0 Starverge (X670000-2 barren vacuum)

Starverge is a small planet orbiting far too close to its primary to be anything but a scorched rock. It is tidally locked, with one face always ‘bright’ and the other always ‘cold’. A narrow ‘twilight’ strip has the most amenable conditions but as far as records show Starverge has never been mined nor even extensively surveyed.

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The Age of Sail tech level is because of a single outdated ISS scout report that reported a small cave-dwelling human population near a spacecraft crash-site living on mosses that grew in heated luminescent underground pools.  The crashsite was not relocated and has since been largely discounted.

 

1 Bigandwet (X9B1000-3 storm world with a ring)

Bigandwet is a water world with an unbreathable atmosphere of carbon dioxide and nitrogen that is subject to very high winds. It does have 10% of its surface covered by lowlands.  The depth of the oceans is at present unknown and they have not been explored. A thick sheet of ice covers them, though orbital surveys have detected hot-spots under the surface that may be warmed by geothermal vents.

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A scientific expedition has been planned, with the aim of investigating the underwater world of Bigandwet. There may be life under the ice, or something entirely unexpected. However, with nothing more than speculation to go on there have so far been no backers for a large expedition. 

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Instead, a recent freighter crashed on one of the larger islands and the survivors (possibly as many as 200) used some of the cargo to build an industrial colony.  They are in periodic communication, have begun to harness geothermal energy (steam power) that warms their colony, melts their water, and warms and powers their hydroponic gardens. The livestock that they recently purchased appear to be doing well and they purchased it with copper that they are mining.  They claim to be a democracy but until they survive pirate raids long enough to prove their viability no scouts have validated their claims, their size, or their law level.

 

2 Unfriendly (X664000-0)

              An average-sized world with a standard breathable atmosphere and 40% oceans but no life on this highly radioactive (and dangerous) world.

 

3 Gotrings (Gas giant)

 Gotrings is a gas giant world with six major moons and a quite impressive ring system, hence its name. It is rarely visited, except by vessels wanting to skim fuel whilst passing through the system rather than going to the Highport and buying it. Gotrings is well known to pirates operating in the region, and in recent years there have been so many attacks that it is thought a pirate base probably exists on one of Gotrings’ moons.

 

              Edison (X899026-5 Hospitable)

A large moon with a dense-tainted atmosphere (filter mask required) and 90% ocean-covered.  It currently has no surviving people left (due to pirate raids) but was ten-years ago a democracy with reasonable law levels and an early 1940’s society of many thousand.  It still has a thriving biosphere.

 

5 Hurricane Island (X7D5011-7 Storm world)

A large world with 50% saltwater oceans and dense high-pressure air that is tolerable at high altitudes.  Its axial tilt results in strong seasons so summers are hot and winters are cold and snowy.  Currently there are no year-round residents only because they return to an orbiting station during winter, but they are getting closer to full time residency.  The government is simply Hurricane Island Company and only nuclear weapons are illegal.  All other weapons are encouraged and a missile battery is planned to keep pirates at bay.  The world is already passing “space age” an will soon be at “information age” level.  They produce their own machine parts and small weapons sell them at the Exocet spaceport, but they routinely buy small craft there to shuttle themselves down and back to their own world, so a trade circuit is already forming with Exocet and the moon of Hurricane Island.

 

              Vagabond (X442000-8)

A medium moon-world with a thin tainted atmosphere and 20% oceans.  It revolves every 30 hours and has very little axial tilt, so seasons are muted and the “world” stays warm.  It has only moderately active volcanism but a strongly spinning core that produces enough of a magnetic field to keep the body safe from even strong solar activity.  It was inhabited and shows signs of an information age tech level, but repeated pirate raids have left it devoid of human life and only animals have wandered the fields and forests for at least the past fifty years.

 

6 Shadows Fall (X9A7034-5 iceworld)

This is a large world with an exotic atmosphere requiring oxygen tanks and cold weather protective wear.  If not frozen, the world would be 70% covered in oceans and terra-forming has been considered.  But because of the strong axial tilt seasons range from cold to extremely cold and that would have to be dealt with first.

In the meantime Shadows Fall is a frozen wasteland. It was once home to about a thousand colonists in a self-perpetuating oligarchy, forming what might be termed a ‘vanity colony’. A vanity colony is one that does not greatly benefit the settling power except by allowing it to claim that it is an interplanetary polity. The status derived from this is useful in some circles.

In the case of Shadows Fall, the colony did manage to produce a little metal ore from a small mine that was set up, and might have become a viable settlement in time. A raid by three small starships a few years ago spelled the end for that prospect; the colony was looted for most of its equipment including life support gear. Only a handful of the population survived long enough to be rescued by ships from Exocet Highport.

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Today, the settlement on Shadows Fall is a broken collection of shelters and domes with debris lying where the raiders left it. It has found fame on the datanet as a particularly stark and depressing but iconic image of desolation; small comfort to those whose dream of an outsystem colony ended in violence.

 

7 Norings (gas giant)

Norings is a small gas giant with a handful of moons and, as its name suggests, no ring system. It is not visited much, other than when patrol ships make a flyby to check for pirate activity. Such patrols are of necessity cursory – a gas giant moon system is a large amount of real estate and time on-station is limited. A basic sweep of this sort would have to get lucky or catch particularly complacent pirates at a time when they were not taking much care about concealing their presence.

 

Arktoss (X6A6000-0)

An average-sized moon world with an exotic atmosphere requiring oxygen tanks and cold weather protective wear.  It is 60% frozen oceans with no people living on it.

 

Ice Wind Hall (X455011-6)

A medium-sized moon world with a thin atmosphere that would be livable if a bit warmer.  Live communications satellites are all that remain of the small corporate colony that was raided by pirates to extinction, their warning broadcasts unheeded.  Broken domes and empty underground corridors are exposed to the snow and only junk remains.

 

Telluride (X410002-5)

A medium-sized moon world with only a trace atmosphere.  It is nothing but rock and ice.  A long-abandoned mining colony is barely detectable.

 

Ghost (XCAA000-6)

This is a huge high-gravity moon world covered in frozen seas and an exotic atmosphere.  It is shrouded in white air above a white surface and nearly all light is reflected yielding one of the coldest moons known.  A TL 6 space buoy broadcasts coordinates and warnings as a landing would be very dangerous.

 

8 Lilliput (X000002-5)

A tiny asteroid “world” with no gravity, water, or air and only a small slowly orbiting station with several System Defense Boats.

 

9 Zeppelin (Large Gas Giant)

              This gas giant world is frequently used for refueling.  It has a gravitic wobble due to an off-center core, but most pilots are able to detect the wobble and offset for it.  It does require a bit of skill and those who use it often mention it in bars among peers.

 

              Lassiter (X673000-0)

A medium-sized moon with a standard-tainted atmosphere and 30% frozen oceans.