Liadan

System: Liadan

Hex Location: 1336

Star Type: Double (distant) K5 V (primary) K3 V (secondary)

Number of Worlds: 15

Gas Giants: No

Planetoid Belt: Kuiper and asteroid belt

Starport Type: C

World Size: Earth-sized

Atmosphere Type: Earth-like

Surface Water: 70%

Population: M ~900 million

Political Affiliation: Bernese Monarchy, Emerus Marches

Tags: Hostile solar system, oceanic cities, sealed menace

Notes: The population on Liadan is very unusual, especially for a Bernese world, and it actually more resembles that of nearby independent worlds Cabaea, Irra, and a few others that are nearby. However, when the Bernese colonists came a'knocking, those already on Liadan left over from the ancient Marian settlement were happy to throw in with the Monarchy and became proud citizens of the Emerus Marches. The planet itself is considerably Earth-like, although without any polar ice-caps; more like the Earth in some of its considerably warmer periods, such as the Mesozoic or the Eocene, including the presence of significant relatively shallow epicontinental seas. Were an ice age to cause polar caps to form, such as on Earth, presumably the water to land ratio would drop. Vast tropical rain forests cover much of the continental crust, and the larger continents have vast interior deserts as well.

A fair number of cepheid reptile people live here, both in the jungles and the deserts and everywhere in between. Some of them are very large, in fact, and resemble the Oerks of nearby Oerken. Genetic studies suggest that they have interbred at some point in the distant past with the Oerks. A large number of Cetian "fish people" also live here. Both of these population types are unusual in the Colonial Main, but are certainly well known in the Monarch or Republic mains, so seeing them here isn't too unusual. As mentioned, there seems to be a small pocket of nearby worlds that have a fair number of both. The Cetians in particular are known for living in the oceans, and have helped construct oceanic cities on the epicontintal sea floors that stretch up to the surface. Other sentients besides the Cetians live in them, of course, and for the most part, these cities are filled with air, not water.

What is more unusual is that the large human population is not mixed. In nearby Oerken, for example, earth-normal is only about half of the genetics, and Altairan makes up about another quarter, with the rest being a variety of xenohuman genetics; although that doesn't mean that there are earth-normal people, and Altairans, and others; the genetics are mixed about equally in all of the humans on Oerken. On Liadan, other than the much more recently arrived Bernese settlers, the humans all test as 95%+ Seraean. This is unusual, as they have no political or cultural connection known to the Empire, or even to the more recent nearby Outremer colonies like the Sarkmina Duchy, Phatoru Shdor or Outremer proper. Exactly how they got to Liadan, how long they've been there, and what has happened to them since was somewhat lost during the Dark Ages following the fall of the Marian Empire and the retraction of the older Idacharian and Seraean advances in the area. Be that as it may, they are rather enthusiastic supports of the Margrave and the colonial government overall, although it's fair to say that other than the Bernese who also live in Liadan and are familiar with them, they are not highly trusted by most of the Bernese. This is OK, as they tend to either stay on Liadan anyway, or occasionally serve as spies among Seraean colonies, if they can pick up the accents and cultural ticks that make them passable as Imperials.

The solar system of Liadan is a bit unusual. In spite of there being two K-class (slightly cooler and more orange than the Sun) stars, in distant orbit with their own planetary systems, there aren't any other habitable planets, nor are there any gas giants to skim for unrefined fuel, which is itself unusual. The secondary star system is, in fact, completely quarantined by order of the Margrave. There is an old terraforming unit in space out there that has malfunctioned. While normally any of the cultures today would love to get their hands on an Old Kingdoms terraformer, because that is a technology that has been lost to them for many centuries; long before the Dark Age even started, for that matter, this one is especially dangerous, and has off the charts radiation levels that slag even robotic salvagers or researchers who would attempt to explore it. In fact, it's believed that at least one of the planets on the secondary system may have once been Earth-like itself, but the malfunctioning terraformer destroyed its biosystem completely and left it a radioactive, airless rock. Strange pulses of energy occasionally come from the malfunctioning terrformer unit, and when they pulse, they do a fair bit of damage to the planets in the secondary system, causing pieces to shear off of them and enter space as centaurs and other unusual asteroids, some of which occasionally find their way to the primary star's planetary system as well. It even causes Liadan's secondary star itself to wobble when this happens, which shears even more asteroids into surrounding space. Damage to the star itself is of course much more concerning and potentially catastrophic for all life in the primary star's planet system, but so far any attempts to explore or get more information about the terraformer have been fruitless, usually fatally so for those who have attempted it.