Firewatch System

The **Firewatch System** is a Drift-rich Centran system at the edge of the Tantalus Cluster.

## Description

Bathed in the red glow of its primary star, the Firewatch System was one of the last systems to be colonized by humans in the Tantalus Cluster. Firewatch features some of the richest Drift mines and most productive industrial centres in the entire cluster. As such, the system is famed for its export of metals and Drift. Unconventional artwork and its potent Firewatch Whiskey are similarly hallmark products of the system. Following its colonisation, the system became a cultural project for the Centrum Assembly, who invested heavily in its development. The favoured development of the Firewatch II colony would further strain relations between the Assembly and the systems that would later become the Frontier Union, ultimately leading to one of many unfortunate events that would lead up to the Frontier War.

The system of Firewatch was home of the famed astrophysicist Dr. Sadavar Edric and his adoptive daughter Elizabeth Ancelet, now Director of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative.

## History

Due to the immense size and heat of the red giant star, the first exploratory group could not be initially sent via Drift Gates due to the inaccuracies in single gate travel. To approach the system safely, a huge exploratory platform known as the *Wanderer* was constructed and launched towards Firewatch using only Drift Drives. Launched in 0239 PCU, the journey took eight years to complete, the longest voyage ever by humans in Tantalus. Upon arrival, the ship spent a further three years constructing a Drift Gate, completing the connection to the rest of the cluster via the Rialtis System in 0249 PCU.

With the completion of the Drift Gate, the resource-rich system would play host some of the most lucrative Drift mines and industrial colonies in the cluster. Wanting to turn Firewatch into one of Centrum's cultural centers, the Assembly would pour substantial funding into the development of the system and its Firewatch II colony. As part of the cultural project, the earliest colonists were celebrated as public figures and converting the then-Wanderer Platform (having completed its job) had been turned into an orbital museum around Firewatch II. This blatant act of favouritism by the Centrum Assembly angered the people of the soon-to-be Frontier Union worlds which were already suffering from critically limited resources and mismanagement from the Assembly. With limited living space and many in the brink of starvation, the fueled unrest would later trigger the bombing of the *Wanderer* orbital museum in 0277 PCU, completely destroying the facility and leaving lethal debris strikes across the surface of the Firewatch II colony. The bombing would be one of a number of events that would ultimately result in the Frontier War.

## Layout

### Planetary bodies

* Aradeste (Firewatch I) - Greenhouse Acid Planet

* Dianella Rush - Inner Asteroid Belt (High Drift Concentration)

* Ada's Avarice - Inhabited Dwarf Rocky Planet (Mining Base)

* Torrido Spar - Outer Asteroid Belt (High Drift Concentration)

* Firewatch (Firewatch II)- Terraformed Volcanic Planet
	+ 277 Remembrance Station - Memorial to 0277 PCU bombing attack on the converted Wanderer Platform

* Aubrieta (Firewatch III) - Class I Gas Supergiant

### Drift Gates

* Firewatch-Rialtis Drift Gate - Firewatch-Firewatch II Libration 5

## Behind the Scenes

Worlds of Tantalus - The Centrum Assembly states that the *Wanderer* took almost six years to reach the Firewatch System, however *The Sojourn Visual Dictionary Edition One* states that the journey took eight years. As it is the more recent source, the *Visual Dictionary's* dates are assumed to be correct.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Sojourn: Worlds of Tantalus: The Centrum Assembly
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Firewatch | Worlds of Tantalus | The Sojourn
3. ↑ *The Sojourn Visual Dictionary - Edition One*
4. ↑ The Sojourn: Wanderer Class Explorer Platform | Official Ship Breakdown
5. ↑ Firewatch was mistakenly described as a "Red Hypergiant" in Worlds of Tantalus - The Centrum Assembly. Gabriel Fonseca corrected this to "Red Giant" in a YouTube comment.

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