Black Holes and Orbiting Junkyards

Much of the action in Rogue Trooper takes place on the twisted landscapes and poisoned seas of Nu Earth, but more than a few story arcs in the strip take Rogue away from the battered planet. Spin offs such as Jaegir and The 86ers also offer a look at Nort and Souther habitats away from the battlefields that are such a focus for their interstellar war.

As promised in last week's blog, we'll be taking a brief look at some of the locations the supplement explores away from Nu Earth's hazardous atmosphere.

The first part of the Beyond Nu Earth chapter discusses the planet's system and its salient features. A huge reason that Nu Earth has become a focal battleground between the Norts and Southers is its proximity to a black hole - both sides have mastered the titanic forces around these cosmic enigmas and now use them for rapid intergalactic travel. The war for Nu Earth rages because both sides are seeking to control and fortify the planet that lies closest to the galaxy-spanning conduit.

Closer to the planet, its two orbiting moons have been the site of clandestine ops and deadly clashes. The Blue Moon is Souther-held, while Torpor is home to  a statue from a better time that celebrated the unity and trust that once bound the two deadly enemies.

Thanks to the detritus of battles from outside its atmosphere, the planet has gathered a halo of wreckage known as the Junkyard Zone. Both sides hide military satellites, orbital platforms and craft amongst the debris. Patrols and instruments listening for sound and searching for signs of life often turn the continued existence of these vessels into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Hidden away in deep space is Milli-Com, the overall command centre of the Souther's galaxy-spanning armies. The unrivaled space station is the largest ever comprises a thousand decks where a million strategic staff direct a myriad of wars. Some of these theatres of war merely merit a single room to oversee them, whilst the Nu Earth campaign has three entire decks devoted to it.

Away from the Nu Eart System, the Acoma System and Citadel that were the backdrop for The 86ers is also explored - the Citadel even features in one of the adventures included with the supplement, but more on that later!

The chapter rounds itself out nicely with a whistlestop tour of a number of other planets and systems that have featured in strips related to Rogue Trooper, including such places as Horst, the Kushkow System, Nu-Karthage, and many more. Although set in a different universe, the addition of the Rogue Trooper supplement and its tour of the setting will make the Judge Dredd & Worlds of 2000 AD line a whole lot more expansive in more ways than one!