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THE END WORLDS (Khar'dum and Drokar)

Image from Khar'dum Show

The Planets Overall
The two most distant worlds of the Duruki take many months to reach by the fastest shuttles. The lack of Jump Gates out here means they are pretty much unreachable unless you are willing to devote those months of dull travel to get there. These two worlds are rather unalike structurally and geologically but the Duruki of these worlds are incredibly similar politically and ideologically. With no space ports and inconsistent visits from their interior cousins it must be said that they are rather distant from the news of human political struggles and whatnot out in the centre. They care nothing for the troubles of those that exist in the more densely populated core. They keep to themselves and are rather xenophobic, to the point that they are distrustful of any alien goods. The Drokarians whom belong to the Cult of the Eye are kind of an odd exception to this rule but since their loyalty to their alien masters has been supernaturally imposed on them it cannot really be considered in the same category. More details on the Cult in the section on Drokar.
Khar'Dum is the closest of the worlds. It is a massive Gas Giant orbiting far out beyond the orbit of Dargor. It is so massive that that some Duruki physicists claim that the Elysium Nebula is in fact a Trinary system and not a Binary system and that the massive pull of Khar'dum is one of the stablizing solar objects. It ironically was only discovered as a planet despite its massive size -7,442. This is ironic because not only had the Duruki already discovered such far reaching systems as Alpha Centauri but they had even discovered and colonized Drokar whose wild orbit sometimes passes quite close to Dargor in astronomic terms. The reason is that the gasses of Khar'dum are dark blacks and greys and a black world, no matter how large, is going to be tough to notice that far out in space. At first it was even suspected that Khar'dum might be a black hole – a collapsed third star instead of a massive black gas giant.
Drokar is very different. It might be more accurately described as a meteor than a planet. It follows a wild hectic orbit than in some rare periods bring it closer in even than Dargor. Its complete orbit around both suns takes 78 cycles or 780 years. Not surprisingly there are not many Duruki about that have seen a full Drokan Year. Because Drokar is a much smaller world (roughly the size of Mercury) it has a much smaller population than Khar'dum. Never the less, the lack of the jumpgate and the fact that it spends many hundreds of years of its orbit so far from the Elysium Nebula that the two suns are just another two points of lights in the night sky, mean that the Drokarians and the Khar'dumians are rather similar in many regards.
Both of these worlds are referred to as the End Worlds because they are the planets with the widest orbits in the Elysium Nebula.

Khar'Dum
Khar'dum is by far the biggest world in the Elysium Nebula. At nearly 11 times the mass of Jupiter and with over twenty largish moons caught in its mighty belt it is truly a titanic planet. The Duruki of Khar'dum obviously do not live on Khar'dum itself. The massive pressures of the huge world would kill you immediately. Instead the Duruki have built settlements on the various moons of the world. Not surprisingly Khar'dum has a fairly advanced and unique space fleet built entirely locally. The Khar'dum Duruki themselves represent a number of various splintered autonomous government systems. There are six major political divisions in the area, each carving out an empire among the many moons of Khar'dum. Intermittent warfare among these groups is not entirely uncommon. As might be imagine, with their own concerns and lifestyles – cut off by the great gulf of space that seperates them and the Outer Gate Worlds the Khar'dum Duruki are pretty oblivious to whatever is going on elsewhere on the Nebula. The Khar'dum Duruki take their political allegiance very seriously and even civillians may wear clan colours or motifs.
One of these major political groups is the Cult of the Eye from Drokar. It seems some Drokarians and their alien allies have begun expanding from the homeland on Drokar and now control three moons in the Khar'dum sector. More details on the cult and their activities can be found in the section below on Drokar. Construction has begun on a gate called the Dark Star Gate which would lead to the Duruki End World of Khar'dum. The progress of this development is hindered by competing groups wishing to control the gate and the money that would result from it.

Drokar
Depending on your definition of 'planet' Drokar may or may not be one. It is certainly large and heavy enough to be rounded by the force of its own gravity, but it is not at all dominant in any particular area of space. Like earth it has a molten core, but unlike earth the outer crust is completely barren and lifeless dust. For some periods it zips in quite close to Acheron but then flys outwards again in a wide and unlikely loop around Solaris. Moreover its loop is completely unstable. Each Drokanian year it traces a completely new path. Drokar has a couple of other unique features. Underground air vents gave rise to primitive anaerobic lifeforms living blind and underground. The undergound heated by gas vents and lit by flourescent fungi became a teeming ecosystem even before the Duruki arrived. In this unlikely place a strange alien race called Beholders have evolved. In he low gravity of Drokar Beholders have evolved gas bags to allow them to hover and fly in the dark tunnels of their world. The Duruki that arrived on Drokar initially built cities using their force dome technology all over the surface of Drokar without ever knowing the existence of native life. Eventually the clues pointed to life underground. Signs of bacteria in the earth, the discovery of the fungus and finally the discovery of the Beholders themselves.
The official stance of the Drokar government is that the Beholders are a natural and conveniant ally for the Duruki people. The world is so far out and so far beyond any sort of formal investigation that what is really going on may never come out. The psionic power of the Beholders is incredible. The discovery of the Duruki (with their hands, so perfect for crafting things and their knowledge of the universe beyond) prompted the Beholders to consider the possibility of an interstellar empire. In truth most of the active political members of the government of Drokar are subservient to the Beholders. The Beholders use a powerful psionic aura to inspire awe in Duruki. Many Duruki view the Beholders as ancient and powerful deities trapped underground and now unlocked. A curious religion among the Duruki of Drokar is appearing called the Cult of the Eye.
The Cult is a group of Duruki who worship Beholders and whose goal it is to spread the influence of their floating, many-eyed alien kindred to distant worlds. Already the Cult controls three moons in the Khar'dum sector (see above) and the symbol of Eye of the Beholder has been seen as far inside of the Elysium Nebula as Elysia Prime itself.

Game rules
Drokar and the moons of Khar'dum have no atmosphere and low gravity. In areas that have been developed for life (force dome enclosed blocks that have a pressurized atmosphere) the ground has Standard Duruki Gravity (10% greater than Earth Gravity) and a comfortable breathable atmosphere.

Equipment Purchases
In Duruki space some equipment will naturally be cheaper than other equipment. Any Duruki Technology (that marked freemarket or restricted in the Duruki Tech section) is available at standard prices. Any other technology is available at a +6 purchase DC.

THE INNER JUMPGATES (The Alpha and Beta Core Gates, The West Hyacinth Gate)

Image from Alpha Core Show

The Gates Overall
Though the Duurki never displayed a marked interest to colonize or control any worlds closer in than Drumai, Duruki can still be found in vast numbers quite close to the centre worlds. This is because the Duruki are an enterprising bunch and not willing to lose an excellent chance at money-making. The Duruki have closely guarded the technology that they use to develop the powerful Jump Gates that allow spaceships to move throug folds in space and thus allow them to cover great distances in improbable times. The Duruki constructed no less than three Jump Gates that are close in and meet human demands. All they ask for in return is a tithe in standard Elysian Credits for use of this controlled Duruki technology.

The Alpha Core Gate
The Alpha Core is, not surprisingly, the most used gate in the Elyisum Nebula system. It is the only gate that is fairly close to the inner orbits of the Solaris system. Alpha Core is typically used to make it possible to quickly travel to and from Elysia Prime and still reach remote locations in a timely fashion.

The Beta Core Gate
The Beta Core is one of two principal jumpgates in the Acheron system. Typically speaking, when human traders come in through the Alpha Centauri gate then the Duruki will forward them to the Beta Core Gate after the humans have checkied in at Standby.

West Hyacinth Gate
The West Hyacinth gate is the gate located furthest to the Galactic West. In fact it was initially built to hang about in Drokar's orbit and make it possible for Duruki to travel their, but when it became evident that the planet showed no coherent travel pattern then it was moved closer in order to profit from all the travel. In fact it is often used by travellers in the Acheron system even for the relatively short distance between West Hyacinth and Beta Core. In fact this jump is so common that this has prompted the Duruki to produce a number of other central jump gates.

Jumpgates in Development
The Duruki have projected plans to finish several more gates, the first of which should be finished by 388 of the Elysium Calendar and the last of which is hoped reach conclusion in 413. Among these projected plans are the Gamma Core Gate close the ICHA space station of Istra. Another one called the Delta Core gate will be built near the space station of Dalmatovo. Finally the Iota Core Gate will be built along the orbit of Nememiah though on the opposite end of the other two gates. With all these gates in place the Duruki will be able to reap in massive profits on all ICHA Cargo freighters moving things from one part of the human galaxy to the other.
Though not one of the inner gates, construction has also begun on a gate called the Dark Star Gate which would lead to the Duruki End World of Khar'dum. The progress of this development is hindered by competing groups wishing to control the gate and the money that would result from it.

Game rules
The Solar-Fixed Worlds have no atmosphere and low gravity. In areas that have been developed for life (force dome enclosed blocks that have a pressurized atmosphere) the ground has Standard Duruki Gravity (10% greater than Earth Gravity) and a comfortable breathable atmosphere.

Equipment Purchases
In Duruki space some equipment will naturally be cheaper than other equipment. Any Duruki Technology (that marked freemarket or restricted in the Duruki Tech section) is available at standard prices. Any human or Elvish freemarket technology is available at +2 Purchase DC for reasons of rarity. Duruki favour no particular human group over another – technology from the NED, the URE and the ICHA is all sold at the same +2 Purchase DC. Elvish restricted Technology is sold at +4 Purchase DC. Any other kind of technology (Beyonder, Drow, Illithid and so on) is available at a special +6 Purchase DC.

Skritti have you given any thought into race specific starships? Would be nice fluff for characters to start recognizing ships due to design. Would add a nice touch if say pirates get their hands on another races ship. Just think of the mayhem that could cause.

Starships in the Elysium Nebula



In the tradition of many Space Operas, Elysium Nebula has many freelance starship designers. Men and women (and lizardkin) that work on a spacestation on their unique home-built spaceships (like Star Wars’ Millenium Falcon). Spaceships designed by specialists can be designed from the ground up, using some of the starship design rules present in Wizards’ d20 Future Tech supplement. Likewise Player Characters with sufficient skills in Craft (mechanical) and in for some bits of equipment Craft (electronic) may well be able to make their own ship – if the GM allows them enough time to do so.

Other ships, however, are mass-produced. Mass-produced, or assembly line, ships are inevitably cheaper than their customized counterparts. The ships that are presented at the end of this section are all mass-produced ships that the PCs can buy ‘as is’ and then customize themselves if they see fit to do so at additional costs. In addition to mass-produced ships, some components (engines, alloys and so on) are mass-produced as well. Even private ship makers will still prefer to buy an engine than build one from scratch, even if they plan to put together all the component parts themselves.

The first section below will deal with ship components and then finally at the end there will be a list of mass-produced ships. There are four principal human companies that produce starships. These are described in some detail below.

Elite Crafts (EC) arose around 10 moons in the Uretil System. The many orbiting moons of the gas giant Uretil make for a system reliant on short range space transports. Elite Crafts specializes in commercial starships easily sold to individuals or families for their private needs. If they do mount weapons (and often they do not) then the weapons are designed for self-defense (Point Defense Systems, Lasers) and not for all out warfare (like missiles or mines). They tend to be comparatively cheaper than Elysium Starships.

Elysium Starships Co (ES) is the other URE starship manufacturer. They are the manufacturers of the URE Battle Fleets and produce principally military craft. They do sell their ships to private purchasers but normally those that do end up paying considerably more. Additionally a special license (DC 15) is required to travel in a ship that mounts certain heavy weapons and torpedoes that are not normally found on civillian craft. For this reason EC out sells ES in the civillian market.

Ichan National Starships (INS) is the ICHA equivalent of Elysium Starships. They produce superior quality starships in general to ES as they have superior starship technologies. Where as the URE is still primarily ‘planet-tied’ the ICHA population lives on space station and starships all their lives. The ICHA has achieved the pinnacle of human technology with regard to ship design and INS intellectual property laws have thus far been able to carefully protect the engine designs of the INS and TB. This is the main reason the URE struggled so much during the Embargo Wars with the ICHA. Though they have superior numbers the ICHA has the more technically sophisticated starships.

Trader's Barges (TB) emerged in the ICHA star station of Kazan close to the Alpha Core gate and it is argued, may have exchanged ideas often with the nearby Duruki. TB ships are designed to make longer journey’s than EC ships but principally they are aimed at a similar audience. Though not tremendously in use by the government the various free traders of the ICHA tend to favour them. Hence the name Trader’s Barges. They are robust, distance faring starships which are reliable even after many years of use. Plus they are fairly cheap like EC. They are aimed at a civillian market and do not mount very heavy weapons. Due to different laws in the ICHA and the URE, TB ships tend to carry a heavier class of weapon than EC ships.

The New Elysian Democracy does not have a dominant starship producer though it is rumoured that they control 3 plants that used to belong to Elysium Starships and are now using them to manufacture their own fleet of Starships for aid in the war in Isafel. Some starship components may be sold by a manufacturer called ‘Generic’. This refers to a component that is so common it can be acquired at the same price for a generic no-name distributer as it would cost acquiring it from one of the Big Four.

In addition to the above listed producers of vehicles and components, this section also looks at some starships and components produced by the Elves, the Duruki, the Beyonders, the Drow and the Illithids. Only a small sampling of these is provided. Remember that most Elysium Nebula campaigns will focus on the inner human worlds and the alien races do not have prevalent technology in this section of space. However these are provided for comparative purposes to give the reader a sense of the different levels of technology used by these alien races. Elvish ships are marked ERT for Elvish Restricted Technology. Duruki ships are marked DRT for Duruki Restricted Technology. Beyonder ships are marked BT for Beyonder Technology and Illithid Ships are marked IT for Illithid Technology. Drow starships are marked DP for Drow Psycraft. All of these acronyms can be found in the Manufacturer section of the starship or starship components details.

The ship’s manufacturer will affect the cost of a ship. Typically URE ships are cheaper in URE space, while ICHA ships are cheaper in ICHA space.

Optional Rule
Upkeep: The engines section lists the associated costs of refuelling a ship. However this is only one of the many things that need to be paid for. After battle ammunition needs to be replenished. On long journeys, food needs to be bought. Supplies need to be acquired for ship 'fabbers' or fabricators that reconstruct vital components as is made necessary by any kind of ship Damage Control System. The ship uses phenomenal amounts of electrical power, so the starship batteries need to be repowered when landed. Also the oxygen supply on a ship is not unlimited. Special units of pressurized air called atmo-sim (atmospheric simulators) must be bought and attached to the atmo-sim generator. The generator releases the air into the ship and jettisons used air (carbon dioxide).
The price of atmo-sim units, fabber supplies, nourishment and other expenses is incurred after every hyperspace journey. Instead of developing a complex accounting procedure for all this one may use this upkeep rule whereby every time a spaceship docks after having travelled in order for the ship to safely take off again the crew must make a Wealth check to pay for the ships upkeep.

The Purchase DC of the Upkeep is 1/5 the total cost of the Starship. Each crew member beyond the required minimum incurs an additional +1 penalty to the upkeep Purchase DC. The penalty for attempting to fly without paying the upkeep cost may result in things like, being caught in a firefight without fuel to manoever or be as dire as running out of air on the ship.

• Starship Engines
  
• Starship Armour
  
• Starship Defense Systems
  
• Starship Sensor Systems
  
• Starship Communication Systems
  
• Starship Weapons
  
• Starship Chassis List
  
• Starships of the United Republic
  
• Starships of the Independant Coalition
  
• Alien Starships

Hmmm... well the Drow Flux Engine could really be renamed the Elf Flux Engine and then be made available to both Elves and the drow subrace. I made it a Drow engine because I figured most 'fighters' would be of Drow manufacture (since they are of military bent) whereas maybe slower long range civillian cruisers with photon sails would be more typical of elves.

In fact... let me update.