Casting Shadows

One of the signs that I know I will enjoy a new SF game is the way that it presents the products and items which are a part of the lives of the characters we make for it. If you have read a Technical Read Out for BattleTech, or the fleet catalogues for Renegade Legion, or pondered weapon choices for Shadowrun, you know the sort of thing that I mean. It’s the textual analog to the lived in universe of the films by George Lucas. The quirks, the dents, the grease, and the little bits of complaint mixed with doses of legend bring a level of real to the proceedings which is extremely valuable to an in-character perspective in play. Sharp-eyed readers of a certain vintage will note that all my examples above are from the FASA that was, and there is good reason for that, but FASA is not alone.

As this is a post about Blue Planet, do we need to get into that this is a path the authors chose to follow? No? Good. I felt it was obvious and I am glad that you do, too. Let’s carry on!

Each time I get into Blue Planet, I feel myself compelled to add, as I did with BattleTech and tons of other games before, new and different machines and tech to those offered in the books. Taking them as a template, as boundaries, as averages, as beacons, and as warnings, getting into the game has come to mean (to me) adding the ‘also rans’, prototypes, knock-offs, rivals, and later refits and refreshes which help make the world of the game feel more complete. While the authors often have tight page counts to serve, our imagination as players of the game is without limit or a publication time constraint.

Below, is one of the first such things I have chosen to pull from my imagination and the inspiration of a few lines in the Recontact Players Guide. I hope you enjoy it. It has touched off a series of related creations of tech, of character history, of business plans, and rivalries – and it’s not done, yet.

As we play with this edition, changes will occur to what is provided below as our understanding grows and as our sense of the world deepens. For now though, take this in the spirit in which it was offered and fly~

Behold, the Pelican!

Well -as there is no art there will be no actual beholding, but in that way we do when we read: “behold!”

Atlas Materials S-47 Pelican (Orbital Utility Spaceplane)

Built by Atlas Materials to seamlessly connect planetary water, atmospheric, and orbital domains in a single multi-role chassis, the S-47 Pelican is a heavy-duty trans-orbital spaceplane. Designed around a hydroplaning hull for open-water touchdowns and takeoffs on Poseidon, the craft utilizes an integrated ducted-fan system for level atmospheric flight as well as high-thrust orbital propulsion boosters for gravity-well transitions. The Pelican’s defining innovation is its central docking interface, which accepts rapidly swappable 3-ton mission modules to reconfigure the aircraft between cargo transport, VIP travel, medical evacuation, security details, and scientific research. In the Pelican, Atlas has provided a relatively cheap and comfortable multi-role vehicle that has sparked both discussion and praise.

In its favor, the Pelican is one of the few and certainly at or near the lowest-priced orbital spaceplane. This is counter-balanced by its limited cargo space. Atlas promotional teams are quick to remind critics of the ease and speed with which its modular 3MT cargo pod can be exchanged on the surface or in space, but it is hard to compare a rough and ready Orbital lifter with 50 – 60 MT to devote to cargo space with one that can offer but 3MT at a time, and harder to justify a lifter that seems more suited to moving people than cargo.

It seems that way, until you start to factor in the xenosilicate ore, and all the costs, secrecy, and exorbitant fees that its pursuit entails. In that light, some of the design language of the Pelican begins to make more sense. The low base-price is not the price that any company sufficiently-heeled enough to buy one would pay – they need the special options. They need multiple cargo pods. They need branded trim and upgrades to the craft’s GI. It goes without saying that they will need the security upgrades. All of that gives them a unique, capable, and still not exorbitantly-priced vessel, while filling an aching longing for more currency and indispensability on the part of Atlas Materials. In the end, this vehicle was never aimed at the small-business owner, but rather a very specific echelon within the incorporate states. (ED: Also blockade runners, smugglers, and other ne’er do wells)

It’s a tough craft that can fill some specific courier and diplomatic roles very well, as well as scientific and high-end commercial roles. Like its namesake, it is hungry, and might be more than it appears on the surface. Better yet, there is nothing quite like it on the market – especially as it was designed for and built on Poseidon with near-perfect timing to launch pre-orders just as the news of Long John broke wide.

Dimensions: Heavy (42.5 m length, 38.0 m wingspan, 10.2 m height, 300 MT loaded mass)
Speed (LH₂ Boosters): 1,200 kph level atmospheric flight / 18,500 kph trans-orbital ascent
Speed (Batteries): Hover/260kph/300kph (integrated ducted fans, atmosphere only), 69kph/100kph (hydrofoil, surface only)
Range: 1,800 km in atmosphere (boosters)
Range: 1,000 km in atmosphere (AllTech Diamond NRG battery system, ducted fans) Operational Ceiling (ducted fans): 4100m
Range: 1 full ascent to any one of the three orbital stations with return without refueling/ mainly limited by stores & life support in vacuum operations
Durability: 3 (Hardened composite and ceramic hull construction)
Autonomy: 6/-2 (Single-operator flight; AI General Intelligence operations)
Crew / Passengers: 1 Crew (Pilot) / 12 Passengers (Expandable to 18 with Executive Pod)
Cargo: 3 MT (Interchangeable Mission Pod System)
Maneuvers: Attack N/A (or +2 if weaponized), Defend 0, Chase/Evade 0, Performance -1
Availability: Rare to Restricted
Features: Hardened, Hot, GI (General Intelligence), Manipulators, Consumable, Responsive Materials, Sensors, Sealed, Hydroplaning Hull, Modular Cargo Docking Interface
Cost: 32,500,000 cs
Models: Atlas Materials S-47 Pelican (Standard Utility), S-47/Sec (Corporate Security), S-47/Med (Emergency Response/Trauma)

Modular Mission Pod Options (3 MT Capacity)

Cargo Pod: Standard freight, high-value cargo, satellite deployment, and resource sample storage.
Executive Pod: VIP module adding 6 additional passenger seats (18 total) and an integrated conference suite.
Medical Pod: Fully equipped trauma care, isolation chamber, and emergency evacuation facility.
Security Pod: Configured for tactical boarding teams, specialized armor racks, and detainee containment cells.
Research Pod: Housing scientific survey instruments, sensor arrays, and mobile field lab equipment.

Behind the Scenes: (Possible Spoilers Ahead. Proceed at Own Risk. )

In the setting material for Recontact, we learn that Atlas Materials initially discovered the xenosilicate ore but in strange twists of fate and humanity, they lost – or almost lost – the first-mover advantage. The chance to develop and bring the ore to market themselves was lost, and they had to fall back to a more equal position with every other company with a stake in selling immortality and genetic redesign to the desperate populaces of two worlds.

What comes to market as the S-47 Pelican is but part of the story, and that story begins with a different design program for a craft called the Albatross. Perhaps in ignorance of Coleridge’s early warning poem, the company killed their Albatross and have now embarked on a much longer and more convoluted a journey than they may have hoped or anticipated.

The Albatross was a larger and better-appointed craft built with armed and armored corporate security and protection of specific quantities of highly-valuable cargo as its top priority. Designed with Poseidon’s specific situations in mind, the craft operated quietly and without range limitations for its integrated ducted fans via power supplied by an integrated McCluskey Starfire RFP fusion generator both in the air and skimming across the surface of the endless seas. When needed, it could ignite its boosters, and blast out of range of pursuit or into orbit without hesitation- all under the capable control of a single pilot linked by Neural Jack and aided by a highly-competent General Intelligence well-suited to flight, cargo handling, and both offensive and defensive system operations.

As the dream of being the sole proprietor of Long John faded, Atlas execs pivoted on the Albatross program – intended mainly for their own use – and instead turned their cost-cutting eyes on selling a combined utility spaceplane and a lucrative service and supply contract to go with it. Marking the Albatross as too costly to produce under the conditions of Poseidon, it was axed and the pre-orders began for its little brother – the Pelican. It’s redesign was slated to be ready for the projected arrival of the inevitable boom of immigrants and workers. Heads rolled in private, but the Pelican flew on time.

As for the Albatross…? Some say you can still see one or two in the skies of Poseidon, if you know where to look – and they don’t see you looking.