Inner Systems
"You've heard of the rumours, the legends. A vault full of pretech, hidden on the blazing surface of that forsaken death world. Just think of the fame, the untold secrets, the fortune to be made. We'll just follow the trail of crashed ships - but we'll be clever. So, what do you say? You in?"
-Cassie, captain of the salvage ship Ridonara |
The Inner Systems are the four planets contained within the Asteroid Belt. Travel to and from each of these worlds is relatively fast, oweing to the proximity of these four worlds. The Bythan Mandate controls the Inner Systems, or at the very least worlds II and III; while there is nothing much to control on the first planet Lash'ra, whose orbital station is under corporate control, the fourth world Mol Xarith is off-limits as it belongs to a secretive technology cult.
For the breathable planet Halruaa, Bytha-II, look under Homeworld.
Trade data with the Bytha System
For the breathable planet Halruaa, Bytha-II, look under Homeworld.
Trade data with the Bytha System
Bytha-I ("Lash'ra")Orbital Period : 4.0 local Years
Radius : 9540 KM Day Length : N/A (tidally locked) Atm Pressure : negligible Surface Gravity : .4 g Atmosphere : none Biosphere : non-existant Temperature : Frozen (far side) / Burning (near side) Lash'ra, as it was known on ancient star charts, is a large, charred world orbiting very close to the Bythan sun. The surface is cracked; because this world is tidally locked, the day side is nearly melted; the night side is frozen, with an impressive ridge at the limit of both zones. There is no atmosphere to this planet. Ancient charts noted the presence of a highly corrosive atmosphere; however, it must have vanished extremely quickly (within the last 1000 years), indicating that whatever dissipated it, it must have been artificially engineered. There is significant seismic activity on this planet. The frozen side is a good place to mine rare materials and minerals, which the planet is full of, even at the surface, making it easy for small-time miners and haulers to make some profit. The burning side is a different story. With little in the way of landable surface and pre-Scream drones shooting and harassing anything that comes too close to the ground beyond the ridge, very few ships bother to travel there, save the odd daring or idiotic salvager looking for pretech to sell. STARPORTS Byria Orbital - geocentric orbit above the planet's far side. Independent station that provides repairs and a meeting place for inner-system miners and salvagers to exchange goods. TRAVEL ADVISORY A pre-Scream military installation belonging to the old Empire is rumoured to be hidden somewhere on the planet's near side. Many salvagers have tried to find the famed installation; all of them have failed and no one has managed to locate it precisely. Bytha-4 ("Mol Xarith")Orbital Period : 2.3 local Years
Radius : 12350 KM Day Length : 90 local Hours Atm Pressure : 1.2 atm Surface Gravity : 1.2g Atmosphere : invasive, toxic atmosphere Biosphere : microbial life, likely from planetary cross-contamination Temperature : Cold Mol Xarith is a large, cold, rocky world known for its debilitating atmosphere, which on top of not being breathable, being mostly CO2, is known for a large amount of dust and toxin that can often end up within one's pressure suit. This particularity makes outdoor work highly dangerous, and requires pressure suits with hardened seals, toxin sensors and top-of-the-line flush systems. The toxins can induce chronic, debilitating sickness and short-term death. The planet has little that cannot be found on other worlds; at such, most people know better than to try its toxic and invasive environment. That is exactly the way the Mechanopriests like it. For centuries, the tech-worshipping cult of engineers has dwelled underground in a bunker they call the Hub. The mechanopriests are a religious order dedicated to the maintenance and glory of pre-Scream technology, and they jealously guard their relics, believing that everyone else will just misuse them and repeat the mistakes of the Past. The Mechanopriests keep to their own; however, their few ships are also by far the most advanced. They are known to make secretive trips to Bytha-I's molten side, and every now and then, they will trade long-lost tech in exchange for supplies. They also are known for their cybernetics tech, as many Priests seem cybernetically enhanced, regardless of the ever ongoing debate on transelvenhood going on elsewhere - though they need notcare, as they regard the rest of the system as beneath them anyway and they certainly would not share their secrets with them unless they saw some advantage to it for themselves. They have a mixed relationship with Bytha-II. Nathae reclaimed its starfaring capacity thanks to intervention from the Mechanopriests, yet they also skirmish and mistrust each other. Very little else is known; they must have the ability to sustain their population, and evidently maintain pretech and even possibly maltech, albeit their quest calling for an "exhalted hoarding" of the relics of the past has often put them at odds with the Mandate. The last such skirmish occured two years ago, with a Mechanopriest battle cruiser destroyed in orbit of Bytha-III. Interestingly, Bytha-III and Bytha-IV are on each other's Lagrange points L4 and L5, and so they orbit the system on nearly the same orbit at nearly the same pace. MECHANOPRIEST COLONY Capital : Delta Sigma Population : Unknown (presumed in the 5000s) Racial Makeup : 100% Elven Technology Level : Cat 4* (specializes in pretech) TRAVEL ADVISORY Mechanopriests do not take kindly to strangers landing on their planet, and any landing must be cleared by the Mechanopriest Reclamation Bureau (and in 99% of cases, they will be denied) Automated defences and shuttles orbit the planet, ready to fire at intruders, while the planet's toxins will make short work of any unprepared intruder that somehow makes it to the ground. |
Bytha-3 ("Mol Renan")Orbital Period : 2.3 local Years
Radius : 5350 KM Day Length : 78 local Hours Atm Pressure : 0.4 atm Surface Gravity : 1.7g Atmosphere : thick, breathable with filter masks, light radiation Biosphere : immiscible Temperature : Temperate, varies locally Mol Renan is a small, humid world covered in toxic jungles and cunning predators. It is widely believed that this world was the original candidate for terraforming - it is, after all, warmer and more fertile than the Homeland, Nathae - but something has gone horribly wrong, making the planet a living nightmare. In the last days before the Scream, a high-yield nuclear device was detonated in orbit (perhaps a ship exploded?), contaminating the landscape with radiation. The plant life and most predators have only become hardier as a result, and the planet is even less hospitable to Elven life. Volcanoes and seismic activity make it an even less endearing prospect, though it also brings out some valuable minerals to the surface. Interestingly, Bytha-III and Bytha-IV are on each other's Lagrange points L4 and L5, and so they orbit the system on nearly the same orbit at nearly the same pace. It is a mineral rich planet, and one pre-Scream mining colony has survived amidst the disaster. The 96.000 people strong Directorate is the remnant of a beryllium and palladium mining corporation; post-Scream, they have had to rely on their hydroponics stock and based their entire civilization around maintaining their pressure habitat and overcoming the dangers of an immiscible, hostile wildlife. Long presumed dead, and with little incentive for a newly-spaceborne civilization to investigate, the Directorate was sheltered from the rest of the system by the very toxic planet that it struggled to survive on. After a Mandate survey team made contact with the mining outpost, word has gotten out of their survival. Many pirates sought to attack it, which prompted the Directorate to become a ward of the Bythan Mandate. Their food situation has become better, but most settlers have elected to remain on the planet they have called their home and instead contribute their immense, specialized mining technology to the rest of the system. They get a lot of trade, and a dedicated starport is under construction as the outpost's facilities could no longer handle the strain. There are other mining colonies and other pressurized outposts on the planet, none more than a decade old. There are rumours of a "vault" of some description on the planet, said to be an ancient terraforming facility to some, an antimatter plant to others, though no one truly knows. The story is often dismissed as the stuff of legend - anything that would suggest a Vault would also suggest the Mechanopriests would come and investigate, something they have allegedly failed to do. BYTHAN MANDATE/DIRECTORATE COLONY Capital : New Balmora (Mining Outpost X-54) Population : 92'541 Racial Makeup : 85% Elven, 15% others Technology Level : Cat 4 (specializes in mining technology) TRAVEL ADVISORY In the waning days before the Scream, a high yield nuclear device exploded in orbit of Mol Renan, disabling several pre-Scream installations as well as contaminating the already toxic planet with radiation. The Mandate sends its own robo-drones to mine, however freelance miners without credits have no choice but to live on the irradiated planet. Treshaka Asteroid BeltThe Bythan Asteroid Cloud spreads between Bytha-4 and Bytha-5. It is an asteroid field and the probable remnant of a planet or moon that collided with one of the inner planets millions of years ago. The Cloud, for all intents and purposes, is very easily navigable (fragments being very spread apart, and drives allowing deflection of smaller pieces of rock). It marks the limit of control of the Bythan Mandate, thanks to its outer mining and refueling outposts. Beyond, piracy awaits.
STARPORTS Treshaka Outpost - A small Mandate controlled outpost trailing ahead of Nathae, serving as a refueling post for ships headed to the outer system. The station is almost entirely automated; vendors are braindead machines overseen by dubious and corrupt Mandate customs agents. Space Station 13 - A privately owned, seedy station that serves as a refueling post. Beyond the nameless extortionate minions of Brewer Corporation that operate there, it is feared that a rival corporation, EndoGeni, might be trying to sabotage the station, as they have been launching a corporate takeover on the Credits Exchange Stock Market. ADVISORY There are several pre-Scourge derelicts. At least one asteroid, Elath-B, serves as an asteroid base for local miners and continues to operate publicly despite accusations of wage slavery and continued habitat degradation. Operating company Feros Inc. has recently bid on mining rights for several other asteroids to begin building a new base on. Tread lightly. |