NEW KOUROU COURIER STATION

• Location: Public Services Ring, New Kourou
• Address: SE Public Services Ring Road 2
• Surroundings: Nearby the Headquarters of the Trade Guild of New Kourou and Mandala's Mounts

The New Kourou Courier Station served as the central exohuman logistics hub for the New Kourou Courier Service, the organization exclusively responsible for maintaining and operating the critical Trade Route between New Kourou, the Hope Region, and Morningstar.

As the primary gateway for goods, postal services and personal transport across the Asari Region — and a major link to Firetown in the Ralar Region (operated by the Firestone Courier Service) — the Courier Station was a vital artery in the early Exohuman settlement network. Whether moving food supplies, manufactured goods, expedition equipment, or settlers themselves, the station kept the frontier economy alive and connected.

After the establishment of the Federal Confederation in 2632, the station was nationalized under the Federal Allotment Agency and renamed Federal Courier Station of New Kourou.

• Construction Material: Reinforced concrete foundation with structural alloy beams for resilience against heavy cart traffic and mechanical vibration.
• Floors: 2 (+ Basement)
• Roof & Roofline: Short-Wave Antenna (retractable mast for connection to the Exohuman Shortwave Radio Network), Signage (“New Kourou Courier Station”) mounted above the entrance
• Design Purpose: Built for durability, efficiency, and constant operation — with wide access points for carts, heavy goods, and livestock stabling.

Basement (accessed via separate driveway):

• Maintenance & Manufacturing Workshop: Equipped with metal-bending presses, wheel lathes, and wooden-frame jigs for building new Courier Service Carts, as well as tools and diagnostic consoles for repairing carts and Hoo harnesses.
• Storage Warehouse: A large, secure chamber where goods awaiting distribution were kept, cataloged, and loaded into appropriate transport units.
• Cart Guides' Zone: A dedicated resting and prep area for Cart Guides — trained individuals tasked with physically escorting goods and passengers across hazardous routes.

Ground Floor:

• Delivery Zone: Designed for receiving deliveries from local merchants, government offices, and private clients. Also served as the pickup point for ordered goods awaiting dispatch to settlements and reservations.
• Postal Office: A front-facing counter where settlers submitted letters and parcels. Equipped with pigeonhole racks for sorted mail, a small secure chest for valuable consignments, and a dispatch hatch to the drone bay.
• Waiting Area for Passengers: Resembled a small frontier bus terminal. Equipped with two long wooden benches, a hydration station, basic information consoles and a public notice board. Often noisy and crowded during trade convoy departures.
• Public Restrooms: Two gender-neutral stalls featuring the AuroraSan System
• External Hoo Stable: Located adjacent to the main building entrance. Provided shelter and feeding troughs for Hoos used in short- and medium-range deliveries.
• Arrival & Departure Yard: A roofed, open-sided forecourt where incoming convoys were unloaded and outbound carts were packed and queued.
  1. Unloading Bays: Clerks and porters inventoried goods as soon as carts rolled in, then moved cargo by hand-truck or grav-sled to the basement lift.
  2. Loading Lanes: Fresh carts were lined up, tagged, and loaded for their next leg — whether a short hop to a nearby reservation or the multi-day haul to Firetown.
  3. Passenger Platform: A raised wooden deck with a step-stool ramp where travelers boarded passenger carts once the animals were watered and harnesses checked.

Second Floor:

• Station Manager’s Office: Desk, route maps, Desktop Shortwave Transceiver ( A stationary “Desktop Edition” console with extended power reserves for group communication with other Courier Stations across the ExoHuman Shortwave Radio Network.
• Clerks’ Offices (2): Manifest processing, payment counters, reservation ledgers
• Meeting Rooms: Used for Cart Guide briefings, business negotiations, and the coordination of supply chain priorities with the Trade Guild and Free State officials.
• Staff Restrooms: Two gender-neutral stalls with AuroraSan fixtures

The Courier Station also functioned as New Kourou’s primary postal hub, operated under the New Kourou Courier Service:

• Letter Dispatch: Settlers could drop folded fiber-paper letters at the front counter. Clerks bundled them into courier pouches and sent them on the next caravan run. Delivery time matched caravan schedules (2–6 days depending on route).
• Parcel Post: Small cloth-wrapped packages or wooden boxes were weighed, tagged, and stored in basement racks until loaded with outgoing consignments.
• Courier Drones: A drone bay adjacent to the delivery zone handled short-range dispatches (≤ 2 kg) to farms, mines, or nearby hamlets. Parcels were strapped into simple resin shells for flight.
• Public Notice Board: A large timber board near the passenger waiting area served as New Kourou’s community newspaper. Settlers posted missing-person notes, job offers, trade announcements, and warnings. Commercial postings cost 1 K, while personal/community notices were free.

The Courier Station was always alive with movement: the rhythmic clatter of hoofs, the clanking of supply crates, shouted names, and the grinding noise of carts under maintenance. The air carried the mixed scent of engine grease, beast sweat, and dusty canvas.

Inside, the waiting area offered little comfort: rough benches, dusty floors, and the ever-present smell of travel. A steady flow of couriers, settlers, and officials gave the station a restless, frontier-energy that rarely paused.

At the front counter, settlers queued with folded letters and small parcels, while clerks logged them into ledgers and tagged them for dispatch. The notice board near the benches was plastered with crumpled sheets — offers for labor, missing relatives, or gossip disguised as trade announcements. Occasionally, the whirr of a Courier Drone lifting off added a sharp mechanical edge to the station’s organic bustle.

• Station Manager (1): Oversaw station operations, handled logistics, resolved disputes, and coordinated long-range deliveries.
• Administrative Clerks (2–3): Managed manifests, processed payments, scheduled outgoing shipments, and assisted passengers.
• Postal Officer (1): Managed the Postal Office. Logged letters and parcels, tagged consignments for caravan runs, supervised Courier Drones, and maintained the public notice board.
• Cart Guides (Variable): Specialized in navigating transport routes, ensuring safe passage of goods and people.
• Stable Hand (1): Responsible for the care, feeding, and minor treatment of courier animals (Hoos).

• Maintenance Crew (2): Two Maintenance Bots service wagons and station equipment
• Cleaning Bots (2): The Cleaning Bots swept floors, cleared debris, and sanitized counters.
• Guarding Bot (1): The Guarding Bot secured the entrance to the transfer yard and monitored after-hours activity.
• Local Courier Drones (4–6): Short-range Courier Drones stationed in the drone bay. Dispatched for deliveries within a 15–20 km radius (farms, mines, and hamlets). Managed by the Postal Officer.

• Public Access: Passengers and couriers were allowed into designated areas only (waiting lounge, delivery desks). Administrative floors and the warehouse required official authorization.
• Operating Hours: Monday–Saturday: 6:00 AM – 10:00 PM, Emergency transport services were available on-call at night for a premium.
• Operational Rhythm: Morning hours were dominated by long-haul departures. Afternoons and evenings saw incoming deliveries, equipment maintenance, and local dispatches.
• Postal services: Available during all operating hours. Letters and parcels were processed at the front desk, drones launched in the morning and late afternoon, and the notice board refreshed weekly.

• Permanent Guarding Bot: Stationed at the warehouse, active 24/7. Armed with a Guarding Trooper Stun Gun.
• External Patrols: Guarding Troopers conducted daily patrols through the delivery and waiting areas.
• Guest Registration: Passengers and clients were logged into a simple manifest by station clerks.
• Cargo Verification Protocol: All goods over a specific value required dual sign-off by both sender and courier.

The New Kourou Courier Station provided standardized courier and postal services under the New Kourou Courier Service. Prices were set by the Trade Guild of New Kourou and reviewed monthly.

• Book a passage to another settlement
• Check in goods for transport and obtain a shipment receipt
• Escort or safeguard an important delivery convoy
• Investigate a missing shipment or delivery sabotage
• Work as temporary Cart Guides to earn credits or favors
• Submit a letter or parcel at the Postal Office for dispatch with the next caravan
• Post or read notices on the public board (job offers, missing persons, trade deals)

• Smuggle contraband hidden among official deliveries
• Bribe a stable hand or clerk for unauthorized access to the storage area
• Disable or distract the Guarding Bot during a theft
• Forge shipment manifests to divert cargo
• Sabotage a rival’s transport to create supply chain chaos

The New Kourou Courier Station offers a versatile setting for logistics-focused adventures:

• The Silver Crate - The station’s Guarding Bot sounds a low klaxon: a heavy, silver-lined crate destined for New Kourou's industrial safe-house has been flagged as suspicious. Its manifest still reads “medical supplies,” but the driver swears it rattles like loose machinery — and those cloaked figures trailing the caravan from Hope weren’t ordinary bandits. The Station Manager pleads with the PCs: “Before we send it on, inspect it. If it’s just gear, fine — but if someone’s hiding more… we need to know.” As the crate’s lock clicks open, the station’s shortwave console crackles a garbled alert: “SECURITY BREACH — BOMB DETECTED.” Before the words finish scrolling, a thunderous roar rocks the station. The silver‐lined crate detonates in the foyer, sending shards of polyglass and timber splinters through the assembly hall. When the dust clears, the mangled remains of the Station Manager lie beneath collapsed holo‐kiosk frames, and the building groans under structural stress. The PCs get hired to hunt down the unknown sender of the bomb …

• Beta Age
• Free State of Settlers
• New Kourou
• Trade Guild of New Kourou
• Headquarters of the Trade Guild of New Kourou
• New Kourou Courier Service
• Carts of the New Kourou Courier Service
• Federal Courier Service Headquarters (successor, Gamma Age)
• Trade Route
• Hoos

Courier Stations within the Free State of Settlers:

• New Kourou Courier Station
• Firetown Courier Station
• Hope Region Courier Station
• Morningstar Courier Station
• Arla Town Courier Station (not connected to the Trade Route)