#campoestela

[elbiotipo]

Lots to talk about how we percieve the other through fantasy races and civilizations (I'm writing a post kind on that) but in Campoestela, a space opera setting with many alien species, humans are "known" for:

their endurance when running, diving, spacewalking, etc.

legalistic societies full of written and codified rules

and fútbol, which is a game of endurance running full of codified rules

[elbiotipo]

I love this picture of an Soviet Aeroflot helicopter delivering a samovar somewhere in Siberia:

And now I have the image of Beto and Co. from Campoestela doing the very important mission of delivering a hot water dispenser for mate to some outpost in a remote moon:

Which, granted, don't look as good as a samovar, but if you've ever been in a road trip through Argentina or studided at a public university here, you'll understand these are pillars of civilization.

[elbiotipo]

Things that define humans in Campoestela:

Lawyers

Fútbol

[elbiotipo]

Notes on technology in Campoestela:

Most spaceships are single-stage-to-orbit. They have rather standard jet engines to lift off from the ground like a standard plane.

To get into orbit, they use a rocket engine that uses a solid fuel made of a HIGHLY combustible (yet stable) carbon-nitrogen compound which allows a better fuel than anything previous. This was first discovered by Iranian scientists who named it "Nafta".

(sí, Beto tiene que estacionar su camión espacial para cargar nafta)

Nafta was a big discovery on its time, allowing cheap SSTO rockets. Nowadays it's produced in many worlds and widely available. It also has uses as weaponry, but it's not that efficient.

Nafta is used for lift-off and orbital burns. For manuevering in space, there are small jets on the nose and tail of spaceships, similar to the Space Shuttle.

Spaceship piloting is still not an easy task, but it's comparable to being a jet pilot, about 4 or 5 years to master. Hard, but something on the reach of many people. People from the generation ship clans are a bit more used to it and often represent an outsized part of space pilots, but there's always many wellers (from down the gravity well) who get their licenses too.

The hardest thing is always landing. Especially given all the different gravities, atmospheres, orbits and such you have to learn in each different case, even with all the automation in the world. Many spacers feel confident sticking to one or at most two or three planets they know.

Pilots that only do shuttle or cargo runs in the same star system or planet are called "Starters", because they go around the same star. It's rude, but many spacers do it.

FTL travel is another thing. FTL travel is done using a ring-like structure that projects a bubble around the ship and takes it to a (completely made-up for the setting) dimension called the Aether. The Aether is one of the meta-dimensions (there might be more) that uphold reality. Conveniently, you can use it as a shortcut to travel between stars, which project "shadows" on the Aether.

The Aether has its own navigation, with currents and whirpools and areas of thick dark matter (which, for cinematic purposes, actually look like bright nebulae) There are routes that are easier to travel and navigate, and these are where the most visited worlds are. Even stars that are close in real space might be very hard to get in Aetheric space, so there's routes that can take you all over the galaxy in a week, while many other places are out of reach.

Navigating the Aether is very similar to flying a plane through a cloudy sky. Some spacer says it's even easier than flying in real space.

Staying on the aether depends on how much you can keep the fields upholding your "bubble". This depends on the energy of your ship. Big ships can travel all over the galaxy but they have enormous energy consumption requirements.

Smaller ships (such as Beto's Mastropiero) dock with a ring-like structure that allows them to make short jumps. The average jump in an explored route is about 12-48 hours, so it's much like aircraft flights.

Exploring new aetheric routes is something that is very romanticized but in reality is a tedious process of jumping, cataloguing new systems (many of them empty and useful only as refuelling stations), seeing where the streams go and end, how they change, and more.

There is no FTL radio or live communication. There is a kind of aetheric radar that allows you to see incoming ships and do some morse-like communication, but it's not very efficient, there is no such thing as a galactic internet (though it's said ancient civilizations had one)

Aether travel engines require very sophisticated manufacturing and materials, which were hard for humans to develop. This was long only in the hands of governments and corporations, but after the Machine War, accessible aether starships hit the civilian market.

Smaller ships are still used by governments (more like loose "leagues") to do what big ships can't: supply satellites and equipment to remote bases, small-scale transport of engineers, researchers, aether "meteorology" and exploration, etc. This is very much like bush planes in remote regions or the role of Aeroflot in developing the USSR.

While humans in the setting, like most species, are composed of many different leagues, cultures and organizations, their technology is remarkably consistent. This is because cheap and reliable spaceflight depends on very reliable standarization. Some of the spaceship parts used six centuries after Gagarin are still the same used in the Soyuz. The ISO is perhaps one of the most enduring legacies of human civilization, along with FIFA.

[elbiotipo]

Secondary characters of Campoestela (outside the Beto-Ragua-Siusini trio)

Xipi and Xapa:

A couple of Jeparet, a small pterodactyl-like species.

They do the night shift on the Mastropiero, Xipi pilots and Xapa co-pilots and does extra engineering (Siusini doesn't sleep but he has free time)

Much like Mother Earth's Agapornis lovebirds they are literally unseparable and would die if they stay apart. They are very very much like those extremely close couples you must have met.

Born in Taraguí, so they speak Rioplatense and Tandar but also a couple dialect they only understand. They help Ragua with language lessons but mix a lot of things that not even Beto understands.

They LOVE cumbia music and spend their free time dancing.

Erika:

Beto's childhood friend from Aerolito and his ex

Archeologist and historian, she is an endless fountain of trivia and history rants, one reason why she got along so well with Beto.

Intensely analytical about people. You know the mad scientist stereotype? She's a mad sociologist. It works in some ocassions, not all of them.

Broke up with Beto under Unclear Circumstances during an archeological expedition.

She knows ancient languages, and so is probably one of the few people who can actually hold a conversation with Ragua on her language. How very convenient.

DISCO TEX:

YEE-HAW VAQUEROS HERE COMES DISCO TEX BETO'S SPACE EX

A vaquero disco fan space trucker from Tejas (independent from the old Usamerica for over four centuries now)

Exactly what you'd expect. Dances and sings like a devil. Always speaks in ALL CAPS.

His spaceship is decorated with disco balls, lava lamps and carpet EVERYWHERE inside, outside there's a decoration of the horns of a space creature he tamed himself. Alledgelly.

Dedicates himself to speculative trade rather than contracts like Beto and is quite rich. His spaceship is bigger and has a bigger crew who also dress as disco vaqueros. He must pay real well.

One hell of a friend, though.

CB-2:

Cebedós, a maintenance robot of the Mastropiero. (probably should name him after a Les Luthiers reference)

Looks like a sphere with lots of robot limbs and tools, surprsingly cute.

Over time robots develop their own personality. CB-2 is like a good dog, even wagging his robot "tail" when he does a good job.

YOU CAN'T PET HIM THOUGH, he goes into the spaceship reactor, no matter how much you clean him he's full of radation :(

[elbiotipo]

Some little author's notes that might or not enhance that little Campoestela story I just posted:

Siusini cannot hear sound by himself, his species does not have 'ears' per se but he does have a mechanic sound translator that works just as well.

He can look at Beto's gestures though, which is good because he gesticulates a lot. Because he's Rioplatense and also it helps to get him understood with species that are more visual.

The "leaves" Siusini uses to communicate are arranged in a stalk that looks like some kind of circular screen, they work like a cuttlefish's skin. Think of it as some kind of sunflower until I draw it.

Given that it wouldn't be easy for a human to understand subtle changes in patterns and colors, Beto must have learned Siusini's language while young, perhaps from Siusini himself. This is a part I'm working on.

Ragua's like for heavy metal is based on a real life study where sharks have shown preference for heavy metal (the band of course is legendary Argentine metal band Hermética)

Beto has a passion for listening to history podcasts. Since it's a bit of a retro universe, they are called tapes (inspired by many many roadtrips listening comedy and music cassettes)

They are all talking in Rioplatense Spanish (yes, even Siusini in a way), I just wrote in English a bit to test myself and to reach audience. Beto's "Mornin', people" is supposed to be "Buenas, gente." "Motherflower" can be translated as "flor de hijo de puta" or "hijo de fruta" if you want.

Beto is about 179cm tall (a bit tall but standard for a human). Ragua is long but her tail does not add height, her body is otter-like, she's about 150cm tall. Siusini is about 140cm tall and a bit wide too, like a bit potted plant (don't call him that). Being small does give you a slight advantage when space is considered, less weight to liftoff and resources to consume, easier to handle tools and structures too.

Ragua can imitate voices perfectly like a parrot, which makes her being able to pronounce any language almost effortessly and also sing... it doesn't mean she understands them though. When this story is set, her handle on Rioplatense is almost complete, writing her slowly picking up the language is gonna be a bit of a challenge.

I'm not sure if Beto has EXACTLY the voice of Ricardo Iorio, but he does have a deeper voice than Spinetta and it's a meme he cannot sing (he is Capitán Beto after all, not Spinetta, despite looking like him)

Where is the triste estampita de un santo and the malvones? in the cockpit of course, that's where the song says they are.

Beto is starting the morning shift, then who's running the ship? there's a couple of little pterodactyl-like aliens, literally a married couple like agapornis birds that can't ever be separated, who work the night shift in Mastropiero, but I haven't introduced them yet.

[elbiotipo]

Like in most starships, and indeed like in any kind of ships through history, the mess hall was the heart of the Johann Sebastian Mastropiero. Of course, most of the rest of the ship was propellant tanks, engines, and cargo bays. But what truly mattered was this place, this sacred place with food and drink where the crew could relax after a long day sailing the aether. They were the ones who kept this old bird flying, they were the lifeblood of the Mastropiero, and the mess hall was its heart. At least according to the crew themselves. The cargo's insurance was probably higher than theirs after all.

“Mess hall” might also have been a grandiose name for it. It was basically a table, some especially uncomfortable chairs bolted to it so they didn't flew away in 0g, several handles to walk through while in freefall, an old booth that seemed -and probably was- taken from an abandoned fuel space station, an old fridge/hydroponics combo, some kitchen essentials like an electric kettle and oven, and a counter bearing the scars of poorly prepared food, because you get tired of instant guiso and mushroom chips after a while.

It was Human spacer tradition for the Captain to have a last dinner with the passengers before landing at the destination, so never mind the mess, in a way, the mess hall also needed to show the ship's history. And it did, with the pictures hanging on the paneling. A faded photograph of the crew during the Machine War, and then newer ones, an old captain giving a thumbs up at a newly repainted ship, a group of people wearing smokings doing a comedy sketch, Beto as a kid sitting on the commands with the hat on, an asado under three moons that legend has it bring good luck, and more. The latest picture was just next to the oldest one, with a lanky, angular-faced human male with a mate gourd on hand, a small shark-like girl wearing sunglasses and doing a peace sign, and a cactus-like man with his leaves in a sarcastic attitude, under that same sky as the three lucky moons.

Freefalling, and yet somehow looking busy while at it, Beto arrived at the mess hall to heat up water for the mate and start up his morning shift. As he rubbed his eyes he saw Ragua hanging by her squalene tail on a handle in the "ceiling", her headphones at a high enough volume to tell she was listening to Hermética. Siusini was sitting conspicuously in the center of the booth table -not that he needed to eat anyways-, while holding a bunch of crystals around him that reflected on his leaves in beams of focused light, like glittering rainbows. Beto wondered if Pink Floyd would perhaps be a better soundtrack in this case.

"Mornin', people." Beto yawned as he turned on the kettle, his weightless body hanging as he waited for the water to heat up -not boil, this was mate after all.

"MORNIN', BETO!" Ragua said from the ceiling, her voice more high-pitched than usual, perhaps because of her usual excitement, perhaps because of the metal screaming that seemed to envelop her. Siusini's chromoplasts shifted into a greeting hue.

"What are you listening to, Ragua?" Beto asked as the water began to heat.

"It's that music you told me about last night!" She answered, perhaps a bit offended that Beto didn't notice. "I love it, though some lyrics are hard to understand..." She noted. Beto nodded thoughtfully. He was amazed at how quickly she had picked up Rioplatense Spanish in any case.

"Yeah, I told you, they talk a bit about the things that happen in my history tapes..."

"Of course you like them because of that." She grinned while narrowing her eyes playfully. For various reasons, perhaps because she was part of it, history just didn't sit well with her. "But that's the fun part. The voices go... like all low and deep like yours..." Ragua did a frighteningly good rendition of Ricardo Iorio, "...and then it goes all like YEEEEEEAHHHH." Ragua did an even more frightening impression of Claudio O'Connor. Beto just smiled, amused.

"I don't sing like that."

"You don't sing. At all." Ragua teased back.

"Shut up." Beto said. It was true, he couldn't sing at all.

"But what I like the most is the controls." Ragua continued as the album rocked on, her fins shifting to the music.

"You mean instruments?" Beto corrected her word use, helpfully.

"Yeah! Those! It's just so AWESOME... Like, I love the sound, the noise, it feels like when prey moves on the ocean, when you're about to just bite on it? You know? So nice." She said, a bit too giddy, kicking her finned legs against the ceiling.

"That's cool man." Beto answered in a monotone as he poured water on the thermos. 

Perhaps not wanting to awaken her predatory instincts, he turned to Siusini.

"What about you, you finally gave up engineering to become a table decoration?" Beto bantered in friendly confidence. Siusini didn't seem to listen through his sound translator. His leaf patterns shifted in ways that were difficult even for the experienced Beto to decipher.

"Sius'?" He asked again. The chromoplasts reacted.

"GOOD DAY BETO." The patterns of colors said. Beto knew how to read them, and he'd better, since Siusini was his engineer after all. Not a good relationship for miscommunications.

"Testing out the crystals you bought the other time?" Beto said while pouring himself a mate.

"RIGHT."

"Are they, uh, good?" Beto asked, not sure how to put it.

"VERY GOOD." the leaves answered, as Siusini shifted the crystals to what Beto assumed was a more pleasant light show for him.

Beto sipped his second -always the best one, after the yerba is settled- mate of the morning and watched the crystals dance in Siusini's tendrils. Being a heterotroph himself, Beto didn't quite get what was so interesting about the focusing crystals that many photosynthetic species enjoyed, but visually, they were very striking.

"You know." Beto said with his usual curiosity, "You never quite told me what does that light show feels, exactly." Siusini's color shifted to one of amusement, and Beto sighed, wondering what he was gonna say.

"EXPLAINING IS DIFFICULT. WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS." the leaves said.

"Oh come on. You can explain how a dark-energy inductor works, but not that?" Beto bantered back, knowing he won the argument.

"WILL TRY THEN." Siusini said, his color still in an ironic hue.

The communication leaves of Siusini shifted a bit in some patterns Beto didn't recognize. "IT IS LIKE. GOOD FOOD. VERY GOOD FOOD. NARCOTICS[?]. [?]."

Beto blinked a couple times, trying to understand. The last two patterns looked familiar, but... Then he noticed Siusini's leaves and tendrils shifting in a rather strange way... and he groaned.

"You dirty motherflower, I shouldn't have asked..." Beto groaned again in the tone of someone defeated while Siusini's leaves shone brighter in their amused state. He just grabbed his thermos and mate and decided to go to the cockpit.

Ragua, always up for some good gossip but who wasn't keeping up with the conversation because of her headphones, followed Beto with a teasing smile. "Wait, wait, what did Sius’ say?" she asked.

"Never mind, you don't wanna know." Beto said as he made his way to the cockpit.

"Come on, tell me, what was it?!"

"Ragua, no."

"COME ON, TELL ME!" Ragua insisted as she hovered on 0g after him, grabbing his leg while he grumbled. "BETITO, COME ON, TELL ME, WAS IT FUNNY? I KNOW IT WAS FUNNY!" She was not gonna let it go and he knew it. But never mind, first it was time to do trajectory corrections and get to work.

And so, another day started in the good spaceship Mastropiero, 614 years after Gagarin.

[elbiotipo]

In my setting Campoestela I usually call aliens "x-like" to help you give a quick mental image of what they look like without getting into details (Ragua is shark-like, Suisini is cactus-like and so on), since it is kind of a retro space opera throwback, there are lots of aliens and lots that resemble Earth beings. Although this level of convergence would be untolerable to me as a biologist, I use panspermia and convergent evolution as an excuse for it (I actually have a cool backstory for it, maybe I could publish it if I ever get it done)

This is not really done in the context of the setting, alien species are just called by their names and described by their particular characteristics, at best it's used as a very quick reference, and it would be rude to compare them to animals, especially some they might never have heard of. However this also makes me wonder if humans in this setting are also associated with animals on their own planets. Perhaps austrolopithecines have evolved in parallel in many worlds. But honestly, humans are very, very derived compared to other mammals. Bipedalism, lack of tail, lack of fur, white eyes, we really are VERY strange even compared to other primates.

But yes, it would be funny if Beto reminds Ragua of some kind of bald sea monkey or something.

[elbiotipo]

Varied worlds of Campoestela:

This time they are outside from the Esteloplatense Confederation (you can call it Space Argentina). Some of them are from the wider 'human space', others not.

Hilav: A pleasant world of blue seas and archipaelagos, at the junction of several trade routes. Initially settled by Alevis from Turkey, their influence can still be seen in the local culture and architecture, but is now probably one of the most cosmopolitan worlds of human space, with bustling universities and markets. The orbital ring around Hilav glitters with the constant docking and undocking of ships, and is a reminder every time you look at the sky of just where you are.

Fraternité: A tropical world with low-lying lands and extensive river systems, terraformed with African flora and fauna. The Republic of Fraternité is one of the newest members of the Ubuntu Union, and is located in a privileged new aetheric route leading to Concordia. The cities of Fraternité are booming with cranes and construction robots, even as it tries to retain its traditional forestry genemodding art it is still known for.

Iaotol: Homeworld of the ibis-like Syuted, a dry world with rivers fed by melting glaciers. The canyon cities of Syuted are where you would find the sometimes uncanny displays of traditional Syuted "magic", including sentient gemstones and talking corpses whose secrets are tightly kept. The newer cities in the desert fed by hydroponics are where most of the population lives nowadays.

Ruleta: A million-years old ancient ring-shaped orbital, it has an overall steppe oceanic climate and geography, but it's unclear if that was the original configuration of its builders. Countless cultures have risen and fallen here, many still live in mountain chains or open spaces within the orbital. The current human inmigrants, perhaps because of nominative determinism, are known by their lavish casinos by the seas.

Berekti: A world under an ice age, with karstic caverns sheltering pockets of vegetation from the glaciers. Originally inhabited only by Oriental Orthodox monks from Ethiopia and a small spaceport town with EXCELLENT cafés, in the past few decades it has recieved some attention by extreme sports fans who come to enjoy the rugged geography.

Smaragaid: A carefully terraformed world of forested islands each with their own unique dialects and cultures, it was colonized by Irish culture revivalists who took the rather extreme step of completely banning English and related languages from the planet. Despite the trade opportunities, it remains a rather closed world, only accessible to chosen confidants who have to be vouched as trusted by local councils and families.

Utveh: Homeworld of the snake-like Feisans. While having a variety of climates, Feisans do prefer to live in the many floating 'mangroove' forests that spread over the tropical seas of this world. The basic political unit in Utveh is precisely the Floating Forest, and they have translated this to their expansion into space, preferring to live in independent orbitals. Their orbital constellations are often close to human worlds, coexisting or competing with them.

Saudade: Part of the Brazilian diaspora, this world of beautiful granite formations and flowered valleys experienced such political inestability that it turned into an absolute monarchy. Over the centuries, a constitutional regime emerged, but the dramas and turns of the Realeza are known all over human space, despite the thriving communist movement who's fucking sick of them.

Nueva Valparaíso: A remote, lightly populated world above the galactic plane. Rumors of strange elements on its stormy seas have brought several prospectors, but few settlements besides some remote floating platforms loosely aligned with the Cruzur. It always rains in Nueva Valparaíso, even if it's just a drizzle, hiding the spectacular views of the Campoestela.

Saesfi: A dry world with a thin atmosphere, with lush lowlands with unique ecosystems separated by lifeless mesa-like continents. Homeworld of the Saihisi, a cactus-like species. Saihisi mostly live in connected genets, and one driving factor for their spacebound exploration was to avoid damaging the fragile enviroments of Saesfi. They have settled in all sorts of "gardens" across the stars, but some embrace a more individual existence.

San Marco: Capital of the Serenissima Unione and a major trade center, San Marco is a warm world of low-lying seas, stromatolites and coral reefs, with colorful iridiscent fauna. Because of its beautiful sunsets and islands, it's considered one of the most romantic worlds in human space, at least according to the tourist board. There is a replica of Venezia in one of the atolls, but over time it has adquired a more tropical flair.

Concordia: If there is a true center of Campoestela, it's Concordia. Located in the crossroads of the main three aetheric currents, every space traveller eventually ends up here. A dyson sphere made of swarms of habitats of diamond-like carbon, it has been inhabited over millions of years, in fact, many cultures long extinct are still found here. From the modern city-ports to the ancient palaces and the edenic habitat gardens, Concordia is a sharp contrast of itself: a bustling, modern trade center with a yet not-wholly understood history stretching into the night of time.

Gagarin ("Little Terra"): An O'Neill Cylinder in Concordia, built under the auspices of the Terran Council to represent humanity in the galactic center. Over time, it has become an overbuilt city with people from all over human space and beyond. You can find virtually everything and everybody in the streets of Little Terra with every organization and culture represented somewhere. Many other habitats have been built around it, giving a bit of a ramshackle appearance. However, it retains its political and economic importance.

[elbiotipo]

is Campoestela one of your WIPs or something else? Just curious, have a nice day!

Yes, a worldbuilding project that I intent to make into a novel or comic someday! You can find more at my tag #campoestela

[elbiotipo]

I'm doing some political fixing to my Campoestela setting...

The main thing that was bothering me is how humans fit. Since this is a setting with multiple sentient species, each with their own civilizations and cultures (because I dislike the recent trend of human-only sci-fi setting, it's an intentional retro throw). However, the main thing here that allows such a diverse setting is the presence of diplomats/traders (because no universal translator!) and standarized equipment. Where did the latter come from, though? If there are older space civilizations than humanity, it must be humans who adapt to that standard, and I'm not nearly creative enough to build an entire alien technology set. If it was humans who "created" space civilization, it would mean they're way too important in the setting and I want humans just to be one civilization out of many.

My solution is that there would be a mix of both; humans have their own set of technology but they have adopted some alien tech and customs. This also throws me back to the early history of this setting. My idea is that humanity spread on its own on the Solar System, developing some standard space technology (perhaps there are equivalents of the Soyuz running around) before they invented FTL and added other alien standards to their own technological base. So human spaceships are similar and quite compatible, but they are very different to other civilizations. FTL is a whole discussion on itself, how did things come from big slow generation ships to aircraft-sized spaceships? I'll deal with that later.

Another thing I was never happy with was with the "Confederación Esteloplatense" thing, it's an ugly name (ironically it sounds better in English, Silverstar Confederation). OF COURSE there is a Space Argentina, and more accurately they are the descendants of the generation ship Esperanza, which had a mostly Argentine crew. But I've decided that, at least loosely, Argentina is part of a larger whole that includes the whole of South America or Latin America. I'm going to call it the Cruzur Union, the Union of the Southern Cross (Cruz del Sur). Rioplatenses, or Esteloplatenses, are just one nation inside of this wider... nation.

To see it from a wider perspective now, I'm picturing humanity in Campoestela much like the Ancient Greeks and Phoenicians (the Poleis model), establishing trading posts, colonies, communities and such all over space, but these are mostly independent from each other and only organized in very loose trade leagues and cultural alliances, with exceptions, there are few truly interstellar states beyond that. This is the Poleis model I made in my Space Empires post.

Ancient Greeks poleis were sorted by dialect and cultures (Doric, Aeolic, Attican, Ionic, real stuff) and their mother cities (the metropolis. And so, the human communities, all very independent and belonging to many overlapping organizations and alliances are also loosely grouped by their origins back on Earth. I'm imagining there were a couple wars and conflicts between the Western Powers (US/Europe) and the Eastern Powers (Russia/China), with other blocs such as the Cruzur, the African Union, the Arab League, India and more eventually overtaking the two. This is in the far past by now, it's like talking about the Habsburgs in the context of the modern European Union.

So, in this context, Beto, our loveable Argentine space trucker, is from the Esperanza Federation (name pending), a loose interstellar trade alliance of the descendants of generation ship of the same name. However, this alliance itself is part of the Cruzur, the old goverment of South America which still has a deep cultural and political influence. And Beto himself considers himself Rioplatense or Argentine, depending on the context. Oh, and he is part of a spacer syndicate that might or might not be international too. And of course he does belong to a wider human civilization or cultural sphere. If this is all complicated, it's because it's supposed to be, this setting is a bit of a reaction against single-culture, single-empire civilizations in space opera.

Why am I not making it the URSAL? Because this is a retro setting in the style of space opera. In real life sooner or later, we're gonna become all Star Trek communists (this is not a joke)

It's funny that this is all just background for a space trucker and a gamer girl having silly adventures.

[elbiotipo]

One thing regarding videogame consoles in Campoestela is that by the time it takes place ("500 years after Gagarin") most physical videogame consoles, cartridges, disks, etc. are degraded to be unusuable except for those carefully preserved in museums and antique societies (and there must be countless online games that are just... lost). Most, or rather all games from our current console era(s) are preserved in emulation. Another thing that is always a theme in Campoestela, however, is cultural and species diversity, it's a setting with hundreds (thousands?) of different sentient species and each with their own countless languages and cultures. Things like that are common in Campoestela, most common use things like clothes, electronics, utensils, tools, have to be made with many species in mind and are often tailored, like going to a spacesuit tailor, an electronicman, etc

While this removes the idea of my characters rummaging through street markets in search of ancient videogames, it does open some interesting possibilites. So instead of mass-produced standarized consoles, videogaming in Campoestela resembles building a PC, except even more artisanal because you have to factor anatomical differences... someone like Ragua could work with a human controller "fine", but come on, you do like REAL gamers do and go to your local electronics shop in the big space station and ask them to build a controller and console for you. This has bearing in the plot because Ragua was a cringefail gamergirl in her ancient precursor civilization, and besides being thrown into an unknown time away from everything and everyone she ever knew, she's also concerned all her favorite fandoms and videogames are now only known to archeologists, if that. So she is trying to learn what kind of 'future' videogames are there (the graphics suck so much).

In the separate Biopunk Future setting (2143, more 'realistic' even with the talking dolphins), consoles are still produced, even if Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are long gone by successive global economic crises. In this setting, WW3 and the Ecocide managed to devastate global industries and telecommunication, lots of things preserved in the internet were lost and people are acutely aware of it, making physical media more important than ever. Melanie (the communist catgirl) was raised by her grandparents in one of the shops that dedicates precisely to recovering and emulating old media, with an especial focus on nerd and otaku culture. And that's one of the reasons why she's Like That. Overall, electronics have also taken in a more modular and conservative bent (almost back to brick phones), since the era of global commerce is reaching its twilight and society prefers things that are cheap and last long instead of flashy. Retro videogames are very much in, and since many characters have entered public domain and people are nostalgic for an era where things were simpler and half of the biosphere didn't die, there is a retro wave in the past decades. There was an era around the mid 21th century were lots of people were hooked to VR and AI characters and it was considered a global health crisis, but that was stupid and we don't talk about it.

[elbiotipo]

Something about future astronauts is that if they dedicate their career to that (not in short missions, but actually living and working in space for most of their lives), they would get old quickly. Exposure to radiation, zero gravity, the stress of compressing and decompressing, stressful "do this right or you die" operations like docking and landing, constantly calculating in your head how things move in zero G (though I guess spaceborns would see it as innate), as well as a lot of other calculations, and who knows what else.

I mean, the constant exercise and keeping your mind sharp would help keeping you in shape, but I bet that if you started your space career at say, 20, you would look like shit by 40 (it's a way of saying, that kind of rugged DILF/MILF is appealing). Also, Planetes got it right, you would get risk of all kinds of cancer, from space radiation to reactors to all the kinds of materials involved in the space industry, it would be one of those "trade diseases".

One of the jokes of my character Beto is that he acts like a divorced dad of 50 when he's like, 25, but perhaps that's actually the standard for such people, you can tell an astronaut because they look older than they should. I gotta read more personal testimonies from deep divers, sailors, and such professions. Of course, there's also the Russian cosmonauts who seem to have spent more time in space than anyone else.

[elbiotipo]

Fun factos about Campoestela: Characters edition:

Ragua actually held one (1) job in the ancient precursor bureacracy, she did it for like 2 years before she got bored and resigned (she's around 400 years old)

Beto, despite being based in Luis Alberto Spinetta, cannot sing for shit

Suisini, like Ragua, can feel electromagnetic currents. Sometimes they are insulting each other without Beto noticing. Suisini sometimes modifies the wiring of the ship just to annoy her

This also means that Ragua's snout is especially sensitive. Don't touch it unless you know what you're doing.

Beto has a parasocial, probably slightly homoerotic, relationship with one of the contributors to the Astronaútica Popular magazine where they argue about spaceship mechanics. "ESTE PELOTUDO OTRA VEZ HABLANDO DE MOTORES NUCLEARES DE CICLO ABIERTO"

Ragua LOVES heavy metal. She says it reminds her of live prey trashing helplessly on the ocean, which apparently is cute to her.

Suisini's favorite thing are light-focusing crystals that stimulate his phytocromes in the right way. When Beto asked him about it, he said it's part delicacy, part narcotic, and part porn. Beto didn't ask anymore.

Despite having dated women and men through all his life, Beto learned what bisexuality is when his teen sister told him, when he was like 23

Suisini is somehow, the best truco player known in Campoestela.

Ragua spend a week obsessed with Skyrim (which has been re-released across the centuries, of course)

[elbiotipo]

(Contexto: Beto le pregunta a Ragua que tan profundo puede nadar, pero ella no sabe como contestar porque no sabe bien que es un metro)

"-¿Pero quién decidió eso? -No sé.- Beto se encogió de hombros. - Fue convención.

Ragua hizo esos ojitos de "traducí, por favor".

-Tipo, unos europeos se reunieron un día y decidieron, "esto es un metro". - Beto trató de hacer un metro con las manos. -Hicieron 'lo que se les canta'. - Ragua contestó, orgullosa de poder usar una frase rioplatense apropiada. Más o menos.

Beto sonrío, casi orgulloso, agitó la mano de esa misma manera manera, 'más o menos', y se cebó otro mate.

El mar de nubes se mecía sobre las aguas de Nueva Valparaíso, tapando un laberinto de archipiélagos. Ragua miraba atentamente a las islas que asomaban desde el oscuro mar, tratando de numerar esa palabra que sonaba en su cabeza.

Lejos.

-¿Te cuesta entender? - Preguntó Beto. -Sí. -Supongo que no sé como explicar "un metro." -Lo raro… un arsu es parecido. Confundida.

Era frustrante para los dos. Saber de que estaban hablando, pero que no sea lo mismo.

Ragua asintió y volvió a mirar al océano, recordando las unidades con las que se había críado hace milenios. Un arsu son 7 arcu, un ar son 7 ruars…

-Capaz sea por eso. - Afirmó Beto. -Bueno, antes del metro, usaban partes del cuerpo para contar. Como los pies.

Ragua hizo una cara rara, sus aletas agitadas en confusión.

-¿Pies? -Sí, pasa que creo que todos saben cuanto mide un pie.

Ragua miró los pies de Beto, y los suyos. Evolucionados en mundos distintos, para cosas casi iguales, pero en condiciones totalmente diferentes. Raro. Todo muy raro.

-Pero. Los pies… Son diferentes… Incluso para ustedes humanos. - Argumentó, con toda razón. -Tenés razón. Pero creo que decidieron usar uno igual para todos. -¿Un pie? -Sí. -¿Un pie de alguien? -Eh. No sé. Capaz... -'Por convención' -Dijo Ragua, a ver si entendía. -Tal cual. -Raro. -Sí, rarísimo. Pero hay algunos que todavía usan ese sistema. Esos tipos en Yordán. -¿Los mormones? -Sí, esos.

Ragua hizo una mueca con los colmillos, recordando un día particularmente tedioso.

-Yordán… ¿el lugar ese donde andvimos en auto? Y con todos esos… shoppings. - Ragua contestó, recordando la peor hamburguesa que comió en su vida. -Ese mismo. - Asintió Beto. -Horrible. -Inhóspito. -Eh, ¡Esa palabra ni yo la sabía! - Felicitó Beto, con una sonrisa compartida.

Se rieron un ratito, hasta que el viento fresco los hizo temblar, trayendo otra fría lluvia. Pero que lejos estaban las capitales de la Campoestela de este mar infinito de Nueva Valparaíso…."

[elbiotipo]

Funny bit about Campoestela is that all Usamerican planet names are spelled in Spanish. Nueva Jiustón. Puerto Jaivén. Brigmangourld. Trancuiliti. Reinbou.

Well, maybe I got too far with this but you get the idea.