Adapted from The Flaming Eye
Taksarrgh was originally colonized by the Vilani during their initial expansion
among the stars, long before the First Imperium was founded. It later fell
victim to Vargr pillaging once the Ziru Sirka began its decline. With the
Solomani busy figuring out how to run an interstellar empire, a pemanent
settlement of Vargr came to fruition.
When the Ngath Confedration arrived, the locals enthusiastically welcomed them.
The promise of improved trade conditions lifted the spirits of this backwater
world. Unfortunately, as is wont among Vargr, the many packs in the system have
been bickering over control of the asteroids. While the Confederation
disapproves of the unrest, several corsair captains have voiced their support
for one particular charismatic leader to rule the system rather than the
bureaucrats who operate out of the capital.
Adapted from The Flaming Eye
A dead system for most of history, surveys picked up deposits of highly refined
lanthanum and thulium over a kilometer deep in the planet's crust. Located a
mere 0.2 AU from the its primary, the surface of Dathsuts is a brutal
600°F. Drilling through the outer rock under these conditions took several
years. The geologists dispatched from the Scout service were at a loss to
explain their findings.
After the Scouts cleared out what they could reach, several belters have moved
in to continue the excavations. While a few have come away wealthy, reports have
surfaced about strange, unexplainable events and deaths. These claims have been
dismissed as psychosis induced ramblings brought about by too much time spent
in the mining tunnels.
All communication with the worlds in the system ended after the Ngath
Confederation moved in and claimed it.
Adapted from The Flaming Eye
Back during the First Imperium, the Vilani brought in the Tagi, a
silicon-based sapient, to mine ores that held commercial value. After a
millenium, the veins were tapped out and the Vilani stopped coming. The
asteroids are mostly worthless, the worlds uninhabitable to carbon-based life
and there aren't any gas giants. The Tagi have been on their own ever since.
The system lay mostly ignored for centuries before the Ngath Confederation took
over. Now it serves as a fueling station; the fuel coming from comet harvesters.
Being assigned to Rronaetuts is typically considered punishment. The Vargr are
unaware of the Tagi as the latter live in tunnels a kilometer below the surface.
The current monarch, Anmaa Ugarun, knew her people didn't stand a chance against invading corsairs. A shrewd woman, she recognized who was backing the corsairs that ruthlessly attacked her world. Rather than let her people be slaughtered, and the royal bloodline terminated, she welcomed the Ngath Confederation's invitation for statehood. While an "advisor" is present to guide the queen in extraterritorial relations, she is free to continue running her world as she sees fit. The move has also proven beneficial to Ugarun's economy as their exports are more in demand in the Confederation than they were in either the Imperium or the Ziru Sirka.
This is a hot world where most of the surface is uninhabitable desert. Dust
storms make filter masks required equipment. The world's water is divided
between two polar oceans, each quite salty. Respite comes to higher latitudes in
the winter time. Days are temperate while nights are sub-freezing due to the
thin atmosphere's inability to retain heat. The one settlement lies on an island
in the southern polar ocean.
Zigaadig makes its money through the exploitation of the system's two asteroid
belts and myriad moons that orbit the three gas giants. Before the war, Ling
Standard ran the mining operations, paying royalties to Zigaadig. Now Naasirka
calls the shots and has unilaterally renegotiated said contract to less
favorable terms for the Zigaadigians.
Adapted from Vilani & Vargr
In 1104, corsairs hired by a faction of the Church of the Chosen Ones invaded
the system and overwhelmed its defenses. It is unknown as to why the Imperium
chose to ignore the invasion of what was a client state at the time. It is
believed that the pre-Fifth Frontier War unrest in the Spinward Marches
diverted Imperial attention away from Newcastle.
In 1111, corsairs from the Ngath Confederation drove the Church from power. Its
agricultural wealth now serves the Confederation. While analysis of traffic
patterns has determined that a base lies in the system, its location is unknown.
Although the presence of the military dictatorship is undeniable, Newcastle
itself is free of a base.
Adapted from The Flaming Eye
Ronni was home to a minor human race before either the vilani or vargr came
along. Despite developing interplanetary space travel on their own, the Ronnians
were content to stick with their solar system rather than expand further. This
isn't a matter of xenophobia. Both vilani and vargr have been welcomed with open
arms. Over the centuries, the races have worked peacefully side-by-side.
When the Confederation expanded rimward, vargr representatives of Ronni met with
them and explained the situation. They were successful in convincing them to
let the mainworld exist as is, with one stipulation: that a vargr be made
president of the human nation. The "paws off" approach was not extended to the
other colonies and facilities in the system. They were forced to acquiesce to
direct Confederation control.
The world represents the remnants of the worst of Vilani culture from the
days of the Consolidation Wars and Pax Vilanica. Kashiin was once a hot bed of
innovation as the inhabitants of the desert world did their best to cope with
the scarcity of water. But the technology developed was deemed disruptive and
the monolithic bulk of the Vilani bureaucracy stomped it out. Instead, old
ideas and methods were forced upon the populace. With the spirit of the people
crushed, the world stagnated.
With the new world order firmly in place by the time the Third Imperium was
established, no effort was made by the Scout Service to bring the world into the
Imperium. After centuries of methodical, almost religious, devotion to their
ways, the Scouts felt that full interstellar access would be too much of a shock
to the Kashiinian culture and the client state status would be sufficient. The
irony of their decision went unappreciated by all but a select few historians.
What makes this world bearable, is that it lies in orbit 7, just outside the
habitable zone. While cold, had the world been closer, where one of the asteroid
belts now lie, it is believed that the surface temperature would've been over
100°C.
Being outside the control of Vland, the naval base accepted Lucan's orders to
move its fleet to Capital thus leaving the world ripe for the picking by the
Ngath Confederation. With an oppressive government and subjugated population,
the Confederation were able to assume command with ease. The native human
population has been put to work in massive ore processing plants whose refined
metals are then used to build ships for the Ngath Confederation Navy.
Based on data from Traveller's Digest #4.
Up until corsairs overran the world in 1119, Daama was a smuggler's paradise.
Its non-aligned status kept it free from Imperial restrictions and its close
proximity to Gemid (Vland 1903) led to a healthy black market. Once the
Ngath Confederation invaded Gemid, Daama's usefulness dried up. Its non-aligned
status became a liability. Without the Imperium or the Ziru Sirkaa to back it
up, several corsair groups took over. The Confederation annexed the system
shortly thereafter. While the fate of the inhabitants is unknown, corsairs use
the system as a launching point for attacks against the Vilani.
Records from the First Imperium state that Nashazi's primary,
Dermudushmerad, was an unassuming yellow-white main sequence star when
the original colony was established, but within a decade swelled up to a red
giant. The sudden expansion engulfed the closest planets and disrupted the
orbits of several others. Not only was the original colony lost, but visiting
ships were stranded. One lucky ship managed to encounter a gas giant and refuel
and escape to warn neighboring systems. The system was interdicted and only
accessible to Imperial astrophysicists.
Three centuries later, a wandering yellow-white subgiant, Amkumkumi,
entered the system. The remaining planets were all engulfed or shattered, save
one: Nashazi. A few more centuries would pass before the orbits of the two stars
would stabilize. However, the system remained off limits.
After millenia of stability, the Third Imperium saw no reason to continue the
interdiction. However, the system's past kept people at bay. Fear of further
calamity or that the ghosts of the long dead colonists haunted the solar system,
proved to be too much for many people. Naasirka, the old Vilani Bureau turned
megacorporation, bought the place and established an AI research facility here.
It also sells licenses to mine the remants of the shattered worlds, to belters
of solid reputation.
Originally thought to be mineralogically depleted, Makhidkarun sold the
system at a rock bottom price to Jan Hteh, a very successful Solomani
businessman looking to claim a small chunk of the galaxy for himself and his
family. Hteh gambled that there was still worthwhile ore to be extracted from
the asteroids. He was right.
Profits from ore sales have been invested in infrastructure improvements and
technological advancement. In turn, these have helped to fuel further profits as
Hteh Hut built refineries to process the ore they extracted, thus making the
enterprise even more profitable.
Over the centuries, the Hteh family has enjoyed prosperity and opened their
colony to others that shared their values. Not wishing to lose their
independence, they passed on the opportunity to join the Imperium, preferring
client state status. By making themselves available to vargr corporations for
trade, they earned ample goodwill from their coreward neighbors.
The vargr incursions have re-written the rules for many worlds along the
Imperial-Extents border. With the Ngath Confederation bullying their way
rimward, hot on the tails of ravenous corsair groups, the situation on Hteh Hut
has grown grim. The world's strategic location between the Confederation and
the Vilani Empire makes it a takeover target. While Hteh Hut's advanced weaponry
has foiled the probing attacks of corsairs, it is doubtful that it can
withstand the brunt of a full-fledged invasion by the Confederation Navy.
Vargr lore speaks of a legendary corsair by the name of Angvae. He
established a code of conduct for vargr in his trade millenia ago.
Unfortunately, a great many corsair bands in recent decades pick and choose
which tenets to follow and many victims (humans and vargr alike) have suffered
greatly because of it.
Many a pup has been named after him in the hope that he would grow up to be
successful in that profession. Several rival corsair factions sought to honor
Angvae by naming worlds after him. Two of these worlds lie in Vland sector. The
one in Anarsi subsector, as might be expected, plays host to a corsair base.
There exists an esprit de corps here. Corsair captains pay their respects
to the legend of Angvae and no one dares to resort to violence here on this
seemingly sacred ground. All are brothers (and sisters) in a "pack of packs."
All corsairs are welcome to make use of the facilities.
The Angvae Memorial Corporation oversees the operation of the starport
and corsair base. Besides service fees and donations, agricultural exports
provide the bulk of revenue. AMC asks that traders doing business here be left
unmolested in the spirit of Angvae's mercy. It doesn't ask that corsairs extend
that same mercy towards those merchants "just passin' thru."
Formerly a prestigious industrial world with extensive belt mining and ore processing. A nuclear war between two dominant factions during the Long Night all but wiped them out. Despite no offworld assistance, the planet and the people have recovered. The lack of a gas giant makes visits problematic as ships must scrape up ice from a comet or the planet's surface to obtain any hydrogen for fuel. Attempts are being made to solicit Makhidkarun for investment funds to build a downport with mineral rich asteroids as collateral.
Deglaraarbiis was settled as a voluntary population relief measure for the overcrowding of Flire (Vland 2111). Those that left felt like their voices weren't heard so the founding charter dictated that the government would be a direct democracy, with everyone having their say in the running of their world. The first generation of colonists were so intent on not letting their new home wind up like the old one that an overwhelming majority refused to build a starport. "Let them use the gas giants," was the prevalent opinion. It was to be the first of many "do nothing" edicts. Public works projects require financing and the populace is content to do without rather than pay taxes. Even private enterprises get voted down if they appear that they'll disrupt the status quo. As such, the economy and civilization have been rather stagnant. "Apathetic" and "isolationist" are common adjectives used to describe the populace. The disgruntled and frustrated move on to other worlds.