Welcome to Backwater

The suns were high in the sky as the towns folk languidly went about their business. The mingled light from the suns turned the sky a brilliant shade of purple. The town itself was nothing fancy, just a few simple buildings made of wood and stone. Many visitors from off world thought it quaint compared to the glittering cities on their home worlds, not that many visitors came this far. The nearest space terminal was a week away by carriage and then only if you had plenty of oil for the gears on the mechanical horses. This was the town of Backwater and it was all that its name implied.

Now they had their amenities. They had CoreNet terminals and even a couple of Matter Reclamation Units. They even had indoor plumbing and clean water. But they had no need for the fancy stuff that all them city folk had. In fact many of the so called luxuries had been all but banned from this little world at the edge of The Union. There were no hovers except for the carriages and these folk liked it that way. There was no hurry to get anywhere and if there was a need to hurry it was your own fault for not planning ahead. There was no need for the personal entertainment devices that visitors sometimes asked for. If you wanted entertainment, there was plenty to be had in the common room at the Wandering Goat. Now The Wandering Goat, or The Goat as the locals called it, had live music every night and even some play acting on occasion. The real treat was when the story tellers would come through with grand tales of starship captains and their loyal crews, tales of young heroes and their valiant feats, and tales of loves lost, loves gained, and even tragic tales of lovers doomed to be apart.

The Goat was not the only place in town mind you. There were plenty of other places, like the general store for your sundries, and the smithy for any parts you might need to fix your broken horse. There was a market where all the local farmers could sell their crops, the tanners for making leather, and the butcher for carving up the farmers’ livestock, and no town would be complete without a schoolhouse. All in all Backwater was a peaceful slice of heaven, but no place is such without people. And the people of Backwater, well that’s another story.