Riven Shroud
Solar-Powered Starship Graveyard
near-space SYSTEM
PHYSICAL DATA
IndependentCULTURAL DATA
OVERVIEW
MAJOR SETTLEMENTS (4)
Central Quarry
Located perilously close to Riven Shroud's central star and fully exposed to vacuum, Central Quarry is a gold-rush town where prospectors and corporate miners gamble their lives for extraordinary fortunes. The settlement surrounds a massive stretch of semi-molten architecture gradually being drawn toward the sun, creating slurry-like veins of starmetals, plutonium, uranium, platinum, and gold undulating through the corridors. Mining operations are outrageously expensive, with competing corporations regularly hiring miners and adventurers to protect them, accepting massive losses in hopes of greater gains. The settlement houses corporate executives, seasoned miners, and top-notch security personnel. Six major corporations jointly lead the facility, currently represented by Primex Senara-46, a CN female android mechanic from Absalom Station-based Starmetals Extrusions. Recently, mysterious attacks by strange creatures known as void beasts have threatened operations, prompting the primex to seek offworld assistance before panic undermines her leadership.
Field of the Lost
The space surrounding Riven Shroud's polar opposite from the main rent contains a supernaturally perilous stretch filled with dozens of destroyed or deactivated ships. Many vessels bear the same strange architecture as Riven Shroud itself, leading scholars to believe they were supply ships or colony vessels destroyed in whatever catastrophic event devastated the sphere. The derelict ships periodically emit strange electronic signatures, fueling speculation about undead crews haunting their corridors. Most disturbingly, Riven Shroud's defense systems spontaneously activate on the field's outskirts, attacking passing vessels and slowly adding to this starship graveyard. Some theorists question whether the sphere itself draws power from these destroyed vessels, using them as some form of energy source or battery, though this remains unproven and deeply unsettling to those who study the phenomenon.
Plutropea
The largest settlement of aatevaks, qotrauas, and xixinnts, Plutropea is an insular community styling itself as a utopia removed from galactic expectations and pressures. Its inhabitants dedicate themselves to studying Riven Shroud's inner workings and the strange runes and technology etched throughout the structure, building a quasi-religion around the sphere's mysteries. Some seek to understand their ancestral past, believing themselves descendants of the Parents who created the sphere—though tension exists between the three species, as each claims this distinction exclusively. Others attempt to ascend to the higher consciousness they believe was required to build and operate Riven Shroud. Residents spend their days in prayer, meditation, and pouring through research data. Elder Taakorvac, an N male aatevak, leads both the ritualistic research and the population's spiritual journeys, relying on a council of helpers to arrange supply drops and trading parties needed to sustain the colony.
Sail Dunes
Layers upon layers of crumpled solar sails form an undulating sea of reflective fabric that shifts constantly as energy from the central sun makes its way through tears and gaps in the material. These dunes are alive with sail scarabs—void-adapted beetles that scuttle across the sails in great waves, sometimes chasing escaping energy, other times moving according to unknown schedules or instincts. When harvested in massive numbers, the scarabs can be ground into a biofuel that generates rich energy supplies, making them potentially valuable to those brave or desperate enough to harvest them. However, this opportunity comes with extreme risks: the scarabs swarm aggressively when disturbed, the dunes shift unpredictably and can trap or crush unwary explorers, and the proximity to the sun creates dangerous radiation exposure. Despite these hazards, independent prospectors and small corporations regularly mount expeditions to Sail Dunes, hoping to strike it rich with scarab harvests.