Topiary
Slipstream Links
Stats
- +2 Technology (slipstream use)
- -2 Environment (hostile environment)
- +1 Resources (rich)
Background
"Topiary", as the entity is called and allows itself to be referred, extends itself through the thick nebula around which the single slipstream point is situated. "Branches," "leaves" and other areas of this large plant can be found as far as any ship has - to date - attempted to explore. Most understandings of slipstream technology assume any such system would have two slipstream points; the second for Topiary has yet to be found. Topiary has declined to answer questions on the topic. While its ships, constructed out of the same metals and rare earths Galliard shipyards manufacture theirs out of and crewed by whoever has paid for them, travel extensively throughout the cluster, Topiary's consciousness does not seem capable of leaving the nebula.
As one of the two suppliers of slipsteam capable ships in the cluster, its reasonable pronouncements are usually heeded. Threats of embargoes or trade restrictions have, in the past, proven sufficiently effective at deterring activities or entities it does not like. It accepts biomass as a sort of currency, preferring bulk, live matter to exotics or dead mass. Cluster-wide trade has adjusted to fit the preference, and despite no knowledge of why or how this works for it, the result is clear: Topiary nearly equals half Galliard's total shipyard production.
Topiary occasionally decides it likes an individual, which it usually shows by granting practical, if initially mysterious, personal item(s) as a sign of favor.
Aspects
- Pacifist, intelligent tree
- Possible additional slipstream link
- Mysterious origins
