Chapter 15: Star Systems of the Galaxy

Star System Types

While there are tens of thousands of mapped star-systems in total which make up
the star-lanes and all of them are different, they generally fall into one of several
different categories or are a hybrid of two or more of them.

Hub Systems
There are several dozen star-systems which are the hubs of the starlanes. These
are where the bulk of the travelers of the starlanes originate and where the vast
majority of interstellar cargo travels between. That doesnt mean that the bulk of
the galaxys populace live in them. Far from it. But these are the systems which
are the most connected into the galactic politics and culture.
Perhaps surprisingly, most of the home planets of the major species arent among
the hub systems. Instead, the major species generally restrict travel through their
home system to some degree. It seems that while the builders generally control all
warp travel through monopoly of the warp beacons, they allow the major players in
the starlanes some amount of autonomy over such things.
The only major species whose home system could be considered a hub are the
alanny. In many ways, the alannys home system of Evermore could be considered
The Hub System around which the rest of the galaxys influence revolves, and that
seems to be the way which most of the alanny seem to like it.

Isolated Inhabited Systems

As strange as it may seem to humans, it seems that the vast majority of intelligent
alien species have little to no desire to interact much with the galactic community
as a whole, referred to as hermit species. While there are individual exceptions
even within those species, they are just that: exceptions. This leads to an
interesting phenomenon what is generally dubbed an isolated inhabited system.
An isolated inhabited system is usually the home system of a hermit species.
Despite their lack of desire to travel between the stars, the hermit species in
question will often have significant space travel within their own system, primarily
used for mining their systems asteroids and/or uninhabitable planets. More rarely
the hermit species will have significant military vessels. These species should be
watched carefully, as these species can be paranoid in nature. Relative to their
firepower, the ships and their crews are of relatively little threat, but they can be
deadly all the same.

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Despite their somewhat isolationist nature, the vast majority of these isolated
inhabited systems do still have a warp beacon with the requisite space station and
builders on staff to service it. While they may not want to integrate with the
galactic culture at large, they do want to benefit from the trading that such a link to
the starlanes allows.
***

Linked Inhabited Systems

While most alien species prefer to keep to their home systems, and to keep those
systems relatively isolated, that is not always true. Some species are more
welcoming to other species, and several of those species have colonized systems
besides their home system. The builders, torali, and prostics each have colonies in
dozens of systems, though several other species have their own colonies. These
systems are generally much more welcoming to other species, though neither the
builders or the prostics allow other species to make landfall on their home planet,
and while not outlawed, it is generally considered extremely reckless for outsiders
to land on the toralis home planet of Sethra 4.
There are some systems which were founded by conglomerations of merchants or
corporations, and these systems are much more of a melting pot than most others.
Often, inhabitants do not settle in such systems permanently, instead they work
there for a time to earn their fortune before traveling home with the both the capital
and skills which they gained there.

Layover Systems
Many systems are not suitable for a colony. Either such a colony would be
impossible, or just that there are other locations which are superior. Whatever the
reason, there are many systems which no one has colonized.
Some of these systems are on major starlanes and are common stops which ships
use for warp hops. Due to this, many of these sub-par star systems have a small
outpost in them. This outpost is used to service any ships which are passing
through, making any necessary repairs and refueling as needed. Sometimes these
outposts also have the secondary job of being a sort of watchtower, ready to send a
warp signal as a sort of Morse mode to warn of any incoming ships.
Generally this outpost is little more than a relatively small space station with
enough living space for the repair bay workers, and perhaps a small mining,
smelting, and machining industry on hand so that more basic parts do not have to
be shipped in, as well as enough services for said workers. There are some
exceptions to this. Several of the largest independent shipyards began as such
outposts, and unlike a nations shipyards, they will sell to anyone with the credits.
Perhaps the most notable exception though is *****. Nearly midway on seven of the

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most common starlanes, and several systems from any truly colonized system,
***** has a large repair bay, a small shipyard, and five massive space stations which
are an interstellar Las Vegas, Disney World, and the shadiest kind of black market,
all rolled into one.

Uninhabited Systems
Those systems which are both unsuitable for colonization and not on any of the
major starlanes are totally uninhabited. These systems can be dangerous to travel
through. Most obviously, if a ship pops the warp bubble with any sort of damage to
their warp engines, if they cant repair it themselves, they may end up stranded
there for a long time as they pray for a passing ships rescue.
In addition, Uninhabited Systems may not be as deserted as one might wish. Often
those who want to do things without prying eyes may set up shop there. Pirates
and volucris hives are just a couple of the dangers which someone might run into.
For these reasons, most travelers avoid uninhabited systems when possible, often
willing to add several more warp hops to their trip in order to bypass them.

Outlier Systems
Thos

Newly Colonized Systems

Thos

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Evermore Starsystem
Planets: 8
Home Planets: 1
Habitable Planets: 1
Semi-Habitable Worlds: 1 planet & 4 moons
Intolerable Worlds: 2 planets & 23 moons
Gas Giants: 3
Space Stations: 114
Population: Approx. 10.2 billion (85% alanny, 4% builders, 2% berlichs, 1% torali,
1% krakiz, 7% minor species)
The home system of the alanny, Evermore is probably the most influential
star system when it comes to galactic culture. It is the only home system of a major
species which has a significant population of outside species, and there are only a
few minor species which have followed suit.
The alanny themselves first ventured onto the starlanes nearly seven
hundred earth years ago, being one of the few species which figured out both warp
drives and gravity engines on their own, though their original warp drives were the
most dangerous variety on record. In the centuries since they have abandoned
them and, like the rest of the starlanes, use drives modeled after those created by
the builders.
Unlike other species which took to the starlanes to colonize or gain valuable
resources, the alanny took to them almost entirely to explore and fine out what was
out there. Perhaps for that reason, the alanny have never officially colonized any
other system, though they are one of the most numerous species in the majority of
other systems throughout the starlanes. They are very welcoming to other species,
even allowing them to build their own space stations within Evermore, though they
are required to follow both the builders rules of the starlanes as well as few more of
the alanny.

Government and Politics

The alanny lack any sort of central government of the system or even of their
homeworld. What governance they do have are generally referred to as Alanny
Clans. They do not claim control over particular territory, but instead claim

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authority over their members wherever it is that they currently reside. See Chapter
14 for more detailed information on Alanny Clans.

Po Alanny Homeworld
Population: 4.3 billion
Gravity: 0.92 Earth Standard
For a homeworld planet, Po is extremely volcanically active, far more than Earth.
Considering that, there seem to be surprisingly few major eruptions and major
volcanoes across most of its surface. Instead, there seem to be a plethora of
smaller seeping, geysers, and minor flows. The surface of Po is also much more
mountainous with many ups and downs. These things combine to make strong
updrafts extremely common, allowing the alanny to soar on their home planet,
while without such updrafts they can only glide slowly to the ground.
The portions of Po which are habitable by the alanny are limited not only by the
planets oceans, but there are areas across the planets surface which are even
more volcanically active, making long-term habitation there a fools errand, though
the alanny do use nearby arable land extensively for their crops.
Unlike many homeworlds, Po is welcoming to interstellar visitors, and it even has a
small tourism industry aimed at other species, though the majority of the tourists
are alanny born and raised off-world.

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