Tartarus

Territory of: Kyrnomacek

Host star: Urban

Planet type: Rocky

Planet size: 0.8 Terran masses

Day length: 187 Terran days

Year length: 13.2 Terran years

Moons: 1

Habitability: Moderate

Population: 1.2 Billion

Urban VI, also known as Tartarus, is a rocky world situated in the Urban System in Kyrnomacek space. The planet is notable for being the hub of Kyrnomacek's shipbuilding industry and for bearing an unusually thick hazy layer in the upper atmosphere that completely blocks out light from Tartarus' home star. This haze appears to consist of a mixture of industrial smog and a strange material similar to that found in the Axtracan System. The origin of the haze is unclear, for it has been around prior to any known settlement on Tartarus. The haze does allow for a greenhouse effect to keep in some heat produced by the planet's massive forges and refineries, keeping the global temperature within a reasonable range. Soot and ash frequently falls from the sky, occasionally being picked up by storms, resulting in "ash blizzards" that pose a threat to personnel on the ground. Apart from ash and toxic industrial fumes that must be vented out of the planet's atmosphere monthly, the surface of Tartarus is generally habitable to most sophonts. However, no vegetation is able to exist on the planet's pitch-black soil, with food generally being grown by hydroponics. Geologic activity is artificially produced near the planet's south pole to ensure a fresh stream of ores from the planet's mantle in the form of Tartarus' infamous "Land of Fire".

Tartarus is the heart of Kyrnomacek's shipbuilding enterprise and the location of the Karnic Forges, where raw materials from across Kyrnomacek are processed into heavily compact alloys used in the construction of battleships and artillery ships. Over 60% of the Kyrnomacek Space Navy's spacecraft were manufactured in the orbital drydocks of Tartarus, including virtually all native battleships and Colossus-Class cannons. Over a billion people live on Tartarus, most of whom either work in the planet's gargantuan strip-mines, process materials in the Karnic Forges, or assemble spacecraft in the drydocks above. Due to its extremely crucial role, Tartarus is among the most well-defended planets in the Gergosphere, with an estimated 100,000 planetary defense cannons on its surface and an additional 40,000 on its barren moon Glybon. A fleet of 80 ships and a detachment of 20 subspace stealth ships are perpetually stationed in the Urban system, alongside a vast space minefield and a number of salvaged Jell Shells. 

Tartarus enjoys an unusually high degree of autonomy within Kyrnomacek, with the decree of the local governor typically having more autonomy in planetary affairs than all but the Gerg. The governor typically dwells within Tartarus' "Castle Town" on the planet's north pole, an enigmatic gated community where the sound of pipe organs bounce from the walls and the atmospheric soot blocking the sun shoots out like a fountain. The town is visited twice per local year by Maggdurr Marrites from Maggdurr space, and once per local year by a procession containing Kyrnomacek's worst criminals, warlords, and organized crime leaders. The fate of these delinquents is unknown, the few who return telling wildly contradictory stories of the inner mechanisms of Castle Town. 

Tartarus was first discovered in 2991 by a Nosopotamian expedition to the Urban system. It was assumed that the surface pressure on the planet was too great for a proper landing operation, so the planet was largely ignored until 3230 when a civilian transport craft flying by the planet suffered catastrophic damage from a collision with a boulder-sized asteroid, and was forced to land on Tartarus' surface. When search and rescue crews arrived on the planet, they found that the ship's occupants had not been compressed to death by the planet's atmosphere. Scientific expeditions to the planet soon took place to map out its surface and study its atmosphere. A ruined fortification was discovered on the planet's north pole, sparking an archeological dig to determine the origin and age of the site. The oldest structures were dated to the year 1997, unusually old for Terran-age ruins and predating any known Old Terran interstellar activities. The consensus was that the site was therefore not Terran in origin, but possibly from Maggdurr or some other spacefaring civilization. 

Expeditions to the planet were halted in the 3300s when a nomadic mining guild known as the Kovmopolis sought to acquire Tartarus for their own operations. Though the fear of the potential destruction of archeological sites on the planet was prominent, the governance of Urban needed more raw materials, and so the planet was ceded to the Kovmopolis for a vast monetary price and the condition that any found archeological sites are preserved and reported to the proper authorities. The Kovmopolis restored much of the northern ruin, designating it "Castle Town" and using it as a headquarters for heavy strip mining across the planet's surface. When Urban fell to the Nosopotamian Khaganate in the 3800s, the Khaganate updated its treaties with the Kovmopolis to allow for ship-building. The planet's resource-rich crust was largely mined away and an orbital ring was constructed around the planet for habitation and ship construction, with terraforming operations conducted to increase yield. Tartarus became a key planet in the conflicts against the Blossoms and the Threshers, and is still considered to be the premier forge world of the Gergosphere.