Starsail

Raskajan

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 10:52:52 GMT

This article is about the lore and setting of Starsail Bordello. For the gameplay-related article referring to the entirety of the setting, see The Cluster⟷Raskajan Cluster discoveredFoldspace Drive validatedRaskajan I colonizedFirst Raskajan RevoltSecond Raskajan RevoltThird Raskajan RevoltCurrent day0021502200225023002350240024502500
Raskajan is a cluster of 13 star systems within the Leo II satellite galaxy, located approximately 690,000 lightyears from Earth. All 13 star systems exist within a roughly 6-lightyear sphere around the central-most star, Raskajan I, also informally referred to as Raskajan Prime
Named after Antonov Raskajan, the exoastrophysicist who first discovered the star cluster in 2217, Raskajan I was formally colonized in 2347, as one of the seven candidate systems for the First Exocolonial Expansion following the validation of the Foldspace Drive in 2341.
Due to the immense distance from Earth, which not even Foldspace can make feasibly navigable, Raskajan from the outset was forced to be a largely independent and self-sustained colony. Shortly into the colonization efforts of Raskajan VI, the First Raskajan Revolt broke out in 2417, which originated in the outermost planets of Raskajan III before quickly overtaking its neighboring Raskajan II, and eventually the colonial capitol of Raskajan Prime. This soon lead to the successful overthrow of the Adjunct Administration, and the installation of the Raskaj Order. In the years to follow, this revolution would later also be known as The Order Coup.
A highly religious and extremely authoritarian regime, the Raskaj Order quickly gained control of the remaining three Sectors, and once their control was secure and absolute, destroyed all major Foldspace Relays throughout the colony that were capable of communicating with Earth.
Over the next century, the Raskaj Order completed the colonization of all 13 star systems of the Raskajan Cluster, imposing their religious doctrine into law as they were settled. Since the Order took control of the The Cluster, there have been two attempted coups to displace the regime: the Second Raskajan Revolt, also known as the United Front Revolution, which lasted from 2447 to 2449; and the Third Raskajan Revolt, also known as the Free Society Insurrection, which began and ended in 2473.
Both coups were violently put down by the Raskaj Order, and in both cases, were used by the Order to justify even harsher restrictions, surveillance, and enforcement. Subversive plotting is heavily monitored and silenced, and a culture of silent compliance has since become widespread amongst the Sectors in the shadow of the coups' failures.Under the Order, there is a near-total ban on all sexuality: all efforts for procreation must be explicitly registered and approved by the Population Ministry, and any and all sexual behavior outside of the approved course of procreation are explicitly prohibited by the Order.
The Order are, of course, aware of the impossibilities to fully control human nature, and instead exploits this reality to their favor. Within each Sector of The Cluster operates a single state-sanctioned Administrative Brothel, singularly controlled and dictated by a mysterious figure known only as The Headmistress. All sexual behavior deemed deviant by the Order (which is to say, all sexual behavior outside the approved attempts to procreate) is channeled into the Brothels, using strict legal enforcement and stiff punishments for any and all sexual behavior caught operating outside their walls.
With a total monopoly on all sexuality in the Cluster--including not only prostitution, but also public venues and even the production and consumption of pornography--the Headmistress exercises outsized control not only on the exuberant prices her captive customers are forced to pay, but on the lifestyles, routines, and even physical appearance of the sex workers under her employ.
While technically an independent operator, the Headmistress is fully and publicly backed by the full strength of the Raskaj Order, with the entire law apparatus working to secure and maintain her sex-work empire, in exchange for the extreme amounts of revenue that her monetized monopoly on sex brings in for the Order.

Foldspace Jump

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 01:40:25 GMT

See Foldspace for a disambiguation of Foldspace-related terms.
A Foldspace Jump is the process by which the player navigates between the various Sectors of The Cluster. While the core premise of Foldspace Jumping is simple to understand on a gameplay level, there are a variety of specific mechanics related to Foldspace Jumping that justifies its own dedicated article.
To initiate an Anchored Foldspace Jump, the player needs to first be Docked at a Foldspace Anchor. Then, the player opens their Cluster Map and double-clicks on any Sector they are not currently in to initiate the Foldspace Jump.
An Anchored Fold Value is calculated based chiefly on the size of the Starsail, which is in turn used to determine how many Ticks are required to spool up the Foldspace Jump. Once the spool-up time has passed, the player ship is immediately moved to the target Sector, all relevant Hunt timers are reset, and the player can freely navigate the target Sector as they wish.
Every successful Anchored Foldspace Jump generates 1 Damage, and generates Heat proportional to the size of the Starsail.
To initiate an Emergency Foldspace Jump, the player can double-click on any Sector in their Cluster Map while Docked at any location other than a Foldspace Anchor, or press the Emergency Jump button at the bottom of the Cluster Map while Docked at a Foldspace Anchor.
An Emergency Fold Value is calculated based chiefly on the size of the Starsail, mitigated by the size of the Starsail's Reactor. The player ship is immediately transported to the target Sector, without any spool up time, but the Starsail Reactor will overload for a number of Ticks equal to the aforementioned Emergency Fold Value.
Every successful Emergency Foldspace Jump generates both Damage and Heat proportional to the size of the Starsail.
Coupled tightly with the Foldspace Jump are two intrinsics values that the Foldspace Drive keeps track of: Heat and Damage.
Heat is accrued every time a Foldspace Jump is performed, and is proportional to the overall size of the Starsail. Larger Starsails generate more Heat.
When performing a Foldspace Jump, the current amount of Heat that the Foldspace Drive currently has accrued is taken into account: for Anchored Foldspace Jumps, this translates to a longer Spool Time; for Emergency Foldspace Jumps, this translates to a more significant Reactor Overload.
Heat dissipates naturally, with 1 unit of Heat removed from the Foldspace Drive per Global Tick.Damage is closely related to Heat, with a few distinct differences.
When performing a Anchored Foldspace Jump, the Foldspace Drive accrues 1 point of Damage, regardless of the size of the Starsail.
When performing an Emergency Foldspace Jump, however, the Foldspace Drive accrues Damage proportional to the overall size of the Starsail. Much like Heat during Foldspace Jumps, larger Starsails accrue more Damage during Emergency Foldspace Jumps.
When performing a Foldspace Jump, the current amount of Damage that the Foldspace Drive has currently accrued is taken into account, in a fashion identical to how Heat is taken into account as described above.
Importantly, Damage does not dissipate naturally. The Damage that the Foldspace Drive has accrued persists, until it is repaired at a Shipyard Docking Location, at great expense. As such, while maintenance of the Foldspace Drive can be managed reasonably well if sticking strictly to Anchored Foldspace Jumps, the cost of excessive Emergency Foldspace Jumps can quickly become devastating.
While an Emergency Foldspace Jump immediately removes the player from their current Sector, the Starsail is crippled from normal operation in the target Sector of the Foldspace Jump afterwards, as part of a Reactor Overload.
During a Reactor Overload, all Ship Systems except for the Bridge, Transceiver, Crew Quarters, Private Quarters, and all but a single Engine are completely disabled. The one spared Engine is reduced to operating at Level 1.This has several ramifications:
While the player can navigate the Sector, they can only move with the most basic Thrust speed.
Both the Scanner and the Jammer are disabled, meaning that not only can the player not see the Hunt timer, but said Hunt timer is operating at whatever base value the current Difficulty Curve demands.
The Mess Halls are disabled, meaning that Crew cannot be fed, resulting in Crew Morale dropping quickly; and the Cargo Bays are similarly disabled, meaning that Ladies cannot help relieve Crew stress.
All of this amounts to Reactor Overloads being very prohibitive to endure, and as such, are to be avoided at all costs. Chiefly, this strongly incentivizes avoiding Emergency Foldspace Jumps as much as possible, in addition to the massive Foldspace Drive Damage that they already inflict

Foldspace

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:57:36 GMT

This article is a disambiguation page for the lore of Foldspace, the Docking Location Foldspace Anchors, the Ship Room Foldspace Drive, and the mechanics of Foldspace Jumping.
Foldspace is the technology that enables faster-than-light travel in Starsail Bordello, allowing the traversal of lightyears in mere hours, rather than the tens of thousands of years conventional space travel would take.
Navigating Foldspace requires two components: the Foldspace Drive, and the Foldspace Anchor. The Foldspace Drive is the ship-mounted component that controls the flow of travel, while the Foldspace Anchor provides the massive amounts of computation power needed for safely traveling through Foldspace, serving as both the entrance and exit of any Foldspace jump.
While technically Foldspace can be entered by a ship equipped with a Foldspace Drive at any point in space, it is strongly discouraged due to the massive power draw and Drive damage it can cause.
Similarly, technically Foldspace can be exited at any point in space without the use of a Foldspace Anchor. This is even more strongly advised against when traveling within colonized space, due to the extreme inaccuracy of an unanchored jump potentially leaving a particularly unlucky ship a full parsec away from its intended destination.

Starsail

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:50:42 GMT

A Starsail is any medium-to-large size pleasure yacht, typically crewed by anywhere from 6 to 30 personnel, designed solely for low-security civilian travel through The Cluster.
In the context of Starsail Bordello, the term Starsail almost exclusively refers to the specific ship that the player controls in the game.
The Starsail is an upgradable vessel that is composed of a series of connected Rooms. Each Room provides some unique advantage to the player, while consuming Power and requiring Crew to operate. Some can be upgraded in-place. Almost all Rooms can have duplicates built, for a cheaper cost than upgrading them, at the cost of consuming more Room Slots.
The Starsail has a fixed number of Room Slots that can be populated with Rooms. The number of Room Slots can be increased by upgrading to a larger hull, which is an expensive and irreversible operation that comes with its own unique downsides. Rooms take up a variable number of Room Slots.The Starsail has five major resources that the player is required to manage for optimal play:
Power is generated by Reactors, and consumed by all other Ship Rooms. A Ship Room can not be built if there is not enough free Power to support its cost.
Crew are hired at various Docking Locations, and are required to operate Ship Rooms. A Ship Room will not function if there are insufficient Crew to operate it. Crew require Supplies and Mess Halls in order to operate effectively, and their efficiency is dictated by Crew Morale.
Crew Morale is an intrinsic property of Crew, and fluctuates depending on the current state of the game. It naturally decays over time, with various conditions impacting it negatively, and a handful of ways to increase it.
Supplies are purchased at various Docking Locations, and are served by Mess Halls to Crew to keep Crew Morale high and keep the Starsail operating efficiently.
Room Slots are a fixed resource that is tied to the Starsail hull, of which Ship Rooms expand into. Room Slots can only be increased by purchasing a larger Starsail hull at a Shipyard Docking Location.
The number of Room Slots available to the player is dictated by the hull size of the Starsail. Larger hull sizes allow for more Rooms to be constructed, but have a negative effect on both Navigation and The Hunt: larger ships require more energy to move, and are easier to spot.
Upgrading the hull size of the Starsail has an expensive upfront Chit cost, can only be performed at Shipyard Docking Locations, and cannot be undone: hull sizes can only ever be expanded, never decreased.

Docking Locations

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:22:33 GMT

Docking Locations are the individual elements with a Sector that the player can visit. Each Docking Location provides a different selection of Services available to the player, and can have different Tasks performed while the Starsail is docked at them.
Below is a list of the various different Docking Locations that can be found in The Cluster, and what Services and Tasks are available at them.
For the Navigation technology, see Foldspace
Foldspace Anchors are an essential part of navigating The Cluster, and serve as the entrance and exit points of Foldspace Jumps between Sectors. They provide no intrinsic Services, and there are no intrinsic Tasks that can be performed when Docked at them. However, Docking with Folding Space anchors is a requirement for safely Foldspace Jumping to other Sectors.

The Cluster

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:50:30 GMT

This article is about the overarching play-space of Starsail Bordello. For the lore of the setting, see Raskajan
The Cluster refers to the 13 Sectors of the Raskajan Cluster, which are themselves loosely separated into four Rings.
The innermost Ring contains only a single Sector, and serves as the Capitol Sector of the Cluster. It is the most heavily populated Sector, and houses the central headquarters of all of the major administrative arms of the Cluster, as well as the central brothel from which The Headmistress operates and controls all of her satellite Administrative Brothels.
The remaining three Rings all form concentric circles around the Capitol, containing four Sectors each. As the Rings move farther from the Capitol, they become less populated, less wealthy, and less patrolled by the authorities.
Each of the 13 Sectors of the Cluster are connected to each other through the Foldspace Anchor network, allowing the massive distances between them to be traveled in mere hours. Travel between the three outer Rings is freely allowed, with travel into the Capitol system strictly regulated by the authorities.
Every Sector in the Cluster has its own unique advantages and disadvantages to operating within them, making the contributions of each Sector to the overall Cluster similarly unique.

Starsail Bordello

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:40:39 GMT

In a remote colony of star systems, sex work is heavily regulated and controlled through a network of state-sanctioned brothels, operated by The Headmistress. With all prostitution, strip-tease, and pornography production outside of the Headmistress' control strictly prohibited, sex workers have no choice but to endure her cruel and domineering presence as she forces herself into controlling all aspects of their lives.
Until one day, a prostitute working under the Headmistress in the |Capitol Sector broke rank, stealing one of the pleasure yachts used to entertain VIP guests and striking out into the greater Raskajan system to operate independently. The Headmistress, determined to send a clear message to any other sex workers who dare to challenge her control of the industry, has sent an unrelenting force of Headhunters after this prostitute and her stolen ship, determined to hunt her down and bring her back.
That prostitute is you.
|Perpetually being hunted by the Headmistress, you navigate your pleasure-shuttle turned-mobile-brothel--your Starsail Bordello--between the twelve outlying Sectors of The Cluster, offering an alternative to the state-sanctioned brothelsthat service them, showing the franchisee operators than an independent future free from the Headmistress' tyranny is possible, and recruiting sex workers who defect from her employ seeking a more fair and just environment.
Build up reputation within each Sector, all of which have their own unique benefits and challenges for operating with them, all the while evading the Headhunters, until your success finally manages to convince the local brothels to break away altogether from the Headmistress. Liberate them into full sovereignty, take ownership of them as a more benevolent alternative to the despotic Headmistress, or leave your own working ladies behind to guide them firsthand in the ways of the Starsail Bordello.
With each local brothel that leaves the Headmistress' network, her privileged position and unique exemptions within the government erode. As the last brothel outside the capitol falls away, her security privileges are revoked, and the Headhunters that have hunted you for so long fall away. All that stands between you and finally confronting the Headmistress herself is convincing the people of the capitol that her iron rule provided inferior service. The tastes and standards of the capitol are impossibly high, but if you can manage to impress them, then--with no customer base left to support her--the Headmistress will have no choice but to resign. Her final fate rests solely upon how thoroughly you manage to dismantle her sex-work empire, and how strongly the liberated brothels are willing to support a new hegemony--one under your control now.

SpaceBrothel_Poster

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 11:32:05 GMT