Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

[taalismn]

"Our pirate problem potentially got a helluva lot worse."

[SolCannibal]

Ok, let me throw a little something that popped in my mind after reading on our little deevyl-spurred UWW crisis and just wouldn't let go.


Commonwealth of Worlds, aka Hadeysvalith Commonwealth (Thundercloud Galaxy)
"Even servitude under the Splugorth can seem quite appealing when your alternative is getting turned into infernal chow or sacrifice materials.
If survival is nice, a measure of power to bring down some serious payback can really sweeten the deal"

A budding and somewhat baffling star nation that has begun to make its power and presence felt in the Three Galaxies, scouting, hunting and conducting their no-holds barred containment & revenge campaign against the Infernals and their supporters. A disparate alliance of multiple cultures and species pledged into eternal servitude to the Splugorth Intelligence Hadeysvalith, saviour of their worlds from the brink of ruin by the onslaught of the Minion War.

A. Size
Extensive --- 20 star systems (Hadeysvalith also possesses outdimension 2 planets and a continent-sized holding in a third one)

B. History
Newcomers. A brand-new star polity forged in the fires of war from dozens of worlds salvaged from the brink of ruins in the horrors of the Minion War by the intervention of Hadeysvalith and his minions, to whom the liberated worlds have offered fealty in exchange for survival and the Splugorth Intelligence's help in reconstruction. So little is known about them in the galactic scene many there's much doubt if they are truly local or opportunists of transdimensional origin.

C. Level of Technological Sophistication
Highly Advanced Civilization --- The Commonwealth has managed to capitalize in the blend of Splugorth resources, the tech of its many newly-gained vassals - and much salvage from infernal attackers or rogue Warlock Navy vessels - to create a pool of tech the equal of any of the major galactic powers, with a special emphasis & expertise in the industrial merger of tech & bio-wizardries.

D. General Attitude/Culture
Multi-Factional ---- The nation is a newlyborn patchwork of hastily gathered parts and sometimes it shows on a variety of class & species disputes, not to mention conflict over directions taken and interpretation of the commandments of their Splugorth master, alternating between groups inflamed with a newfound sense of aggressive racial supremacist pride, those guided by a somewhat more pragmatic warrior mindset forged in the fires of the years of conflict and groups of a more Non-Interventionist (or at least Peaceful Expansionist) bent, who would much prefer to concentrate in internal affairs of reconstruction and growth, forgetting the rest of the Three Galaxies except where necessary for essential trade and defense needs.

E. Racial Composition
Multi-species --- a mix of Ratanoid, Magog giants and a number of other fringe "palladiumite" people and obscure species of the rim, alongside some variants of splugorth minion species - though with a marked absence of High Lords and other more typical elites.

F. Government
Theological Militocracy --- the Commonwealth is governed by the warrior-witches of Hadeysvalith, who compose the parliament and part of the commanding ranks of the military due to their direct supernatural link to the Splugorth Intelligence.

G. Administrative Control
Tight --- Hadeysvalith representatives hold the ship in a fairly tight leash, with the nation knowing nothing beside the state of near martial law that it was founded and built upon.

H. External Trade
Raw Materials --- Through a series of deals between Hadeysvalith and Yongrrllyth, the nation has become a major provider feeding the factories of Yoncatech with much needed bulk raw minerals, while the corporation provides the Commonwealth's forces with another source of new (knockoff) tech to patch up its quickly expanding military infrastructure.
H.1 Commodities
Exports: Spacecraft/Starships, Weapons --- The nation, in association with Yoncatech, has been noted for its shipyards and shipwrights, producing an impressive variety of models (many of them reverse-engineered knock-offs of rogue Warlock Navy models or even Infernal ships).
Imports: Consumer Goods, Agricultural --- the Commonwealth has a fairly large demand of goods for its civilian markets that due to the deep scars of Infernal attacks in the infrastructure, only the extensive shipping of the stuff can cover.

I.Status
Boom --- The star nation is just starting out and is expanding its territory and influence at an intense level of activity.
It is powerful and vigorous, but hasn’t reached its full potential.


My first actual attempt at a star kingdom. Should throw up some other bits & pieces for extra color and spice when i actually managed to get them in decent order (hopefully soon).

[taalismn]

Hey, it's a very promising core to add to, and an interesting concept.
Yeah, I can see some younger Splugorth realizing that adapting the business model of their elders may not be the way to go with the changes on the ground in the Three Galaxies and elsewhere, so they'll try something different. And rallying the minions/subjects against a common enemy that nobody likes such as the Infernals is straightforward.
It's also hair-pulling for everybody who subscribes to the idea that Splugorth=Evil. These are obvious Sploog-cultists but keep largely to themselves, but have a serious hate-on for the Infernals.
What to do about them?
Well, with the Three Galaxies' state they're currently in, nobody's ready or willing to invade them and precipitate what promises to be a sector(at least)-wide war, so the HC's got some breathing space. So there's a lot of folks who will reluctantly take a 'wait and see' attitude towards the Commonwealth and hope it doesn't fester into some sort of Splugorth resurgence.


Good job and I'll be watching to see what you come up with.

Meanwhile, I've been finding little bits to showcase the UWW's response to the 'pirated fleet' crisis. The UWW rearmament program brought up by omegadsgundam gains more importance and momentum in the light of the need to counter future encounters with the stolen forces.

[SolCannibal]

Hey, it's a very promising core to add to, and an interesting concept.
Yeah, I can see some younger Splugorth realizing that adapting the business model of their elders may not be the way to go with the changes on the ground in the Three Galaxies and elsewhere, so they'll try something different. And rallying the minions/subjects against a common enemy that nobody likes such as the Infernals is straightforward.
It's also hair-pulling for everybody who subscribes to the idea that Splugorth=Evil. These are obvious Sploog-cultists but keep largely to themselves, but have a serious hate-on for the Infernals.
What to do about them?
Well, with the Three Galaxies' state they're currently in, nobody's ready or willing to invade them and precipitate what promises to be a sector(at least)-wide war, so the HC's got some breathing space. So there's a lot of folks who will reluctantly take a 'wait and see' attitude towards the Commonwealth and hope it doesn't fester into some sort of Splugorth resurgence.

Hadeysvallith and its minions show signs of being a very unusual crowd for a Splugorth enclave in many ways - so much so not everybody is quite sure what is true or not on the rumors and hearsay, some even questioning if it is not all some big ruse or scam on the part of the Suttarian Ratanoids, it's most vocal new followers with some support from Yongrrllyth.

Meanwhile, I've been finding little bits to showcase the UWW's response to the 'pirated fleet' crisis. The UWW rearmament program brought up by omegadsgundam gains more importance and momentum in the light of the need to counter future encounters with the stolen forces.

Look out in DB 12 for Corbin Decker - there might not be a Deevyl front in the 3 Galaxies if not for his foresight and long term planning.
Whatever happens in the end, Sathalus will owe him a big one indeed.
You'll also find more info in the Deevyl's actual resources and stategy for the 3 Galaxies campaign - quite useful stuff and helps paint a image of some major differences in priorities, "playstyle" and mindset between the two Infernal powers.

[taalismn]

Hey, about time Yongrrllyth made his presence known again.
I'll have to finish off some old designs I started for his concern.

[SolCannibal]

Hey, about time Yongrrllyth made his presence known again.
I'll have to finish off some old designs I started for his concern.

Would love to see some of that - me i'm toying with, among other things the idea of the Commonwealth doing a partnership with Yoncatech not unlike the Central Alliance deals with WZT/PS/ASI on Ungersoll and Star Forge over Mulzona Derek respectively. Helps to accelerate Hadeysvallith's development & reconstruction efforts and Yongrrllyth gets to considerably expand its production park and markets in one stroke.

(Betting he would love the opportunity to reverse engineer some of the captured "Deevyl fleet" captured models, specially the "lost" NE's stealth technology prototypes...)

[taalismn]

Hey, if we're going to blow open the Three Galaxies' status quo, go for it.

The canon star nations of the 3G see a sudden surge of nation-building from the Outer Rim. Is it a flash in the pan, or a sign of. bigger changes to come?

[SolCannibal]

(Based on an early Network Omni News posting, lots of fleshed-out designs by Amaranthus, and the Rifter #69 article by Braden Campbell)

Sorry for bumping with such a random digress, but what article did you mean in this old post as one of the inspirations for thay post on Mulzona Derek?
I could find nothing by Braden or related to Phaseworld in Rifter #69.

[taalismn]

(Based on an early Network Omni News posting, lots of fleshed-out designs by Amaranthus, and the Rifter #69 article by Braden Campbell)

Sorry for bumping with such a random digress, but what article did you mean in this old post as one of the inspirations for thay post on Mulzona Derek?
I could find nothing by Braden or related to Phaseworld in Rifter #69.

Oops...It's actually Rifter #66...in his article on Space Pirates, Braden makes mention that the Central Alliance has effectively hired a fleet of mercenaries to act as their space fleet. Like Hartigal's mercenary fleet, however, pay would be a constant issue.

[SolCannibal]

(Based on an early Network Omni News posting, lots of fleshed-out designs by Amaranthus, and the Rifter #69 article by Braden Campbell)

Sorry for bumping with such a random digress, but what article did you mean in this old post as one of the inspirations for thay post on Mulzona Derek?
I could find nothing by Braden or related to Phaseworld in Rifter #69.

Oops...It's actually Rifter #66...in his article on Space Pirates, Braden makes mention that the Central Alliance has effectively hired a fleet of mercenaries to act as their space fleet. Like Hartigal's mercenary fleet, however, pay would be a constant issue.

Thanks a lot for clearing that up, i'll check that out.


Also....

Meanwhile, I've been finding little bits to showcase the UWW's response to the 'pirated fleet' crisis. The UWW rearmament program brought up by omegadsgundam gains more importance and momentum in the light of the need to counter future encounters with the stolen forces.

Any chances of a follow-up on this?

[taalismn]

Any chances of a follow-up on this?

Ewww...yeah, that could be a big plus...or a big security risk.

[SolCannibal]

Any chances of a follow-up on this?

Ewww...yeah, that could be a big plus...or a big security risk.

Either way makes quite the fit within the context of the UWW's reorganization & rearmament programs.

Oh yeah, looking into the "Orsak in Rilith situation" i bumped into this too.

[taalismn]

Oh yeah, looking into the "Orsak in Rilith situation" i bumped into this too.

OH yeah, one of our(USA's) bigger selling services. It takes time and planning, but it helps bind the far-flung worlds of the Alliance closer together.
And when other powers hire the Wormholers' services? Big money and lucrative treaties.

[taalismn]

(While I'm pulling together the GNEverse UWW's response, post-Minion War, here's some more changes in the landscape)

(Inspired by rereading omegasgundam’s posts, because Galactic Armory’s fate requires more than passing mention)

Galactic Armory in the GNEverse: Aftermath

“We would hear damn little wrong about the workings at Galactic Armory thanks to the comprehensive and very restrictive nondisclosure agreements GA’s lawyers had virtually everybody working there sign. That should have been an early warning sign to us, but it got glossed over considering how many sensitive defense programs the Armory was working on for us. Just seemed like commonsense security to stay mum at the time.”

“Seeing how long GA’s been grinding its gears, one has to wonder just how far back the corruption goes. How long have the Infernals been planning to suckerpunch us? The answer more likely is that the Infernals were a recent development and that they found a ready and fertile environment waiting for them in an already corrupt corporate culture.”

“The legal firefights over the Armory’s patents and IPOs are shaping up to be -spectacular-, with, I kid you not, armies of lawyers lining up at the carving table. A lot of them representing people with blades to grind with Galactic-A’s surviving law firms. Good thing we grabbed the choicer bits first, such as the Black Eagle production lines, because I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of that corporate-legal scrum.”

For generations, the armament corporation Galactic Armory has been the go-to supplier of field and starship weaponry and combat designs for the Consortium of Civilized Worlds and many other associated polities to the point that the Consortium Armed Forces have been effectively ‘locked in’ with GA as source of much of their gear. GA has become a benchmark against which other military-industrial concerns’ products have been measured.
However, many CAF personnel have regarded Galactic Armory as stodgy and conservative on research and development, a charge countered by GA with assertions of technological plateaus and physical limits of potential with regards to their offerings. With a massive workforce of lobbyist working the Consortium Congress, GA has long been able to secure military contracts and deflect criticism without more than casual oversight.
It took the Minion War to blow open the doors at Galactic Armory. With the expansion of Fringe industries unexpectedly out-competing GA’s offerings, many demands were put on GA to upgrade or be left in the dust by new developments. When response was slow or not forthcoming at all, many began to suspect something was seriously wrong at Galactic Armory. A few whistleblowers had made noises before, but little had come of their efforts when stacked up against GA’s lawyers and security mandates.
The Shaw Reforms and the Reltish Raids peeled back the cover-ups at Galactic Armory. Stripped of much of their legal protections by the loss of many of their lobbyists during the Infernal decapitation raids on the CCW government, and force of military contract audits afterwards, Galactic Armory suddenly found its status as ‘too big to be overseen’ threatened. Armed with APCs full of warrants, TVIA and GSA inspectors brazenly walked into GA facilities and demanded answers to some very telling questions. And once past gibbering and lost office managers unable to get orders from on high, answers began to emerge. Investigations revealed an almost total corruption of the upper management at GA, with graft, contractor kickbacks, and over-billing being a part of the regular corporate modus operandi. Then came the revelations of Infernal infiltration and manipulation, many high-rank GA officials either directly or indirectly being compromised(and in some cases actually physically replaced) by Infernal operatives. Some of the investigate teams found themselves involved in firefights with supernatural forces and, in one case, a cult that had established a presence on a factory floor.
All told, the evidence was too great to ignore, Galactic Armory crashed virtually overnight and its stock on the galactic markets virtually evaporated as soon as the first news reports leaked out.
The repercussions across the CCW have been enormous. With their primary supplier gone, planetary defense forces scrambled to snap up existing GA inventory at what amount to close-out prices, and find new suppliers. Naruni(much to the CCW’s dismay) and Hartigal have enjoyed spikes in sales, as have other smaller military contractors, though the real beneficiaries have been the new Outer Rim industries that arguably started the ball rolling on GA’s demise.
Fortunately, many GA subdivisions and branch facilities, once cleansed of corrupt or incompetent management, continued operation under new directors(though in some cases the facilities were nationalized by the host world), so production of vital systems and components continued, tiding over dependent military forces until something better could be arranged. GA’s ‘Colonial’ laser division, for instance, has spawned no less than ten new companies producing the same favored Colonial HI-Laser Rifle.
Today while the Galactic Armor name still exists, the corporate giant that was GA has ceased to exist. GA has been divvied up into various smaller subgroups with the ‘GA’(more typically pronounced as ‘Gee-Eeh’) attached to a qualifier. The CAF has quietly taken over many of these smaller units(especially the Eagle works, responsible for producing the Black Eagle ASF), with rumors of the GSA enfolding particular GA facilities and programs into their own ‘shop’. A benefit of the breakup has been the unleashing of lower level GA talents, long smothered or suppressed by upper level corporate culture, and many other industries have benefited from released ex-GA talent going to work for them.


Windfalls and Fines----Shaking the Drawers

“Padded estimates, cost overruns, price gouging, and passed-on labor costs have all been an accepted part of corporate contracting and procurement, but what we found in addition to that while going through Galactic Armory’s books...ALL the books now.... we’ve uncovered enough assets the executive board squirreled away from the last decade to have paid for at least two new battlegroups.”

“The tragedy of Galactic Armory is that they could and did deliver good product, though it’s since been revealed that they did a lot of coverups of technical issues. At least their doors stayed on for the most part. But laziness and greed in upper management led them to make shortcuts and pad contracts because they were virtually the only game in town. They may not have been as extravagant in their lifestyles as the Paradise Foundation top Ten Thousand, but a lot of GA’s upper echelon were living very well on inflated salaries.“

Between levied fines and seized assets, the breakup of Galactic Armory has yielded a wealth both of technological and financial assets. Though some staunch political allies of the corporation continue to deride the actions against GA as ‘out and out state-sponsored piracy’, ‘government suppression of free enterprise’, and ‘economic warfare’, a good many other former advocates have gone silent, especially as allegations of graft going back generations have been mentioned.
While most of the seized assets have gone back into the general fund pools for specific CCW offices, some has been diverted to special projects of the CAF and GSA, especially with regards to upkeep of certain seized facilities and sub-units of the former Galactic Armory.

Eagle Works----Keep Them Flying!

“The aerospace fighter production divisions were fortunately pretty well corruption-free, because we DID, by vigorously negotiated agreement, have some proper oversight of them. But even then, when we came in and took over, a lot of the factory floor management kept expressing their relief that we were in charge instead of the upper-echelon ####tards they previously had to report to. So I can safely say that Black Eagle production and delivery will be uninterrupted by the shakeup.”

Though the Black Eagle AeroSpace Fighter has proven an exemplary performer, the program was notorious for its delivery delays and cost overruns, requiring the CAF to purchase Katana fighters from Bushido Industries to cover the deployment gap. However, the CAF badly needed the Black Eagle and the investment in Galactic Armory glossed over what appeared to be a perfectly explicable series of developmental delays, so the contract continued to be serviced, fighters were delivered, and for the most part the CAF had to be happy.
Continued GA foot-dragging on recommended improvements, however, piqued interest on the part of wiser heads in the CAF’s Procurement offices, and their complaints ultimately ended up on the desks of the newly reformed Auditor division of the TVIA in the wake of the Shaw Reforms. Spurred by rapid developments in aerospace fighter development on the Outer Rim and Fringe, and rumors of improvements in the fighter arms of the CCW’s peer opponents(especially the TransGalactic Empire), the CAF wanted the recommended upgrades to the Eagle series implemented as soon as possible with a minimum of the usual corporate estimate-padding and bureaucratic delays. However, ominous reports in the wake of the Minion War hinted at more insidious forces at work than corporate paper-pushing incompetence. and the TVIA contacted their friends at the GSA for help.
The importance of the Black Eagle to the CAF meant that the Reltish Raids on Galactic Armory took special care to secure the important aerospace fighter division. Remarkably, the ASF division turned out to be free of Infernal meddling, but was shot through with other problems, though not insurmountable with some rearrangements of management. The transition was facilitated by the fact that the fighter programs had, as a result of the earlier delays, been overseen by CAF and TVIA personnel, and interference in the Black Eagle line had been much more indirect.
Today the GA Aerospace Combatant Echelon-division is under special CAF management as Eagle Works. In similar fashion to the plans to undermine Naruni Enterprises, the CAF’s Procurement offices have instigated a program of establishing a network of nationalized and ‘shadow’ production facilities to provide backup capacity to make sure that the CAF gets its fighters without threat of another infiltration or storm of incompetence bottlenecking supply of needed ships.

[taalismn]

Think I'll profile Rhilith with the full solar system write-up like I did with Umgersol...we don't even know what species the Rhilithians are, but their role in rescuing magic users during the Yorian Genocide makes them Big Damn Heroes in my book.

[SolCannibal]

Think I'll profile Rhilith with the full solar system write-up like I did with Umgersol...we don't even know what species the Rhilithians are, but their role in rescuing magic users during the Yorian Genocide makes them Big Damn Heroes in my book.

I think a NoN vignette involving the assassination of a Rhilithian artist kind of implied humans. At least the artist and the widow were, i think.

[taalismn]

\
I think a NoN vignette involving the assassination of a Rhilithian artist kind of implied humans. At least the artist and the widow were, i think.

Well, dang, I'd completely forgotten about that!
That certainly simplifies things.
Also goes with what I've been thinking that the Rhilithians are technologically advanced and ethically very open and tolerant.
Damn near perfect, which is why at least nine other worlds in their neighborhood hate them.
"They're too damn nice."
"They're too damned advanced."
"They're too damned WEALTHY."
"Too meddlesome."
"Sanctimonious bastards."
"Think they're better than the rest of us."
"They consort with magic users, the blood-sucking, job-stealing, mind-warping parasites."
"They want to make us all into magic-users."
"They cheat."
"They beat the stuffing out you Yorians, quit whining!"
"Hey, whose side are you one, loudmouth?"

[SolCannibal]

Think I'll profile Rhilith with the full solar system write-up like I did with Umgersol...

Oh yeah, had completely forgotten one of the reasons Rhilith was extended membership in the UWW was because of their humanitarian role in rescuing from the Yorian Genocide a few millions of its magic-using natives, not to mention helping to relocate to either the UWW or Rhilith (then not yet a member) itself. The other being Yoria & allied worlds attempting to assault the planet, on which the UWW intervened.

Now asking myself how many of those Yorian refugees actually took on that offer to stay instead of migrating to the UWW proper. Hmmm, book says "no significant magic-using population, and has no schools of magic anywhere".... yeah, looks like not many, kind of a shame but understandable.

That said, we are speaking of a high-tech planet with a population in the billions, if not 10+ billions people - even about 1 million yorians (1:10 of the rescued refugees) would be like a drop of water in a huge bucket. Ridiculously easy to miss, specially if not gathered in some sort of community or ghetto.

What doesn't mean such few Yorian exiles couldn't make quite relevant contributions while being mostly "invisible" for many people, like contacting and providing humanitarian/logistical support (tracking down relatives, etc) for other groups of yorian refugees that left the homeworld through other circunstances and methods, start an extended survey of Rhilith and the rest of the star system from an "untapped magical potentials" perspective, and more.

[taalismn]

Well, recent developments in the GNEverse will change that magic deficiency.

But the Rhilithians still in canon come off the sort of folks you want as neighbors, unless you're the jealous sort that envy others their prosperity enough to gang up on them and beat them up(you know, the sort of people who in the middle of a blackout, bust into electronics stores to steal big screen TVs).

[taalismn]

Spent the afternoon starting to hash out the Yoncatech versions of the Demon Fury Frigate and Bone Maw Carrier for the Commonwealth, but also spent time working on several other Yoncatech designs I'd left on the backburner.

And if Yoncatech's entrenched with the Commonwealth, it may give the Ra-MIng an opportunity to expand and rebuild their mercantile network with an expanded base of operations(from which to further plot their vengeance against Naruni Enterprises).

[SolCannibal]

Spent the afternoon starting to hash out the Yoncatech versions of the Demon Fury Frigate and Bone Maw Carrier for the Commonwealth, but also spent time working on several other Yoncatech designs I'd left on the backburner.

One thing is for certain the Warlock Navy will probably be very annoyed when someone starts producing near-duplicates of some of their "infernal-powered" tech, though with a few extra safeties - a splugorth dominion to boot...

And if Yoncatech's entrenched with the Commonwealth, it may give the Ra-MIng an opportunity to expand and rebuild their mercantile network with an expanded base of operations(from which to further plot their vengeance against Naruni Enterprises).

The Hadeysvallith/Yongrrllyth partnership can definitely expand in many interesting directions as long as both parts can somewhat restrain the Splugorth tendency to backstab or poach possessions from each other for the sake of long term profit and competing with other powers instead.

[taalismn]

Spent the afternoon starting to hash out the Yoncatech versions of the Demon Fury Frigate and Bone Maw Carrier for the Commonwealth, but also spent time working on several other Yoncatech designs I'd left on the backburner.

One thing is for certain the Warlock Navy will probably be very annoyed when someone starts producing near-duplicates of some of their "infernal-powered" tech, though with a few extra safeties - a splugorth dominion to boot....

I figure many of the Commonwealthers will be less inclined to keep bottled demons around because of the inherent risk. Likewise the Splugorth, even with their extra knowledge of the arcane. They WILL tap demonic essences, but their captives will almost invariably have short and very AGONIZING existences before being permanently(or as damned near to permanently as they can manage) snugged out. I'll go into greater detail on that in a technical aside.

And many of the Commonwealth ships will be outfitted with detecting and destroying Infernal vessels, depending on whether one sees destroying demons and devvals as business or pleasure.

[SolCannibal]

Spent the afternoon starting to hash out the Yoncatech versions of the Demon Fury Frigate and Bone Maw Carrier for the Commonwealth, but also spent time working on several other Yoncatech designs I'd left on the backburner.

One thing is for certain the Warlock Navy will probably be very annoyed when someone starts producing near-duplicates of some of their "infernal-powered" tech, though with a few extra safeties - a splugorth dominion to boot....

I figure many of the Commonwealthers will be less inclined to keep bottled demons around because of the inherent risk. Likewise the Splugorth, even with their extra knowledge of the arcane.

Oh, there's a somewhat technically simple though mildly unethical workaround that - bottled elementals. Specially if one plays into appropriate ressonances to make the creature more accomodating/comfortable to her vessel, like using an Earth (Plant) elemental for a ship made of magical wood, for example. Same possibly goes for spirits of light, with the possible bug/feature of making any such specific units very dedicated to smiting infernals.

They WILL tap demonic essences, but their captives will almost invariably have short and very AGONIZING existences before being permanently(or as damned near to permanently as they can manage) snugged out. I'll go into greater detail on that in a technical aside.

Speaking of technical side, what do you think of the angle of exploring such a synergy between plant-based bio-wizardry and plant connected earth elementals as a venue to tap into a field of potentially renewable starship-building materials? The Commonwealth's own take on the concept of Ectofibre as a product.

And many of the Commonwealth ships will be outfitted with detecting and destroying Infernal vessels, depending on whether one sees destroying demons and devvals as business or pleasure.

As someone in the Paradise Foundation might say... "Both? Both. Both is good."

[taalismn]

Speaking of technical side, what do you think of the angle of exploring such a synergy between plant-based bio-wizardry and plant connected earth elementals as a venue to tap into a field of potentially renewable starship-building materials? The Commonwealth's own take on the concept of Ectofibre as a product.

Go for it...I figure the Commonwealth has a fair amount of industrial espionage going for it....they might not get EVERYTHING on everybody else's plates, but they can grab enough to make developments of their own.
Between two innovative Splugorth Intelligences, they ought to have been able to subvert some Dark Covens into becoming spell thieves for them.
And it also means that in the GNEverse, our heroes(the USA I presume) and their allies, are not immune t being upstaged by other up-and-comers, just as they've upstaged the galactic status quo themselves.

[taalismn]

(I seek to add a little detail to Bill Coffin's Rhilith, from DB6: Anvil Galaxy, with some ideas from omegasgundam)

Rhilith---Home of the Gear and United Worlds of Warlock Industrial Technological

“Rhilith’s easily the equivalent of a Kai-Shem or Tard-Rebla for starship production and space industry. They’ve survived two massive sieges of their star system and bounced back stronger than before. They’re the sort of world we’d have have recruited in a minute, or helped out in a second, but the Warlocks got to them first, and we don’t begrudge that one bit.”
---Anonymous United Systems Alliance diplomat, on attending an anniversery ceremony of the Signing-In of Rhilith into the United Worlds of Warlock

“The Gear is happy, wealthy, tolerant and welcoming of others. No wonder their neighbors hate them.”

“Rhilith has proven time and again that their intervention at Yoria was not an isolated case of altruism. They have proven that one can be intelligent without being arrogant, strong without being aggressive, compassionate without being weak, ambitious without being greedy, and wealthy without being divided. They may not have the same link to the universal spirit as those of us of the mage-sworn, but a spirit just as pure and true burns within them. ”
----High King Silverlight of Alfheim

“The mind of Rhilith is in the stars, the heart of Rhilith is in its people, and they are more than willing to share their ingenuity and optimism with the cosmos.”
---Alana Aien-Jorlanc, former Cosusan orphan, naturalized Rhilithian citizen, and sophont-rights and humanitarian activist.

The story of Rhilith is famous in the UWW, a virtually magic-less world that selflessly came to the aid of endangered magic users (the Yorian Genocide) and asked nothing in return. When, as a result of their actions, the Rhilithians themselves were embattled and imperiled, the UWW came to their rescue. The Gear has been an integral part of the UWW since, providing the star-mages with technological expertise and industrial capacity.
Rhilith is the one of the UWW’s pure-tech industrial powerhouses, and most of the output of the planet’s stardrive assembly yards go to UWW starships. On Rhilith, science works to the good of the people; industry is non-polluting, the air and water are clean, the people well-fed and healthy with the fruits of science, educational levels are high, and the population is happy, without reservation.
The planet was important enough that during the Minion War incursion in the Three Galaxies, the Demons made a strategic attack on it. An entire Demon Planet was sent with attendant fleet to destroy the vital industrial planet and would have succeeded, but for the courageous defense thrown up by the UWW Navy and the strengthened Rhilithian High Command forces.
Again, in the hour of greatest desperation, selflessness carried the day, with a Arch Mage(Alexia Fay) sacrificing herself to defeat the Infernal forces. The petrified core of the demon planet has become the center of a great deal of attention, especially as its creation has also drawn a Cosmic Ley Line Nexus into the Rhil-Rand) system, giving it what it long lacked; a magical connection to the rest of the UWW.

The Rhil-Rand system also plays host to a large enclave of the United Systems Alliance; given the close working relationshp between the UWW and the USA, a residential station(Orbis-class) was established for visiting USA technicians working alongside their Rhilithian counterparts.

Solar System(Rhil-Rand)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
-Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 7
-Terrestrial(Rhilith)---- System lifeworld

-Terrestrial(Gilnath)---- Earth-sized, but possessing a violent volcanic geology and toxic atmosphere, Gilnath seems like a Venus-analogue in a wrong orbit. But hovering above its lower clouds is a layer of untainted water vapor which is occasionally skimmed by passing ships.

-Gas Giant(Oserth)----Tiny for a gas giant, and lacking in any natural satellites of mention. Several gas-skimming support stations orbit Oserth.

-Gas Giant(Proth)----Jupiter-sized Proth serves as a gas source. Its single large moon, Doran, has a Titan-like atmosphere of methane, and is home to several industrial colonies and scientific research facilities servicing the factories in orbit.

-Gas Giant(Tenzar)----Enormous Tenzar sports ten moons. It is being developed as an industrial center in its own right, with mining, shipbuilding, and scientific research going on. Several Dwarven enclaves have set up shop here as well.

-Exotic(Tangent-Alexia)----Recently added. this was once the core of the Demon Planet Orsak, until Arch-Mage Alexia Fay sacrificed herself to destroy the evil. This has also introduced a Cosmic Nexus Point to the Rhil-Rand system. The UWW has a very strong presence as they study the ten-mile wide core to ascertain whether any taint of its former evil nature remains. If not, plans are being drawn up to turn it into a powerful Tangent-class space station and move its orbit farther down the gravity well and closer to Rhilith.

-Gas Giant(Dranag)----Large, but distant and cold, Dranag possesses a powerful magnetic field, suggesting a very active core. One Rhilithian scientific thinktank has suggested building a megastructure ring around Dranag and tapping its EM field ad gravity to boost FTL communications signals.

Planet(Rhilith)
Rhilith is a Human-settled world, the result of some past Human diaspora in the Anvil Galaxy. The early colonists used their intelligence and foresight to survive and prosper without sitting heavily on their new homeworld. The culture that emerged is industrious, well-educated, and reasonable, in keeping with their paradise-like planet of green oceans, lush forests, and both floating and landscaped arcology communities.
For the most part, Rhilithians were content to stay within their own star system, building their own prosperity through advanced technology and trade with other polities. They lay claim to only a small number of local desert systems in their vicinity, but historically have maintained an extensive deep space survey service and powerful military to fend off threats.
One would think Rhilith a naturally ringed planet because of the vast orbital infrastructure hanging around it. Massive shipyards and orbital factories provide the UWW with technological hulls and hardware. These came under attack during the Siege of Rhilith, and much damage was done, but with membership in the UWW providing security, the Rhilithians have quickly built back better than before.

Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 11,500 km
Gravity: 0.97 g
Temperature:
Temperate shading to tropical.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons(6)---- Rohum, Gahan, Dalath, Scona, Taran and Sojym. All have been colonized to one degree or other.
Gear-Emmeron Industries, Rhilith’s premiere shipwrights, outright own two of the moons, Rohum and Gahan, and use them as factory and assembly sites.
Two of the moons, Taran and Sojym, possess sizeable deposits of Kihvite and Tezelium respectively,
The UWW Navy maintains a large naval base on Scona built on the site of a former spaceport destroyed during the Siege of Rhilith. Until recently, this base was the largest concentration of magic in the Rhil-Rand system and served as both the hub of the defense against the attack of Demon Planet Orsak and a primary target of advance forces spearheading the Infernal attack on Rhilith.

-Energy Field----Rhilith possesses a strong magnetic field, which results in particularly vivid interactions with the solar wind.

Atmosphere:
Thin, but breathable, terrestrial nitrox mix
Terrain:
Varied but with Exotic regions---magnetic anomaly regions where traditional magnetic navigation aides are hindered or useless. GMR levitation systems are particularly efficient in these areas, and ‘floater’ platforms have become a common sight at the ‘mag-valleys’.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Gold/Silver
- Scheelite
- Colombite
- Molybdenite
- Graphite
- Calcite
- Thorium
- Diamond
Hydrosphere:
Moist: 77% surface water coverage
Biosphere:
Cornucopia----Rhllith is an ecological paradise with a rich and diverse native ecology. Local evolution is effectively at a Late Tertiary period equivalent dominated by mammals that evolved from warm-blooded dinosaur analogues.
Preserving Rhilith’s native ecology while still maintaining an intensely technological and industrial society is a point of pride for the Rhilithians.

Civilization:
Settled
Population:
6 billion (90% Human, 10% other; mainly other UWW species)

Technology:
Galactic----Rhilith is a local technological powerhouse, especially with regards to FTL propulsion and interstellar communications.

Economy:
Manufacturing; Rhilith is famous for building FTL drives and starships. They also produce FTL communications equipment.
Their shipyards turn out the Zaxas-series battleships, MRC-1 ‘Mundane’ Corvettes, StarCongress and Aegis-Magister Heavy Cruisers,
Hauberk Destroyers, and pre-TW conversion hull components for the new UWW Aurora-W Frigates, among other designs.

Wealth:
Rich----The Gear has waxed wealthy off its sales of high tech equipment. The people enjoy a high standard of living that is the envy of other worlds in the Fahirn Sector.

Government:
The Gear and the High Command---Effectively a technocratic meritocracy, while their military is an ethical and professional fighting force. Culture is effectively a scientific socialist post-want society, one of the few such cultures that has actually worked out in the Three Galaxies.

Law Level:
Lawful----The Gear is a very organized and lawful society that treats both natives and offworlders fairly and justly. Again, Rhilithians pride themselves on their global justice system and legal codes.

Popularity:
Beloved, bordering on Fanatical. The Yorian Genocide proved the loyalty of the Rhilithian people; when the High Command ordered the world’s best ships and best troops to fly to the rescue of strangers, Rhilithians responded without doubt or question, and prepared to open their world to the rescued refugees. In the eyes of their people, the Gear can do no wrong, having led the people to continuing prosperity.

Stability:
Long-Standing; the Rilithians are happily sticking with a government that works.

The Decidan Compact---Fahirn Sector
“The Rhilithians could have beaten any one of the Decidan worlds by itself. But when all ten worlds teamed up against lone Rhilith, numbers had a quality all their own. Fortunately the Warlocks decided to put their thumb on the scale and tip the balance in favor of the Gear.
Must have seriously torqued the Yorians some though. They hate magic users and thought nothing of slaughtering them. The big star mage nation was sectors away and out of mind. But suddenly here the Warlocks are right up close and with the addition of Rhilith to their fold, they brought the UWW’s borders right up next door to the Yorians and right in their faces. Couldn’t look at their night sky without knowing that hated space-mages were flying within a handful of light years.”

“There’s some speculation that our friends over at the USA’s Office of Positive Outcomes are somehow responsible for destabilizing or pacifying some of the hotter-headed worlds of the Decidans. Ordinarily that would raise some hackles in the Foreign Offices, but given how there’s some strong evidence that some of the Decidan Compact worlds folk may have been collaborating with the Demon Planet Orsak....and isn’t THAT a fine irony, mage-haters conspiring with demons!.... there’s not many tears shed that somebody’s working behind the scenes to knock them down.”

Though Rhilith is an important world to the UWW, it also remains near one of its contested borders and is considered still at risk, thanks to the Decidan Compact, the organization behind the Siege of Rhilith.
The Decidan Compact, also sometimes called the Yorian Alliance, is/was the coalition of ten worlds, led by Yoria, that formed to seek retribution on Rhilith, in part for the latter’s interference in the Yorian Genocide, but also because of Rhilith’s economic prosperity. Some of the worlds had had disastrous First Contacts with Rhilith, leading to the latter developing a strong military to defend themselves with.
The backing of the United Worlds of Warlock put Rhilith out of reach of the worlds of the Decidan Compact, but they remained a threat nevertheless, at least until fairly recently. Rhilith’s continued, indeed INCREASING, prosperity and strategic importance has eclipsed the worlds of the Compact and isolated many from the network of galactic trade enjoyed by Rhilith and the UWW.
The Decidan Compact, never very strong without its common goal of stomping Rhilith, fortunately seems to be imploding; the various members have become stricken with problems of their own that prevent them from putting up a united front, and the alliance is falling apart. At least one member, Cosus IV, has reconciled with the UWW and accepted assistance in becoming part of a better economic union with the star-mages.

*Yoria---
The chief instigator of the Decidan Compact, elf-settled Yoria actually benefitted from Rhilith’s interference in the Yorian Genocide by giving the warring factions of the Yorian civil war a greater common enemy to unite against.
However, the intended invasion of Rhilith backfired badly when the UWW came in and offered the hated technocrats a place in their nation and the protection of the Warlock Navy. As much as the Yorians hated magic-users, the UWW’s mystic warships were a whole different level of power than the magic the detested Yorian mage-community practiced. Cheated of their prize, humiliated before a wider audience, and blamed by their Compact allies for leading them into a trap, the Yorians retreated back to their space to nurse their wounded pride and unresolved grudge. Seeing the hated Rhilithians grow ever wealthier and strong as part of the UWW, now a next-door neighbor, is almost more than the Yorians can bear.
Yoria remains an embittered world, further and further ostracized from the rest of the galactic community. Furthermore, old tensions in the planetary society seem to be appearing again, and without the magic-users to blame, unchecked factionalism is on the rise.

*Dranteld-----
Human colonized world led by a technocracy that united several colonial settlement regions in an effort to create an industrial tech-base that could trade profitably with other worlds in the Fahirn Sector.
Dranteld was never as successful at R&D as Rhilith and in fact saw an unmitigated ‘brain drain’ of talent immigrating to the latter world to take advantage of better employment opportunities there. The Dranteldan Technical Council very vocally protested that Rhilith was doing too little to prevent the loss of expertise to Dranteld, and was in fact encouraging corporate ‘theft’ of Dranteldan talent. The fact of the matter was Rhilith was more than willing to finance new research projects with longer odds of paying off in commercially viable applications, and paid the researchers better as well.
When Yorian representatives came by to interest the Dranteldans in a coalition to smash the presumptuous Rhilithians, the Technical Council jumped at the opportunity to teach the lording industrialist-thieves a lesson. At no small expense they equipped a military expeditionary force and sent it to join the Decidan Compact.
It came as a bitter blow when the best technology the Dranteldans could muster was quickly defeated by ‘backward’ magic-users.
Dranteld has since descended into relative anarchy, the global government splintering into several nationalist blocs no longer capable of fielding a united space force.

*Landerus---
Landerus is home to the Prowalsis, a reptilean species bearing some resemblance to the Aurovax(see Aliens Unlimited), ruled by a plutocracy. Again, jealousy of Rhilithian prosperity played a role in persuading the money-hungry Prowalsis to join the Decidan Compact for a chance to loot rich Rhilith. They provided the Compact with funds and a number of their own military units.
The failed effort ruined the wealthiest investors in the effort and sent ripple effects through Prowalsian society. Currently Landerus is suffering a decades-long recession. The fact that many of the Prowalsis’ traditional trade partners have been enticed to switch their commerce to UWW-based merchants has only further cut into Landerus’s business. With their economy in danger of tanking more completely, the Prowalsis retain membership in the Decidan Compact in pretty much name only.

*Teshel ----
Telshen is a world settled by goblins in the Fahirn Sector .
Teshel was one of the disastrous First Contact with Rhilith during the latter’s exploration of the Fahirn Sector. Teshel is ruled by a global theocracy which has promised prosperity to the faithful for generations, though material prosperity was only really enjoyed by high church officials. Contact with the Rhilithians, who are much more open-minded on the subject of religion, shocked the Teshelans who saw virtual non-believers enjoying material pleasures and wealth in the mundane world. Incensed by the heresy they saw, and afraid that Rhilithian ideas would spread to their population, the Teshelan theocracy violently broke off relations and embargoed Rhilithian trade, to little effect.
Later the Teshelans would overcome their aversion to contact with other heretics to join the Decidan Compact to smite Rhilith.A shared hatred of magic-users also helped persuade the Teshelan High Church to send Holy Warriors to join the Decidan forces invading the Rhil-Rand system. Only one ship returned from Rhilith, bearing word that the ‘crusade’ had failed miserably.
The Teshelan High Church has recently been rocked by a number of very public scandals that have thrown the planet’s social order into disorder. With the general populace losing faith in their spiritual and secular leadership, Teshelan may be ripening for social revolution.

*Remal---
Remal was settled by a faction of astroCoyle governed by a rather aggressive and populist form of democracy. The Remallans were never very fond of Elves or Humans to begin with, but the idea of joining the Elf-led Decidan Compact to destroy the wealthiest Human society in the sector appealed to them. They sent their own pack-fleet to join in the hostilities, but quickly drew it back when the Rhil-Rand began sprouting up in UWW warships.
While the Remallans remain nominally part of the Decidan Compact, they have been laying low for the most part, sensing a greater predator in the Warlocks.

*Kespen III----
Kespen III is a Wulfen-settled world ruled by a corporate syndicracy, the Association. They were incensed by Rhilith acquiring several lucrative trade deals with other worlds in and outside the Fahirn Sector and so joined the Decidan Compact to gain a measure of revenge.
After seeing the United Worlds of Warlock swoop in and save the day, and Rhilith accepting membership in the prestigious star nation, the Kespens realized they’d over-extended themselves and possibly prejudiced a potential customer pool in the UWW by threatening Rhilith. Furthermore, in equipping a military fleet and hiring mercenaries, many of who were either lost in fighting or never had the opportunity to loot a conquered world, the Association incurred massive financial losses.
The Kespen Association has seen a storm of upper echelon firings as the corporate officials responsible for the ‘Rhilith Gamble’ have been deposed. The new management has tried to distance itself from the decisions and policies of the previous Association members and gloss over their mistakes, with the hope of remaking their public image. With regards to the Decidan Compact, the Association has quietly slunk away, having lawyered away any remaining obligations their signing to the Compact may have left.

*Caltren---
Caltren was settled by an ethnic variant sept of Elves, ruled by a self-styled and heavy-handed Emperor, Caldemann ‘The True’. During First Contact with Rhilithians, Emperor Caldemann felt that the emissaries didn’t pay him proper respect, ignored his (decidedly one-sided) conditions for any sort of treaties, and in fact were depreciatingly amused by him. Negotiations ended on a decidedly sour note.
Enraged by this personal insult as he saw it, and by Rhilithian trade ships zipping by within sensor range of his world but not paying passage for what he saw as ‘his’ space, the autocrat willingly joined the Decidan Compact and contributed no small number of his planet’s militia to the Cause. When the United Worlds of Warlock appeared on the scene to save the day, a whopping sixty percent of the Caltrenian contingent defected to the UWW.
Despite a great deal of accusations and fevered efforts to rebuild his military, the Rhilith affair has broken something in Caldemann ‘The True’. He has increasingly taken to turning the daily running of his ‘empire’ over to his senior advisors while he indulges in self-pitying alcoholic binges. It is quiet speculation in his court when, not if, the Emperor succumbs to a liqour-induced fatal accident and leaves the throne vacant, as Caldemann ‘The True’ does not have any legitimate blood heirs, nor has he appointed a successor. As his remaining bodyguards, the BloodDrinkers, remain steadfastly loyal to the person of the Emperor, none of his inner circle are yet willing to facilitate aforementioned accident without a clear succession plan in place.

* Magridid---
Magridid is inhabited by a coalition of Ogres, Elves and Lizardmen. The planet was settled by the various groups because of the planet’s location near a hyperlane terminus; it was felt that the location would make Magridid a trade stop and port and the three colonial efforts wanted a piece of that action. For a time it was shaping up as expected, but Rhilith’s growth as a trading, industrial, and communications center quickly rendered Magridid a backwater, living on vapors. Effectively bordering on becoming a pirate port, Magridid mustered up a force of hired guns to disrupt Rhilithian trade. The Decidan Compact promised to take that campaign further to the ultimate step of plunging a knife in Rhilith’s heart. Seeing the opportunity to be in on the kill, the Magrididians sent their best ships and gunmen to the final push.
Instead, the UWW Navy scattered the Magrididians like bait-tails ahead of a rip-maw. The financial loss to the backers on Magridid ranked with an asteroid impact.
Magridid has since broken down into a number of species-centric factions fighting over what scant trade wanders their way. Ironically, as Rhilith’s reputation grows, commerce coming into the sector from coreward has been making use of the hyperway, but word of the Decidan Compact’s actions has the reputable traders avoiding stopping over on Magridid. If only the Magrididians could have waited, they may have cashed in indirectly on Rhilith’s prosperity.

*Cosus II---
Human-settled world ruled by a hierarchal order. Cosus II felt threatened by Rhilith’s balance of trade and growing prosperity as a sector center of industry, and so the Cosusans joined the Decidan Compact to neutralize the threat and fill the resulting power vacuum themselves.
The Hierarchs of Cosus II also dragged their splinter colony of Cosus IV into the fight, using colonial draftees to bolster their forces. The colonials were meant to bear the brunt of casualties spearheading the invasion, but the UWW Navy bypassed them almost completely to hit the command ships in the rear formations.
Cosus II remains one of the few remaining Decidan Compact worlds of any cohesion and one of Yoria’s few remaining visible allies. However, their odds of being able to stand up against the powerful Rhilith-UWW-USA alliance squatting nearby have shrunk considerably.

*Cosus IV---
A colony of Cosus II that was struggling to get by thanks to exploitation and mismanagement from the mother world, Cosus IV was effectively forced to send its small aerospace militia to join the invasion of Rhilith. Cosus IV dropped out of the Decidan Compact due to differences with its parent world shortly after the ‘battle’ of Rhilith, the Cosusan colonists having originally left their parent world to get away from the suffocating rule of the Hierarchs and having quite enough of their heavy-handed management. Both pre-existing conditions and subsequent embargoes by the other Compact members worsened CosIV’s struggling economy and the planet soon virtually collapsed. Oddly enough, it was the UWW state of Rhilith who came to the planet’s rescue, extending humanitarian aide without reservation or conditions.
Several incidents(believed engineered by Decidan agents) threatened to disrupt growing positive relations to their benefactors, but Cosus IV seems very likely to join the UWW, which has already earned it the moniker of ‘planet of traitors’ from the remaining Decidan Compact members.

[taalismn]

The United Worlds of Warlock Post-Minion War(GNEverse):

“We of the Worlds of Warlock have survived a most perilous time of trials with the recent aggression from the Infernal Planes touching upon our doorstep. We have faced many challengers, many perils, many threats, and emerged the stronger. We have even helped our neighbors, our allies, and our fellow beings of the Three Galaxies who have also faced the threat of those monsters. We have earned gratitude and respect through our efforts, the courage of our armed forces, and the compassion of our emissaries.

It has, of course, not been without cost. Lost ships, lost lives, even lost worlds, we shall long feel and remember. We may never know the exact cost in lives, in treasure, and in trauma, but we will seek to move on, remembering, but also recovering, in spite of our many losses.

The disappearance of nearly ten percent of our fleet has come as a shock and particularly bitter blow. To discover that we may face our own ships and own weaponry in the possession of those who would deal malice upon us is hard enough, but to find that many of those who went with our ships went willingly to embrace darkness strikes at the heart of who we are. Worlds have been left under-defended, entire sectors at peril, and our security jeopardized. Our common peace of mind has been riven with doubt as to the loyalty of those who serve to protect us.

However, the situation is not lost. The disappearances largely came before the full extent of our cooperation with our new allies had fully blossomed and the dissemination of our shared developments became widespread knowledge.

Our new shipbuilding programs came AFTER our losses; none of the new designs were lost in the betrayal. Thus the enemy does not have the full measure of our new Hauberks, Auroras, Heartwoods and Aethers, nor is likely to be aware of our advancing Everon and Zaxus Upgrade programs. Our re-armament programs continue apace with greater urgency and the development of new weapons systems, with new security measures in place, has been uninterrupted.

Our allies, too, have been busy in assisting us in our hour of need; the United Systems Alliance and the Shemarrian Star Nation, the latter to the surprise of many, have helped blunt, if not outright, thwart Splugorth raids along our frontiers.

While our situation is far from ideal, it could be far worse, and the courage of our warriors, the persistence of our laborers, the innovations of our artisans, and the support of our allies has kept us from dire straits. “
---Address of High King Silverwind to the UWW Parliament of Worlds

The United Worlds of Warlock managed to survive the Minion War apparently better than other major star nations, owing to its experience with magic and the supernatural, but few outside the UWW’s borders realized that the same mystic affinity and the ley lines crisscrossing their territories also made the UWW vulnerable to magic infiltration and attack.

This could not have been made clearer than by the sudden usurpation of a full ten percent of the UWW Navy by the Devvils(DB12 Dimensional Outbreak, Pg. 93). Despite warnings from various psychic sources, including their allies, the UWW had been caught off-guard, though with the warnings, they managed to blunt an even worse situation and even managed to immediately destroy or recapture some of the affected units. Still, however, hundreds of ships and thousands of personnel have disappeared into the Deep Black, some of them subsequently reappearing in the service of Dark Covens and affiliated pirate forces, but the majority simply missing.

Though many in the UWW wanted to use the post-Minion War period to scale down militarization, the loss of the ‘pirated fleet’ has put greater importance on revamping the UWW military services.
The Devvil corruption of a significant percentage of the UWW’s armed forces has forced the mage star-kingdom to take a hard look at its internal security measures, and prioritized a number of rearmament programs they previously thought they could take their time on:
-Internal Security Review---The UWW is looking at better ways to check for supernatural infiltration of personnel, ships, facilities, and star systems. New TW sensor systems and vetting protocols are being looked into.

-Systems Review----The UWW is revising the way it goes about developing new sub-systems; instead of using magic as an adequate substitute for purely technological systems, it is looking at technowizardry to enhance technological systems. The Bottled Demon weapons system is also coming under harsh review, given reports of how it was turned against the UWW when engaging Infernals. Research into finding substitutes is ongoing. In the interim, the UWW is looking at making their existing missile launchers compatible with purely technological ‘smart’ weapons, and at fitting technological systems with the ability to fire TW projectiles.

-Warlock Marine Rearmament----The Warlock Marines have bought into a substantial chunk of the inventory of the United Systems Alliance’s PS/ASI and associated industries’ offerings. The UWW currently either license-builds or buys directly a wide variety of new weapons. Parallel with this is the reconditioning and modification of older weapons using technological exchanges with the UWW’s new allies. It is hoped that the upgrades will catch the usurped units and their older equipment off-guard. This program is probably the most advanced in its progress at the current time.

-New Ship Procurement---- The UWW has stepped up procurement of WZT’s runs of WZ-HIS-875 Raptor High Speed Interceptors, Hauberk and Aurora (especially the -W model) production, and increased the outlay for additional MRC-II ‘Mundane’ Corvettes, to be retrofitted with TW missile-compatible launchers. Older vessels and designs are seeing accelerated schedule overhauls to be fitted with new systems. New designs, such as the Everon Battleship program, have received the green light to accelerated development. Again, it hoped that the newer designs will provide an edge against the older vessels stolen during the usurpation.

It is hoped that these efforts will counter the threat of the pirated vessels and stymie any future infiltration and corruption attempts.

[SolCannibal]

The Rhil-Rand system also plays host to a large enclave of the United Systems Alliance; given the close working relationshp between the UWW and the USA, a residential station(Orbis-class) was established for visiting USA technicians working alongside their Rhilithian counterparts.

Mighty tempted to joke about how followers of Rand, incensed with what they saw as small-minded meddling and a deep lack of objectivity on the people of Rhil, in their eyes, would split from the colony to attempt to form a society more to their own preferences in the Ayn system...

Solar System(Rhil-Rand)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
-Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 7
-Terrestrial(Rhilith)---- System lifeworld

-Terrestrial(Gilnath)---- Earth-sized, but possessing a violent volcanic geology and toxic atmosphere, Gilnath seems like a Venus-analogue in a wrong orbit. But hovering above its lower clouds is a layer of untainted water vapor which is occasionally skimmed by passing ships.

-Gas Giant(Oserth)----Tiny for a gas giant, and lacking in any natural satellites of mention. Several gas-skimming support stations orbit Oserth.

-Gas Giant(Proth)----Jupiter-sized Proth serves as a gas source. Its single large moon, Doran, has a Titan-like atmosphere of methane, and is home to several industrial colonies and scientific research facilities servicing the factories in orbit.

-Gas Giant(Tenzar)----Enormous Tenzar sports ten moons. It is being developed as an industrial center in its own right, with mining, shipbuilding, and scientific research going on. Several Dwarven enclaves have set up shop here as well.

-Exotic(Tangent-Alexia)----Recently added. this was once the core of the Demon Planet Orsak, until Arch-Mage Alexia Fay sacrificed herself to destroy the evil. This has also introduced a Cosmic Nexus Point to the Rhil-Rand system. The UWW has a very strong presence as they study the ten-mile wide core to ascertain whether any taint of its former evil nature remains. If not, plans are being drawn up to turn it into a powerful Tangent-class space station and move its orbit farther down the gravity well and closer to Rhilith.

-Gas Giant(Dranag)----Large, but distant and cold, Dranag possesses a powerful magnetic field, suggesting a very active core. One Rhilithian scientific thinktank has suggested building a megastructure ring around Dranag and tapping its EM field ad gravity to boost FTL communications signals.

You know, at times like these i would expect the UWW, at the entrance of a new system into the collective, to throw a few thousands of academics & researchers into collecting all astronomical data they could and then some, "ley line and nexus surveyors" reviewing planetary movements, alignements, number of satellites and everything else they could think of with an eye toward "arcane energies potential" and their optimal astrological/nomical management.

I'd say that, even outside of the GNEverse continuity and without the Orsak incident, there's a lot that a mostly mundane planet like Rhilith could do in relation to arcane pursuits with the data on soltices, equinoxes, satellites, planetary arrangements and so on.

But then, it does make sense for the UWW within the perspective of its "every member world manages its own business as it see fit as long as it does not causes problems for the collective as a whole" policy, not to do so unless specifically called upon to.

The Decidan Compact---Fahirn Sector
“The Rhilithians could have beaten any one of the Decidan worlds by itself. But when all ten worlds teamed up against lone Rhilith, numbers had a quality all their own. Fortunately the Warlocks decided to put their thumb on the scale and tip the balance in favor of the Gear.
Must have seriously torqued the Yorians some though. They hate magic users and thought nothing of slaughtering them. The big star mage nation was sectors away and out of mind. But suddenly here the Warlocks are right up close and with the addition of Rhilith to their fold, they brought the UWW’s borders right up next door to the Yorians and right in their faces. Couldn’t look at their night sky without knowing that hated space-mages were flying within a handful of light years.”

“There’s some speculation that our friends over at the USA’s Office of Positive Outcomes are somehow responsible for destabilizing or pacifying some of the hotter-headed worlds of the Decidans. Ordinarily that would raise some hackles in the Foreign Offices, but given how there’s some strong evidence that some of the Decidan Compact worlds folk may have been collaborating with the Demon Planet Orsak....and isn’t THAT a fine irony, mage-haters conspiring with demons!.... there’s not many tears shed that somebody’s working behind the scenes to knock them down.”

Such a merry bunch of people to have as neighbors indeed. Rhilith hit the jackpot with them, no doubt about it. The UWW's intervention in the Gear's favor threw a monumental monkeywrench on their ambitions, if not cosmopolitical dynamics of the Fahirn Sector for decades to come and they are suffering from it (and some strategic bits of OPO stealth harassment).

Telshen/Teshel in particular might be in serious trouble if any of the evidence of Decidan Compact worlds folk collaborating with the Demon Planet Orsak's attack somehow ends up pointing to their global theocracy too. Even if it doesn't, the potential of "guilty by association" waves further rocking their already shaky grip on the reins of power is far from insignificant. Caltren's now depressed emperor is another big potential point of fracture for that world.

And Kespen III looks like it might try to go the way of Cosus IV as soon as it can get away with it somewhat clean.

All of that said, the fact things turned sour for the Decidan Compact doesn't mean that everything will keep going on Rhilith or the UWW's favor in the future. The same resentment & desperation the demons previously explored - if they weren't behind the gears of doom moving many of the tragedies and upheavals in those worlds long before the Minion War proper - are still there (possibly stronger than ever) to be exploited by any sufficiently resourceful and ruthless group, like other Infernals, the Transgalactic Empire, Naruni Enterprises, Golgan Republik or Splugorth dominions trying to make an opportunity profit or more, maybe even looking for marks to set up as proxies, if not a straight up partners of occasion to serve as foil to the UWW's growth in the sector.

Much that could still happen to embroil things on any of the Compact worlds or make the status quo of the sector more complicated and challenging.

[taalismn]

Good god, an Ayn Rand joke?!
How low have we descended?!

(Actually, that was quite unexpected and quit funny...I might have to run with that sometime in the future....."Our Planetary Motto is 'EGO'")

[SolCannibal]

Good god, an Ayn Rand joke?!
How low have we descended?!

(Actually, that was quite unexpected and quit funny...I might have to run with that sometime in the future....."Our Planetary Motto is 'EGO'")

(Sometimes a bolt of silly inspiration just strikes from the blue)


Speaking of inspiration, i'm considering doing something with the (d)evolving situation of Magridid sometime in the future, if you don't mind.

[taalismn]

Hey, SolCannibal...look on the Starships thread....the first of the Commonwealth ships is posted, just in time for Halloween!

[taalismn]

(A repost, an update, and new material)
Ghawdeen---Paladin Steel Industrial Outpost/Colonial Protectorate

“We might want to reserve some of our laser production for our own security. That last refugee ship reported being shadowed by several other vessels on the edge of detecion range. They couldn’t get a clear ID on any of them, but they acted military. Odds are we’ve got company out there. Hopefully they’re just pirates in military surplus gear and not some larger organization with an unhealthy interest in us.”

Ghawdeen is a borderline terrestrial-habitable world, akin to a wet Mars, in the Anvil Galaxy.
Ghawdeen was of little interest to most of the powers in that corner of the galaxy until the breakup of the Golgan Republik. As former client states broke away from the Republik, the political stability that typified the ‘us against the common enemy’ mentallity of the client states towards the Republik has collapsed. This has meant that in several cases of former provinces declaring independence, they’ve almost immediately begun arguing with their neighbors over possession of other former Golgan territories, or have gone at former and traditional rivals with a renewed vengeance, now that the Republik is no longer keeping them apart. Two former Golgan territories in particular, the newly-declared T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment, have opened up on each other, regardless of the several non-allied colony worlds in between, in all-out interstellar war. Though a generation or two behind the Republik in technology and short on numbers, the Domain and Alignment have made up for their relative shortcomings in sheer bloodymindedness and brutality against each other and anybody standing in their way. The result has been a large number of refugees, from non-aligned settlements, and both the Domain and Alignment, fleeing the warzone and seeking new sanctuaries. Ghawdeen is one of those worlds, and a growing number of refugees have settled on the planet.
Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries had already staked a claim to the planet(pointed at by N’R’Mar scouts) and was developing several mining and industrial efforts on the world, with an eye towards eventual open colonization, when the refugees started arriving in numbers. Unwilling to start shooting down refugee ships entering the system, Paladin Steel has tried to accommodate them in their development plans.
Paladin Steel’s presence in the region has helped curb some of the excesses of the unsettled and unnerved refugee camps. Several efforts to introduce piracy on the planet have been thwarted by PS Security, and PS-led construction teams have helped create support infrastructure to support the refugee camps. More importantly, the company has been providing employment for the refugees, getting them active in creating their own infrastructure(and incidentally defusing the demands of the more vocal newcomers that as the hosts on planet, the company isn’t doing enough to help the refugees). PS/ASI has also been employing displaced persons in their own field operations, and has been able to expand their operations three-fold since the refugees started arriving. This has raised some catcalls that PS is exploiting the refugees by employing them as cut-rate wage-slave labor, but the company has countered that the added manpower and profit has helped defray the costs of the refugee-support efforts and given the listless refugees something constructive to do.
Ghawdeen, however, may be the victim of its own success. As more refugees are drawn to the world by the prospect of safe haven and the corporate establishment there grows and becomes more profitable, more powerful pirate bands, and the eyes of both the Domain and the Alignment are being drawn to the planet as well, forcing PS/ASI to increase its security garrison and armed presence to deter attacks and annexation attempts. This in turn is drawing the attention of the resurgent Republik, who are concerned by growing foreign presences along its borders, especially ARMED foreign presences. Furthermore, the existence of large industrial plants on a formerly unused world, in a sector that the Republik once effectively owned and would like to control again, has some in the Golgan Argosy considering the long term benefits if they could take those industrial facilities intact.

Solar System
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 3
- Gas Giant---Nicknamed Great Robin. (Small Gas Giant)
Uranus-sized Great Robin, with its blue coloration, is beautiful, but currently of little significance to PS/ASI. Its 16 small moons are in the process of grinding each other into a new ring system.
PS had few plans to explore/develop Great Robin, but the threat of piracy in the region made establishing at the very least early warning outposts has prompted PS to establish a presence there, if only to deny any pirates a local base. Typically 2-3 corvette-class vessels make regular patrols of the planet’s moon system, and several automated sensor and assistance facilities have been established on the larger moons.

- Terrestrial(Ghawdeen)---The system’s life world and site of its inhabitants.

-Terrestrial---Nicknamed Paltor.(Tiny)
Icy Paltor is a dwarf planet of little significance. Again, given the rise in pirate activity in the region, PS/ASI have planted an early warning sensor array on the planet, just in case.

Planet(Ghawdeen)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 13,780 km
Gravity: High; 1.7 g. The GNE’s Chaichuks find the planet’s gravity comfortable, but others find the high gravity fatiguing.
Temperature: Warm(ish), akin to terrestrial tropics.

Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons---3 small Deimos-sized moons; Sori, Mezos, and Adi.

-Craters----Ghawdeen is littered with large craters, many of them forming large circular lakes and even small seas.

Atmosphere: Breathable, though oxygen content is on the thin side, and many residents take to carrying assist-masks and supplemental O2. The atmosphere around the refugee and corporate enclaves is richer, thanks to water-cracking atmospheric modification works.

Terrain:
Mountains, large dry plains, and mudflats

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Molybdenite
-Zinc
-Pitch Blend
-Copper
-Sulfur
-Gypsum
-Diamond
-Emerald

Hydrosphere:
Moist; shallow high-salinity seas cover roughly 64% of the planetary surface.
Biosphere:
Sparse. There were already a few forms of algae(especially in the crater lakes) and photosynthetic mosses on the planet. Any higher lifeforms have been recently imported, including vermin. There’s been some trial and error with imported species brought by refugees to create agricultural areas. PS has debated planting fast-growth terraforming species, like grasses, in order to further improve the air quality.

Civilization: Refugee/Colonial

Population: Roughly 1 million people

Technology: Roughly equal to Rifts Earth, with some disparity between the less well-off refugees and the GNE/PS/ASI enclave.
Economy:
Can be considered to be Mining and Manufacturing
Wealth:
Can be considered to be Prosperous in terms of the corporate activity. The refugee quarters can be generally considered to be Poor(Squalor/Impoverished has been avoided by corporate-sponsored civil works).
Government: Between PS/ASI and the refugees, a rough representative government has been cobbled together to address both the needs of the refugees and the concerns of the company.
The arrangement is far from perfect, and a great many issues need to be hammered out, including overall supervision of planetary affairs. Many in both the refugee communities and the corporate enclave want PS/ASI to be in supreme charge as the landlords and defacto government, while others want as little corporate involvement in civil affairs as possible. Both arguments vary as to how much the company is expected to support the refugee economy, and how much it can ‘profit’ from them(a recent issue is that of who has salvage rights to the many decrepit starships the refugees arrive in).

Law Level: Moderate. There’s some crime between the refugees, and some feuding between former Domain and Alignment citizens that flares into open violence, but most people on Ghawdeen are too busy trying to survive and put their lives back together to particularly care.

Popularity: Ambivalent; there’s grousing about shortages and lack of particular services. More medical aide could be forthcoming, better wages, and better living conditions, but there’s the acknowledgement that things could be FAR worse.

Stability: Stable, with protracted argument and debate balancing out any flare-ups of unrest.

PS/ASI Outpost Presence:
Size: Massive; PS/ASI has some 22,000 employees on planet, in addition to 15% employment amongst the refugees.
Type: Industrial/Mining
Security: Strike Force
PS/ASI maintains a small army(7,000) security militia on the ground, in addition to deputized citizen watches among the refugees.
PS/ASI has also begun putting up several dozen battle-ring satellites in orbit of the planet to provide early warning, scan incoming refugee ships, and provide some protective cover in event of an attack.
Contact: Weekly
Products:
-Processed Metals---Mainly copper and molybdenite, as well as refined fissionables(‘yellowcake’).
-Vehicular Weapons Assemblies----The Ghawdeen works in particular turn out laser weapons. This is another factor that makes the PS industrial facilities on Ghawdeen an attractive target for outsiders.
-Crystal Components---Ghawdeen’s mines produce valuable diamond and emerald components for TW systems.

USA Regional Updates:
(Anvil Galaxy)
*Ghawdeen---
“It’s fatiguing working on the Ghaw. It’s a muddy and dusty place, but the air is at least fresh and progress is visible. A lot of people who came here as a sanctuary of last resort are making a go at making it a proper new home, and dang if some of them ain’t coming up with something special !”

“The nu-towns are quite a mix of local and outsector cultural influences; the Tag-Bru wars certainly stirred up and displaced a surprising number of people, Those who couldn’t flee the sector altogether came here, and now that they’ve got some breathing room, they’re looking to make some normality for themselves, even if they are having to work with local materials...for instance, wood as construction material is at a premium around here. There’s been some inadvertent or deliberate cross-pollinations of cultural cues, so the results can be quite intriguing."

This industrial colony, which became a refugee destination during the hot brush-war between the T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment, is now seen increasingly as a regional ‘hub world’ or sector-state capitol. Though the embers of the T’ghari-Brualli conflict still smolder, the chance of a resumption of all-out hostilities decreases with each passing year-cycle, especially as several neighboring worlds/polities have applied to join the United Systems Alliance, insuring that spill over of renewed hostilities will result in aggressive containment. Also helping is a much more subtle embargo conducted by the USA that has curtailed, at least in part, the import and sale of foreign weapons to the exhausted combatants.
(It’s also whispered in some corridors of power that the USA’s Office of Positive Outcomes had been nipping in the bud several attempts by the Brualli to enlist Dark Coven aid from the United Worlds of Warlock, as well as several attempts by the Golgans to enlist Brualli mercenaries in return for assistance in fighting the T’gheri)

The expansion of Ghawdeen into a more substantial geopolitical location has necessitated some organizational changes. Established as a corporate outpost of Paladin Stee;/Aegis Stellar Industries, the larger civilian area, bloated by refugee arrivals, has required greater oversight, and what was once a company town/colony is now governed by a Greater New England(with United Systems Alliance oversight and guidelines)-appointed colonial governor overseeing a representational civilian council.

Increased military activity in the region to fend off pirates and protect the valuable PS/ASI factory complexes on the planet has led to the recent construction of several small military bases, including aerospace fields servicing transatmospheric fighters and small craft. A strong garrison and expanding locally-recruited militia, well-supplied with locally-supplied laser weaponry, protect the surface, while a new military spacedock-station(Plymouth-class) provides a stopover anchorage for sector-patroling USAJC ships. This complements a larger civllian space station facilitating the expanding trade and transient traffic through the system. There’s talk of adding a proper space-haborbitville for those who can’t handle Ghawdeen’s gravity, but don’t want to move out of the system altogether, usually because theu have friends and family that have adjusted better to planetside life.

Ghawdeen itself has seen an expansion; several new satellite settlements, some using new biotechture, have been established. Population has burgeoned to some 8 million now, with a large number of transients. Living conditions have improved substantially, and extensive use of grav-insulation in living quarters and public areas has helped offset the planet’s fatiguing 1.7 g gravity. Large desalination plants provide an increasing supply of potable water to the communities(and many of the new biotechture structures themselves are capable of filtering brackish water).

The global Economics have now increasingly included Agriculture with expansion onto the plains and mudflats, using salt-tolerant crops as a basis. While tending the new farms often requires stepping back out into the punishing local gravity field, there’s a grwoing support system of relief and field first aid to treat exhaustion and broken/sprained limbs(common under such conditions). Assist exoskeletons and float-chair systems are increasingly popular, as are agribots.

The refugee economy Wealth index has risen to a hearrtening 5(Average/Solid)on the Kauffin Scale , with the GNE government aggresively pursuing anti-squalor measures in its new colony. New civil works and a large local office of GNE Human Resources makes sure that those who can work can find employment in safe clean conditions, and that affordable comfortable housing is available.

Popularity has risen slightly from Ambivalent to a low Popular as a result of improving conditions. While there’s still a lot of grousing about services, many of the refugees have pitched in to help build infrastructure and start local businesses of their own. The aforementioned gravity insulation has heled lift morale considerably.

Though hostilities along the T’ghari-Brualli have cooled down considerably, many of those who fled to Ghawdeen are reluctant to try returning to their homelands, afraid of another flare-up and the increase in criminal(pirate) activity around the affected worlds.

-Panmandu---With its climate crisis currently resolved or at least stabilized, sector-neighbor Panmandu seems to be on the track to become an associate member of the United Systems Alliance, The hearty leather-skinned high-gravity-accustomed Panmanduans have already expressed interest in helping develop and colonize other arid red-sun worlds in the USA.

Other New Associates:

-Dergan’s Gulch--------Dwarven Private Colony
“The term ‘Gulch’ may conjure up images of barely habitable, but Dergan’s Gulch is something of a paradise for deep-downer dwarven folk. Come war or cosmic catastrophe, the Gulchers aren’t about to give up their homes without making a fight of it.”

“The Gulch is a classic rags to riches story; struggling freighter captain breaks down, but strikes it rich finding a habitable world and sellable real estate. So far it seems to be on track for long term prosperity, but where there’s money, there’s usually trouble of one kind or other brewing. ”

Dergan’s Gulch is a Dwarf-settled world named for Captain Kanips Dergan, who crashed her damaged freighter on the forbidding-looking planet and just managed to land at the entrance to the cave systems concealing the planet’s abundant underground water. Once Dergan managed to get rescued, she laid claim to the planet and began promoting it as a colonization opportunity. Captain Dergan moved her family to the Gulch, staked claims, and effectively quit the merchant-marine to go into planetary real estate development. The Dergan family began doling out land to colonists. The first-comers got first pick, albeit at prime prices, and soon established the First Families(a designation common to many colonial efforts).
Dergan’s Gulch was one of the worlds that traded with the T’ghari Domain for foodstuffs, but both the curtailment of T’ghari trade by Brualli Alignment commerce raiders and the use of bioweapons on T’ghari agriculture led to worried Gulchers looking to the USA for help. The USA was happy to oblige, opening up trade and extending protection in return for favorable trade terms and basing rights in the Memos system. With increased and secure commerce thanks to USAn hulls and protective patrols, Dergan’s Gulch is making even more money exporting minerals and is even thinking of promoting cavern tourism.

Solar System(Memos)
Number of Stars: 2
Types of Stars:
----Blue Sub-Giant(Memos-Alf)
----Yellow Dwarf(Memos-Beth)
Number of Planets: 5
-Asteroid(Megh)----Megh is regularly radiation-blasted on its orbit around -Alf and -Beth, so it’s barren and waterless. It does somehow manage to avoid getting sucked in by the two stars’ gravitational antics, which puzzles many astronomers who using conventional mathematical tools, have predicted the small rocky body should have dove into one of the two stars long ago.

-Terrestrial(Dyansis)----Enormous ‘super-Venus’. Thick clouds and a dense atmosphere conceal a vast acidic ocean and hot volcanic continents that are almost always in a state of accelerated land-building and erosion. Not a great colonization or exploitation prospect with a very good reason and a LOT of expensive equipment.

-Gas Giant(Aros)----Saturn-sized gas giant. Named for another member of the Dergan family, Uncle Aro, who purchased several old freighters and just-past-obsolete gas refinery barge, flew them to Aros, and combined them into an orbital scoop garage and gas-collection depot, ‘Aros’ Bench’ provides passing starships with an opportunity to refuel and also sends refined helium and hydrogen isotopes to Dergan’s Gulch.
Aros also possesses a magnetic field that produces some spectacular aurora activity easily visible from orbit.

-Terrestrial(Dergan’s Gulch)----Colonized system lifeworld.

-Gas Giant(Paltras)----A gargantuan gas giant on the edge of the Memors system, Paltras is ringed by a thick accumulation of dust and ice particles. Occasionally a prospector of ice miner will make a trip out to sift through the rings looking for anything of value, but generally the dark planet is left alone .

Planet(Dergan’s Gulch)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 9,800 km
Gravity: 0.9 g
Temperature:
Cool; -200 degrees F on the surface. The caverns, however, can be quite warm; 50-67 degrees F on average.

Unusual/Special Features:
-Rings----The Gulch at one time possessed at least one small moon, but that has since broken up into a thin ring of debris.

Atmosphere:
Breathable terrestrial nitrox mix. especially near the caverns. The farther one gets from the caves, however, the thinner the atmosphere becomes.
It is thought that the greater portion of free oxygen on DG is thanks to a great abundance of polymetallic nodules, known to slowly release oxygen as a result of chemical reactions. The greater portion of these mineral concentrations exist in the cavern systems, and vent to the surface.

Terrain:
Hostile; the Gulch’s surface is rough and tumble, and collapses of the underground caverns result in regions of loose ground, sinkholes, and chasmal gulches. There are also occasional gaseous ‘blowouts’ that can send rock flying for dozens of miles unexpectedly.
However, an extensive network of caverns underlies the dangerous surface. These networks hold underground rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as well as underground lifeforms and massive crystalline structures.

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Tin
- Sapphire
- Wolframite
- Manganese
- Zinc
- Ruby
- Asbestos
- Titanium
- Samarskite
- Cobalt

Hydrosphere:
Arid and barren on the surface, but there’s much more water underground
Biosphere:
Sparse. There’s evidence that there was once much more life on the surface, but some cosmic catastrophe, possibly large solar flares, irradiated the planet, leaving only what survived underground to repopulate the planet.
Most of the surviving life is chemotropic and lives in the cavern systems, especially near hot springs. A number of amphibious worns, fishes, and small crustacean-analogues constitute the highest native lifeforms on the planet.

Civilization:
Late Colonial
Population:
8 million(Dwarfs)

Technology:
Low Galactic---The Gulchers can maintain much of the technology they’ve brought in, but as yet have limited industrial capacity to produce more than electronics and basic mechanical hardware. They can also service their fusion powerplants, but are still dependent on imports for heavier items.

Economy:
Mining primarily, but the colonists are also looking into diversifying into light industry, particularly crystal-based computing systems.

Wealth:
Rich; the early settlers of the Gulch have been making out very well for themselves selling the planet’s mineral wealth.

Government:
Plutocracy-----Most everybody looks to the Dergen family, who holds most of the readily-available land(and the best at that), for overall leadership. The First Families usually made their own piles selling essentials to the latecomers, and maintaining monopolies on certain goods and services, but the Dergens have wisely and publicly encouraged competition and even made small business loans to promising entrepreneurs and traders, in order to prevent future unrest.

Law Level:
Lawful. The Dergens set down the law early, with the assistance of some of the First Families. The Gulch legal code follows that of the UWW Dwarven worlds in general, but with a few colony-specific changes. Those exploring /developing new cavern systems are obligated to report all new discoveries and changes to the colonial administration. Offworld trade is done through the central administration and are subject to review to see that the agreements and arrangements do not jeopardize the safety of the colony. Violators can face expulsion from the colony for infractions, or execution for more serious crimes such as murder.

Popularity:
Ambivalent, shading towards Popular. There’s been some grumbling, especially from later immigrants, about how the First Families run everything, especially offworld trade, but in general the Dergens run their side of things fairly, not wanting to spoil things in their little realm now that they’re established.

Stability:
Dergan’s Gulch seems set to become a Dynastic regime, given the great regard the colonists hold for the Dergen family.



-Valgar -----Aolumis System, Ferrikor Iron Lord Colony
“It’s a hell-world that few would look at twice, but the white star-protostar arrangement is of scientific curiosity, and we were looking for pirates anyway, so we took the opportunity to look around. Aolumis turned out to be a lot more interesting than initially thought, and potentially important sector-wise.”

“Actually, it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that the Ferrikor came to Valgar; they seem to like extreme star systems. Their own star system apparently underwent a nova event and the Aolumis system is a dying star. Draw what conclusions you want from that, but I’d group the Ferrikor in with other extremophile species.”

“One of the possibilities we’re looking into is negotiating using Valgar’s dimensional field to open travel rifts to some of our other territories. Or possibly using the Ferrikors’ existing dimensional gateway to travel to their homeworld and use that as a waystation hub. It will require the use of heat-resistant transit capsules, but we have the technology and the magic, and it will shave weeks, if not months, of travel time off some of our routes.”

The Aolumis System is notable in that it is a contradiction in cosmology. It has at its heart a white dwarf star surrounded by a nebula, suggesting an older system well-past its prime, yet the central star is surrounded by five brown dwarfs, or protostars, suggesting a younger system that failed to ignite.
It is speculated that Aolumis may have been a test system for stellar engineering, with the brown dwarfs brought in to possibly refuel an ailing star or re-ignite the white dwarf into a main-sequence star, though who was the responsible culture and why they seem to have abandoned the effort remain unknown.

Valgar is inhabited by a colony of the Ferrikor, a species of near-Elemental beings who live inside their homeworld of Phasen. They rarely travel off their homeworld, so the discovery of an offworld colony of them has aroused great interest in xenocultural circles. The Ferrikor claim to have come to Valgar traveling by dimensional gate.

Contact was made with the United Systems Alliance after USAJC ships did a sweep of the system for pirates or rogue units of the T’ghari / Brualli belligerents, and detected odd subsurface activity on what turned out to be an inhabited planet. Follow-up deep scans of the planet discovered organized energy patterns and several surface installations, where contact with the chthonic colonists was made.
Though the Valgar-Ferrikor have little interest in affairs outside the crust of their new home, let alone the T’ghari / Brualli brushwar, they have agreed to limited trade with the USA. The Ferrikor find the USA agreeable neighbors, given the latter’s embrace of magic and general open-mindedness.
Since coming to an agreement, the USA has established a n orbital station around Valgar. Valgar has become the point of contact between the Ferrikor of Phasen and the United Systems Alliance. The association is proving profitable; the Ferrikor trading crystals and white iron for Technowizardry in particular.
While the association has done little with regards to the security situation in the T’ghari / Brualli sector, it has increased Ghawdeen’s importance as a sector trade center.

Solar System(Aolumis)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
---White Dwarf and five brown dwarfs
Number of Planets: 3
-Terrestrial (Valgar )----Colonized ‘lifeworld’ of the system. Its close orbit of Aolumis and its protostar companions makes it unusually warm for a planet orbiting a white dwarf star.

-Gas Giant (Penktus)----Small gas giant. The USA has negotiated its use as a refueling stop. However, exolife has been found floating in the planet’s atmosphere, and atmo-scoop operations have been limited until closer evaluation of the floaters has been conducted.

-Asteroid(Dredmak)----An ice and rock dwarf planet, Dredmak is also a convenient location for a deep space communications relay and life station.

Planet(Valgar )
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 12, 225 km
Gravity: 1.1 g
Temperature:
Warm; surface temperatures average 400 degrees F.

Unusual/Special Features:
-Energy Field----Valgar possesses a geologically-generated PPE field which helped establish the Ferrikors’ two-way dimensional links to their homeworld.

Atmosphere:
Hostile and Toxic; mainly airborne oxides and volcanism byproducts.
Terrain:
Hostile---Valgar’s surface is particularly rough and treacherous.

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Amethyst
- Molybdenite
- Iron
- Colombite
- Fluorite
- Diamond
- Samarskite
- Emerald

Hydrosphere:
Desert; what little water percolates to the surface quickly boils away into steam which gets trapped in the toxic atmosphere.

Biosphere:
None originally, but the Ferrikor have been planting their colony with near-Elemental, non-organic lifeforms to create a Phasen-like ecology. Some of the heartier neo-lifeforms have begin colonizing the surface. Can be considered as Thin.

Civilization:
Colonial
Population:
55 million Ferrikor
Technology:
Technology analogues are roughly equal to early 20th-century Earth, but magic replaces most technology. TechnoWizardry is a growing art among the Ferrikor, so information exchanges with the TW-using USA are particularly welcome.
A particularly interesting application of technowizardry is a ‘light fountain’; a column of reduced gravity generated by mechanisms in an extinct volcano, which is used to loft cargoes into orbit, where they are retrieved by the USA space station and attendant ‘catcher’ spacecraft. .
Economy:
Commercial; while originally established to harvest materials to sell back to Phasen, Valgar has since become a trading contact between the Ferrikor and the USA.
Wealth:
Average, on the upside, with an upward trend as commerce increases.
Government:
Valgar is run by a colonial governor appointed by a sponsoring government oligarchy back on Phasen.
Law Level:
Lawful. The Ferrikor have a comprehensive legal system, and the colonists are too busy exploring and exploiting their new environment to engage in much criminal activity. The dangerous environment also precludes offworlders coming in and making trouble.
Popularity:
Ferrikor who move offworld can be considered a particular odd or adventurous lot. They generally like their governor, though they reserve the right to grumble about some of the directives.
Stability:
Stable, like a rock.


- Calmolins---Tri-Species Colony Venture
“When dealing on Calmolins, remember that at times you’re dealing with one civilization, and at times you’re dealing with three distinctly different societies. It can sometimes get confusing and the locals will almost certainly unite to take advantage of you if they sense that.”

Calmolins was a joint colonization effort by three unlikely partners; an offshoot Seljuk ethnicity, a group of Kai-Shem minotaurs, and a goblin consortium. The three colonization groups actually arrived at Calmolins at roughly the same time in a case of would might be horrible coincidence ending ina conflict, but despite some initial tension, cooler heads prevailed, and the three groups agreed to share the planet, while choosing to settle different regions and environments. This developed into a sharing of resources in time, and the three different species were settling into a comfortable, if not warm, relationship while developing the system.
They were even trading in limited fashion with neighboring systems, including both the T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment when both were members of the Golgan Republik. Then the Republik pulled out of the area and the Domain and the Alignment went to war with each other and trade soon withered. Then agents of both the Brualli and the T’ghari came around demanding that the Camolins choose sides. The two warring polities approached each of the three Camolinsan species separately, but the colonists were comparing notes and delivered a unified response that they would remain neutral.
Since that momentous day, the T’ghari and the Brualli have periodically made threatening moves near the Charmis system, and refugees from the war zones have stopped seeking assistance. The Camolinsans have charitably offered what help they could, but became painfully aware of not only the T’ghari and the Brualli combatants hovering nearby, but increased pirate activity preying on targets of opportunity. There was the very real fear both that local resources would be over-stretched(the Camolinsans were turning away refugees) and that warships or pirates would come in force and fall upon the almost defenseless colonies.
Though all three groups had left their respective home cultures to seek their own freedoms and pursue independence, all three used what contacts they had to seek advice and ideally help. They were advised to appeal to the United Systems Alliance, which had begun making a name for themselves in the sector and were close enough in force to lend aide.
The Seljuk have been delighted to have their overtures reciprocated so well, and a fair and equitable treaty offered.
The minotaurs were pleased to make contact with their origin world and even more pleased to learn that the Kai-Shem were an integral part of the United Systems Alliance. Although they still reject the heavily technological society they left behind, they hope to entice tourism to learn of the ‘simpler life’ they live on Calmolins.
The goblins were nonplussed to learn that the royal line of Punkis was no more popular with the society back home than when they overthrew Punkis VII in favor of the Ountha mageocracy. However, they were pleased that in the USA there is little to no discrimination against their people.

Since establishing diplomatic contact with the United Systems Alliance, the Calmolinsans have seen the USAJC extend their sector patrols to protect the Charmis-23 system.

Solar System(Charmis-23)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
----Blue Sub-Giant(Charmis-23)
Number of Planets: 8
-Exotic----Micro-Wormhole---A late discovery by the United Systems Alliance was of a micro-wormhole in the system close to Charmis-23. Though too small to allow for the passage of ships or anything larger than an aspirin pill, the tiny extra-space passageway has proven to have extraGALACTIC range and two way communications capability. Test pings show the terminus point to be the far side of the Corkscrew Galaxy, near Phaseworld. The United Systems Amalgamated Communications Service (USACS) is excited about potentially using the Charmis micro-hole to facilitate uninterrupted communications with an important galactic sector. To investigate and guard this important find, the USAJC has established a solar orbiter station following the wormhole.

-Terrestrial(Calmolins)---- Colonized system lifeworld

-Terrestrial(Talif)----Miniscule, with a thick covering of ice, making it attractive as a site for hab-dome colonization. Exotic atmosphere

-Gas Giant(Joran)----Miniscule for a gas giant, Joran is considered ‘easy’ for purposes of gas mining.

-Terrestrial(Malcree)----Small, rocky, and possessing only a thin argon atmosphere, Malcree could potentially be a site for dome-habs, if there can be discovered any suitable reason to establish industry there.

-Terrestrial(Nathu)----Small, with nearly nonexistent gravity, but a surprisingly thick and toxic ammonia-laced atmosphere.

-Terrestrial(Vorog)----Large, possessing a heavy gravity and a dense, exotic atmosphere

-Gas Giant(Beysu)----Large Beysu has a polar orbit, rather than following the regular planar orbit of Charmis-23’s other satellites. Beysu also has its own retinue of 19 orbiting bodies, two of which are substantial in size.

Planet(Calmolins)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 14,000 km
Gravity: 1.3 gs
Temperature:
Temperate, but tropical
Unusual/Special Features:
-Craters---Calmolins is dotted with large craters, suggesting prior large-scale imprecator events.

Atmosphere:
Dense, but breathable terrestrial nitrox mix. Those visiting Calmolins are advised to undertake a decompression program when leaving the planet.

Terrain:
Varied, but also possesses Unusual Seismology; the planet’s tectonic activity is almost uncannily regular, given to ‘pulses’ and ‘grunts’ of low-amplitude earth shocks, which seem connected in location to the position, relative to the planet, of the system’s primary, suggesting a solar gravity connection.

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Zinc
- Scheelite
- Lead
- Chromium
- Titanium
- Fluorite
- Calcite
- Sulfur
Hydrosphere:
Moist; 75% surface coverage in open water
Biosphere:
Thin, and increasingly displaced by imported species on land. The oceans are dominated by algae and sea weeds, with a variety of proto-molluscs being the high-end animal lifeforms. The land lifeforms were a variety of algae, lichens, and mosses.
Civilization:
Late Colonial/Settled
Population:
80 million(30% Seljuk*, 30% Kai-Shem Minotaurs, 24% Goblins, 16% other---mainly refugees)

*The Calmolinsan Seljuk are of an ethnic variant distinguished by having very large slightly protrudent eyes, and earflaps/flanges.

Technology:
Overall can be considered Stellar Age, with limited space travel capability.
The Seljuk are the planet’s top technologists, and are responsible for most of the advanced industry and maintaining the advanced technology the planet acquires.
The minotaurs embrace a limited amount of technology equal to Information Age. Their original space transports have either been cannibalized or are effectively rented out to the other two Camolinsan societies.
The goblins originally relied on a combination of magic and technology, but when the goblin-mages of Nombus overthrew their former royal superiors, pretty much all the court mages threw in with the rebels, as they were almost certainly assured of high positions in the new regime. The few mages who accompanied the exiles did so virtually at gunpoint and almost all died soon after landing on Camolins. The few true loyalists have tried to keep their arts alive and teach a new generation of mages, but have been hampered by Camolins’ low ambient PPE . Like the minotaurs, the goblins of Camolins have rented out their remaining un-cannibalised spacecraft to be used as in-system transports.

Economy:
Agricultural. Many of the largest farms are run by the minotaurs, the factories are operated by the Seljuk

Wealth:
Overall can be considered to be Average; the Seljuk are reasonably prosperous, the minotaurs are comfortably well-off, while the goblins are facing a Depressed state, in part due to the extravagant expenditures made by their king to fuel his self-indulgences.

Government:
Bureaucracy-----Each species keeps its own culture, leading to some interesting interactions and friction form time to time, keeping a permanent staff of legal experts of all three species arguing solutions and busy passing rulings. The resulting global bureaucracy meets regularly to discuss common projects and set overall policies, especially with regards to overall affairs.
(Seljuk) Democracy--The Camolinsan Seljuk practice representational democracy, with regular elections every six local years.
(Minotaurs) ---Clans, led by headsmen, and ruled by a council of clans/herds. The Kai-Shem of Calmolins wanted to pursue a simpler life than that of their more technologically inclined and astronomically-industrious cousins.
(Goblins) Monarchy---The Goblins of Calmolins were fleeing a palace coup on their homeworld of Nombus, and brought with them the remaining heirs of the deposed bloodline. They’ve made an effort to reestablish the royal regime on Calmolins with limited success(the planet’s gravity and atmosphere are not as conducive to the goblins as the other species). They also have much less support from their home culture because they are effectively exiles who fled into the night. The current king, Punkis IX, ascended the throne when his father Punkis VIII, originally sixth in line to the throne back on their origin world, died in an industrial accident.

Law Level:
Moderate--The Seljuk are ruled by law, the minotaurs typically by rule of strength, and the goblins by royal law. The refugee community is divided by who they live in proximity to.
Interaction between the Seljuk and the Kai-Shemites sometimes results in a contest of strength, with both sides roughly equally matched physically. Similar contests with the goblins, unless the smaller beings are fast or conniving enough, usually result in the goblin getting squashed. So issues between goblins and the other species are arbitrated by a corps of proctors.
There has been some resentment , specially among the goblins, of the refugee communities, especially when the latter agitate for a greater say in governance(fanning goblin fears that they may be squeezed out of importance on their own sanctuary world), and a fair amount of local crime is committed either against the immigrants or by desperate refugees, with several feuds/vengeance cycles playing out.

Popularity:
Ambivalent in general. While everybody supports the coalition, the individual cultures have their problems or issues.
-The Seljuk President, currently Malfus Trang, is beloved for her statesmanship in negotiating many of the treaties with the USA. She is, however, facing some criticism from conservatives for reestablishing contact with the Seljuk society the immigrants left behind.
-The current head-bull of the minotaur herds, Koljan Broadhorn, is also well-liked to the point of having to fend off harem proposals(other bulls wanting to marry their daughters to him).
-King Punkis IX of the goblins, on the other hand, having learned that there will likely never be a return to power of his bloodline on Nombus, has rashly engaged in self-pitying debauchery, much to the disgust of his advisors and a growing number of his subjects. The young king has so alienated his followers to the point that many are considering either replacing him with another Pukis(and here the prospects are very slim, as the next in line would be Punkis IX’s eight-year old little sister or his ninety-year old cousin), or eschewing their original reason for fleeing to Calmolins altogether and adopting an entirely different form of government.

Stability:
Overall, the coalition on Calmolins has proven Stable, though the individual constituent cultures have their issues. The seljuk are seen as rock-steady, the minotaurs are seen as stable(at least until Koljan Broadhorn ages to the point that some stronger bull emerges to challenge his position), and everybody is waiting to see what shakes out with the unsteady goblin monarchy.

(Side note: Nombus
Nombus is a world settled by spacefaring(but also magic-using) goblins. Until fairly recently(thirty-odd years ago), the planet was dominated by a hereditary monarchy, until the senior court mages decided they were better suited to rule and overthrew the king-emperor in a palace coup.
Part of the Royal Family managed to flee offworld and settle on Calmolins in hopes of rebuilding their power base and returning to restore the monarchy on Nombus. They’ve had fleeting contact over the decades with Nombus, and the Nombusians are vaguely aware of the Calmolinsan exiles, the Ounthans do not consider them a threat, in part because magic scrying has discerned no danger to the regime coming from that direction.
While not wildly popular, the Ountha mageocracy does have enough popular support to be considered Stable, and frankly of the Nombusans take issue with the mageocracy, they will more likely seek new leadership closer to home, and not drag up an old clan of has-been aristocrats who scurried away in the night(however much it was a matter of personal survival). There’s been no movement to bring back the old kingdom rulers.


Agolan- -----Refuge Colony
“The Agolans are largely a reclusive lot with a fair degree of paranoia, or more properly xenophobia. It took a lot to make them open up enough to reach out for help.”

“With a little work, Agolan can become a very nice iceworld colony. The Agolans were limited by what they brought through their d-gate, and later what they could salvage or buy with their limited funds, so their habs are rather rustic and techno-shabby. But with a reliable source of supply, I bet they could turn the place around into something special.”

Agolan is a marginal world settled by a group of extradimensional refugees of the Caecil species(Aliens Unlimited, pgs 52-53). The refugees were a group of super-powered military special forces who were fleeing government and civilian lashback on their homeworld; tired of being bullied by super-powered ‘elites’, greater Caecilan society was ‘demobbing’ the meta-powered and the military in particular was facing forced ‘adjustment’. The Agolans’ ancestors used an experimental dimensional warp technology to escape arrest.
They found dubious refuge on the dwarf planet Agolan, a cold world roofed in ice, but with a global liquid ocean under the ice cap. With their dimensional gateway destroyed in the effort of establishing a linkage, the Caecilans had a hard fight to survive, but they managed to establish a self-sustaining refuge under the ice.
The Caecils have mellowed out as the original fugitives have died of old age, but their descendants still carry a cultural dislike of their original culture, which has been increasingly demonized over the generations.
The Caecils have made limited contact with aliens; mostly trampers and low-end prospectors looking to mine ice from the thin belts of asteroids around Agos-Trent, but they had encounters with pirates looking for places to set up temporary hideouts. These encounters generally ended in violence, with the Caecils’ inherent superpowers letting them carry the day initially, acquire useful salvage, and learn of the cosmic and geopolitical environment around them. They also made some daring trips FTL to neighboring star systems to gain information and needed materials, selling salvage from the pirates’ possessions, while the Caecils wore concealing and radiation-containing suits to conceal their identities.
Though they still had superpowers in their bloodlines, the Agolans felt that if the T’ghari-Brualli conflict spilled over into their system, the fragile Agolan environment would be shattered and the inhabitants massacred. Rising piracy around them also worried them; though some Agolans were perfectly willing to sign up as mercenaries working for the pirates, the fear was that a sufficiently well-armed pirate group could similarly threaten Agolan and take it over. Already Algolan had been attacked by pirates seeking to turn the settlement into a base of operations, but each attack was defeated, albeit at growing cost to the Agolans. The Caecil-Agolans looked to the United Systems Alliance for assistance, sending one of their precious few working starships to Ghawdeen to appeal to the authorities there.
The e USA has offered the Agolans assistance with economic and technological aide packages, and has extended their monitoring patrols to cover the region.

Solar System(Agos-Trent)
The Agos-Trent system is a marginal system, notable for a ring of dense stellar debris and a single moon-sized iceworld. Any larger bodies were either blown off into interstellar space or broke up, or else have yet to form.

Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
----Yellow Dwarf (Agos)
Number of Planets: 1
-Asteroid(Agolan)----Actually a dwarf planet covered in ice, it is an unlikely refuge.

Planet(Agolan)
Agolan has managed to not be battered to pieces by all the cosmic debris that rings the system’s primary.
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 1,570 km.
Gravity: 0.4 g
Temperature:
Frigid on the surface.
Agolan’s core is kept warm by a concentration of radioactive minerals, supplemented by fusion powerplants the Caecils were able to ri g up. This keeps the surrounding liquid ocean warm enough for aquaculture.
Unusual/Special Features::
-Energy Field---A fluctuating energy field that may be the remnants of the dimensional energies from the since-collapsed Caecilan D-gate. It occasional traps radiation particles and throws of sensor readings.

Atmosphere:
Thin; Agolan’s outer icy shell is veiled in a thin atmosphere of argon and nitrogen.

Terrain:
Most of Agolan’s terrain is submerged, with only a few very high seamounts penetrating into the upper ice cap.
Deep down, it has a surprisingly active core; though not hot enough to really heat up its oceans, it does keep them from freezing, and circulate a fair amount of various chemicals.

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Wolframite
- Zinc
- Mercury
- Cobalt
- Salt
- Borax
- Graphite
- Samarskite

Hydrosphere:
Wet. Global ocean under a dense miles-thick roof of ice.
Biosphere:
Was originally nonexistent, but the refugees have managed to establish aquaculture with imported and modified species, mainly algae, seaweeds, plankton, fish, shellfish and crustaceans.

Civilization:
Settled
Population:
5 million Caecil( Agolans)
About 30% of Agolans possess random superpowers; this is higher than the 10% average on the Caecil homeworld because the refugees were a concentrated cadre of supersoldiers.
Active and latent metapowers seem to have kept later generations of Agolans from suffering muscle degradation as a result of living in the low gravity of Agolan, but 20% of the population does suffer a penalty of -2d4 to P.S. from generational muscle atrophy.

Technology:
Information Age, late period because the Agolans can build and maintain life support equipment, fusion powerplants, and computer gear.
The Agolans have managed to acquire several spacecraft they captured from pirates. They use them for both defense and to scour the surrounding nebula for resources.

Economy:
Subsistence----The Agolan economy is based on keeping life support going and producing enough food to feed everybody.

Wealth:
Subsistence----The Agolans live pretty much hand to mouth; assistance from the USA would go a long way towards improving their situation.

Government:
Paramilitary; the Agolans follow a military structure of government, with a Grande-General heading the government, and progressive ranks of colonels, majors, captains, so on down the line to the lowliest sca-private(effectively a civilian with only basic military training).

Law Level:
Lawful---The Agolans live in a disciplined society with a codified legal system. The military personnel had no reason to abuse their accompanying families, so the law can be considered fair and just. It only becomes Overbearing or Authoritarian when dealing with matters of life support and shared community property.

Popularity:
Angry; the younger generations are getting increasingly upset with ‘living in a fishbowl’ with no clear path forward. They’re tired of hearing the same tired refrain that ‘sacrifices have to be made’. Even among the older generations, there’s petty bickering over resources. Reaching out to get help took overriding a great deal of paranoia and xenophobia.

Stability:
Unrest. Frankly, the Agolans are getting tired of a subsistence living. Despite having worked relative miracles in making Agolan habitable, many would immigrate offworld if a better world were available. There are, however, many who would stay, having set their roots into this unlikely sanctuary.

[SolCannibal]

Now it's interesting to see how the exploratory & merchantile propensities of PS/ASI on Ghawdeen are helping to shape up a number of mostly isolated (when not very much in the rocks) colonies into a budding rim sub-sector of sorts with the outpost as trade hub and unnoficial center.

The Golgan could even learn a thing or two to their benefit if they came in with credits & deals instead of colonial claims and guns blazing for once.

And yeah, the Agolans would definitely be much better off relocating to a planet somewhat closer to habitable to their people. Damn, relocating to orbital habitats would be quite a step up already. It's kind of a miracle - and somewhat head-scratching considering the strain it probably puts on resources - they managed to reach a population of milions in such an enviroment.

[taalismn]

Yeah, Angolan was tough to write in a quintet of already hard to write worlds...I was using random rolls on critical points so I didn't give the USA a slew of new super-powered/super-economied allies with paradise worlds, yet had to be large enough not to count as 'one ship of supplies fixed all their problems' situations which the USA would routinely be dealing with. And randomly rolling the Caecil...well, art-wise and description-wise in Aliens Unlimited they're neither the most interesting-looking nor the most intriguing, but I worked with what I had since I was randomly rolling exactly for a challenge and to create possibilities....-then- I could fudge details.

The Ferrikor popped in because I kept getting &$!+ rolls for their world, and I lazily rolled them up as random, but that began working out. It allowed me to link an old neglected post of mine to the GNEverse.

The Gulch description was helped immensely by coming across a recent article about polymetallic nodules giving off oxygen....which would be handy when a planet lacked a lot of surface water or hospitable conditions for plant life, yet had a breathable atmosphere. So I ran with that.

[taalismn]

Nevascova---United Systems Alliance Protectorate(Thundercloud Galaxy)
“Most cultures wouldn’t give a turd about a goblin world being trampled over, but the new Usans of the Rim have other ideas. They respect the rights of sophonts and are willing to put action to words, boots on the ground, and resources into recovery. It’s not going too far to say that the usans’ swift response to the Nevascova Genocides shamed more than a few people in the metroworlds into reciprocating and matching their outreach efforts.”

“Given the other riches found in the Descrol system, the DNCC must have thought they’d struck serious gold...and they were not going to let anybody else, especially a bunch of backwater goblin-folk, share in the good fortune. As it is, even setting aside the greater portion of potential profits for the use of the locals when they come of age, the usan protectorate’s going to pay for itself in short order.”

“The Natalians certainly understand the concept of bounties; the ones they placed on the fugitive executives of the Descrol-Nevasca Charter Company will insure that those worthies won’t be able to stick their heads out in the open for at least a couple of generations.”

Nevascova is a natively-inhabited planet in the Descrol system of the Thundercloud Galaxy. A very pleasant and hospitable planet, Nevascova is home to the Natalia, a variant goblin sept and one characterized by a generally gentle demeanor. A primitive/low-tech people, the Natalians know that they did not originate on Nevascova; their common mythologies say they were ‘swept by glowing winds’ to this new land, though some say they were driven into the ‘storm’ by pursuing enemies, while others claim they were led to refuge by their gods. For the most part, the Natalians were content to make their homes in coral and lava-rock burrow-communities, fish and hunt, and occasionally make war on their neighbors(though highly ritualized arbitration was taking over from open warfare as the accepted way of settling disputes). Then the outsiders came.
The Descrol system would be approved for limited development and Nevascova itself slated for gradual contact by the early CCW-sponsored discoverers of the system. The development charter for the system was bought up by a reputable private corporation that would be responsible for issuing periodic updates on system and culture. With so many worlds vying for attention, the matter was thought in safe hands.
Unfortunately, the well-reputationed development corporation was one of a series of shell companies ultimately run by a self-interested corporate organization that had eyes on Nevascova as a private resort and company sanctuary. And the top officials of the organization wanted it all to themselves; the native Natalians would have to go.
The Descrol-Nevasca Charter Company would issue periodic glowing reports of development of the outer system and cultural anecdotes compiled by the company xeno-sociologists observing the natives that would be duly filed and barely read by the CCW offices overseeing colonal development. The DNCC seemed to be taking a largely ‘hands-off’ approach to the natives, owing to ‘sensitivities’ of the local ecology and culture, This was fine by the CCW and accounted for the paucity of content in the reports. The few auditors sent to check on the situation were either delayed indefinitely by some other distraction or quickly signed off on ‘orbital observations’ made by corporate scientists. The only real complaint was from independent colonial monitor groups that wanted access to the Descrol system being constantly turned away by corporate officers.
In reality, the DNCC was very much in contact with the Natalians; a mercenary force loyal to the cartel was steadily destroying villages, collapsing the coral warrens, massacring the inhabitants, or else transporting them to less-hospitable regions and forced labor camps where they were worked to death gathering local resources. The ‘company xeno-sociologists’ were fabricating reports or else were cherrypicking native artifacts for sale on the galactic curios market. CCW officials were either fed falsified reports or were bribed not to inquire too deeply.
Such a large operation, however, could not go on with one-hundred percent compliance from all the corporate employees involved, and eventually internal dissidents attempted to blow the whistle on what was really going on. The cartel reaction to the internal leak was swift, with efforts to plug the security breach with bodies. However, enough credible information got out to the right people that serious questions about the Descrol-Nevasca Charter Company’s system custodianship were raised.
The accounts of the native death toll on Nevascova led to a coalition of concerned parties taking forceful action. A combination of the CCW TVIA, the United Systems Alliance, and the Saphian Royal Confederation moved in force to stop the massacres. A full-on military taskforce was quickly assembled and swept into the system, overwhelming or routing the mercenary security forces and seizing the high ground above Nevascova. Company goons, however well-equipped+ with black market armaments, were no match for experienced, well-armed, better-equipped, government-backed Rim soldiery.
Data seized from cartel offices in orbit of Nevascova revealed a plethora of information about the DNCC’s operations and the network of fronts, leading back to the original corporate charter buyer for the Descrol system. The well-kept records also included lists of CCW officials and corrupt TVIA inspectors who could be bought off or otherwise influenced. Armed with these disclosures, the TVIA did some housecleaning and began rolling up the network, discovering even more hidden crimes the deeper they looked.
Of special interest was the revelation that the DNCC was directly controlled by one Arvonec Begarakow, an affluential and influential Human galactic financier known to move in shadowy circles and suspected of having a hand behind many criminal activities. For once, the normally insulated and reclusive money-manager had a direct hand in criminal activity, as it was revealed that he was on-site and approving the actions against the Natalians in the clearing of what was to become his private reserve.
Unfortunately, Begarakow managed to avoid capture at Nevascova, but with his involvement in the Nevascova Genocides now known and warrants issued for his arrest, the man was put to flight, unable to return to his familiar haunts in the halls of power. With several large bounties on his head issued by emboldened (surviving) victims, even many of Begarakow’s nominal allies were turning on him for the money(and amnesty from association with the man’s criminal enterprises). He remains at large, with some sources saying he may have taken refuge on Phaseworld or even skipped out-dimension entirely.

Given their experience with goblin cultures, the USA was made the primary in dealing with the Natalians and guarding the system, with strong presences by the CCW and the SRC.

Their native cultures already severely disrupted by offworlders, the Natalians are surprisingly taking steps to adapt themselves to their new normal. Once they were convinced of the good intentions of the new wave of offworlders, the Natalians made it clear they wanted to learn new ways...but on their own terms. They were among the first to offer a multi-million credit bounty on the ‘Evil Father’ behind their murder and enslavement, Arvonec Begarakow,

Natalians
Natalians differ from baseline goblin-folk in having gray skin(often becoming silvery with age), and the ability to see further into the infrared end of the spectrum,
Tattooing using pigments normally invisible to the human eye is a common practice among the Natalia. Quite elaborate iconography can be used to provide a great deal of information, especially great deeds, about the tattooed individual.
Culturally, Natalians are more community-minded and less inclined to evil than other goblin-clans Only about 20% can be considered Evil of any category, and 30% Anarchist, while 30% are Unprincipled, the remaining 20% being Good.
Natalians do not produce the Cobbler mutation, though they do possess the mystic ability to train in magic, mainly mysticism, shamanism, and herbalism. The weak ambient magic field of Nevascova, however, prevented them from being able to bring any decisively effective magic to bear on the alien invaders.
Natalians are known to worship a number of gods and goddesses different from other known goblin deities and subjects of veneration.

Solar System(Descrol)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
-Blue Dwarf
Number of Planets: 8
-Terrestrial (Rensol)----Small, with light gravity, but blasted by intense radiation from bright Descrol. However, large deposits of Nekirite, a mineral useful in the creation of shape-shifting ‘memory’ materials, have led to the establishment of mining bases in the rocky planet.

-Terrestrial (Nevascova)----System lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Tenta-Moncee)----Enormous gas giant readily visible from Nevascova. Th planet features in Natalian folklore as the ‘Great Night Moth’ due to its prominent rings.

-Gas Giant(Esyranol)---- Small gas giant. Atmospheric analysis has shown a disproportionate amount of particulate exotic material suspended in the atmosphere. DNCC was studying possible commercial values of the materials when the system was taken over by the humanitarian relief forces.

-Terrestrial(Mensadedec)----Large, high end of average , Mensadedec’s intense( 11 gs) gravity field makes exploration of the planet difficult, but the discovery of extensive deposts of energy-rich Corescite has led to plans being laid out to mine the valuable mineral using heavily gravity-insulated robotics.

-Gas Giant(Roene)----Enormous gas giant with eight moons. DNCC was looking at developing Roene as a gas-mining source for the system.

-Terrestrial(Tyte)---- Large, high end of average , with cool temperatures and a dense ammonia-laced atmosphere. Uncomfortably high gravity and scant surface water make the planet unlikely to be developed until other more easily-accessed sources of minerals are worked out.

-Terrestrial(Trical)----Earth-sized cold world with a heavy covering of ice, but an underground ocean heated by internal volcanism. Trical has been proven to have extensive deposits of Colal Crystals, making it another strong prospect for mining-oriented dome-hab colonization.

Planet(Nevascova )
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 12,700 km
Gravity: 1.05 g
Temperature:
Temperate
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons(2)---Belgo and Gestis are two small moons that feature prominently in Natalian myth and ritual. The Descrol-Nevasca Charter Company established bases on both of them as transhipping ports for equipment and materials. Both bases were captured by the forces responding to the Nevascova Genocides, with special attention paid to the corporate offices on Belgo, which have yielded a treasure trove of evidence against the DNCC and its officers.
The Belgo and Gestis bases have since become the headquarters of the USAJC patrol forces policing the system; there’s typically a frigate and a couple of light destroyers or large corvettes in the system at any one time, though the bases can dock several heavier vessels, and several squadrons of starfighters.

Atmosphere:
Breathable terrestrial nitrox mix.
Terrain:
Varied, but with Unusual Seismology; rather than volcanoes, Nevascova has ‘seep fields’ where hot magma oozes up along fissure fields and pushes out, gradually cooling in ‘waves’ that eventually form winding ‘worm ridges’. The island archipelagoes of the planet tend to have long winding appearances, or attenuated triangular shapes, with the younger end being the wider one.

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Sapphire
- Amethyst
- Iron
- Antimony
- Nickel
- Quartz
- Fluorite
- Thorium

Hydrosphere:
92% surface water coverage; Nevascova’s dry land is distributed in several large archipelagoes.

Biosphere:
Dense. Most life is found in the planet’s extensive oceans. Land animals are mainly amphibious adaptations of sea creatures, with a number of toad/marine lizard analogues constituting the highst terrestrial animal forms. There’s been some depletion of critical animal species(such as the giant piscine gretterwalers) due to the cartel’s efforts to clear the way for safe colonization, as well as big game hunting. Managing a recovery of the damaged parts of the ecosystem is part of the duty of the USA shattertechs on the planet.

Civilization:
Settled(Aboriginal)
Population:
83 Million(Natalian goblin-sept)
There’s also a small (50,000) transitory population of offworld scientists, diplomats, social workers, shattertechs, and military assisting the natives deal with the aftermath of the Trouble.

Technology:
The Natalia were effectively Iron Age when the cartel landed. They’ve since become a patchwork Industrial Age/Low Galactic using seized technology, though they do not fully understand it, nor can they repair it or produce their own. The Natalians have begin building their own steamboats and even experimental airships.

Economy:
Agricultural. Fishing.The Natalians trade some artistic stonework, scrimshaw and metal trinkets to outsiders.

Wealth:
Pre-Contact, the Natalians led a comfortable life at what could be considered a Depressed level of resources; seasonal ups and downs in harvests and fishing led to occasional famine.
During the Trouble, as they call it, the Natalians were effectively reduced to Squalor.
With Liberation and the Galactic courts awarding the Natalians compensation for their enslavement, the Natalians can be considered to have a Wealthy status, and are pondering how best to use the resources made available to them.

Government:
Tribal; was originally Patriarchal, but with so many headsmen being killed by the cartel mercenaries, there’s been a rise in matriarchal leaders filling the power vacuums.

Law Level:
Lawful. The Natalians practiced codified laws, renewed and strengthened by rituals between island tribes.
While there are many who want to try to return to their old ways, the majority of Natalians and the wiser leadership want to learn how to be strong enough to repel, or survive, future troubles.

Popularity:
Popular; the Natalians love their tribal leaders, but are uncertain whether their traditional ways can survive the storm of changes sweeping over their land.

Stability:
Stable, but there are rumblings of Unrest. The Natalians are undergoing a sea change in attitudes; their traditional ways have proven poorly suited for the new circumstances. However, they are not ready or willing to assume offworlder ways, but are experimenting with fitting them in their own traditions. The increasingly female leadership of the Natalian tribes is one such change; others are coming.

[taalismn]

Three Galaxies
The United Systems Alliance and Goblins

“Chuzz, but I hate these gorkin’ savages. They give a bad name to gobler-kind and green in general!”
A dagger-wielding assassin silently dropped from a hole in the cave ceiling. The Grendelsec trooper deftly sidestepped and had his vibrobayonet held out, decapitating the would-be ambusher as he fell past, the headless body thumping to the ground and reflexively kicking and flailing before falling still.
The trooper’s colleague simply huffed in exasperation as the two soldiers stepped deeper into the expected ambush.
Another leaper’s blood-curdling war-cry turned to a gut-belch of agony as an armored gauntlet punched him in the groin. A rifle butt to the stomach of the one jumping in from the other side practically plowed through to the spine.
“Not a stitch of padding or a plate of armor amongst ‘dem! And they’re supposed to be GUARDS? They’z just running around wavin’ their nadgers like that means something!”
“Meanz they ez degenerate idjits, that’s whatz. More ballz than brainz.”
“We be doin’ the goblinkin a favor then, spayun’ and neuteran’ the lot!”
A war club bounced off a body-armored shoulder as the Basher rolled under the strike and delivered a rib-snapping punch to a bare sternum. A jab with a gun barrel sent the second goblin using the first for cver, reeling back with a ruined eye socket and crushed frontal brain lobes.
The terrified elven maiden looked up with fear-filled eyes as the two Bashers approached her. If it was possible, her eyes grew wider as they quickly broke open the metal shackles and cut the ropes holding her to the stone floor. She was quickly wrapped in a folding foil blanket and lifted in a carry-hold.
“Okay, miz, we be takin’ you back to your true-folk that be missin’ you. If you be cooperatan’, we can all be back at base in time for supper. The cooks make a mean slugor roast and you look like you could do with a good meal or three. ”

“It’s worth noting that when the United Systems Alliance is asked to intercede with a planetary goblin problem, they almost always send a goblin contingent to deal with the situation. Goblins make up a significant portion of the USA’s overall population, and they are increasingly well-integrated into its social and economic infrastructure. However, admittedly the usan goblins tend to come from decidedly eccentric goblin cultures largely considered heretical by the standards of the goblin majority. Nettavan’s history of civil war not withstanding, the planet’s population is frankly -civilized- compared to other goblin worlds.
Of course, when the usan goblins arrive on scene, while they do make efforts to negotiate with their cousins, typically they wind up being arguably even harsher than other species in dealing with the goblin problem. The civilized goblins tend to show a considerable disdain and disgust with the slovenly and barbaric behaviors of other goblin-kin, lending to a more aggressive response in chastizing the problem goblins.
The fact that the USA sends goblins to deal with goblins serves several purposes for the Alliance; it emphasizes that just as not all humans are alike, not all goblin septs are alike, it shows that the usans trust their goblin constituency as earnestly as they do their other members , and it shows to other goblin-septs that cooperation with others can reap considerable benefits. It also reinforces the differences between the goblins of the USA and other septs.
This trend or policy has benefitted the USA immensely; they are often called upon to tend to a species typically overlooked and disdained by most, and that has led to greater contacts in the galactic goblin community....Ironically, many of the more traditional goblin septs see the aggressiveness of the Usan goblinkin as proving that the latter are better alpha predators worthy of fearful respect. But it has also led to the goblin members of the USA being accorded the same respect and awe when they show up in relief operations as that of other member-species.“

“I didn’t think much of the green gobblies when they showed up, even though they wore usan badges and gear. I thought we’d been sent at best a bunch of cannon fodder conscripts and at worst a whole lot of lazy white helmets that we’d be expected to feed.
Instead the usan-scareys bent right to the task of solving our monster problem. They didn’t ask for much aside from our staying out of the way when they went to work. They were as professional...no, make that -more- professional...than any private military company we could have hired, and they were more into it than the CAF contingent that passed BRIEFLY through our system previously. Then, once the problem was dealt with and the cultists mopped up, the greensters packed up and left in good order. They didn’t even loot the place as they left, only took away some suspect items for safe disposal, and left the valuables for the colony.
So, yes, I’d heartily recommend the GNE services, regardless of who or WHAT they send. Speaking as one who had an admitted prejudice deflated, I saw professionalism in action with not a hint of any sort of returned bias.”

[taalismn]

Incidents---Humans as Cannon-Fodder

Phosgia-----(Thundercloud Galaxy)
“Phosgia’s a solitary arid rock that had some exotic minerals laced in its crust. The corporation that bought development rights to the place went in, dug out the really precious stuff, and pulled out when they were done, but kept the deeds in case they were ever desperate enough to want to go back and dig up anything else of value there, or if somebody wanted to buy the rock from them. Abandoned lot was what it was, and that made all the FTL activity detected around it that much more suspicious.”

“The dog-lods clearly weren’t expecting an attack from normal space; arguably easy d-travel spoiled them, because they had only a few picket-craft on offworld-watch. And they lost virtually all their experienced space-combat clones to the rebels. The taskforce was able to make quick work of neutralizing the Markie space assets before encircling that rockball and landing an assault force on the old mineheads.
Not that there weren’t a few nasty surprises waiting for us. They had automated security inside the camp perimeters, and a few coked-up clone berserkers that had to be dealt with, but we expected resistance. We encountered some minion-types we didn’t know the D’Markheims had, and that slowed things up, but not by much. Splugorth would have put up much more of a fight, but we were already getting the impression that the D’Marks were trusting on isolation to hide their operations on Phosgia.”

“####, there’s about five hundred bio-con cage-boxes in this shaft-hall alone! If even half of hem are occupied, we’re going to have our hands full checking for traps and making sure the dog-lords haven’t altered the captives so far off the norm that popping the enviro-seals doesn’t kill them! ”

One of the few incursions into the Three Galaxies by the extradimensional canine D’M’Arkhiem, Phosgia was an abandoned Human Alliance mining colony that the D’M’Arkhiem took over for use as an experiment station for their ongoing war with their rebellious clone legions(known as the First Tier). Not quite having learned the lessons of using human clone proxies to run their extradimensional empire, several hidebound groups of D’M’Arkhiem continued to attempt to rebuild their genetic janissary forces using new humans(with which they were most familiar) as the basis. On Phosgia, the D’M’Arkhiem Sixth Alignment faction attempted to build a new stock of human human supersoldiers to combat their rebellious earlier batches, Using humans abducted from several low-tech Human worlds as a basis, the D’M’Arkhiem gene-tinkers conducted medical experiments on both baseline human stock and their clones, focusing mainly on glandular implants to endow superhuman physical performance.
Phosgia was raided by United Systems Alliance and Senexa Arm Aboriginal Protection Act members, who suspected it was a slaver darkport trafficking in (primarily) human slaves from low-tech worlds. The still-training-up slave army proved ineffective at fighting when USAJC forces pounced, as the D’M’Arkhiem were shortsightedly on alert for extradimensional attackers( as in their former slaves) rather than local antagonists. Though there was some resistance(especially from the D’M’Arkhiems’ automated lab security systems), by and large the Phosgia raid was remarkably low-casualty. However, the main dog-lord supervisors managed to escape via a one-use transdimensional chute before they could be captured.
The effort liberated several thousand abductees and six times that number of clones for the USA to sort, treat, and relocate/settle, while trying to find out where the abductees originated from, in order to repatriate them.
The D’M’Arkhiem have not been seen around Phosgia since the raid, but the fact that they are appearing in the Three Galaxies at all, has many concerned, as the ‘dog-lords’ may be stepping up their efforts to acquire allies and technology in their efforts to win back their empire.

“-Claims to have been a meter maid from some alternity Japan when she was abducted by aliens. The Markies kept her stripped and strapped in an antiseptic sense-dep bio-containment lab box for weeks while they sampled, tested, and scanned her before they started the experiments. She was breaking under the ordeal when the Rangers cracked open her box and freed her. She wasn’t even aware that the Markies already had an initial batch of eleven clone-daughters made off her. Poor kid’s got a LOT of readjustment ahead of her, even more so if we can’t find her home dimension to repatriate her to.”

Planetary Data:
Solar System(Pgremac 741)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
-Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 1
-Terrestrial(Phosgia)---- Rocky terrestrial planet and site of a former HA mining colony. Nominally still owned by the RiMinEx corporate conglomerate of the Human Alliance.

Planet(Phosgia)
Phosgia was briefly colonized by the sponsorship of RiMinEx, a Human Alliance-based mining conglomerate very active on the frontier. Phosgia was a typical RiMinEx ‘in and out’ mining operation, there to extract a find of Kihvite crystals, used in the manufacture of high-end superconductors. The Phosgia worksite was in business for nearly sixteen years, until the Kihvite deposits played out. RiMinEx, then pulled out, evacuated the workers/colonists, and mothballed the facility. Though RiMinEx still owned the deed to the planet, they had little intention of returning, but wanted the option in case they needed the facilities or somebody else exhibited an interest.
The D’M’Arkhiem Sixth Alignment found the planet and the largely intact mining base, rightly determined that there was little of interest to bring others poking around, and decided to turn the old colony into a laboratory and training ground for their efforts to build a clone army. The colony reactors were refurbished, refueled, and restarted, life support rebuilt, the miners’ barracks renovated and expanded, laboratory equipment brought in, and several large open pit mines were roofed over into training areas.
Abductees from other worlds/dimensions were shipped in and housed in lab kennels, to be tested and experimented on, with candidates further selected as genetic stock for cloning. Tabula rosa and partially mind-dubbed clones were subsequently tested and trained in the adjacent arena areas. The Sixth Alignment felt that the Phosgia facility was sufficiently off the dimensional track that their rebelling clone janissaries of the First Tier could not find their former overlords’ efforts to replace them, so offplanet security was limited.
It was observed stepped-up starship traffic in a sub-sector thought of little interest and a system thought abandoned that attracted the attention of outsiders. Closer scrutiny by scout probes detected regular extradimensional ‘porting, and energy signatures associated with mass-disappearance events on several low-tech worlds(including extradimensional alternities), suggesting slave trafficking, that got the United Systems Alliance involved. Plans were laid to neutralize a suspected darkport operating in the cosmic backyard.
A taskforce of warships launched into the Pgremac system, caught the scant offworld picket screen off-guard, and landed a force of marines around the old mine sites. The superior preparedness and overwhelming advantages in firepower of the invading forces quickly took the facility compounds and secured the slave pens before the slavers could do anything. Though there was some resistance, and a few surprises for the raiders, the Phosgia labs were swiftly taken.
After mopping up operations , the evacuation of the abductees and their clones, and the removal of remaining D’M’Arkhiem equipment, the Phosgia site was again abandoned. Though some in the USAJC wanted to bomb the site out of existence, the fact that RiMinEx still owned the rights to the planet and the original colony structures kept them from doing so. So the remaining colonial buildings have been repaired, resealed, and kept against future need. An emergency beacon has been placed in case any shipwreck survivors need to take refuge in the old colony, and the USAJC has covertly planted a number of stealth sensor platforms on the planet and in the system against the return of the D’M’Arkhiem or others.

Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 11,234 km
Gravity: 0.94 g
Temperature:
Freezing; Plutonian cold. The D’M’Arkhiem liked this because it discouraged escape attempts, yet they were working up to outside hostile environment war-games for the clone soldiers.
Unusual/Special Features:----
Atmosphere: Thin, and bitterly cold, consisting of neon and argon.
Terrain:
Varied; four+ terranes, but all forbiddingly frigid.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Iron
- Wolframite
- Sapphire
- Tin
- Graphite
- Nickel
- Barite
- Talc
Hydrosphere:
Badlands; Phosgia was dependent on fossil water and tanker shipments.
Biosphere:
Nonexistent
Civilization:
Colonial
Population:
At its peak, the original colony boosted 4,000 miners and support personnel. As a D’M’Arkhiem lab, the site supported some 1,000 D’M’Arkhiem(mainly lab technicians), 6,000 guards, 4,000 captives, and 25,000 clones.
Technology:
Galactic. The mothballed equipment was fairly basic mining and life support, and the D’M’Arkhiem upgraded it and brought in advanced security, science, and laboratory gear, the latter of which has since been removed by the Allied forces.



Markelson-----(Thundercloud Galaxy)
“We were told it was going to be a literal bug hunt against giant bugs....and they did look like giant flies.....but they didn’t act like monsters when we finally came in contact with them. All we saw when we hit their ‘hive’ was cultivated farms like back home, office buildings and municipal stuff....Our officers told us the bugs had taken that stuff from humans like us, or were using it as training grounds, but something just didn’t jibe. Of course when the bugs started shooting at us with rayguns we got all hot and bothered and blasting back, but it wasn’t until the bugs’ cavalry arrived that we saw REAL firepower. turned on us...and it wasn’t coming from more bugs. No, when the sky opened up on us and warmachines started dropping on us, they were manned by HUMANS. That told us either our higher-ups had really bad intel...or they were lying through their teeth to us.”

Again, abducted(or at last misguided) humans were involved, as an Atorian faction attempted to use abductees as cannonfodder in a number of frontier brushwars aimed at landgrabs in the Thundercloud Galaxy. Armed with weapons acquired from the Arsenal dimension, an army of propagandized human shocktroops was unleashed on an ‘alien invasion assembly ground’...really a peaceful colonial settlement of nonhuman Chigdee. The fly-like Chigdee called for help, and the United Systems Alliance quickly responded, sending a taskforce to relieve the colonists.
The USAJC field commanders quickly discerned the nature of the invaders and bypassed the forward ranks to attack the masters pulling the strings from the rear(and in deep orbit). After blasting and scattering the space assets of the invaders, the USAJC force got down to the business of dealing with the ground forces, quickly hitting their beach heads and logistical camps, and making hash of their command-communications,
Suddenly isolated and without clear commands, the abandoned human army was forced to surrender, especially after they were convinced that the ‘inhuman invaders’ were really peaceful farmers and info-workers defending their homes, and that the relieving (and primarily human) army that had surprised them wasn’t going to slaughter them.
With several thousand d-bees , mainly humans, to be sorted, processed, and resettled, the USA’s Avatar Registration, Human Resources, Office of Relocation and Free Beings Bureaus have been kept busy. The Markelson Chigdee graciously offered their services to handle the paperwork.
The Atorians deny that they had any involvement in the Markelson attack, blaming it all on ‘asocial rogues’ banished from their own culture.

Planetary Data:
Though surveyed and named by Human explorers, Markelson would be colonized by the insectoid fly-like Chigdee. It has been joked that the Yrav 161 is a ‘fly weight’ solar system, as none of its satellites rate above ‘small’ in the general categorizations. Nevertheless, the system supports one habitable world and a wormhole servicing a local network of star systems. Colonial sponsorship was financed by the Trevlin Group, a Chigdee information services and consulting firm that made a daring venture into colonization. Markelson is being developed, with some mild terraforming, as a retirement/vacation world for chigdee workers, and a service center using the wormhole as a communications and trade node. Its mineral wealth(for a small planet, it has some curious geochemistry and mineral concentrations) and potential for tourism have only increased its value and the prestige of the Trevlin Group.
Markelson has since become a trade partner with the United Systems Alliance, among others, and the issue of USA membership has come up, especially on the matter of system security.

Solar System(Yrav 161)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
-Yellow Dwarf
Number of Planets: 8
-Asteroid(Clevn)----Closest orbital body to Yrav 161, Clevn sports a solar weather observatory that is largely unmanned, except for an occasional regular inspection run and equipment replacement.

-Terrestrial(Ghewf)----Microscopic; only slightly larger than Clevn, Ghewf possesses a thin toxic atmosphere.

-Terrestrial(Markelson)----System lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Porv)----Miniscule Porv has proven convenient as a gas-skimming site, given its proximity to Markelson.

-Terrestrial(Obelbe)----Miniscule Obelbe possesses a scant atmosphere but a fair amount of water, so it shows promise as a potential Belter dome-hab site.

-Gas Giant(Kelken)----Small gas giant possessing a thin set of rings, telling of the presence of a now extinct satellite.

-Exotic(Yrav Node)---- A ‘dark matter’-based/anchored wormhole, the Yrav Node makes the Yrav system extra-valuable. Besides the attack on Markelson, the same Atorian mercenary/proxy taskforce attempted to seize control of the wormhole gate.

A.) Location:
Dark matter asteroid
B.) Size: Modest----Vessels up to frigate size can travel through the ‘hole.
C.) Frequency: Regular---3 times per day/24-hour period, open for 20 standard minutes.
D.) Direction: Two-Way---Traffic may proceed freely in both directions, at the same time
E.) Range: The Yrav Node notably Branches, connecting seven different locations(two of which are considered off-limits as too dangerous);
-2 Interior of a Star---Exits in the interior of a white dwarf, Pulbo’s Star(Off-limits)
-8 Near a Star---Nearby Yrav-164, a desert system
-9 LY; Free Space
-10 LY; Interior of a Star---Actually a brown dwarf, but still hot enough to damage starships, unless specially shielded(Off-limits)
-12 LY; Near a Planet--- Gaveer-232 system
-17 LY; Near a Planet---Mulsteen -74
-intergalactic- Connects to Free Space in the Gena Sector in the Thundercloud Galaxy, near the CCW world of Gena Sector. transshipping HQ of 'MOllan's MegaWarehouse of Savings' chain and conveniently a major employer of Trevlin Group chigdee services. Duration: 1d6 minutes

F.) Transit Initiation: Signal---Gravity pulse must be made to open the wormhole. A specifically modulated pulse ‘addresses’ the wormhole to a specific end destination.
G.) Duration: Instantaneous
H.) Special:
Branches----Multiple local destinations and one galactic connection.
Furthermore, the Yrav Node seems to ‘resonate’ at FTL radio frequencies, with modulated signals being detected in other similar dark matter wormholes hundreds of light years away. This has made possible boosted broadband interstellar internet for the workers on Markelson.

-Asteroid(Dytseon)----A small rocky body that has proven handy as the site of an automated deep space communications relay station.

Planet(Markelson)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 9,500 km
Gravity: 0.7 g
Temperature:
Temperate, bordering on tropical.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons(2)---Markelson has two small moons which were actually moved by slow gravity tractor and inserted into orbit, to give the planet SOME gravitational stirring of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. The two moons Dwi and Tous, are also sites for communications arrays and offworld spaceport facilities that were badly damaged during the invasion, but have since been repaired.

-Craters---Without larger worlds to sweep cosmic debris aside, Markelson has been subjected to intense meteor showers in the past, and it shows on the planet’s pockmarked surface. The Trevlin Group has invested in skywatch and planetary shields against future bombardments, but these were not yet fully activated when the Atorian proxy-force attacked.

Atmosphere:
Was thin, but breathable, nitrox mix, but is being built up through terraforming efforts
Terrain:
Exotic; Markelson has somehow managed to produce large regions of crystalline formations; large thin spires and arches of ruby(aluminum oxide).
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Gold/Silver
- Sapphire
- Molybdenite
- Tin
- Ruby*
- Asbestos
- Diamond
- Titanium
- Aluminum
- Chromium
Hydrosphere:
Moist; 65% surface coverage in open water
Biosphere:
Thin, with the introduction of terraforming biota. The areas around the colonial settlements are the most heavily planted with vegetation, but several forest areas are being developed away from the communities.
Civilization:
Colonial
Population:
1.2 million Chigdee
There’s also some 10,000 ‘others’, predominately Humans, who have been allowed to settle on Markelson, most in support of the wormhole trade.
Technology:
Low Galactic. with most of the locally sustainable technology being devoted to terraforming and communications.
The local chigdee militia, who had been only lightly armed prior to the invasion, have been bolstered with weaponry confiscated from the surrendered enemy army. This has included a number of assault shuttles and a captured transport starship.

Economy:
Agriculture and Service-oriented. The Chigdee are notorious as office drones and paper-pushers, and those needing records keepers and low-level office data-munchers can hire Chigdee by the busload. It was the elaborate planetary FTL communications system that the work-from-home Markelson Chigdee used to facilitate their work that allowed them to quickly call for help when the Atorian proxy-army attacked.
The Chigdee have resisted exploiting Markelson’s considerable mineral riches as a primary income source, in part because they want to preserve the natural beauty of the rock wilderness. Tourism, especially of the crystalline regions, is being seriously considered as a possible enterprise.

Wealth:
Prosperous; even at this fairly early stage, Markelson is showing great returns on the colonial investment.

Government:
Bureaucracy----The Chigdee are one of those few cultures able to make global bureaucracy WORK for them, though admittedly this is more of a CORPORATE bureaucracy, with more or less everybody working for the Trevlin Group .

Law Level:
Lawful---Having evolved from social insectoids, and adopting office lifestyles, Chigdee are very much law and order types. Some outsiders may find it bordering on Overbearing, however.

Popularity:
Fanatical----Markelson is effectively a corporate colony, so the colonists LOVE their parent company. The only blip is some disappointment that the Trevlin Group underestimated how potentially valuable, and as a consequence, how vulnerable, Markelson was, and thus shorted the colony on defenses. The chagrined TG has since taken measures to rectify that error, hiring a reputable security firm from the USA and investing in orbital defenses.

Stability:
Solid; the Trevlin Group is in good standing with the colonists, and barring any future invasions, Markelson’s future looks very good.

[SolCannibal]

Incidents---Humans as Cannon-Fodder

Speaking of which, how would you feel about an other-dimensional race of minor shapeshifters and man-eaters who somehow ended up on Rifts Earth (North America to boot!) in fairly significant numbers 1500 years before the Coming of the Rifts, might or not also be a variant branch of humanity like Ogres, True Atlanteans, Lost Ones or Auto-G, since they somehow managed to persevere, hide and mix among humans even after the loss of shapechanging powers due to centuries of diminishing ambient magical energies but also believed to hail from somewhere in the Three Galaxies, where they were all but eliminated 2000 years ago by a vigorous campaign led by the Cosmo-Knights, who toppled their star empire and hunted down and terminated countless numbers of their kind mixed in positions on every walk of life?

(Well, except for another population known to exist in the Milky Way Galaxy of Heroes Unlimited™, where they are known as the sophont-eating shapeshifters/body snatchers called Erishiks, that is)

How much of good/bad news do you think could these somewhat obscure neighbors be for the GNU and its growing operation across the Megaverse?

[taalismn]

We'e already screening for shapeshifters and mind-manipulators, so another group of nasties is...well, MONDAYS.

[SolCannibal]

We'e already screening for shapeshifters and mind-manipulators, so another group of nasties is...well, MONDAYS.

A fair point, though those capable of replacing/duplicating people to the level of DNA, memories and powers....well, that can be extra annoying.
Specially when their actual agendas might relate to centuries or millenia-old vendettas and a past familiarity with the budding star-nation's new playing field.

Anyway, do check out Spirit West and Aliens Unlimited both is my suggestion/advice. Definitely worth it.

[taalismn]

I have both...and I'm reading up on AU in connection with some Galactic Refugee random roll charts I'm working on.

[SolCannibal]

I have both...and I'm reading up on AU in connection with some Galactic Refugee random roll charts I'm working on.

As an aside, "2000 years before present" would put the extermination of the Ereshik (that might also be an "exile name" and not what the species originally called itself in the 3 Galaxies) empire in relation to Phaseworld's timeline?

[taalismn]

According to the timeline in 'Dimensional Outbreak', about the time the Manors were established in Center, and around the time of the creation of the first Demon Star(from the sacrifice of everybody aboard a star-liner).

[SolCannibal]

According to the timeline in 'Dimensional Outbreak', about the time the Manors were established in Center, and around the time of the creation of the first Demon Star(from the sacrifice of everybody aboard a star-liner).

Interesting timing indeed. Could it be the war against the "Empire of Face-Stealers" turned into a distraction that allowed the Demon Stars' worshipers room for their first incursion to happen and erase much of the history/memory related to the shapechangers in the wake of the devastation the children of Cormal spread across the 3 Galaxies?

[taalismn]

I suspect that there have probably been a number of outbreaks of shape-changers and identity thieves in galactic history that either were covered up or petered out when whatever species with a face-stealing gimmick got too ambitious and ran into something that saw right through them and stomped them out.

In Iain Banks' Consider Phlebas, there's a Changer species who gets involved in an interstellar war. You'd think their mimic abilities would serve them well, but it's noted at the end that the Changers wind up getting pushed into extinction for being caught in the crossfire.
I suspect that many similar species that get discovered wrangling for dominance in the 3G get made into a permanent state of DEAD.

[SolCannibal]

Yes, yes, shapechanging and face-stealing is that kind of power/theme that when rubbing other beings the wrong way can all too easily hit on those primal fear notes that will get the marks REALLY motivated to rid themselves out of you.

[taalismn]

I imagine the major polities all have shapeshifter-detection protocols and procedures in place.
The lesser polities, if they're smart or have the right abilities, likely do too, but there's always the worry that the less wary star nations and inhabited planets might be hiding a sharp-changer secret government or two.

Which reminds me; I should finish off a shapwchanger species I've had on a backburner for several years(bit of a creative slowdown of late, despite winter shut-in).

[ShadowLogan]

Yes, yes, shapechanging and face-stealing is that kind of power/theme that when rubbing other beings the wrong way can all too easily hit on those primal fear notes that will get the marks REALLY motivated to rid themselves out of you.

I think shape shifters (in general) have achieved some-level of acceptance in the 3G like the:
-Uteni (Naruni front men, Mercenaries. DB2 establishes they have a "population" of 200 million of which 30% are Uteni, 5% are Changelings and 5% are Pleasurers, so 40% have shapeshifting ability. Plus who knows what their "temps" look like)
-Machine People (DB2, their morphing ability amounts to this though I will grant it might not belong here, 10% of the TGE population)
-the Pleasurer's (DB2, the Paradise Federation has a population of at least 9% shape-shifters 4% Changelings and 5% Pleasurers)
-Phantoms (DB2, 5% of Center's Population)

So we know there is some level of "general" acceptance of races with these abilities to exist and allowed to exist (and flourish). Phantoms even make up an "important part of Phase World's defenses"-(DB2 pg37, ie Center). So I'm not sure any (established/major) power actually goes around wiping out shapeshifters for being shapeshifters in the 3G, it does seem like they would have to have a better reason.

Now there could be exceptions to this as "shapeshifters" covers a wide scope ranging from "limited" Uteni level to Chanegling level to Auo-G level, plus magic/supernatural means or even psychic (Ecto-plasmic Disguise power, ectoplasm based races to).

[taalismn]

Possibly because security measures have gotten so good that it's relatively easy to spot shape-shifters, so there's acceptance.
Though PhaseWorld's Phantoms also have the backing of the Prometheans and their phase-tech, so there may be ways of getting around likely security measures...they're just not well-advertised.

[ShadowLogan]

Don't get me wrong, it isn't completely rosy for the Uteni or the Machine People, but their issues aren't related to their shapeshifting ability. For the Uteni it's their relationship to Naruni and the Machine People encountering prejudice due to their AI nature (forcing them to join the TGE instead of the CCW that had humans block them).

It isn't clear though (AFAIK) why there is more acceptance for shapeshifters in the 3G. It could be because it's easy to spot them as you suggest, though given the sheer variety of shapeshifting I find this hard to believe. Detecting an Auto-G level shapeshift is arguably a lot harder than say a Changeling/Pleasurer, and some are more limited (like the Uteni) or have have other giveaways (Machine People, magical nature, etc).

The acceptance might be more practical in a variety of forms (though that doesn't everyone accepts them):
-to keep paranoia down (if you treat everyone as a potential "imposter", trust breaks down rather quickly I would imagine)
-exploitation
-given the variety of shapeshiftering methods, one might just have to accept it. How many shapeshifting races actually exist (plus consider magical means), and how do they each compare in known detection methods? IIRC Salt can give away a Chanegling in PF2E, but Auto-G's require a very specific blood test. In the 3G I know of atleast 5x races, Rifts proper introduces atleast 4x (compiled in WB30, plus SB3), then you have numerous CoM/SN entities (like Dragon, Succubus/Incubus, pnemua-forms from WB7, vampires, lycantropes, etc) to account for. Magic also allows it (metamorphosis spell/rituals). It just might be a "losing battle" that cannot be won
-individual races might have "earned" said acceptance, which might explain the 5x races mentioned in DB2
-there might be harsher legal consequences of using said ability if you commit a crime w/it, if it can be proven by some means or methods. now weather these are just "feel good" or not we can't say. But if you have resources for an accurate/reliable/infallible lie detector...

[taalismn]

"Judge, I assert that my client cannot get fair trial because of prejudice against his being a shapeshifter-"