Editing Accretion: A Diaspora Campaign (section)

===Torch (T-1 to T1)===

The Torch system is named for its primary, a massive B-type star. Its habitable zone stretches from approximately 16 to 40 AU and supports five baseline-habitable worlds and another two marginally habitable worlds in orbit around three gas giants in the habitable zone.  

It is almost certain that these worlds were terraformed by the Ancients as a vanity project before they transcended. Once Torch exits the main sequence, these worlds will all be destroyed (a problem that is at least 250,000 years away).

Torch's unpredictable slipknot outages, the system's terrific size, and climate of lawlessness make the system very difficult to traverse. Moreover, the system occupies a critical choke point. A substantial portion of the cluster is trapped behind the Torch knot and is relatively isolated as a result. Torch is plagued by piracy due to its strategic location. Despite the risks, a great deal of traffic passes through the systems. The system's rival nation states and wildcat colonies are also in a state of perpetual war.

The majority of polities on Torch are T-1 but a handful of foreign powers and independent conquerors have carved out more technologically advanced states or enclaves, profiting off the system's constant wars by selling advanced technology to the belligerents or protection to passing merchant vessels. Unsurprisingly, the system is also home to several powerful drug cartels and the capital of at least two cluster-wide pirate outfits.      
 
Conditions on the system's five terraformed worlds vary widely but each is among the most habitable worlds in the cluster, paradises if only they were located anywhere else.