Zin

The Zin system is a stellar time bomb with a very long fuse.The blue star Zin is a markedly F1 star - as the star nears end of its life, it's intense solar flare activity grows slowly stronger. Roughly every 67 days, solar flares engulf the star for 13 days in the period that system natives call the Burn.

Until the star goes nova, Zin system will remain the richest mineral deposits territory. Space industries and mining companies have set up an impressive colony in a relatively short time. The vast majority of Zin's immense mineral wealth remains unclaimed, though many spacers stake informal claims, mine it and process it before anyone notices.

Zin bathes its inner system with a high level of radiation. The ring of space that's warm enough to support a habitable planet is too dangerously radioactive for most sentient species to endure without special equipment.

The closest planet to Zin is **Delphin**, a sandy husk with an atmosphere of carbon monoxide and carboryl vapor. Its sole importance today is the Land's View terraforming station, the most ambitious and long-term terraforming operations in explored space. **Sperous**, a hellish planet cloaked in clouds and blanketed in intense heat, gives Venus of the Sol system a good name. It's home to nothing and no one; even exploratory probes rarely reach its acidic surface. However Sperous does boast a moon, **Alaundril**, capable of supporting life. **Atlas**, a cold rock-planet and the **Cyra belt** close out the inner system; the gas giant **Pox** and its many small moons lie beyond.

## Delphin

At a mean distance fo only 80 million kilometers from Zin, Delphin is a scorched and irradiated chunk of metal. The planet's steady rotation and moderately thick atmosphere allow the entire planet to experience Zin's warm gaze. Indeed, while the planet retains an atmosphere, its extreme heat and poisonous atmosphere make life here nearly unbearable. The high radiation makes most pilots think twice before landing, especially during the *Burn*. Buried deep below the surface, heavy metals might lure desperate miners if the **Cyra Belt** didn't present an easier target.

There's nothing on the Delphin's surface but sand, making overland travel a treacherous task. Delphin is also known for its wild sandstorms, with winds frequently reaching speeds of 450 kph. If that weren't enough, volcanic rifts and seas of iron carbonyl make Delphin the sort of world that no sane sentient would visit.

### Land's End

The terraformers lead by Dr. Andrew Tofske, have been hard at work trying to make Delphin a nice place to live. It's one of the most daunting terraforming efforts that has ever been tried and many question StarMech's good sense in attempting it. The project started 5 years ago and the station currently holds 350 inhabitants - mostly scientists.

## Sperous

One of the mysteries of the Zin system, this planet is forever cloaked in thick clouds and ripped by fierce winds.Its intense atmospheric pressure is fatal to anything that enters its confines, which has further restricted the information available on the planet. A few robotic probes and drones have weathered the extreme environment to provide reports on Sperous's surface conditions, with no much success. Between the intense heat and the immense pressure, nothing manmade has had muck luck surviving on the planet's surface.

### Goliath

Goliath is a gas mining station that is hovering above Sperous's surface, thanks to gravity induction engines technology.It's a fairly large facility owned by StarMech Industries, that is mostly stable amid the planet's wild winds. The typical tour of duty lasts about six months; few workers renew their contracts, despite generous incentives.

Gas mining is hard work, and there's normally little trouble on board the base. A handful of scientists spend their time aboard Goliath dropping probes into the murky interior of Sperous. Most of them are attempting to map the surface of the planet. No more than 200 people ever live aboard Goliath, at any one time, even though its capacity is more than 500. Living conditions are poor, lighting is dim and the base's instability makes many wonder how they will survive six months of such tossing and tumbling about.

### Sperous's Satelites

**Cornis** is an airless rock, peppered by craters and not even promising enough to attract miners. **Testament** is just as barren, but has become home to a few hundred colonists. They're relatively new arrivals, setting up their base on the moon and arranging for periodic supply shipments from **Alaundril**.

## Alaundril

Of the three moons that orbit **Sperous**, only **Alaundril** can support life. As the seat of planetary power and resources

in the system, Alaundril is a vital link to the New Hades galaxy cluster. It's also the closest thing the system has to a refuge from Zin's radioactive fires. Alaundril's hot, rocky surface, its glittering golden sands, and it's dark mountain ranges don't welcome visitors. At first glance Alaundril seems to be another lifeless victim of Zin's tremendous radiation.

Surface scans show small settlements across the surface and the planetary capital of Babel is unmistakable, its golden towers apparent in all but the worst weather. Blue laser beacons and radio transponders guide all vessels toward the landing platforms of **Babel**.

### Babel

Located in a rocky basin near the equator, the metropolis of Babel is a sprawling city. The city's original urban planners divided Babel into districts; today the focus of each district has wavered due to the city's rapid city growth since 2497.

To the northwest lie immense factories and the Ion Production shipyards. Southeast, on a large outcropping, rest the Foundingstones, home of the wealthy elite. West and southwest are military bunkers and government landing pads, the old heart of the city. East is the business district and northeast are common homes. Slums consume the northern ward and south lie colleges, research facilities and recreational parks.

Babel is a civilized enclave, not some lawless anarchy. Carrying guns in public is illegal, except for police officers, SU soldiers, or authorized mercenary troopers.

## Atlas

Atlas is a cold and lifeless rock in space, well outside the star's habitability zone. Without an atmosphere to protect it, Atlas suffers the full force of Zin's radiation despite its greater distance. In some systems Atlas might have become a home to sentients in a domed and controlled society. In this system there's no real need for such measures.

Atlas has been settled anyway. A group of radical Externalists set up a colony in 2420, seeking privacy and freedom. They soon found seven sites indicating the presence of a previously unknown civilization. Archaeological expeditions began a few years after news of the discoveries reached the academic circles and led to the *Augustine's* arrival in 2427. Forty years after the *Augustine* disaster, the planet's mysteries attract more interest than ever.

Today the original dig site is well guarded and researched. The *Danwin site,* named for the *Augustine's* lead researcher, has been thoroughly examined. Nothing there has explained the origin of the planet's previous inhabitants, or even their precise nature: The unknown aliens could either live in vacuum, or have arrived as colonists. To investigate the civilization, hundreds of privately funded operations have sprung up and have established bases scattered over Atla's surface. Furthermore the Externalists colonies trying to undermine the excavations with frequent equipment sabotages, demonstrations against the researchers and threats.

### Nova Station

The largest satelite around moonles Atlas, Nova Station is gigantic. As the largest fixed space station in New Hades, it's home to about 5,000 personnel. Most of the station's citizens are StarMech employees who have been relocated in the last few years.

The station acts as a communication center for the system and as a relay for galactic communications. As one of only five drives within New Hades space, Nova's drivesats are necessary for any communications to or from Milky Way. TaskCor Communications is a branch of StarMech Collective that won the contract to administer system and interstellar communications.

Nova Station also serves as the instrument of StarMech private army. StarMech military vessels patrol the station's surrounding sector and to protect the relay from any possible pirate threat.

## Cyra Belt

The resources of the Cyra Belt fuel the Zin economy. Not a day goes by without Alaundril welcoming the arrival of one or more cargo vessels coming in from the belt. Their cargoes are quickly bought, processed and fed into the industrial maw of titans such as the Ion Production shipyards. But the legal status of the miner's claims remain muddy. If anything, claims to the Cyra Belt have become more arcane than ever.

Alaundril more or less gave up on effectively administering the claims soon after the first colonial tsunami and the arrival of StarMech Collective. The SU Ambassador Dmetri Demerot has made reorganization of Cyra mining a priority. The thousands of miners with claims have been variously denying StarMech's right to the belt, pleading for Alaundril to intervene and quietly petitioning StarMech officials to recognize their individual claims. Though Alaundril publicly claims jurisdiction, privately it leans to Sol Union for help.

Except from rock claim problems, Cyra Belt adventurers have to face the numerous pirate attacks and defend their cargoes and their lives. NH Emporium is taking matters into its own hands by signing a huge contract with the Orion Star Service.

### Darkhold

Once Darkhold was home to fine repair yards and a ship base second to none. When the better equipped Nova Station began operation in 2380, this demanded that Darkhold change its focus. Darkhold agreed to Nova's demands, closing down its ship facilities and altering its orbit from a solar-orbiting free station to a base on one of the belt's larger asteroids. It also expanded its entertainment facilities, serving contract miners operating on Cyra Belt. For decades, Darkhold provided bored Cyra workers with comfortable homes, bawdy entertainment and other amenities designed to keep them content.

StarMech's presence has upset the balance at Darkhold. StarMech have brought slick new holos, new drugs and robots. As a result, Darkhold has lost the revenue that servicing the spacecraft and their crews would have provided.

Darkhold has neither the resources nor the organization to resist StarMech in the long term. Ownership of the station and its asteroid is a murky issue, with more than a dozen Darkhold based corporations and mining groups tracing claims that date back to a century. Recently, a StarMech mining ship destroyed from collision damage and many accuse the Darkhold council for wild and unconsidered actions of not helping the ship with its guidance systems.