Aucturn

The ominous world of Aucturn, the Stranger, remains mostly an enigma even after centuries of interplanetary travel. Visual observations of the planet vary significantly from viewer to viewer, and both its diameter and rotational period fluctuate wildly and seemingly randomly. However, most of the Pact Worlds lean toward one particular hypothesis: namely that Aucturn is not a planet at all, but a living thing—an immense embryo or egg that will someday mature into a near-deific being of untold cosmic power: one of the Great Old Ones.
The farthest planet from the sun, Aucturn is not a signatory to the Pact and is claimed by the Pact Worlds only out of proximity and necessity. A weird and sickly world cloaked in thick poisonous clouds, the Stranger warps reality with its very existence, endangering any living creature that approaches or visits it. Yet Aucturn is far from uninhabited, and the living planet is currently a battleground between the cults of the Elder Mythos, who aspire to nurture a new god, and the forces of the Dominion of the Black, which seek to subjugate and manipulate the nascent Great Old One for their own sinister purposes.

Geography

Aucturn is an organic, inhospitable world with a toxic, yellow-green atmosphere. Its size constantly swells and contracts, twisting its landscape. To observers from outside, Aucturn's appearance is inconsistent, due to a global magical illusion. The space surrounding it is filled with the wrecks of starships, supposedly sent by other planets to cleanse Aucturn during the Gap.
The soil of Aucturn is rubbery or chalky, and only mutated vegetation could grow there. Its mountains resemble tumours, its oceans are made of black muck, and its atmosphere consists of various poisonous gases depending on the specific area.
Despite Aucturn's mutable geography, several features are relatively persistent: the Undulating Sea, a large ocean surrounding the southern ice cap and containing various settlements, most notably the Citadel of the Black, on its northern shore; the Twisting Peaks, a stony grey mountain range stretching from northwest to southeast, shielding the poppies of the south from severe weather; and the Chalkmounds, a smaller mountain range in the northern hemisphere made of a fragile stone capable of absorbing toxins, making the surrounding area less inhospitable.

Fauna & Flora

Orocorans are the most common among Aucturn's monstrous, vicious indigenous lifeforms, but are usually too drug-addled to pose any threat to others. Other native creatures include bryrvaths, gugs, shoggoths, and so on. They prey upon both of the major immigrant groups of Aucturn: the often-mutated humanoid worshippers of the Outer Gods and other insane people, who usually live near the Chalkmounds or in sealed buildings and wear environmental suits when they need to go outside, and spend their time either getting high on drugs or focusing on dangerous goals that threaten the entire system; and agents of the Dominion of the Black, who control remote facilities and avoid the attention of the cults while protecting their secret lairs and contacting more Dominion agents from the Dark Tapestry. The Elder Mythos cults have proven themselves resistant to Dominion attacks, and the rest of the Pact Worlds are content to let the Dominion throw its resources at a toxic planet on the fringe of the system.

• Type: Captured Rogue Terrestrial Planet
• Diameter: varies
• Mass: 2x M_G
• Gravity: 2x G_G
• Atmosphere: Toxic
• Orbital Period: varies
• Rotational Period: 500 years PST

Alternative Name(s)

The Stranger

Type

Planet

Location under

The Pact Worlds System

Owner/Ruler

Carsai the King

Owning Organization

The Pact Worlds Alliance

Contested By

• Dominion of the Black
• The Pact Worlds Alliance