Arkfall Colony

Arkfall colony is a small colony built around an old lander shuttle. The original colony ship is mostly stripped down for parts and materials, but there is still a minimally functional interstellar ship orbiting the planet mostly automated. The orbital ship provides the colony with satellite imaging and geolocation data. It also acts as a relay for interstellar communication.

The colony itself consists mostly of premade habitat modules and refitted cargo containers and buildings and structures built out of the colony ship's parts or by using the local minerals and sediment to create concrete-like structures. 

The atmosphere and climate are within the range of human-tolerances. The atmosphere has some chemical components that prohibit the intake of oxygen. Short exposure without a breathing mask is not harmful, but after about 10 to 15 minutes symptoms of hypoxia (fatigue, numbness or tingling of extremities, nausea, and disorientation) start to occur and eventually lead to unconsciousness and death within 45 minutes. 

Even the planet's gravity is very close to Earth's 1G. While the planet is habitable for humans, and there is liquid water (mostly small lakes, streams, ponds, and larger underground rivers and lakes), the planet is very different and alien in many ways.

The climate is a mostly arid and rocky wasteland with some smaller desert basins and areas the locals call glass forests. These are usually in low valleys, next to mountains or inside craters and other such rock formations. Glass forests are complex crystal formations that grow in fractal patterns. 

The Expedition

Three days ago a small expedition of four colonists Eliah, Jorah, Martha (a.k.a. Marten), and Mara left the colony to investigate a newly found cave for water or other resources. Only Martha came back. She drove the expedition rover back to the colony with a broken cabin purifier and collapsed after warning others that the expedition is in danger. Another expedition found the infected bodies at the cave entrance and retrieved them to the colony still alive, but comatose.

Marten remained unconscious and the other colonists remained in a comatose state with some sort of parasite attached to their bodies. After Doctor Lovejoy told Chief Evers in private that they had found something growing inside them, Evers decided to euthanize the colonists and cremate the bodies. Mother Noon objected to this vehemently and won over the sympathies of many other colonists. Chief Evers has remained silent about the findings and is preparing another, better-equipped expedition to the caves, to learn more about this potential threat to the colony. 

Important Persons

• Chief Evers. The son of the colony ship ISCS Agabus' captain and the leader of the colony. There is a nominal democracy in the colony, but so far Chief Evers has enjoyed the trust of most colonists. Recently things have changed after the chief challenged Mother Noon and ordered to euthanize and cremate the bodies of three colonists against the will of Mother Noon. The bodies were apparently infected by some kind of new alien parasite.
• Mother Noon.  The spiritual leader and the midwife of the colony. She is almost a hundred years old but does not look much older than sixty. She was is the only one left from the original crew. She grew the embryos of the first colonists by herself and raised them as her own childer. She has also acted as the midwife for all second-generation colonists and knows them very intimately.
• Doctor Lovejoy. The colony doctor and physician. They are good at their job and very passionate about helping others, but their knowledge about medicine is from almost 70-year old medical archives and all the equipment is as old or improvised. They are looking after Marten.
• Chief Engineer Summers. Summers is responsible for all the equipment and heavy machinery in the colony. But before everything else, it is their duty to keep the geothermal and solar generators functional. Without energy, there is no light, heat, water or purified air.
• Leif. The head of gardening and hydroponics. He is responsible for the greenhouses and fungal farms. 
• Scott. Scott takes care of the local bar and common room where the people of Arkfall come to relax and socialize. He brews strong beer-like drinks from fungi and scraps of fruit he gets from Leif. In his job, Scott hears or is told a lot of things that others do not know. 
• Emily. A widow of one of the deceased colonists. She says that Mother Noon sent the expedition to investigate the newly found caves 15 kilometers away from the colony. Mother Noon claims that Emily is just looking for someone to blame and seems very understanding and emphatic.
• Caleb. Head of security and sort of a local sheriff. Caleb is a good friend of Doctor Lovejoy and shares loyalties with their friends and allies. While Caleb is formidable looking and heavy-framed man, he seems uneasy, even afraid, around Mother Noon. Caleb is the only one, besides chief Evers, with the codes to the colony weapons locker with a few assault rifles and other well-preserved pieces of military equipment. 
• Marten. 13-year old child of the two other colonists deceased in the expedition. 

Hazards, Roll 1d10

1) Lightning storm. Can cause blackouts and fires.

2) Silicate storm. Sharp silicate slivers fly in the air. It can damage soft tissue or fragile equipment.

3) Silverstinger swarm. Venomous small vermin that migrate after water.

4) Rockslide. Sudden rockslides can cause broken bones or severe damage to vehicles. 

5) Heavy hail. Heavy hails can cause nasty bruises, even concussion if hit to the head and fragile equipment can break.

6) Magnetic storm. Electronic equipment might malfunction and radio communication does not work.

7) Sinkhole. A sudden depression on the ground might block routes or damage buildings or equipment. 

8) Life-support malfunction. Air-purifier gets clogged or water is contaminated, for example.

9) Extreme heat/cold. During summer the daytime temperature can get extremely hot and during winter nights it can get unbelievably cold. Skin gets burned or frozen in a matter of minutes without proper protection. 

10) Ghost spider. A dangerous predator with natural camouflage that mimics its surroundings.

About This Map

This map was just a quick practice in making a sci-fi city maps of sorts, but it turned out a mini-setting or a premise for an adventure. 

I tried to write the adventure so that it is system and setting agnostic, so it should suit most hard SF settings, and why not space opera settings quite easily. It actually takes heavy influences from Aliens and the 4th season of the Expanse tv-series. Of course, the described events are completely optional and can be disregarded if they don't fit your plans. 

The map was drawn on graph paper with Copic Multiliners and colored on Photoshop.

Map Pack Contents

• Two color variations with and without a grid.
• Day and night variants with and without a grid.
• A black & white printer-friendly version with and without a grid.

A layered PSD file is available here (requires a relevant tier)

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