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Rogue Space: The Revised and Expanded Edition Now Available

The revised and expanded edition of Rogue Space is out. The NPA (Non-Player Alien) rules have been streamlined, and a whole bunch of new stuff has been added to the game. It looks great. We're in the process of reading through the new edition, and so far, this looks like a real winner!

Click over to the Rogue Space blog to read all about it, or to order yourself a copy. We expect to have some fresh, new Rogue Space content coming your way very, very soon.

Telajan B: Mattigar

Telajan (Coord.: 06.01)
Part One: System Overview
Part Two: Inner Zone
Part Three: The Planets
     A) Aldrin
     B) Mattigar
     C) Shelg
     D1) Ju-Hai
     D2) Molat
     E) Saxo-Mara
Part Four: Outer Zone
Part Five: Past, Present, Future Imperfect (Telajan)

The Telajan system has five planets and one moon. No debris belts, no asteroids, no dust, ice or gas intrudes upon the Habitable Zone (HZ) more than a few hundred miles past the Pylons. The Pylons are mysterious, Precursor-built structures that manage and maintain the hyperactive and volatile regions of the Inner and Outer Zones. The Habitable Zone is a deliberate construct, an arranged garden, but is it still under conscious control or just running on automatic?

Mattigar

Slightly larger than Aldrin, Mattigar is cooler, calmer, and much less populated than its neighbors. The turquoise seas of this world are far shallower than they at first appear, with only four known vents extending deeper than the smoothly undulating sea-bed that is rarely more than 3,000 feet deep. The majority of the land-masses of Mattigar fit into one complexly-braided archipelago noteworthy for being built-up upon the fractured and heavily eroded and overgrown basaltic remains of now extinct volcanoes. This is a tectonically stable world. The lingering heat locked away in its core is regulated by the four vents, elaborate labyrinth-like passages the extend down through the crust to the hot, magma-rich regions deep within the planet. The vents curl, wind and wrap themselves into complex knot-like formations, giving them something of an almost organic aspect, yet for all intents and purposes they were most likely formed through some sort of controlled erosion process unlike anything seen before on any other world.

Mattigar has no moon, only a thin ring of icy particles and dust. The composition of elements within the ring of Mattigar corresponds almost exactly with the proportions of elements to be found within a normative (Pre-Transition) human body. A number of wild theories have been put forth regarding this peculiar anomaly. So far no one has come up with any hard data to back-up or confirm any particular theory. Of course, that also means no one has effectively dis-proven much of anything either. While many theorists, pundits, cranks and would-be demagogues spout all manner of gibberish and crapulous creeds inspired by the Mysteries of Mattigar, few ever go there. The Dolphins have a tendency to not take them seriously and often take great pleasure in mocking them publicly. Several notorious cult-leaders ended their careers in flames, bloodshed and class-action litigation while attempting to stake out a claim to Mattigar. While it is not off-limits by any means, it remains a dusky, unplucked jewel seemingly forever out of the reach of the more cautiously unscrupulous members of the spiritual community. Missionaries have a way of not lasting more than a week on Mattigar.

Life on Mattigar

Interestingly, there are no coral reefs within the milky-blue seas of Mattigar. No ice at the poles. Temperatures rarely budge beyond a cool 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And the weather is exceptionally gentle, with a short rainy season every three months that lasts for one or two nights. The rains of Mattigar are soft, never windy, and any lightning tends to remain at a high altitude, often producing pastel aurora in the upper atmosphere that give the rains a colorful, fairy-tale aspect that has captivated poets and children alike for centuries.

The predominant native life-forms on Mattigar tend to be mosses, ferns and lichens. The carboniferous mosses are most numerous, having developed hundreds of aquatic varieties unique to this world. Any structure that has been erected upon Mattigar has quickly been encrusted with dozens of colorful lichens. And yes, there are aquatic lichens as well.

Ferns fill the niches usually dominated by grasses and trees. Wonderfully diverse clusters of ferns form stands, copses and groves, and in some cases have formed densely-packed old growth 'forests' of sorts. Other types of ferns have developed a form of pseudo-mangrove swamps along the low-lying regions of some of the more equatorial islands. These fern-sloughs are home to hundreds of gaudily-frilled slugs, snails and dozens of wildly varying Pseudo-Meganeura; iridescent dragonfly-like insects that are the apex predators of Mattigar. It should be noted that almost all of the slugs and similar species are nearly always caught-up within a complex symbiosis with one or another species of lichen, moss or fern. These creatures are not completely animals, nor are they exactly plants, but occupy a place in-between. Xeno-biologists have been studying these species for decades and so far no one has completely unlocked the puzzle of how these animal/plant hybrids developed. The more this matter is investigated, the more it appears to have multiple, simultaneous, often contradictory answers. More than one xeno-biologist has succumbed to a professional  obsession with life on Mattigar.

Mattigar hosts hundreds of small scientific enclaves, lab-camps and the like. Most are confined to the islands of the Mega-Archipelago. They are overseen by the Peer Review Authority based in New Galapagos. Corprist-backed expeditions and missions to Mattigar are allowed, however they operate under much more strict rules and regulation than academically-aligned efforts. The Corprist-sponsors often balk at having all their communications monitored, all their findings re-evaluated by independent third-parties, and other such requirements, making any such effort on Mattigar more of a PR-stunt or goodwill gesture than anything serious. All Corprik-types, 'employees,' 'investors,' or other so-called 'stake-holders,' must register before entering the airspace of Mattigar or be subject to immediate termination by disassemblers. Those that do register properly are restricted to those islands noted in red on the public access atlas. Straying outside the prescribed zones results in immediate disassembly. Merellon Corp has tried to re-gain some measure of public trust on Mattigar, but their efforts have been continually undermined and sabotaged by out-system do-goodniks and other idealists, agitators and 'freedom fighters.' It is a costly on-going effort. Many wonder why the Corprists bother. Perhaps they are caught-up in the Mysteries of Mattigar just like everyone else?

Wide swaths of the Mega-Archipelago are open to investigation. Everything else is under the aegis of the Dolphins. The Dolphins will gladly receive delegates, embassies, tribute, even sycophants or fans, so much so that they have had a huge underwater globe-city built at the base of a majestic seven-sided tower of polybonded basalt that rises above the sluggish wavelets of the Colo-Cyprian Sea over three miles high. Few supplicants or petitioners ever make it past the intricate, ever-shifting maze-like interior of this structure. The Dolphins seem to like it that way.

Six Scenario Seeds for Adventuring on Mattigar

1. Miranda has come to Mattigar on a mission. She has uncovered a disturbing bit of information while digging through the recently unsealed stacks of the Archive of Public Welfare. She just dodged a gene-stinger (autonomous gene-locked kill-drone). Someone must be concerned about what the young girl thinks she knows. She found your pricetag on the localnet. She wants to option your team for some protection.
2. For the last two years rumors of a 'Lost Pod-ship' have been circulating around the seedy underbelly of New Galapagos. For the most part it has been so much loose gossip or the game of bored mercenaries, or so pretty much everyone thought. The coordinates to a site well outside the Red Zone just downloaded to all your team's accounts. A Merellon Rep wants to discuss a few murky dronecam images. This is a high discretion operation they are offering your team. Refusal will result in summary deportation; that's how these Corprik-types like to operate. Who knows, maybe they have discovered a missing Pod Ship from the old Cetacean Wars. You were getting bored anyhow...
3. A Corprik-PR cruise has gone astray, veering out dangerously close to the limits of the Red Zone. The Agent that has contacted your team claims it is deliberate sabotage. Some outworld wackjob has hijacked the slowfoil cruise-ship and intends to liquidate some fairly high-level V.I.P.s by forcibly taking them over the line to be disassembled, scrambling their personal nodes past recovery, setting them back considerably, especially since some of those V.I.P.s are old enough that they still distrust the now ubiquitous back-up tech. She will provide your team with cutting edge quick-skitter airfoils, so you can reach the cruise-ship before it goes across the line. You're to eliminate the wrong-doers if necessary, redirect the ship if possible, but above all rescue the Corprik V.I.P.s trapped on the ship. If you are unsuccessful, you'll most likely get disassembled. If you escape without saving the V.I.P.s, you can rest assured that you will become the PR-agent's full-time personal project...
4. A bathysphere module compiled from schematics and plans for similar vessels used to explore the upper atmospheric layers of Gas Giants has been suspended over the Vent, across from the Dolphin's Spike in the Colo-Cyprian Sea. It took several years of intense negotiations, but finally, an expedition is about to be allowed to descend into the Vent. Merellon Corp has invested heavily in this effort. It might not have even been possible without their backing. Now, on the eve of the Great Descent, agitators have abducted some of the scientific crew slated for this mission. They were taken from within a high security compound. The Chief of CorpSec is missing, presumed detained. The Oversight Committee has opted to bring in some outside talent to get things sorted out. There is evidence that this might have been an inside job. There is also evidence that it might be corporate espionage on the part of a rival Corp. Your team could be hired-on as the outside talent, work for the rival corp as agents provocateurs, be among the anti-Corprist abductors, or maybe you've been contacted deniably/discretely by the Chief who is now in disrepute in order to salvage his reputation or just deliver him from his abductors...and then there is the option that your team might be the back-up crew for the Bathysphere...
5. A Dolphin, K'tik-tik-Ba, has hired your team to escort it to a special function in New Galapagos. High level negotiations with ZanderLal GMBH. Your brief is to keep things as far off the radar of Merellon Corp as possible. The Dophin's Sec-Team did a very good background check on your team, however the Sec-Team opted to use your team despite your previous associations with Merellon Corp. Perhaps you are not the only ones with conflicted loyalties. There is a leak in the info-stream, and the Sec-Team is blaming your team. Who is on what side? What is this Dolphin Agent up to, really? Why did you get picked? Where is this all going?
6. A small group of scientifically-minded utopists from Aldrin are in New Galapagos petitioning the Dolphins to establish an aerostat-commune here on Mattigar. Who'd have a problem with that? Apparently someone vicious. Someone who likes to use Conversion Protocol Wetware to slowly torture their victims to death by incrementally altering their blood into an exotic fluorine-based compound. Two petitioners have died so far. Will you help them?

Guide to Lithus Sector (Links)  |  Intro to Lithus Sector  |   Map of Lithus Sector

Rogue Space Resources

Telajan-A: Aldrin (Lithus Sector)

Telajan (Coord.: 06.01)
Part One: System Overview
Part Two: Inner Zone
Part Three: The Planets
     A) Aldrin
     B) Mattigar
     C) Shelg
     D1) Ju-Hai
     D2) Molat
     E) Saxo-Mara
Part Four: Outer Zone
Part Five: Past, Present, Future Imperfect (Telajan)

The Telajan system has five planets and one moon. No debris belts, no asteroids, no dust, ice or gas intrudes upon the Habitable Zone (HZ) more than a few hundred miles past the Pylons. The Pylons are mysterious, Precursor-built structures that manage and maintain the hyperactive and volatile regions of the Inner and Outer Zones.

Aldrin

Aldrin, is the inner-most planetary body of the system. It is a rocky, warm and wet planet roughly two-thirds the size of Old Earth. The atmosphere and much of the planet's intrinsic ecology was radically altered to conform to a more human-friendly environment approximately 50,000 years ago, according to geological and other evidence.

Aldrin has a day-span of 72 standard hours and an orbital-year that runs to 1,094.8 days. It has no moon, but the night skies are famous for aurora and high altitude electrical storms.

Two-thirds of the surface area of Aldrin is dominated by numerous seas and vast lagoons. Coral atolls and similar submerged substrates account for the majority of all the dry land protruding above Sea Level, with the rest being the product of gigantic undersea volcanoes and in one region the displacement of a continental shelf by what appears to have been a drastic impact more than 75,000 years ago. This massive impact was very likely an extinction level event and shifted Aldrin three degrees off of its original axis or rotation. The Precursors apparently did not re-adjust this deviation for whatever reasons.

The atmosphere of Aldrin is rich with oxygen. So much so that metals tend to oxidize very rapidly. Open flames are extremely difficult to control, often exploding or erupting into shimmering sheets of fast-burning plasma that can spread for hundreds of feet before stalling-out as they consume the available oxygen more  rapidly than it can be drawn in from the surrounding air. A simple spark can cause a terrible explosion. Sealed-systems are standard protocol and most energy weapons or those employing any form of combustion (such as most non-electric slug-throwers) are discouraged. Not banned. Just discouraged. those who insist on using such things here tend to eliminate themselves soon enough so no law or regulation is deemed necessary by the local authorities.

Life on Aldrin

The vast majority of life-forms on Aldrin are of the Protist variety. Aldrin boasts thousands of diverse communities of eukaryotic microorganisms. In fact there have been no non-Protist life-forms in evidence within the established ecology of Aldrin for nearly 50,000 years. The dominant life-form on Aldrin are Plankton, Algae and Cyanobacteria. Vast mats of algae are so commonplace floating upon the seas of Aldrin that it is possible for certain surface-dwelling diatomoids to migrate all the way around the world without ever falling into the water below the mats. 

The densely-packed mats also make traditional forms of aquatic travel incredibly difficult if not impossible, necessitating the development of a number of alternatives, one of the most popular being ultralight Buzzers and a wide array of elegantly decorated aerostats, many of which have gathered together to form linked and tethered composite-communities floating peacefully above the placid green seas of Aldrin. Each community strives to make their respective cluster ever more baroque, stylish or whimsical than their rivals or neighbors. For some of these communities this competition replaces warfare, for others it has sparked wars driven by aesthetic or artistic claims. Originality is much prized within the aerostat communes of Aldrin, but gaudiness will do, especially if it is properly over-gilded, encrusted, layered and or adorned enough...and it is never quite enough...


Beneath the algal mats the seas tend to be mostly shallow, except for a band of steep-walled trenches and underwater canyons running along the planet's original equator. The most active undersea volcanoes tend to be clustered at the poles, and there are indications (unconfirmed as yet) that Precursor mechanisms may be involved in this peculiar distribution. There are several undersea communities consisting of six major domed city-states (most perched on the lip of the deepest trenches or at the peak of extreme undersea mountains), hundreds of small-scale bubble-homes caught-up in the dangling forests underneath the largest mats, and uncountable clouds of nomadic nanoflagellate fleets that tend to be crewed by anarchistic tribes and clans who refuse to cooperate with outsiders on general principles.

Three of the major Domed City-States have extended their dominions deep into the crust of Aldrin by use of hyper-atomic drilling rigs that have established thousands of galleries that extend for miles well beyond the recognized political boundaries of these states, which has led to some political turmoil, tensions and a lot of finger-waving and tongue-wagging, along with the usual calls to action, threats of war, etc. So far this remains at the level of heated discussions, press releases or auto-statements, and drama, which is great for politicians and publishers alike.

There is no central authority on Aldrin, though the Merellon Corporation has a strong presence within the three Domed City-States that claim to not be engaged in extensive crustal excavation efforts. There is evidence that the Corprik PR Teams from Merellon are hard at work covering-up any such efforts within these three domains, but no one has any idea what they might have to gain by such a thing. Merellon Reps and agents have set-up offices and cubicle-farms within two-thirds of the registered communities of Aldrin, but they remain banned from entering the nanoflagellate fleets and their numbers are severely restricted by the aerostat-communes, who require all Corporate agents to register as such and to openly wear appropriate identification as a Corprist. sometimes this is a simple badge or hologlyph, other times it is a ridiculous costume or some other get-up calculated to be both uncomfortable and humiliating. Corprists do not have the usual protections as real citizens within the aerostat-communes. Usually such a situation would lead to a robust market for mercenaries, however due to a quirk of local law, anyone receiving any compensation from a Corporation is considered to have relinquished their independence, and thus forfeiting their rights as a free citizen or guest. The court are clogged with a constant barrage of test-cases, claims and counter-claims both by Corprist shills and Contra-Corprist ideologues.

Six Scenario Seeds for Adventures on Aldrin

1. Off-planet interests have been pumping credit and resources into the tourist economy of the few Aerostat-Communes that have accepted this infusion of outside-wealth and recognition. A local blogger has uncovered what appears to be a trail leading back to holding companies and other fictive entities that might be a cover for Merellon operatives engaged in consciously, maliciously compromising the integrity of these Aerostat-Communes by making them fail their culture's predominant tenet of remaining independent of all Corprist ties. If this is true...it could lead to all sorts of wide-spread hostilities, repercussions and worse, which is why there are those who would do anything to keep this quiet, suppress the truth, eliminate the evidence, as well as other parties who would be inclined to break the story as wide as possible, get the truth out there, regardless of what it might do to those caught up in this tangled web of intrigue. 
2. The Ruthenium Throne of the Clonal Dynasty of LomidastraIII was brought to Aldrin more than a thousand years ago, where it was either sealed away in a deep vault or lost at sea in the course of a terrible battle. rumors and tales regarding the Throne still circulate among the gullible and the greedy across the Sector. It is a notorious, infamous treasure that has cost hundreds of would-be treasure-seekers their fortunes, and sometimes their lives. Professor-Prelate Dulinda Glarra of the Third Datatorial Emirate Enclave of Kaaldu (03.04) is regarded as one of the pre-eminent authorities and experts on the Clonastic Dynasties of LonidastraIII. Her chief rival, and the one other scholar who may have known just a little more about the subject has gone missing. Suddenly. Suspiciously. Professor-Prelate Glarra has been provisionally cleared of wrong-doing in the matter, for now, pending any results of the ongoing investigation. But she's not the sort to just sit back and wait to see what will happen. Professor-Prelate Garra has arrived at Duriss-Kadricky Platform in the Sea of Giskay on Aldrin and she's looking for clues, answers and justice...and she doesn't intend to let anyone get in her way. Not even the team of ex-CorpSec hired-assassins someone has sent after her...
3. A colony of nanoceutically augmented Phocids have taken advantage of the lack of jurisdiction that leaves more than a third of Aldrin's seas and islands unclaimed and outside the direct control of the Domes or any one else. They have established a colony well outside the buoy-marked borders of all the registered states and polities currently recognized as operative, functional and having authority on Aldrin. The Phocids have begun the tedious work of adapting their collective vitaculture and subsidiary systems to the local environment, including the frustratingly slow-going effort to cultivate a salable strain of their usual aquacultural herds and kelp-derived dangle-forests. The recent spate of Red Blooms has cost them a great deal of time and credit. Most think it is sabotage by the Corprists. But a lone technician has uncovered evidence that it may in fact be some sort of response on the part of the local algae itself. The overly ambitious leader of a warmongering sub-faction among the Phocids has seized upon this situation as a route to power. He has already threatened the technician with violence. The technician has in turn approached your group for assistance. It would be disastrous to allow the aqua-fascists to start a brush war with Merellon Corp. Especially since it won't do anything to address the very real threat of what is actually happening deep within the algal mats surrounding the new colony...and what is happening here might very well have implications for everyone else...
4. Why has the leading expert in Coccolithophore systems from the Deep Academy at Lithus Prime (03.05) come to Aldrin? Why are they surrounded by bodyguards and getting chauffeured around by a select group of corporate and other big wigs all on the hush-hush? Is this proof of a Sector-wide Cabal, a glimpse into the operations of a terrible conspiracy, or something even more troubling? Whatever is going on, details are scarce and information at a premium. All your usual sources are quiet. The kind of quiet that speaks volumes about the depth of the reach of whomever is shepherding this operation. With that kind of an invitation, how could you resist?
5. One of your crew has been summoned to a set of coordinates out in the middle of the Cat's Pajama Sea. An old school mate (or were they something...more?) is about to get married to a high-level member of a nanoflagellate craft-clan. She's having second thoughts and jumps ship before you can get properly moored. She claims asylum. If you can get off-planet, you'd best do so. Quickly. Her intended is not a reasonable, nor a forgiving sort. This debacle has landed your team right in the thick of some nasty, inter-clan politics. If you do stay, be prepared for some vicious interpersonal interactions on every level. If you leave...there will be consequences that follow along shortly. The kind that tend to strike in the night, when a suitable opportunity presents itself.
6. An Orəq has arrived at Delmjurrim Dome. They are pleading for the Ensconced Council (a group of Brainiard plutocratic cronies) to cease and desist from further excavatory explorations beneath their Dome. Wild rumors regarding something old and best left alone that sleeps down there have only inflamed the imaginations of the Council and made them all the more determined to keep digging. But it was never about what might be sleeping down there. That was not why the Orəq came here at all. They came here in order to stake a claim on what remains of the galleries after whatever it is down there wakes and leaves. They believe that this is the one Dome that will have the best chances of surviving the coming cataclysm. They're betting their own life on it.

Guide to Lithus Sector (Links)  |  Intro to Lithus Sector  |   Map of Lithus Sector

Rogue Space Resources

Lithus Sector: Telajan (Part Two)

Telajan (Coord. 06.01)
Part Two: Inner Zone Overview
Part One is Here.

Quick Recap: Telajan itself is a Type A White Giant Star, significantly brighter, hotter and more active than most similar stars in its category. But unlike most of its contemporaries, this star is surrounded by a massive cloud of dust and debris that abruptly stops right at the very threshold of the Habitable Zone. The Inner Zone of the Telajan System is a tempestuous, dense circumstellar-morass of dust, which would be more likely around an Asymptotic Giant Star, or around a star still caught-up in the process of developing its protoplanetary nebula. 

The Inner Zone

The Inner Zone is a region of hot dust that ends abruptly at the periphery of the star's Habitable Zone, where a loose belt of orbital pylons built by an unknown civilization contain and control the dust. At least that is if the findings from the three open source probes sent out to examine these Pylons are to be accepted.

Many leading authorities and Academic AIs reject the preliminary findings out of hand as unlikely and contrary to the known laws of physics, leading to an academic free-for-all as every crackpot theorist has come out of the woodwork to fling yet another half-baked argument into the swirling maelstrom of increasingly degraded and bowdlerized data. 

Anti-Corprists have a major source of spurious objections and rapid-fire legal challenges to any and every open effort or attempt to analyze and identify who actually built those Pylons and just what their role might be in this system. The leadership of the Anti-Corprists consider the exploration of the Pylons to be something they can use politically, one way or another, to further their questionable objectives. So far all they have managed to do is to drive all research into the mysteries of this solar system out of the public domain and into the closed labs and private projects of Merellon Corporation. A situation that has made many ask just what is going on. 

Merellon Corporation is engaged in a long term effort to study this system in detail, despite the constant sabotage and interference from outside agitators, anarchists and cultists who make increasingly bizarre, unverifiable claims regarding the Pylons, a supposed Precursor Species, and other such nonsense. What little information is publicly available regarding the Telajan System derives entirely from Merellon Corp.


Which makes sense, really.

Merellon Corporation holds a 93% interest in the Inner Zone of the Telajan system, as well as a 20% share of the Habitable Zone and a full 98% stake in the Outer Zone. They are the single largest vested entity within this solar system. What they do not own, they have tremendous influence over. A fact that the Corprik PR Teams do their best to downplay and dismiss as nothing to concern yourself over. But at the end of the day, this one Corporation remains the sole executive body overseeing the majority of this system's resources...and there are rumors that Merellon subsidiaries are diligently engaged in buying up any and every claim within this system, no matter how trivial, small or inconsequential it might be. This one rumor has set off something of a 'Claims Rush' within the margins of the Inner and Outer Zones where tramp prospectors and other vagabonds have sought to establish themselves in hopes of securing a corporate buy-out.

The effect upon the Habitable Zone has been horrendous and will be detailed in Part Three.

The Pylons

The Pylons are the single most commented upon aspect of this solar system. Very little is actually confirmed or known about them. No one knows for certain who built them, or how, or even really why...though there are a lot of theories regarding that, most of which are pure speculation, hogwash or just plain silly.

One fact that is known keenly is that the Pylons maintain the massive network of overlapping gravitational fields that keeps the hot dust and debris of the Inner Zone out of the Habitable Zone, just as the second ring of Pylons keeps the ice, dust and so forth in the Outer Zone from penetrating the life-bearing region of the system.

Just as nearly every other aspect of this system is hotly debated, questioned and challenged, it is abundantly clear that whomever built the Pylons did so in order to foster and protect the so-called Goldilocks Zone where liquid water forms easily and life has made itself at home.

In light of the ongoing efforts of the Anti-Corprists factions, The Board of Directors of Merellon Corp has authorized several covert, blacked-out missions to both the Inner and Outer Zones of the Telajan System. Despite the stringent safety protocols and usual corporate background screenings, agents from three different extremist factions have infiltrated some of these missions, compromising at least one of them. (See: White Out)

A Few Random Scenario Seeds for the Pylons

• The Pylons exhibit distinct self-repair capabilities. A clandestine researcher working for some undisclosed wholly-owned (and thus disposable) subsidiary of Merellon Corp is quietly recruiting for the sorts of adventurous types who won't be missed very much. His project is completely off the record. He wants to see if he can damage a Pylon using some prototype weapons systems in the hopes of evoking some sort of response. A basic background check will reveal that this is the fifth clone of the researcher to attempt something like this...a fact that certain Anti-Corprist agitators very much want to alert him to, before it is too late. Of course Merellon CorpSec is watching over this asset. They consider it a total win-win scenario: either they get good data on the so far untested weapons, or they capture infiltrators.
• The gravitational fields anchored and curated by the Pylons appear to be a sort of sponge-like structure somewhere between a sponge and a curled fractal. Curiously enough, intricate spiral patterns have been etched deep into nearly every xeno-archaeological site found within the Telajan System. Similar markings have been documented in several other systems including deep within the ruins recently found on Balajang (02.00) and at Kazix (02.01). Where else have these patterns been found? What is the connection? Could there really be some sort of star map or diagram for a type of 'psychic receiver' buried in all of these intricate swirlings, just as some of the less violent cultists and other Believers who are coming to Telajan on pilgrimages or at the behest of dream mentors. Could these symbols really unlock some sort of immaterial alien technology? If it is all just some fabulist fraud, then why have certain of the less flaky proponents of the 'dream machine hypothesis' gone missing or been found dead under suspicious circumstances?
• There are thousands of Pylons just in the belt circling the Inner Zone. So far no one has been able to come up with a definitive census. This may be because the things keep moving, or perhaps there is something to the wild stories of a broken-down dust-skimmer who claims to be the only survivor of a team that was sent out to survey one of the Pylons as part of a Blacked-Out mission that has since been scrubbed from public record. He lost his arm back there, only, he claims, he didn't lose it; it's still attached, it just isn't in the same time/space as the rest of him any more.
• MacReynolds claims to have a holographic map imprinted on his brain by squishy-looking aliens who abducted him nigh onto twenty seven years ago. At least he makes that claim whenever he's seriously drunk. Which is often. Everyone pretty much ignored him or humored him with a little bit of charity once in a while. Then one night he coughed loose a slick, blue dongle that really had been lodged in his sinuses. What other parts of his story are likewise true? Where is he now? What happened to the blue dongle? Where will all this lead?

Shipboard Encounters in Proximity to the Pylons

1. Tramp prospector in a barely serviceable ship is in serious trouble. They tried to drag a sizable chunk of iridium-rich debris into the Habitable Zone from the Inner Zone. They've been experiencing a great deal more drag than they originally calculated or planned on. The drag is increasingly. Slowly. Inexorably. Soon the prospector's ship will be dead in space, and if any of the onboard AI's projections are accurate, they'll start going backwards, even against full thrust. They refuse to release the rock. One of the crew has triggered a distress call. Tensions are high among the six contractors and three vested owner-employees aboard the ship. Systems are failing. Morale is crashing. And someone has decided to make use of this momentary lapse in leadership to settle a few old scores. The first body was just discovered five minutes after the distress call was sent.
2. Sixteen Kliks wide and rapidly expanding, a cloud of metalfoil seedlings stream past as they accelerate to escape velocity. It may be possible to capture one of the things as it passes by your ship. People claim to have done it after all. There are several hundred clips uploaded to the local Net showing how various crews have attempted to do this, but most of these clips look fake. You'll only get one shot at this, so you can't afford to waste too much time scrounging through bad video footage trying to figure out how best to catch a seedling. But if you do succeed...you'll be famous for a few minutes as the proud owners of a larval-stage solar sail that you can either auction off or outfit however you like (or can afford) as a living starship.
3. A cloaked mine just erased a section of your ship's hull. The good news is that your ship's auxiliary systems have the situation under control. The bad news is that there might be 1d6 more of these mines in the immediate area. Who the hell uses such things any more? And why would anyone string a set of these obsolete weapons way out here? Could it have anything to do with the reports of an unregistered slivership prowling about in this region?
4. Crash Alert claxons blare. Some idiot just dumped a CraShell out of Intraspace and it is headed right for your ship. It is blacked-out, unlisted, no transponders, scrubbed of any identification. It appears occupied. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, it fires thrusters and reorients itself on a trajectory your systems project will take it directly on a crash-course for the nearest Pylon. If you do decide to follow it, all your Comms will be jammed by the ECM package that will go live as the CraShell reaches the point of no return. Who is in that thing? What are they doing? How will the Pylon respond?
5. Your transponders are being pinged by the Main Node at the center of a missile-cloud. It doesn't like your current course. You have been warned. Either change your course or it will begin to launch missiles at your ship. Your sensors confirm the presence of antimatter...
6. The Socratic Sodality of Silan has placed a data-relay buoy out here to stake their claim to...oh...never mind. It would appear that the buoy has drifted off-course drastically over the last three hundred sixty seven years. But now that you've stirred its autorepair systems back online it'll soon be on its way to re-stake the (possibly) defunct group's claim on a chunk of rock deep within the Inner Zone.

Six Encounters At/On the Pylons

1. That black bulge over by the far Pylon is moving. It seems to have spotted you, as it is moving in closer quite fast. It is heavily shielded. Your scans begin to crash even as they report military-grade ECM going into effect. Whatever this thing is, it is big, fast and armed for bear and looking for a fight. Right now, you are its target.
2. Less than a thousand Kliks out from the base of the Pylons is a freshly-made crater. Initial indications are that the wreckage billowing out from the impact-point are the shattered remains of a disposable bulk ore scow. It might have been empty when it struck. Or it might have been carrying something looking to use the impact to obscure their tracks. Investigating the wreckage turns up evidence of robotics. Proscribed alien robotics that are not supposed to even exist any more, according to official records. But how did this sort of contraband get here? And why?
3. Six heavily armed mercs from the D-List outfit Ma Turner's Turncoats have just stepped out from under a signal-skipping umbrella. Now that they register on your systems...what do you want to do about it? They don't appear to be immediately hostile.
4. Three Achernarians are huddled together in a small EmergiSphere. Their ship was hijacked while they investigated the Pylon. They claim to have no idea who took their vessel. They also don't have a lot to say about what they might have discovered. They do want to rent time on your CommSystem to contact a 'friend' and request them to come rescue, or rather recover them. The address they use is a hardened blackwared military site. The 'friend' they've signaled is a warship on station just North of the Ecliptic. They'll be here in five minutes.
5. Twelve Anti-Corprist radicals have pooled their resources in order to rent an Orbital Skipper. Usually these things aren't brought this close to the Inner Zone, as they are relatively fragile, civilian vehicles intended for use in-between orbital installations, habitats and cylinders. These radicals have stolen some off-schedule weapons from an unscrupulous but sympathetic alien merchant. They are hunting down a pair of Merellon Corp agents whom they believe are on their way to this Pylon on a mission they have not been briefed about. The radicals feel that they are on a need-to-know-basis, so the less they know, the better they can carry out their missions. There is a base 1 in 6 chance of these gun-happy would-be killers mistakenly identifying someone in your crew as one of the Merellon Agents. There is also a chance that you really do have a Merellon sleeper agent in your midst. Or you might have a member from some rival outfit who is working as an infiltrator, using your crew as a cover, while they work their way into position as part of some long-term plan. Or...
6. Originally there had been twenty contestants. Now, a week later, there are four. Five, if you count the girl in a coma. These people are all unarmed civilians. They're under intense steady-state surveillance as part of a game show being broadcast live across the Net. Smile; you're the newest members of the cast...

Six Encounters Within the Inner Zone

1. Hot dust sleets through the immediate area, stirring up all manner of electromagnetic mayhem in its wake.
2. Gravitaitonal Anomaly: your ship has been displaced 1d6x1,000 miles clockwise around the Inner Zone. Apparently there is no damage, and your ship's systems will compensate for the sudden shift...but how's your fuel or energy reserves?
3. 3d6 boulder-sized bits of random debris tumble by. One of them might contain some potentially useful ore, but the other boulders are seething with highly unstable radioactive isotopes, making any effort to extract tricky and dangerous.
4. Immature metalfoil seedlets have a base chance of 1 in 6 of striking your ship as they roughhouse and jockey for the best place from which to unfurl their reflective surfaces and shoot out across the system to the rich reserves of ice and other such things in the Outer Zone.
5. A huge wavefront of hot dust moves in, scrambling all comms and sensors. 
6. Waves of intense hard radiation boil across your ship as a direct consequence of the birthing of another pod of metalfoil seedlets. You may have just glimpsed an aspect of their life-cycle no one has ever even suspected. But what do you intend to do with the data your systems have collected? Who'd want it? What would they do with it? Do you care?

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Lithus Sector: Telajan (06.01) [Part One]

Telajan (Coord.: 06.01)
System Overview, Part One

Telajan is a Type A White Giant star, larger (nearly triple the mass of Sol) and more vibrant than Altair, Vega or Sirius. There is evidence that there might have been a companion star to Telajan, based upon evidence collected and collated over the last seven hundred years or more...but so far no one has been able to ascertain what happened to it. Stars typically do not just disappear. This system also shows substantial evidence of radical stellar-scale engineering by some as-yet unidentified 'precursor' species*.

IZ

The Inner Zone of the Telajan System is a tempestuous, dense circumstellar-morass of dust, which would be more likely around a Asymptotic Giant Star, or around a star still caught-up in the process of developing its protoplanetary nebula. But then, just as mysteriously, the Inner Region of circumstellar dust ends abruptly at the periphery of the star's Habitable Zone, thanks in large part to a series of gravitational anomalies, what appear to be an elliptical ring of massive pylons that interact with the circumstellar dust, redirecting it, containing it, perhaps even acting as a source for more dust--studies of these structures are inconclusive and disjointed due to the efforts of Anti-Corprists and other out-system agitators and anarchist elements that have been disrupting and sabotaging the efforts of Merellon Corporation to study this system in detail.

HZ

There are five planets within the Habitable Zone. Merellon Corporation claims three of them and has been moving to annex the other two, legally, for the last two hundred years. Their efforts have continually been thwarted by a combination of several species of local home-grown resistance movements (none of which cooperate), and an ongoing influx of outside trouble-makers and mischief-peddlers who find themselves attracted to the lurid allure of fighting the good fight, leading the downtrodden masses, or subverting the Corprists. The very phrase 'Gone to Telajan,' implies a romantic notion of siding with the under-dog and joining the fight against Posthuman Oppression, Transhuman Suppression, and what some anonymous poet has described as a 'Noble, necessary, if likely doomed struggle against the insidiously encroaching forces of dehumanization.' Several very popular vidcasts have likened the situation in the Teljan system as being something akin to the revisionist version of the Spanish Civil War, the Alamo, or the February revolution. One particular netdrama coined the expression 'See You in February,' which has since become a sort of catch-phrase for individuals who have decided to cash-out, withdraw and head to Telajan to join the struggle. Of course the 'struggle' is scrupulously never clearly defined in any such netcast serial, in order to avoid any legal repercussions. Hundreds of these wannabe revolutionaries descend upon Telajan only to find themselves stuck in make-shift favelas and scav-fab slums where they must cobble together their own underground movement using whatever resources or skills they brought with them. Most only had enough credit to make it a one-way trip. Merellon Corporation has invested a great deal of time, money and effort to combat the persistent memes, pernicious nonsense and propaganda circulating across the Sector and beyond, but they cannot stem the tide of idealistic would-be freedom fighters an others drawn to the myth of what Telajan ought to be...

OZ

The Outer Zone of the Telajan System resembles the Inner Zone, only it is a massive disk of dust and ice. Nearly every published study or survey confirms that this region is the remnant of a densely-packed and artificially-maintained Accretion Disk. A series of gravitic anomalies--more of those Pylons--occupy the inner-circumference of the Outser Zone, serving in a similar role as the ones that manage the fluctuating dust of the Inner Zone.

What is Currently Known

Who Built These Pylons?

Merellon Corporation has developed a massively multinode Observational Matrix within the Telajan system. this project is a marvel of combined datascaping, evolutionary network architecture and crowd-sourcing...however the program continually runs afoul of willful sabotage, deliberate mis-entries, and other forms of malicious spamming by the disaffected cells, cliques, cadres and collectives in circulation through the Habitable Zone. A specific, dedicated Department within Merellon Sec-Section has been charged with analyzing the teraflops of data generated by the Observational Matrix Program.

Data Police do not bother with any local disturbances; they focus solely and entirely upon maintaining the unimpeded flow of data and the protection of all Program Assets. Spamming is a capital offense under the Civil Authority in effect upon Aldrin, most of Mattigar, and Shelg.

Recent Developments
Several Departments within Merellon Corporation have taken an interest in events transpiring around the Mov system (05.00). This preoccupation with mysterious events outside the Telajan system has emboldened various entrenched moles, sleeper-cells and other clandestine operatives who have launched dozens of overlapping, often contradictory and uncoordinated attacks, acts of sabotage, protests, pranks, and small-scale insurrections that have claimed entire office-suites for several hours while the agitators and provocateurs hold meetings, elect officers, vote on amending their charters or adopt stern measures to counter creeping irrelevancy and viewer ennui. All these Revolutions are broadcast across the Nets live. Few have gained any real traction. Yet.

Dozens of would-be revolutionary councils have issued hundreds of manifestos, political tracts, brochures, Netsites, and so on. Most of this material is usually caught by the Merellon Corporation's Filters. Most. A slow, relatively minor trickle of crack-pot gibberish has leaked for decades. A few small Infotainment Re-packagers have contented themselves with processing these disparate signals and garbled screeds into low-level programming to flesh-out their community-service mandates on some of the more community-conscious worlds or systems. Pretty lame, tame stuff. Until recently. Some bright-eyed idealist recently arrived to the contra-favelas of Mattigar has managed to up the bandwidth of what gets past the Filters. A lot more stuff is getting through than ever before...

Immediate Repercussions and Subsequent Events
No less than fifteen different mercenary companies have been contacted, contracted and/optioned to come to Telajan to join in the great struggle. Most of the high-end outfits have declined, usually after running a credit-check and discovering that their supposed employers are not registered as authentic governments, nor do they have any real credit available to them. A few less-disciplined (or perhaps financially desperate) units have struck out for Telajan based on the blandishments, promises and rhetoric (read: monetary inducements)  the various revolutionary groups have pitched at them.

Drastically 'revised' and politically-scrutinized documentary footage of the deplorable conditions of the down-trodden masses who are languishing under the chromalloy heel of despotic machine-societies, hypersapiens, or other transhuman or posthuman forces--many entirely fabricated by the revolutionaries in order to best create an environment conducive to their message being received and appreciated.

Several Posthuman societies have recently noticed the peculiar things coming out of Telajan. Some have sent agents, probes or auditors into the system to try and discover just what is really going on.

Other factions outside the Telajan system have begun to make use of the opportunities provided by all the distorted misinformation spewing out from behind the Filters. Digital Demagogues and worse have begun to cut-and-paste, splice and augment the Telajanian transmissions to best suit their own needs.

At least three competing cults have declared Telajan sacred, holy or the Promised Land. One newly-minted Popess has issued a call for a pilgrimage to a wonderful temple on a mountain on an island that does not exist on any of the five planets in this system. Any attempts to rectify or correct this error have met with violence and claims of conspiracy, genocide, and so forth--none of which can be proven, of course, but what is worse, none of which can be dis-proven, either--not without the cooperation of the legitimate Local Authorities...which has now come under catastrophic question due to all the competing, conflicting spurious claims and litigation streaming out from Telajan.

Money, guns and lawyers are pouring into the Telajan System...

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*Popular Contra-Media Outlets frequently assert that the Precursors are in fact known, and that various shadowy and poorly defined conspiracies by vague and ostensibly posthuman elements are holding back the truth regarding all the technological secrets they have gained by way of privatized contracts or illicit dealing with these super-aliens. The more these claims are denied or refuted, the more pervasive and persistent they seem to become.

Lithus Sector: Hex 01.03 (Xokav Incursion)

Hex 01.03

The Xokav are an enigmatic, ancient civilization dominated by a deeply entrenched hierarchical bureaucracy of psychic bivalves. For the most part the Xokav Swarms remain outside the Lithus Sector. For the most part. In Hex 01.03 there is a small CystClave of Xokav in the process of seeding the trailing end of the Dalax Nebula with nanorganic ovomasses with the intent to harvest dozens of bioformed habitats uniquely suited to the Xokav.

Xokav Swarm-sprite

What Is Currently Known
Three thousand years ago the Xokav abandoned all of their Cyst-Creches and CystClaves within the Lithus Sector. This withdrawal was extremely sudden and left behind only massive, empty bio-structures that drifted along dreaming in their lonely orbits. Most of these Bio-Structures have drifted along for thousands of years in peace, their dreams echoing across Lithus Sector on a deep wavelength few other species ever reach except in cases of trauma or highly exotic training.

The dreaming Xokav CystClaves within Hex 01.03 can be sensed as far away as Panj (04.05), Ashlek (01.05) and Allaro (00.06).

Abandoned Xokav CystCreches and other structures have been registered within the solar-system boundaries of Kazix (02.01), Lithus (03.05), and Kallisir (06.05). Unconfirmed reports have been posted for some sort of unexplored Xokav-style free-floating Bio-Structures at Mov (05.00), Pangazzi (03.08), and on the very peripheries of both TRADA (05.08) and Tregio (00.03).

There have also been unconfirmed sightings of ruined, damaged or dead Xokav Cystic Bio-Structures in several of the unclaimed regions along the edge of Lithus Sector abutting the Xokav Swarm Sector. No Xokav bio-Structures have ever been reported or spotted within 2 hexes of The Canopy nor The Eridanus Reach Sectors...though this last claim is now under dispute.

ExoSolar Nomads claim to have witnessed the crash of a Xokav Bio-Structure on an unregistered Dark Body in hex (07.07), but they have not released their evidence at this time, pending the acceptance of a lucrative deal with one of the hyper-competitive media outlets operating out of Lithus (03.05) or Tregio (00.03).

Immediate Repercussions and Subsequent Events
Dreamers, artists, poets and psychics from as far out as Panj (04.05) have been reporting a series of recurring dreams that have grown in intensity and duration over the last few weeks. At first the various disparate local authorities opted to do nothing. Officially. Elected pundits and sanctioned interpreters were nearly completely uniform in their collective efforts to down-play any significance this chain of events might have. the loudest voices calling for investigation into the matter either suddenly shut up, de-listed or dropped out of sight. some of them were undoubtedly 'disappeared.' Unofficially every major government, corporation and faction within the Sector that has any sort of connection or interest to psychic phenomena is in an uproar. Covertly, secretly, behind closed doors and beneath heavy shields they are all engaged in crash programs of various sorts to ascertain just what is going on, and what to do about it. Several cloaked missions have been launched in the hopes that doing something, anything is better than to wait until it is too late.

The Xokav maintain no embassy, no delegation, no representation among any of the Powers or Principalities within the Lithus Sector. They do not recognize any existing species or government currently expressing any sort of territorial or other claim within this region. The Security, Tactical, Military-Industrial complexes of several major solar-states see this as a potential threat to their sovereignty, interests and ambitions. While the Politicos, SpokesAI and Aristos hotly debate things, many would-be Warlords have begun to secretly gear-up for what they believe to be a fierce interstellar war for survival. Special Forces and various high-end operatives, including numerous sleeper cells and frozen assets have been activated and/or recalled, creating even more chaos, distrust and troubles as everything shifts into new configurations and old allies begin to question the existing treaties and opportunities for mischief pop up everywhere.

At first only two or three individuals claimed to speak on behalf of the 'Dreamers.' No two of them share the same messages, nor the same aims, methods or approach to how they receive let alone interpret these 'messages.' The most troubling thing, known only to those who have had the wits and wherewithal to investigate the matter sufficiently and discretely, is that each of these individuals does demonstrate heightened psychic sensitivity, awareness and ability. It is as if they were all being boosted or augmented in some way. Various covert agencies inside and outside of official channels have begun intensive monitoring and observation protocols. At least two 'Speakers' have disappeared, they are presumed to have been taken into custody by one of the more aggressive, less scrupulous agencies. So far the messages distributed by these individuals have been suppressed, scrambled, jammed or re-routed to keep them from reaching the majority of viewers, but this sort of massive multi-system black-out is the largest and most rigorous such effort ever mounted and it is failing. In less than a week, the messages will flood out across the StellarNet. Unless some way is found to effectively silence the Speakers, erase the datasets, or crash the system--an unthinkable, virtually impossible thing to accomplish...or is it? In the rapidly escalating atmosphere of panic behind the scenes, perhaps someone, somewhere is contemplating just such extreme measures...

The recent discovery of a pseudo-organic Bioship of unknown provenance on Xudriss II has stirred-up a great deal of angst among the secret masters of every covert operations services within the entire sector and beyond. Someone managed to re-route an Auto-Brig and hijack a group of deportees or detainees that have since penetrated the Bioship and either destroyed it, made off with it, or carried away extremely sensitive materials or otherwise vital information that simply Cannot Be Allowed to Fall Into The Wrong Hands.

A grad-student in the Xeno-Cryptography Department at the University of Kaaldu (03.04) recently disappeared. So has a  a Teaching Assistant at the University of Kaaldu's Deep Time Photoarcheology Station currently in operation in an Unclaimed Region (Coord.: 02.03). The TA is missing and presumed dead due to circumstantial evidence reported prior to the news blackout initiated by representatives of the University of Kaaldu. This incident may or may not indicate some sort of connection between the Xokav Situation and whatever is happening at Kazix (02.01). The Grad Student set-up a timed-release data-packet through his personal social media hub, a fact that was discovered by freelance Snoopers and made a matter of Public Record prior to the campaign to stifle and silence the so-called Speakers On Behalf Of The Dreamers. No one is clear on just what the Grad Student might have squirreled away prior to their disappearance, but speculation and tensions are running high, if not completely amok. Whatever secret(s) might be contained in that packet, when it drops into the Mass Stream, things are sure to get even more interesting.

In the last two days a strange viral infection has broken out across all those cities and habitats where a Speaker is currently active. After a modest three hour fever the victim's body extrudes a thin membranous flap of translucent living material that functions as a biological data-tablet. Every single one of these data-tablets appear to be synchronized and coordinated into a massively parallel closed network. They are appear to be in the process of accepting a serial download from some unspecified/unverifiable source. Some of those affected have torn the things out by their roots, suffering serious personal injuries. Others have taken it as some sort of a sign either of a religious nature or of alien superiority. Rough estimates calculate that the download will be completed within the next three days. Every Faction, Power, and Interested Party is investigating their options and some rather drastic things have been ordered into effect before getting full approval or backing...

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Lithus Sector Map: Now Available as a Poster

Lithus Sector Map by hereticwerks
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Lithus Sector: Balajang (02.00)

Balajang (Coord.: 02.00)

Balajang is a Nomad Planet that left The Canopy Sector less than 10,000 years ago,on a trajectory that some experts have claimed might take it dangerously close to the Lithus System (03.05) within a few hundred thousand years. No one is in much of a hurry to avert this potential disaster, especially since the Orəq remain skeptical that it will in fact cross-over into the Lithus System enough to have any real impact upon Lithus Prime. Conservative elements within the Glarus Commune on Lithus Prime have begun to issue bonds in order to fund the development and deployment of a long-range collision-avoidance protocol based upon the best designs submitted by teams of contestants and volunteers on a highly rated reality Netcast that combines engineering-under-pressure, improvisational combat and a range of viewer-submitted challenges. The Netcast takes place on the Isle of Zug, which has been cordoned-off by patrols of heavily-armored macrosharks. There are rumors that the producers of the show have been siphoning-off funds for several side-projects, but since they've secured official diplomatic recognition for Zug as an Autonomous Island-State...no one has clear jurisdiction, so most investigations into this matter have been derailed, deterred or discontinued.

What Is Currently Known...
Balajang has been all but forgotten in the wake of the mega-success of the Hammer & Tongs Netcast. Three separate missions have been registered with the Astronomical Analysis & Assaying Office at Tregio (Coord.: 00.03). The first mission was recalled after the shell-corporation backing it went bankrupt during a hostile take-over. The second mission was only able to orbit Balajang twice before having to return to Tregio (00.03) after sustaining massive damage once their ship's Meteor Rejector failed. The third mission was led by the famous Doctor Enrique Galthazzar and his once-fashionable team of Netcasting Xenoploitation Specialists. Team Galthazzar once produced one of the most highly-rated Netcasts available via subscription, rivaling even the Hammer & Tongs Netcast at the height of their popularity. Billions watched breathlessly as the team descended deep within a fog-shrouded equatorial rift-valley to discover a massive complex of cyclopean ruins that included a series of mile-high five-sided pyramids that extended along the rift for over half the diameter of the planet--and some speculated the series of pyramids (re-christened 'pentamids' by the team's publicist), might well entirely circumnavigate the world.

For five days Team Galthazzar conducted a thorough survey of the Rift Valley. A small network of geosynchronous satellites were left in orbit to help secure the Team's livestream IP, register their claim of the site for Speculative Explorations & Exploitation, and to conduct orbital reconnaissance. The satellites were able to map a considerable portion of the incredibly rugged surface of the world but the Team's AI Producers would not release any of that material until after they'd wrung every last bit of drama out of the process. Ratings counted for a lot.

Autoprobes revealed that the Rift Valley site was indeed part of a vast inter-connected system of rifts, crevasses, fumaroles and underground lakes that extended indefinitely. The probes were left on automatic and pretty much forgotten, their encrypted and scrambled  reports trickled in to the central on-site datahub where the Team's AI processed it all into something presentable to the folks at home. But few viewers were interested over-much in the weird geology and rock formations surrounding the site, even if they might actually form some sort of belt all the way around the world. People were curious, intrigued, even smitten with the Ruins. Fans demanded that the Team go in and explore the site right away.

Probes were sent in ahead of the Team. But no one wanted to watch probes. That was considered boring.

So Team Galthazzar compiled all the very latest data, synchronized their GIS mods and boldly went into the Rift Valley Ruins. They recorded seven hours of stock footage and did a preliminary assessment of the site. They had located the entrance to what they were now calling Pentamid 3. The next day Team Galthazzar disappeared while exploring Pentamid 3.

The Team's support-AI crashed or were knocked offline but the cameras still recorded everything and the probes still reported in to the datahub. There just wasn't anyone on-site to access it, interpret it or to release it to the Net. And that was what killed the Team's Netcast. No new footage meant no new episodes and ratings plummeted. In the cut throat world of Netcast explortainment you either broadcast or perished. With the total cessation of all signals from the Team after they entered Pentamid 3 on Balajang, their entire Netcast empire has crashed. Backers have moved on to other infotainers and actual projects, those that haven't been tied-up in the courts or bankrupted by the sudden default of the Team and the predatory actions of the Insurers and creditors who stripped things down to the most minimal assets.

Other groups have taken their place and the sponsors have (mostly) abandoned Team Galthazzar to their fate. Sure the disappearance of Team Galthazzar was a mystery, but all the legal turmoil and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of their disgraced and dismantled management left them in a sort of limbo. No one remembers Doctor Livingstone or King Tut any more, but they do recall something about a team of exploiters lost beneath a pyramid on some godsforsaken world without a sun. Most of them just wonder why anyone would ever go to such a planet in the first place.

Immediate Repercussions and Subsequent Events
Quite a lot of Team Galthazzar's back-up equipment and legacy systems are to be found on various online auction sites.

There are a few hardcore fans of Team Galthazzar. Some scour the Nets looking for clues to some deep, dark conspiracy that they know was behind the disappearance of the Team, others just like to dress-up as their favorite Team members or produce fan fiction or build holo-dioramas of the Team's greatest finds. One of the more fringe-ward of these Fans, Jonn Sitchinson, who operates from his aunt's basement in Pleasant Valley on KII in the Kaaldu system (03.04), claimed to have discovered the smoking gun, the holy grail of Teamers everywhere: Evidence Of The Conspiracy. Unfortunately for Jonn, the 'evidence' he has discovered has in fact opened-up a forgotten back-door into a dead operative's secret cache of dirty secrets. Everyone connected to Jonn Sitchinson is beginning to disappear or die. Unfortunately for the Team, all this clandestine turmoil brought about by one of their Fans has brought altogether far too much covert scrutiny to bear upon the disappearance of Team Galthazzar. Each faction and service monitors everyone else's interest in the mystery surrounding the Team. Some have begun to release disinformation, others have tried to expunge all public access records, all in a desperate attempt to prevent their rivals from learning anything significant that their own analysts might have overlooked or missed. One major Intelligence Service, upon discovering all the activity going on surrounding the missing Team has initiated a secret mission to Balajang to get to the bottom of the matter once and for all. Several smaller agencies have instead opted to insert mines or pickets of deniable drones into orbit around Balajang. The whole situation continues to escalate as each group reacts to what everyone else is doing, is suspected of having done, or might do if no one stops them...

There are rumors of a live vidfeed still streaming out from Balajang. The team left a lot of equipment including a few high-end Automonitors in-place at their point of entry. Four of the Team's original set of satellites, customized decommissioned military-surplus recon-drones are still in orbit, taking readings, mapping the surface and demarcating the legal limits of the team's xenosite claim. Spurious mock-docs and outright hoax footage continue to get released via subculture-forums, Fansites and public vid-distribution services. So many fraudulent and low-quality 'non-transmissions' have been released in the wake of the disappearance of Team Galthazzar that the creation and release of such fake footage has become a genre unto itself. Only the footage posted by KM1818 seems to be legitimate. Even the most accomplished and respected debunkers and skeptics have not been able to find fault with this stuff. But no one knows who this person really is as they are incredibly paranoid and possibly have some sort of Black Ops background. Apparently they weren't paranoid enough. Your group is receiving encrypted pleas from KM1818 requesting your help...

Burt Graham, a third-rate Xenoploitation Auteur has recently found an anonymous backer. Graham has begun to buy-up all the available records and transcripts left behind by Team Galthazzar. He claims that he feels that he is their peer and comrade, not a rival, but he is continually denounced by Fans and several of the more excitable Fans have taken it upon themselves to sabotage Graham's efforts by selling him deliberate forgeries and faked materials in the hopes of derailing his efforts to legally acquire a majority share in what remains of the Team's corporate structure. It's a long shot, and an elaborate exercise in legal maneuvering, but Graham intends to gain legal access to the Team's assets and authority to assume control over the site on Balajang. No one is certain just who is behind Graham, nor where his funding is really coming from...

A transmission bearing authentic Team Galthazzar signifiers was partially received before Black Satellites around Balajang jammed it. It is...or was...a distress signal.

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