Overview
The Ridian Gap occupies the coreward edge of the Stream. Hiderid and Mewei interests have staked most planetary bodies in this sector. A busy shipping lane crosses through the Gap.
Concentrated around Rho Draconis, the Hiderid Coalition has built up a number of colonies, such as Prospect, Venture, or the frozen world Sansar. Owing to the fast and nimble Hiderid Stellar Fleet, the Ridian Gap is extremely safe. Pirates are rare despite the proximity of lawless Zaalan space. Coalition star forts are being assembled in secret locations across the Heterocera Coronae in order to further protect the busy shipping lanes, and to pacify the border with the unruly Zaalan Tribes. Already the Zaalan world of Denesh is now a Hiderid corporate free-for-all, its bountiful supplies of Helium-3 fueling a constant squabble that sometimes verges into armed skirmishes. Beyond the Coalition's border lies the Mortis Void and the Deadspace Drift, protectors of the friendly but reclusive Mewei Domain. Development of Coalition ventures in Silwa and Ratika is heavily hindered by uncooperative Mewei authorities and less than ideal surface conditions. Nufano, the Mewei colonial world, is located within the Mortis Void. Though piracy is near absent in this area of space, ships travelling through the Domain are often stalked and shadowed by Wood-Warder vessels. Dozens of Mewei research facilities and installations now float in deep space. Though the Deadspace Drift is too turbulent to allow for Spike Drives to function correctly, stellar winds on its rim often carry rare elements that are gathered and processed on Sunset City, in the Ratika system. |
Star map elements by Cecil Howe.
Unless otherwise noted, all planetary artwork below was edited from Endless Space 2.
Starbase models from Stellaris.
Unless otherwise noted, all planetary artwork below was edited from Endless Space 2.
Starbase models from Stellaris.
This is a list of known inhabited landmarks only. This is not an exhaustive list of all stellar or planetary features - that is up to the GM to populate.
Coalition Worlds
Hakaria - often known under its legal name, Venture - is a dune world with large subterranean complexes. Its thin atmosphere and low hydrosphere means that there is a wide temperature variation between day and night. While land is cultivated, organized into vast stations around lakes, riverways and small oceans, most Coalition citizens dwell in vast subterranean cave networks just beneath the surface. This world is divided in shires, urban councils and corporate townships, with much of the land remaining unincorporated.
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The Coalition's capital city is called Bluereach. As a cultural centre dedicated to trade and wealth, it is a heavily decorated city of sandstone and palm trees. It is built in two levels. The surface level, which sprawls along the river Damyat and its seasonal wadis, features a giant, gleaming glass spire that also acts as the entrance to the cavern city below. The contrast between the mellow orange of the Upper City and the darker, cooler Blue City below is often a point of pride and sold as a tourist experience.
Grav shuttles and slow zeppelin-like ships are commonly used for travel and trade across the cities and stations on this world. Many settlements will sport a miniature version of the Bluereach Spire at their centre to serve as berths and comm equipment.
While the Coalition outsources its local government to shires and corporate interests, not everywhere on Venture is necessarily under the close control of the libertarian Coalition government. Other areas involve the duty-free tax haven of Port Haluci, a shady, corporate environment run by an individual known as the Masked Beak and prized by the Coalition elite and which has very lax laws compared to most other places in the Coalition.
Grav shuttles and slow zeppelin-like ships are commonly used for travel and trade across the cities and stations on this world. Many settlements will sport a miniature version of the Bluereach Spire at their centre to serve as berths and comm equipment.
While the Coalition outsources its local government to shires and corporate interests, not everywhere on Venture is necessarily under the close control of the libertarian Coalition government. Other areas involve the duty-free tax haven of Port Haluci, a shady, corporate environment run by an individual known as the Masked Beak and prized by the Coalition elite and which has very lax laws compared to most other places in the Coalition.
Prospect is a barely habitable world by Hiderid standards. It is a small world with a thin atmosphere and frequent storms that scour its surface, and its biolife is somewhat hostile to colonists. Its climate ranges wildly, from sandy badlands to snowy wastes.
Small-scale development has occurred on this planet since the arrival of the Ark Hakar. Regardless, as the Coalition rushed to colonize a path to the Drift Beacon, Prospect saw very little interest despite being the sister world to Venture/Hakaria. |
110 cycles on, the New Eldelyn Mining Company won exclusive rights to the colonization of Prospect's first continent and placed its colony ship, the oddly named KCV Zero Gravitas, in geostationary orbit above their new holdings.
The first colony was thus Clearbrooke, a domed town of Kalimshari design. Several cycles later, other continents were opened up for bidding, leading to competing colonies soon dotting the surface of the world. Prospect is rich in several minerals rarely found elsewhere, and hybrid crops have taken to the world's strange climate. Thus, most settlements on Prospect are either domed mining towns such as Tritium's Folly, crop cities that double up as drug producing centres (notably Lorelei's Lull) or research facilities of explorers and scientists alike (such as the notorious Peak 21 far in the planet's southern, frozen wastes)
Prospect is ruled much the same way as any other Coalition world, but the Kalimshari pioneer Ludia Vanrael, who spent decades at the head of the NEMC, is often credited as its Original Founder.
The first colony was thus Clearbrooke, a domed town of Kalimshari design. Several cycles later, other continents were opened up for bidding, leading to competing colonies soon dotting the surface of the world. Prospect is rich in several minerals rarely found elsewhere, and hybrid crops have taken to the world's strange climate. Thus, most settlements on Prospect are either domed mining towns such as Tritium's Folly, crop cities that double up as drug producing centres (notably Lorelei's Lull) or research facilities of explorers and scientists alike (such as the notorious Peak 21 far in the planet's southern, frozen wastes)
Prospect is ruled much the same way as any other Coalition world, but the Kalimshari pioneer Ludia Vanrael, who spent decades at the head of the NEMC, is often credited as its Original Founder.
The surface of Zindra II gleams with the reflection of the azure arcane aurorae slithering lazily in its skies. It is a frozen world, criss-crossed by an extensive networks of cracks in its ice shelf, locally called "Runs". Its aurorae, as well as the freakish ice storms that frequently scour the surface, are most likely the result of an arcane imbalance in its parent star. Bathed in magic, some crystals and minerals become imbued with thaumic energy. This "thaumium" is then sought out for use in quantum computers and FTL drill cores. Several Coalition mining companies making use of bonded labour have carved huge territories and digsites in an attempt to capitalize on them. Outposts are mostly found along narrow, twisty Runs, protected from the freakish storm occurrences.
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In orbit of Zindra-II, the Coalition maintains an important shipyard and trade hub known as Sansar Yards. The Zindran system's ideal position as an outpost on the route between Rho Draconis and Embassy Station has pushed Coalition semi-independent interests to build and maintain a small pirate and rebel deterrent in the system. The Zindra Exploratory Force is stretched thin, and focuses mostly on protecting traders from Embassy and Rho Draconi, leaving large swathes of the system and much of the planet itself far less patrolled. Efforts at an improved sensor relay that would track any ship within a few days' travel of the system have been stalled by corporate squabbling and feather-ruffling, hindering the Force's operational ability.
It is said that there a Bogwynne rebel presence on the planet, exploiting freakish weather occurrences and spotty patrolling beyond the trade lanes to hide and use uncharted Runs as staging and fueling grounds. Coalition authorities strongly deny such rumours.
It is said that there a Bogwynne rebel presence on the planet, exploiting freakish weather occurrences and spotty patrolling beyond the trade lanes to hide and use uncharted Runs as staging and fueling grounds. Coalition authorities strongly deny such rumours.
The Ark Hakar was the first Ark guided by the Runewarden to the Circinus Stream. Nowadays, much of its colony-building nanite stockpiles are depleted as the Coalition developed an industrial base of their own, and the Ark sees fairly little traffic. Nonetheless, several of its arms have become the Coalition's principal shipyards, and many freighters and smaller vessels can often be seen in various stages of assembly. The Hakar also serves as some kind of tourist trap - a museum to gritty Hiderid determination - as well as a staging point for the various mining companies that seek to exploit the Denesh system that lies further.
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Denesh-III is a toxic world with bountiful mineral reserves. During the Zaalan rebellions, Denesh's ancient mining structures were claimed and even briefly held by Bogwynne reserves on a stolen Coalition frigate. Nonetheless, the Coalition has managed to push these away and claim Denesh for themselves. Nowadays, the Denesh system is a corporate mining free-for-all, with two gas giants providing ample reserves of Helium-3. The constant squabbling sometimes verges into armed corp skirmishes.
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In the last few cycles, Denesh was also made the home to three Fortresses. These are long-range orbital staging points seeking to control and pressure the Zaalan Tribes and, lately, enforce a gruesome quarantine following the outbreak of a pandemic on the Bogwynne outpost of Teroshe.
Mewei Worlds
To the Mewei, the pristine forests of Nufano have made for an ideal new home. The Domain have concentrated their efforts on a single city, the Astropolis. Its grander buildings, including the central Ravel of the Orrery, are carved into giant, hill-sized trees, whilst simpler dwellings are built and maintained along the trees' tangle of vines and roots, stretching for miles. As valleys nearby are being claimed for land exploitation, smaller colony sites are propping up along monorail lines to Raithwall City & Psionic Academy or forbidding riverways that penetrate the lush jungle world.
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Travel across Nufano is dangerous. Beyond the walls of its settlements, the planet remains a dense, unexplored, and dangerous jungle world. Wildlife, roving fires, monsoon rains, and the ruins of unknown civilizations all present acute dangers for the unprepared traveller. Roads are few and far between, and the thick canopy prevents mass use of gravcars. The major colonies are linked by a monorail gliding across the forest, while gondola steamships lazing on the powerful riverways and Mewei cavarans using forest tracks provide a capillary backbone to reach further outposts -- usually research, mining or farming sites. Of note is the Matriarch's new training ground located in the village of Okladan, nested in the shade of an overgrown alien temple of unknown origin. The Domain claims every colony site under its jurisdiction, aided by the ruling Matriarchs and the peacekeeping Woodwarders, but tolerates a high degree of autonomy and freedom.
Under Hierarch Vanna's guidance, very few settlements are allowed to spread far from the Astropolis, though it is said that several Mewei and Coalition high-tech facilities are sparcely hidden across the planetary surface. Roseway Acorn is said to house an Atrocite Sphere, the only one of its kind in the Stream.
Outlanders are not typically welcome on Nufano , and are typically restricted to the Visitors' District grown out of the Astropolis spaceport, unless they can convince Mewei officials to let them through. During spring season, anti-histamines are often required by non-Mewei and Mewei populations alike. The Domain's Woodwarders stalk and tax most incoming ships, often over several systems. Unauthorized planetfall is often met with fire and fury from the colony's orbital defence facilities.
Under Hierarch Vanna's guidance, very few settlements are allowed to spread far from the Astropolis, though it is said that several Mewei and Coalition high-tech facilities are sparcely hidden across the planetary surface. Roseway Acorn is said to house an Atrocite Sphere, the only one of its kind in the Stream.
Outlanders are not typically welcome on Nufano , and are typically restricted to the Visitors' District grown out of the Astropolis spaceport, unless they can convince Mewei officials to let them through. During spring season, anti-histamines are often required by non-Mewei and Mewei populations alike. The Domain's Woodwarders stalk and tax most incoming ships, often over several systems. Unauthorized planetfall is often met with fire and fury from the colony's orbital defence facilities.
Sunset City Acorn is one of the largest Mewei Acorns or orbital facilities. Carved out of a derelict chunk of the Ark Hakar, it houses the Woodwarders' rapid response fleet and a minor shipyard that slowly churns out mostly automated corvettes that only require a token crew to operate. Sunset City is also the home of Matriarch Baja's physics laboratories, tasked with investigating and prospecting for thaumic minerals. One of its smaller biodomes also acts as a trade facility of sorts, and most trade from and to Apaxia stops by its Great Bazaar on the way, often laden with Apaxian relics and other delicacies.
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