Hex Location: 1625
Star Type: Distant Double F7 V, A6 Ia
Number of Worlds: 12
Gas Giants: N
Planetoid Belt: Kuiper and asteroid belt
Starport Type: A high class starport
World Size: Earth-sized
Atmosphere Type: Earth-like
Surface Water: N
Population: Large 2 billion
Political Affiliation: Dhangetan Cartel
Tags: Primitive aliens, Sealed cities, Trade hub
Notes: Although they have spread with the Dhangetans since well back into the Marian Empire years, obviously the skiffers had to have had an original home world at some point in the past, and many believe that Drini IV is that world. Large numbers of them live here in a primitive state; little more than at a Bronze Age technology still (with the exception of their advanced well-making and water drilling abilities), and in savage, contentious tribes and petty polities that spend most of their time fighting and killing each other. They don't welcome visitors from space very well, although they are aware of them, probably because the Dhangetans have been kidnapping them for centuries, spiriting them away into space to serve as slaves, soldiers, or elsewise. The reality, of course, is that the Dhangetans are often indifferent slavers and slave-owners, and it's because of this kidnapping that so many skiffers are out there in interstellar space, orders of magnitude more than are found on their home world, if indeed Drini IV is their home world, and most of them are free people, not slaves, although they are still found correlated with the Dhangetan worlds, and skiffers are relatively rarely seen outside of the Dhangetan worlds unless part of a Dhangetan delegation of some kind.
Because of this hostility towards spacefarers, those who live on Drini IV tend to live in sealed cities to keep the riff-raff away. Many more live in orbital facilities too; there is in fact a thriving industrial hub just above the atmosphere where ships can be commissioned and are commonly built. On top of that, Drini IV has somehow turned into one of the sector's foremost used ship markets, and people come from all over to either sell or browse used spaceships. The Dhangetans don't ask many questions, so sometimes everything from standard used ship salesmen to dodgy pirates selling raided yachts or even military vessels can all be found for sale. Drini IV's used ship market makes no distinction between white, black and gray markets—it's all one on Drini IV.
While many of the other regional powers have complained, on occasion, to the Dhangetans when their official vessels end up for sale, few of them really want to disrupt what's happening on Drini IV too much, and representatives of many nearby governments, including Cilindareans, Carrick Bernese, Carthen Revanchists, and Tan Kajak Saraeans all keep a close eye on what passes through the market, either to scoop up some rival's tech and take it back home for analysis, or to keep their own military secrets from being so plundered. It didn't take long for a secondary market in all kinds of other secrets to develop on Drini IV, and along with the savage natives and the ship market there is a thriving spy "business" on Drini IV as well.
Hex Location: 1724
Star Type: Single M5 VI
Number of Worlds: 8
Gas Giants: 7
Planetoid Belt: Kuiper and asteroid belt
Starport Type: E frontier star port
World Size: Earth-sized
Atmosphere Type: Earth-like
Surface Water: 86%
Population: Medium 17 million
Political Affiliation: Dhangetan Cartel
Tags: Thaumatophilia, Xenophobia, Oceanic cities
Notes: Centuries ago, during the early years of the Marian Empire, some of the constituent races remained more apart from each other than they did later on. The southern New Alderamin sector was one where many Altairans settled where, although politically part of the Empire, they could yet practice their culture in something somewhat like isolation rather than see it converge into Marian culture overall. Later, as the Empire waned and finally fell, these polities became independent. Some of them have now been independent for centuries, like the Altairan Ascendancy further to the sector west, but the Galaide Monarchy was another one, centered just to the galactic north of the Carthen and Carrick areas, including worlds 2123 Kari Jora, 2221 Leneback, 2223 Fthughu, 2224 Cadon, 2321 Xotha, 2421 Peydon, 2422 Onola and 2522 Sycha. There, they developed their own unique culture, quite different from that of the Altairan Ascendancy, and they venerated in particular their Magi (both psionic knights and warlocks).
For over a hundred years, however, their worlds have been fallen to the Dhangetans. In part, this was not a conquest so much as it was a gradual ceding of power through diplomacy and corrupt, oligarchic elite who enriched themselves and then left with piles of money. The unique culture of the Galaide worlds is significantly diluted by the Dhangetans who arrive with their sleazy entourages of skiffers, their Cilindarean and Janissary mercenaries, and all of the other hangers-on of various races and groups that tend to come with them.
However, some hardliner conservatives fled the Galaide worlds to Tawasy, which was at the time an uninhabited world, but pristine and beautiful. There, they built their cities, usually in the oceans themselves, where they harvest aquatic plant and animal life to support themselves, and continue their Galaide way of life, venerating to a degree that is almost worshipful their Magi and resisting the incursions of alien philosophies, and as much as possible, aliens altogether. However, they were only allowed to do so in peace by accepting the protection and vassalage of the Cartel, paying tribute to them, and allowing their business, slight though it may be in this system, to go on unhindered.
In reality, this is unlikely to change anytime too soon; the Cartel business rarely actually happens in the oceanic cities, and it mostly consists of caravans, traders, smugglers, or mercenaries passing through on their way to somewhere else. Although other nearby systems usually mean that stopping through Tawasy isn't necessary, it is often desirable, because of the many gas giants in the system, many of which are not tainted by very many heavy elements, unrefined fuel can be picked up easily and quickly, and scrubbed in half the time that it usually takes, allowing a quick stop and then jump back out on your way to some other more distant destination. The Dhangetans have, in particular, made agreements with the Revanchists and a very steady traffic between the Carthen and Rhyne colonies passes through Tawasy unmolested. Some, at least, of the Revanchists know that the Dhangetans do not do this for altruistic reasons (although many Revanchists are true believes in their idiot ideology and believe that of course everyone would support them unless they were the ultimate evil) and wonder what designs the Dhangetans have on these colonies and the region overall by offering this support.
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