Schatten Star System

Earth Designation

22 Cygni

Location

1202 ly from Earth
1113 ly from Markab Star System

Star

Class B5IV
Blue Sub-Giant

Habitable Zone

Between 1.14 AU and 4.613 AU

Affiliation

None

This curious system exists inside one of the largest spacial rifts on record. It consists of five planets total and a single yellow star. The star itself has an extremely strong magnetic and subspace field and produces a large array of gravitational anomalies that move through the star system in spheroid orbits. Each disturbance effects the orbit and position of the disturbances near it. Navigation through the system is thus hazardous at the best of times.

Conventional transit into and out of the star system requires passing through the barrier surrounding the star system, which is a major navigational hazard. Vessels traveling at warp will have to drop out of warp and pass through the barrier, and may need to let their momentum carry them through. Methods such as using a jump gate, Stargate, gravitational displacement, and dimensional folding are all able to bypass the barrier and jump directly into the star system. In the case of travel using DFD (Dimensional Fold Drive), it requires a skilled pilot to plot an exit point from folded space in the correct location within the star system.

Those using GDD (Gravitational Displacement Drive) are provided specific coordinates by operations on Blazing Umbra Station for jumping into the star system. There is also a jump gate within the system and a Stargate in the Nysa Facility.

Facilities

The star-system has a number of facilities available in the system.

• Blazing Umbra Station (Orbiting Schatten III)
• Wandering Mallard Facility (Automated Repair Facility built into the Soterian moon Wanderer)
• Schatten Jump Gate (Orbiting Schatten III)
  • Warp Drive and Hyperspace are incompatible any vessel must vent all drive plasma prior to entering hyperspace.
• Schatten Supergate
• Automated Mining Drones (Throughout the Asteroid Belt / Schatten IV / Schatten II)
• 16 Automated Platform Stations in the Asteroid Belt
• Avali Colony (Schatten V)

Asteroid Belt

An extremely dense asteroid belt lies between Schatten II and Schatten III. The asteroids themselves contain a good number of useful but not wholly lucrative ores. Due to the unstable nature of the asteroid orbits, it is suggested as automated drones scan and do what mining is possible. There are also a number of asteroids with highly radioactive isotopes putting off major interference, they are tracked as navigational hazards.

Planets

Schatten Prime

Classification

C

Distance

0.7 AU

A solid rock world with a core composed of a mix of lead and a variety of radioactive isotopes. There is no life on this world, nor can it support life due to the intense radiation present. The planets orbit is elliptical for an unknown reason causing enough changes in gravity that tidal forces cause extreme tectonic shifts. Due to the planets extremely heavy core and large size it does retain enough pressure and gravity to have liquid water along with a thick atmosphere of exotic gases.

Leere

Orbital Period

5 Earth Hours

There is one satellite, Leere, which is even more effected by the tidal forces that trouble the planet. Continuously in tectonic upheaval with a thin crust and molten core. The cores composition is similar to the planet, mostly composed of liquid lead but with a mix of highly radioactive metals. Its orbit around Schatten Prime is erratic, likely due to anomalies shifting the gravitational field while it orbits.

Schatten II

Classification

C

Distance

1.2 AU

A very small rocky world with no atmosphere composed of heavy metal ores but with trace amounts of most minerals. This planet also has a very strange orbit but one less effected by gravitational shifts. It has a thin system of twisted rings which surround the planet, mostly composed of frozen small-chain hydrocarbons.

Schatten III - Soteria

Schatten III

Classification

M

Distance

3.1 AU

Size

Approx. Radius of 12756 km (2x Earth)

Orbital Period

1533 Earth Days (4.2x Earth)

Rotational Period

89 Earth Hours (3.7x Earth)

This is a nearly idyllic world for humans. There is no intelligent life on the planet, but many known species of plant and animal life are found there. The planets atmosphere is nearly identical to Earth, but a bit richer in Oxygen content. The only reason the name of the planet is known is that due to the only artificial structure on the planet surface, a small monument in an alien language. The language fits similar writings to many proto-languages of different worlds but has yet to be properly decoded in full. Researchers were able to make out the planets name to be Soteria. Efforts to translate the symbols and discover the reason for the monument are ongoing. The Blazing Umbra Station orbits this planet.

The planet shows some unusual properties, namely the presence of byproducts of protomatter being found throughout the ecosystem. These byproducts are now inert and pose no threat to life but it does indicate the protomatter was somehow present or involved in the planets formation. This also fits with geological surveys which place the planets age as being somewhere in the 2-3 billion years old age, which is far too young to have developed the forms of life present on the planet. It is possible the planet could be the result of a Genesis Device having been used to create it in its current state.

The Nysa Facility was built on the planet surface to facilitate study of the planet as well as provide support for the Blazing Umbra Station.

Soteria Alpha

Size

Radius of 2373 km (2.2x Luna)

Orbital Period

34 Earth Days / 9.2 Soteria Days (1.21x Luna)

Rotational Period

42 Earth Days / 11.3 Soteria Days (1.5x Luna)

The planet has a single moon, about the size of Earth's moon only slightly smaller. The moon is highly active geologically and quite hot. The moon's intense geomagnetic field interacts with the magnetic field of Soteria causing a robust protection from solar and subspace radiation.

Schatten IV

Classification

I

Distance

5.3 AU

This planet is made up of gaseous ammonia, methane, and ice with a probably small rocky core. It has a much thicker than average ice layer in the atmosphere than the mean average for a Class I planet. The ice layer is deep within the ammonia/methane upper atmosphere. There are six automated processing stations in orbit around this planet with collect heavy water (deuterium) from the ice-layer for use in fuel of Solas Tempus. In a higher orbit a deuterium refinery which is capable of utilizing subspace energy from nearby distortions to convert a portion of the deuterium to anti-deuterium for antimatter fuel. Due to the unstable nature of the region, the station still relies on antimatter supply shipments from the Saffron Consortium provided largely by the Markabian Mining Confederation, though a fair portion does come from other nearby sources.

Schatten V

Classification

P

Distance

7 AU

A tectonically unstable volcanic world, though due to its distance from its sun, the world is bitterly cold. Liquid and frozen ammonia are common on the surface and in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is unusually thick though the world appears very young (500 million to 1 billion years old). This is quite the paradox, as the rest of the system appears to be quite old. Samples of the planet also show the remnants of protomatter at some point in the planets formation. Research indicates this world could, in fact, be a failed attempt to use a Genesis Device.

Avali Colony

An Avali colony has been granted permission to be built on this planet.

Ort Cloud / Barrier

The subspace anomalies within the system seem to be either caused by or contribute to a massive distortion field in the star system's Ort cloud. The distortion field is what makes it incredibly difficult to transit in and out of the system and blacks out sensors, shields, and communications upon entering. Though most of the time there is no lasting damage, there is a 1 in 4 chance that a major system will suffer some kind of damage and become completely inoperative.