DriniIV

System: Drini IV

Hex Location: 1625

Star Type: Distant Double F7 V, A6 Ia

Number of Worlds: 12

Gas Giants: N

Planetoid Belt: Kuiper and asteroid belt

Starport Type: A high class starport

World Size: Earth-sized

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like

Surface Water: N

Population: Large 2 billion

Political Affiliation: Dhangetan Cartel

Tags: Primitive aliens, Sealed cities, Trade hub

Notes: Although they have spread with the Dhangetans since well back into the Marian Empire years, obviously the skiffers had to have had an original home world at some point in the past, and many believe that Drini IV is that world. Large numbers of them live here in a primitive state; little more than at a Bronze Age technology still (with the exception of their advanced well-making and water drilling abilities), and in savage, contentious tribes and petty polities that spend most of their time fighting and killing each other. They don't welcome visitors from space very well, although they are aware of them, probably because the Dhangetans have been kidnapping them for centuries, spiriting them away into space to serve as slaves, soldiers, or elsewise. The reality, of course, is that the Dhangetans are often indifferent slavers and slave-owners, and it's because of this kidnapping that so many skiffers are out there in interstellar space, orders of magnitude more than are found on their home world, if indeed Drini IV is their home world, and most of them are free people, not slaves, although they are still found correlated with the Dhangetan worlds, and skiffers are relatively rarely seen outside of the Dhangetan worlds unless part of a Dhangetan delegation of some kind.

Because of this hostility towards spacefarers, those who live on Drini IV tend to live in sealed cities to keep the riff-raff away. Many more live in orbital facilities too; there is in fact a thriving industrial hub just above the atmosphere where ships can be commissioned and are commonly built. On top of that, Drini IV has somehow turned into one of the sector's foremost used ship markets, and people come from all over to either sell or browse used spaceships. The Dhangetans don't ask many questions, so sometimes everything from standard used ship salesmen to dodgy pirates selling raided yachts or even military vessels can all be found for sale. Drini IV's used ship market makes no distinction between white, black and gray markets—it's all one on Drini IV.

While many of the other regional powers have complained, on occasion, to the Dhangetans when their official vessels end up for sale, few of them really want to disrupt what's happening on Drini IV too much, and representatives of many nearby governments, including Cilindareans, Carrick Bernese, Carthen Revanchists, and Tan Kajak Saraeans all keep a close eye on what passes through the market, either to scoop up some rival's tech and take it back home for analysis, or to keep their own military secrets from being so plundered. It didn't take long for a secondary market in all kinds of other secrets to develop on Drini IV, and along with the savage natives and the ship market there is a thriving spy "business" on Drini IV as well.