Yen Yards ensured its market dominance, including accusations of instigating war to further their profits; regardless of such slandering, Yen stands tall as the only starship manufacturers that survived the economy transition from Quanjie to Tiantang.
HUMANTOWN
MAGNUM OPUS It’s no secret that Xeon Magno, the chief shareholder of The Union, has a bitter rivalry with Kan Jiang, the traditionalistic CEO of the company. It’s a matter of time before Magno finds an excuse to fire the old executive, but for now CEO Kan Jiang’s prestige and spotless record make it hard to move against him. However, that’s about to change.
Megacorp Sector: Wang
One of the CEO’s main concerns is to purge the Tong mobs out of Union Sector – and out of the Megacorp itself.
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To this end, he has openly declared war against all Zhui Tong agents and branches in the area, fully aware that this clashes with the interests of several low-ranking weapon companies that sell weapons to the mob with the full – if unacknowledged – sanction of The Union’s higher officials; that is, people that must answer to CEO Kan Jiang. Kan’s open crackdown on the mob has made him somewhat less popular among the more pragmatic shareholders and executives of the company, but he’s still a Megacorp CEO and as such cannot be touched – as he well knows. But his closest collaborators are quite another story. The CEO has assembled a large workforce of loyalists that manage the activities of Union mercenary groups, particularly the Blue Dragons, against mob hideouts and operations. Chief among these is Hei Gahei the Young, an idealistic Union Law-Enforcement Executive. Unable to proceed against CEO Kan Jiang, the Zhui mob and their Union allies have opted to target Hei Gahei. The problem is, Hei Gahei the Young is still a highranking Union executive, and as such has a very high profile and security – to move against him needs approval from someone above CEO Kan Jiang. Thus, the mob turned to Xeon Magno’s people – who greenlighted the hit. The mob still needs a reliable hitman that can infiltrate The Union and approach Hei Gahei the Young to dispatch him raising minimum suspicion; and they’re not above hiring a free agent to do it, if he has the skills needed. On the other hand, if someone went to Hei Gahei with proof that Xeon Magno’s subordinates approved a mob hit on him, heads would roll, Xeon Magno would take a hard hit, and CEO Kan Jiang’s position in the power struggle would be strengthened. It all depends, as always, on who hires who first.
WANG SECTOR Wang Sector, a dazzling ring of state-of-the-art comm stations and streamlined, high-tech gyro-zhans, is known for having the most advanced structures, the fastest networks and the edgiest think tanks of all the Corvosphere. This is no wonder, as Wang is the Alpha and the Omega, the cradle and the vanguard, of Corvo technology. Wang Sector is the home of all Corvo cybernetics and digital tech firms, the core of all software, invention and intelligent development. Accordingly, Wang Districts are always abuzz with activity, ideas and innovation. Wherever you are in Wang sector, there’s always a conference nearby, where a pioneering executive is talking about a new idea for the first time, to an eager audience of young pioneers like himself, all willing to go and transform Corvo society as soon as they leave the room.
Wang sector is the best-designed of the Three Sectors, in more than one sense; not only it’s nicer to look at, but moving and living on it is far easier too. Everything in Wang is organically planned to improve everything else.
BRIGHT LAO MEI The Wang Chief Sector Officer is an assertive an inspired executive known as Bright Lao Mei. An easy-going but professional woman, Bright Lao Mei is the kindest and most understanding of all Three Cheesos, and the one with a better relation to her respective sector’s business owners. Bright Lao is a beautiful and smartly-dressed Corvo, who changed her name to ‘Mei’, the Corvo word for ‘beauty’, after changing her gender to female via body mods and biogenetic therapy. She understands the need for free enterprise and free thought more than most Corvo, and thus she defends the
rights of Wang entrepreneurs to conduct their business and R&D as unrestrictedly as possible. She handles the stress of running Wang Sector by basically saying yes to everything and everyone; this makes Wang the best place in the Corvosphere to have, develop and sell ideas – particularly if such ideas make money. The Wang elite has turned Bright Lao into a local celebrity, and one of the most talked-about personalities in the Three Sectors. The character they have built around her is that of a philanthropic, sympathetic and daring woman, always at the vanguard of open-minded progress. The most Independist sectors of Corvo society believe she’s unfit for her job at best, while Societists idolise her. As a radical societist herself, Bright Lao’s not entirely comfortable in the spotlight, but it’s worth it to ‘piss the selfish pricks off’, as she has often said. Both her admirers and detractors agree that if Bright Lao hadn’t been born a Corvo, she’d be an Ergonaut.
WANG DISTRICTS CYB-ONE LABS One of the best-known Industrial Districts of the Three Sectors is Cyb-One Labs, home to the cybernetics firm of the same name, and the current household name in cortex connector technology.
Megacorp Sector: Wang
Located in Wang Sector, although it doesn’t openly acknowledge Wang ownership, Cyb-One Labs has always been at the cutting edge of Corvo cybernetics, and is well known as the source of most of the last century’s cybernetic breakthroughs, such as the Nervcon operating system, the fastest CC-to-limb interface ever devised.
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Cyb-One models have always been acknowledged, even by some of the competition, as the most advanced cortexconnector technology, and it was them that developed the X OS system for Wang, giving them the largest share by far of the CC market. This allowed Cyb-One to overshadow older CC developers – especially Corvotech, which developed the first CC prototypes in the early Space Age – and become the name most associated with CC tech today.
CYB ONE Proficient Level 3 :: Corvo :: Loyal mov. 5 metres :: weight 68 kg :: height 166 cm 3
4
4
PHYSICAL STAT
9
2 6
8
3
INITIATIVE STAT
3
MENTAL STAT
CLOSE QUARTERS
3+
STANDARD DISTANCE
3+
5 2
Nemesis Plasma weapon (It ignores 1 point of armour). The attack gains one advantage against dodging.
EM Shield His armour value cannot be reduced or ignored by plasma or neural weapons.
Frag Grenades Action (Physical). One advantage if thrown within 10 metres, or one disadvantage for every 10 metres or fraction further (up to 50). Causes 4 physical damage up to one metre from impact point, and 1 less damage for every metre or fraction further. The Cyb-One is one of the best-protected districts in Tiantang, and that’s thanks to the namesake army of elite cyborg soldiers.
As opposed to other cybernetic companies, which largely strive to compete against NS-sector medical corps, Cyb-One Labs doesn’t specialise in medical prostheses or limb replacement; rather, it is concerned with neural bonds and the overall improvement of the Corvo-machine interface. Thus, when they test new products, which they traditionally call ‘upgrades’, they always do it on well-paid volunteers, who gladly sign for any procedure, certain that it will improve their performance and livelihood. That’s the guarantee that comes with the Cyb-One name. Besides an endless stream of new, improved and stateof-the-art cortex connector models and accessories, CybOne’s greatest source of income are military applications. The best weapon neural connections, combat implants and military enhancements come from Cyb-One or one of its many subsidiaries. The association of Cyb-One with combat, power and performance has even crossed over to pop culture, thanks to the very successful ‘Huan Cyb-One’ animated series and associated toy line. As it could be imagined, Cyb-One is the best-protected district in Wang Sector, with a company-owned army of elite of trained cyborg soldiers, known as the Cyb-One Corps. The Cyb-One Corps members are weaponized Corvo soldiers, famous across Tiantang for their combat skill – but also for their public appearances, children’s shows and touring gigs.
THE CREATIONS HOLOMEDIA MUSEUM It’s been said that Wang is the best designed and edgiestlooking of the Three Sectors; the epitome of this claim is The Creations Holo-Media Museum, or simply ‘The Creations’. Built six hundred years ago to display Wang’s media and technology achievements to sector residents, it is a gigantic installation, taking the better part of its Gyro-zhan, that displays everything ever invented or achieved by Corvo comm technology, from Labyrinth travel to pop culture. Creations visitors can research any subject from hard science to the fictional history of their favourite media series, via digital infobits that connect to the visitors’ CC and create interactive virtual displays that give a short, enlightening, and entertaining answer to any question asked.
QUANTOWN
Although none of them officially live in Quantown – most of them are scattered across ‘secondary sectors’, such as Zuihou, Xiao or Nongchang –, all its inhabitants work at some Wang enterprise, and spend long periods in the District, which they have gradually adapted to their culture, values and way of life. The inner design of Quantown is minimalistic but concerned with aesthetics, with apartments sharing space with small patches of growing trees, bushes and flowers in artificial environments. It is also full of hi-tech urban developments such as clean-energy illumination and optimised space lanes, all promoted, developed and built by the District lodgers’ money and initiative.
THE SECRET OF WANG The Iz’kal State has always wanted to infiltrate the Corvo government and gain its secrets, but other than their spy network in Tiantang CS, they have no more than a few scattered agent teams across the Great Ring. One of these teams is about to strike gold.
Enter Han Wao, a member of the PorTech spy team and an undercover member of the Church of Hexia. As both a Hexian and an Iz’kal sympathizer, Han is privy to some news from the Iz’kal Hexian movement – an enemy of the State. Recently, it came to Han’s knowledge that the Hexian prophets received a vision, indicating that ‘the Corvo Inner Circle’ met in secret with a ‘Hidden, Immortal Master’, also called ‘HIM’, to plot cosmic domination. Convinced the prophecy is true, Han Wao is also sure that the HIM of the visions is also the ‘him’ that hosts these secret meetings with the Wang shareholders. Suddenly, all the half-facts have coalesced into a potentially vital discovery. However, Han couldn’t go to the Spy Network with this information without admitting his affiliation to the Church of Hexia; he recorded the data in a secret file and left it there, wondering what to do with it. And then he was found dead. Who killed Han? Was it Corvo law enforcement, having discovered he was a spy? Was it someone from DevelOp, as they found he had filed their secret data? Did he go to the mob and things went wrong? ‘HIM’ exists, although not exactly as described in the Hexian vision – and Han’s file, if someone finds it. He is the Wang Entity, the illegal A.I. that secretly leads the Wang Megacorp. If Han’s associates in the Spy Network follow the leads of his death, they may discover the single piece of information that may bring down Corvo society… or a third of it, at least. If someone found Han’s lost data, tied the loose end and managed to elude the Iz’kal Spy Network, Corvo law enforcement, Wang Security agents and whoever killed Han for that data file, he would stumble into the best-kept secret in the Corvosphere.
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This otherwise unremarkable Lodging District is known for having the largest concentration of New Quan immigrants In Tiantang. Since the founding of the New Quan colony, its people have shifted from a culture of ravenous industrialism to a more creative outlook, valuing ideas over consumables and tech over construction. This has led many New Quan expatriates to Wang sector, and they have naturally drifted to each other, until they concentrated in the so-called Quantown District.
However, PorTech has just been hired to decode a DevelOp server that contains a single promising line: a date between the CEO and an unnamed Wang superior referred to only as ‘him’. Such secret meetings are commonplace, and the data, while interesting enough to file, merited no further action.
Megacorp Sector: Wang
The Museum itself is an architectural marvel, that makes travellers feel like they have entered an alien, futuristic landscape, with rooms that shift perception. 3D simulations complement every room with all kinds of audiovisual elements, with so many different options and combinations that nobody visits the Creations the same way twice.
The Iz’kal Spy Network on Tiantang managed to infiltrate a few agents in the upper echelons of PorTech corporation, an IT security firm. PorTech does most of the IT work for DevelOp, a larger corp, whose CEO is one of the main Wang shareholders. Using this link, the State’s spy team has gleaned a few interesting facts about Wang policies throughout the years; nothing important.
TAIYANG Population: 9 billion Calendar: 34 standard days – Workday Worth 0.88 of Tiantang Standard Culture: Commercial touristic centre Production: Entertainment, real estate, sex trade Social Rank 3: Rampant corruption and inequality Economy Rank 4: Very prosperous economy, sharp inequality When most foreigners think of Tiantang, what they picture is Taiyang Sector. Easily the most famous sector of Tiantang, and the one with the most daily traffic as well -
ten billion people on any given day -, Taiyang is the main commercial sector of the Dyson Ring, and is often called ‘the Mall of the Universe’. Taiyang is known for its neon lights, 3D posters and flashing displays advertising every imaginable product from vacations to sex shows, from digitheatre schedules to state-of-the-art gyrocycles. If everything in the Corvosphere is for sale, Taiyang is where you go buy it. Taiyang is also a hub of entertainment of all kinds, from live shows to digital experiences. The best XD parlours – gaudy halls with holodisplays on every wall, where any visitor can submit to the best experience drugs in the universe if he can afford it – are in Taiyang. Live entertainment also includes a strong erotic industry, and most
the sector, and virtually all Taiyang natives work for one of its stores, malls, hotels or show centres. Commercial Districts are the largest and most visited of Taiyang, containing all the malls, multiplexes, stores, digitheatres, hotels, game parlours and show centres the sector is most famous for. Residential Districts come in two kinds. First, Villas are lavish resorts intended for wealthy tourists and a few eccentric billionaires that prefer to settle in Taiyang rather than Wei or CS. The cheapest villas are affordable to Tian of lower social status, but still expensive enough that most folk require years of saving for a single short trip. Then there are the Shanties; low-class neighbourhoods – from acceptable gyro-zhans to ramshackle zero-g habitats – hidden behind the touristic areas, where Taiyang locals sleep and eat before going to work at the sector’s villas and commercial districts.
The prices may keep most visitors at bay, but even looking at the stores and their displays is a once-in-alifetime experience for most Corvo, particularly those who have seen nothing but their dirty homes in the colonies or zero-g slums. slaves of the showbiz and sex scene end up at some of Taiyang’s nightclubs. Organised crime is strong and powerful at Taiyang, and every Tong in the Corvosphere has at least some business going on in the sector’s underworld, which is as dark as its surface is dazzling.
THE COSMIC MALL Most of visible Taiyang are shopping malls, but there are also lodging areas and hidden slums for sector residents and workers. The contrast between Taiyang districts, and between the lifestyle of its wealthiest and poorest population, is the sharpest of all the Great Ring, making Taiyang so divided that many call it ‘Heaven and Hell’ or ‘The Two Sectors’. The Corvosphere’s most famous touristic chains all have hotels waiting for the billions of visitors that arrive daily to
WENZHAO GROUP Taiyang is the richest and most visited place in the Corvosphere. Its economy is so strong and active, its markets so massive and diverse, that it would be impossible for a single executive, or even a single company, to control it all. For one power to gain prominence over Taiyang Sector, that power needed capital from several different sources. The main investors of Taiyang Sector are the Wenzhao Group, a joint venture of tourism and entertainment companies that partnered up and sold their stocks to Wang Corp, so that their pooled resources controlled Taiyang. Wenzhao Group has no single figurehead and, by unanimous agreement, no shareholder is allowed to own a greater percentage of revenues than the others; thus control of Taiyang remains democratic.
40 faith: tiantang sourcebook
There are hundreds of Commercial Districts in Taiyang, all competing among themselves for the tourists’ attention. Malls, stores and merchandise are so varied, wellstocked and flashily-advertised that millions of Corvo save their credits for years to afford a single standard day of shopping at these districts.
Taiyang
TAIYANG COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS
As an inevitable consequence, particularly in a sector as crime-ridden as Taiyang, every member of Wenzhao Group has sought deals with the mob to get some advantage over their peers. There are Wenzhao delegates allied with the Zhui, with the Hwang or with some of the local slave-trading unions; there are Wenzhao delegates that bribe, others that take bribes; some own mob businesses, some are owned by the mobs - but in short, all the Wenzhao shareholders are white-collar criminals, fully in league with the local Tongs and a part of the secret network of corruption underneath the bright lights of Taiyang. The Wenzhao Group has offices across seventeen different Commercial Districts. The smallest of these offices are flashy corporate buildings overseeing the company’s malls, theatres and business centres; the offices of the largest partners take up a whole district.
Taiyang
THE FASHION WORLD
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Among other things, Taiyang is the capital of fashion in the Great Ring, with some of the best-recognised design firms located on its commercial districts. This puts Wenzhao, a Wang subsidiary, at odds with fashion firms, most of which belong to Nation’s Solution. But fashion is such a staple of Corvo culture that Wenzhao cannot openly oppose The Firms – as fashion companies are collectively known – having instead turned to bribery, sabotage and other petty methods to thwart their rivals’ earnings in Taiyang. This doesn’t stop The Firms from owning the most glamorous aspect of Taiyang life, hosting sector-wide fashion shows every month and making billions off dress trends. Despite being the official ‘Second Power’ of Taiyang, The Firms are not as widespread as Wenzhao, and have only five districts under their control – but these districts are justly renowned as the best designed and highest-class of Taiyang, which is saying a lot. Conventional wisdom has it that in Taiyang, most people buy Wenzhao, but those with real good taste visit The Firms’ Districts.
JJ KING Jet Jun King Interplanetary is the biggest of The Firms, owning one-fifth of the fashion and beauty market of the Corvosphere, from casual clothing to jewellery, from beauty accessories to beauty parlours, from exclusive shoe stores to body mod clinics. Their headquarters, the JJ King gyro-zhan District known everywhere as the JJ Zhan - is the fashion hub of the Corvo civilisation and a galaxy-famous icon of Corvo pop culture, occupied by a half-million Corvo workers, executives, tailors, models and scientists, and visited by another half-million tourists every year. Founded by the legendary Corvo businessman and fashionista Jet Jun, JJ King is currently headed by his great-
grandniece, Jet-Lao Jin, the unparalleled queen of fashion, publicity and marketing of the Corvosphere. Her designs dominate the streets and stores of ten solar systems, and her digital books and speeches on business building and work ethics have been a constant presence in best-seller lists for the last half-century. There is no living Corvo that hasn’t heard of Jet Jin, and most of them admire and love her passionately.
IMMORTAL BEAUTY At 180 years, Jet-Lao is very old even for a Corvo, and will soon retire and leave her business to her older grandson, Jet-Lao Jong. First, however, she has one last project to finish. JJ labs, the beauty products division of JJ King, has spent the last three years working on a biochemical treatment that doesn’t only make the body appear more beautiful - it can in fact regenerate aging cells and preserve youthful beauty for the patient’s whole life. The treatment, tentatively named JJ Timeless, is set to be finished and released within the next few months, but its existence has remained a very closely guarded secret. If the treatment succeeds, Jin intends to test it on herself and keep it under wraps, remaining at the head of JJ King, beautiful and immortal, for as long as Corvo technology - including the one from her own company - allows it. But if a rival company, or even a Tong mob, learned of the experimental treatment, they would certainly pay anything for the secret...
BEAUTY FLASH MEI SHAN As a showbiz and fashion hub, Taiyang has an understandably high percentage of Tiantang-wide celebrities. Perhaps the most popular of these is Beauty Flash Mei Shan, the biggest pop culture phenomenon of the decade. Launched to fame a little under 20 years ago, the fact that Beauty Flash Mei Shan is still touring, still on top of the music lists and still a household music reference in the fickle and ever-changing Tiantang market should give an indication of just how hard her music hit the Corvo people. Starting out as a Bao-pop singer, Beauty Flash Mei Shan, known affectionately as ‘LoveMei’ by her fans, took the netwaves – and the public – by storm with her first single I Don’t Know Love, which gained her an overnight following of billions of devoted fans from all ends of Corvo society. Two years later, she recorded what is to date her best-known work, and the best-selling, most played and most popular track in the history of Corvo music: The Chilled song collection, which is still cited even by serious music theorists as a groundbreaking moment in Corvo art. Instead of fading back off the limelight as most pop stars do after their greatest success, Mei Shan followed suit with
a record-breaking stream of #1 hits that even now, two decades and thousands of fashion trends later, shows no signs of slowing down. Mei Shan was a multibillionaire within a month of the Chilled release, and soon became the best-known face in Tiantang. Now, Beauty Flash Mei Shan is among the most successful brands in Corvo show business, with her own record label, her own Villa at Taiyang, her own planetoid retreat and her own fashion branch, which has employed thousands of promising Corvo scientists and struggling young models, turning most of them into superstars on their own right. Today, 20 years after her debut, Mei Shan is still on her physical prime, and a vision of youthful beauty – perhaps more than when she was young, according to some of her fans. The people picked her as Miss Corvosphere five times, the most recent being only last year, and the media have romantically linked her to most Megacorp ceeos, which often invite her for private concerts or simply as a guest to their most exclusive parties.
Taiyang isn’t only known for fashion, entertainment and glamour; it truly sells everything, having stores and malls for every imaginable product and service. A good remainder of this is the existence of Paliang Arms, the best Corvo non-military weapon brand, whose customers – private owners rather than mercenary forces – often make the Taiyang trip only to acquire its models. While Paliang’s products are mostly variations on Qun Pao models and ancient human designs, they are wellknown for their higher quality and ease of use. Paliang weapons are not as massively produced as those of other brands, but they are somewhat more expensive, which makes them the brand of choice for Corvo Tong bosses and wealthy collectors. By far the best-known Paliang model is the infamous Impakt SMG, which the Megacorps – spurred by Paliang’s rival Qun Pao – restricted for a while because of its killing power. The weapon remains the best-sold gun in underground channels and a Death Maze favourite, however, and so many Corvo die by it that many civil groups have
Level 2 :: Corvo :: Driven mov. 5 metres :: weight 48 kg :: height 154 cm
2
4
PHYSICAL STAT
9
0 9
2
INITIATIVE STAT
3
MENTAL STAT
HIT (DEX)
1
GRAPPLE (CON)
0
5 2
Charismatic She gains one advantage towards social interactions when using her voice.
Persuasive He gains an advantage when trying to convince other characters.
Worshipped Instant. She can choose a friendly NPC within 2 metres to suffer the consequences of an attack instead of her.
The fame of Mei Shan shows no indication of decline. Her songs have been played billions of times and her legacy continues to grow. She must surely have some skeleton in the closet, right?
42 faith: tiantang sourcebook
PALIANG ARMS
MEI SHAN
Taiyang
Other than her undeniable beauty, Mei Shan’s long-term legacy can be felt even now, right as she keeps on touring and releasing hit songs. Chilled changed the rules of Corvo music, giving Bao singers a respect they didn’t enjoy before and pushing her competition to undertake more ambitious musical projects; even the many Mei Shan copycats were acts of unprecedented quality, and in all led to the MeiPop Bao subgenre, of which Mei Shan is still the greatest example, no competition, and still the best-loved celebrity of the Corvo species.