Saturday, December 15, 2012

NPCs Updated 12-15-12

Jin Ling
JIN LING
Age: 16
Skills: Engineering-1, Mechanics-0
Status: HMS Bounty engineer (pay: Cr4000/mo)
Personality: reserved, quiet, self-conscious










Haley Garcia
HALEY GARCIA
Age: 16
Skills: Engineering-1, Chemistry-0
Status: HMS Bounty enginner (pay:Cr4000/mo)
Personality: responsible, serious, thoughtful





Paradise Meridian
DR. PARADISE MERIDIAN
Age: 40
Skills: Archaeology-5 (specializing in Pre-Ancient Cultures), Bureacracy-3
Position: Field Researcher
Personality: mild, bookworm, organized, likes to lecture








Sonja Whiskers

SONJA WHISKERS
Age: 26
Skills: Sophontology-3, Steward-1, Bureacracy-1
Position: Assistant Sophontologist
Personality: Analytical, loyal, bemused, likes liquor







Saturday, December 1, 2012

Verge Subsector World Data



Paradise 0131 B300A9D-D GG

The world is ruled over by the Church of the Virtual Deity.  Most of its 20 billion citizens are kept in virtual reality pods for most of their adult lives.  Life in VR is idyllic and often full of pleasures and fulfillment.  Anyone who seriously breaks the rules is 'exiled' to the real world, and the 2% of the population who voluntarily choose real life are considered insane.  The rulers of the sect are also in VR, and enact their will in reality through teleoperated robots.  The world maintains a strong navy for a single world, and beside maintenance of the VR pods its the primary rl occupation.  There are rumors that Virus strains have invaded the planet's systems, but so far is unsubstantiated.

Mesinam 0133 564421-5 GG

Mesinam is a life bearing world and the homeworld of a very inhuman sentient race dubbed the Blotches.  The Blotches are amorphous creatures with a mutable body made of electrolyte fluid held together by a tough, semi-permeable membrane.  The Blotches have internal organs visible through the membrane, including two unnervingly human-looking eyes that never blink.  They can exchange information with each other by touching, and have a very alien psychology.  The Imperium maintained a small human enclave on the surface to study them, and it remains even today.  A colony of Blotches exist on Arrilinshu (0233), but with the Blotches low tech no one is sure how it got there.

Shalakur 0230 C656775-6 GG

After the Rebellion broke out, a number of opportunistic Vargr raiders and fleets tried raided the Imperium by making their way through its 'backdoor" by stealthing their way through the Antares Domain and then striking at unsuspecting border regions such as Ley, Delphi, Glimmerdrift Reaches, and others.  Shalakur rperesents the farthest any one of those fleets successfully got, as the world was overrun by a surprise attack by a Vargr fleet in 3586 and conquered.  As the major powers at the time had more important battles to fight, the world was written off after only a token effort to win it back.  The Vargr remain the planet's ruling class to this day, though now broken into several territorial factions, and occasionally launch raids on surrounding worlds.

Arrilinshu 0233 D757545-2 GG

This world has a sizable population of Blotches, though no one is sure how exactly they arrived, as the Blotch homeworld has a TL of 5 and there are no signs of a previous high-tech culture there.  Surface deposits of lanthanum and other rare metals have been found there, and the Imperium expanded the modest research base there into a mining operation which survives to this day.  The Blotches seem to have no problem with the expanded human presence on their world.

Manei Lu 0236 X86A252-7 GG

Manei Lu is a waterworld with a modest human population.  Its main purpose had been maintaining its starport as a low-jump way station between the Breda cluster and the Verge main.  Its seas have a high mineral content and its native lifeforms produce crystalline organic structures that many find to be gourmet delicacies, but are toxic in large enough quantities.  The world's 500 inhabitants make a decent secondary living off of trading these to off worlders.  Its starport was destroyed by the Solomani, and it was attempted to be rebuilt but was destroyed again by Kafer raiders.  Because of its relative insignificance, Manei Lu remains otherwise unscathed by the surrounding wars.

Eduukhiima 0331 C100537-A GG

The primary of this system is a brown dwarf, so it is a 'dark' system.  Its gas giant is very far out, more than 10 AU, and is a small neptune-like world.  The main world is a large icy world similar to Pluto, with a great deal of water and methane ice.  The Vargr fleet which conquered Shalakur has raided the system regularly in the last decade and a half for high-tec equipment, adding to the world's already sharp economic woes and degrading its starport one level as they can't afford to do more then token repairs.  They have pleaded for help form the surrounding worlds, esepcially Paradise, but those worlds plead that have their own concerns to look after.

Dashanilin 0336 C100102-A GG

Dashanilin during the Imperium was a minor mining outpost and refueling waystation.  After the Kafer invasion of the Verge Main, it became a rallying point for refugee ships and naval remnants expelled by Kafer fleets, which solidified their resistance and managed to turn back a larger Kafer fleet through sheer determination and smart tactics around the world's rubble-strewn ringed gas giant primary.  Though the main resistance forces have relocated to Gukishdamash (0435), several squadrons (including one unpublicized one from the Willow Accord) remain in the system to head off any Kafer attempt to expand to trailing.

Dimirbukhiir 0338 D889500-4 GG

Homeworld to a race of sentient mobile plant-like creatures called the Klaxun.  Currently the planet is locked in an ice age, with only a few small landmasses near the equator not covered by glaciers.  Human presence has always been near-minimal, with maybe a handful of researchers in a small island enclave and refueling station.  The population number represents the number of Klaxun in known communities.

Dakharili 0430 B574555-B GG

A world terraformed sometime by an unknown alien race a few million years before, with many odd indigenous lifeforms.  No sign of the aliens, whoever they were, remain.  Human presence on the world dates back to the Vilani First Imperium 2000+ years ago.  Dakharili has been an industrialized world in all that time, and the world's atmosphere is contaminated with industrial pollutants, to the extent that most inhabitants must wear filter masks.  Though it suffered more than one Black War raid during the rebellion and frequent raids from Shalakur, it has rebuilt its starport in the years since and has become one of the only two remaining well-maintained trading hubs on the Verge Main (Paradise being the other.)  It maintains a decent sized fleet for a single world, and has received a large flux of refugees from the Kafer-conquered worlds.  The world is covered over with wood and tree-analogs that can be dozens of meters deep that have been accumulating for millions of years, as the local microbes have yet to evolve a way to digest it.

Guziikumgii 0431 D591678-5 GG

Guziikumgii was a heavily-industrialized colony world dating from the time of the Vilani First Imperium.  Its atmosphere is contaminated by industrial pollutants.  It suffered a Black War raid by both the Solomani and Lucan's forces, and the subsequent economic crash hit its specialized industries hard.  In the ensuing chaos, its tech level dropped from C to 5, and the world splintered politically into no less than fourteen polities, most headed by a Technologically-Elevated Dictator or Oligarchy which uses the remaining high-tech resources to maintain autocratic control.  The three strongest maintain their own starports (all class D), and they compete very heavily for what interstellar trade they still get, sometimes to the point of violence.  Suffers occasional raids from Shalakur and its outer system of 4 gas giants and an asteroid belt is rumored to be a hotbed of pirate activity.

Sha 0432 CA97334-A GG

Sha's main industry during the Imperium was supporting the system's major scout waystation.  That was destroyed by the Solomani during a Black war raid and the world has been hit by hard economic times ever since.  The world itself is a high-gravity (1.3 G) world with an atmosphere tainted by gasses from volcanic activity.  It modest self-defense fleet is almost entirely ships salvaged from the old scout base shipyard, and most are quite old, over a century or more.

Mimdishshasli 0433 C658624-8 GG

This world was terraformed during the Vilani era some 2000 years ago and hosted a small Vilani colony for centuries, but that died out during the long Night after the second Imperium.  During the Imperium, the world was resettled by transhumans of various  strains, particularly Aquans and a large population of GENI dolphins  Normal humans a definite minority on the planet.  The world suffered some raiding during the Rebellion, but no major battles. In their wake, the world's former 3 balknaized governments have formed a loose alliance that has slowly been giving way to a unified world government, though sharp cultural differences remain. The economic crash hit it hard, however, and its economy is struggling.  The flood of refugees from Kafer-conquered worlds has given it a boost, allowing it to invest in much-needed system defense boats for protection.

Amkhash 0434 B4336BD-A GG

One of the few worlds of the subsector that has been able to retain its technical independence and run an effective self defense fleet.  It was mostly to the world's leader, vislord Amir Trigvassen, taking totalitarian control of the world and exerting influence in every aspect of Amkhash life to retain resources.  Amir died a few years ago and was succeeded by his son Abdul, who was less charismatic and popular than his father, but still holds onto much loyalty by the populace.  Amkhash has become the major industrial and staging area for the Kafer resistance fleets, and has done its best to profit as much as possible by it.  Physically, the world is about the size of Mars but closely resembles the Moon, and has only a trace atmosphere of nitrogen.  It has traces of vacuum-adopted lifeforms, mostly plant-analogs, on its surface.

Gukishdamash 0435 D772476-6 GG

A dry, mostly desert world dominated by silt seas and mud flats, with only microbial lifeforms.  The world has a modest population of 70,000, split between some 50,000 humans concentrated in a few large cities and 20,000 scattered Droyne communities.  Both formed their own independent nations, but relationships were cordial.  The sole damage from the Rebellion came from a raid on its modest Scout Base.   In the wake of the Kafer invasion of the Verge Main, the remaining independent worlds and refugee groups put together a coalition fleet under the Dakharili admiral Borodin in order to stop the Kafer advance.  After extremely fierce fighting they managed to turn the Kafers back at Gukishdamash.  The coalition fleet remains in the system as a deterrent to the Kafers, but a great deal of politics cause a lot off friction and only Borodin's rep and force of personality seems to keep it from disintegrating.  They occasionally launch raids into Kafer space and patrol nearby systems for any sign of a Kafer outbreak.

Nusgukhigi 0436 C99A400-A GG

Nusgikhigi is a water world with a high concentration of carbon dioxide and low concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere, making it difficult to breathe for humans for more than a few hours at a time.  Most residents wear breathing compressors.  Before the Kafer Invasion of 3590, the world was mostly a center for harvesting exotic foodstuffs from its vast ocean, which included microbial algae-analogs which produced a huge amounts of food for the surrounding systems.  The world was targeted several times during the Rebellion by both Lucan and the Solomani to destroy its food manufacturing facilities as well as its B-class starport, but it suffered few relative casualties compared to surrounding systems. However, when the Kafers invaded in the latter phase of their invasion of the Verge main in 3590, the Kafers overrun the few island settlements and setup their fortress-colonies., driving off all the human inhabitants and killing any that remained.  Twelve thousand of the world's 20,000 inhabitants died.  Those that remain make a living as nomads on watercraft or in the few underwater facilities still extent.  The Kafers seem to care little of the human survivors as long as they don not harass their new Kafer overlaords.  The Kafers have at least two major fleets stationed in the system, and many expect if a new invasion of the Verge main were to be launched, it would be from Nusgukhigi.

Irkhi 0437 E552456-7  GG

Irkhi was an old Vilani industrial world that once boasted several million inhabitants.  However, civil strife during the Second Imperium caused a great deal of infighting as the population split into tribal groups and nations.  The constant wars ground down its industrial base  and it became known as a slum world despite thriving logging and farming businesses.  During the Third Imperium, emigration remained high, and its population dwindled to a mere several thousand, spread out among small clusters of widely-dispersed settlements representing the old tribal groups.  Solomani raids destroyed its meager industries, and the Irkhi residents were too poor to do much rebuilding.  The world has been ignored since by most major combatants, including teh Kafers, though it suffered from a few Vampire raids looking for slave crews.

Ungimula 0440 X43869A-8 GG

Ungimala the 'main world' is the second world from the central M3 star, an unremarkable ice world with a trace atmosphere.  It held only a few thousand residents who mainly worked to support its former C class starport and its accompanying businesses.  The majority of the system's population actually inhabits the moons of the superjovian gas giant, and besides the usual space industries made a good living off of harvesting both the gas giant lifeforms as well as the diamond filament-flakes that form in its atmosphere that form an essential resource for its non-organic biosphere.  The Solomani destroyed the starport and the modest settlements surrounding it on the main world, but left most of the gas giant industries alone.  Since then, the system's inhabitants have become increasingly xenophobic, and are more than happy to carry on their own culture and society independent of the greater interstellar culture.  They decided not to rebuild their starport, and trade with other systems is infrequent, though they still allow travellers to refuel at their gas giant unmolested.

Memgug 0533 C843600-7 GG

A life bearing world terraformed during the Ancients era, most of its life (as well as agriculture and industry) is concentrated around its single large ocean.  The world formerly had a modest population of a few thousand, but because of ist stable, human-friendly biosphere, it has been overwhelmed with refugees who ahve basically taken over the planet.  The world's government collapsed under its own weight, and the world became a lawless collection of cantonments and xenophobic communities dominated by outworld refugees of all factions and stripes.  Today, it is considered a lawless anarchy, with thousands of local 'warlords' and local polities, but with no one becoming strong enough--yet--to dominate the others.  Though the planet is considered dangerous for visitors, it is also a haven for the blackmarket and other hard to get goods, s well as for pirates and other underworld activity that would not be tolerated on other planets.

110-796 0536 BAF5500-B GG

This high-gravity world sports an insidious, corrosive atmosphere.  Most of its human 3 million inhabitants occupied either the planet surface or orbital habitats.  An early Solomani attack destroyed most of the surface habitats, while the succeeding Kafer invasion destroyed the space facilities.  Today, no known humans survive in the system.  The population, starport, and tech level refer to the current Kafer population.

Ushkhesh C400400-B GG

Ushkhesh was an airless vacuum world whose habitats were mostly underground to protect it them from radiation from its cepheid variable star,  Every two weeks, the star (a yellow supergiant) flares for an hour, during which its radiation output increases 100,000 fold.  While the planet is a good enough distance away (2 billion + km) that the levels during the flare are not instantly lethal to those wearing standard protection, they can still be health-threatening.  UshKhesh's human inhabitants were descendants of community of neoMormon settlers.  They have however are believed to have been totally wiped out by the Kafers during the invasion, though there are rumors of some surviving in remote deep tunnels, according to some passing ships that reported receiving what could be communications from them.  Other, however, believe it simply to be a Kafer ruse to lure unsuspecting human ships into a trap.  The current stats for the planet reflect only those of teh Kafer conquerors

Mikhuurgakha 0633 D586100-9 GG

The world had its biosphere heavily damaged by first a Black War raid and later by a Kafer fleet, to the point that it is facing total collapse. Oxygen levels are dropping, CO2 is skyrocketing, all ecosystems are suffering major extinction events, and storms predominate the atmosphere.  Once home to over three hundred thousand residents, the survivors managed to organize a complete evacuation over the last decade, many settling on nearby Memgug.  A few dozen hardcore hold-outs remain, but their exact fate remains unknown and communication with them is spotty.  The system's one gas giant still has active Kafer in orbit which occasionally claims passing ships.

Lamente 0635 C88A800-B GG

Lamente was once one the Verge Main's trading hubs, and was a prosperous, high-tech, and well-populated water world with a large human and neo-cetacean population.  It supports a teeming ecology, and has no landmasses, though it does have regiosn of shallows where the water is only a few meters deep.  These shallows are the site of most human habitats, constructed on pylons and covering entire square kilometers, and later converted by the Kafers into their fortresses.  The world was the scene of a number of battles during the Rebellion, given its value as a war prize, and it was also the crown jewel in the Kafer's conquest of the worlds of the Verge Main.  Unlike most worlds to come under the Kafer heel,  The Kafers spared most of human population and uses them as slave labor, mostly to produce food and biological goods the kafers find useful.  The humans are left with only a subsistence of what they need to survive.  There is a thriving boat-based nomad community on the world that was swelled from refugees since the invasion, and though teh kafers occasionally crack down on one group or another, they mostly don't care as long as their production needs are met.

Umi 0636 C552700-8 GG

Umi is a desert world with an atmosphere tainted with copious fine dusts and spores.  The mold-tainted dust is essential to its complex microbial ecosystem, and the various bacterial-analogs actively create it as a byproduct of their lifecycle.  The dust induces severe allergic reactions in most humans, and prolonged exposure can lead to asthma and other respiratory problems.  There are no native multicellular lifeforms on Umi, though the world does have an ecosystem very similar to Mishanuumlir, and may have the same origins. The human presence on Umi measured in the millions, and the planet was known mostly for low-tech manufacturing (TL-8) and metal work.  It suffered a few cursory attacks during the Rebellion by the Solomani, and the Kafers conquered the planet by laying waste to its surface cities.  Outside of the kafer safehouses, soe human communities survive, using what tech survived the attack to scrape out a rudimentary subsistence existence.  The Kafers usually (but not always) leave them unmolested so long as the humans don't interfere with their affairs.

Mishanuumlir 0637 E551400-8 GG

Mishanuumli has a microbe-dominate desert ecology almost identitical to Umi's, with the same kind of mold-tainted dust contaminant in the atmosphere.  Scientists believed that the two star systems once must have supported terraformed ecologies created by some unknown sentient species millions of years ago, but whether the terraforming never got beyond a certain stage or regressed at some point is unknown.  The human presence measured a few million colonists, specializing mostly in cultivating the microbes in the atmosphere for commercial use.  The kafers destroyed the human settlements completely, and there are no known human survivors.

Ulaginkiir 0638 B310463-D GG

Ulaginkiir was once one of the richest worlds of the Verge Main.  The world is a low-gravity rock with only a trace atmosphere and no surface water or ice.  The world was set up in the Second Imperium mostly as a Jump-2 trading crossroads to points rimward.  Its population was never very high (about 8500 prior to the rebellion) and it was devoted almost entirely to supporting the starport and its related industries and businesses.  Its upgraded it facilities steadily over the centuries, and wass a very-high tech facility which supported a modest scout base.  The Solomani rolled over the world during the Rebellion, and corsairs associated with the Solomani occasionally raided the system even after it was recaptured by Margaret's forces.  The Kafers went after it as well, wanting the essential hub for themselves even though a Jump-2 waystation was of lesser importance after the activation of the Hyperspace Cascade.  Most of the starport was captured intact and is still used by the Kafers, though most of its human population was able to flee.  No humans remain in the system.

Shallax 0732 C200544-B No GG

Shallax is a desolate system, consisting only of a small white dwarf star and three small terrestrial planets.  Water and hydrogen is very sparse in the system..  It might have been classified as a Rubble star system and left abandoned if a routine survey probe hadn't detected Ancient structure on the surface of the largest body, Shallax.  it was discovered that Shallax is the remains of a Gas Giant core whose atmosphere was blown away when its parent star went nova hundreds of millions of years ago.  It is extremely rich in heavy metals, and the Ancient base present was apparently a mining outpost.  The human outpost set up there was dedicated to mining these.  There are even rumors that the world may contain very rare stable trans-uranic elements, maybe even super-heavy metals.  The world was subject of a deep raid by the Solomani during the rebellion, but finding none of the very rare supermetals, just departed while confiscating a number of junk Ancient artifacts.  Because of its lack of

Breda Subsector World Data 2


Boffit 2930 B566433-9 GG

A life bearing world that was terraformed during the Ancient era.  Remains of a human society predating the Vilani have been found but died out over 100,00 years ago, though some maintain there may still be hidden enclaves of them in remote parts of the world.  Because of its relative remoteness bordering the rift, Boffit received little attention from attackers and retained most of its manufacturing base.  It has expressed interest in more trade with the Willow Accord, but unfortunately Frigidair blocks the most convenient routes for that.

Pensacola/Lethe 2935 B7C0636-B GG

Pensacola was the former main world, but its cities and facilities were destroyed by the Solomani and its moons broken up to make travel to the planet difficult.  The other inhabited world in the system, Lethe, has since become the main world.  It recently had its starport upgraded from C to B under the Accord's uplift initiative, and has an active naval base orbiting the system's gas giant.

Dougal 2937 X1000000-D GG

Graveyard world claimed as an affiliated territory of the Willow Accord.  The world's population and habitats were destroyed by a Solomani Black War raid with no known survivors.  The world's main industry was mining.

McKenna 2938 X525000-9 GG

Graveyard world claimed as an affiliated territory of the Willow Accord.  McKenna was once an industrial center dedicated primarily to creating ship components and sensor equipment for lower-tech stellar worlds (TLs 9-10).  Over 4 million died during a Solomani Black War raid, leaving no known survivors.

Bagley 3034 D100434-9 GG

A member world of the Willow accord.  Bagley is a small mining world with a population of some 9000.  It is the Accord's smallest population and lowest profile world, supporting Willow Accord policies but otherwise not wanting to be more than a mining hub and interstellar stopover.  Rumors of a 'secret' terraformed world located in the system, which attracts a number of refugees.

Breda 3035 X569974-6 GG

Breda is claimed as an affiliated territory of the Willow Accord.  The former subsector capital was hit hard by Solomani attacks, the last culminating in the release of a subterranean ocean which is slowly filling up the planet's surface with water.  Its hydrographic percentage has gone from 50% to well over 90% in twenty years, and many believe that no land will remain in another 20.  Billions have died, and the remaining shrinking land masses are controlled by dictators who constantly war with each other over ever-dwindling resources.

Horshard 3037 D000771-A GG

Horshard's system is made up of three asteroid belts, all planets reduced to rubble by the Ancients War some 300,000 years ago.  A major mining and industrial TL-13 center during the Imperium, it was the subject of heavy attack from the Solomani and was hit several times.  Even though its original starport was destroyed, the dispersed nature of asteroid mining society was such that the Solomani wasn't able to inflict many casualties.  However, most of the belt's known manufacturing and processing facilities were wrecked. Plunging it into a deep economic depression.  That splintered the miners into three warring factions.  The Accord would like to use Horshard as the linchpin in its bid to reclaim the rimward portion of the cluster, but the constant fueding among the miners have made trying to organize a central government very difficult.

Taliarin 3040 X100000-B GG

Taliarin is a cold vacuum Graveyard world.  It was hard hit by a Solomani attack on both the main world and its naval base, and frequent raids by others after.  Its habitat system fell into disrepair until the last settlement failed completely around 3590.  There are no known remaining inhabitants.

Willow 3134 A751844-C GG

Capital of the Willow Accord.  Twelve years ago its starport was upgraded to 'A' under the Accord's Uplift Intiative program and is now the only system in two subsectors that can still build its own starships.  One of its two primaries is a neutron star which allows it some natural protection against attack via hyperspace.  The world itself is dry and its biosphere is dying, but the inhabitants are trying to reverse that.  The system has an extensive and active naval base.

Cotes 3137 E897554-6 NO GG

A life-bearing world with a dense atmosphere tainted by numerous kinds of virulent molds and fungi.  Cotes' seas are a brackish, smelly soup of microbiotic lifeforms.  The only land lifeforms are the equivalent of molds and fungi, which cover almost every nook and cranny. The inhabitants hardvest these microbes for various commercial purposes, mostly medicines and manufactured foodstuffs.  Its starport was destroyed in a Black War raid and the world has become dominated by xenophobic tendencies.  It rejectd most Imperial technology and is tryiong to build a tech base on its own.  Its government has a severe mistrust of the Willow Accord to the point of paranoia.

Dami 3138 X200457-8 GG

A former heavily industrialized gas giant moon with a former tech Level of 13.  It is claimed as an affiliated territory of the Willow Accord.  The mainworld was smashed heavily by Solomani orbital bombardment and nearly depopulated.  However, a number of outlying colonies in the system survived and have consolidated around the main world in an attempt to rebuild.  It welcomes the Accord's assistance, but political and economic factors within the Accord has so far resulted in only sporadic aid of various kinds.

Aida 3140 X100000-9 GG

A small airless moon, Aida made most of its living by offering support for the system's extensive naval base and imperial marine training facility.  However, those two facilities also attracted an massive Solomani attack early in the Rebellion.  Various survivors tried to hold on, but the last of them abandoned the system only a dozen years ago.  The system is now an uninhabited graveyard world.

Huchonson 3224 B331721-9 GG

A member world of the Willow Accord.  Huchonson is a Mars-like world of  afew hundred million citizens.  It is undergoing preliminary efforts at terraformation.  Its culture places high priority in un ownership and it has some of the loosest trade laws in the Accord.

Lindsey 3225 C52A787-A GG

A member world of the Willow Accord.  Its primary is a brown dwarf, and itself is covered over with an ice sheet kilometers thick.  Under the ice is world-girdling ocean with a vibrant and complex biosphere.  It is home to cab-like oceanic sentient lifeforms called the Trifins.

Abbot 3226 B577834-A GG

A member world of the Willow Accord.  It recently had its starport upgraded from C to B by the Accord's Uplift Intitiative program.  The world has a very high oxygen content, leading to a number of features that make it hostile to humans, including hyperoxia, acidic oceans, susceptibility to fires, and voracious native lifeforms.  Its inhabbitants pride themselves on being a hearty people.  Suffered only minor raids during the Rebellion and its aftermath.  Naval base present.

Breda Subsector World Data 1


Reagan  2533 E525677-7  GG

A minor nearly airless world of about 1 million inhabitants.  Each domed/underground city is an independent polity.  No battles during the Rebellion outside of pirate raids, but was hit hard economically and sees little trade now.  It maintains barely a high enough tech level to maintain its habitats, and its major systems are in constant need of repair.

DEM  2535 C100433-B GG

Airless tiny world of a few thousand which saw minor skirmished during the Rebellion and infrequent pirate raids.

HENDERSON 2536 E525227-7 GG

One populated by about three million, it was the site of several major battles and raids by the Solomani and Margaret's forces.  There are about 90 survivors in a small community near the world's north pole that survives by scavenging parts from the dozens of smashed and failed habitats elsewhere on the world.

Adinett 2537 D100433-9 GG

A small airless world of about 7000 (mostly Vargr with some humans) whose main business was mining and manufacturing cheap/low-tech gravitic parts.  Its modest starport was destroyed during a Solomani raid, and though that has been partially rebuilt, frequent pirate attacks and even vampire raids hinder it getting back on its feet.

Menlo 2538 E525577-7 GG

A colony of an isolated religious sect originally settled this world, and during the Imperium usually wanted little to do with other worlds, thought they did maintain the bare minimum of a starport as trade was needed at times for certain necessities.  They maintain mostly their own home-grown technology and all 100,00 remianing inhabitants occupy a single under-ice city near the world's north pole.  Little affected by the wars and economic collapse.

Montaque 2539 X100000-7 GG

The world's population and almost all standing facilities were destroyed during a battle between Margaret's Forces and the Solomani.  Graveyard world.

Robynson 2630 X100000-B GG

An independent world that made its money by manufacturing starships and even maintained its own small showcase fleet.  The world was depopulated and most facilities (including its naval base) was destroyed by a Black War raid by Lucan's forces.

Serreg 2632 D565220-8 GG

An Idyllic life-bearing world maintained as a resort and retreat for Imperial nobility and the well-to-do.  Though it saw no major formal battles, it suffered hard during the economic crash and it was raided numerous times by pirates and even nearby worlds for its luxuries and high tech riches.  Its 40 remaining residents consist of the descendants of a baron and his family and his retinue who were trapped on the world when the worst of the fighting broke out.  They maintain the starport, and reportedly are desperate to increase their numbers and gene pool.

Janice 2633 D100234-8 GG

A system known to be an Ancient world and was the site of frequent mining during the Imperium.  The world is known for odd, unexplained gravitational anomalies to appear out of no where, and the presence of deposits of pure molecular lanthanum and thulium, also unexplained.  Many of the world's inhabitants evacuated after several devastating raids, but a few dozen miners, mostly operating out of their ships and modular habitats, still hang on.

Hesleywode 2638 X565220-A GG

A life bearing world terraformed by the Vilani 2000 years earlier.  Its industry is mostly dedicated to manufacturing medicines from local plants.  The Solomani used it as a staging base for launching raids further into the Breda and Verge subsectors.  Its starport was destroyed when they pulled out.

Pott 2640 E756440-5 GG

The planet has a dust-taint that makes most humans severely allergic.  Only those who prove immune to the allergens are allowed to stay and become citizens.  The Potters, as the inhabitants are called, tend to be stand-offish and elitist culturally.  The world prides itself on the unusual spices its biosphere produces.  Saw minimal physical damage during the ward, but was hard hit economically.

Caddrairc 2733 C310877-7 GG

A world with a former population of about 400 million, now down to about 100 million.  The inhabitants had honeycombed the much of the world's surface with tunnels and underground cities.  Though not targeted by any major raids or battles during the Rebellion, it has since suffered a great many raids by forces from Frigidair, pirates, and vampire ships, wrecking many cities' support systems.  What survivors remained have organized them into a half dozen different polities and war with each other for resources.  Has a large minority of transhumans of various varieties.

CONING 2735 9D6454-9 GG

The world's corrosive atmosphere, low population, and lack of any major manufacturing facilities prevented the Solomani from staging any major raids on the world, though they did use its gas giant as a refueling stop and staging area for over a year.  Its inhabitants mostly live in orbit, overseeing robotic mining probes and skimming chemicals form the atmopshere.  The world is seeing a migration of hundreds of starseeds, space adapted lifeforms, in the outer reaches of its system.

Burdewer 2737 E744500-5 GG

A dry world with a thin but breathable atmosphere, Burdewer is home to both Ancient ruins and a Vilani-era colony that has since dies out.  Though only a small scientific outpost was maintained here during the Imperium, it has been attracting a great many refugees because of its stable biosphere and low population.  Its population hs balooned from about 30 to over 60,000 in the last few decades, most living in makeshift ramshackle agricultural communities.  Many maintain that the world is haunted though, and some are convinced that the colony on it will one day mysteriously die out like the vilani one did.

Maud 2740 E5515227-5 GG

The harsh desert world of Maud has only one habitation, a 800-monk monastary maintained by the Church of the United Catholic Alliance.  The monks lead a simple if borderline existence and they like it just fine like that.  The monks only output is prayer, which they see as vital in God's constant war with dark forces on humanity's part.  They welcome visitors, as long as they don't stay too long and don't disrupt the prayer routines.

Vermpe 2830 D553420-3 GG

A world with a native sentient race called Vermpe, number at least 100 million individuals. The Vermpe are hexapodal cephalopod like creatures whose ancient culture sdates back at least a million years.  Formally contacted by both the Vilani and the Imperium, the Vermpe want only to be left alone and have no interest in interstellar affairs or higher tech.  The Imperium respected their wishes, leaving a research station of only about 1000 researchers in orbit.  Since the rebellion, these scientists and their descendants have worked to become self-sufficient with some Vermpe assistance.

Khmer 2831 X639000-C GG

The world covered in mostly ice and a trace atmosphere was depopulated by several black war raids seeking to destroy its high-tech industrial base which specialized in power-generation equipment.  There are no known survivors and raids from Frigidair have reportedly picked the rubble dry of any useful equipment.

Nero 2832 D89759B-A GG

A life bearing world with its atmosphere tainted by toxic gasses from its frequent tectonic activity.  The world is headed by dictator named Toanes, a very politically savvy but not very popular ruler.  She is pretty much a puppet of Frigidair, but the world realizes that its living in the shadow of one of the most powerful navies for parsecs in Frigidair, and they maintain their independence only at Frigidair's convenience.  There is a resistance movement that want to remove Toanes and rail against Frigidair's influence, but they are mostly small and ineffectual as yet.  The world had its starport destroyed in a Black war raid and has only been partially rebuilt.

Frigidair 2833 B4874A0-C GG

A system that was conquered by a splinter group of deserters from Margaret's navy under the command of a Captain Garwood, and has maintained absolute control of it since.  Garwood has slowly built up his fleet from captured ships since.  It has the second most powerful navy in the subsector and is considered to be the Willow Accord's most immediate serious threat.

Rogis 2839 D544622-4 GG

Conquered and used as a staging base by the Solomani twice; once for a year for a amjor thrust against Margaret's forces, then again seven years later for a series of Black war raids throughout the Breda and Verge subsectors.  Major damage was done to the world b reprisal strikes from forces striking back against the Solomani, with the population dropping from 2 million to barely one million.  The world specializes in manufacturing plastics from its ample supply of fossil fuel deposits.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Breda And Verge Subsectors


Blue = Willow Accord

Green = Worlds conquered by the Kafers

All other worlds unaffiliated.  Map represents best data available to Accord Stellar Cartographers as of 1/1/3605

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

ABBOT



ABBOT

3236 Breda/Delphi

B577834-A

Primary: G2 Yellow Dwarf

Other Inhabited Worlds:

Ortos, moon of gas giant Duncan (Y10A463-A); Willow Accord Naval Base under construction

T4, T5; Outpost at Duncan Trojan points (240 million kilometers spinward and trailing in Duncan's orbit) called simply T4 and T5.  Currently supervising the herding of Kuiper Belt comets to the points for undisclosed purposes.  Size and number of personnel undisclosed and the bases are considered a naval secret (military clearance required to approach or land.)

ABBOT

Abbot is a life-bearing world with an unusual atmospheric taint: it has an oxygen percentage of 37%, nearly twice that of Earth.  This oxygen can be quite dangerous in a number of ways.  Humans can breathe it unprotected, but prolonged exposure to it (days) can lead to conditions such as hyperoxia.  Most inhabitants outside of the pressurized habitats with more human-friendly gas mixtures usually wear filter masks.

Fires are also a near-constant hazard.  Open flame, burning embers and even heating coils are strictly prohibited anywhere on the planet by any human inhabitant.  Even in pressurized habitats their use is heavily restricted, and microwaves and pulse ovens are preferred for cooking.  Smoking, even in 'safe' habitats, is punishable by extensive jail time.

Even so, fires are a frequent occurrence on the planet from natural sources, and can rage hot and fast across a landscape.  The spread of especially large fires have been known to pace or even outrun wheeled land vehicles.

The local wildlife has actually adapted to the frequent occurrence of fires.  Forests and grasslands grow back quickly, and there are entire classes of animals that specialize in post-fire environments such as burnt out forests.

The wildlife is considered extremely dangerous.  The animal life consists mostly of colony-mat type creatures which fill various niches.  Some are grazers, some are predators, some even fly on air currents like flat stringless kites.

However, when they feed they gorge themselves voraciously, the high oxygen allowing a tremendous metabolic spurt of digestion and nutrient processing.  Some of the larger mat-creatures can completely devour a man-sized creature in a matter of minutes.  Not swallow him into the stomach like in an Earth life form, but completely break him down into component nutrients in that time like flesh-eating bacteria on speed.  Though humans are non-nutritious to the native animals, they will still feed on Earth lifeforms if an opportunity presents itself, driven by pure instinct.  After a large enough meal, many animals will also reproduce immediately afterward, which most lifeforms do by fissioning.

Because of the high oxygen content, the oceans are highly acidic with a comparatively large percentage of hydrochloric acid and other corrosives.  Though not immediately fatal, anyone in Abbot's seas for more than a few minutes unprotected will develop very painful acid burns on exposed areas.  Just being splashed with Abbot ocean water can cause temporary blindness if it lands on the eyes.

Because of its oceans, many of its clouds and precipitation are also acidic, though to a lesser degree than its oceans.  Its plants and animals have long since adapted to these conditions, but the acidic rain, water, soil and so on has made agriculture on the world by humans very difficult, and is not helped by the fact that the lifeforms on Abbot use right-handed amino acids, making them inedible by left-handed amino acid lifeforms such as humans.  Most farms are domed located in underground chambers, and cultivation of yeasts, fungi, and other microbes as foodstuffs is a major industry.

HUMAN HABITATION

Abbot is home to some 850 million inhabitants, mostly human.  Though there are a variety of ethnicities on the planet, by far the largest (85%) are descended from the original colonies established by China and the nations of Southeast Asia early in the Second Empire (~2400 AD.)  Many place names have been translated into standard, but retain the poetic flavor of their original designations--Cold Mountain, Joyful Harbor, Palace of Dancing Stars, etc.

The world is ruled by an oligarchal committee of 33 Administrators, representing the 33 administrative districts of the world, with one rep for each.  These Administrators are themselves chosen by committees of 'prominent citizens' within each province.  These committees chose their own members when a vacancy pops up and there is no participation by the general population.

Yet, surprisingly, the government is fairly efficient with low levels of corruption.  This comes from strong cultural influences of personal responsibility and community consciousness inherited from the social norms of China's last Golden Age, which the colonists originally fled to Abbot to preserve in the wake of global government consolidation in the wake of the conquest of the Vilani.

Abbottans are extremely proud of their heritage and of being a fiercely independent and competent people for surviving and eventually thriving on such a hostile world.  To the natives, community is always a consideration in most of their decisions, but maximizing an individual means of contributing to that community is at the heart of their work and family ethic.  In other words, they believe in maximizing individual potential, but for the primary purpose of that potential serving their families, communities, districts, and planet.

Abbotans are considered mildly conservative (in the general as opposed to political sense) and somewhat xenophobic to those outside the Accord.  The planet is the major opponent of Willow's more expansionist policies.  Abbotans want to build up and consolidate resources in the existing Accord worlds as the polity's major priority, whereas Willow wants to expand into the rest of the Accord's cluster as quickly as possible to prevent further decay and lawlessness in those systems.  Since Abbot has the largest population of any Accord world, it dominates the Accord's House of Representatives, while Willow's bloc dominates the Accord's Senate, creating a bit of a stalemate on the issue.

Because of the planet's toxic environment, most habitats are underground or domed, and uses filters and at least partial pressurization to make the atmosphere within them comfortable to humans.  The capital city and starport, Cold Mountain, is located on a high plateau three miles square in area where the high altitude (3000 meters) helps to mitigate the toxic oxygen concentration of the atmosphere.  The city has a population of 22 million, and is composed of over a hundred major domes and an extensive series of underground chambers and tunnels.

Like most Accord worlds, Abbot has had its Starport upgraded, in this case from C to B.

ORTOS

The naval base on the gas giant moon Ortos has been under construction for a decade and is only a year away form full completion.  It has already been in use for four years, and is home to over 10,000 personnel and the second largest fleet in the Accord.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Arcologies

Comparing size of a TL-12 arcology to modern Earth buildings.
The arcologies on Willow typically support 100,000- 200,000 residents each

Arcologies typically have public-access areas on the lower floors--commercial districts/malls, parks, stadiums, convention centers, and so on.  The ones near water will also have docks.  Upper floors will usually be residential, with several floors sharing large, open park areas fed by mirrors that bring in and concentrate sunlight.

Underground maintenance includes waste processing, dedicated fusion plants, geothermal taps, an so on.  Subway stations are also located underground.

The skin of the arcology is covered over with polarizing windows that double as solar cells for supplemental power and to help regulate internal temperature.

New Brooklyn

Willow's capital city of New Brooklyn.  Population ~10 million.  Megabuildings in shot are two-mile-high arcologies.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Lethe Canal Nexus Map


NPCs

Jin Ling
JIN LING
Age: 16
Skills: Engineering-1, Mechanics-0
Status: HMS Bounty engineer (pay: Cr4000/mo)
Personality: reserved, quiet, self-conscious










Haley Garcia
HALEY GARCIA
Age: 16
Skills: Engineering-1, Chemistry-0
Status: HMS Bounty enginner (pay:Cr4000/mo)
Personality: responsible, serious, thoughtful





Paradise Meridian
DR. PARADISE MERIDIAN
Age: 40
Skills: Archaeology-5 (specializing in Pre-Ancient Cultures), Bureacracy-3
Position: Field Researcher
Personality: mild, bookworm, organized, likes to lecture









Amy Meridian
AMALTHEA 'AMY' MERIDIAN
Age: 14
Skills: Streetwise-1
Position: Dependent Minor
Personality: Cheerful, charismatic, risk-taker







Al Meridian
ALABASTER 'AL" MERIDIAN
Age: 16
Skills: Carousing-1, Fast-talk-1
Position: Dependent Minor
Personality: Fashion-conscious, sly, girl crazy










Hattie Madder

HATTIE MADDER

Age: 41
Skills: Streetwise-4, Stealth-3, Handgun-2
Status: Refugee
Personality: Cynical, manic, mercurial

Yorick Habitat (Lethe)



Displacement: 220,000 tons

Average Altitude: 50 km

Lifting Agency: Hydrogen torus, Standard Oxygen/Nitrogen, supplementary grav lifters

Population: 1800

Industry: Harvesting atmospheric extremophile microbes

Affiliated Subcraft: 36 independently-operated harvesting airship

Typical Harvester Airship

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Scout Ship Economics


SCOUT SHIP MAINTENANCE COSTS

Fuel

Fuel Tanks = 32 tons

4 tons for standard operations for 30 days (no interplanetary/interstellar travel)

14 tons needed per one-parsec jump.

Unrefined fuel: Cr3200 (Cr100/ton)

Refined Fuel: Cr16,000 (Cr500/ton)

If no jumps or interplanetary jaunst are undertaken, the ship can operate normally for 8 months without refueling.  Under strict power rationing, can operate for over 12 months or so.

Life Support

Life Support Cost

Cr2000 per person per month

--Includes consumables like water, food, air, etc as well as recycling equipment and filters

--Scout Ship's normal capacity: 4 crew/passengers designed for; 8 considered safe maximum. Going beyond this limit may unduly stress life support systems and may lead to break downs and malfunctions.

Berthing Costs (standard for starports)

Cr100 for the first 7 days; Cr100 for each day afterward.

Crew Salaries (NPCs)

2 x Enginner-1 Cr8000/month (Cr4000 each)

Annual Maintenance

Must be performed at decent maintenance facility (typically Starport types A,B, or C)

Cr34,000

LINDSEY



LINDSEY

3235 Delphi/Breda

C52A787-A

Lindsey recently had its starport upgraded from D to C.  It has also started including its native sentient population in its planet listing along with its human inhabitants, raising its population number from 5 (400,000 humans) to 7 (8 million Trifins + humans)

Primary: Class 2 Brown Dwarf

Other Inhabited Worlds: various automated mining outposts

Lindsey is an unusual world in several ways.  For one, it is one of 38 satellites of significant size orbiting a Brown Dwarf, which mostly radiates in the infrared, so is a 'dark', unlit system.  The 'sun' can only be seen as a faint, dull-red circle in the sky on most worlds in the system.  The system also has several thousand smaller asteroidal bodies and a small out comet halo, like normal star systems.

Lindsey only has a tenuous atmosphere, mostly oxygen, but it is far too scant to breathe by humans and does little more than produce a faint haze over the surface a few kilometers thick.  The surface does support anaerobic microbes and small extremophile plants tat can survive the near-vacuum conditions.

The planet is covered over completely in water ice.  The ice has many striations and streaks, which result from cracks forming and water bubbling up from below to fill them and freeze over anew.  The surface of the planet is very young, turning over in a much faster rate than life bearing worlds like Earth.  What few craters there are indicate the surface is less than 10,000 years old.  This ice layer can be miles thick, especially near the poles, but some areas, such as those near the most recent major cracks, it is only a few hundred meters thick.

But Lindsey's most unusual feature is that it has a planet-girdling ocean under the ice.  Much like Europa in the Sol system, the tidal stress of the planet circling so close to its primary as well as the influence of the other bodies in the system keep its core churned up and hot, resulting in frequent vulcanism.  Combined with the insulating layer of ice above, the water stays warm enough to remain liquid.

But whereas Europa's under-ice ocean only produced a few complex amino acids, Lindsey's dark ocean developed a full-blown thriving ecology with many plant and animal analogs.  This ocean is completely lightless, and most creatures within it use a combination of thermal senses, water-motion senses, and/or sonar.

THE TRIFINS

This ecology has produced a native sentient race, called the TRIFINS.  These Trifins resemble dog-sized crabs with three large sweeping vanes on their back protruding from their shells.  They have claws which they use to manipulate tools, supplemented by half a dozen agile pedipalps around their mouths, nominally there to help them eat but which have become quite adept as acting as the Trfins' 'fingers.'

Trifins have thermal camouflage, similar to the way cuttlefish on Earth can change their color, they can naturally and swiftly change their heat signature to match their surroundings for a short time.  Since most other creatures on the world hunt with thermal senses, this gives them natural camouflage for their environment.

The Trifins have a natural tech level of 3 (~Iron Age), using many natural volcanic vents to forge and shape metals, shells, and coral-like analogs for tools.  They have built many elaborate cities around these vents, and are at times in conflict with 'nomad' Trifins who have domesticated many of their fellow sea creatures and consider the city Trifins 'unpure' for using 'dead' technology.

DNA analysis has shown that they are a very old race, at least 10 million or more years old, and their culture has been stable for most of those eons.  Shortly before the Rebellion broke out, the Trifins were formally contact by humans, after several decades of study to make sure their society could handle the potential culture shock.

Though the coming of the 'Nothing Giants' (their word for humans; 'Nothing' being their word for the universe above the surface of their world, and 'Giant' as humans are usually 3+ times larger than them) did cause quite a few stir, the city-dwelling Trifins have come to accept the humans and want to learn from them, for the most part

HUMAN SETTLEMENT

Humans settled the world several hundred years ago.  Originally meant just as a refueling stop over for starships, the discovery and exploration of its underground ocean and the biosphere it contained stirred enough interest in the world to greatly expand the manned presence on it.

Today, about 400,000 humans live on Lindsey, mostly in domed settlements on the surface.  The largest is WalkerDome, near the planet's north pole, with a population of 100,000 and holding the planet's starport.

The rest of the planet's population is spread out in settlements along the surface's major cracks, which sport many drilled tunnels down to the under-ice ocean.  The settlement is best known for harvesting the organics from the ocean for various commercial purposes, as well as a few side industries which include mostly-automated mining outposts on other worlds in its small system.  Thanks to help from Willow, Lindsey ahs built up its industrial capacity in the last few decades and is mostly self-sufficient despite its relatively low population.

The world is run by civil service bureaucracy. Nominally there is a ruling council that is voted into office, but they mostly just pick new department administrators when there's an opening.  Because of the world's low population, however, the bureaucracy is both relatively low on corruption and high on efficiency, so most citizens don't mind its pervasiveness in their everyday lives.

A number of research facilities exist on the under-ice ocean floor, manned by researchers and contact specialists working with the Trifins.

THE RUINS

On the Worlds dubbed Gorgo and Givanni, both lifeless vacuum worlds similar to Earth's moon, ancient ruins of an unknown starfaring culture have been found.  They are thought to be some 800 million years old.  Very little remains except walls and foundations, so their exact origins remain a mystery.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

FRIGIDAIRE



FRIGIDAIRE


2833 Delphi/Breda

--RED ZONE--

B4874A0-C (formerly B467220-C)

Primary: K5 Orange dwarf

Other Inhabited Worlds:

Kenmore: Y110300-C (gas giant moon, revamped naval base)
Amana, Maytag, Sears: minor GG moons, mining outposts

Surface Gravity: .5

Before the Rebellion, Frigidaire was known mostly for producing refrigeration equipment.  The world is thought to have been terraformed during the Ancients era 300,000 years ago, and has a 'benign' biosphere of mostly plants and small crab-like animals.

The system saw heavy fighting between Margaret's faction and the Solomani, but mostly around the Naval and Scout bases at the system's only gas giant.  The life bearing world at the center of the system was mostly spared, its starport receiving the only major damage, but that was fully rebuilt in a few years.

Like many worlds around it, though, it suffered greatly form the economic collapse, and its small population of a few thousand shrunk to only 950 due to diseases and limited medical supplies with off-world supplies choked off.

After the war, Frigidaire's pleasant biosphere was intact, the system sparsely settled and defended, but with a starport that still had intact repair facilities.

All that made it far too attractive a prize for rogue elements of Margaret's fleet post-cascade.  Deserting their fleet after months of preparation and selecting only crewmembers they could trust, the rogue fleet elements under the command of a Captain Garwood fled to Frigidaire, easily conquered the world and system, and set themselves up as its rulers and masters.

The occupying fleet consists of Garwood's own 60,000 ton cruiser, two 20,000 ton fleet escorts, and a handful of smaller combat ships.  After conquering Frigidaire, they quickly set about re-establishing the wrecked naval base at Kenmore for their own purposes.   They now form a blockade of both the Gas Giant Whirlpool and Frigidaire, controlling almost all refueling points in the system.  They charge ships passing through exorbitant tolls to refuel, and have the means and firepower to shoot down those who don't comply.

Often--many times on trumped-up charges--ships will be boarded by force and seized if its thought that its crew and officers are uncooperative or hostile.  Sometimes not all the ship is seized, but only some of its crew or cargo may be taken and the rest allowed to go.  Besides the original warships, the system is now patroled by a few dozen of smaller craft seized from crews passing through.

The Frigidaire system is still under the authority of Captain Garwood, in essence a dictator but a pretty popular one, at least with those in charge.  The officers and crews who came with Garwood, along with their families, some 10,000 total in the system, are treated as full citizens with full rights and privileges.  The surviving original inhabitants of Frigidaire, about 1000, are treated as second class citizens, but are still considered free with most rights intact.

The remaining 9,000 people in the system are 'indentured workers', basically a slave labor force that were pressed from captured ships and whatever families they may have had since.  Some work on Frigidaire and Kenmore, but more than half work in bare-bones mining facilities on the gas giant moons, extracting ore for their masters' industries and projects at fairly high mortality rates.

Garwood and his cohorts have ruled the system for more than 20 years now.  At least for the time being, they do not seem to have much ambition of spreading out or conquering any of its neighbors.  They do, however, very occasionally conduct raids into their immediate neighbors.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

DOUGAL


DOUGAL

2937 Delphi/Breda

X100000-0 (was D100433-D)

Primary: M1 red dwarf

Before the war, Dougal was a small community of miners and vacuum-world homesteaders of about 5000.  The worldlet is an airless rock orbiting the system's only gas giant, the super jovian Double Mountain.  Most inhabitants were concentrated around the colony's one major domed settlement.  Besides some minor production in rare earth ores such as lanthanum, tantalum, and similar, the world was useful as the wayport in the star system, and saw a lot of interstellar through-traffic, especially to Breda, the subsector's former capital.

Today, the Dougal is a graveyard world. Every known inhabitant was wiped out by a Solomani Black War orbital bombardment attack in 3585.  Repeated scans by ships passing through and refueling at the gas giant has confirmed that no living thing remains on or under the surface of Dougal.  Its ruins have been picked clean of all but a few bits of scrap metal and plastic by scavengers over the years.

Yet, over the years, visitors have occasionally reported a memorial being raised on the moon on the site of the former settlement.  It started as a simple pillar with a plaque, but other monuments, such as blocks with the name of dead colonists and small statues have also been reported as being added over the years.  No one knows who is building the memorial, and no one has been spotted on the surface by any passing ship.

Though most agree that Dougal will eventually be resettled, there are no known plans by any known group to do so, even long-term.  Today the system is used mostly for interstellar through-traffic.


Saturday, September 1, 2012

HUCHONSON



HUCHONSON

3234 Delphi/Breda

B331721-9

Primary: K5 orange dwarf/M1 red dwarf(close binary)

Other Inhabited Worlds: Koi (Belt Asteroid) X000400-9

Huchonson has a surface gravity of .33

Huchonson is very much a Mars-like world and home to about ten million inhabitants.  The one worlds in the system closer to the sun is a lifeless rock similar to Mercury; outward from Huchonson is a small gas giant called Popov (Neptune-like in dimensions) with a dozen moons, and beyond that is a sprawling asteroid zone called the Koi belt.

Huchonson used to be warmer and wetter, and over a billion years ago used to support microbial life.  But chemical alterations and climate shifts made it increasingly hostile to life, and now only primitive microbes survive on the planet's single highlands region.

POPOV (gas giant)

Interestingly, the Neptune-sized gas giant Popov is home to a fairly sprawling hydrogen-breathing extremophile ecology that analysis has shown descended from Huchonson microbes.  It is thought that an asteroid strike a billion years ago flung meteors containing the Huchonson life forms to Popov, where they were somehow able to survive, and eventually thrive.  During the Third Imperium, Popov was a protected world, pretty much a nature reserve so its life forms could be studied, and could only be used by civilians for refueling.

KOI ASTEROID BELT

The Koi belt in the outer system is home to some minor mining operations, and supports a population of barely a thousand, almost all independent miners and their families.  Of all the groups in the system the tech shortage has hit them hardest, but pride themselves on sticking things out for so long and making do with what they have.  One of their main industries is capturing icy bodies in the outer system and sending them back toward Huchunson, where they are sliced up and dumped into the planet's atmosphere in order to slowly increase the planet's very dry hydrographic percentage (less than 1%.)

HUCHONSON

The main world was settled almost 600 years ago by explorers from the original Mars in Earth's system, who were more than happy to settle on a planet very much like their own home.

Huchonson's atmosphere is very thin and is made up mostly of CO2 and nitrogen. There is some oxygen present, but not enough for a human to breathe comfortably (less than 5%).  Excursions on the surface can use compressors instead of full life support systems for breathing, however.  Most settlements are of the domed-and-underground variety, and most are clustered around the equatorial highlands and their glaciers of water ice, the only open source of water on the whole planet.

The capital city and downport is called New Tharsis, and has a population of about 200,000.  Other towns are usually much smaller (about 10 K at most), and arrayed more-or-less in a rough circle a thousand kilometers deep around the highland area.  The Highlands themselves are off limit to everyone except government personnel, to ensure the preservation of the planet's only supply of free ice and to protect Huchonson's few remaining native life forms.

Like the original Martians, the people of Huchonson see themselves as fiercely independent and libertarian.  The government is a particapatory democracy, and does little more than is necessary to keep things running on the world (defense, interstellar relations and trade, environmental concerns, etc.)  With a relatively small and dispersed population (about 10 million) such a system is easily workable for them.

They take pride in personal fire-arms, and see them as a status symbol. The planet has no official armed forces beyond a militia.  Members are almost always expected to provide their own small arms.  The firearm mentality is so ingrained that one of the major punishments for crimes is suspension of the right to carry a weapon; those natives seen without a gun are almost always shunned and treated like second-class citizens. Most will make allowances for off-worlders, but any significant time on the planet would require them to get/carry around guns or else be considered social outcasts.

One activity beyond standard maintenance the government is allowed to participate in is environmental engineering.  Huchonsons eventually want to terraform their planet the way Mars was in the Earth system, and the government is doing what it can with its limited resources to move that forward, albeit very slowly.  For example, they do commission ice rocks form Koi Belt and loose them into the atmosphere to increase the ambient water.

Outside of the settlements, there are over 100,000 'free range' enviro-prospectors, who roam the planet in elaborate rovers and long-endurance vacc suits working the land to make it more amenable to terraforming.  For example, they survey in detail, spread 'seeds' of engineered microbes to slowly alter the soil, and induce the release of more CO2 and Methane in order to build up a friendlier greenhouse effect.

Scout Ship Deckplans


Craft ID:   Scout/Courier, Type S, TL 15, MCr 33.245 

Hull:   90/225, Disp=100, Config=1SL, Armor=40E, Unloaded=1224 + vehicle, Loaded=1475 + vehicle 

Power:   9/38, Fusion=660 MW, Duration=30/90, 1/2, Fuel Cells=1 MW, Duration=3/9, 1/2, SolarCells=1.620 MW, Duration=indef. 

Loco:   7/14, Jump=2, 12/24, Maneuver=2G thrusters NOE=40 kph, Cruise=750 kph, Top=1000 kph, Agility=2 

Commo:  Radio=system x2, laserComm=system x1, maserComm=system x1 

Sensors:   ActiveEMS=far orbit, PassiveEMS=interstellar, Densitometer=HiPen/1m, Neutrino=1 Gw, ActObjScan=Rout, ActObjPin=Rout, PassObjScan=Form, PassObjPin=Form, PassEngScan=Rout, PassEngPin=Form 

Offensive:   1 hardpoint. Detached Duty Scout is unarmed; 

Defensive:   Def DM +4 

Control:   Computer=1x3, Panels=DynaLink x300, Special=HeadUp Disp=x3, Environ=BasEnv, BasLS, ExtLS, Grav Plates, Inertial Comp 

Accomm:   Crew = 3 (optimal) (Bridge Crew = 2, Engineering = 1) Small Stateroom = 4, Subcraft = Air/Raft 

Other:  Cargo=5 tons Fuel=440 kl, FuelCell Fuel=25.9 kl, Scoops, Purifier=35.2 kl/hour, ObjSize=Average, EMLevel=Faint

Blake Estate Maps




BAGLEY

Red Star = main settlement   Red Dot = active/open mine  Blue Dot = abandoned/closed mine 
BAGLEY


3034 Delphi/Breda

D100434-9

Primary: M5 red dwarf

Other Inhabited Worlds:

Atheris: X445500-8
Tomino (GG moon): Y219434-9

Bagley has one of the best kept secrets in the sector: a world in its system that is the end result of a ‘covert’  terraforming project and left to its own devices once the Rebellion broke out.

BAGLEY

Bagley has a surface gravity of .2 standard.  It has a population of about 9500 scattered in various settlements and mining bases.

Bagley is a small, barren, airless moon of the gas giant Levar and is very rich in rare minerals.  It has been inhabited for nearly a thousand years, and in that time has been used almost exclusively for mining.  The world is honeycombed with ancient mine tunnels and dotted with equally ancient and abandoned bases and outposts.  It has a reputation for being haunted, a claim which is occasionally bolstered by the discovery of the mummified remains of some long-forgotten prospectors from previous eras.  The locals love to play this up with newcomers, some even going so far as to sell newbies 'psychic' charms which can supposedly protect them from the ghosts and bad luck.

Bagleyans tend to be a tough, cynical lot, most coming from lines of hard-working miners and their families.

They tend to be tight-lipped about Atheris.  Though the world is no longer a secret, they are still very protective of it.  They suffered only a few minor raids during the Rebellion, and they don't want 'outsider poison' coming in and doing to the Bagley system what they've done to the rest of known space.  The world is run by a council, whose members are chosen from the general populace by other council members when a vacancy opens up.

Even so, they recognize the necessity of dealing with outside systems, and Bagley is a member of the Willow Accord.  It represents not only itself, but Atheris and Tomino as well.

TOMINO

Tomino has a surface gravity of .31 standard.  It has a population of about 1500, concentrated mostly in a cluster of bases near the moon's north pole.

Tomino is a world covered over in ices--methane ice, dry ice, and water ice.  As Bagley has almost no native water, an extraction center was set up here to provide its industries with volatiles.  At first the facility was fully automated, but as it was expanded over the centuries, maintenance crews were added, and the community grew very slowly from there over the centuris.

Despite its somewhat exotic setting, Tomino has a definite small town feel.  Almost everyone knows or knows of everyone else.

ATHERIS

Atheris has a surface gravity of .45 standard

Atheris was an experiment in terraforming originating a few centuries ago by the Imperial scientific hierarchy.  Its existence was kept secret not for any nefarious reasons, but to prevent possible sooners from colonizing it before the biosphere could be fully stabilized.

Atheris was a poorly kept secret on Bagley and Tomino, but for their own reasons those populations were willing to be tight-lipped about the project to outsiders.  They even became protective of the world once the Imperium was forced to pull out.

Atheris orbits close to its primary, but is tidally locked to it, meaning one side is perpetually baked by the star, making it an unlivable desert with temperatures climbing to nearly 300 degrees, and the other is perpetually frozen, locked forever in glaciers.  There is a planet-wide atmosphere that helps to mitigate the temperature extremes, but it was easy to see why the world never evolved life of its own.  Instead of trying to remake the whole world, the terraformers took the unusual approach of trying to terraform just the twilight band between the lighted and dark hemispheres. where there was just enough light and heat to support a human-friendly ecology.

After several centuries, they succeeded in a limited way.  The twilight life zone is about 100 miles wide, and is centered around a single great Ring River that completely circles the planet and feeds back on itself.  Centrifugal force from the planet's tight, two-week orbit around its star keeps the river flowing steadily.  The river is fed by melting glaciers from the cold side, which can often be seen as mile-high cliffs in the distance, frequently calving off thousands of tons of ice at a time.  On the other side of the river is artificially sculpted highlands that help to channel the river and functions as a crude thermal barrier to protect the lifezone from super-heated air masses from the hot side.

The biosphere is populated by many genetically modified plants and animals.  Terrestrial crabs and their gene modified cousins make up the bulk of the animal lifeforms, chosen because of their hardiness in surviving in varying extreme conditions on Earth.  There are some specimens large enough to threaten humans, and though they've been engineered to find humans bad to the taste, they can still be provoked.

After the Rebellion started, a few of the project scientists remained behind on the world as the rest of the staff left to either fight or join their families.  Slowly, over the last few decades, various refugees have found the world by various means and have settled down on it.  At first by mutual consent, and then by enforced societal pressure, no attempt was made at forming any kind of formal government.  People were free to do what they wanted as long as they threatened neither their fellow refugees nor the planet's delicate artificial biosphere.  Many people considered the idyllic, untouched world a form of divine deliverance after the horror they were fleeing from, and consider Atheris the next best thing to an unspoiled paradise.

Atheris now has a population of just about 100,000, all refugees or descended from them, all spread out along the roughly 12000 miles of the Ring River valley.  They live in either small communities or by family, with some smattering of hermits here and there.  Some of them have very unusual beliefs or practices, some are non-humans of various types.  Most agree that the planet has become a haven for oddballs and outcasts.

The planet has a very loose, libertarian society with a barter economy.  However, as more refugees are showing up all the time, infringements and conflicts are starting to happen more often, and some resources are becoming strained.  This is in turn forcing some to call for a more organized government, but they have met with resistance so far.

The original scientists who stayed behind are still alive and active, doing what they can to shore up Atheris' still fledgling biosphere.  They have a small orbital station, but are mostly found in a small floating gravitic 'town' that slowly courses its way along over the Ring River, taking samples and monitoring things.

All is not perfect in paradise, however.  The scientists maintain that the terraforming was only partially complete, and left on its own the biosphere will collapse in only a few thousand years, returning Atheris to a lifeless world.  That is, if the growing human inhabitants don't end up accelerating the process greatly.

Bagley more or less acts as 'patron' to Atheris, and protects its interests as best it can.  Many Bagleyans often visit Atheris, and trade with the locals for some of the valuable bioproducts the terraformers set up the ecology to produce.  Bagley does worry that Atheris is vulnerable to any kind of major attack, as Bagley and Tomino only have enough ships to protect themselves, and even then only from minor raids.