Comaius

System: Comaius

Hex Location: 1738

Star Type: Single M9 V

Number of Worlds: 11

Gas Giants: 5

Planetoid Belt: Asteroid belts and comet belt

Starport Type: C standard star port, but see below

World Size: Larger than earth

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like (at the elevation where cities are)

Surface Water: 0%

Population: Small ~600,000

Political Affiliation: Bernese; Viomium Marches

Tags: Flying cities, warlock academy, secret cabal

Notes: All of the Viomium Marches worlds share a similar context. Three systems in close proximity that are surrounded by many enemies; in particular numerous Reaver worlds, and the Phatoru Shdor Seraean colony. All of them are a little difficult to reach for any friendly system; from the Emerus Marches, the nearest Bernese worlds, most have to bulk jump through Oerken in order to reach it. Comaius, the only one reachable from Oerken is thus the gateway to the Viomium Marches; to get to any other world in the colony, yet another bulk jump from Comaius is necessary.

Another odd quirk of the Viomium Marches is that they were originally settled by Seraeans, but not Seraeans as in the much more recently arrived colonists of Phatoru Shdor or the rest of the Outremer colonies. These were refugees from the tyranny of the Empire, and came way back in the time of the Marian Empire and settled these mostly unused worlds. However, when the Bernese came here, they eagerly threw in their lot with them, appreciating not only their culture, but their relative strength in being capable of holding back the many enemies that surrounded them. These Bernese and Seraeans are now almost completely intermarried and interbred, and the majority population of the Viomium Marches is thus unique genetically showing equal amounts of traits of both. Mostly, they look like Bernese (i.e., like white Heritage Americans) with silver chrome eyes and silver-white hair; an inheritance of their former Seraean half. The Viomians also have a minority populaton on all three of their worlds of Reavers, although these have also been here for many generations now, and do not "reave" as those from the Reaver worlds do, which is the source of their name. In fact, they Reavers here are a bit prickly about being called Reavers, in large part because they want to disassociate themselves from the violent reputation of those who come from Reaver worlds, and often make a big deal about calling themselves Kvuustu, their own name for themselves. It's worth noting, however, that the reavers of the Viomium Marches have been here for generations, and most of them speak Galactic standard and know very little of their own ethnic heritage language, even the names that came from their heritage.

The third and final point of context is that they have no leader. Originally led by a margrave, he was killed in action defending an outlying convoy in the Typhoeus system five years ago. For whatever reason, the king of the Bernese Monarchy has not assigned a new margrave to the colony yet.

In the case of Comaius, a criminal underground of warlocks pulls the strings, now that they are completely unfettered from the fear of being rooted out by an official government agent. For better or for worse, they do not believe that they can rule openly, however, without attracting the ire of the entire populace, so they keep their influence fairly secretive. They also are very concerned about threats to the colony, which would threaten their position, so they do cooperate, within reason, with the rulers of the other two worlds in the colony. Their puppet in the government offices is deputy governor Hogan Pompeius. They have an academy for the training of warlocks, but it is an insular affair, and they mostly only admit those whom they can depend on their loyalty. Even this is somewhat secret from the inhabitants; like the Ivy League schools now, most of the people within the colony believe that they are merely very selective and have high standards for meritocratic achievement. This isn't really true, just like with our own Ivy League schools; you have to know the right people, be part of the right secret societies, grease the right palms, etc. to get it. But if you do, you will have a cushy road to riches and ease in Viomium society. This same secret society operates across the colony, but only on Comaius do they actually run things, and that is their headquarters.

Comaius is also an unusual main world; it does not have a rocky surface at all, and is in fact a modest-sized gas giant. There is a layer of the atmosphere that is earth-like and habitable and comfortable for humans to live on, and that is where the floating cities are, although there are only three of them, and their populations are relatively modest; a couple hundred thousand people each. These cities are build on the remnants of flattish rocky asteroids that were tugged into the atmosphere and placed in permanent floating positions by ancient warlocks, and then the cities were built on them. Deep pipes plunge into the thick clouds below the cities, where gas is extracted. In spite of the fact that the cities here only have C class starports, they differ in one notable respect; refined fuel is readily available at a good price because the raw materials are right there and make up the bulk of the industry of the planet. Sytor gas, which is normally only found in pockets deep beneath glacial ice on some extremely cold planets, is also relatively plentiful in the thick lower atmosphere, so sytox fuel, the so-called nitrous oxide for spaceships, can be found here too. The Seraeans of Phatoru Shdor crave this stuff, as they are often adrenaline junkies by culture, but so far they have been content to trade for it legitimately. Perhaps the dreadnaught stationed in the system as one of the last official actions between the late lamented margrave and the home office in Bernese space has contributed to this peace, however.

Once you get too far down, the atmosphere rapidly becomes untenable for breathing, so the elevation band that allows for habitation is relatively narrow. There is also no liquid water, given that there is no surface, but water vapor is plentiful in this habitable belt, and often falls as rain. Most homes have rain collection equipment, but there are also city-wide water caches as well as lakes, ponds and other artificial bodies of water all across the cities' surfaces.