TEXT: 1
  The Strange Land
  
  2
  Credits
  An Adventure by Gareth Hanrahan
  Editors
  Nicole Heinrichs, Stefan Küppers
  Editor-in-Chief
  Stefan Küppers
  Proofreading
  Brent M. Jans
  L ayout
  Daniel Bruxmeier
  Cover Artwork
  Robin Blicker
  Interior Artwork
  Rich Longmore
  Map Artwork
  Daniel Jödemann
  Special thanks to: Dominic Hladek for his last-minute amendments.
  Space: 1889 is © 2015 Frank Chadwick. All rights reserved.
  This edition is © 2015 Clockwork Publishing, under license of Frank Chadwick.
  Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the 
  purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only.
  The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the 
  trademark or copyright concerned.
  This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is 
  purely coincidental.
  This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
  SKU: CWP18893
  ISBN: 978-3-95867-013-6
  Printed in EU
  
  3
  Contents
  The STrange Land 
  4
  Part One – Earth 
  5
  The Dinner Party 
  7
  The Circus 
  9
  Smuggler’s Well 
  13
  To London! 
  14
  Part Two – Mars 
  21
  Creighton’s Dilemma 
  21
  Shune’s Camp 
  23
  Astolor Station 
  25
  Epilogue: Decisions In a Strange Land 
  26
  Appendix: Map of the Aerial Docks 
  27
  
  4
  The Strange L and
  by Gareth Hanrahan
  Character Recommendations
  Nations: Every Earth nation, especially British
  Archetypes: All; especially Adventurers, Aca-
  demics, Explorers.
  Notes: This adventure takes place at different 
  times in different locations, on Earth and on 
  Mars; it is possible to embed both parts within 
  a larger campaign and thus arrange for the char-
  acters to reunite with the main character, Kime, 
  later on.
  Structure, Time, and Place: This adventure has two parts. 
  The first section takes place on Earth, in England, during the 
  London Dock Strike breaking out on 14 August 1889. The 
  second section is set on Mars, some months or years later.
  Abstract: In the first part, the characters visit Lord Feltam-
  Hithe, a noted Areophile and proponent of Martian explo-
  ration. He keeps a Canal Martian child, Kime, as a guest 
  (or pet) in his mansion. After a dinner party attended by 
  the player characters and several other dignitaries, Kime 
  vanishes. Lord Feltam-Hithe asks that the characters aid 
  him in finding the lost child.
  The trail leads to a travelling freak show, where the pro-
  prietor attempts to trick the characters into believing he has 
  nothing to do with Kime’s disappearance. From there, the 
  characters follow Kime by train to London, where they 
  become embroiled in the events of the London Dock Strike.
  In the second part, the characters are summoned by 
  Captain Creighton, a British military officer in an outlying 
  town in Parhoon. It seems that a young Martian has stirred 
  up trouble among the canal workers by convincing them to 
  strike. The Martian nobility intend to make an example of 
  the young troublemaker, and demand British weapons in 
  order to arrest him. Creighton asks that the characters help 
  defuse the crisis before it becomes a regrettable massacre.
  Memories of Earth
  If your player characters are adventuring on 
  Mars, a return trip to Earth to play part one 
  of this adventure may not fit your campaign. 
  You can, instead, treat it as a flashback. In this 
  variant, you start by playing the opening scene 
  of Part Two first. Here, Creighton has heard 
  that the leader of the rebels is called Kime, and 
  mentions that name at the end of his briefing. At 
  that point, tell the players that they once knew a 
  young Martian of that name, back on Earth, and 
  even had an adventure involving him. You then 
  run Part One. Should Kime perish in the flash-
  back, you can still run Part Two. Kime’s death 
  on Earth made him a martyr back on Mars, a 
  symbol to those who defy Shune’s cruel reign. 
  Another Martian took on Kime’s name to honor 
  him, and the rebels now look upon Kime the 
  way the Labor League honors Karl Marx. 
  
  5
  Part One - Earth
  Since Edison’s marvelous flight in 1870, humans have 
  become an increasingly common sight on the distant world 
  of Mars. In ever-growing numbers, the strangers dominate 
  the cities and canals, and their strength can topple even the 
  greatest Martian ruler. 
  Martians on Earth, though, are still a rarity. Edison 
  brought a curious Martian back with him when he returned, 
  and many others have made the crossing for one reason 
  or another – as ambassadors, as scientific specimens, as 
  university students, or even as adventurers. Still, this is 
  just a drop compared to the rushing tide of traffic from 
  Earth to Mars.
  In 1886, a Martian noble, Shune, dispatched one of his 
  advisers to Earth to petition the British parliament on his 
  behalf. The particulars of this errand are unimportant, and 
  related to liftwood logging rights in Shune’s domain. The 
  actual purpose of the mission was to exalt Shune’s reputa-
  tion above his peers by demonstrating that he dealt not with 
  the local British officials, but with Her Majesty’s Govern-
  ment directly. It also had the useful side benefit of ridding 
  his court of the troublesome Oothran, who had fallen out 
  of favor with the noble. Oothran left for Earth along with 
  his wife, three servants, and his son Kime, not yet come of 
  age. They arrived in London in February of 1887.
  By May, all but one of them was dead. Earth is a hellish 
  world – crowded, damp, horrifically humid, and rife with 
  alien diseases. Oothran was the first to sicken, long before 
  he could ever petition Parliament. Only Kime survived. 
  Once Oothran’s purse ran dry, and Shune refused to re-
  ply to requests for money by the hotel, the still-delirious 
  Martian child was thrown of the delegation’s rooms, and 
  would have ended up in some orphanage or dying on the 
  streets of the city if it were not for the kindness of Lord 
  Feltam-Hithe. He arranged for the boy to be taken to his 
  Hampshire mansion, where Kime could recuperate. Over 
  the next six months, Kime slowly recovered. 
  Lord Feltam-Hithe cared for the young alien, but was 
  also eager to show off his guest to friends and peers. The 
  nobleman hosted innumerable dinners, private lectures, 
  and scientific salons, all focused on Mars’ environment and 
  culture, and all with Kime as the star attraction. Curious 
  guests came to see a Martian with a very special talent, and 
  Feltam-Hithe’s standing rose. Feltam-Hithe’s ultimate goal 
  is to attract investors for his planned business ventures on 
  Mars, although his interest in the red planet is genuine and 
  not driven solely by base commerce.
  Kime’s illness had a curious effect. His lifting gland – 
  normally vestigial in Canal Martians – was hyper-stimulat-
  ed as a result of the illness. Kime developed the ability to 
  levitate. This strange gift provides the climax for Feltam-
  Hithe’s Martian soirees – at the end of each evening, he 
  asks Kime to levitate for the amusement and wonder of 
  the guests.
  The Player Characters
  At the start of the adventure, the characters are guests at 
  one of Feltam-Hithe’s Martian dinners. Most such guests 
  are wealthy, or have some scientific or military experience. 
  Those who have previously visited Mars, of course, might 
  also be invited regardless of wealth or class, as their ex-
  periences and insights are certain to be illuminating to the 
  other guests – indeed, Feltam-Hithe offers speaking fees 
  to experts on Mars. 
  If a player character falls into none of these categories, 
  they still have an invitation to the dinner. Ask the player 
  how their character obtained such an exclusive invitation 
  and what they intend to do there.
  The Invitation
  According to the invitation, the evening commences with a 
  reception at Feltam-Hithe’s estate in Hampshire, followed 
  by a seven-course dinner including faithful recreations of 
  Martian dishes. Dinner is accompanied by speeches and 
  discussion of Martian history and culture, including the 
  opportunity to question a living Martian, Kime of the Ca-
  nals. Interested parties may then subscribe to the planned 
  business venture outlined by Feltam-Hithe in one of the 
  lectures, although there is no compunction to do so.
  The Estate
  Lord Feltam-Hithe’s country home is certainly impres-
  sive, with its acres of ornamental gardens surrounding 
  the rambling mansion, but it is an open secret in London 
  society that selling the mansion and all its lands would not 
  cover even a quarter of Feltam-Hithe’s debt. True, much of 
  this debt was accrued by his father, whose gambling and 
  profligate spending were notorious a generation ago, but 
  Feltam-Hithe added to the problem by investing unwisely 
  in failed ventures and increasingly desperate schemes to 
  make a fortune. As for the most sensible and traditional 
  way of dealing with a lack of money – viz., marriage to 
  a young lady of lower status but higher income – well, 
  Feltam-Hithe’s engagement to Ms. Alice Groves ended 
  suddenly, and the silence on the part of both parties left a 
  void for scandalous rumors to infest.
  More prosaically – the estate lies about fifty miles outside 
  London. A high stone wall encloses the gardens and some 
  farmland; a dozen outbuildings surround the main house. 
  Guests arrive usually by carriage, driving along the main 
  avenue of white stone that runs from the gate on the main 
  road to the circle in front of the house.
  As Lord Feltam-Hithe is unmarried and has no immedi-
  ate relatives, he has only a small staff of nine to tend to his 
  
  6
  needs and those of the house. On nights like this, when he 
  invites guests to one of his dinners, he hires extra staff. All 
  told, there are thirty staff members in the house tonight.
  Lord Feltam-Hithe
  John Feltam-Hithe makes an excellent first impression. 
  Tall, charming, a bone-crushing handshake and a dashing 
  demeanor all add up to make him seem like the perfect 
  English daredevil, the sort of brave young man who built 
  the Empire in India, Africa, and Mars. It is only when you 
  get to know him that you notice he’s always too eager to 
  impress, that his fingernails are bitten down to the quick, 
  and while he may offer his guests expensive cigars from 
  a silver case, he furtively smokes cheap cigarettes when 
  no-one’s watching. 
  The Lord greets the characters warmly and introduces 
  them to the other guests. If the characters have been on 
  Mars before, he introduces them as ‘top-notch experts on 
  the planet’. Otherwise, he calls them ‘very interested par-
  ties’ and gives the impression that their involvement in his 
  schemes is a fait accompli.
  Kime
  The young Martian is an enigma to most humans. He sits 
  serenely on a divan next to Feltam-Hithe, his alien eyes 
  and slightly pointed ears drinking in the sights and sounds 
  of Earth. He wears open sandals, showing off his four-
  toed feet. His chest labors, and a strange configuration of 
  veins pulses greenly be-
  neath his yellowish skin. 
  His four-fingered hands 
  occasionally touch his 
  ornamental belt, the only 
  physical reminder he has 
  of his dead father and dis-
  tant homeworld. 
  If questioned, Kime 
  carefully considers his 
  answer, and uses as few 
  words as possible. This 
  gives him the appearance 
  of possessing deep mysti-
  cal insight, but a character 
  who knows Martians (or 
  has medical training) can 
  tell that the boy is just try-
  ing to save his breath.
  Other Guests
  Notable other guests at the 
  gathering include
   
  ● Stanley Dornet, Mar-
  tian explorer. In fact, Dor-
  net has never been more 
  than a few miles outside 
  Parhoon, where he was a clerk in the Governor’s office. 
  Since his return to Earth, he’s been dining out on tales of 
  his ‘adventures’. Dornet tries to impress the characters with 
  his stories; if they question his experiences, he tries to bluff 
  them by saying that he was in a different part of Mars to any 
  they’ve heard of. (‘Ah, you were stationed in East Parhoon. 
  I was in West Parhoon. That’s where they have the giant 
  fire-crabs. Very territorial creature, your Martian firecrab. 
  They don’t stray far outside their hunting grounds – that’s 
  why you never saw one. Or heard of ‘em.’)
   
  ● Arthur Penn, Industrialist. Penn’s main interests are in 
  steelworks, and he is interested in the possibility of export-
  ing metal to Mars at a more favorable rate than he could find 
  elsewhere. If Penn signed on with Feltam-Hithe, it would 
  be the making – or, more accurately, the remaking of the 
  nobleman’s fortune. Penn attaches himself to any player 
  character who seems knowledgeable, and asks them about 
  their opinions of Mars. Penn’s also a staunch churchgoer, 
  and is eager to learn about missionary efforts on Mars.
   
  ● James Taylor is introduced as another businessman, 
  but characters with knowledge of the criminal underworld 
  recognize Taylor’s name – he’s a moneylender and investor 
  with a bad reputation. He’s not the sort to risk his money on 
  an uncertain venture like one of Feltam-Hithe’s schemes. 
  The only explanation is that he’s not here for the lecture – 
  Feltam-Hithe must have borrowed money from him. (Note 
  that Taylor shows up later in the adventure – Feltam-Hithe 
  isn’t his only debtor in the area. See page 10.)
   
  ● Muriel Slate is a local artist and poetess. She feels that 
  she lacks inspiration on Earth, and wants to turn to Mars 
  to thrill her soul into, as 
  she puts it, ‘spouts of ge-
  nius’. Ms. Slate’s talents 
  are questionable, but her 
  credit is not – her family 
  is wealthy, which explains 
  why Lord Feltam-Hithe 
  was eager for her to attend.
   
  ●
  Edouard du Plessis-
  Mornay is a French land-
  owner and investor. The 
  old man is a dilettante 
  explorer and inventor, 
  despite his great age. His 
  English is excellent, his 
  eyesight and hearing con-
  siderably less so; he tends 
  to have erudite and insight-
  ful conversations with pot-
  ted plants and oak trees. 
  His long-suffering valet 
  ensures that Plessis-Mor-
  nay avoids life-threatening 
  mistakes, like actually test-
  flying any of the fanciful 
  machines he designs.
  
  7
  The Dinner Party
  Play through or elide over most of the dinner party as you 
  see fit. Much of the conversation at the table is about current 
  events on both Earth and Mars. Drop in a mention of the 
  current troubles in London – a dispute over dockworker’s 
  pay has brought the whole port of London to a halt, and 
  the strike may drag on for weeks! 
  Each of the notable guests introduces a topic of conversa-
  tion at Feltam-Hithe’s prompting; let the players discuss 
  these topics if they wish. Eventually, someone asks Kime 
  what he thinks, and Kime’s brief answers are invariably 
  the last word on the issue.
   
  ● Dornet begins by talking about the dangers of the alien 
  planet. ‘Mars is a terribly perilous and exciting place. All 
  sorts of strange monsters and lost cities. It’s a really strange 
  land, the frontier of knowledge!’ Kime responds that his 
  parents lived on Mars, but died on Earth. Which, then, is 
  more dangerous?
   
  ● Penn asks about trade with Mars. On average, how 
  much liftwood could one get for a shipload of British steel? 
  What about the restrictions on selling guns to the Martians 
  – how desperate are the Martians to get their four-fingered 
  hands on real weapons? Kime thinks, then says that when 
  you’re truly desperate, you’ll do anything and it doesn’t 
  matter what your weapon is made out of.
   
  ● Taylor stays quiet. He grunts rudely when Muriel Slate 
  tries to draw him out in conversation. Kime twitches in 
  alarm – or fear.
   
  ● Slate asks Kime about the ancient wisdom of the Mar-
  tians. She has read that the Martians of old knew secrets 
  far beyond anything humanity has discovered. Surely, some 
  echo of that lore must have been passed down to Kime. Kime 
  just stares at her, and then says ‘no’. She tries to press him 
  on the issue, insisting that he must know ancient Martian 
  wisdom, but the boy just becomes confused and nervous.
   
  ● Plessis-Mornay asks several penetrating questions 
  about Martian wildlife, especially insects and butterflies. 
  Regrettably, he addresses most of these questions to one 
  of the player characters, having mistaken the PC for Kime.
  Kime's Levitation
  Finally, at the end of the party Feltam-Hithe calls upon 
  his Martian boy to perform. Kime unfolds from his bench, 
  walks to the head of the table, crosses his arms over his 
  chest like an Egyptian mummy, and closes his eyes. He 
  concentrates, and the strain on his face is palpable. 
  His chest flushes red – and then he rises smoothly into 
  the air and hovers there for several seconds. He extends his 
  arms out to the sides, and then gently descends again. He 
  finishes with a courtly bow. Feltam-Hithe announces that 
  Kime must now go and ‘meditate’; observant characters 
  notice that as soon as the boy is out of sight of most of the 
  guests, he nearly collapses, and a pair of servants half-carry 
  him up to his room in the mansion.
  Feltam-Hithe starts to talk about his planned business 
  venture on Mars, but is interrupted by the sound of rain 
  hammering against the window. It is a torrential downpour 
  outside, with strong winds blowing in from the north, which 
  makes all the talk of arid, distant Mars seem fanciful.
  Social Class & Mysteries
  We’re playing a mean trick on the players in 
  this section. The dinner guest NPCs are the ones 
  who get the detailed descriptions and are put 
  in the foreground of the action, while the staff 
  are depicted as virtually invisible non-entities. 
  If some of the player characters are of a lower 
  social class, they might interact with the staff 
  as equals and so gain a head start when the time 
  comes to search for the missing Martian boy.
  During the Night ...
  After-dinner drinks and conversation go on late into the 
  night. Unless the player characters were especially per-
  suasive, Penn does not sign up for Feltam-Hithe’s trading 
  plan, but he remains interested. As it is quite late, and the 
  weather is frightful, all the guests accept Feltam-Hithe’s 
  offer of a bed for the night.
  The following events happen during the night; the player 
  characters may observe some of them, but not Kime’s 
  abduction.
   
  ● Feltam-Hithe argues with the staff: A dispute arises 
  between Feltam-Hithe’s butler and the extra staff hired 
  for the evening, on the matter of pay. It seems that some 
  of them are still waiting on back wages from the previous 
  two dinners. To keep the argument from becoming too loud 
  and attracting attention, Feltam-Hithe personally promises 
  to ensure that the staff are paid promptly.
   
  ● Plessis-Mornay argues with Dornet: The two nearly 
  come to blows in an argument over Martian history; the 
  Frenchman is overcome by the exertion, and has to be car-
  ried up to his bed, still shouting at Dornet and demanding 
  satisfaction in the form of a duel.
   
  ● Dornet gets drunk: Dornet finds his way into the man-
  sion’s wine cellar, liberates several bottles, and may be discov-
  ered having his way with one of the maids in a potting shed.
   
  ● Kime is abducted: One of the extra hands, Robert Bol-
  mer, kidnaps Kime in the dead of night. His sister, Sarah 
  Bolmer, is one of the maids in the house and has the keys 
  to Kime’s room. They break in, grab Kime, and bundle him 
  up. Robert then carries the boy out with a pile of soiled 
  tablecloths from the dinner, while Sarah plants Kime’s 
  shoes near the north wall of the estate.
   
  ● Slate and Taylor leave: Both Slate and Taylor leave 
  abruptly – one might almost say suspiciously – in the early 
  hours of the morning. Slate was struck by inspiration, and 
  rode home despite the rain to write a poem about Mars. 
  Taylor heard that another of his debtors was in the neigh-
  borhood – see page 10.
  
  8
  Keeping Watch
  Paranoid player characters might stay up all 
  night or even try watching Kime’s room. For 
  the adventure to proceed, distract them. Pos-
  sible options:
   
  ● Felham-Hithe visits them with a bottle of 
  fine wine, either to thank them for attending or 
  to continue lobbying them for support.
   
  ● One of the maids takes exception to Dornet’s 
  advances, and screams.
   
  ● As a distraction, Robert sets fire to a pile of 
  rubbish on the far side of the house. When the 
  alarm is raised, everyone rushes to put out the 
  fire, leaving him free to act.
  Searching for Kime
  The next morning, Feltam-Hithe approaches the player 
  characters in a state of barely concealed alarm. Kime is 
  gone! The boy ran away during the night – and Earth is no 
  place for a weak Martian child. He begs the characters to 
  help him find Kime. There is no time to go to the police 
  (this is a half-truth – Feltam-Hithe is as concerned with 
  avoiding scandal and gossip as the dangers of delay).
  Checking Kime’s room reveals the following clues:
   
  ● The door was locked. Several of the staff have copies 
  of the key. Feltam-Hithe suggests that Kime must have 
  climbed out the window, but the window faces north and 
  there’s no water on the floor. If the window was opened, 
  the rain would have come pouring in.
   
  ● Kime’s sandals are missing, but the ornamental Martian 
  belt he wore is still hanging on the back of a chair.
   
  ● There’s a broken piece of china under the bed; Kime 
  drank a restorative cup of tea after returning to his room, 
  and the cup was broken in the struggle with the Bolmers.
  A search of the grounds quickly finds Kime’s sandals. The 
  obvious interpretation is that the Martian levitated out over 
  the wall, but again, the weather argues against that. Martian 
  levitation only negates gravity – Kime would have been 
  blown south, away from the wall, when he rose into the wind.
  Questioning the Guests
  The only remaining guests are Penn, Dornet and Plessis-
  Mornay, none of whom can shed any useful insight on the 
  mystery. Dornet angrily tries to deflect suspicion from his 
  own nocturnal activities by speculating that ‘batty’ Muriel 
  Slate could be involved, suggesting that her obsession with 
  Martian mysticism might have driven her to kidnapping 
  the child. Penn does not speculate, but makes it clear that 
  if Feltam-Hithe cannot find the boy, then the investor will 
  be unable to put his trust in any business proposals. Ples-
  sis-Mornay merely reminds the players that Kime nearly 
  died on the streets of London when he first arrived; if the 
  Martian did run away from home, he will likely perish 
  within a few days.
  Visiting Muriel Slate is a waste of valuable time. While 
  she lives only a short distance away from Feltam-Hithe’s 
  estate, she insists on reading her latest magnum opus to the 
  player characters. If asked, she speculates that Kime has 
  gone to the Himalayas to consult with the Secret Masters 
  of Theosophy. (And characters who follow a red herring 
  that big deserve every penny of their fares to Kathmandu.)
  Tracking down the moneylender Taylor requires a Street-
  wise check, and leads the characters to Crumlyn’s circus 
  (see p. 9) by a different route.
  Questioning the Staff
  The household staff all denies involvement. Keen-eyed 
  investigators, though, can uncover some clues pointing to 
  the involvement of Sarah Bolmer.
   
  ● Her brother Robert argued most disrespectfully with 
  the butler last night over pay. He was nowhere to be seen 
  this morning.
   
  ● Sarah was one of the staff entrusted with a key to 
  Kime‘s room.
   
  ● Sarah has a cold and runny nose, but showed no signs 
  of being ill last night – she was caught in the downpour 
  while helping her brother kidnap Kime.
   
  ● Mentioning Sarah Bolmer to Lord Feltam-Hithe elicits 
  an odd reaction. He takes the appropriate player character 
  aside and warns that Ms. Bolmer is prone to hysterical lies 
  and self-delusions, and that he employs her mainly out of 
  charity. Question her by all means, but be wary of putting 
  too much faith in anything she says.
  Questioning Sarah
  Sarah confesses almost immediately when confronted. 
  She admits to helping her brother kidnap the Martian boy. 
  Robert becomes terribly angry when drunk, and threatened 
  her if she did not help him. He wants to hurt Lord Feltam-
  Hithe, and spiriting Kime away was the best way to do that. 
  She made Robert swear that the boy would not be harmed.
  Robert, she tells them, can be found at home nearby.
  Questioning Robert
  The characters must rouse Robert by hammering on the door 
  for some time, or even forcing an entry - he got very drunk 
  after taking Kime, and is asleep in bed. Once he learns that his 
  sister confessed, he realizes there is no point in prevaricating 
  and admits his involvement. He also accuses Feltam-Hithe 
  of mistreating and dishonoring his sister by having improper 
  relations with her. Robert has no proof of this, and Sarah 
  denies everything for fear of losing her job.
  As regards the matter of the Martian, Robert says that 
  there’s a travelling carnival the next town over with a col-
  lection of curiosities and wonders, and that he sold the 
  Martian boy to the owner. That’s just what Feltam-Hithe 
  was doing with the boy, isn’t it?
  
  9
  The Circus
  The brightly painted sign outside now reads ‘THE WON-
  DERS OF THE AETHERS’ where once it read ‘MARVELS 
  OF THE FAR EAST’ and before that ‘CARNIVAL OF 
  THE GROTESQUE’, but the faded canvas tents remain 
  the same. Crumlyn’s circus is a travelling show of beasts 
  and monsters. Crumlyn changes the name to capitalize on 
  the latest craze, and these days that’s Mars. The animals 
  are all diseased and old; when they finally perish, Crumlyn 
  has them cut up, sews assorted bits together and pickles 
  them in brine as ‘the remains of fantastic monsters from 
  other planets’. 
  Despite the best and entirely scruple-free efforts of Crum-
  lyn, the circus is still losing money. He needs a new star 
  attraction - a genuine Martian boy. He already has a fake 
  Martian - a feeble-minded ten-year-old boy covered in 
  luminous paint - but the fake cannot fly. Crumlyn wants 
  Kime, and hired Robert Bolmer to kidnap him. Bolmer’s 
  grudge against Feltam-Hithe meant he was only too ready 
  to agree.
  The Switch
  Getting hold of Kime is only half of Crum-
  lyn’s plan. He knows that Feltam-Hithe’s men 
  or the police will certainly uncover Bolmer’s 
  involvement, or make a connection between 
  the vanished Kime and a circus that advertises 
  a flying Martian. Crumlyn’s plan is to discredit 
  anyone who accuses him of kidnapping Kime 
  by confusing the two Martian boys. He intends 
  to strenuously deny that Bolmer brought him a 
  Martian, and should the authorities force their 
  way in, Crumlyn can then present his painted 
  boy, making them look like fools, while Kime 
  is safely stowed away somewhere they will 
  never find him (see Smuggler’s Well, page 
  13). Once the attention dies down, he intends 
  to bring the circus to the continent, or perhaps 
  even the United States, where he will substitute 
  the genuine Martian for his ersatz boy.
  Once the characters start investigating Crum-
  lyn, he takes more direct measures to secure 
  Kime.
  At the Carnival
  When the characters arrive at the shoddy little circus, they 
  are met by two of Crumlyn’s workers, a pair of muscu-
  lar brutes with arms like corded pythons. One of them 
  grunts that the manager is ‘in a meeting’ and cannot be 
  disturbed; the other leers at any female player characters or 
  the meekest-looking male. The characters may wait there 
  for Crumlyn to finish his meeting (he is cloistered with 
  his creditor, Mr. Taylor), or wander around the carnival 
  while waiting. 
  These brutes – and their compatriots, if the player charac-
  ters are rough-and-tumble types who could easily overcome 
  just a pair of thugs – are the major obstacle blocking access 
  to Crumlyn and the circus. They are not easily amenable 
  to bribes, threats or other methods of social pressure; their 
  loyalty to their boss would be commendable were it not so 
  inconvenient for the player characters.
  Brutes
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 3 
  Dexterity: 2 
  Strength: 3 
   Charisma: 1 
  Intelligence: 1 
  Willpower: 2
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 5 
  Perception: 3  
   Initiative: 3 
  Defense: 5 
  Stun: 3 
   Health: 7
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Brawl 
  3 
  4 
  7 
  (3+) 
   Melee 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Intimidation 
  1 
  3 
  4 
  (2) 
   Stealth  
  2 
  2 
  4 
  (2) 
   Talents 
   Robust
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Punch 
  0 N 
  0 
  7 N 
  (3+) N 
   Cudgel 
  3 N 
  0 
  9 N 
  (4+) N
  There are three tents open to visitors:
   
  ● “TREASURES OF THE STARS” is a dark, musty 
  tent filled with dilapidated display cases purporting to hold 
  relics and weapons from other worlds. It‘s so poorly lit 
  that hardly any details can be discerned, making it slightly 
  harder to prove that everything in there is fake. At least the 
  shadows hide the thin wires holding the ‚Martian liftwood 
  galleon‘ aloft. There is a cheap copy of an Edison Lumi-
  niferous Coil, a gadget that produces an eerie electric glow 
  like St. Elmo‘s fire when activated.
   
  ● The second tent, “SAVAGE BEASTS FROM THE 
  OUTER PLANETS” smells even worse. Most of the sav-
  age beasts are already dead, and float suspended in brine 
  in large glass tanks. They are stitched-together fakes with 
  thoroughly implausible names - wonder at the Martian 
  Crocophant or the Venusian Fire Snake. Sturdy steel cages 
  contain living animals, which are Earth animals disguised 
  to appear alien. One cage holds a shaved gorilla that shiv-
  ers in the cold English climate; a painted tiger prowls back 
  and forth in another.
   
  ● The third tent advertises “STRANGERS FROM BE-
  YOND”, and it’s home to three ‘alien visitors’ – a ‘Martian 
  Prince’, a ‘Pasha of Venus’ and a ‘Dog Boy of Saturn’. 
  Each of these three supposed extra-terrestrials has a little 
  booth to sit in, with a glass screen to protect them from the 
  
  10
  crowds. The backdrop of each booth is painted with a 
  fanciful scene from the appropriate planet, and Crumlyn 
  provided props for each of his freaks. 
  The Martian Prince’s booth is empty – Crumlyn’s 
  intellectually disabled fake Martian is hidden in another 
  tent, having his luminous paint touched up. The other 
  two booths are occupied, and the characters may talk 
  to the occupants.
  The Dog Boy of Saturn
  The ‘Dog Boy’ is actually Bob Trent. He suffers from 
  mild hypertrichosis, a medical condition that causes 
  excessive hair growth. Augmented with make-up and 
  fake fur, he made his living as a ‘werewolf’ or ‘ape-
  man’ in freak shows across Europe and America. Now 
  that the imagination of the public has been captured 
  instead by alien worlds, Trent has followed the trend 
  and now pretends to be a visitor from Saturn. He still 
  slips back into his old werewolf routine when he forgets 
  his extra-terrestrial backstory, which usually happens 
  when he’s drunk. Trent is a bitter, mean alcoholic. He 
  is loyal to Crumlyn, who keeps him supplied with gin. 
  If questioned, Trent quickly becomes abusive, but not 
  before he confirms that Crumlyn has had a Martian boy 
  for months. Once he lets his Saturnian mask slip, Trent 
  even admits that the Martian boy is just some local ‘idiot 
  boy’ painted up to look like an alien.
  The Pasha of Venus
  The other two aliens are, respectively, a painted child and a 
  hairy man, but the Pasha appears genuinely alien. It is only 
  with close examination that the characters realize that they 
  are looking at a tremendously misshapen human. This is 
  John Merrick, better known as the ‘Elephant Man’. Mer-
  rick’s speech is extremely hard to understand due to his 
  deformed jaw, so speaking with him is almost impossible. 
  He communicates mainly by gestures and by pointing at 
  a few English words painted on the booth in front of him 
  (YES, NO, the cardinal directions and the numbers 1–10).
  When the characters try to talk to him, Trent shouts at 
  them to talk to him instead, claiming that the Elephant 
  Man is another imbecile like the Martian boy, and can’t 
  speak English. 
  Merrick is effectively a prisoner in the carnival. Crumlyn 
  has his men beat Merrick if the poor man tries to escape 
  or fails to perform his role as the cryptic Pasha of Venus, 
  which involves reading cards and miming fortune-telling 
  for the crowds. 
  If the characters treat Merrick kindly, he scribbles a note 
  on a scrap of paper and slips it to them while offering to 
  read their fortune. The note reads ‘MEET TONIGHT – I 
  KNOW BOY.’
  Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man
  In real history, the Elephant Man was Joseph 
  Merrick, although his name was erroneously 
  recorded as ‘John’ in some early reports. In 
  1886, while touring Europe with a freak show, 
  Merrick was abandoned by his manager. He 
  returned to England, but had no money and no 
  way of returning home to Leicester. He was 
  rescued by Dr. Frederick Treves and spent his 
  remaining years in the London Hospital, where 
  he died in 1890.
  In the Space: 1889 universe, instead of being 
  rescued by Treves, Merrick was collected by 
  the unscrupulous Crumlyn.
  Creditors
  After an hour, James Taylor leaves Crumlyn’s caravan. 
  The characters may intercept and question Taylor if they 
  wish; he brusquely tells them that he had business with Mr. 
  Crumlyn, who borrowed a sum of money from Taylor; he 
  wished to check on the state of his investment. 
  
  11
  Crumlyn then emerges to greet the player characters. The 
  owner is a big man with a thick country accent, although 
  that accent vanishes when he performs as a barker or im-
  presario to attract people into his carnival. When talking to 
  the player characters, he is careful never to give offence or 
  threaten them in any way - his plan for throwing investiga-
  tors off Kime’s trail depends on Crumlyn acting impeccably 
  until his enemies overplay their hands. If questioned about 
  the Martian boy, Crumlyn claims:
  He has a Martian boy in his carnival. Of course it’s a 
  genuine Martian. All his attractions are genuine.
  If pressed, he admits that none of the attractions are 
  genuine, but asks that the characters not tell anyone. He 
  sells ‘dreams and inspirations’ to a public hungry for news 
  from Mars and the farther reaches of the Solar System.
  He knows Robert Bolmer, and Sarah Bolmer too. He 
  grew up in this area.
  Bolmer has worked in the carnival from time to time, 
  but is not presently employed there. Crumlyn fired Bolmer 
  for drunkenness, and hints that Bolmer holds a grudge 
  against him. Why, no doubt Bolmer would say anything to 
  discredit Crumlyn. (A successful Empathy check suggests 
  that Crumlyn is lying.)
  He has heard that Lord Feltam-Hithe has a pet Martian, 
  but has never seen the boy.
  If the characters demand to see Crumlyn’s Martian, then 
  Crumlyn smugly tells them that the boy is not currently 
  on display, and that they will have to come back to the 
  carnival in a few weeks when he will be performing again. 
  If the characters press the issue, then Crumlyn retorts that 
  they have no right to come into his home and shout wild 
  accusations about him and his business! If they want to 
  see the Martian boy, then they can go and get a policeman! 
  Crumlyn 
   Archetype: Criminal  
  Motivation: Greed 
   Style: 2 
   
  Health: 7
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 3 
  Dexterity: 2 
  Strength: 2 
   Charisma: 5 
  Intelligence: 2 
  Willpower: 4
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 4 (8) 
  Perception: 7 
   Initiative: 5 
  Defense: 5 
  Stun: 3
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Animal Handling 
  5 
  2 
  7 
  (3+) 
   Brawl 
  2 
  0 
  2 
  (1) 
   Bureaucracy 
  2 
  2 
  4 
  (2) 
   Con 
  5 
  6 
  11 
  (5+) 
   Firearms 
  2 
  2 
  4 
  (2) 
   Performance 
  5 
  4  
  9 
  (4+) 
   Streetwise 
  5 
  5 
  10 
  (5) 
   Talents  
   Run, Captivate 
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Pocket Revolver 
  2 L 
  0 
  6 L 
  (3) L 
   Punch 
  0 N 
  0 
  2 N 
  (1) N
  Should one of the characters happen to be a policeman, 
  then Crumlyn warns that he knows the local magistrate, 
  and will make trouble for the character if he tries to enter 
  the carnival without proof that the missing Martian is on 
  the premises. Similar carnivals and freak shows have been 
  harassed by the police in recent years, so Crumlyn may 
  accuse the policeman of being on an unlawful crusade 
  against him.
  A successful Empathy or Diplomacy roll suggests that 
  Crumlyn’s anger is feigned, and that he is deliberately 
  trying to bait the characters into escalating the situation.
  Searching the Carnival
  With Crumlyn refusing to co-operate, the characters need 
  to decide how they will continue to investigate the carnival. 
  Some obvious options:
   
  ● Going to the police: It is the word of the player char-
  acters – and possibly that of an untrustworthy, thieving 
  drunk like Robert Bolmer – against that of Crumlyn, and 
  while Crumlyn is far from an upstanding member of society, 
  the police will need a little more to justify a search of the 
  carnival. A successful Bureaucracy roll or the word of a 
  player character of sufficient stature can tip the balance. 
  This leads to The False Martian (p. 12) and The Clue 
  in the Caravan (p. 12).
   
  ● Going to Lord Feltam-Hithe: Lord Feltam-Hithe is 
  initially incensed at the thought that his Martian is being 
  held in some filthy carnival, and promises his full support. 
  Soon afterwards, however, he is contacted by James Taylor, 
  who threatens to call in Feltam-Hithe’s debts if the lord 
  continues to harass Crumlyn’s circus. Caught between his 
  desire to recover Kime, and his financial security, Feltam-
  Hithe chooses the latter, and withdraws his support from the 
  player characters. If, for example, they went to the police 
  or demanded entrance on the strength of Feltam-Hithe’s 
  name, the characters suddenly find themselves abandoned 
  by their patron. 
   
  ● Sneaking In: During the day, the circus is guarded, 
  making sneaking in difficult (Hard Stealth). At night, it’s 
  easier to move around (Easy Stealth), but also more danger-
  ous. This can lead to Merrick’s Testimony (p. 12), The 
  Clue in the Caravan (p. 12) and Fire in the Tents (p. 12).
   
  ● Entrance by Force: Breaking into the circus means 
  dealing with Crumlyn’s thugs. Assuming the player charac-
  ters don’t use lethal force, Crumlyn steps in to stop the fight 
  by revealing The False Martian (p. 12); if the characters 
  have foolishly drawn firearms and Crumlyn feels that his 
  life is in danger, skip straight to Fire in the Tents (p. 12).
   
  ● Watching Crumlyn: Putting Crumlyn under surveil-
  lance means fending off complaints from Lord Feltam-
  Hithe that the characters are being idle and negligent in 
  not pursuing the search for Kime. However, if they hold to 
  their plan and succeed with a Perception check, they are 
  rewarded with the sight of Crumlyn gathering the materials 
  described in The Clue in the Caravan (p. 12). He then 
  heads towards Smuggler’s Well.
  
  12
   
  ● Investigating Crumlyn: Asking around in the locality 
  with Streetwise, or interrogating Bolmer, turns up the fact 
  that Crumlyn was a thief and fence in his younger days. 
  In fact, there’s a place near his old family farm called 
  Smuggler’s Well, where smugglers hid their stolen goods 
  in previous centuries.
  The False Martian
  When he believes the characters have overextended them-
  selves, or if circumstances force him to act, Crumlyn brings 
  out his ‘Martian Prince’ – Albert Jones. The boy is in his 
  early teens, but has a mental age of around four. He can 
  speak only in simple sentences. His head is shaved and his 
  skin painted in luminescent paint; when dressed up in fake 
  Martian robes and seated in his booth in the carnival, he 
  might be impressive enough, but he is absolutely absurd 
  in the light of day. 
  Crumlyn pillories the player characters if they broke into 
  the circus or called the police. How stupid must they be to 
  think that this idiot boy could be a genuine Martian? He 
  does his best to humiliate them, especially if they brought 
  the authorities to his door. 
  If the characters refuse to leave, then Crumlyn orders his 
  men to throw them out – and if a fight ensues, then Crumlyn 
  panics – run Fire in the Tents (see below) to cover his 
  retreat as he flees to Smuggler’s Well.
  Merrick's Testimony
  Speaking to the former Elephant Man alone requires subter-
  fuge (to avoid the attention of Merrick’s keepers) or stealth 
  (to creep past the snoring Dog-Man) and a lot of patience 
  as the characters wait for Merrick to communicate by note. 
  Merrick’s laboriously written notes reveal:
   
  ● Crumlyn’s ‘Martian boy’ is a clumsy fake.
   
  ● He overheard C(rumlyn) and B(olmer) talking about 
  Kime several nights ago.
   
  ● Crumlyn went out last night, and again this morning. 
  Both times, he first visited the supply caravan at the back 
  of the circus.
   
  ● Crumlyn promised the moneylender Taylor that he had 
  hit on a solution to make a fortune, and Merrick suspects 
  that Crumlyn has indeed kidnapped Kime and is hiding 
  him nearby.
   
  ● Crumlyn is a dangerous man. He beats anyone who 
  crosses him.
  For added peril, run Fire in the Tents (see below) at 
  this point. Otherwise, the trail leads to The Clue in the 
  Caravan.
  The Clue in the Caravan
  Hidden in a brightly painted toy-box in one caravan is a 
  curious collection of items. There’s a knotted rope, one 
  end of which is tied into a loop, the other end is damp as 
  if it trailed recently in water, along with some wrapped 
  parcels of food, a burlap sack, a soiled tablecloth from 
  Feltam-Hithe’s dinner party, and a pair of manacles. In 
  the sack, the characters find a shard of china that matches 
  the broken tea-cup from Kime’s room. All circumstantial 
  evidence, but it certainly points towards Crumlyn being 
  involved in Kime’s kidnapping.
  A successful Investigate check, or showing the rope to 
  any local, points the character towards Smuggler’s Well.
  Fire in the Tents
  This peril occurs if Crumlyn’s attempts to dissuade in-
  vestigation fail, or if the characters break into the circus 
  during the night. To Crumlyn, Kime is worth more than 
  any of his other attractions, and it is worth sacrificing them 
  to secure the genuine Martian.
  Therefore, when the characters trespass in the circus, he 
  overloads the Edison Luminiferous Coil in the first tent. 
  Arcs of electricity leap and spark, igniting the dry canvas. 
  Soon, the fire reaches the tent containing the animals and 
  they panic. Their cages are made of steel, but the clasps 
  holding the doors closed are nothing but loops of old rope 
  that soon catch fire, freeing the terrified beasts. The mad-
  dened animals attack everything around them, including 
  the player characters.
  The three booths containing the dog-faced Bob Trent, 
  John Merrick and (if present) the fake Martian Albert Jones 
  are all locked, so the characters must force them open to 
  save the occupants from being trampled or torn apart.
  Gorilla 
   Animal Companion 2  
   
   Archetype: Animal 
   
  Health: 8
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 5 
  Dexterity: 3 
  Strength: 5 
   Charisma: 1 
  Intelligence: 1 
  Willpower: 3
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 8 (16) 
  Perception: 4 
   Initiative: 4 
  Defense: 8 
  Stun: 5
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Brawl 
  5 
  3 
  8 
  (4) 
   Empathy 
  1 
  1 
  2 
  (1) 
   Stealth 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Survival 
  1 
  3 
  6 
  (3)
   Talents 
   Skill Aptitude (+2 Survival rating) 
   Climb (double Move rating)
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Bite 
  0 L 
  0 
  8 L 
  (4) L 
   Punch 
  0 N 
  0 
  8 N 
  (4) N
  
  13
  Tiger
   Animal Companion 2  
   
   Archetype: Animal 
   
  Health: 7
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 3 
  Dexterity: 5 
  Strength: 3 
   Charisma: 0 
  Intelligence: 0 
  Willpower: 4
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 8 (16)* 
  Perception: 6 
   Initiative: 5 
  Defense: 8 
  Stun: 3
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Athletics 
  3 
  5 
  8 
  (4) 
   Brawl 
  3 
  5 
  8 
  (4) 
   Stealth 
  5 
  1 
  6 
  (3) 
   Survival 
  0 
  4 
  6 
  (3) 
   Talents 
   Alertness (+2 Perception rating) 
   
   Skill Aptitude (+2 Survival rating)
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Bite 
  0 L 
  0 
  8 L 
  (4) L 
   Claw 
  0 L 
  0 
  8 L 
  (4) L
   *Creatures with four or more legs double their Move rating when 
  running
  Optionally, if the characters threatened or attacked Crum-
  lyn earlier, then he might have stationed some of his brutes 
  outside the tents, armed with cudgels, to murder anyone 
  who escapes the animals. Should the characters survive, 
  they can interrogate one of these scoundrels to learn where 
  Crumlyn has gone – to Smuggler’s Well.
  Spreading Fire
  The fire inflicts 3 L caus-
  tic damage if a character is 
  hurled into the flames, and 1 L 
  caustic damage per round if a 
  character is close to the infer-
  no but not actually touching 
  it. At the start of the fight, the 
  fire is still far enough away 
  that the characters are safe 
  from on-going damage, but 
  it comes closer every round, 
  and starts doing damage after 
  three combat rounds.
  Smuggler's Well
  Smuggler’s Well is in a small 
  copse of trees a few minutes’ 
  walk outside the circus. The 
  main train line to London 
  runs close by the little wood. 
  A few ruined cottages, long 
  abandoned to the elements, 
  stare blindly from the edge of the woods at the trains as 
  they steam by. 
  If Crumlyn is still at large and knows that the player 
  characters are on their way to Smuggler’s Well, he races 
  there in the hopes of grabbing Kime before they get there. 
  If Crumlyn is already in custody, or if the player charac-
  ters manage to discover Kime’s prison without alerting 
  his jailer, then they can explore the wood and Smuggler’s 
  Well unimpeded by a greedy circus-owner waving a pistol.
  The well is an old stone well. There is an opening about 
  half-way down the shaft that leads into a small hidden 
  chamber. In past centuries, smugglers, thieves, and poach-
  ers used this chamber to stash their ill-gotten goods; they 
  would lower themselves down on the well rope and clamber 
  through the opening. These days, Smuggler’s Well is a half-
  forgotten bit of local color; tree-roots broke through into the 
  chamber and partially collapsed it, leaving only a cramped 
  space scarcely big enough for a single person to squeeze 
  into. This is where Crumlyn left the Martian boy. For good 
  measure, Crumlyn manacled Kime to keep him trapped.
  When the characters find Smuggler’s Well, it is empty. 
  The Martian is gone.
  If Crumlyn is still at large, he arrives at this point. He 
  threatens the characters with his pistol, and accuses them of 
  stealing his livelihood. The characters may be able to talk 
  him down with an Intimidation roll (difficulty 5; difficulty 
  3 if they reveal that Kime has escaped); otherwise, they 
  must overpower him. Fortunately, Crumlyn is a poor shot 
  and is so focused on the well and the prize he believes to 
  be hidden within that the characters can easily flank him. 
  And what of the missing Kime? Clearly, he wriggled 
  free of his manacles, which dropped into the still black 
  waters at the base of the well. If the characters dive into the 
  pool, they find no sign of the 
  Martian having drowned. The 
  interior of the well shaft is 
  too damp and sheer to climb. 
  The obvious (and correct) 
  answer is that he levitated 
  out, although that must have 
  required a tremendous effort. 
  The characters saw at Feltam-
  Hithe’s party that just rising a 
  foot off the ground exhausted 
  Kime; what did flying twenty 
  feet up the well do to him? 
  More to the point, where is 
  he now?
  The noise of a steam train 
  passing the wood startles the 
  crows, but may inspire the 
  players to make a deductive 
  leap. If not, searching around 
  discovers four-toed Martian 
  footprints in the mud, heading 
  in the direction of the rail line. 
  Kime is on a freight train to 
  London.
  
  14
  To London!
  If Feltam-Hithe’s involvement with Taylor was revealed, 
  then the penitent lord admits he is in debt to the money-
  lender. If asked, he also admits that he dishonored his maid, 
  Sarah Bolmer, and that her brother’s grudge against him 
  is entirely justified. However, Kime should not suffer for 
  Feltam-Hithe’s sins; he asks the characters to pursue the 
  Martian boy to London. Once recovered, Feltam-Hithe will 
  pay for Kime’s passage back to Mars. 
  The nearest train station is not on the express sched-
  ules; the next train to depart from that station to London 
  does not leave for several hours. The characters can take 
  Feltam-Hithe’s coach to Reading and catch a train there, 
  which is slightly faster, but Kime still has a head start of 
  several hours – and even a Martian can vanish in a city of 
  five million souls.
  The Dock-Workers Strike
  In the present moment, even a prodigy like a Martian would 
  not be enough to draw the attention of the capital away 
  from the unfolding situation on the docks. On the 14th 
  of August, a dispute broke out between dockworkers and 
  the dock companies and ship-owners over bonus pay for 
  unloading the Lady Armstrong at the West India Docks. 
  At the time, the common practice was for a dock to have 
  a ‘call-in’ every few hours, where the foreman would call 
  out for dockers. There was no guarantee of employment 
  or number of hours; the dock-workers had to wait around 
  for a call-in, and might get no work at all on some days. 
  Pay was poor and conditions harsh. 
  The dispute over the Lady Armstrong grew into the big-
  gest strike in London’s history. More than 130,000 dockers 
  and other laborers went on strike, bringing overseas and 
  interplanetary trade in the capital to a standstill. At the 
  time when Kime and the player characters arrive in Lon-
  don, the strike balances on a knife-edge – the dockers are 
  starving, but sympathy for the workers is growing among 
  the public and many of the ship-owners and politicians 
  now speak about a negotiated settlement, which would 
  be a tremendous victory for organized labor. Only a small 
  core of hold-outs block the opening of talks, arguing that 
  if they just hold out a little longer, hunger and deprivation 
  will break the strike and avoid any expensive increase in 
  the rates paid to workers. 
  The city is in turmoil. The Thames is choked with ships 
  waiting to be unloaded. Picket lines are everywhere; strikers 
  clash with scabs and strikebreakers. Idle dockers turn to 
  crime to get money to feed their families. Sheets hang from 
  every window in some neighborhoods – a sign declaring 
  that the man of the house is on strike, so there is no point 
  in the landlord looking for rent. Dock-workers occupy 
  the liftwood-reinforced South Aerial Docks (see page 16) 
  that hover over Rotherhithe, and have threatened to set the 
  whole complex on fire.
  Finding Kime
  Kime stowed away on board a freight train from Ports-
  mouth. Some of the freighters that were bound for London’s 
  docklands instead went to other ports along the south coast, 
  to have their cargoes transferred to rail or canal transport. 
  This particular freight train, therefore, was loaded with 
  cargo that should have gone through London, and when 
  it arrived at the stockyard strike sympathizers attacked it. 
  Investigating (likely by buying a round of drinks in the 
  nearest pub) the characters learn that a ‘Martian beggar-boy’ 
  was seen in the melee around the train, although no-one is 
  sure if he was on the train when it arrived, or came with 
  the mob of angry dockers.
  Rumors of Kime
  Ask the players how they intend to find one Martian boy 
  in a city of five million people. Any reasonable suggestion 
  – offering a reward for information, gathering rumors at 
  the docks, contacting the police, scanning the newspapers 
  for a mention – will eventually turn up rumors of Kime. 
  Unless the players are astoundingly prompt, this will take 
  several days’ worth of investigation and research.
  The characters unearth confused reports of an ‘Angel 
  of the Docks’ who has become a rallying symbol for the 
  dock-workers. According to these stories, this mysteri-
  ous flying figure first appeared above a picket line near 
  Rotherhithe and attempted to read to the assembled crowds, 
  although high winds and shouts of amazement drowned out 
  whatever the ‘angel’ was trying to preach. On subsequent 
  appearances, the ‘angel’ remained silent, but his presence 
  – ethereal, unearthly, even holy – is a source of inspiration 
  for the strikers.
  From these reports, the characters can guess that Kime is 
  somewhere near the South Aerial Docks. The same reports 
  mention violence and even anarchist bombs in that area. 
  Apparently, some of the most committed supporters of the 
  strike operate from there.
  Searching for Aid
  The characters can go straight to Rotherhithe and the Aerial 
  Docks if they wish (see To the Aerial Docks, p. 16), but 
  will need to work out their own methods of getting onto the 
  flying platform. However, they may have allies or contacts 
  in London who can be of aid. Consider these three figures 
  – are any of them potential past associates of the player 
  characters? Optionally, pick a player character and tell the 
  player that they know one of the NPCs – the player must 
  then describe which NPC they know, and how they came 
  to make their acquaintance.
  Cardinal Manning is a cardinal of the Catholic Church 
  and archbishop of Westminster, making him the head of 
  the Catholic Church in England. He was a member of the 
  Church of England until he converted in 1851. At the time 
  of this scenario he is eighty-one years old, but still a force to 
  
  15
  be reckoned with. Historically, Manning was instrumental 
  in settling the dock strike, as both sides were willing to 
  accept his mediation. 
  Manning has heard of the so-called ‘Angel of the Docks’ 
  and has guessed correctly that it is not supernatural at all. 
  His agents on the docks believe that this ‘angel’ is staying 
  with a Communist group called the Labour League. This 
  group were responsible for taking over the Aerial Docks, 
  but have lost control of both the situation and the flying 
  platform. Manning believes that the docks are going to be 
  a flashpoint for violence, and that if the characters intend 
  to rescue Kime, they had better act quickly. He can provide 
  them with a guide, Father Kilgore, whose parish is in the 
  shadow of the aerial docks.
  Everett Clyde is a ship-owner and industrialist, and one 
  of the owners of the Aerial Docks. He considers himself 
  a patriot, and believes that the striking dock-workers are 
  committing treason against the British crown. Every day 
  that the docks stay closed is another day that the Empire 
  falls behind her continental rivals in the great race, and as 
  for the threat to the Aerial Docks – why, that is sabotage, 
  plain and simple!
  He intends to reclaim the Aerial Docks by force. He has 
  prepared a military force of strike-breakers and soldiers 
  who are ready to storm the Aerial Docks from a private 
  flying ship. Why, if the strikers do not surrender, Clyde 
  vows to drive them off the platform at bayonet-point! The 
  splatter of their bodies on the rooftops below will drum out 
  a message to the rest of the traitors! See Clyde’s Counter-
  attack down below.
  Clyde has spies on board the Aerial Docks, and they have 
  reported the presence of a Martian on board. This Martian 
  has become a rallying symbol for the dockers, and has 
  therefore been designated a secondary target in Clyde’s 
  plan to retake the docks. If the characters wish, they may 
  join Clyde’s counter-attack; otherwise, they must race to 
  rescue Kime before he is killed in the attack.
  Bleaker – no first name, no title, no ‘Mr.’, just Bleaker – 
  is an unlicensed private detective and fixer in the London 
  underworld. He knows everyone in the East End, and can 
  get into anywhere. He has seen Kime, and knows exactly 
  where he is hiding – up on the Aerial Docks! Bleaker warns 
  that that is the worst place in all London to be tonight – he’s 
  heard that the dock-owners are going to try to break the 
  strike by force, and the Aerial Docks are the first target. 
  Bleaker can guide the characters and even get them onto 
  the docks, but it won’t be cheap. £50 will buy access to 
  a balloon that’s hidden in the Rotherhithe docks. If the 
  characters cannot afford that – and there is no time to wire 
  Feltam-Hithe for the money – then Bleaker offers a compro-
  mise. There’s a warehouse on the Aerial Docks containing 
  Martian liftwood. If the characters can fetch some of that, 
  it’ll pay their debt and be a tidy profit for both sides.
  Into Rotherhithe
  Without a guide, the first challenge is to navigate the alley-
  ways and back streets of the docklands without attracting 
  undue attention. This requires a Streetwise roll; failure 
  means the characters are spotted and treated according to 
  their social class. If obviously wealthy, then a mob sur-
  rounds them, begging for money to buy food and telling 
  stories of how there is no work to be had for a fair price. 
  If the characters appear well-armed, they are mistaken for 
  strike-breakers and have stones hurled at them from the 
  rooftops and alleyways. If poor, then the characters are 
  met by a picket line to ensure they are not scabs, and must 
  bluff their way past.
  The second problem is actually getting onto the Aerial 
  Docks. Two methods are described below; characters with-
  out a guide must find their own way up.
  Bleaker’s balloon is hidden in the garden shed attached 
  to a workshop owned by an inventor named Jeremiah 
  Buckley. The balloon is an experimental self-inflating 
  prototype – as Buckley instructs, all they need do is light the 
  ignition cord, and the folded balloon will inflate itself and 
  rise out of the storage crate it’s kept in. Buckley’s workshop 
  contains many other examples of the inventor’s question-
  able genius. For example, there are many prototypes of his 
  current project, a self-heating food can intended for use 
  by the British military. Currently, the self-heating element 
  works as a beef-flavored incendiary grenade instead of 
  providing piping-hot warm stew (light-fingered characters 
  can borrow a self-heating can or two with a Larceny test; 
  treat them as nitro-glycerine charges). Despite its uncertain 
  provenance, the balloon is quite functional and can carry 
  the characters aloft.
  Once the characters meet Father Kilgore, he shows them 
  to a church with a tall steeple. They follow him up a narrow 
  winding stairs to the very top of the spire. Kilgore explains 
  that there are some trailing lines from the Aerial Docks that 
  sometimes brush against the steeple when the wind is right. 
  All the characters need to do is catch the flying rope, then 
  clamber up it to the docks above.
  Clyde's Counterattack
  Everett Clyde’s men mount their counterattack from a 
  private dock north of the river. His strike team consists of 
  some hundred men crammed into a small liftwood ship, 
  the Hotspur. The ship also carries a specially built pump-
  ing apparatus. 
  Most of the crew are former marines, or dockworkers 
  who have some grudge against their fellows. Clyde’s plan 
  is to land at the Aerial Docks and drop off the marines. 
  The Hotspur will then circle over the river and drop down 
  a long leather hose into the water. Should the marines be 
  unable to capture the Aerial Docks before the strikers carry 
  out their threat to set fire to the structure, the Hotspur will 
  spray water from the river on the blaze in the hopes of 
  bringing it under control. 
  
  16
  The commander of this wholly private and likely illegal 
  operation is Captain Greenaway (stats see Leaders of the 
  Strike-Breakers, p. 20), a veteran of many expeditions to 
  the East. Greenaway shares Clyde’s view that the strikes 
  put the Empire in jeopardy, but is confident that he can 
  recapture the dock without ‘undue’ loss of life. As a reward 
  for leading the attack, Clyde has promised Greenaway a 
  well-paid posting on Mars as the company’s troubleshooter.
  Strikebreaker 
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 3 
  Dexterity: 3 
  Strength: 3 
   Charisma: 1 
  Intelligence: 2 
  Willpower: 3 
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 6 
  Perception: 5 
   Initiative: 5 
  Defense: 6  
  Stun: 3 
   Health: 6
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Athletics 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Firearms 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Gunnery 
  2 
  3 
  5 
  (2+) 
   Melee  
  3 
  4 
  7 
  (3+) 
   Pilot 
  4 
  3 
  7 
  (3+)
   Talents 
   Dodge, Mobile Attack
   Flaws 
   Overconfident 
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Cutlass 
  3 L 
  0 
  10 L 
  (5) L 
   Pistol 
  3 L 
  0 
  9 L 
  (4+) L
  To the Aerial Docks
  The South Aerial Docks are elephantine monstrosities 
  of commerce that will dominate the London skyline for 
  generations. A frame of wood makes up the skeleton of 
  the structure, with liftwood panels and hydrogen-filled 
  buoyancy balloons incorporated to lift the platform into 
  the air. The docks are designed to receive goods from both 
  terrestrial and aerial ships. Flying ships and zeppelins can 
  moor at the edges of the Aerial Docks, while goods from 
  ships on the river or even from train-cars and canal-boats 
  can be winched up via ‘skyhook’. These skyhooks consist 
  of open squares lined with winches, which allow for mov-
  ing goods up or down the aerial docks. The dock platform 
  itself supports warehouses as well as workshops and offices. 
  The entire construction is tied to the ground with steel 
  cables to prevent it from drifting away. The cables, how-
  ever, are not strained, in order to make the structure more 
  flexible and allow for it to react to blast of winds or other 
  agitations.
  Access to the Aerial Docks was by flying ship or by 
  stairs, but the specially-built hydraulic access stairs was 
  damaged by the strikers and is currently some thirty feet 
  short of being able to connect with the ground.
  Since their completion, the Aerial Docks have been a 
  source of discontent to the dock workers, as they must pay 
  a half-penny to use the access stairs, and going to a call-in 
  on the ‘Up End’ means potentially spending half a penny 
  and still getting no work that day. To avoid the cost, many 
  dockers took to sleeping on the Aerial Docks, and even built 
  shacks and other temporary housing on unused parts of the 
  superstructure. Now, there are tenements and flophouses 
  balanced precariously high above London. 
  When the strike broke out, the Aerial Docks were seized 
  by workers under the direction of the Labour League.
  (You will find a map of the Aerial Docks on the next page 
  and in the Appendix on p. 27).
  The L abour League
  The League is a small coterie of revolutionary Marxists, 
  mostly rebellious sons of the petit bourgeoisie. They believe 
  that the dock-workers strike is a flowering of revolutionary 
  consciousness among the proletariat, and that while it may 
  have begun as a dispute over wages, it can be leveraged into 
  a full-blown Marxist reformation of society. The League is 
  well-meaning but largely irrelevant – their one good idea 
  was seizing control of the Aerial Docks.
  Kime ended up in the hands of the Labour League. He 
  was exhausted and injured after his escape from Crumlyn’s 
  prison and his journey to London, and was found uncon-
  scious on the train by one of the strikers. Bertram Jarnel, 
  
  17
  one of the League members, is a physician by trade, and 
  the strikers brought Kime to him for treatment.
  Since recovering consciousness in London, Kime has 
  been surrounded by Marxist thoughts and ideals, and has 
  come to agree with many of their theories. He attempted 
  to read an extract from ‘Das Kapital’ to the strikers, but 
  succeeded only in becoming a symbol of resistance to them.
  Meeting Kime
  There are two likely scenarios that lead to the characters 
  meeting Kime.
  1. They sneak onto the Aerial Docks (via Bleaker’s bal-
  loon or Fr. Kilgore’s church spire, or by other means). 
  They then find Kime at the Labour League’s headquarters 
  minutes before Clyde’s offensive arrives.
  2. They accompany Clyde’s assault, and rush ahead of 
  the marines to find Kime.
  The following text assumes the former scenario; if the 
  characters arrive with the marines, run Strike-Breakers 
  (page 18) first, then return to this section. 
  The Labour League’s headquarters on the docks is located 
  in what was the foreman’s office, near the middle of the 
  structure. A reinforced ‘cage’ hangs outside the office – dur-
  ing call-ins, the foreman would stand in this cage to protect 
  him from the crowds of work-hungry dockers. 
  Assuming the characters reach the Aerial Docks without 
  attracting too much attention, they can easily make their 
  way through the docks to the Labour League. At the start 
  of the strike, the Aerial Docks were crowded with strikers 
  and supporters, but most of this mob has melted away as 
  workers return home to the city below. Now, the only inhab-
  itants of the Aerial Docks are those few families who live 
  in the precarious shanty village, the most militant strikers 
  who are spoiling for a fight, and the Labour League. Most 
  of those who remain on board spend their days watching 
  for intruders or trawling for food from below – they lower 
  down fishing lines, and supporters in the streets hook bas-
  kets of bread and cheese on to sustain the strikers above. 
  Once the characters get past the outer perimeter, they can 
  proceed to the Labour League’s office unhindered.
  Aerial Docks
  1: (Damaged) hydraulic access stairs
  2: Shipyard for aerial flyers
  3: Shipyard for airships
  4: Warehouses
  5: Lighthouse and control tower
  6: Foreman’s office
  7: Workshops and dockers’ housings
  
  18
  There, they encounter Bertram Jarnel and the other 
  Marxists, who are eager to explain that there is no super-
  natural ‘Angel of the Docks’, but that the flying figure is 
  in fact an eager Martian student of Marxist thought. They 
  also seek news from the city below – how are the strike 
  negotiations proceeding? Have the bourgeoisie retreated? 
  Is there any news of support from overseas?
  Once their curiosity is satisfied – or if the characters 
  threaten them with weapons – they show the characters 
  into the office to meet Kime.
  The quarry they have chased across England perches 
  on a high stool, surrounded by books and pamphlets. He 
  clutches a mug of cold tea, and looks paler and sicklier than 
  he did at Feltam-Hithe’s dinner, but his eyes are bright and 
  fired with a new purpose. 
  In conversation, Kime can describe his adventures since 
  he was kidnapped from the mansion, and how he came to 
  be here in this unlikely company. If told that Feltam-Hithe 
  is willing to send Kime back to Mars, the boy agrees that 
  it would be best if he returned to his native world – he has 
  seen enough of hot, wet Earth, and longs for the red deserts 
  and antique canals of his youth. However, Kime asks to be 
  allowed to remain in London until the tide of events turns 
  to favor the strikers.
  Good sirs, until quite recently, I believed myself to be 
  the most wretched creature on the face of this planet. I 
  lay in the darkness, cold and damp and bound by chains, 
  contemplating a future of forced servitude with no hope of 
  escape save by death – but I held onto hope, and by hope 
  I was delivered. 
  I see now that I am the sole creature on Earth who is truly 
  liberated. I am a man with no family, no history, no nation 
  and no religion. I am free even of the bonds of gravity! I 
  have no entanglements save those I choose to accept – and 
  I have chosen to help those oppressed by society.
  Now, it is within your power to deny me that freedom, 
  and force me to go with you. I ask you, sirs, to let me fly one 
  more time, to be a symbol of liberation for all the suffering 
  masses of your world. 
  Jarnel points out that other dockers’ unions are rumored 
  to be collecting money for the support of the strike, money 
  that could be used to buy food and other necessities to keep 
  the strike going through the winter. The dockers of London 
  need only endure for a few days’ more – one more flight 
  by Kime could make the difference.
  If the characters agree to let Kime fly again, then they 
  must protect him when Clyde’s strike-breakers attack. If 
  they decide to take the boy away immediately, then Clyde’s 
  forces arrive before they can make an escape.
  Strike-Breakers
  Under cover of darkness, the Hotspur approaches the Aerial 
  Docks. The pilot cuts the engines and lets the wind carry 
  his vessel in the latter portion of its flight, so not even the 
  noise of its propellers alerts the sentinels on the dockside to 
  the danger. The first sign of the airship’s presence is when 
  Greenaway’s marines open fire with a fusillade of warn-
  ing shots, designed to clear a landing space. However, the 
  marines have strict order not to fire against the structure 
  itself as they would risk igniting or even detonating the 
  hydrogen balloons underneath it.
  If no one on the aerial docks puts up notable resistance, 
  the marines storm the dockside and then split into three 
  platoons of some thirty men each. The second and third 
  platoons move left and right respectively along the edges 
  of the platform, while the first platoon heads straight down 
  the middle, towards the Labour League’s headquarters. 
  Captain Greenaway commands the first platoon, and 
  his friend Carnever the second, but the leader of the third 
  platoon is a mercenary named Polmarsh.  While Greenaway 
  and Carnever are willing to show some restraint, Polmarsh 
  is a butcher (stats see Leaders of the Strike-Breakers, p. 20). 
  He orders his men to throw any strikers they encounter over 
  the railings, and sets fire to any buildings or warehouses 
  where strikers are hiding. 
  If the characters are with the marines, they may split off 
  from the three platoons, or accompany one of the platoons 
  as they search the platform.
  Kime's Flight
  Clyde arranged for two simultaneous attacks tonight. While 
  his marines on the Hotspur attempt to retake the Aerial 
  Docks, he sends gangs of thugs into the docklands below 
  to harass and demoralize the strikers. The sounds of explo-
  sions and gunshots – as well as any fires set by Polmarsh 
  or the strikers – bring many people out into the streets to 
  see what the aerial commotion might be, exposing them 
  to attack by Clyde’s gangs. Without a rallying symbol the 
  strike is in peril of collapsing tonight.
  Kime asks the player characters for permission to fly. If 
  they agree, then they must clear a flight path for the boy – 
  as soon as he flies within sight of Polmarsh’s platoon on 
  the west side of the platform, they will shoot at him. The 
  characters must distract or otherwise occupy Polmarsh’s 
  men. They might:
   
  ● Capture the Hotspur when it returns to put out fires, 
  and train the airship’s high-pressure water cannon on the 
  marines
   
  ● Rally the strikers and the Labour League
   
  ● Convince Captain Greenaway that Polmarsh is com-
  mitting an atrocity
   
  ● Lure Polmarsh’s men with the promise of loot, like the 
  cache of liftwood mentioned by Bleaker
   
  ● Attack Polmarsh’s men
  The strikers (for stats see p. 20) will give their lives to 
  protect Kime, their only symbol of hope, and will have the 
  characters’ backs. Should the characters succeed in letting 
  Kime fly in front of the dock workers, all of a sudden the 
  aerial docks stand still. Everyone hold their breath while 
  Kime rallies all his strength to lift into the air in front of a 
  stunned crowd, gracefully and much higher than the char-
  acters witnessed back at Lord Feltam-Hithes estate. Kime 
  
  19
  addresses the crowd (even Greenaway’s men if they are 
  currently present) with a strained, yet penetrating voice and 
  gives a fiery speech – the simple dock workers and soldiers 
  understanding not even half of it. But the event causes 
  everyone around to pause for a moment, the soldiers are 
  temporarily perplexed and diverted while the dock workers 
  gain new hope and are now ready to ‘go all the way’ and 
  fight for their just cause.
  Should the characters refuse to help Kime fly, then they 
  need to spirit Kime off the platform before he is arrested. 
  To do so, the characters must:
   
  ● Escape the Labour League headquarters before Green-
  away’s platoon arrives to besiege it
   
  ● Decide how they will get off the platform. Greenaway’s 
  platoon approaches from the north; heading east or west 
  means running into Carnever or Polmarsh, and the south 
  side of the platform inconveniently catches fire as the char-
  acters flee through it
   
  ● Dodge both marines and strikers
  Hazards of the Air
  Throw in any of the following hazards as the 
  characters flee the fighting on the Aerial Docks:
   
  ● Fleeing Strikers: A mob of terrified dock 
  workers and other civilians pour along a narrow 
  walkway, moving in the opposite direction to 
  the player characters. The characters must make 
  Athletics checks or be carried backwards, or 
  even knocked overboard.
   
  ● Warren of Passageways: There’s no clear 
  way through; the characters must clamber over 
  barricades and find their way through ware-
  houses and passageways. An Athletics check is 
  required to navigate the obstacle; failure means 
  the characters risk being caught by the advance 
  troops of the boarding parties.
   
  ● Unstable Liftwood: Damage to the braces 
  holding the Martian liftwood causes some of the 
  planks to tumble and change their orientation to 
  the planet surface below. Some of the liftwood 
  smashes into the warehouse roof; other pieces 
  break through and shoot into the sky. Unless 
  the characters act, the valuable liftwood will 
  all rip free and float away.
   
  ● Burning Buildings: Fire catches a building 
  nearby, sending burning timbers falling towards 
  the characters. Call for a Perception test; those 
  who fail take 2 L damage.
   
  ● The Hotspur Opens Fire: Characters who 
  pass a Gunnery or Perception test see the 
  Hotspur lining up for a fusillade from her guns 
  and take cover, avoiding any damage other than 
  minor cuts from flying debris. Those who fail 
  are caught unawares and take 2 L damage.
  After the Aerial Battle
  A day after the battle in the skies, word arrives from Aus-
  tralia of a collection taken up by the Brisbane dockers, who 
  have sent £150 for the support of the strike. If the strike 
  continues, then over the next weeks and months, other 
  unions send more than £30,000 to the London dock strike, 
  ensuring the strike endures until even the most obstinate 
  opponent relents and agrees to improve condition.
  If Kime flew, or if the characters prevented Kime from 
  flying but the situation on the Aerial Docks did not end 
  in tragedy, then the strike continues. However, if Kime 
  was prevented from flying and the Aerial Dock strike was 
  violently broken, then the strikers’ morale collapses and 
  the strike ends prematurely.
  Return to Feltam-Hithe
  Of course, the fate of labor relations and conditions in 
  London may not be germane to the player characters – their 
  task was to recover Kime. Once they have the Martian 
  boy they may return to Lord Feltam-Hithe. On the way 
  to his mansion, they spot a notice in the newspapers that 
  the Feltam-Hithe estate is for sale – their former patron 
  has decided to sell his ancestral home, rather than try any 
  more get-rich-quick schemes to solve his financial prob-
  lems. Indeed, by the time they arrive, Feltam-Hithe has 
  an interested buyer – the money-lender Taylor offers to 
  purchase the estate for cash, putting Feltam-Hithe’s debts 
  to him against the purchase price. 
  With the proceeds of the sale, Feltam-Hithe buys pas-
  sage for Kime to Mars. Optionally, if you wish to provide 
  a route for the player characters to travel to Mars, he asks 
  the characters to accompany Kime on the voyage home.
  To Mars!
  Kime came to Earth accompanied by his father Oothran 
  and his family; he returns alone. The only luggage he car-
  ries with him, beyond clothing and other necessities, are 
  his jeweled belt and a collection of books given to him by 
  the Labour League. He spends the interplanetary crossing 
  reading and writing, but refuses to discuss the contents of 
  his journals with anyone. 
  On arrival on Mars, Kime returns to his family home in 
  the domain of Shune, on the outskirts of Parhoon. If the 
  characters accompanied him, they may leave him there and 
  go off on other adventures on Mars. They should believe 
  that they have succeeded in their task, and that Kime will 
  fall back into conventional Martian society.
  Experience changes a man – or a Martian. Something is 
  fermenting in Kime’s brain, a mode of thought informed 
  by his experiences on Earth, but also unique to the world 
  of his birth. He has brought wisdom out of the strange land 
  of England, and when the time is ripe, he intends to apply 
  it to Mars. The results of that experiment are described in 
  the second part of this adventure.
  
  20
  Leaders of the Strike-Breakers
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 2 
  Dexterity: 3 
  Strength: 3 
   Charisma: 3 
  Intelligence: 3 
  Willpower: 4
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 6 
  Perception: 7 
   Initiative: 6 
  Defense: 5 
  Stun: 2 
   Health: 6
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Athletics 
  3 
  2 
  5 
  (2+) 
   Intimidate 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Gunnery 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Melee 
  3 
  3 
  6 
  (3) 
   Firearms 
  3 
  4 
  7 
  (3+) 
   Pilot 
  3 
  4 
  7 
  (3+) 
   Talents 
   Inspire, Dodge, Mobile Attack
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Rifle 
  3 L 
  0 
  10 L 
  (5) L
  Dock-Workers/Strikers/Kime's Followers
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 2 
  Dexterity: 3 
  Strength: 2 
   Charisma: 1 
  Intelligence: 2 
  Willpower: 2
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 5 
  Perception: 4 
   Initiative: 5 
  Defense: 5 
  Stun: 3 
   Health: 4
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Athletics 
  3 
  2 
  5 
  (2+) 
   Brawl 
  2 
  1 
  3 
  (1+)
   Melee 
  2 
  2 
  4 
  (2)
   Survival 
  2 
  2 
  4 
  (2)
   Talents 
   Iron Jaw
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Punch 
  0 N 
  0 
  3 N 
  (1+) N 
   Knife 
  1 L 
  0 
  3 L 
  (1+) L
  
  21
  Part Two - Mars
  This section of the adventure takes place some months or 
  even years after Kime returned to Mars. It assumes the 
  following criteria:
   
  ● The player characters are adventurers or explorers at 
  large on Mars
   
  ● They have good relations with the British Establishment 
  on Mars, and are thought of as trustworthy
   
  ● They are currently somewhere on the outskirts of the 
  British sphere of influence on Mars. The precise location 
  is flexible, but it needs to be near an active canal.
  We're Not British!
  If the characters aren’t British subjects, then 
  consider moving Kime to some other part of 
  Mars. Perhaps Kime and Shune are on the edge 
  of Belgian territory, and Quire becomes Van 
  Hoot, an agent of the king who plots to desta-
  bilize the British crown colony.
  The adventure begins when a British officer, Captain 
  Creighton, contacts the characters. The captain’s current 
  posting is to a hill station; he is the only British officer in 
  the region, and is responsible for maintaining relations with 
  the local potentates and resolving disputes. Creighton broke 
  his leg while climbing down from a ruumet breehr, and is 
  temporarily unable to travel. 
  The characters might establish contact with Creighton 
  in several ways:
   
  ● They visit the hill station of their own accord, perhaps in 
  search of shelter or simply the company of a fellow human
   
  ● A Martian messenger hired by Creighton tracks them 
  down and explains that his employer has need of them
   
  ● If flying, the characters spot a heliograph message flash-
  ing at them from below, requesting that they land
  Creighton's Dilemma
  Creighton was once a rising star in the British Army, but 
  he lost his nerve after a series of traumatic battles culminat-
  ing in a serious injury. When he recovered, he was offered 
  the choice of being honourably discharged on medical 
  grounds, or being put out to pasture on Mars. He is effec-
  tively in active retirement at the hill station, which suits 
  him perfectly. He is an amateur painter of water-colors, and 
  spends his days painting the alien landscapes.
  The situation facing Creighton – and the player char-
  acters, if they agree to help – is a complex one, so the of-
  ficer first limps around his station preparing tea and other 
  refreshments for his guests. He breaks out a bottle of good 
  wine, puts his servants at their disposal, and does whatever 
  he can to curry favor with them. Then, apologetically, he 
  broaches the topic of why he summoned the characters.
  Creighton explains:
  A nearby pumping station, Astolor Station, is in revolt 
  against the local noble, Shune. Creighton does not know 
  the root of this dispute; the Canal Martians are normally 
  quite tractable. He has heard, though, that Shune eliminated 
  several rivals in court a few years ago, and suspects that one 
  of those rivals or perhaps a relative has returned to make 
  trouble. Creighton does not know that Kime is involved 
  in the revolt.
  Creighton also does not know if the rebels have threat-
  ened the irreplaceable machinery of the pumping station. 
  Damage to a station would be an unforgivable crime in 
  the eyes of both the Canal Martians and the British Crown 
  Colony.
  Shune has asked for military support, or British-made 
  weapons, to assist him in retaking the pumping station. 
  Creighton has a supply of firearms hidden in a cache near 
  the hill station, but is reluctant to empower Shune.
  The other complication is the possible presence of a hos-
  tage. When Creighton initially refused to supply weapons to 
  Shune, the noble replied by sending some curious items by 
  courier. These items imply that either Shune or the rebels 
  have a British hostage, although Creighton is unaware of 
  any reports of missing travelers.
  Shune claimed that his scouts found the items near the 
  pumping station, and suggested that the rebels might have 
  the hostage. Creighton suspects that Shune has the hostage 
  hidden somewhere – assuming there even is a hostage. 
  Shune is a wily devil – perhaps he bought some European 
  goods and planted them to draw Creighton and the British 
  Crown into a Martian dispute.
  Creighton asks that the characters visit the pumping 
  station and Shune’s camp. Ostensibly, their purpose is to 
  resolve the dispute peacefully, and if that is impossible, to 
  see what aid Shune requires in securing the pumping sta-
  tion. Their primary goal, though, should be to determine 
  if there is indeed a hostage.
  Creighton will, of course, mention the characters’ loyal 
  service in his next report to the governor.
  The Items
  Creighton then produces the travelling gear ‘found’ by 
  Shune’s men. It consists of:
   
  ● An empty water canteen, monogrammed with the ini-
  tials D.Q.
   
  ● A set of surveying equipment
   
  ● A fine pocket watch with two dials, showing the time 
  on both Earth (Greenwich Mean Time) and Mars
   
  ● A box of pencils and sketch paper. All the sketches 
  are of Martian towns and fortresses outside Syrtis Major.
  
  22
  A successful Intelligence check suggests that these are 
  not mere idle sketches – they’re clearly observations of the 
  defenses and military preparedness of the various fortresses.
  A close examination of the box with Larceny reveals that 
  it has a false bottom. The hidden compartment contains a 
  selection of valuables intended for use as bribes – gold, 
  gemstones, Bhutan spice, another few pocket-watches, 
  steel knives and the like. 
  A character with connections to the British espionage 
  services or the government in Syrtis Major recalls mention 
  of a ‘Daniel Quire’ who had some nebulous but important 
  role as a spy or diplomat. Optionally, have the player de-
  scribe how they met or worked with Quire on some peril-
  ous adventure. If Quire has indeed fallen into the hands of 
  violent Martians, it is imperative that he be freed.
  The Truth of Astolor
  As the characters discover over the course of the adventure, 
  the situation at Astolor is both complex and volatile. At the 
  heart of it all is Kime.
  After his experiences on Earth, Kime developed his own 
  philosophy, called Kimism by his followers. Parts are de-
  rived from Marxist thought, other parts come from his 
  Martian heritage and the influence of his father Oothran. 
  Kime’s beliefs threaten the status quo on Mars (see the 
  sidebar). 
  Initially, Kime was content to reside peacefully in his 
  native village, working on his book. Word of his radical 
  beliefs spread, though, and he attracted supporters among 
  the lower-caste canal workers. Without intending to do 
  so, Kime became a symbol to the canal workers just as he 
  inspired the dock workers back in England. His influence 
  on Mars was even more profound, as Kime brought the 
  very concept of reform back from Earth. Canal Martian 
  culture has been stagnant for millennia, and for the Canal 
  workers to even conceive of the thought that they are being 
  exploited is a staggering development.
  Two people in particular took an interest in Kime’s work. 
  The first was the local noble, Shune. It was Shune who sent 
  Kime’s father to Earth in the first place, to get rid of his 
  rival. Shune assumed that Kime’s writings were an indirect 
  form of revenge, and that the younger Martian was delib-
  erately attacking the accepted social order to undermine 
  him. Shune wants to make an example out of Kime, and 
  will settle for nothing less than the boy’s painful death.
  The other is the British agent, Daniel Quire. He saw 
  how quickly Kimism spread among the canal workers, and 
  realized the potential the philosophy had as a weapon. If 
  Kimist beliefs continued to spread among the canal worker 
  population, then Martian civilization could be wracked 
  by revolt or even collapse entirely. Obviously, a complete 
  collapse is not in the interests of the British Crown, and 
  Kimism should be kept out of Syrtis Major – but if Kim-
  ism could be transplanted to the cities of Oenotria, then the 
  resulting chaos would allow the British to easily conquer 
  or pacify the region. Quire is not a supporter of Kimism in 
  the slightest – once Oenotria is plunged into civil war, then 
  the British can come in on the side of the nobles and stamp 
  out the rebellion, establishing a second puppet government 
  to match their holdings in Parhoon. 
  Quire was en route to visit Kime (and ‘encourage’ the 
  young Martian to move to Oenotria) when Shune’s forces 
  attacked Kime’s village, and Kime fled to Astolor. Shune 
  knows that the British will not allow one of their own to 
  be mistreated by the Martians, so he intends to use Quire 
  to force Creighton’s hand by blaming Kime for the kidnap-
  ping. If necessary, he will kill Quire and plant the corpse 
  near Astolor.
  Kimism
  Kime’s book, Water and Life, describes his 
  philosophy in detail, but much of it is readable 
  only by Martians; many of the concepts and 
  arguments are nonsensical to human minds. 
  That is why Kimism spreads so easily – it is a 
  synthesis of both human and Martian political 
  philosophies, and applies human flexibility of 
  thought to counter Martian inertia. 
  The major tenets are:
  Mars is a ‘dry’ economy, Earth is a ‘wet’ one. 
  Mars was once abundant, and is now scarce. 
  Earth is abundant with resources, but avaricious 
  human consumption will make it scarce. 
  An economy may stave off dryness in three 
  ways – through efficiency, through technology, 
  and through expansion into new territories. The 
  humans threaten to drain any remaining mois-
  ture from Mars by their expansion; the canals 
  and the Canal Martian culture represent the end 
  product of excessive devotion to efficiency. 
  Therefore, it is only through technology that 
  Mars can reclaim its wet state, and that includes 
  political technology. The first step, then, is to 
  remove the noble bourgeoisie, and use the freed 
  moisture to recover lost Martian technology. 
  The ultimate aim is to achieve complete ‘flu-
  idity of life’, a semi-mystical concept roughly 
  cognate to human concepts of utopia. It’s clear, 
  though, that this ‘fluidity’ can come about only 
  by overthrowing both the Canal Martian nobil-
  ity and the human colonial powers, and parts 
  of the work even hint that Earth will eventually 
  have to be conquered by Mars to bring about 
  fluidity. Kime has yet to complete an essay on 
  where humans will fit in this new order.
  
  23
  Shune's Camp
  The Martian lord has established a military camp two miles 
  down-canal from Astolor. His camp spans both sides of the 
  canal, and is supplied by barges coming up from the nearest 
  town. He has some two hundred soldiers at his disposal, 
  including two light artillery pieces. While Shune also has 
  cloudships in his service, he has decided not to employ 
  them at this point – using cloudships would draw too much 
  attention from his rivals, and damage his claim that he needs 
  British support to deal with the rebels. 
  Unless the characters are exceptionally stealthy, Shune’s 
  scouts spot them long before they reach the camp. If they 
  try to fly over or sail up the canal, then Shune signals 
  them by heliograph to stop 
  and meet with him first. 
  Shune will not fire on a 
  human without provoca-
  tion, unless he suspects 
  the humans are in league 
  with Kime.
  On entering the camp, 
  the characters are given 
  food and water, then asked 
  to wait until Lord Shune 
  has time to see them. This 
  is clearly a power play – 
  all the soldiers are doing is 
  sitting around waiting, and 
  there are no other visitors. 
  Shune is making them wait 
  to impress his authority on 
  them; rude characters who 
  barge into Shune’s tent 
  gain a +2 bonus in nego-
  tiating with the Martian.
  Meeting Shune
  Shune looks like a with-
  ered creature of the desert, 
  his golden skin bleached 
  bone-white by age. He is 
  blind in one eye, and peers through a crystal lens with the 
  other to see the characters properly. He has no patience, and 
  berates his servants for one imagined mistake or another. 
  Even out on campaign, his clothes and furnishings are of 
  the highest quality. Arrogantly, he treats the characters as 
  subordinates even if they are here as representatives of the 
  Crown. Eight guards stand in readiness in the tent, with 
  another two dozen stationed nearby outside. 
  Shune demands the characters go back to Creighton and 
  tell him that British guns are needed to deal with the traitor-
  ous Kime. If the characters react to the name of Kime, he 
  asks what they know about the traitor, and becomes furious 
  if they tell him that they saved Kime back on Earth. He 
  shouts that this is all their fault, and they must atone for 
  their mistakes by convincing Creighton to supply guns, and 
  cannons too. Why, it is a mark of Shune’s generosity and 
  magnanimous nature that he does not arrest the characters 
  for complicity in Kime’s treachery!
  Negotiating with Shune (possibly with Diplomacy 
  checks) garners the following:
   
  ● Kime and his followers have occupied the Astolor 
  pumping station. No-one remembers how the station works 
  – it uses ancient Martian technology and seems to reverse 
  the flow of gravity in the water, making the canal flow 
  uphill. Any damage to the station would be disastrous, 
  as it would not only drain the canal network upstream, 
  but flood the canals downstream. Shune could put an end 
  to the rebels by bombarding them with his Martian artil-
  lery, but that would endanger the pumping station. What 
  he needs are British rifles, 
  precision weapons that can 
  kill the rebels from a dis-
  tance without endangering 
  the machinery.
   
  ●
  He describes Kime 
  as a ‘poisoner of the soul’, 
  who wrote a monstrous 
  book out of a misplaced 
  hatred of Shune. Kime, 
  he says, blames Shune for 
  sending his father  Oothran 
  to Earth in the first place. 
  Most of the copies of the 
  book were seized when 
  Shune’s forces attacked 
  Kime’s house, but no 
  doubt Kime’s followers 
  have a few copies them-
  selves – and anyway, as 
  long as Kime lives, he can 
  produce more dangerous, 
  treacherous words. Shune 
  claims that he burnt all 
  the copies of Kime’s book 
  that he could find, but if the 
  characters press him (Dip-
  lomacy, Difficulty 4), he 
  admits that he kept a few 
  copies which he intends to share with his fellow nobles. 
  Just as taking a little bit of poison every day strengthens the 
  body against the attacks of assassins, so too might reading 
  the poisonous thoughts strengthen the soul. He refuses to 
  give the characters a copy unless they promise to provide 
  him with the guns he desires.
   
  ● Shune repeats his claim that Kime has taken a Brit-
  ish citizen hostage. He claims that while most of Kime’s 
  followers are fanatics, bewitched by Kime’s philosophy, 
  there are a few who were caught up in the madness of the 
  mob, and have since come to their senses. Once they are 
  assured of Shune’s victory, then they will free the hostage. 
  If the characters provide the guns, then Shune will produce 
  the hostage.
  
  24
   
  ● Shune will grudgingly let the characters examine the 
  pumping station, or open their own negotiations with Kime, 
  as long as they swear that he will have Kime’s head on a 
  pike by the end of this siege. However, if they accuse Shune 
  of taking a British hostage himself, or express support for 
  Kime, or otherwise insult Shune under his own tent, then 
  he has his men attack the characters.
  Attacked by Shune
  Shune’s followers try to take the characters alive, but their 
  first priority is to protect their master. Four of his guards 
  move immediately to get Shune to safety – two carry him 
  out of the tent while the other two guard his retreat. The 
  other four guards attack the characters with their halberds, 
  while calling for help from outside. Unless the characters 
  flee immediately, the sheer weight of numbers – two dozen 
  guards outside, and another hundred or so within earshot 
  – suggests little hope of victory.
  Fleeing characters could steal a canal boat and row away, 
  or leap onto a tethered gashant and ride off into the desert. 
  The only other settlement nearby is Astolor, though the 
  characters could double back and head for Creighton’s hill 
  station. Depending on how much they angered Shune, the 
  noble might choose to apologize for the ‘misunderstand-
  ing’, or even besiege the fortified hill station and go into 
  open rebellion against the British regency.
  Captured characters are imprisoned in the same cave as 
  Daniel Quire (see The Caves down below) and must find 
  a way to escape.
  Should the characters kill Shune, he is replaced by his 
  son Shallor, who seeks bloody vengeance for the murder 
  of his beloved sire.
  Shune 
   Archetype: Aristocrat  
  Motivation: Pride 
   Style: 4 
   
  Health: 7
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 2 
  Dexterity: 3 
  Strength: 2 
   Charisma: 4 
  Intelligence: 5 
  Willpower: 5
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 5 
  Perception: 10 
   Initiative: 8 
  Defense: 5 
  Stun: 5 
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Bureaucracy 
  5 
  3 
  8 
  (4) 
   Diplomacy 
  4 
  6 
  10 
  (5) 
   Empathy 
  5 
  3 
  8 
  (4) 
   Intimidation 
  4 
  6 
  10 
  (5) 
   Melee 
  5 
  3 
  8 
  (4)
   Talents 
   Headstrong, Focused Attack (Melee), Inspire
   Flaws 
   Paranoia
   (+1 Style point whenever he alienates people by mistrusting them)
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Glass Dagger 
  3 L 
  0 
  11 L 
  (5+) L
  Shune's Soldiers
   Primary Attributes 
   Body: 3 
  Dexterity: 3 
  Strength: 3 
   Charisma: 1 
  Intelligence: 2 
  Willpower: 3 
   Secondary Attributes 
   Size: 0 
  Move: 6 
  Perception: 7 
   Initiative: 5 
  Defense: 6 
  Stun: 3 
   Health: 6
   Skills 
  Base 
  Levels 
  Rating 
  (Average) 
   Firearms 
  3 
  4 
  7 
  (3+) 
   Melee 
  3 
  5 
  8 
  (4)
   Talents 
   Alertness
   Weapons 
  Rating Size 
  Attack 
  (Average) 
   Flintlock Rifle 
  3 L 
  0 
  10 L 
  (5) L 
   Halberd 
  4 L 
  0 
  12 L 
  (6) L
  Finding the Hostage
  Shune’s men have Quire imprisoned in a cave network near 
  Astolor. Two trusted soldiers keep Quire under guard at all 
  times; they are ready to kill him and move his body to the 
  outskirts of the pumping station at a moment’s notice. The 
  characters could find these caves in several ways:
   
  ● Faint but discernable tracks lead from Shune’s camp to 
  the caves. A character with Survival can follow this trail.
   
  ● While in Shune’s camp, the characters see a group of 
  scouts filling their waterskins from a tap on the canal bank. 
  Each scout has his own waterskin, which is as precious 
  and personal as a child to him. One scout, however, fills a 
  second container – a canteen, identical to the one shown 
  by Creighton. The scout rides off to the caves; following 
  him covertly brings the characters to the caves.
   
  ● If the characters make contact with Kime and discover 
  that he does not have the hostage, Kime suggests the caves 
  as a likely hiding place.
   
  ● While wandering in the desert, the characters come 
  across the caves by chance.
  The Caves
  The cave network – carved by some primeval spasm of 
  Martian flood waters – is divided into two sections. The 
  lower portion is larger, deeper, and more accessible. The 
  main entrance to it is via an open cave mouth in the cliff 
  face. The second, upper section consists of small steep 
  shafts leading to narrow caves, and can be reached only 
  by climbing a laborious zig-zag up a tiresome slope. In 
  centuries past, both portions were inhabited, first by Hill 
  Martians, and later by Canal Martian soldiers in the service 
  of Shune’s ancestors. Now, the lower portion is home to a 
  mated trio of dangerous beasts, a knoe shoshu. The Martians 
  steer clear of the predator, but if the characters enter the 
  lower caves, they are attacked by the beasts. 
  
  25
  The guards are in the upper caves. There are four guards 
  stationed here at all times. One sits atop the ridge near the 
  entrance, watching for intruders or heliograph signals from 
  Shune; another stands guard over the prisoner. The other 
  two sleep or relax. 
  The prisoner (or prisoners, if any of the player characters 
  are taken captive by Shune) is kept in a cave with a single 
  main entrance, blocked by a wooden door. The cave has no 
  light sources, but prisoners are free to move around. The 
  guards warn prisoners that the floor is uneven, and if they 
  move, they may fall and break their necks. 
  There is a second exit from the cave – a narrow crack 
  in the floor leads down into the lower caves, should the 
  characters wish to brave the knoe shoshus. Quire decided 
  not to risk that path.
  The guards take the prisoners out once a day for fresh air, 
  and bring down a canteen of water and some food twice 
  a day. Two guards stand watch whenever the door to the 
  cave is unbarred.
  Daniel Quire
  Despite his capture by Shune, Daniel Quire is in good health 
  and better spirits when found by the characters. He looks 
  half-Martian; he wears the garb of a Hill Martian traveler, 
  and his skin is tanned gold from the sunlight and constant 
  wind of the deep desert. He thrives on Martian food, and has 
  a prodigious ability to keep going on only a small amount 
  of water. He is clearly a man well adapted to Mars and this 
  new chessboard of the Great Game.
  The better part of his enthusiasm comes from his dis-
  covery of Kimism. It is all he talks about when he meets 
  the characters. Quire is convinced that Kimism is the tool 
  needed to establish British dominance over Oenotria and 
  possibly over all of Mars – a weapon more effective than 
  any rifle. The Martian civilization is as brittle as a dried-out 
  tree-branch, and one hit in the right place will shatter it all to 
  kindling. Getting Kimism back to Syrtis Major and into the 
  hands of the political office is, he claims, absolutely vital. 
  What Quire lacks is a copy of Kime’s Water and Life. 
  He was on his way to visit Kime when Shune’s men cap-
  tured him. He believes that Shune must have a copy, and 
  presumably Kime has too. Kime’s own survival is of lesser 
  importance; in fact, it might be better if Kime became a 
  martyr. Martyrs have more power and are less likely to 
  argue with your interpretation of their works.
  Quire cautions the characters that Shune will not al-
  low any copies of the book to survive if he can avoid it. 
  Shune is a canny fellow, and recognizes the danger posed 
  by the book. If the characters do give Shune the weapons 
  he desires – and Quire has no objections to that course of 
  action – they must first ensure that they get hold of a copy 
  of Water and Life.
  If freed, Quire intends to go to the hill station and get 
  the guns from Creighton. He then plans to trade the guns 
  for Shune’s copy of Water and Life. However, unless the 
  player characters change his fate, he is caught and killed 
  by a scouting party from Shune’s camp before he reaches 
  the station.
  Astolor Station
  The pumping station at Astolor is a testament to the lost 
  science of Mars. It consists of eight crystal columns, four 
  on either side of the canal, with a control station suspended 
  from a metal bridge that spans the waters. The columns 
  warp gravity between them; they can make water flow 
  uphill, or lift a barge high into the air. The bridge can move 
  on rails along the canal. Originally, this might have been 
  used for moving cargo or performing maintenance on the 
  crystal columns, but its purpose has been lost in time. It 
  does mean that any artillery attack on the bridge can be 
  avoided by taking shelter behind a column.
  The station is automated, and was unmanned before 
  Kime and his followers (for stats see p. 20) took refuge 
  here. No-one dares meddle with the station’s controls, in 
  case the machinery stopped working. 
  Kime and some thirty of his followers occupy the station. 
  They have sent word down the canal, and hope to escape 
  as soon as a boat arrives to spirit Kime away.
  Meeting Kime
  Assuming Kime and the characters parted on good terms, 
  he is eager to meet with them again. He warns them of the 
  danger posed by Shune, and insists they can only meet for 
  a short time before the characters must leave. If they linger, 
  then they would be in danger when Shune’s attack begins. 
  Kime describes that he developed his new philosophy 
  on the return journey from Earth. He was inspired by what 
  he saw and read on Earth, including the Marxist books he 
  read on the Aerial Docks, but he does not consider himself 
  a Marxist. Such beliefs are for humans; he is Martian, and 
  Mars has its own paths. Therefore, he initially refuses to 
  show the characters the one surviving copy of his book. 
  They can persuade him to do so if they remind him of their 
  shared adventures on Earth, or feign an interest in Martian 
  philosophy.
  Kime has given little thought to the practical applications 
  of his philosophy. He never intended to start a revolt on 
  Mars; he intended to finish his book and then let it be a 
  starting point for new thoughts and new dialogues – the first 
  new thoughts seeded on Mars in many centuries. Contact 
  with Earth was the shock Mars needed to start again, but 
  now the Martians must decide what to do for themselves, 
  instead of reacting to humans or being ruled by humans. 
  He asks the characters for counsel – what do they think he 
  should do? His current plan is to flee Shune and find some-
  where safe to finish his book – but where? And what then?
  Should the characters suggest that Kime surrender to 
  Shune in order to prevent further bloodshed, Kime agrees 
  – on the condition that the characters ensure his book is 
  disseminated throughout Mars.
  
  26
  The Siege of Astolor
  Shune’s attack begins when either Creighton provides rifles 
  to Shune or Shune’s paranoia wins out over his patience, 
  and he feels he must act.
  First, Shune sends a detachment of cavalry down to the 
  canal banks. They announce that if the traitor Kime is 
  handed over for justice, along with the other ringleaders, 
  the others will be spared. If Kime does not surrender, the 
  attack continues.
  The second step is the deployment of an armed barge that 
  travels up the canal. If Shune’s men have the guns from 
  Creighton, they can accurately snipe at the rebels on the 
  bridge. Otherwise, they try to land by the bridge so they 
  can storm it. The rebels are forced to activate the pump-
  ing station’s gravity-manipulation technology, hurling the 
  boat into the sky.
  That crime – meddling with the incomprehensible tech-
  nology of the ancients – frees Shune to open fire with 
  his artillery. After all, any damage to the pumping station 
  can now be blamed on Kime, as it was his followers who 
  activated the controls and destabilized the system. A few 
  shells wipe out most of the rebels and lock the bridge in 
  place, allowing the cavalry and infantry to take the station 
  and kill anyone within.
  If Quire is still a prisoner of Shune’s men, then he signals 
  via heliograph or lantern for the guards to kill Quire (and 
  the player characters, if they too are in the caves) and dump 
  the bodies in the ruins of the pumping station. 
  Shune will only accept the surrender of the rebels if he 
  gets Kime’s head. He demands to see the body if told that 
  Kime is dead.
  Epilogue: Decisions In a Strange L and 
  The resolution of the events at Astolor Station is up to 
  the characters, but their decisions will have repercussions 
  across the lands of Mars in the years to come. They must 
  answer the following questions, while the Gamemaster 
  decides on the ultimate results of their decisions.
  What becomes of Kime? Unless the characters rescue him 
  again, he is almost certainly doomed to die at the hands of 
  Shune’s soldiers. If they do manage to rescue him, where 
  do they put him? Shune will stir up the nobles of Parhoon 
  against the characters if they keep Kime in British territory. 
  Do they exile him to another Martian land, or send him 
  into space once more?
  What about Quire’s plan? Quire wants to use Kimism to 
  destabilize the Oenotrian Empire. Do the characters give 
  him the tools he needs to accomplish this? Or, if Quire dies, 
  do they take up his scheme? 
  What of Kimism? Kime’s philosophy calls for a realign-
  ment of Martian civilization, just as the docker’s strike 
  was the first step towards better conditions for workers 
  in England. However, Martian civilization is much more 
  hidebound and inflexible than even Victorian England, and 
  any realignment will result in bloodshed and chaos even if 
  it leads to a better world. What do the characters do with 
  Water and Life? What is Kime’s legacy to Mars?
  Water and Life
  There are, in effect, three copies of Water and 
  Life in this adventure; the characters need 
  only secure one of them to put Quire’s plan 
  into operation.
   
  ● Shune has one copy in his tent in the camp
   
  ● Kime’s followers at the pumping station 
  have a copy
   
  ● Kime can write more copies if he survives
  
  27
  Appendix: Map of the Aerial Docks
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Space 1889/Space 1889.-.CWP18893.-.The Strange Land.pdf