Helfen-Thel

World of Arches and Gates

near-space SYSTEM

Independent

LIVE FEED

PHYSICAL DATA

Independent

Diameter×3

Mass×9

Gravity×1

AtmosphereNormal

Day31 hours

Year2 years

CULTURAL DATA

⚙

Tech Level

Unknown

⚑

Government

Unknown

★

Dominant Species

Maggedli, Halath

OVERVIEW

The Helfen-Thel system contains nine worlds orbiting the orange-red sun Ombrut. Its predominant people are the maggedli: stony-skinned humanoids about 3 feet tall whose civilization is built on magic rather than advanced technology. Though maggedli never developed true spaceflight beyond rudimentary enchanted rockets, they settled all nine worlds through an immense teleportation infrastructure of far-step arches. On Helfen, their home world, natural geological arches aligned to ley lines enabled stable long-range gates early on; on other worlds, explorers initially traveled one-way and spent generations growing suitable stone arches to complete two-way transit. Today, thousands of far-step arches knit the system together so tightly that routine daily travel can span multiple planets. During expansion, maggedli encountered halaths on the ice world Thel: friendly, ram-headed quadrupeds and master ice-shapers who preserved their warming world through advanced cryomagic and geologic control. Halaths are unaffected by teleportation and cannot use far-step arches, so while politically influential in the Ninefold Council, they remain physically constrained by Thel's ecology and infrastructure. Recently, troubling gate anomalies have emerged: travelers appearing aged by weeks or months, others returning bloodless and dead, and some vanishing entirely. The Ninefold Council is suppressing details to prevent panic across this arch-dependent civilization.

MAJOR SETTLEMENTS (7)

Arpeddanna

The sixth world and only planet in the system with moons, Arpeddanna is a lush tropical globe that wobbles under the gravitational influence of dozens of satellites. Beneath fast-growing green vegetation lies a mysterious network of ancient ceramic roads that perfectly track ley lines, making far-step arch construction unusually reliable. The original builders of these buried routes remain unknown.

Canora-Kellana

Fourth from Ombrut, this ocean world hosts maggedli settlements in magically pressurized undersea domes. Its coral far-step arches are notoriously unstable and collapse frequently, forcing periodic isolation while occultists rebuild gateways. Deep trenches beyond even robust magical reach emit strange lights that continue to attract high-risk exploration efforts.

Habbaba

A volcanically active third planet whose ash-rich equatorial plains support fertile agriculture and major settlements. Predictable seismic signatures allow communities to evacuate long before eruptions, but intermittent rampages by lava-dwelling behemoth worms and elementals can devastate large swaths of terrain when they descend from calderas.

Helfen

The maggedli home world and second planet from the sun, Helfen is a peaceful world of rolling hills, vast seas, and predominantly deep-blue flora adapted to Ombrut's spectrum. Its capital, Azrefen-Zhar-Nento, anchors the Ninefold Council and spreads across multiple districts linked by far-step arches, with some administrative zones extending to neighboring Habbaba.

Thel

Fifth from Ombrut, Thel would naturally have become a molten world long ago, but halath cryomagic and geologic engineering preserve its sub-zero environment. Thel's long-term stability is failing, driving desperate halath research into planetary salvation. Maggedli maintain warmed enclave-cities here, and trade with halaths remains active despite mounting ecological pressure.

Yaroi

Closest to Ombrut, Yaroi is a mountainous mining world rich in magical metals essential to maggedli industry. Its extremely fast rotation produces days of roughly 50 minutes, so settlements use constant magical illumination to maintain operations and deter massive insectile predators that hunt aggressively during brief night intervals.

The Yawning Triplets

Three near-identical outer-system planetoids sharing a single stable orbit. Each is a barren oblate sphere with a massive equatorial crater resembling an open mouth, and each contains ruins from an impossibly ancient civilization. The triplets are a major focus for maggedli xenoarchaeological expeditions.

STARFINDER