Adapted from Absalom Station- Archives of Nethys and Absalom Station - StarfinderWiki
Floating in the orbit formerly occupied by the Lost Homeworld, Foundry Station is the primary home of humanity and the undisputed center of interstellar trade and governance among the Confederation. From here, the Foundry Council and its legion of delegates from all recognized Confederation Worlds control the fragile alliance keeping harmony in the system while also regulating property claims on newly discovered worlds. Here also are the headquarters of the interplanetary law-enforcement officers called Sentinels, ArannCorp’s home offices, the Archives of the galaxy-exploring Cartographer’s Guild, and more. Yet the most important feature of the space station is not its grand and mysterious architecture, nor its myriad residents, but the strange artifact locked deep within the station’s heavily guarded core: the fabled Driftstone. The Driftstone powers the station and acts as an immensely powerful hyperspace beacon, allowing ships to jump quickly to the space around it no matter the distance and making Foundry Station a natural relay point for voyages returning from beyond the solar system.
No one knows who built the vast space platform or when it entered it’s orbit. Artificial gravity creates a consistent “down” in most of the station’s radial arms and soaring towers, and aside from individual neighborhoods retrofitted to accommodate the environmental needs of resident aliens, most of the station seems designed to cater to human comfort. Otherwise, neighboring districts often have shockingly different cultures and living conditions, from Sparks’ hardscrabble engineering bays and the flooded tank warrens of the Bog to the rowdy spacer bars of Drifter’s Spring and the elegant, self-contained corporate enclaves in Skyrise Tower. As a general rule, money and power flow inward from the numerous bustling docks toward the great parklike dome known as the Eye, while the downtrodden masses sink down into the machine-cramped access warrens of the Spike. Gangs rule lower-class neighborhoods such as Redspot, Below-Deck, and Junction, yet their tentative alliances filter all the way into the upper reaches of government via the station’s Syndicsguild, the legislative body that gives each neighborhood a voice in station policy and elects the station’s ruling Prime Executive.
In addition to the platform, Foundry Station is surrounded by a constantly changing swarm of undocked, transient, and resident ships. These latter are somewhat mockingly called the Armada. Yet, most are not military—the station has only a modest security fleet, depending instead on the Sentinels and robust station-mounted defenses for its safety. Rather, the Armada is comprised of those starships whose owners seek the benefits of living near Foundry Station while remaining unbound by all but the most basic station laws. Foundry Station’s generally permissive government allows this, since the volume of trade pouring through its corridors means even the lowest taxes suffice to keep the station flush.
This is not to say the station runs in perfect harmony. With so many different interests on and around the platform, Foundry Station is never more than one slip away from chaos. Private security contractors wage shadow wars with street gangs and militant cults, alien ambassadors negotiate tense trade agreements, and explorers blast each other over claims on newly discovered worlds. One of the most dangerous factions to emerge of late is the Strong Memories movement. This group believes the Driftstone belongs only to the refugee races of the Lost Homeworld in compensation for their lost world and that other races should be either taxed exorbitantly or outright forbidden from using the station as a waypoint. While the political arm of this movement officially decries the xenophobic terrorism of its fringe elements, its increasing strength poses a grave threat to a government built upon interplanetary cooperation.
While trade, politics, and a cosmopolitan atmosphere are major draws to Foundry Station, they’re not the only ones. The Arcanamirium trains some of the best mages in the Memory system, while the station’s famed Cosmonastery teaches the solarian’s path. Religious organizations seek converts; the Scryway Agency hires out psychic investigators; the Cartographer’s Guild launches expeditions into the unknown and more. This endless bustle marks Foundry Station as a land of opportunity—a chance for people of all sorts to make a fresh start.
Foundry Station Space Station 20
Foundry Station is a sprawling, densely inhabited space station. Its inhabitants include races native to Memory System. The station is also a focal point of the galaxy due to the Driftstone, which makes the station effectively near every place in the galaxy via the Drift.
Location Memory System
Population 2,130,000 (46% human, 9% android, 9% ysoki, 7% lashunta, 5% shirren, 4% dwarf, 4% halfling, 4% kasatha, 3% vesk, 2% gnome, 1% nuar, 6% other)
Government council (Syndicsguild led by Prime Executive Kumara Melacruz)
Qualities academic, cultured, financial center, technologically average
Maximum Item Level 20
Diameter 5 miles; Mass less than x1/100; Gravity x1 (artificial)
Atmosphere Normal
Day 1 day (artificial); Year 1 year
Key Features:
The Driftstone Core - The heart of the station that contains the mysterious driftstone artifact allowing fast hyperspace travel and powering the station. Heavily guarded and restricted area.
Central Spire - A towering spike-like structure in the center of the station containing important civic facilities and the prime executive's offices.
Starhive Docks - Massive docking bays allowing simultaneous berthing of hundreds of ships from across the system and beyond. Huge economic activity.
The Eye - A huge domed park at the center of the station with artificial sunlight providing green space for residents.
Skyrise Towers - Cluster of colossal towers rising from the Eye containing penthouses of the ultra wealthy with striking views.
Syndicsguild Hall - An imposing government building where the station's council and administration is based.
Arcanamirium - Renowned academy training the most skilled magic users in the system.
Cosmonastery - Temple and training center of the solarian order, cosmic monks who channel stellar powers.
Scryway Agency - Business providing psychic detectives and investigators for hire, based on the station.
Warrens - Dangerous, impoverished labyrinth neighborhoods controlled by gangs.
Geography
At five miles in diameter, Foundry Station is a tiny structure compared to the planets and moons of other worlds. It has artificial gravity and relies heavily on recycling. However, it is also a densely populated place that more than 2 million people call home.
From above, it is shaped like an asymmetrical six-pointed star, spread across a flat disk with the central habitation zone covered in a dome.
Districts
The station is divided into several districts:
The Armada
A flotilla of spaceships, many semi-permanent structures comprised of several ships rafted together, form a transient and chaotic neighborhood surrounding the station.
The Arms
Radial arms extend from the station's center and form its many docking bays.
The Ring
Corridors connect the Arms to the central Eye, forming a decidedly middle-class neighborhood.
The Eye
The central dome of the station houses its most upscale residents, largest businesses, and most prominent organizations.
The Spike
Slums and gang warrens fill the space beneath the Eye, extending down to the heavily defended Driftstone Reactor.
Economy
Foundry Station is a hub of intragalactic space travel thanks to the Driftstone, which powers the station and serves as a mysterious but extremely powerful Drift beacon. Thanks to the Driftstone, a starship with a Drift engine in Drift-accessible galaxy points can reach Foundry Station in less than a week, even if travel to any other location takes longer.
The station is also home to numerous corporations, most prominently the home offices of ArannCorp.
Government
Foundry Station is ruled by the Syndicsguild and its term-limited elected leader, the Prime Executive. The current Prime Executive is Kumara Melacruz. The Syndicsguild is elected to represent electoral districts that are frequently gerrymandered to favor certain factions over others, including some corporations and criminal gangs.
The station is a neutral space for the Confederacy. Security robots manufactured by ArannCorp help to enforce its laws, though some complain that the best-equipped models patrol only the station's wealthiest neighborhoods.
History
While the station is a technological marvel, its history stretches back centuries into the lost history known as the Gap.
Pre-Gap
Foundry Station's origins, builders, and even its reason for existence are lost to the Gap and remain unknown. It occupies the orbit once held by Alcyon Sector’s Human’s Homeworld. in the missing planet's pre-Gap history. These facts and the presence of the planet’s-native race on the station led scholars to guess that Humans built Foundry Station, but even this is a supposition.
After Gap
Foundry Station has been the focal point of many of the Memory system's most important events.
Immediately after the Gap, the station's residents were suddenly without a homeworld, history, or even societal structures, leading to anarchy and violence. If not for a nearly catastrophic atmospheric systems malfunction, the station's residents might not have ended its lawless violence to form the Syndicsguild — a governmental council formed by the leaders of the rampant gangs — and elect its inaugural Prime Executive.
Triune's gift of Drift travel in 3 AG quickly thrust the station into the galactic limelight. The Driftstone that powers the station served as a powerful beacon that drew newly gifted Drift-traveling visitors from across the galaxy.
In 7 AG, the Bone Sages of Eox launched the Magefire Assault to capture the station by force. Its powerful defenses, however, held off the undead fleet.
After vesk incursions into the Memory system in 36 AG, officials from Foundry Station, Leuthed, and Halla called for forming a system-wide defense and governance pact. The Foundry Pact was named for the station, and the Foundry Confederation' formation made Foundry Station its effective capital.
Adventurer Hooks:
The PCs are hired by ArcanaCorp to discreetly recover an experimental prototype that was stolen from their labs.
Strange occurrences lead the PCs to believe there is a sinister cult operating secretly somewhere on the station. They must investigate and stop the cult's plans.
A scientist contacts the PCs seeking help - she's being threatened to keep quiet about her recent discovery of alien artifacts on a frontier world.
The PCs witness a prominent senator's murder and must go into the dangerous Warrens to find the assassin before they escape the station.
The Driftstone Core is behaving erratically and the PCs are recruited to help diagnose the problem before it shuts down, stranding ships.
A wealthy businessman's daughter has gone missing and the PCs must navigate the seedy criminal underworld to track her whereabouts.
The PCs are drawn into a tense standoff between station security forces and the Strong Memories radical faction who have taken hostages.
A map leading to an uncharted world inexplicably ends up in the PCs' hands. Rival factions will want to claim the planet.
The PCs must infiltrate a rogue AI's digital network that has taken over systems in an isolated station section.
Station Benefits
Organization benefits are companions, equipment, and feats that become available by building your reputation in with Foundry Station; Building your reputation with the station also accumulates reputation with the Confederation; for every 2 Favor you accumulate for Foundry Station grants, you 1 favor with the Foundry Confederation.
Uncommon Civic Items
These Uncommon Items are available to the citizenry of Foundry Station.
Uncommon Civic Spells
The following uncommon spells are available to be taught to the citizenry of Foundry Station.
Denizens
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Companions
Hirelings
Friends of the Station may request hired hands from the citizenry. Patrons will commission hirelings via public post; candidates will respond to individuals with a liked reputation. These Companions are expected to be provided a weekly stipend depicted on the table and generally expect a share of the spoils from a successful mission.
Experts
Allies of the City may request Experts from Prominent citizens. These captains of the industry will commission experts to individuals with an Admired reputation. These Companions are expected to be provided a weekly stipend depicted on the table and generally expect a share of the spoils from a successful mission.
Boons of Foundry Station
These Boons represent feats and equipment characters can spend favor on as they build reputation with Foundry Station
Enemies of the City
Based on how much venom those adversaries have earned, the Syndicsguild will expend greater resources to go after enemies. Hated characters can expect up to Moderate encounters with Patrols when they travel in the Station. Hunted characters can expect up to Extreme encounters with Civic Patrols when they travel in the Space near Foundry Station. The Confederation will pursue Hunted foes across the Memory System with up to Severe encounters with soldiers or bounty hunters.
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