Archas System

The Archas System is a major system in the Spider Nebula in Florathel, across the Starless Expanse from Tairane and the ruins of Pecay-Po. Standing as the capital and most populous system of the Republic of the Spider Nebula, Archas is among the most important systems in the Lareas region.

The Archas System is centered around a brown dwarf star, Archas. The system is most notable for its only habitable planet, Angertharke, which is the capital planet of the Republic of the Spider Nebula and the homeworld of the Ornali species. This world outshines all others in the system, and many outside the system do not even know about the other planets. Currently, there are four planetary bodies in the Archas System, all of which orbit within 2 AU of Archas itself.

## Architecture

The architecture of the Archas System is relatively simple, with all planets following circular orbits around their star, and the vast majority of them existing in orbital resonance with each other. The system contains four planetary bodies, **Marnaltharke**, **Angertharke**, **Dalair**, and **Archer**. Beyond these stars is a thick belt of debris known as the Sellin Belt, composed mainly of ice. Beyond the Sellin Belt exists a sparse cloud of material referred to as the Limit Cloud, which extends almost a quarter of a light-year away from the center of the system. The system is filled to the brim with various debris and stations, some of which comes from the destruction of Marnaltharke in the Forever War.

## History

The Archas System was formed in the outskirts of the Spider Nebula when the Starless Expanse was much larger, 2.4 billion years ago. It began its life as an M-type brown dwarf, indistinguishable from a similar-temperature star. However, it gradually cooled down, and life took hold on Angertharke. This life rapidly evolved over the intervening eons to become the Ornali, spreading across the planet. The species soon grew beyond Angertharke, with a mess of independent bickering colonies across the Archas System soon unifying into the Republic of Archas, which sent colonies to neighboring systems like Alnert, Razell, and Krezaphon. This continued on for quite some time as the Ornali expanded across Lareas and built megastructures in the system. The trade relationship with Haralza allowed the nation and system to flourish in great wealth until Haralza's invasion at the hands of the Kormin Empire.

The invasion of Haralza that kicked the entire Lareas region into war duly dragged the Archas System into it as well. Marnaltharke was blasted to pieces by a Kormin fleet, taking out a large chunk of the system's population. Due to its state as a near-frontline system, Archas is severely battered, with its population dwindling rapidly as civilians evacuate to the farther reaches of the nation. Today, Archas remains an important symbol in the hearts and minds of the Ornali, and it has never been successfully conquered by any of the other nations.

## Planets

Marnaltharke - **Fear Factor**

Brief Description
Marnaltharke was the first planet in the Archas System. Before terraforming, it was a small selena world, with the day side covered in vast deep crater fields and the night side covered in a thick crust of ice. However, after terraforming, the atmosphere thickened at an alarming pace, reaching over two hundred atmospheric pressures. The planet was later inhabited by vast numbers of cities floating in the clouds, but the planet was destroyed by the Kormin Empire when they constructed a Nicoll-Dyson beam surrounding the wolf-rayet star Alnert A, in tandem with a similarly brutal assault on the Narenna Dyson Swarm. This marked the most deadly single event in the Forever War's long history.

Angertharke - **Devastated Homeworld**

Brief Description
Angertharke is the current innermost planet in the Archas System, the capital of the Republic of the Spider Nebula, and the homeworld of the Ornali species. Angertharke is the most famous world in the system, with the other two planets being utterly ignored relative to this world. However, over the course of the Forever War, the planet has been devastated, with the front being less than five light-years from the system at times. Because of this, its population has decreased to less than a billion people, a very low population for a capital world, and the government has become more mobile, constantly moving around to locations farther away from the front.

Dalair - **Ringed Behemoth**

Brief Description
Dalair is the largest planet in the Archas System, and the second most populous. It orbits at roughly twice the distance to Angertharke, and has two major moons. Just like the rest of the system, Dalair has been devastated by war, with the region of space surrounding it littered with debris from destroyed habitation stations, which has gradually congealed into pretty rings. Because of the devastation, Dalair's population has shrunk to less than 30 billion people in its entire sphere of influence, with their cities lowered to positions beneath the clouds for protection.

Moons
Dalair has two major moons:

* Paral
* Goresi

Archer - **Cold and Red**

Brief Description
Archer is the final planet in the Archas System, and the second largest. It orbits far beyond the other two planets, at roughly 1.7 Astronomical Units from the star. Because of this extreme distance, it is very cold, and does not have a very high population. Archer is also used as a secret research facility, and most of its population is engaged in researching ways to defeat the Kormin juggernaut, and cannot communicate with citizens offplanet to preserve secrecy.

Moons
Archer has only one known moon:

* Erax