Hostile Environments

The Solar System might be friendly to life on a grand scale, but if you’re stranded in the gravity well of Jupiter during a magnetic storm, trying to breathe without a respirator on Mars, or floating in hard vacuum without a vacsuit, it doesn’t seem so friendly.

Atmospheric Contamination

Habitats sometimes fall ill. The effects of a habitat suffering from ecological imbalance or out-of-control pathogens can range from mildly allergenic habitat atmospheres to rampaging environmental sepsis. Biomorphs without breathing or filtration gear in a contaminated environment should suffer penalties ranging from −10 (mild contamination) to −30 (severely septic atmosphere). Depending on the contamination, other effects may apply, as the GM sees fit.

Dangerous Atmosphere

In most unbreathable atmospheres (such as Mars and many exoplanets), the primary hazard for transhumans without breathing apparatus or modifications is lack of oxygen (Asphyxiation). At lower atmospheric pressures, biomorphs require more oxygen; at higher pressure, they require less. An inadequate concentration of oxygen may not asphyxiate right away, but it will lead to respiratory distress and impairment (−10 to −30 to all actions) over time. Higher concentrations will lead to oxygen toxicity over time, leading to vision problems and disorientation (impairment, −10 to −30) and eventually seizures, physical damage, and death. Fires also spread very quickly in high-oxygen environments and explosions inflict more damage.

Note that many atmospheric gases are fine to breathe — argon, helium, neon, nitrogen — except at high pressures. Methane is also breathable, though it is highly flammable and reacts explosively with oxidizers and halogens.

High-Pressure Atmosphere: Almost all gases that can be breathed aside from neon and helium become narcotic at high pressures. Exposure over several hours will lead to impairment (−10 to −30), hallucinations, memory loss, anxiety, dizziness, impaired judgment, and eventually physical damage, unconsciousness, and death.

Toxic Atmosphere: Neptune, Titan, Uranus, and Venus all have toxic atmospheres. Similar atmospheres can be found on some exoplanets, or might be intentionally created as a security measure within a habitat or structure. A character who is unaware of atmospheric toxicity and does not immediately hold their breath (REF Check) suffers DV 2d10 per action turn.

Corrosive Atmosphere: Like some exoplanets, Venus’s atmosphere is also corrosive. Such atmospheres are immediately dangerous: DV 1d10 per action turn, regardless of whether you hold your breath or not. Increase the DV for atmospheres with higher concentrations. Armor only applies if it is environmentally sealed (and until it is eaten away). Corrosive atmospheres will damage vehicles and gear not equipped with anti-corrosive shielding, inflicting 1 to 5 DV per minute, depending on the concentration.

Extreme Heat and Cold

Planetary environments range from the extremely hot (Venus, Mercury’s day side) to the extremely frigid (Neptune, Titan, Uranus). Both will kill an unprotected and unmodified biomorph within minutes, if not seconds. Synthetic shells fare better, especially in the cold, but even they will succumb to the blazing furnaces of the inner planets without strong heat shields and cooling systems.

Extreme Pressure

Similarly, the atmospheric pressures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Venus quickly become crushingly deadly anywhere beyond the upper levels. Only synthmorphs and vehicles with special pressure adaptations can hope to survive such depths.

Gravity Transition Zones

The widespread use of simulated gravity in space habitats means that you will often encounter places where the direction of down suddenly changes. In most rotating habitats, the standard design includes an axial zone where spacecraft can dock in microgravity and a carefully designed and marked transition zone (usually an elevator) where people and cargo coming and going from the axial spaceport can orient to local “down” and be standing in the right place when gravity takes effect. Gravity transitions in rotating habitats are almost always gradual but can be very dangerous if you encounter them in the wrong place or time.

If you are cast adrift in the microgravity zone at the axis of a rotating space habitat, you will slowly drift outward, eventually getting a slight push in the direction of rotation from the winds. You will continue to drift in free fall until you come into contact with the ground, a building, or some other structure. Due to the speed of rotation, this collision will be quite devastating and likely deadly. The impact will accelerate you in the direction of rotation, likely causing your remains to skip and bounce several more times before they match the rotational velocity and settle. How long this drifting process would take varies according to the size of the habitat, but could easily take ten minutes or more, less if you were given a good push out from the axis.

Radiation

Ionizing radiation is one of the most prevalent hazards in the Solar System and a difficult problem for transhumanity to defeat. Radiation damages genetic material, sickens, and kills by ionizing the chemicals involved in cell division. Effects range from nausea and fatigue to massive organ failure and death. Radiation also damages biological neural networks, leading to flawed uploads and backups. Radiation can be countered by thicker, better shielding and nanomedicine that rapidly reverses ionization, but even these cannot deter the sheer magnitude of the output by some celestial bodies.

Radiation poisoning is a complicated affair. Sources of radiation include the Earth’s Van Allen belt, Jupiter’s radiation belt, Saturn’s magnetosphere, cosmic rays, solar flares, fission materials, unshielded fusion or antimatter explosions, and nuclear blasts, among others. Effects vary drastically depending on the strength of the source, the amount of time exposed, and the level of shielding available. Two options for effects on biomorphs are:

• Light Dosage: Within 1d6 hours, take DV 2d10 + 5 (no defense). After 1 week, suffer a −10 impairment modifier for 2d6 days.
• Heavy Dosage: Within 1d6 minutes, take DV 2d10 + 10 (no defense) and SV 1d6; this damage and stress cannot be healed. Suffer a −30 impairment modifier and take an additional DV 2d6 per day (no defense or healing) until dead.

GMs should adjust as they see fit. Radiation poisoning symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, hair loss, sterility, and uncontrolled bleeding. Synthmorphs are not quite as vulnerable as biomorphs, but even they can be damaged and disabled by severe radiation dosages (they take only the initial damage).

Surface Hazards

Aside from the vacuum, the surfaces of asteroids, comets, and some satellites can be deceptively dangerous. Many asteroids are little more than piles of rubble loosely held together by gravity, often with large internal caverns. Signifiant pressure on such a surface, as might happen with a landing, could easily cause it to collapse, burying the lander in a crater of dust. Comets are similar, adding ice to the mix that vaporizes during their approach the sun and freezes as they move away. This creates structures with empty pockets and thin surfaces that can be easy to break through. Even larger asteroid surfaces can be pockmarked with pits of settled dust, visually indistinguishable from surrounding terrain, which an unwary traveler can sink into. Crevasses, pits, and rugged surfaces are common, making fast travel difficult.

You can spot potentially dangerous holes and subsurface pits with radar, though this may require a Perceive or Interface Test. A surface traveler attempting to skirt such hazards may need to make a Free Fall or Pilot Test. Someone in danger of crashing through can make a REF Check to catch themselves. While microgravity lessens the danger of impacts, unlucky explorers can still become buried, stuck, and blinded in the dust and debris.

On many celestial bodies, regolith surface dust itself is tens of centimeters thick. The particles themselves become charged by the solar wind and levitate before settling again. Heavy surface activity can easily kick up clouds of floating dust that obsure vision and covers everything. These regolith particles are rough, abrasive, and magnetic. They stick to vacsuits, clog equipment, cover faceplates and windows, and scratch lenses. This dust is quite hazardous to breathe in (causing from 1d6 to 2d10 DV, depending on exposure).

Underwater

In general, any physical skill performed underwater suffers a −20 penalty due to the resistance of the medium. Skills relying on equipment not adapted for underwater use may be more difficult or impossible to use. Unless you possess an underwater mobility system, your movement rate is reduced (Movement). If you lack the capability to breathe underwater, follow the rules for asphyxiation. Note that drowning characters do not immediately recover if rescued from the water; they will continue to asphyxiate until medical treatment is applied to clear the water from their lungs.

Vacuum

Biomorphs without vacuum sealing can spend one minute in the vacuum of space with no ill effects, provided you curl up into a ball, empty your lungs of air, and keep your eyes closed (something kids in space habitats learn at a very young age). Contrary to popular depictions in pre-Fall media, a character exposed to hard vacuum does not explosively decompress, nor do their internal fluids boil (other than relatively exposed liquids such as saliva on the tongue). Rather, the primary danger for characters on EVA sans vacsuit is asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen and associated complications such as edema in the lungs.

After one minute in space, you begin to suffer from asphyxiation. Damage is doubled if you hold air in your lungs or are not curled up in a vacuum-survival position. Additionally, characters trapped in space without adequate thermal protection suffer a −10 modifier to all actions and 2 DV per minute.