Accretion: A Diaspora Campaign

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Worlds

Tepec (T1.5)

A warm but almost dark world orbiting a brown dwarf called the Mouth of God. The brown dwarf's emissions are concentrated in the infrared--the brightest point on Tepec is no brighter than a moonlight night on Earth. Tepec is tidally locked to its parent but a thick atmosphere and rapid rotation around its primary equalize global temperatures. Nevertheless, the dark side of the planet is covered in a massive ice cap. The light side is a dry savannah of jet black grass. The fixed terminator is a wet, jungle-like tangle of massive-shrubs that thrive in the low gravity.

The Mouth supports almost a dozen major moons and several hundred minor bodies. Major impacts are alarmingly common. The system is a rich source of any element a space-faring civilization might require.

Tepec's totalitarian world government took power with the help of clandestinely-imported weapons technology in the wake of a near-extinction-event-level impact. The Reunification is a minor space power and has surprisingly friendly relations with a number of smaller and more isolationist systems throughout the cluster--Tepec is a very important check on the expansion of the wealthiest and most agressive polities in the cluster. Despite this, defectors (astonishingly) report that ordinary citizens are entirely unaware of the rest of the cluster and their government's status as a space-faring power. Naval personnel and state-sanctioned merchants are exiles from their homeworld, never permitted to return.

While The Reunification leaves no room whatsoever for dissent, it has created a reasonably stable society that has lasted more than a century against great odds. While information is scarce, defectors indicate that citizens planet-side do not want for food, medical care, or other essentials and live better than many citizens in T-1 polities. Of course, radios, televisions, and most other electronic devices are categorically forbidden. The Reunification endorses a monotheistic sun-cult, but the government holds itself out as largely secular.

Foreign merchants are permitted to cross the outer system (at least 2 AU from the Mouth) with a military escort (this may require waiting in a parking orbit for some time while a convoy forms). Traffic passing through the system is not generally stopped or inspected and Tepec does not officially enforce any customs laws. Tolls are below average, and because of the system's small size, most traffic passes through quite quickly. Any deviations from space traffic control instructions are met with deadly force without warning or exception.