Nakondis

The second planet from the sun of the Nakon system, Nakondis is a surprisingly temperate world deep in the Vast.

Geography

The planet is covered with enormous swaths of deciduous forests that thin at the equator, giving way to clearings of tall grasses. Low mountain ranges crisscross Nakondis. Vegetation on the mountains is sparser but still present; none of the planet’s peaks rise very far above the tree line. There are no oceans on the surface of Nakondis, but immense partially frozen and ionized seas exist within the planet’s lithosphere. The heat from the close sun draws forth this water through the soil, resulting in a pervasive, cloying fog across the entire planet. This thick haze shields much of Nakondis’s trees and wildlife from the heat and radiation of the sun, but it also carries a faint electrical charge. This charge usually isn’t dangerous—it simply makes the skin tingle—but when the fog is thick, it can build to levels sufficient enough to damage creatures and wreak havoc on electrical systems. In low-lying areas of the planet, the mist congeals into a soupy morass, and occasional “storms” of thickened fog sweep the forests, crackling with bolts of hazardous lightning.

Fauna & Flora

The native fauna of Nakondis are primarily birds, insects, and small arboreal mammals, all of which have evolved with adaptations to the planet’s electrified mist. Most creatures are either immune to electricity or have developed the ability to sense when electric charges start to build so they can quickly leave the area. These electricity-sensing creatures generally flee from explorers or colonists, as common batteries carry enough latent charge to trigger their flight reflex.
Some of the largest creatures on Nakondis (and most problematic to explorers) are simian animals called hobgars. Generally not much larger than 10 pounds, hobgars have only animal intelligence, but they are curious and travel in packs of up to 20 members. Hobgars not only are immune to electricity but also enjoy gnawing on conductive materials. They are known for sneaking into encampments to eat wiring, crack open datapads, and steal portable equipment for their tree-bole lairs. Hobgars successful in these irritating raids communicate the location of their spoils to other hobgars, so an encampment can be overrun and picked apart in a matter of weeks. Permanent settlements must learn to deal with hobgars, such as by trapping them or bringing offworld domesticated animals to scare them off. Hobgars prefer dense forests, so the mountain ranges and equatorial plains house fewer of the creatures. Rumors persist that substantially larger hobgars live in the thickest, least-traveled forests, towering higher than the treetops, but no confirmed recordings of these reclusive titans exist. Either these “hobgar kings” are merely the product of a fanciful imagination fueled by fog-obscured, half-glimpsed hills, or these massive beasts are cunning enough to avoid detection.

History

Before the advent of Drift travel, the Royal Venture, an Azlanti Empire ship installed with the rune drive, an experimental technomagical interstellar drive, crashed on Nakondis.
In 317 AG, after Abadarcorp surveyors detected a variant of tin that carried an electrical charge particularly well, colonists from the Pact Worlds arrived and established Madelon's Landing. After a month, a handful of colonists established Dalesko nearby, but all of them mysteriously vanished without a trace.
Shortly after, a probe of the Star Empire's Imperial Vanguard Scout Corps accidentally crash-landed on the planet, but still managed to identify both Madelon's Landing and an exceptional aeon stone, and it transmitted the data back to the IVSC before it was destroyed.Zolan Ulivestra, an Azlanti noble and IVSC officer who has been searching for the rune drive, became convinced that he had found his target and dispatched the Voidsweeper Barazad to investigate; meanwhile, the colonists also investigated the crash site of the IVSC probe and found the wreck of the Royal Venture.
When the Barazad arrived and discovered that the settlement identified by the drone was not an Azlanti colony but a Pact Worlds one, the most senior Aeon Guard officer on-board, Lieutenant Sharu, took command of the AG cadets on the ship, invaded and quickly took over Madelon's Landing.

Diameter: ×3/4; Mass: ×9/16 Gravity: ×1
Location: The Vast; Atmosphere: Normal
Day: 22 hours; Year: 202 days

Type

Planet

Included Locations

• Nakondis Colony

Owning Organization

Abadarcorp

Related Reports (Primary)

• 01-13: Hovertrike Race