Thursday, April 13, 2017

Yuggoth

As a major battlefield of the Last Emperors wars, dark and frozen Yuggoth gained a bit of notoriety many centuries ago, and it's now no longer a world that is greeted with a blank stare or a shrug when mentioned.  That doesn't mean that much in the way of valuable resources have been found here. Yuggoth has a few small communities, that mostly cater to smugglers or other ne'er-do-wells.  But a few hardy gas miners have discovered that chemical reactions deep under the ice have produced stores of sytor gas which can be refined to high quality fuel for bulk drives. There isn't exactly a sytor rush on the planet, but a few solitary, independent types manage to eke out a reasonably comfortable living on Yuggoth even so. 
And occasionally rumors will float about that some independent knight has discovered relics of the Order of the Zen Cross here, which is rumored to have once been a major temple site for their ancient mystery cult. This has never been officially confirmed; if any knights are finding relics, they're keeping that find close. But knights—especially Sacristans—do occasionally arrive here to scout out the planet, and occasionally come into conflict with each other. The locals often look at the arrival of a knight as if it were the arrival of a potentially dangerous and notorious gunfighter in an Old West town. They are respectful, but try to encourage them to move on as much as possible. and prefer to keep them from coming into conflict with each other as much as possible too.
System: Yuggoth
Hex Location: 0714
Star Type: Single star, F8
Number of Worlds: 9
Gas Giants: 2 (1 Hot Jupiter)
Planetoid Belt: Asteroid and comet belt

Starport Type: C
World Size: Earth-sized
Atmosphere Type: Earth-like
Surface Water: 90%, but almost all of it is frozen.
Population: Medium (80 million)
Political Affiliation: Claimed by Cilindare
Notes: Yuggoth has never had significant settlement, but the sytor gas mines (think of it as a kind of nitrous oxide for spaceships) were seen as worth harvesting by some, so the Cilindareans, as they expanded into this sector, claimed the world.  It is also not insignificant as a waystation in crossing the sector; its position gives it decent access to other worlds that would otherwise require a long trip around.

A small landing pad deep in a mountainous region of Yuggoth
Much of the traffic comes from treasure hunters, archaeologists, mystics and pilgrims searching for ruins or artifacts; everything from a lost Zen Crucian temple, to information that will shed light on the mysterious Last Emperor's War and more.

There are no native sentient species, but some dangerous wildlife makes travel here difficult.  Also, Yuggoth occupies the same orbital space as a dispersed asteroid belt, which is theorized to have once been a moon of Yuggoth which shattered and scattered throughout the orbit.  This also makes life here potentially very difficult, as meteorite falls are quite common, and the risk of an extinction level asteroid collision is always present.

None of the settlements are particularly large.  The Cilindan officials only tend to manage a few of them, which are industrial mining towns.  There are a few other settlements, but they are generally little more than either smuggler hide-outs or "rest stops" for passing caravans or ships on their way from some system elsewhere to some other system elsewhere and using Yuggoth as a shortcut.

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