Space Hulks
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Space Hulks |
The term space hulk is a generic one given to massive, derelict vessels, almost always once-sentient or robot ships who's ai had failed, transcended, died, or in any other way disappeared from or been eliminated from the vessel. Although there are many smaller dead ships, it is usually the size of the hulk that makes it impressive. A hulk is valuable as salvage, and local operators have been known to charge exorbitant rates which the original owner must honour before e is allowed to re-claim it. In some cases, especially if it has been drifting for centuries or millennia and the parent or owner corporation, sophont, or transophont is no longer in existence. Because of material mass, archival data, and generic historic or heritage value, hulks are highly sort after. In the (rare) case of a transcend which left relics, they may be almost priceless. In some instances, such "orphan" hulks are legally the property of the polity in whose space they have ended up, and the salvage operator only receives a modest (bin proportion to the hulk's value) but still extremely lucrative, commission. But in deep interstellar space, or in areas where borders are vague or ill-defined, there is no clear ownership, and salvagers, prospectors, scavengers, privateers, and small corporations will usually all have a go at claiming the hulk. It is not unknown for lives to be lost in firefights over salvage rights to owned hulks, let alone orphans.
Although hulks may bring their discoverer great riches, they can also be dangerous in and of themselves. Sometimes, even when there is no pilot ai left, the self-maintaining security systems are still functional, and these may not hesitate to use deadly force on the presumed "bandit" or "pirate" who is trying to board the vessel. For this reason, no sane salvager will board a strange hulk without sending in remotes or probes to scout and check for defenses. Clever (turingrade or higher) defense ais know to ignore the remotes and await the salvager emself.
Rarely, in the case of a transcended ai, there is a sentient trans-sapient artifact or artifacts remaining, and, although most often not intending harm, these may inadvertently subvert or dominate the unwary treasure hunters. In some rare cases these individuals, now with the relic symbiotic to them, have started religious movements, although generally these cults do not last long.
Another rare but still possible danger is that in the case of a perverted transcend, there may be a deadly and insidious trap waiting the unwary; often of an ultra-tech nature for which a sophont (or even a hyperturing) may have no defense. In rare cases, such a trap has infected and destroyed an entire polity or star system, either infecting and subverting the local Net with ai virii, or unleashing nanolects or even picolect goo, and resulting in thousands or even millions of deaths or subversions, and the necessity of quarantining an entire system. Although the number of times such a catastrophe has happened are rare (no more than 20 times in the last standard year throughout the entire known galaxy) they are sufficient to create an aura of dread and hysteria around even completely harmless and inert hulks, and countless melodramatic virches and interactives have been created along this simple plotline.
Thanks to navigation drones and distributed ai nets, hulks are usually easily detected within the inner sphere, once they approach near enough a star system. Less easy to find are hulks still drifting or moving at relativistic velocities in deep interstellar space, or further out in the periphery or around low tech and isolated systems.
A generic term for any clade of adventurers who seek out hulks not only for profit, but simply for the sheer joy of it. Some hulkchasers show an almost manic disregard for the dangers, and will rush gleefully into a newly claimed hulk, protected by extravagant, baroque, or simply functional layers of exoskeleton, nanoskins, and/or remotes. Hulkchasers see mercenary salvagers as beneath contempt, and the feeling is mutual. But among themselves there is a clear sense of honour, even between rival clades, and it is rare for hulkchasers to fight over a claim with more than acerbic insults and prank goo
Hulkriders - of which no less than 500 clades are known at latest count - are believed to be Hulkchasers that had settled permanently in a hulk, either through choice or through being subverted by the defense systems or the relics left behind by a transcend. Hulkriders usually become inbred nomads, and after a few centuries or less there is little to distinguish them from conventional nomads or even ferals. Wherever possible they will scavenge from local resources or even - if they are fortunate - another hulk, adding to the size and decoration of their own vessel. Over several millennia, some of these patchwork vessels attain huge size.
