A close up of my initial sketch of the M.M. Goodwyll
This vessel is the M.M. Goodwyll, a COMPANY associated transport craft designated for long distance personnel and cargo transport.
Unfortunately, the actual of scale of the vessel is not done complete justice in the above image as it would be several times larger (in order to accommodate 10-15k personnel including crew at any given point depending on which routes and destinations they travel along and to) with a floor count in the teens and hull big enough to carry its own smaller transport shuttles and a few combat craft.
Long distance travel wasn’t possible for humanity for the longest time because they couldn’t solve the problem of gradual deterioration, that is until the absolute mad-woman and genius, Margarita M. Godfrey was able to solve how to control confined gravity. She was able to replicate and control the effects of gravity in an enclosed space, which immediately increased the quality of comfort and longevity for travellers when her tech was applied to space fairing vessels as she went on to perfect it.
With this perfection in tech, the “Company” was able to expand its mining operations at a rapid rate and within a few decades, humanity had expanded across the cosmos at an even more astonishing rate than it had before.
Which brings us to now... ‘current ‘in this universe where travel, commerce, trade, and culture all regularly flow between the inner reaches and the outskirts of the cosmos. During this travel, specifically long stretches that take anywhere from 3-12 months going one way, ships like the M.M. Goodwyll (named after ‘Margarita Mommy’ herself) are the go to option for transporting goods and personnel.
Certain vessels are privately owned and contract out for the company, however the Goodwyll is a pure-bred relic of the companies expansion - and thus, is a little rough around the edges.
Another interesting fact about the “Company” is that they genuinely care about their shee-I mean, employees and so not only do they pay and train well, but they go as far as to provide forms of mental release, stimulation, and camaraderie through 2 key methods.
The first is that on nearly every ship and base that is or was managed by the Company has a designated night-life zone somewhere in it’s depths. It usually looks like a singular, colorful neon alleyway that’s lined with the facades of taller buildings that lead up to an artificial sky that operates on a universal 24-hr format that can even mimic rain, faint breezes, and other weather phenomena to some extent. At minimum, these ‘alleyways’ are lined with a bar, club, arcade, general store. On larger ships, stations, or bases the midnight district can stretch for multiple city square blocks and host even more attractions like hotels, fine-dining, gambling and other night-life.
The company decided that providing the space for and giving their employees the choice to enjoy these amenities would be good for morale, and they were correct. This led to the second problem which led to the second method.
The problem was simple, how do you keep the party alive if it’s the same “smart juke-box DJ” providing the tunes every time? On a long distance voyage, a person would quickly grow tired of this and morale would be impacted, so they decided that live performers would work well to fill the gap.
So this was their second method. Hire artists for long contracts on their vessels and outpost to help permanently boost morale since the artist would be local and have a direct pulse on their community thus enabling them to sculpt unique and organic experiences on a journey by journey, station by station, or base by base level.
Another interesting face about the culture would be the new-age approach to sexuality and partnerships. Because the voyages were often so long, it was common for voyagers to agree to “bunk-up”, a slang-term used to signal intent to lock in for a temporary relationship - usually only lasting the duration of the voyage. Sexuality is still viewed differently depending on the culture you come from in this universe, but open promiscuity and sexuality are encouraged and having a “bunky” is an easy way to help ensure your health long-term since you’d essentially be limiting yourself to one sexual partner for the duration of the voyage.
For experienced space fairing women, company associated or not, having multiple sexual partners (even at the same time) is normal, and advancements in medicine have reduced the stigma of sexually-transmitted infections/diseases. This means that a lot of these new-age women are particularly thoughtless when it comes to their vaginal health and wellbeing, however there is a sub-group of these experienced women who, while still aggressive by modern standards, are much more conservative with their sexual lives and often seek out fresh blood (men who are on their first assignment with the company) for relations because there’s an added layer of safety because a) they’re new to the culture (as space dating is very different from dating planet side), or b) they’re pumped to the gills with the fresh vaccinations and other required shots from the company which means they have they statistically have the lowest likelihood of transmitting any normal space-born, sexual infections.
The last little fun bit about this universe (and the photo in particular) is that purple haze that the Goodwyll is traveling into to escape its assailers has a unique quirk about it that has swallowed untold number of souls since the discovery of its existence. ALL that enter seem to be unable to return and are usually declared missing or dead immediately after entering. This is because EVERY probe, expedition, or unfortunate soul traveling through the areas where these massive mist phenomena develop, has NEVER been seen or heard from again. Scientist in this world have speculated that perhaps the mist is a gateway to another universe or dimension while other have speculated that it is simply a void that consumes all. One thing they can all agree on is that it doesn’t seem to have any purpose in particular but it also doesn’t seem like it formed naturally, which means that there has to be a purpose - just one that they can’t see, know, or comprehend.
I’ve been building this universe for years now! It’s the setting for a serialized web-novel and album experience i've created called, “Ultra : Origins”. If you dig these little lore nuggets let me know below i guess? this is my first time posting on Reddit, so i wanted to make a post and get acquainted with how things work before I post more about the world, the actual characters, and how the story will progress!
anyways... uh, peace!