Systems in The Ibreon Reach

[Tribe of One]

Near and Known

Odessa
A heavily-industrialized world, smaller than Old Terra, known as 'Dessa to most locals. Ostensibly organized under a parliamentary government that holds elections once a decade, an extra-governmental Corporate Council ensures megacorps like the Hydra Collective, Xion Combine and UtanisCorp hold the only real power. The atmosphere is heavily polluted but still breathable, with a rain-prone, variable climate noticeably colder than Terra. There are remnants of the Mandate-era biosphere, but the population (100 Million+) relies heavily on hydroponics, cultured protein and imports for food. TL4

New Eden
The only habitable world in the Nepthean System, New Eden serves as the breadbasket of the sector. Equipped with planet-wide, still-functional pretech agricultural systems, as well as a carefully-cultivated oceanic ecosystem, its large population (100 Million+) benefits from a post-scarcity economy. The bracing, variable climate trends slightly colder outside the equatorial fisheries, but its stunning fjords and mountain chalets have earned it a reputation as the Reach's foremost pleasure-world. TL4

Orso Secundus
A warm, Earth-like world made habitable by colonial terraforming, Orso Secundus is ruled by the immortal (or nearly so) scions of the Eternal Dominion. Worshiped by the populace (100 Million+) as nearly divine beings, the members of these ancient Houses maintain their longevity using pre-Scream technology that allows them to transfer their consciousnesses into a series of organic bodies or "shells." The technology is closely guarded, with the members of pretech cults laboring to prove themselves worthy of ascension into the ranks of the Eternal. TL4, with limited TL5 specialties in transhuman biotech.

Noricum
An arid, temperate world settled by Terran religious refugees, Noricum's population (less than 1 Million) was decimated by unchecked eugenics experimentation in the wake of the Scream. The survivors are assumed to be afflicted with lingering mutations — members of the Zendan Collective, the only natives to have any interaction with outsiders, are always covered head-to-toe with masks and heavy robes. Even so, the planet's spaceports and orbital warehouses serve as an important trade hub within the network of systems that have reclaimed spike-drive capability. TL4

Vaul's Cradle
The colony-ship that first settled Vaul's Cradle carried one of the Terran Mandate's Preceptor Archives, a repository of human culture, history, and technology meant to ensure the transfer of knowledge to future populations. In the centuries since the Scream, the archive's teachings have taken on increasingly religious trappings, with rival orders such as the Brothers of the Graven Wheel and Sisters of the Arc formed to preserve and pass on the secrets of particular disciplines. Together, the schismatic factions serve as the theocratic government of the heavily-populated (100 Million+), caste-based society. Though its own technology base has been hampered by dogmatic divisions, Archive missionaries are highly sought after by technically-advanced corporations and governments in neighboring systems. TL3

Tion
The pre-Silence orbital spaceyards of Tion were among the first to begin redeveloping spike drill technology after the Jump Gates went dark, and to date have produced more than half the ships active in the sector. The human population (100 Million+) makes heavy use of robotics — a majority of VIs in the sector hail from Tion, as well — and the orbital workforce includes a significant minority of the radiation-resistant, genetically-engineered laborers colloquially known as dao. TL4

Delos
A desert world lacking a functioning native biosphere or large population (less than 1 million), Delos is noteworthy for maintaining the only large-scale psionics academy in the Reach. The harsh terrain is used to challenge pupils of the academies housed in towering spires that rise from the sandy wastes. Delian Adepts are held in high regard in the surrounding sector, and tend to look down on psychics trained by lesser institutions or individual masters.

Cydon Prime
Wracked by malfunctioning gravitic stabilizers, Cydon Prime is a cold, doomed world where the remaining population (10 Million+) uses Mandate-era energy shield tech to protect its coastal cities from crushing tsunamis. Cydonian personal shields are ubiquitous in surrounding systems (posing a risk to anyone wielding laser weaponry), as are its secretive inquisitors, inheritors of a pre-Scream enclave of the maltech-hunting Perimeter Agency. TL4, with TL5 specialties in shield technology

Badlands and Backwaters

Avestan IV
First settled as a prison planet, Avestan IV remains under interdiction. Left to fend for themselves in the early days of the Silence, the female prisoners and guards were the first to escape. Rather than release their male counterparts (among the most dangerous criminals in the sector) they instead modified a fail-safe system to chemically lobotomize the inmates in the male facilities, retaining the most physically-capable specimens as breeding stock. War-like and matriarchal, the amazons of Avestan IV are sometimes recruited as mercenaries by unscrupulous warlords (or vengeful female executives), and more than one foolish trader's ship has been captured by an ambitious clan matriarch looking for new conquests among the stars. TL2

Cadeus
A frozen planet with no native biosphere, Cadeus represents one the Mandate's few failures in terraforming. While those ancient engines and abandoned research outposts lie buried beneath the ice, the planet's vast mineral wealth has drawn a series of prospectors, most lasting less than a generation. The most recent settlers — an enclave of cyber-communists aided by a trio of carefully clipped AI — have been the most successful. Living in a narrow band of habitable warrens in the equatorial zone, the folk of the Vristadt live regimented lives that keeps the population (less than 1 Million) on the knife's edge of sustainability. TL4

Breestock
A pastoral utopia dominated by rolling hills, crystalline streams and lush farmland, Breestock has a reputation as an ignorant backwater. The peaceful farmers and craftsmen that inhabit its sparsely-populated (~5 Million) bucolic trade-towns and rustic villages practice a rigid faith that rejects most technology, especially Mandate-linked pretech, which most regard as diabolical witchcraft. Prone to parable and complex superstition, natives of Breestock conduct little trade with neighboring systems, preferring to keep outsiders confined to a handful of established foreign trade zones. TL2

Tempest
Layers of inert gas cover the surface of Tempest, shrouding all but the tallest spires of its ancient cities in perpetual fog. Three miles up, above the clouds, a small population (less than 1 Million) clings to life, floating among the mountain peaks in ramshackle airships loaded with hydroponic gardens and complex filtration systems. Organized into family clans, the anarchist barge-folk reject any sort of centralized government, but are happy to trade artifacts they recover during their "dives" into the ruins below for food and useful technology. TL3

Itol-5
The origins of Itol-5's human-animal hybrids are lost to time, though Mandate-era genetic manipulation was certainly involved. Today, the planet is inhabited by more than a dozen, true-breeding strains, each carrying traits inherited from specific old Terran fauna. The vast population (100+ Million) is organized into warring clans led by charismatic warlords. Most travelers avoid the planet, but Itolian mercenaries are popular sector-wide with military commanders desperate for experienced warriors. TL2

Perdurabo
Dominated by its namesake red giant, the Perdurabo system includes some of the most hostile space in the sector. The radioactivity emitted by the star is enough to burn through ship shielding in a matter of days, although enterprising scavengers and station operators have learned to take shelter behind the numerous asteroids and planetoids littering the system. Perdurabo's star also emits particles of novium, an exceedingly rare element vital in the maintenance of certain pretech artifacts, justifying the massive cost of operating in the sector. More recently, rumors have spread of the discovery of ancient alien tomb worlds hidden in drifting asteroids, drawing a fresh wave of prospectors and pirates in their wake. TL2

Mastika Baal
A warm world with a strange, hybrid biosphere, Mastika Baal is known for its orange and purple sands and the rare pearls and gemstones harvested by the divers of the Jewel Sea. Outside the cities that surrounding that body, its scattered population (1 Million+) is mostly nomadic, traveling trackless dunes and geyser-riddled chemical flats from one hidden oasis to the next, each sanctuary filled with carefully-maintained hydroponic facilities needed to sustain life. The nomadic natives are renowned fighters, known for conducting ritual duels with personal phase-knives, which when used skillfully kill without leaving an exterior mark. TL4


Forbidden or Forgotten

Geryon-6
Life on the night world of Geryon-6 was always tenuous, with Mandate-era colonies concentrated around the planet's numerous hot springs and thermal vents or cavernous valleys lined with phosphorescent flora. When interstellar traders reestablished contact after the Silence, they found the surviving population (less than 1 Million) organized into feudal, tunnel-linked citadels, beset by some sort of zombie plague. Rather than risk spreading the unknown contagion, the planet was placed under interdict, though unscrupulous smugglers are known to slip into the system on occasion to trade with the handful of fortified enclaves that maintain lucrative mining operations. TL2

Zor-Othor
Home to one of the few alien species encountered during the initial colonization of the Ibreon Reach, Zor-Othor was already in ruins when humanity arrived. It's unclear whether the primitive alien natives — blind, bat-like humanoids with a highly-ritualized culture — were the original builders of the ruins; initial exploration was rebuffed, violently. Combined with the inhospitable environment (the atmosphere is thick enough to require respirators, and the biosphere mostly microbial) few have seen a reason to re-establish contact. TL2

Isagel
Settled less than 20 years before the Scream, Isagel was still in the process of being terraformed when disaster struck, leaving the outpost world with some freak geology as a result. Rediscovered by a corporate survey crew from Odessa, the planet was found deserted — but with an engineered biosphere and extensive pretech manufacturing facilities intact. The boardroom celebration was short-lived, however, as the surveyors soon went rogue, activating the planet's orbital defenses and ensuring that anyone approaching beyond the fringes of the system is reduced to radioactive dust. TL5