Setting:CATastrophe/BananaTown
Banana Town is a settlement made for the CATastrophe homebrew system.
Banana Town is a medium sized settlement in a tropical region of the Endless Blue. It is comprised of a decently large island, upon which is a large Banana plantation owned by the Swishtail Foxes. Around the island are various ships of different sizes, including a cruise ship run aground, where many Kemomi live inside of the refurbished rooms, and a large freefloating Cargo Ship, upon which is the settlement's marketplace. Various groups in power in Banana Town are the Swishtail Foxes, the Shinies Market Guild and Lucky Rex, the owner of the Dicer's Ship Casino. Banana Town's trade is primarily in bananas and banana based products, including glue, beer, banana chips, and other things. The island has a flyship(blimp) tower as well, which connects to several nearby settlements when the weather is stable. Other goods commonly traded include shinies, a grey market trade in catnip, and the ever present fish trade.
Major Points of Interest[edit]
The Boardswalk[edit]
The Boardswalk is built from long planks torn from whatever long planks the Kemomi of Banana Town could find. Every board is a slightly different color, but the hot tropical sun has bleached most of them to a paler shade, and the passing of thousands of Kemomi has smoothed the planks. Along the boardswalk are many small shops, large poles suspending Christmas light between them, which light up at night, casting a colorful light across the area. The boardswalk serves as the central plaza in town, where many people meet up at, where Shiny Hunters are often hired, right after leaving the boatland, and where young kemomi walk together seeking romance on a cool night under the lights.
Dicer's Ship[edit]
Run by a dog known to most only as the Dicer, the Dicer's ship is a midsized ship run aground on the north side of Shipwreck Shore. Dicer has built up the ship, restoring one room at a time, until his ship is now quite luxurious. There are girls, card games, roulette wheels, working slot machines, and the ever present games of craps that the casino was founded upon. The entire ship is gilded with silver and gold, and the red carpeting makes everything look quite rich and fancy. The only thing setting it off is the 5 degree tilt that the ship rests on. Rumor has it that the Dicer has more money than the entire Swishtail Fox clan.
Cruz Ship[edit]
The Cruz Ship is not owned by anyone really. It has been on the island for as long as anyone can remember, and different parts of it were restored by different groups of settlers. Those living on the Cruz Ship regularly are doing pretty well for themselves, and they are either renting a room from one of the families that owns and rents out part of the ship, or they are a member of one of the oldest families living in Banana Town. Despite much of the ship being owned, the pool on the topdeck and the ballroom are open to all, and every day there is a party (or several) held in these two places. Admission to the party is generally no more than bringing food, booze or a couple cute girls in.
Bigship Market[edit]
Bigship Market is a huge cargo ship that was once freefloating across the endless blue. Legend says they docked one year to avoid the worst of a storm, and ended up liking the bananas that the Swishtail foxes were growing so much that the kemomi on board never left. What is known is that the Bigship's topdeck is the site of one of the biggest markets for kilometers around, and the Shiny Market Guild has an office on the ship itself. Below the topdeck is largely storage for the various merchants, and housing for less affluent Kemomi.
The De-Salting Plant/Rice Paddies[edit]
The De-Salting Plant is a large desalinization plant built by a traveling group of Kemomi from Akadmee. Originally Banana Town had glass stills to desalinate their water, but the new De-Salting plant allows for several times the water to be purified. Since the De-Salting plant was built, the ever enterprising Swishtail Foxes started planting rice, making use of the excess water cleaned to expand their farming. Despite the difficulty of growing rice, it has become a commonplace food amongs the inhabitants of Banana Town.
The Boatland[edit]
The boatland is the name of the large bay between the Cruz Ship and the Bigship Market. Surrounded by large breakwaters, on two sides, and buffered by the sunken ship at the bay's mouth, the waters of the boatland are calm, and it serves as a shelter for many during tropical storms. If a particularly bad storm is seen well in advance, the boatland has been known to get so full, that it is possible to walk, climb and jump from one ship to the next the entire breadth of the bay.
Banana Dan's Banana Mansion[edit]
Banana Dan is the current head of the Swishtail Foxes, which is the most prominent family in Banana Town. They have lived in Banana Town for more than 100 years, and they are the ones who own the Banana Plantation, and the Rice Paddies in town. The Banana Mansion is a large multistory building, built from a couple of wrecked ships. The mansion is vaguely banana shaped, hence its name, and it is home to no less than a dozen of the Swishtail Foxes, including Banana Dan himself. The home is lavishly decorated, and it is fully powered, with an array of solar panels lining the roof.
Seatainer Corner[edit]
Seatainer corner is a neighborhood where living is cheap, and thieving is common. The Bigship Market came to Banana Town loaded high with giant metal boxes galore, and when the market was established, they needed room on the deck for merchants. Many of the Seatainers ended up in the open land between the Banana Plantation and the Eastern shore, and they were soon cleaned out, and made into homes. Seatainers also were moved throughout the island, as they were good solid buildings that were already built, but the majority stayed in Seatainer Corner. Now they serve as buildings that house things such as apartments, small businesses, and storage for the foods grown nearby. Watch your back in the area though, Some of the residents are less than honest, and with some of the containers being stacked 2 or 3 high, you might find a mugger coming from above, as well as behind you.
The Shelter[edit]
Nobody remembers who founded the shelter, it just sorta appeared one year as an assemblage of a couple seatainers where travelers could sleep without paying. The place was built up a bit more when the wood siding and roof was added between the two buildings, and a couple years later a traveling healer moved in, tending to the sick, and only accepting donations. The healer died after a few decades, but not before training a couple apprentices, one of whom stayed on. The shelter grew over the years, and it now generally sees at least 50 Kemomi staying each night, and it is one of the few places where medical help can be had for for free, for anyone who comes to them. Flyships come in occasionally with passengers looking for healing from far away settlements, and there are three fully trained healers, and no less than half a dozen apprentices at any given time.
Flyship Tower[edit]
The Lucky Hare Flyship line runs through Banana Town, using it as one of the major hubs for business, with an office and travel available to several nearby settlements on a daily schedule. The Flyships are large lighter than air zeppelins with a suspended cabin that make the trip from island settlement to settlement, generally much faster than a oceanborne ship can. The only issue with the flyships is that they will completely shut down if there is a storm underway, and the weight limits they impose on travelers. The tower itself has a large office on the ground level, and it extends up a hundred feet, to where the boarding platform is, so their ships do not have to land (except when it storms).