Tantalus Cluster

> "*The universe was cruel when she gave life to the Tantalus Cluster. She cast our worlds to the void, far beyond the edge of the nearest galaxy, islanded in a sea of black, and for millennia we have looked upward, seen infinity stretched out before us, and known it was forever out of reach...*"
> - Elizabeth Ancelet, Director of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative.
>
>

The **Tantalus Cluster** is a cluster of stars located within the intergalactic void, approximately four thousand light-years from the edge of the Morgana Galaxy. The cluster is home to a civilisation of technologically-advanced humans, who have settled sixteen star systems across the cluster. The cluster divided between three states: the Centrum Assembly, the Frontier Union, and the Merician Freehold.

After many hundreds of years of unsustainable human expansion, the Tantalus Cluster has been left in a severe state of resource depletion, including food, known as the Great Famine. Significant shortages in basic materials and resources was one of the leading factors in the outbreak of the Frontier War between the Centrum Assembly and Frontier Union, which further exacerbated the crisis.

## Astrography

The Tantalus Cluster is composed of around 750 stars, most of which are cold, Population III red dwarves located at the centre of barren star systems. Very little star formation has occurred since the cluster's formation, and most stars are metal-poor and relatively deficient in elements heavier than helium.

Only a small number of star systems are inhabitable to humanity. Expanding from the Centrum System by means of Drift Gates, humanity has settled sixteen systems across the Cluster.

## History

### Human settlement

Human civilisation first developed on the planet of Centrum, the only habitable planet of its star system. It became a true interstellar civilisation shortly after the discovery of Drift, an exotic mineral with gravity-altering properties when put under the influence of electromagnetism. This revolutionary discovery resulted in the unification of the nation-states of Centrum under the banner of the Centrum Assembly. The science of Drift and subsequent technologies like Drift Drives permitted the fast and efficient settlement of the Centrum System. It was not long before humanity completed the construction of the first ever Drift Gate in ten years Post-Unification, allowing for faster-than-light travel and expansion beyond Centrum. The first expeditions to the Pioneer System were made in 0017 PCU, resulting in the settlement of the planet Storm.

In the centuries following the first expansion outside of Centrum, humanity would spread across the Cluster with ever-improving Drift Gate technology. The next two systems settled by the Assembly were the Rialtis and Keeper's Dance Systems. The latter system lacked any usable planets, but was rich in raw materials and became a centre for starship and Drift Gate construction. Around fifty years Post-Unification, the Axius System was colonised, and it would become the second-most-populous system in Tantalus after Centrum itself.

In 0053 PCU, a colony expedition disappeared and was thought lost. Unbeknownst to the Centrum Assembly, much of the expedition, which later became known as the Great Merician Exile, had actually survived. The survivors would establish a new state known as the Merician Freehold in the Mericia and Meric's Keep System. Nevertheless, the Assembly would not learn that the expedition had survived for 157 years.

### Colonisation of the Frontier

Following the colonisation of the Rialtis and Axius systems in the early decades of the Centrum Assembly, the population of the planet Centrum, where growth had long stagnated, began to expand again. This prompted emigration to the new colony worlds, with increasing settlement of more systems over the next one hundred and fifty years. This expansion continued until it began to threaten the population capacities of many worlds.

In the 0210s PCU, the Centrum Assembly began the colonisation of the four Frontier systems of Atamara Crossroads, Maiala's Rest, Dalstaff, and Teldrin. Originally settled in part as a test of human adaptability to near-uninhabitable worlds, the harsh environments and arduous living conditions of these planets meant that the four systems were dependent on significant external aid. However, aid supplies were frequently lost owing to piracy, corruption, and embezzlement, and the Centran government's indifference and lack of sympathy to the declining conditions in the four systems provoked deep resentment on the Frontier.

### The Great Famine and the Frontier War

Following the settlement of the sixteen inhabitable systems, astronomers confirmed that humanity had settled all usable planets within Tantalus, with the remaining systems being populated by barren, inert stars or hostile red dwarfs. The rapid, unsustainable expansion of human civilisation, compounded by the difficulty of a large-scale interstellar transport, meant that the Tantalus Cluster's logistic support network lagged behind the ever-growing population. By 0270 PCU, demand began to exceed supply as the Cluster's population exceeded its carrying capacity, and Tantalus started to spiral into a disaster that became known as the Great Famine.

The panic and desperation instigated by food and resource shortages and overpopulation caused the four Frontier star systems - Atamara Crossroads, Teldrin, Maiala's Rest, and Dalstaff, to declare independence from the Centrum Assembly in 0290 PCU and form the Frontier Union. A series of attacks by the Union on Centrum-controlled worlds kickstarted the conflict that would later be called the Frontier War. The conflict would last for ten years, ultimately ending in a Centran victory at the Battle of the Atamara Crossroads in 0300 PCU.

### The Avalon Exploratory Initiative

Exacerbated by the Frontier War, civilisation in the Tantalus Cluster is proceeding towards general collapse with cities on many planets in a severe state of decay and disrepair. It is not uncommon for food riots to break out within inhabited worlds. However, the discovery of CDC-41-Gamma over 3,000 light-years from the cluster has provided a new source of hope and inspiration for the people of the cluster. Long-range scans from observatories have indicated that the newly-discovered nebula was rich in resources with potentially-habitable star systems. To this end, from 0302 PCU onward, the different factions in the cluster had decided to cooperate, pooling virtually all their resources left towards the creation of Edric's Gate, an advanced Drift Gate that will permit the exploration of the nebula. The Avalon Exploratory Initiative departed for CDC-41-G in 0304 PCU, hoping to come back with resources for humanity.

## Map

Below is an interactive map of the Tantalus Cluster. Click on a system to take you to that system's article.

## Behind the Scenes

Tantalus is a figure in Greek mythology who was tortured in hell by being made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp and the water always receding before he could drink.

Daniel Orrett went into detail in a Patreon Post about his inspiration for the Tantalus Cluster. He explained how he was first inspired when looking at images of NGC-1300, a barred-spiral galaxy over 64 million light years away from the Milky Way. Whilst looking at the galaxy, he wondered how much of a struggle it would be for a spacefaring civilisation to grow on the tail edges of the Galaxy, too far away to quickly access their local galaxy's resources.

He further explained that he wanted Tantalus to be filled with as much interesting phenomena as he could feasibly create. To him, vast, galaxy-spanning universes such as *Star Wars* and *Star Trek* often lead to individual systems feeling much, much smaller than they are in reality. For *The Sojourn,* he deliberately made the Tantalus Cluster itself relatively small, allowing each and every system to retain its sense of vast expansiveness.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 *The Sojourn Visual Dictionary - Edition One*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Sojourn: Drift and Drift Gates - Avalon Archives
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Sojourn: Worlds of Tantalus: The Centrum Assembly
4. ↑ The Merician Freehold | The Sojourn Lore
5. ↑ *Centrum Broadcast Radio: 45th of Solstice, 304 PCU*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Sojourn: Huntress Class Ambush Corvette (Guinevere) - Ship Breakdown
7. ↑ *The Cold Divide*
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Daniel Orrett, "Creating the Tantalus Cluster"