Protectorates:
HeliosStar Type: G5V
Position in System: 2 (of 4)
Number of Moons: 16 (of which the largest is Solitude)
Days to Jump Point: 20
Surface Water: N/A
Atm. Pressure: N/A
Surface Gravity: N/A
Equatorial Temp: N/A
Recharging Station: None
HPG Class Type: D
Highest Native Life: N/A
Planetary Capital: N/A
Population (3045): 120,000
An otherwise unimpressive yellow dwarf system, the Helios system is only remarkable due to the presence of the gas giant that gives it its name, which is home to a Star League era hydrogen mining station. The only other permanent settlement in the system is a mining outpost on the moon Solitude, which produces high-grade industrial diamonds and naturally occurring crystals that are used in laser focusing arrays, including military weapons. Both outposts are owned and operated by the Hark Corporation under the oversight of the Office of Colonial Affairs.
ArixoStar Type:K0V
Position in System: 2 (of 4)
Number of Moons: 2 (Coyote and Shadow)
Days to Jump Point: 4.25
Surface Water: 33%
Atm. Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
Surface Gravity: 1.2
Equatorial Temp: 85ºC (Desert)
Recharging Station: None
HPG Class Type: C
Highest Native Life: Reptilian
Planetary Capital: Snake River
Population (3045): approximately 117,450,000
A dry, inhospitable world, Arixo attracted settlers from both the North American, Arabian and Australian regions on Terra, mainly people who wanted a simpler, nomadic life. Settlements are few and far between, with the bulk of the population moving around the vast savannah's and deserts with the seasons. The authority of the Office of Colonial Affairs doesn't extended to far from the few permanent settlements, and many of the locals still settle disputes by armed combat, something the local Marshals service spends a lot of time and effort trying to discourage. The only real export of note (aside from hand-tooled firearms and bladed weapons, which are much sort after by collectors across the Outer Colonies) is titanium and germanium from the Kata Tjuta Mountains on the southern continent of Uluru.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: several of Arixo's native species are both aggressive and carnivorous, many capable of overwhelming a unaware human. Take care when travailing outside of populated areas and if possible, travel in armed groups.
PacificaGovernment: Elected Council under the guidance of a Colonial Administrator
Star Type: F5III
Position in System: 4 (of 12)
Number of Moons: 1 (Mandalay)
Days to Jump Point: 11
Surface Water: 85%
Atm. Pressure: Standard
Surface Gravity: 1.02
Equatorial Temp: 33°C (Arid)
Recharging Station: none
HPG Class Type: C
Highest Native Life: Mammal
Planetary Capital: Roanapur
Population (3045): 150,315,000
Settled by people of Polynesian, Malayan and otherwise Far-Eastern decent, Pacifica maintains a close link it its cultural heritage, even thousands of light-years from Terra. The people who inhabit its many island chains and atolls lives lives not that dissimilar to their distance ancestors, all be it with ships made of high-tensile alloys, deep-scanning echo-locators and satellite communications. The planets only continent, MokuÊ»Äina, is home to both its capital and its only space port, but specially adapted amphibious DropShips and transatmospheric shuttles are used on occasions to deliver bulk cargo to and from isolated communities when speed is off the essence and the vast blue water transports are too slow.
The main industry of Pacifica is fishing; its deep, rich seas provide a rich bounty that even industrialised fishing is hard pressed to put a dent in. Fleets of ships roam the single, vast ocean, in search of their next catch, entire families going years between setting foot on dry ground. Some of the larger ships are effectively ocean-going towns that include schools, medical centres and all the other facilities one could ask for. Shepherding them are patrol ships of the Colonial Marshals, acting as both law enforcement, tax collectors and emergency response teams. The deep oceans of Pacifica are known to produce monster storms that can destroy even the mightiest vessels, and many lives have been saved by the timely arrival of an emergency shuttle.
Military Outposts
HamunaptraStar Type: G0III
Position in System: 4 (of 8)
Number of Moons: 0
Days to Jump Point: 8
Surface Water: 67%
Atm. Pressure: Thick (Inhospitable)
Surface Gravity: 1.09
Equatorial Temp: 120°C
Recharging Station: None
HPG Class Type: None
Highest Native Life: Bacterial
Planetary Capital: N/A
Population (3045): 25,000
Hundreds of years ago, settlers attempted to found a colony on the world then known as Hibernia. Unfortunately, not long after they landed, the planet underwent a massive geological upheaval that rendered it unfit for human habitation. Many fled to other nearby worlds, but most remained behind, attempting to save their new home by deploying massive atmospheric processors and regulators similar to those used by the Star League to terraform worlds in the Inner Sphere. Unfortunately the tectonic and atmospheric instability had already reached a tipping point, and within a few decades the entire planet was all but dead, turned from a lush demi-paradise to a living hell. The remaining colonists either fled or died, but records from that time are fragmented at best, leaving their true fate unknown to this day.
When the Star League took an interest in the Outer Colonies, they sent a mission to the Hibernia system but found nothing but ruins. They managed to recover the terraforming equipment that had failed to save the world, then renamed it Hamunaptra, after a mythical necropolis on Terra.
Thus the world remained of little interest to anyone until the start of the Reunification War. Faced with the need to dispose of captured Periphery Navy warships, the local SLDF commander decided to relocate them to the Hamunaptra system, which was not listed on most maps not of local origin, and thus began the formation of the vast orbital bone-yard. Since then it has become home to more ships either captured or declared surplus and too expensive to ship back to the Inner Sphere for disposal. A number of these are held as part of the Naval Reserve and maintained to a certain level by a team of engineers and technicians, while others are allowed to just drift in orbit, occasional used as a convenient source of spare parts.
Many of the ships located in the bone-yard may well be the last of their kind in existence, and every few years a survey is conducted to make sure that the most historically significant ones are still in one piece, and unlikely to fall into a gravity well.
Nomad StationStar Type:DZ8
Position in System: N/A
Number of Moons: N/A
Days to Jump Point: 4
Surface Water: N/A
Atm. Pressure: N/A
Surface Gravity: N/A
Equatorial Temp: N/A
Recharging Station: none
HPG Class Type: D
Highest Native Life: N/A
Planetary Capital: N/A
Population (3045): 2,600
A scientific research station orbiting a white dwarf, Nomad Station was built by the Star League as part of a chain of radio telescopes scattered through to deep Periphery. The station is of negligible strategic value, but is normally home to a pair of assault DropShip’s and a fighter wing due to the high black-market value of the irreplaceable electronics it houses. The station is run by the Ministry of Since under a senior administrator.
ColumbiaStar Type: G2V
Position in System: 3 (of 7)
Number of Moons: None
Days to Jump Point: 10
Surface Water: 5%
Atm. Pressure: Thin (Borderline-breathable)
Surface Gravity: 0.89
Equatorial Temp: 15°C (Tundra)
Recharging Station: none
HPG Class Type: D
Highest Native Life: Mammal
Planetary Capital: Columbia Station
Population (3045): 14,000
At the 'northern' end of the perimeter, Columbia is an icy, desolate world that has never attracted any settlers due to the fact that is locked in the middle of an ice age. A few prospectors have scoured its surface in a bid to make their fortune, but its thick ice sheets and barely breathable atmosphere have made any finds economically impractical at this time, or at any point in the next few centuries. A small, domed military outpost on the equator maintains an array of satellites in orbit tasked with detecting the tell-tale signs of nearby hyperspace transits that would give warning of any nearby, unexpected JumpShip activity.
Fort KeriumStar Type: K9V
Position in System: 2 (of 5)
Number of Moons: 0
Days to Jump Point: 3
Surface Water: 20%
Atm. Pressure: Standard (Highly-Tainted)
Surface Gravity: 1.11
Equatorial Temp: 24°C (Temperate)
Recharging Station: None
HPG Class Type: D
Highest Native Life: Reptilian
Planetary Capital: Fort Kerium
Population (3045): 12,000
If it wasn’t for the high concentration of Sulphur in the atmosphere, Fort Kerium would be ideal for human settlement. As it is it is reduced to serving as a mid-range military outpost on north-west edge of the Outer Colonies, most of which is burred below ground to avoid the smell. Even then, almost everyone who's served there insists they can still smell rotten eggs, despite the best the air scrubbers money can buy.
Fort CentrumStar Type: G4IV
Position in System: 1 (of 5)
Number of Moons: N/A (largest moon of a Gas Giant)
Days to Jump Point: 8
Surface Water: 36%
Atm. Pressure: Standard (Tainted)
Surface Gravity: 0.69
Equatorial Temp: 47°C (Desert)
Recharging Station: None
HPG Class Type: D
Highest Native Life: Reptilian
Planetary Capital: Fort Centrum
Population (3045): 14,500
At the very centre of the defensive line, Fort Centrum has the misfortune of being the only rock in the entire system with even a partly breathable atmosphere, and a giant ball of windswept rock with such a high concentration of dust in the atmosphere that filter masks must be warn outside. To try and overcome the hardship of a world no-one likes garrisoning, a lot of time and money has been spent on leisure facilities, but even then there are few who'd serve there voluntarily. The low natural gravity is also a problem, as anyone who fails to maintain a proper exorcise regime can find it hard to adjust when they return to a world of more Terra-like proportions.
Fort DixieStar Type: G1V
Position in System: 4 (of 15)
Number of Moons: 1 (Alpha)
Days to Jump Point: 10
Surface Water: 36%
Atm. Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
Surface Gravity: 1.06
Equatorial Temp: 24°C (Temperate)
Recharging Station: Zenith
HPG Class Type: A
Highest Native Life: Mammal
Planetary Capital: Fort Dixie
Population (3045): 20,800
Fort Dixie was once one end of the chain of HPG stations that linked the Outer Colonies to the rest of humanity, and was home to a good-sized support base geared towards maintaining that vital link. But now with the stations shut down and either destroyed or recovered, it serves mainly as a early warning station in case anyone should follow a line on a map and stumble upon the Outer Colonies. The recharge station at the Zenith jump-point is only partly operational and operates mainly as a transfer point for ships heading to or from the old Star League base.
TiconderogaStar Type: F7III
Position in System: 2 (of 6)
Number of Moons: None
Days to Jump Point: 13.5
Surface Water: 35%
Atm. Pressure: Low (Breathable)
Surface Gravity: 1.1
Equatorial Temp: 51° C (Arid)
Recharging Station: None
HPG Class Type: C
Highest Native Life: Avian
Planetary Capital: Champlain
Population (3045): 360,000
The southern tip of the defensive chain, Ticonderoga is home to a small but prosperous uranium mine and military-outpost. Every so often there is talk of expanding the settlement and establishing a full colony, but with so much land still available on already inhabited planets, few if any ever take up the challenge. That said, it has a high birth rate and there is some immigration, to the point where local amenities are always expanding, so it may just be a matter of time before it becomes the eleventh member of the Outer Colonies.