Enticum

System: Enticum

Hex Location: 1739

Star Type: Double (distant) F9 V and G2 V

Number of Worlds: 16, 5

Gas Giants: 2, 5

Planetoid Belt: None, and rocky asteroid belt only

Starport Type: C

World Size: Moon-sized

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like

Surface Water: 66%

Population: Large, ~3 billion

Political Affiliation: Bernese; Viomium Marches

Tags: Psionic knight academy, boomtown, local specialty

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.

Enticum is usually considered the capital of the Viomium Marches, although lacking a margrave for the colony, each of the systems has reverted to de facto self rule under deputy governers, who meet semi regularly on Enticum to discuss issues that need a reaction from all of them. While Enticum is a fairly small world in terms of surface area, the ancient terraforming that was used here must have included a lot of thaumaturgy, because earth-like gravity and atmosphere pervade across the world, except in deep chasms and in high mountaineous areas. Dark volcanic spires, peaks and crags make up most of the surface, but it is not entirely bare, as grasslands and semi-isolated groves and stands of trees cover much of the surface as well. It is a bit Spartan in terms of scenery and habitability, but the grasslands support herds of both domesticated and wild reptomammalian creatures like thoats, platabirds, sandkine, mannoths, zitidars, and more. The plains are fed by many rivers, and crops grow sufficient to feed the fairly large population. There is a local burrowing animal that lives within the bedrock of the planet, and probably predates the terraforming. It's a miracle that this many-eyed wormlike, clawed creature survived, but it is the key to the economic dominance of the planet. Its secretions are known as spice. It isn't exactly like the sandworms spice on Arrakis, however, but this spice is not only a local delicacy which causes plant life that grows here to have unusual taste and texture which is highly valued by others, but the refined spice itself has remarkable medicinal qualities. Although there are synthetic alternatives elsewhere, Enticum spice is seen as preferred in the creation of healing and regenerative gels, as well as anti-aging supplements that seem to have the effect of lengthening the potential lifespan of those who take it regularly by up to almost 50%.

Because of this local specialty, which is in high demand, Enticum probably is the most militarized of the Viomium worlds, and its defensive capabilties are well known. The nearby Seraeans and Reavers have typically given the system a wide berth, although sometimes bold strikes by pirates on shipping convoys deeper in the system are not unheard of.