The Beyond Subsector N: Ghost Rift

The Beyond Subsector N: Ghost Rift

System Data

Hex  Name                 UWP       Remarks                  {Ix}   (Ex)    [Cx]   N B  Z PBG W  A    Stellar               

---- -------------------- --------- ------------------------ ------ ------- ------ - -- - --- -- ---- -----------------------

0935 Goal Terminus        B925432-A Ni Fz                    { 1 }  (736-2) [158F] - -  - 522 14 NaHu D                     

0938 Clanheim             D451531-9 Ni Po Co Sa              { -2 } (941+1) [5369] - -  - 723 10 NaHu M1 V                  

1031 Mien                 C674410-A Ni Pa                    { 0 }  (B36+2) [448A] - -  - 624 15 NkCo K0 V                  

1034 Perdiam              XDB3000-0 Ba Fl Bo                 { -3 } (900-2) [0000] - -  - 010 7  NaXX M2 V                  

1038 Iruukadan            X100000-0 Ba Va Sa                 { -3 } (500+3) [0000] - -  - 021 11 NaXX M3 V M6 V             

1131 Mieskka              B583878-C Ri Ht Ph                 { 3 }  (97B-3) [AB5H] - -  - 400 7  NkCo K3 V M7 V             

1140 Trarken              E443201-A Lo Po Ho Sa              { -1 } (811-4) [1188] - -  - 612 12 NaHu M0 V                  

1231 Dacadad              D853465-A Ni Po O:1230             { -1 } (831-3) [431A] - V  - 613 13 NkCo K3 V M6 V             

1239 Spindrift            C221310-9 Lo Po                    { -1 } (721+3) [4269] - -  - 432 12 NaHu K0 V                  

1332 Vroekmozaas          C6746AD-9 Ag Ni Da                 { 0 }  (855+1) [7677] - M  A 702 10 NkCo K1 V                  

1334 Lotrakoast           EA01000-0 Ba Ic Va Fz              { -3 } (600-2) [0000] - -  - 010 6  NaXX M3 V                  

1335 Goblin's Planet      X912100-8 (Goblin) Lo Ic Fo        { -3 } (801-4) [1174] - -  R 811 9  NaXX M2 V                  

1534 Ember                X300000-0 Ba Va Ho                 { -3 } (600-3) [0000] - -  - 010 6  NaXX M9 V BD               

1540 Cortes               C443373-A Lo Po                    { 0 }  (821+1) [3369] - -  - 311 11 NaHu K6 V                  

1632 Turtsirho            C56585A-A DroyW Ri Ph Pa Co Sa     { 2 }  (87C+1) [7A5B] - -  A 712 15 NaDr K0 V K2 V M0 V G0 V BD

1635 Inkakartys           E511000-0 Ba Ic Tz                 { -3 } (400+3) [0000] - -  - 000 5  NaXX M6 V                  

1639 Vinadalou            C623313-9 Lo Po Ho Tz              { -1 } (D21+1) [528C] - -  - 433 10 NaHu M2 V                  

The Ghost Rift subsector consists of 17 systems with a total population of 1.108 billion, of which 700 million are the Droyne of Turtsirho. Nearly all the rest of the inhabitants are citizens of four systems of the Nakris Confederation primarily Mieskka. Six sparsely populated independent systems occupy mostly rimward portions of the subsector. Five systems are uninhabited and one is home to a strange alien entity.

The Ghost Rift subsector is a small but regionally substantial rift requiring jump-3 to cross even if fuel can be rung out of dry systems without gas giants. While jump-3 poses little challenge to front-line military ships, long haul megafreighters, or liners, it is uncommon for the smaller ships that ply less-visited systems to have that capability, further isolating the subsector's systems and limiting pass-through trade. Only by roundabout means can such ships cross from one side of the subsector to another.

Worlds

Clanheim (0938 D451531-9)

Clanheim is the most populous world in the Ghost Rift's portion of the Broken Chain, a string of jump-2 accessible systems across the rimward portions of the Spinward Drift, Ghost Rift, and Siren subsectors that is broken by the three parsec gap between Cortes and Spindrift. Most commonly, if a half dozen times a year is common, the system is reached through Apparos or Nubb in the Spinward Drift by ships making the Spindrift Run, back and forth across the spinward half of the chain.

Clanheim is the cold, barely habitable moon of a gas giant in orbit around a red dwarf star. A small world with a thin atmosphere and long nights when the temperate drops below -60 C, it was settled in 815 by three extended families fleeing the Third Imperium's Psionic Suppressions. The name of the world was meant to be a joke, but future generations wondered if their ancestors included the prescient. The three families, Morrison, Vaadim, and Igirki accounted for an initial population of fewer than one hundred, but in less than three centuries they have grown to number 50,000 people. For the first three generations, there was intermarriage between the families, but since 900, the families have grown apart, begun to feud, and separate into competing clans that, though not in direct conflict, remain at odds. Intermarriage has ceased, worsening an already serious lack of genetic diversity.

One effect of low diversity has been a strengthening of psionic powers among the population. Though psionics is not believed to have a strong genetic component, the concentration of people with psionic predispositions seems to have increased the frequency and power of psionics among the population.

Clanheim maintains three competing starports less than a hundred kilometers apart, each maintained by separate clans and competing for the scarce traffic bound for the system. Visiting ships are hailed telepathically as they enter orbit and asked to choose a port, often under the influence of the strongest telepath's suggestion. The few visitors are welcome, but those who mean to harm or cheat the locals have little chance of succeeding without psionic shielding.

Dacadad (1231 D853465-A)

Dacadad is a world of red sands, worn mountains, and retreating glaciers that feed rivers flowing into shallow seas. It is also the tomb of a dead civilization. The Dacadadan race was bipedal, but lacked a head. Their stout torsos sprouted sensory organs and two mouths, one for eating and one for drinking. They developed technology and spread rail and canals networks across their drying world, and then they discovered nuclear energy.

The Dacadadan race suffered a global nuclear war more than 20,000 years ago, causing widespread ecological damage and pushing their world into an ice age, leaving their cities reduced to ruins or slowly crushed by advancing ice. The last Dacadadans, reduced to primitive conditions, died out within 2000 years. Finally, the ice age ended and the glaciers began to retreat, exposing ruins and graveyards and sprawling monuments built of stone by the last members of the dead race.

Dacadad is currently governed by Nakris. The colony is centered around a scientific research facility first established in 724 and dedicated to the study of Dacadadan civilization. Recently, offworld tour companies have begun conducting excursions to visit the most impressive ruins, drawing the ire of the researchers.

Goal Terminus (0935 B925432-A)

Goal Terminus was once a small gas giant. Its star became a red giant and nearly devoured the world, stripping away everything but the core. And then the sun died and became a white dwarf. A billion years passed. The white dwarf cooled and the world froze, gasses seeping from deep cracks in the iron surface. Goal Terminus is only slightly large than Terra, but more than twice as massive. Gravity on the surface is 1.61 standard. The temperature on the slowly rotating world never exceeds -50 C and drops below -100 during the ninety hour long night. And yet 50,000 people live on the world's surface in domes that look out onto the snows blown by the thinnest of winds. There is gravity compensation for those that want it, but many brave the natural pull of the world on their bones.

Since 635 Goal Terminus has been the home of The Patient, or Those Await the End of Time, a sect dedicated to the understanding of the fate of the universe through meditation and logic. Despite their name, the Patient are not a grim emotionless people, but a sect dedicated to the joy of learning and the peace of knowing that though all things end, something will persist transformed, even beyond the end of time itself. Though claiming to be supremely logical, their philosophy is based on convoluted reasoning that can be difficult for the non-initiated to understand, but they will persist in trying to explain it to newcomers by analogy and example and joyous gesturing. As they know many can find their enthusiasm annoying, they do not actively proselytize, but spread the word by distributing their message broadly across Charted Space and encouraging those interested to read and study and to come to Goal Terminus to live among the enlightened.

It is an increasingly difficult journey, made worse by the current regime on Haes, which makes jump-3 voyages from Homeward or Clanheim or a jump-4 transit from Mien the only even marginally safe routes to reach Goal Terminus. Fewer than ten ships visit Goal Terminus in a year, though when they arrive, they will find a well-appointed starport with reasonable fees awaiting them. The Patient themselves own a jump-3 starship with which they will transport those who wish to study and become enlightened under the cold white sun.

Goblin's Planet (1335 X912100-8)

Despite being far outside the habitable zone of its red dwarf sun, Goblin's Planet remains fairly temperate with only polar ice caps below freezing year round. The planet and system are less than 100 million years old and retain much internal heat.

Goblin's Planet is named for the grotesque head carved out of an entire mountain that overlooks a long deep canyon. Orbital scans indicated a vast cavern complex spreading from the canyon across dozens of cubic kilometers, in some places penetrating the crust entirely and reaching the mantle below.

Ships approaching the world are normally warned to depart in Anglic and Trokh from transmitters deep inside Goblin Mountain. Ships that ignore the warning are held back from the world by a strong gravitational tractor beam. Occasionally a ship is allowed to land in the canyon.

The last recorded such landing was of a boat from the IISS survey ship Kubasov in 947. The contact team was greeted by a group of forty Humans and forty Aslan, half of them male and half female, who claimed to serve "The Entity". The unseen Entity appeared to psionically control the subjects at will and speak through them, asking the IISS crew to interdict the world. When asked about the Human and Aslan, the Entity, or the subjects, replied that they came from long-ago castaways and lived to serve the Entity.

At the recommendation of the survey team, the IISS placed the world under quarantine and placed an automated beacon in orbit on a return trip in 954. The Hierate and local governments in The Beyond were informed of the interdiction and the satellite remains in orbit. The single gas giant in the outer system is available for refueling, but few ships visit this barely reachable system on the route to nowhere.

When asked about the oddity of equal numbers of male and female Aslan present, the team leader declined to speculate, though she had specifically noted the fact in her report.

Turtsirho (1632 C56585A-A)

Turtsirho is a frozen gas giant moon in a complex system of four stars and a brown dwarf. It orbits far outside the life zone, but still possesses a breathable atmosphere, even though no part of its surface ever approaches the melting point of water. The cold green skies of Turtsiro fade into a night filled with dancing green aurora from the warring magnetic field of gas giant and moon. The world is home to the largest known population of Droyne Behind the Claw.

The Droyne of Turtsirho live in white cities of slender spires that rise like fairy-tale castles over the frozen landscape. The interplay of multiple suns and changing magnetic fields adds to the otherworldliness of Turtsirho. Submarines travel under ice-covered seas and large grav platforms float between cities, but ground transport is nearly nonexistent. Blizzards can last for days before clearing to reveal jade-bright skies or emerald curtains of light.

Turtsirho could become a tourist mecca but for two reasons, first, like many systems in the Ghost Rift, it is not on the route to anywhere, second, though the Droyne welcome prearranged trading visits to their world, they are not interested in hosting outsiders and have strict, often inscrutable rules and restrictions for those who wander outside the starport's boundaries. The world's Amber Zone designation reflects the potential for misunderstandings leading to incarceration or incineration.

Vroekmozaas (1332 C6746AD-9)

The story of Vroekmozaas is a cautionary tale of what can happen when citizens cede control of their lives to a larger than life personality who offers them something for nothing.

Physical Characteristics

The world of Vroekmozaas orbits a K1 V star within its habitable zone in a slightly eccentric orbit that causes greater seasonal variation than its slight axial tilt. Two fairly large moons stabilize the world's rotation, but also raise tides that make coastal settlement unadvisable. Most of the world's population of seven million resides in the Six Lakes region of the northern hemisphere, where rainfall is normally plentiful and the crystalline particulates from sandstorms are generally absent from the atmosphere.

History

Colonized by settlers from Imperial space in 638 and named Nawash, the world joined the Nakris Confederation in 701 in return for protection against corsair activity. At the time it was governed by the descendants of the leading families of its settlers, who were owners of the large ranches that surrounded the salty Six Lakes. Most of the population were employees or tenants of the "Big Nine" as the largest landowners, or Great Families, were known.

During the drought years of 957-965, the population suffered hardships as pastures dried and herds died. The hero of the day was Nils Vroekmozaas, who owned the largest desalination plant in the Six Lakes. Vroekmozaas chose to offer free clean water directly to the tenants, bypassing the normal distribution channel through the landowners. Most of the Great Families were smart enough not to openly complain, but when they privately pressed Vroekmozaas for more control, he made public their demands and instigated the Free Water Revolution of 963, which end with a tenant militia seizing control of the mansions of the Great Families and electing Nils Vroekmozaas their Emergency Director.

Within two standard years, the drought ended, but the emergency did not. Show trials convicted the Great Families of the new crimes of "exploitation" and "elitism" and sentenced hundreds to death. The red armbands of the Free Water Militia turned into black ballistic uniforms of troops in red armored vehicles. Questioning the revolution became a crime. But at least the water was free. In 971 a plebiscite voted to change the name of the world to Vroekmozaas and to make Nils Vroekmozaas's position permanent. The vote was 1,238,430 in favor, with 405 abstentions and 1237 spoiled ballots. There wasn't actually a check-box for voting no.

Nils Vroekmozaas held his position until his death in 1008. His son Magnus assumed the post of Emergency Director without bothering with a plebiscite, promptly removed "Emergency" from his title, and changed the name of the militia to the "Directorate Guard". In 1010, Magnus died in a "bathroom accident" and Ivan Reshmon, the commander of the Directorate Guard, assumed the Directorship.

Six Directors followed Reshmon, usually after some tragic death had claimed the life of the previous officeholder. The Directorate Guard clamped down on all gatherings of more than three outside the home, even though that curtailed economic activity for a decade before automation eased the worst burdens, and confiscated all weapons, including cutlery longer than seven centimeters.

Director Eva Villacova is the current ruler of Vroekmozaas, as posters everywhere remind everyone. The water is still free.

Social Characteristics

Vroekmozaas is a highly regulated police state with pervasive surveillance, even inside the home. Media, education, and commercial activity is controlled by the Directorate. While the populace has basic needs guaranteed, owning luxuries is a criminal offense: "Misallocation of Resources", punishable by reeducation using advanced brainwashing techniques. The indoctrination of the public is successful enough to ensure voluntary compliance by the vast majority of the population, and the average resident of Vroekmozaas will honestly express satisfaction with life and appreciation for the guidance the Director provides. Outsiders questioning this indoctrination are normally reported to the Directorate Guards, who will promptly expel offworld "provocateurs", usually after they have suffered a few accidental injuries and the occasional disfigurement. The Nakris Confederation tolerates Vroekmozaas's policies as long as its Senators vote in line with Nakris's recommendations.

Articles

Patient Sky Transport

The Patient of Goal Terminus do not get many converts, but those who are interested in joining the philosophical sect need a way to get there, and few transports are interested in making the journey to their distant world. The Patient addressed this by commissioning Kraken Heavy Industries of Lyheric to build them a ship capable of making the journey across multiple systems three parsecs apart. Four times a year, the ship makes the trip from Goal Terminus to Homeward to Eromnek to Khiiszarbi, the most populous world in the Hefrin Colony, where it gathers awaiting aspirants and then makes the return journey.

The 600-ton Patient Sky can bring a hundred aspirants back to Goal Terminus, but only by cramming them and the crew of twelve into barrack-like dormitories aboard the ship. It is not a grim crowded ship, but brightly colored inside and out and focused on the common space around the dormitories, not the bunkrooms themselves. The Patient philosophy is not about material things or personal comfort, so the journey helps determine those who are truly ready for life on a high gravity world beneath a dead star and those who have made an error of judgement.

The journey travels through corsair-infested space, so despite its peaceful nature, the ship is equipped with four dual turrets, two armed with beam lasers and two with sandcasters. Sensors and programing are military grade, with virtual gunners, but among the six acolytes aboard to orient the aspirants, at least a pair have experience or training in gunnery and defensive tactics. The Patient Sky is not looking for a fight, but it can defend itself, though other than the ship itself, there is usually little of value for an attacker to take.

The major drawback of the ship is its age. It was launched in 1002, and though well-maintained, the bright paint hides a century of use. Many of its issues are cosmetic. The gravity sometimes wavers, the lights flicker, but at times more serious issues arise. Warped bulkheads from hundreds of landings on the massive world sometimes prevent hatches from closing. The sensors occasionally glitch, and though the batteries that feed the jump drive have been replaced, the wiring has not, and one jump in a dozen may require a second attempt as shorts, sparks, and sometimes a small fire prevent the drives from charging. The Patient take it in stride. For the aspirants, it is a test.

Aladdin-class Deep Scout

When the Marathon-class X-Courier first entered service in 1037, a senior IISS administrator asked the General Products project director, "Four (parsecs) is nice. Can we do six?" The result was the prototype Aladdin, capable of two three parsec jumps. Though not equipped with a communication array, the Aladdin was intended to be a courier of messages, small packages, or personnel to deep missions in the Great Rift. The smaller jump drive left space for the architects assigned to the project to increase the maneuver drive capability to 5g, which was not part of the original specification and increased the cost of the vehicle by more than MCr 2 million. This almost caused cancellation of the order, but proved popular with scout operators, earning the ship the moniker "Swift".

The Aladdin had limited application and sold poorly, mostly to the IISS and the Deepnight Corporation. After a surge of orders to replace loses following the Fourth Frontier War, General Products removed the Aladdin from its standard catalog, though the starship is still offered as a special order.