Scaley

System: Scaley
Hex Location: 2327
Star Type:  Single A4 V
Number of Worlds: 9
Gas Giants: 8
Planetoid Belt: Kuiper belt and 3 separate asteroid belts

Starport Type: X
World Size: Earth-sized
Atmosphere Type: Thin
Surface Water: 74%
Population: Medium (32 million)
Political Affiliation: Dhangetan Cartel
Tags: Feral World, Outpost World, Pilgrimage World
Notes: (That's a very interesting collection of tags.  Randomization.  What'choo gonna do?) During the Marian years, this was a Cepheid colony.  Although old records indicate that the system was once called Ickes, a pejorative label has stuck and become the official name of the system in more recent years, so it's known simply as Scaley—presumably in reference to the reptilian humanoid aliens that make up most of the population.  As the Dark Ages came over much of the region after the fall of the Marian Empire, Scaley was lost and gradually fell into becoming little more than a feral outpost with no capability of star travel at all until it was rediscovered by wandering agents of the Dhangetans who were exploring the region and establishing their own cartel worlds.  The locals were very hostile to the newcomers, and remain so to this day.  Not that they are xenophobic, exactly—they have evolved a culture of raiding, dueling, and otherwise engaging in such casual violence that the entire world is generally seen as unvisitable except for the handful of Dhangetan outposts.

The world is covered fairly densely by shallow, often epicontintal seas, and has no large landmasses, although archipelagos of smaller cratons (few larger than Madagascar or Borneo) are commonplace.  There are a few outposts established by the Dhangetans, and although it's no longer necessary to stop here (or anywhere else nearby) it is still more of an outpost and stopping point than a world useful for any other reason.  There is mining in the asteroid belts, but the minerals found are not particularly precious or rare.  Rather, the Dhangetans use the world as a hub in the slave trade.  The violent cepheid natives are often rounded up as slaves themselves, but sentient cargo of all kinds pass through Scaley on a regular basis.

Curiously, in the years long ago when the system was called Ickes, it was famous as the source of a sect of psionic-religion that is popular among cepheids all through Known Space, and many such still come to visit the world where their racial cult was started.  The priesthood of this religion is a close adviser of the Dhangetan agent who serves as system governor (a much more intelligent than normal skiffer named Garjer Mousduna) and they maintain a temple and tourist trap of sorts for these pilgrims, and maintain a relatively safe environment for pilgrims to come and make their obeisances without having to deal with the feral locals.

This has not, however, translated into the building of any kind of spacefaring facilities.  There is no fuel available (except for the ample ocean water, which can be cracked in a pinch for use as unrefined fuel—but honestly; skimming one of gas giants elsewhere in the system is a better move).  This is a matter of some tension between Mousduna and the High Priest (who never uses his name)—and appears to be related to as banal an issue as budgets and taxation.  Mousdana wants to charge pilgrims a tarrif to fund the building of a proper starport, and the high priest has resisted, because he believes that that will cut back on pilgrims, and therefore on his own sources of revenue.  There have been rumors for a long time that construction will start soon, but it never actually seems to.