Viomium Marches

All of the Viomium Marches worlds share a similar context. Three systems in close proximity that are surrounded by many enemies; in particular numerous Reaver worlds, and the Phatoru Shdor Seraean colony. All of them are a little difficult to reach for any friendly system; from the Emerus Marches, the nearest Bernese worlds, most have to bulk jump through Oerken in order to reach it. Comaius, the only one reachable from Oerken is thus the gateway to the Viomium Marches; to get to any other world in the colony, yet another bulk jump from Comaius is necessary.

Another odd quirk of the Viomium Marches is that they were originally settled by Seraeans, but not Seraeans as in the much more recently arrived colonists of Phatoru Shdor or the rest of the Outremer colonies. These were refugees from the tyranny of the Empire, and came way back in the time of the Marian Empire and settled these mostly unused worlds. However, when the Bernese came here, they eagerly threw in their lot with them, appreciating not only their culture, but their relative strength in being capable of holding back the many enemies that surrounded them. These Bernese and Seraeans are now almost completely intermarried and interbred, and the majority population of the Viomium Marches is thus unique genetically showing equal amounts of traits of both. Mostly, they look like Bernese (i.e., like white Heritage Americans) with silver chrome eyes and silver-white hair; an inheritance of their former Seraean half. The Viomians also have a minority populaton on all three of their worlds of Reavers, although these have also been here for many generations now, and do not "reave" as those from the Reaver worlds do, which is the source of their name. In fact, they Reavers here are a bit prickly about being called Reavers, in large part because they want to disassociate themselves from the violent reputation of those who come from Reaver worlds, and often make a big deal about calling themselves Kvuustu, their own name for themselves. It's worth noting, however, that the reavers of the Viomium Marches have been here for generations, and most of them speak Galactic standard and know very little of their own ethnic heritage language, even the names that came from their heritage.

The third and final point of context is that they have no leader. Originally led by a margrave, he was killed in action defending an outlying convoy in the Typhoeus system five years ago. For whatever reason, the king of the Bernese Monarchy has not assigned a new margrave to the colony yet. 

System: Comaius

Hex Location: 1738

Star Type: Single M9 V

Number of Worlds: 11

Gas Giants: 5

Planetoid Belt: Asteroid belts and comet belt

Starport Type: C standard star port, but see below

World Size: Larger than earth

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like (at the elevation where cities are)

Surface Water: 0%

Population: Small ~600,000

Political Affiliation: Bernese; Viomium Marches

Tags: Flying cities, warlock academy, secret cabal

Notes: In the case of Comaius, a criminal underground of warlocks pulls the strings, now that they are completely unfettered from the fear of being rooted out by an official government agent. For better or for worse, they do not believe that they can rule openly, however, without attracting the ire of the entire populace, so they keep their influence fairly secretive. They also are very concerned about threats to the colony, which would threaten their position, so they do cooperate, within reason, with the rulers of the other two worlds in the colony. Their puppet in the government offices is deputy governor Hogan Pompeius. They have an academy for the training of warlocks, but it is an insular affair, and they mostly only admit those whom they can depend on their loyalty. Even this is somewhat secret from the inhabitants; like the Ivy League schools now, most of the people within the colony believe that they are merely very selective and have high standards for meritocratic achievement. This isn't really true, just like with our own Ivy League schools; you have to know the right people, be part of the right secret societies, grease the right palms, etc. to get it. But if you do, you will have a cushy road to riches and ease in Viomium society. This same secret society operates across the colony, but only on Comaius do they actually run things, and that is their headquarters.

Comaius is also an unusual main world; it does not have a rocky surface at all, and is in fact a modest-sized gas giant. There is a layer of the atmosphere that is earth-like and habitable and comfortable for humans to live on, and that is where the floating cities are, although there are only three of them, and their populations are relatively modest; a couple hundred thousand people each. These cities are build on the remnants of flattish rocky asteroids that were tugged into the atmosphere and placed in permanent floating positions by ancient warlocks, and then the cities were built on them. Deep pipes plunge into the thick clouds below the cities, where gas is extracted. In spite of the fact that the cities here only have C class starports, they differ in one notable respect; refined fuel is readily available at a good price because the raw materials are right there and make up the bulk of the industry of the planet. Sytor gas, which is normally only found in pockets deep beneath glacial ice on some extremely cold planets, is also relatively plentiful in the thick lower atmosphere, so sytox fuel, the so-called nitrous oxide for spaceships, can be found here too. The Seraeans of Phatoru Shdor crave this stuff, as they are often adrenaline junkies by culture, but so far they have been content to trade for it legitimately. Perhaps the dreadnaught stationed in the system as one of the last official actions between the late lamented margrave and the home office in Bernese space has contributed to this peace, however. 

Once you get too far down, the atmosphere rapidly becomes untenable for breathing, so the elevation band that allows for habitation is relatively narrow. There is also no liquid water, given that there is no surface, but water vapor is plentiful in this habitable belt, and often falls as rain. Most homes have rain collection equipment, but there are also city-wide water caches as well as lakes, ponds and other artificial bodies of water all across the cities' surfaces. 

A selection of Reaver faces

System: Enticum

Hex Location: 1739

Star Type: Double (distant) F9 V and G2 V

Number of Worlds: 16, 5

Gas Giants: 2, 5

Planetoid Belt: None, and rocky asteroid belt only

Starport Type: C

World Size: Moon-sized

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like

Surface Water: 66%

Population: Large, ~3 billion

Political Affiliation: Bernese; Viomium Marches

Tags: Psionic knight academy, boomtown, local specialty

Notes: Enticum is usually considered the capital of the Viomium Marches, although lacking a margrave for the colony, each of the systems has reverted to de facto self rule under deputy governers, who meet semi regularly on Enticum to discuss issues that need a reaction from all of them. While Enticum is a fairly small world in terms of surface area, the ancient terraforming that was used here must have included a lot of thaumaturgy, because earth-like gravity and atmosphere pervade across the world, except in deep chasms and in high mountaineous areas. Dark volcanic spires, peaks and crags make up most of the surface, but it is not entirely bare, as grasslands and semi-isolated groves and stands of trees cover much of the surface as well. It is a bit Spartan in terms of scenery and habitability, but the grasslands support herds of both domesticated and wild reptomammalian creatures like thoats, platabirds, sandkine, mannoths, zitidars, and more. The plains are fed by many rivers, and crops grow sufficient to feed the fairly large population. There is a local burrowing animal that lives within the bedrock of the planet, and probably predates the terraforming. It's a miracle that this many-eyed wormlike, clawed creature survived, but it is the key to the economic dominance of the planet. Its secretions are known as spice. It isn't exactly like the sandworms spice on Arrakis, however, but this spice is not only a local delicacy which causes plant life that grows here to have unusual taste and texture which is highly valued by others, but the refined spice itself has remarkable medicinal qualities. Although there are synthetic alternatives elsewhere, Enticum spice is seen as preferred in the creation of healing and regenerative gels, as well as anti-aging supplements that seem to have the effect of lengthening the potential lifespan of those who take it regularly by up to almost 50%.

Because of this local specialty, which is in high demand, Enticum probably is the most militarized of the Viomium worlds, and its defensive capabilties are well known. The nearby Seraeans and Reavers have typically given the system a wide berth, although sometimes bold strikes by pirates on shipping convoys deeper in the system are not unheard of.

System: Typhoeus

Hex Location: 1839

Star Type: Single G3 giant (III)

Number of Worlds: 5

Gas Giants: 4

Planetoid Belt: Icy comet belt only

Starport Type: X

World Size: Earth-sized

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like

Surface Water: 27%

Population: Medium ~15 million

Political Affiliation: Bernese; Viomium Marches

Tags: Feral world, primitive aliens, hostile solar system

Notes: Typhoeus, when looking at the world tags, may seem like a kind of primitive backwater; the equivalent to a Third World hellhole, but in reality, the people who live here, and the rest of the Viomium Marches peoples in general, consider it a Utopian paradise to be treasured and protected. (The primitive aliens can be re-read as primitive natives rather than aliens, as they are the Bernese/Seraean mix for the most part.)

When the Bernese came here, there were Reaver settlers, as across the rest of the system, and Seraeans, but they lived in an unusually peaceful small community agricultural holdings on a world that is largely forested. The Reavers themselves had adopted a largely pre-technology lifestyle, other than a few technological conveniences, and the Seraeans adopted much of their culture from them. As the Bernese arrived, they too adopted to much of this small village and farming community lifestyle, and refused to set up industrialization centers, large trade centers, or even any kind of significantly centralized government. Threats or challenges which require coordinated effort have temporarily assigned dictators appointed (in the old Roman Republic version of the word, not the more modern one) and militias and volunteers have proven, so far, sufficient to deal with any challenges, would-be tyrants, attacking pirates or Reavers, etc. The Typhoeans don't reject visitors exactly, but they are careful about settlers... although there are some visitors among them who have been there fore literally years and not worn out their welcome. It's almost as if the Typhoeans are like a space-faring Amish country planet, and it serves a similar role as the Amish do, attracting tourists and visitors who value their hand-crafted arts, crafts and tools, as well as those who are fascinated and maybe even sometimes envious of their low-stress, low-tech lifestyle. Of course, many of these visitors are traders who take their goods elsewhere for sale; because Typhoeus is kind of at the back-end of nowhere, difficult to reach, and surrounded by a number of hostile powers that only give a single reliable space-lane to reach it; and a long one at that, visitors are less frequent than in our own Pennsylvannia or Ohio Amish country.

(8 red worlds left to develop. 16 blue worlds. And 34 italic worlds.)