There is a fine fellow on Instagram with the handle @golgothaprime who has not only a lovely set up of 15mm science fiction miniatures and terrain but also a talent for fiction too. By kind permission on our blog we present the collected short fictions and pictures of his collection which features miniatures from the 15mm Ion Age Range, the 15mm HOF Science Fiction Range the SHM 15mm Range and the Loud Ninja Games Range too. Enjoy the tales of future adventure!
Every tale is presented with its pictures and if you have any questions do ask us by commenting on the blog post. Click on each picture to make it larger and follow links if interested.
KEFALOS TRADE GUILD
When humanity first left Earth, guilds had been around for four millennia. By then they had fallen out of favour, but as humanity started to spread through the galaxy, guilds became popular once more. By banding together in guilds, resources could be pooled, more could be achieved, and members could find sources of co-operation and connections in systems far from home.
Some guilds are singular, like the Star Charters' Guild, while others can be found in multiple iterations, like the Trade Guilds. The older Trade Guilds mainly focus on logistics and brokering multilateral deals, seeing to it that the flow of goods never breaks down. Their fees are low, but with the enormous amount of deals being handled, they will still amount to massive gains.
While many Trade Guilds are peaceful, some are quite ruthless. They are constantly looking for newly colonized systems where they can force bad deals on colonists in need. In return they get the rights to natural resources, indentured servants, or the right to plunder any ancient ruins on the colony world. They do not care if their resource extraction creates environmental catastrophes, and if quotas are not met, they come to get it in force... The Kefalos Trade Guild is one of the most ruthless guilds, which has driven their business to the absolute fringe of the galaxy. They have recently been spotted on Golgotha Prime, and rumour has it that they are involved in some shady business...
MISSION BRIEFING
"Do not point that thing on me!"
"Hey, do not point that thing on me squidface!"
"Easy now, easy now... Would you please both lower your weapons?", Vorpal Dink asked. "I think that these aquatic fellows need our help to get something back which is theirs".
"Lower your weapon, Hruk. Mister Dink and his associates are to help us bring back the Seer stones that Kefalos Trade Guild stole from us. We have found out that they are to deliver them to a secret site here on Golgotha Prime."
"We have mapped their previous flight routes to the facility. It's always good to know what the Kefalos are up to", Captain Biro interjected. "Anyway, they are quite predictable in their movements. There is a specific point where we can station one of us with an EMP missile launcher. It should bring the craft down without damaging the cargo."
"The EMP blast ought to disable the craft's tracking signal, which should give us time enough to get the stones and get out", Dink added.
"It ought to", Hruk replied. "But let's be prepared if it doesn't."
"Yes, let's be prepared", Captain Biro agreed.
BATTLE OVER THE SEER STONES
"You said you had a plan. You said you could bring down their craft softly. You said we could get our Seer stones!"
"The EMP blast did bring it down softly."
"But we haven't found the craft yet! How do you know that the Trade Guild hasn't tracked it down?"
"Because we have ears listening in on Guild communications, and the chatter on the comms tell us that they are still searching. Now, look what we have here!"
"The craft! And inside ...the Seer stones!"
"Excellent, let's get out of here before ...what's that sound?"
The jungle had fallen silent, except for a rhythmic thudding and the whirr of servos. Suddenly an automated voice boomed.
"SCAVENGERS, STEP AWAY FROM THE CRAFT! KEFALOS TRADE GUILD IS HERE TO BRING THE CONTENT TO ITS RIGHTFUL OWNERS!"
"Thank you, but the stones are with their rightful owners now."
"NEGATIVE! YOU ARE NOT NEODYNE SECRET RESEARCH FACILITY! RETURN THE STOLEN GOODS OR FACE OUR WRATH! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY!"
Captain Biro sighed and unholstered his beam pistol. "Here we go..."
K0NG Mech Suit
Originally created to haul heavy goods in hostile environments, the K0NG Mech Suit has seen a lot of use on the galactic frontier. Most of the newer models have forgone the use of mech pilots, opting for an onboard AI instead, but the option to use it as a mech suit is still there.
With its enormous strength and durability, the Kefalos Trade Guild prefer to bring K0NG Mech Suits when they are to collect outstanding debt or unfilled quotas. The K0NGs are intimidating and able to forcefully haul away whatever cargo the guild deems appropriate to take as compensation.
Should anyone still pick a fight with the Trade Guild, the K0NGs massive strength, heavy armour (and the retrofitted, shoulder-mounted Hyper Blaster) will tip the odds in the Trade Guild's favour...
Trade Master Ko-In Zedel and M1-K Bot
Known for his utter ruthlessness and the trail of destruction that he and his retinue has left along the colonies on the galactic fringe, Trade Master Ko-In Zedel has piqued the interest of many parties with his arrival on Golgotha Prime. Ostensibly Zedel has come to establish a Kefalos Trade Guild outpost, but vile rumours about more nefarious motives follow him...
Something else follows him as well: his M1-K Bot. Modelled after a terrestrial simian, the M1-K scampers around its master, fetching things, acting like a pet. The M1-K's AI seems severely limited, often failing with even the simplest tasks in front of whomever Zedel is meeting. But this is all a ruse. Under the official AI, there is another, much more potent hiding.
When invited as a guest, Ko-In Zedel always bring the M1-K. When they are alone, the bot is sent out to map the facility, spy on its inhabitants, slice computer systems and bring the data back to Zedel. The bot is extremely quick and nimble, able to move through vents, dodge security systems and guards. Should it be discovered, it can deploy the energy weapon hidden in its tail, which can either fire deadly bolts of energy, or be used to stun the enemies in close combat.
Should a target need to be eliminated, a toxin pack can be installed in the M1-K's tail. Sneaking up on the unsuspecting victim, the M1-K can deliver untraceable and delayable toxins, which make the death seem natural. But as potent as the M1-K is, Zedel is using it sparingly, so it doesn't get discovered for what it actually is...
SCAVENGERS AND A FAILED COLONY
Sometimes the worst things happen. The colony fails. The experimental reactor explodes spectacularly. The world gets invaded by hostile forces.
The tech archaeologists release unspeakable horrors from forgotten vaults.
But humans exhibit an extreme survival instinct, and as long as a smaller group survives even a 'lost world' can harbour human life perpetually.
Sometimes the survivors can reclaim most of what was lost, other times the world regresses to a lower level of technology which can be sustained on its own.
Sometimes, there is nothing to reclaim, the former colony is wiped out, or the hostile invaders drive the survivors into the wild.
That's when humans usually return to their origins. In ancient times, humans were hunters and gatherers.
In the ruins, they tend to turn into raiders or scavengers, either fighting and stealing to survive, or sifting through wreckage and ruins for usable things.
Bands of scavengers and raiders have been sighted in the Badlands of Golgotha Prime.
While some kind of cataclysmic event wiped out everyone from the first colonization millennia ago, rumours speak of the loss of an enormous colony ship during the first modern colonization attempt of Golgotha Prime.
Supposedly the remains of that ship can be found in the Badlands, but its exact position is only known by a group of raiders calling themselves "Children of Thunder".
As a rite of passage, anyone joining the Children of Thunder must travel to the wreckage of the colonization ship, traverse the labyrinthine corridors and reach the reactor, where they shall submerge their heads in coolant.
The stories say that they gain mystic powers after this, but the only thing that has ever been confirmed is that they all gain electric blue hair...
---
For those interested the game system used in the scenarios here was Five Parsecs from Home by Ivan Sorensen of Nordic Weasel Games.
There will be another article from @golgothaprime about his love of 15mm gaming and his table and this will come in the new year of 2024!
Thank you for Reading,
GBS
