Astarte/0708 The Void/Auzhan Sector

Astarte is an independent world in The Void subsector of the Auzhan Sector within known space. It has a class C starport, with only unrefined fuel available. Reasonable repair facilities are present. Astarte is approximately 14,400km in diameter. Has a dense tainted atmosphere. 90% of the worlds surface is covered in water. The world has native life, but no native intelligent life. Population is approximately 4 million. The world is governed by an impersonal bureaucracy. Current laws forbid ownership and use of body pistols, explosives, poisons, energy weapons, military automatic weapons and light assault weapons. Current technology is roughly equivalent to mid to late 19^th century earth.

In any given fortnight, Astarte will see 8 to 9 ships visit the system. Among them will be 1-2 Free Traders, usually 3-4 Subsidised Merchants, maybe 1 Patrol Cruiser, 1-2 Pirates and maybe 1 Yacht.

Astarte’s atmospheric taint, is a curious one. While it isn’t harmful, it has a very noticeable affect on humans, and only humans. One can see the effects immediately upon arrival on the world. Every human living on the world has bright blue skin. Visiting humans can avoid this pigment change by wearing a filter mask, or if they wish to blend in, they can forgo the mask and their skin will gradually change colour over a 24 hour period. The pigment change is commonly referred to as “Astarte Syndrome” and for most visitors is temporary, with skin colour gradually returning to normal in about a week. However in rare cases the blue pigment becomes permanent (roll 2d6 for 12 exactly), what causes this is, as yet, unknown. For Astarteans, the blue pigment is permanent, so too for any human born on Astarte, whose parents were/are not protected from Astarte Syndrome by filter masks.

Most Astarteans live on the only available land on Astarte, an archipelago of islands which forms a sort of belt around the equator of Astarte. Fortunately the equatorial region sees few of the really big storms that frequent the northern and southern oceans.

Living on islands the Astarteans are limited somewhat in their resources, with some deficiencies retarding development of certain technologies. For example, they do not have access to vast quantities of wood for shipbuilding, and therefore are still at an earlier stage of sea travel. This has not stopped them from becoming great mariners, but it has slowed down their development of sea travel technologies. While Astarteans practice agriculture and a little light industry (handcrafted mostly), they rely heavily on the sea for most of their needs. Ruled by a King, Astarteans are actually governed by the Royal Bureaucracy, which shelters and isolates the king from the general population, administering the kingdom with some input from the king and little or no input from the populous. While ostensibly a single world government, the Royal Bureaucracy is opposed by two factions, both of whom are dubbed pirates by royalists. One faction is seafaring and another is skyborne. The Searovers or Southern Pirates are great mariners, who live mostly on their large seagoing canoes/rafts, with a few isolated islands as refuges. The Skyborne or Sky Pirates are said to live in the sky, travelling in hot air balloons and dirigibles, although some believe they have an island refuge somewhere in the Northern ocean. These two groups seek to overthrow the existing government, for different reasons of course. The Skyborne are led by a rival branch of the royal family and seek to substitute themselves for the ruling line, while the Searovers are led by a group of sea captains, who wish to remove the bureaucracy from power, and let the king rule, as kings did in the past. There are rumours that one of these sea captains has royal blood also.

From Astarte there are six known jump routes. They are Jump 1 to Moni, Oberon, Tandi VII, Varda and Fixte, Jump 2 to Sarozand, and there are no known Jump 3 or 4 routes.

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Referees: Careers available on planet include Army, and Other. Off-world careers include Navy, Marines and Merchants. Prospective scouts should travel to Moni to enlist.

Wargamers: Military strength is approximately ten battalions. I originally thought of using Eureka Miniatures' Tlingit North American Indian range of figures because they could easily be broken down into different factions based on the type of armour they wear. But referees could use any range or combination of ranges of 19th century type miniatures. Additionally referees could choose a true 15mm range, with the shorter height being due to the supposed heavier gravity of a larger world. Even better if they are a little chunkier than your normal ranges of figures.