The Setup: During our Session 0 the players and I constructed a local cluster connected by jump gates. Earth is off the table for the game, but is still connected – it’s just like a year journey to get back.
One of the local stars that the original explorers happened upon was encased in a dyson sphere of unknown origin (at approximately Venus orbit). The structure appears almost crystalline and reflects/refracts all incoming EM waves and sensors. No seams or entrances were ever founds. But the frozen planets still orbiting the sphere were ripe with unique materials, and the system became a destination for mining.
Now: The characters have discovered with enough concentrated plasma fire, the crystalline structure of the sphere will “melt” away. It reseals itself in moments, but they are able to fire a sustained blast from their ship long enough to get their shuttle and mech suit through while the ship waits outside in position. It is set to re-bore the hole once per day until fuel gets low, then it will do it once a week.
The session ended as they flew into the borehole before it sealed up behind them.
WHAT DO THEY FIND INSIDE?
The dead civilization of aliens who inhabited the interior surface of the sphere, pristinely preserved like old-earth amber; like a whole world under glass. It is the greatest opportunities for xenoarchaeology ever encountered, and they’ll be famous beyond their wildest dreams as long as they can survey the site so they actually have something to pitch to the help they’ll need from civilized society (scientists, laborers, permits, and all that). They’ll also, obviously, need to be able to get back out with what they’ve found, which might be harder done than said. They should probably also be wary of what would wipe out an entire civilization (no signs of bodies in this place) but leave everything else intact. Maybe an AI underwent the growing pains of self-learning, got stuck in a loop of depression, and cooked the whole sphere with radiation to fry its own drives? Bringing it back online will definitely get the PCs what they need to be famous, but you should probably avoid reviving emotionally-compromised computer intelligences, generally. Beyond all of that, do you have any idea how many mining unions you’ll be pissing off if you get this system labeled an archaeological site? How many people you’ll be putting out of work? Better to scuttle these freebooters than let them ruin some blue-collar spacers’ lives.
Nice. The big central mining union (an actual labor union) is already after them for not doing nefarious underhanded things they requested when they called in a debt. I love the idea about it getting reclassified as scientific.
I also have this image in my head that a single planet still orbits in the sky – possibly allowing for night cycles by eclipsing the small blue tinted star.
As for how the civilization fell? Hmmm
A grey sea of near-insane, abandoned nanites that constantly build small islands in an attempt to recreate their long-dead creators.
What could an ancient race fear enough that they would imprison it but choose not to kill it? Their own children. Doomed by disease, rabid technology, mutation, or who knows. The caretakers (automated or biological) are still there. They will be mighty concerned that there are OTHERS here and that they somehow got through the barrier. The orders are clear; protect the ‘children’, protect the universe, DO NOT LET THEM OUT.
This stuff is very similar to the Ringworld novels by Larry Niven (and the RPG once published by Chaosium Inc.) Over there, the opening to the underside of the ring is a “cziltang brone” and there must be some softening field to open it up so your ship could pass (but heaven help you if it closes while you are still in it, you will be embedded in the Ring).
Depending on the “latitude” of where you enter a Dyson Sphere, however, you are going to be subject to a (virtual) centrifugal force you must overcome with your maneuver drive: at the poles, nothing, you just land; at the equator, related to the spin of the sphere vs. the natural orbital tendency.
Is it Rick Astley?
EDIT: I was pleasantly surprised.
Todd Zircher Oh man… I literally did not think that it could be a prison. That is amazing.