Prospect Station
In year 2298, Humanity needed a solution. A solution to overpopulation, lack of food and water, and dwindling resources. Every country gave its top scientists to an organization called The FEDERATION. The goal? Give Humanity the Solution.
The FEDERATION created a rare substance called Californium-252 which was used as rocket fuel to power the biggest space object made by man—The Prospect Station. The amount of Californium-252 created was very little, and could only power the floating HUB for 70 years. If the station did not find a planet to find fuel for it, or to live on, death was a guarantee.
Luckily, they stumbled upon FORTUNA III. They lived on the planet peacefully for years until the storm hit. It forced mass evacuations, forcing people back up to the station. The station created the FOAM technology—Fail-safe Organic Assimilation Mechanism. The process foamed the prospector but didn't kill him when he/she was on the brink of death.
How it worked - Drills, Oils and A Whole Lot of Plants
KOROLEV'S Drills: The station is equipped with over 100+ drills at any given time. Once a prospector calls a drill down, it triggers an ignition in one of the pipes connecting the drill to the station, sending it flying towards the planet.
ICA's Oils: When a prospector calls an oil pump down—a 10-meter long tube hoisting the beacon—it is pushed out of the station. The station uses a piston mechanism to push the pump out with great force, accelerating it to 200 km/h by the time the pump enters the atmosphere. The reverse thrusters activate and slow the speed down to 20 km/h.
OSIRIS' Dungeon: When the Orbital Laser Beacon is placed, the station launches a 2-meter by 2-meter sized cannon right above the beacon. The accuracy is impeccable. The cannon has 4 holes closing into each other. It shoots 4 initial lasers which grow closer and closer, and then when it's charged up fully, the cannon sends a powerful charge through the main laser.
The station hosts 3 factions—ICA, OSIRIS, and KOROLEV—each with their own agendas, technologies, and secrets.
The Story of Kingdoge, Badum and the Leafmen
A prospector named Kingdoge once realized how important the leafmen were. When other prospectors looked at them as useless, he wondered why they couldn't take damage, why they weren't affected by storm. He decided to study them, realizing—if he could turn himself into one, maybe he too could become untouchable.
He asked his good friend Badum, owner of the busiest bar on the station, about a gene surgeon who could alter his DNA to get the invincibility aspect of the leafmen. But what happened was far worse—the surgery failed. Instead of becoming invincible, he became a leafman himself. He was orange, with 2 big black eyes, but he didn't mind it. He had made such an emotional connection to the leafmen that he didn't care.
He noticed something weird—leafmen were more attracted to him. Turns out he extracted the wrong gene from the leafmen. Despite this, he is one of the most beloved prospectors on the station.
The Revival Poem
In the realm of code where life was sweet,
The Cycle: Frontier, once faced defeat.
No more quests, no battles waged,
Yet passion remained, quietly caged.
Characters once danced, a lively spree,
Now stir again, awakening free.
New battles rising, fresh gaming cheer,
True fans rejoice — the return is here.
From echoes of servers, a song is sung,
For The Cycle’s revival, where hope has clung.
Mechanics and battles, a grand display,
The time has arrived — the game’s here to stay.
The server’s heartbeat grows bold and bright,
Calling all Prospectors back to the fight.
True fans await, their spirits ignite,
The time has now come for The Cycle: Frontier reclaim its light.Bright Sands
ICA
The Independent Civilian Advisory is a political organization present on many permanent stations and settlements across Federal space. It exists with official recognition and support by the Federal Authority to help set up civilian institutions and associations independent from any major corporations or nations. Officially, it's a non-profit organization that answers to the Federation, and to the nation it operates under if one is present, to ensure basic needs and freedoms for the population it manages without interference by corporations. Often, it's the real government and only civilian focused organization in areas where there is no official, or effective, government.
The ICA on Prospect Station organizes several companies and businesses needed to keep the station community healthy and acts as an interface between Habitat, the official station owners, and the various factions of the station, including Prospectors and interstellar corporations. The Advisory is headed by a committee made up of former colonists, station oligarchs, business representatives, and union leaders, each with their own conflicting interests, often leading to the organization having no clear goals other than the wellbeing of the station's populace and maintaining the status quo that allows for the organization to profit off its dealings with prospectors.
While the ICA competes with other major players for the resources of Fortuna III, the organization is protected and respected on the station, where it carries out its duties without too much interference. Plus, every major company has card carrying ICA members in its workforce, something that makes overt moves against them difficult to carry out, never mind unpopular among the station's populace.
OSIRIS
A relatively young corporation, Osiris' parent company Blue Star Ltd. had a long history of buying incipient and struggling R&D and tech firms to develop and license patents to third parties. Blue Star founded Osiris from the ashes of several R&D firms, with experience in fields ranging from arms research, robotics, genetic engineering, and most notably the (now defunct) founders of the warp gates that connect the prosperous Artery systems together. As a financially and legally independent company, Osiris has been tasked to lead their research on frontier planets, with their advantage of careless legal oversight than Artery systems, of what anything that could be the next major technological breakthrough in human history. Or just be another in a series of failed investments on the edge of space that almost invariably result in massive loss of life, one of the two.
Its current head is Emmanuel Sullivan, a visionary researcher only recently recruited by Blue Star to lead the operations on Fortuna III; between the Teratomorphic Energy Field, the unique and rapidly mutating fauna and flora, and the never-ending supply of Veltecite, the planet promises a wealth of scientific discoveries beyond imagination.
While Osiris had license to operate on the surface for research purposes, they recently started hiring Prospectors to handle the bulk of their planetary matter after several unfortunate, and costly, "incidents"; from now on Osiris' (remaining) field research personnel are confined to the station.
KOROLEV
Korolev Heavy Industries is the result of hundreds of corporations coalescing into a single massive entity over the course of two centuries, forming a practical monopoly in several markets. The mega-corporation operates practically everywhere humanity's managed to reach, building large scale and cheap structures along with the machines needed to build them, the myriad of tools required for life outside in frontier systems, and the ships to take them there. With heavy ties to powerful political factions on almost every major world and a market dominance only challenged by their rival Co-TEC, Korolev has found itself with more money and power than it knows what to do with.
The corporation's presence on Fortuna III was nothing noteworthy before the Cycle hit; the planet had vast quantities of Veltecite, so they had an interest in mining claims and not just simple production. Once the Cycle (storm) hit and the prospects of reaping the planet's resources dwindled, most Korolev personnel and its assets left for greener pastures, leaving behind a skeleton crew to ensure their claims would remain in place once (or if) the Cycle ever abated. The corporation's activities on Fortuna III are overseen by Vadim Tanayev, a man with nepotism to thank for his rise in the corporate ranks, and cut-through politics for his ostracism to Fortuna III after an industrial accident at a plant he oversaw tarnished his career.
Unfortunately for Korolev, the Authority charter governing Fortuna III forbids non-scientific corporate activity on the planet. Licensed prospectors, however, are allowed on the surface at their own risk, and Korolev is keen on hiring to provide a small but steady supply of Veltecite and other resources flowing to help validate the legitimacy of their presence on Prospect Station, and ultimately, Fortuna III.
Crescent Falls
ICA
In Crescent Falls, ICA maintains critical observation and resource extraction facilities.
OSIRIS
Osiris's presence in Crescent Falls is concentrated on the most extreme research—Pinnacle Labs.
KOROLEV
Korolev's mining operations in Crescent Falls focus on the oil veins.
Co-Tec
Co-Tec dominates Crescent Falls, operating the starport complex.
Tharis Island
ICA
ICA's presence on Tharis Island is minimal.
OSIRIS
Osiris maintains extensive research infrastructure.
KOROLEV
Korolev's operations focus on resource extraction.
NO FACTION
These locations are not claimed by any single faction.