Luna City One

Luna City One, informally Luna-1, is an American-founded human settlement on the surface of Earth's moon. It is the first and largest of the lunar cities.

Neighbours include Puerto Lumina and the Sino Block's city Zhang Heng.

Description

The Oxygen Board by Brian Bolland

Luna-1 is an extraterritorial city on the Moon. The city is protected by oxy-domes constructed of self-repairing cellu-foam, with oxygen originally supplied by the government-run Oxygen Board.

Beyond that lay the unforgiving wastes of the ironically named Oxygen Desert. It has a little-mentioned municipal council. The city borders the Eagle lander from the Apollo 11, which remains as a landmark.

History

The International Astronautics and Space Administration offered a ten million credit prize to anyone who could find life on the moon. In 2014, entrepreneur Clinton Wendell Moonie claimed the prize when he discovered a microbe - which infected him with Selenite Hydrocephalus Syndrome ("Moonie's Disease"). A number of explorers died and Moonie was hideously deformed before a cure was found. The bitter Moonie decided he was now "owed" the moon.

Moonie worked to gain control of America's lunar territories. The International Lunar Treaty of 2061 would grant a million square miles of the moon's surface to North America.

After the Atomic Wars, the lunar colonies agreed to the Judge system and were rapidly crushed of resistance. The Oxygen Board and oxy-corps were then given great powers to collect revenue and could 'cut you off' by removing oxygen from your home if you didn't pay. On Luna One, a saying developed: "A smart man can beat the law - but, baby, only a fool bucks the Oxygen Board."

In 2075, the Luna-Territories were seeing a period of growth and seen as a desirable place to move by Texas City's Judge Hess.

Dredd as Marshal, with Tex

In 2088, the city of Luna-1 was formally established by Mega-City One, Mega-City Two, and Texas City. This was partly diplomatic exercise, designed to renew and cement relations with Texas City. Government of the colony is divided initially between all three cities and overseen by the Triumverate, with a senior Judge being sent every six months to take over as Judge-Marshal. While this was American established, the moon in general was still considered international territory and other foreign Judges were sent on international tours of its colonies and even Luna-1 had Mex-Cit Judges.

In 2099, Luna-1 was still an expanding frontier with new plots of land being opened to claimants; it strongly resembled the Wild West in many respects. Moonie's control was near-absolute (only the government-run Oxygen Board was as powerful as him), the Judges were failing to keep order, and Judge-Marshal's had a habit of dying on the job. Judge Dredd was appointed Judge-Marshal shortly before Christmas. After several assassination attempts, he stormed Moonie's home and brought him to justice. With the help of Judge Tex, Judge Chico and Judge Ché, he continued to clean up the city.

The Olympics

In 2100, the city held the Olympics in Crater Stadium. A Sov athlete was assassinated and the Sov Judge delegate declared war - a formal 'war game' of two opposing teams for territory. Thanks to Dredd, the Luna team won and was awarded some Sov territory in compensation.

In the spring, 53,000 people were killed and half a million died when a raider gang pumped tranquiliser into the Oxy-Stations and knocked out most of the city. The Judges considered it unlikely they could find the robbers responsible for the atrocity. However, the robbers had forgotten to pay their oxygen bill and were 'cut off' - after losing their keys. Judge Dredd discovered the gang’s corpses, surrounded by loot, three days later. When Dredd finished his six-month term, he appointed Tex as permanent Judge-Marshal.

By the 2110s, Luna-1 had stopped becoming an American colony and was becoming an international zone; it was now a modern, cosmopolitan city-state. As with other colonies, foreign Judges were seconded there, including from East-Meg Two and Simba City. An extremely powerful Special Judicial Squad was established. Due to Judgement Day, the supply of North American Judges had sharply dropped.

In 2118, Dredd return to Luna-1 to pursue antiques racketeer Jizz Rydel for stealing from the Black Museum. Alongside Casablanca Psi-Judge Hassid, he began an investigation but was arrested for a series of brutal murders. The SJS, run by the sadistic Judge Kessler, tortured him for a confession. Instead it turned out the killer was Dredd's zombie self from the "City of the Damned" future, out on a rampage to try and find a way back home. Dredd stopped it but not before it killed many people, among them Hassid.

Around 2118 or 2119, Luna-1 had arranged the Global Lunar Partnership Treaty. The Triumverate oversight body expanded to over a dozen megacities, all agreed to protect Luna-1's integrity and neutrality, and to despatch reinforcements if the city was in danger. In reality, they tried to use it to have influence over the city and each maintained 'diplomatic courier ships' with armed troops; if the city ever lost control, the Treaty allowed them to restore it by force, which meant taking it over before the others did. Treaty members included East-Meg Two, the Sino Block, Hondo, Brit-Cit (including Cal-Hab), Oz, the Pan-Andes Conurb, Casablanca, Vatican City, Indo-City, Mex-Cit, Midgard, and Simba City.

Luna-1 in 2118

When the Meatmonger aliens began abducting humans, Luna-1 satellites tried to find the cause of the disappearances.

Aging film star Conrad Conn spent his last penniless days on Luna-1. Another actor was Sir Tam "Big Jock" Tamson McJock, who moved there in 2074 and refused to return to Cal-Hab until all trace of Brit-Cit rule (and the 22 million in tax he owed) were erased.

SJS HQ

In the 2120s, investment was down and the colony was in slow decline for years. The Judges sent to the moon were often ones Earth didn't want. Lack of Triumverate funding meant the Luna Justice Department's arsenal and systems, which had been state-of-the-art in the 2110s, were decaying.

An elderly Moonie had escaped jail and was working with East-Meg Two to try and destabilise the colony, so the Treaty would be nullified and the Sovs could send troops to 'restore order' under the Treaty; the criminal would rule the moon and grant the Sovs mineral rights. Moonie had backdoor controls into many Luna-1 systems and was able to use oxygen withdrawals and subliminal signals to start brutal riots in 2126. Judge-Marshal Tex requested a global team of assisting Judges led by Dredd but was himself assassinated; when Deputy Marshal Ché was unable to handle the crisis, Kessler pushed him into increasing the violent response (killing even more people than the riots had) and planned to seize control.

Dredd's team, with the help of defecting Sov Judge Kontarsky, uncovered the plot but the foreign powers were unwilling to step in against East-Meg Two. Undaunted, Dredd assumed Judge-Marshal status from Ché and led a strike-team that defeated Moonie and the Sov force. Before giving up his role, he nullified the Partnership Treaty so only Mega-City One and Texas City remained on the Triumverate, reinstated the six-month Marshal program, privatised and broke up the Oxygen Board so it couldn't be coopted again, and made Konstarsky the new Marshal. Kessler warned him that Luna-1 would not be able to handle the sudden independence.

Kessler was correct: by 2127, the city was becoming further run down, crime was up, corruption had grown in the local Judge force and Marshals were targets once more, and unemployment had gone up under the private oxygen companies. Judge King of Mega-City One became the new Marshal. The psychic Caeron Rinken, daughter of an oxygen mogul, used her powers to make King murder all of her father's competitors during 'full Earths' (the "Earth murderer"). When this was exposed the oxygen companies were left in disarray and MC-1's Enormo Overdrive was able to buy them all out (and fired 99.99% of the human staff).

As one of Judge Bachmann's allies, Overdrive began constructing the "Luna-2" godcity in secret on the other side of the moon.

When the Horseman of the Apocalypse manifested in 2142, the final target was Luna-1 - vast engines on the moon triggered to push it towards Earth, and dozens of Judges died trying to stop it. Dredd and his Meg/Sov striketeam arrived to neutralise the Horseman Death, only for Dredd to become the manifestation of Death before Judge Giant could stop him.

Judges

"I pledge allegiance to the badge of Judge-Marshal of Luna-1 and to the code for which it stands: one colony, under law with discipline and order for all."

—Dredd, accepting the Judge-Marshal role

Luna-1 Judges circa 2127

Initially, the Judges were from American megacities and dressed as such. By the 2110s, foreign Judges also were seconded there under their usual uniforms. By 2116, Mega-City One had been sending cadets who'd only been in Academy since age 12 (instead of the standard age 5) to their off-world colonies, including the moon.

The moon-born Judges began to have their own uniforms by the 2120s: black with dark blue kneepads and chest armour. Almost all foreign Judges were recalled in 2126, leaving the Luna-1 force reliant on Mega-City One and Texas City to boost its manpower - which Texas City did not.

STUP guns and Zippers

Due to the low gravity, Luna Judges pilot low-hover Zipper Bikes. While firearms were used by Judges, the threat of dome punctures meant they were replaced with electrical STUP-Guns and STUP-Cannons (Scalar-Tesla Uniform Pulse) by the 2110s. The most advanced Zipper in 2118 was the Krait 3000 but budget cuts meant the Judges were mostly using older models in 2126. In 2127, wheeled bikes were being used.

Luna-1's Special Judicial Squad have greater powers than Mega-City One's and can carry out brutal torture; bladed instruments are allowed. The SJS building is an over-the-top gothic structure marked with skulls.

Mongoose RPG

The 2002 Mongoose RPG invented some details in its (non-canon) timeline:

• The first lunar colonies were a joint NASA/ESA settlement in 2019, but after a tradewar the US inherited the bankrupted EU's stake

• In the mid-21st century, the lunar colonies became a formal Luna City One with 25 million people and a Judge system was imposed. Mex-Cit and South-Am City were given honourary membership of the Triumverate and sent Judges, as did the Russians as they had provided some material. (This implicitly confirmed Judge Che and Chico as Mex-Citters)

Worlds of 2000AD RPG

Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000AD brought out a Luna-1 supplement in 2019. For RPG purposes and to (non-canonically) fill out details, it stated:

• Luna-1 historically had higher employment than the Earth cities and it was that, and the promise of the wealth to be gained on the frontier (which most never did gain), that brought people out. Corporations have greater power than on Earth, free from Mega-City Accounts Division scrutiny. The criminal organisations are mighty as well, with influence on the space port unions.

• Apollo Territory is the oldest, richest, and most populated dome, while Von Braun Territory remains a frontier landscape where bandits put pressure on landowners. Isolated Wild West frontier towns are still widespread, with little Judge presence and often needing gunslingers to protect them.

• The Armstrong Monument has become both a tourist attraction and a site of protests. Gravity Boot Hall is rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts of gunslingers.

• Vast networks of maintenance tunnels and old tubes from the original underground colony are still in place, used by perps and Judges both to get around fast.

• Some crimes on Earth are lesser ones in Luna-1, while any crime that was minor on Earth but could endanger the habs is cracked down on hard. Woe to any juve who thinks it's only a misdemeanour to steal a Hab Tech's tools...

• Specialist Judge groups include: Zero Squad Judges, a heavily armoured force that are trained to fight in zero gravity situations (such as breaching spaceships) and answer only to the Judge-Marshal. Stell-Judge, a Tek sideline that specialise in spaceship engines and are rotated through small refit stations, many disappointed to learn this is rarely an exciting see-the-universe job; Customs Judge, at the spaceport; and Sat-Com Judge, monitoring satellites for early warning. The STAR Judges are also useable.

• Other lunar cities belong to Brit-Cit, Hondo City, Luxor, and the Sovs. The four-man war games are specifically for fights over moon territory, and the Sovs constantly want to add Luna-1 territory to their own colony.

• Judge Che is here from Ciudad Barranquilla rather than Mex-Cit.

• Aliens tend not to bother with Luna-1 except as a transit point to Earth. 'Coyote' traffickers will smuggle aliens from the moon to the megacities.

• One frontier town is called Grey Rock, a day away from any other settlement and only receiving a train every week. The sole lawman is Judge William Kane, who polices the town with a 'softly softly' attitude and may be in a relationship with Ritz Hotel owner Adeline Palace. When the Sundance Gang come to town under pseudo-religious loon Preacher Jackson, Kane is killed and the town is now owned by the gang, with local businessman Milton Shawsby running an ineffectual resistance, until they hear word a replacement Judge, Amy Fowler, may be coming. This is the backdrop for an RPG adventure, Sundance Rising ("an unashamed western in space"), where players can be either perps wanting to join the gang or locals trying to stop them. (If locals allow the Sundance Gang to kill Judge Fowler, the gang burns the town down on their way out and "Dredd could probably arrest the player characters" afterwards)

Trivia

• Luna-1 said that Luna-1 was divided up by the three American mega-cities in 2061, while later strips establish they were still part of the United States until 2070. The "Second Civil War" first mentioned in 2000 AD Annual 1984 had the city and its Judge-Marshall rotation started in 2088.

• In his script for "The Killing Zone", Dave Stone left a note for Big Finish that Puerto Luminae was to Luna-1 "the same way that Puerto Rico exists to the mainland USA". James Swallow's book "Eclipse" had it as a barrio sector of Luna-1, inhabited by citizens from Pan Andes.