The Ring - Coriolis Station
The Ring of the station is huge, and running along its whole extent is the Promenade, the bustling street of boutiques and shops that characterizes Coriolis. The Promenade is best accessed from one of the four plazas located where each of the four spokes connect to the Ring. Taking a taxi or a grav chair is an excellent way to get there, if you can pay. The Promenade is usually very crowded, making grav chairs, rickshaws, or walking the best modes of trans-portation.
NEOPTRA SPACEPORT
The largest of the four commercial spaceports on Coriolis is the Neoptra, located on the Ring just below the Spice Plaza. Each of the plazas connects to one of four larger spaceports, but there are many private ports as well, especially in the Spire. The Neoptra is usually the first impression a visitor gets of Coriolis, and the current Governor has had it modernized and renovated with shining floors in white Kuan marble and beautiful bas-reliefs on the sturdy pillars that support the many balconies that make up the space port’s different levels. The outer parts are still kept practical of course, strictly armanite bulkheads and riveted plating. Inside the crescent-shaped balconies that follow the arch of the outer hull is a large terminal full of small cantinas, shops, market stalls, and carts – a sort of miniature of the larger plazas. The terminal has several large exits with security checkpoints and three customs stations. Customs officers and members of the Guard keep close tabs of everyone entering or leaving the station – travel papers are scanned with tabulas and luggage is inspected. The customs station is where you pay for weapon licenses and livestock or semi-intelligences import fees, and they can be used as quarantine stations in the event of disease. There are heavily reinforced bulkheads between the customs stations and the rest of the station that can be closed in case of a threat, but they have never been used so far.
Many of Coriolis’ residents work in the Neoptra port, and some even live there – beggars, cour-tesans, and one or two prophets. The port is also frequented by several chambalas, con artists who make their living pestering naïve travelers. The balcony at the very top of the port is called the Balustrade. Fancy ships that can’t afford their own private docks use this level, which also houses a walkway with a mighty view of Kua through a sapphire glass window, like a lush, green sun in the emptiness.
Locations and services in the spaceport
◆ The infirmary run by the medicurg Leio
◆ The “Journey’s End” cantina, famous for its shish kabab
◆ The Free League’s exchange and bank office, where birr and travel currency can be bought
◆ The “Oasis” courtesan and massage salon, owned by the madrigga Ahia
◆ An Icon chapel
◆ The cargo blocks, storage units for light cargo awaiting customs inspection
◆ Guard point 13, where captain Karou oversees spaceport security
◆ Giakovo’s kawah trolley, with fresh ground kawah
◆ Customs point 1, where weapon licenses are acquired
◆ The shuttle service Monolith Round-trips, offering quick but expensive transport from the Balustrade
THE PROMENADE
The Promenade is a walkway running along the entire Ring, full of both living modules and shops. Family-run businesses are common, and many people live where they work, or close by. The Promenade itself is wide, with high ceilings, almost reaching the top of the Ring. Bridges, wires, and the occasional grav chair cross between the walls above the crowd as some of the higher levels have balconies with smaller walkways, shops and cafés. Public transportation in the Ring exists in the form of the Ring tube, a fast cablecar service. There is a tube station at each of the four plazas as well as one in the Core. The tickets to go through the Core are more expensive, so most people prefer to go half a lap around the Ring if they need to get to the other side.
The living modules on the Ring are small, rarely larger than two rooms for a big family sleeping in shifts. The living modules form a mosaic of criss-crossing stairs, balconies, balustrades and rope bridges above the Promenade, crowded with people going about their daily chores, children playing, and dogs and monkeys jumping around. Clotheslines share the airspace with beautiful fabric roofs over balconies, and the noise and chatter from the Promenade below can be heard at all hours.
THE SPICE PLAZA
As hinted by the name, the Spice Plaza is the place for all forms of spice trade on Coriolis, but the marketplace also hosts a wide variety of fruit and vegetable vendors. The Spice Plaza offers exotic flavors from all corners of the Horizon, but especially from Kua: fresh bananas, shiny green melons, mangos, burs, hevon fruit, dried figs and dates, coconut, fresh moist cinnamon, nuts, and almonds. The tiny stalls display beautiful trays of deep red paprika, intense saffron, peppers in every color, chili powder, and cumin seeds. Foreign spice mixes from near and far are introduced into the Kuan cuisine via the Spice Plaza: Algolan kurrah, berberi mix from Lubau, smoked paprika from Sadaal, and many others. Bakeries, pastry shops, baklava carts, and honey trolleys surround the plaza on all sides. Baklava and other filo-based pastries are the main products sold here, and even people from the wealthy Spire come here for a taste of Saba Khouri’s mas-terful baking. Every year there is a bake-off on the plaza, the Baklava Championship, to which bakers from Kua as well as from systems farther away come to compete. Spices, syrup, and the proper amount of cloves, sourness or more exotic ingredients like stone licorice, smoked kas-myrrh, or ginger flowers are the topics of lively debate and heated arguments.
THE SPRING PLAZA
The crown jewel of the Spring Plaza is the magnificent fountain at its center. The fountain was gifted to the people of Coriolis by dar Bahari, and its gentle babble lends a soothing calm to the nearby cantinas, kawah shops, and taverns. The Spring Plaza is not only a marketplace for exotic goods, but also for ideas. Poets, prophets, tarrabs, writers, and many others from the world of the arts gather here. Cafés like Osmano’s, Leverte’s, and Buthro’s are hotspots for discussions about politics, factionary gossip, or the latest holo dramas from the Bulletin. The discussions blend with open agitation from opinion makers and chanting from prophets and preachers as well as with the latest shows and performances by acrobats, fire-eaters, or painters. When the evening watch begins and the holo sky above the plaza darkens, lanterns are lit, sugar globes are submerged in jars of colored syrup, and the grills are prepared for the evening meal. The goods marketed on the Spring Plaza are mainly of an artistic nature: paintings, sculptures, Algolan paper birds, clay hydras from Sadaal, clock birds from Dabaran, and autonomous abaci from the polytech-nicians on Aiwaz mixed with miniature Algolan prayer towers, Icon mosaics from distant Eanu, prayer beads carved by the eternally patient monks in the dusty temples on Amedo, and reliquaries smuggled out from Zalos, maybe even containing the bones of one of the famous martyred holy warriors.
THE MARKET PLAZA
The common people of Coriolis visit the Market Plaza to do their daily shopping or just to meet up with friends. From the day watch onwards, the many cantinas and taverns open their doors. Grills are lit, the shish kabab is put on rotation, and the nicer places prepare lamb, rabbit, or byrro for spit roasting. Taverns such as Ila’s, Samira’s, and Rayhan’s are packed full already at lunchtime, so one has to be quick to get a table. Smiling old men, wrinkled ladies, and bearded wabas come early to the taverns to play tavli, shah, or other dice and board games. The plaza also houses many smokehouses, and the smell of smoked meat, fish, sausages, greens, and spices is heavy all over. The wine houses Fidon, Hemerra, and Qui-Nestera have several wine cantinas on the plaza where soothing rosé or hot chamba is served depending on the season. Fudaila’s cantina in Jasmine alley is among the most popular, and its small balcony surrounded by thick, climbing jasmine is always full. The tabak isle on the plaza is the place for all things tabak-, cigar-, or hookah-related. To the connoisseur, dol-Hassan’s Tabakery is the number one location, mostly thanks to their divine cherry blends.
THE OZONE PLAZA
The market in the Ozone Plaza is dedicated to technological gizmos and gadgets, big and small. Loud bartering from the many tents and stalls mingles with the hoarse laughter from off-duty Legionnaires, the purring hookahs, and the rhythmic chinking from the sequin dresses of the belly dancers. Many visitors to the plaza are more or less openly armed, which is uncommon anywhere else on the station. The Guard avoids the Ozone Plaza and instead one will spot patrols from the Lama gang moving arrogantly about the place, distinguishable by their black-tattooed lips. A judicator or two will occasionally come down here to keep an eye on things.
The Ozone Plaza is the place to go for all your technological needs – and, despite the name, the air in the plaza is actually quite pleasant. The workshops here can make repairs to all kinds of gear, as well as make modifications. The best artisans on the station can be found on the Ozone Plaza, especially when it comes to gunsmithing. If one has the proper contacts one can even place an order with a real court appointed gunsmith. Weapons bought here cannot always be claimed right away, heavier weapons and ammunition are kept in storage in the spaceports. The buyer gets a tag with the codes to unlock a storage module and can pick up the goods on departure from the station.
In the alleys around the plaza there are several mercenary agencies, with the Black Skull being the most famous. These agencies supply mercenary groups to clients in need of personnel for small security or combat missions. A few detective agencies and investigative freelancers also have offices here, such as the Under the Lotus firm, specialized in extramarital affairs and other indiscretions.
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