The MarPolo Bridge
The MarPolo Bridge is a traveling space station that serves Adventines, Claim Jumpers and other Prospectors. The station serves as a centeral hub that is funded by the explorers, the shuttle-runners and those who supply them.
It is currently stationed above a newly discovered planet, Fenu-Tri. It orbits in long arcs, servicing a fleet of shuttles as they complete routes around the planet.
Service in the Stars
The MarPolo Bridge is a Federation of Free Planets vessel, one of an entire squadron of stations that are dispatched to new planets as they are discovered.
The Federation has the best luck with these stations, as it makes it easy to promote a cross-banner effort. These stations welcome any and all, selling equipment and providing transport to the planet itself. Many eager adventurers and explorers will head to these stations, looking to get planet-side and pick clean a world for its natural resources and potential artifacts and knowledge.
Chaos and Competition
"WE'LL DROP YA BEFORE THE REST! CHOOSE THE SKIPPER!"
"GET TO THE SURFACE WITH US AND GET TWENTY PERCENT OFF YOUR AMMO PURCHASE!"
"SCREW THOSE GUYS! WE DON'T LEAVE UNTIL YOU ARE ACCOUNTED FOR! FLY WITH US!"
There are few regulations aboard the MarPolo Bridge when it comes to businesses and shuttles. Owners pay for leased space, show their ids, and can then do as much business as they want.
Business is booming aboard the station, there's easy money to be made for shuttle-runners. Shuttles are individually contracted by people seeking to go planetside, with around 30-50% of the pay being up front. The competition between these runners is fierce, each trying to make their shuttle sound the safest and most cost-effective.
A Dangerous Business
The MarPolo Bridge and the business it supports can be a very dangerous place. Prospecting and scouting new worlds can hold enough riches to set someone up for life, but the wealth comes with risk.
The life of a Prospector is notoriously dangerous, with a high death rate that is dominated by murder both proven and unproven. With the station being so far from civilization, even the most obvious of murders can be difficult to prosecute if possible at all.
Royalties and Commissions
Like any successful Federation enterprise, the MarPolo Bridge does not thrive on good intentions and being a community pillar— it thrives on Rukta.
Every service aboard the station costs money in one way or another, and the Station takes its cut from every exchange of money. Transactions don't happen 'under-the-table.'
Conduit to the Banners
One of the draws of the station is the ability to contact representatives from each Banner via the Merchant Quarter. Trading booths allow prospectors to showcase their findings to interested parties.
From here, the prospector can get paid directly by the Banner representative, with the station taking its cut. Just outside these pods are the enterprising merchants looking to sell whatever goods they have to the hopefully richer patrons leaving the Trading booths.
The MarPolo Bridge Station. An orbiting hunk of Federation metal where every adventurer kicks back and counts their haul...
Or mourns their lost.
Facilities
A large block of housing that vary as much in quality as they do in price.
Newcomers to the station can commission these living quarters for weeks or even months at a time to serve as a base of operations off-planet.
The eatery of the station, it is comprised of rentable spaces, where individuals and businesses can apply to serve whatever food or drink they can make.
The hectic part of the station. This is where shuttles await passengers, and runners attempt to sell their services. Hangers are leased to shuttle owners.
This section of station is dedicated to merchants selling wares as well as providing a trade hub to the Banners.
Planetary findings can be sold here, with the station taking a small cut of any profits made.
MarPolo Bridge isn't the most pleasant place. Capitalism doesn't exactly promote cleanliness.
But it is the closest taste of civilization you're gonna get until the WayHall.
History
MarPolo Bridge was created by the Federation of Free Planets though rumor is the station originally held the name of a famous human pre-advent explorer.
The station was created by Digger Co. as a way to facilitate colonization of new worlds. The MarPolo Bridge provided a new source of income and an edge to getting the business of new planets first.
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