Aballon
The closest planet to The Sun, Aballon is a drab world of dusty craters, gray deserts, and sharp-edged mountains. What wisps of atmosphere the planet’s gravity manages to cling to are quickly blasted away by the solar wind, leaving a quiet landscape of rock and heavy metals that’s blisteringly hot in the sun and coated with ice in the shade, inimical to all but the hardiest biological life.
Fortunately, most life on Aballon isn’t biological. Thousands of years before either The Gap or common spaceflight, a mysterious race called the First Ones touched down on Aballon. Using the abundant metals and solar energy, they crafted an immense army of servitor machines, from simple drones to hyperintelligent overseer units, setting them to work harvesting the planet’s resources.
And then they left. In the millennia that followed, the machines upgraded themselves, spreading out and evolving to form an entire artificial ecosystem, from simple worker bots and the self-guided predator drones that prey upon them to fully sentient machines that make up a vast society. Those in this latter group, collectively named Anacites, take a wide variety of physical forms suited to their assigned tasks, though they tend toward silvery arthropod bodies, which in recent years many have taken to painting different colors or in abstract schematic-like patterns to help identify themselves to nonmachines.
Culturally, most Aballonian anacites fall into one of two ideological groups. Members of the first group, Those Who Wait, continue to upgrade themselves and stockpile wealth and resources in the belief that the First Ones will eventually return and that all of Aballon must be ready to receive them when they do. Those Who Become, on the other hand, believe their destiny is to take on the mantle of the First Ones and colonize new worlds themselves, aiming their robotic seedships out toward the stars. Both groups wield considerable economic power due to the high concentration of rare ores they mine from the Midnight Trenches, as well as through the influence of anacite-run technology corporations such as Automatrix Robotics, which specializes in creating nonsentient ship AIs and servitor bots for resale on other Pact Worlds. Both groups also regularly hire offworlder adventurers to mount expeditions into the nine ancient cities of the First Ones—gleaming but deteriorating collections of spires which anacites themselves are forbidden from entering by ancient law—in hopes of uncovering clues as to their progenitors’ identity and ultimate goals.
Over the ages, anacite civilization has gone from a simple network of automated factories producing ever more machines to a world-spanning array of cities dwarfing those of the First Ones. Often confusing to biological creatures, these cities are nonetheless eminently logical and efficient, with floating towers, lightless access tunnels, and skittering maintenance bots. Many include large atmosphere factories for the benefit of biological visitors and residents—while the planet is constantly losing its thin atmosphere, these replenish it and often specialize in producing “heavy air,” or artificial magnetospheres, that keep the regions in and around their cities at a comfortable atmospheric pressure for common Pact Worlds humanoids.
The largest anacite settlement, Striving, is famous across the solar system as the seat of the Machine Court, an unfailingly logical coalition of robotic judges that arbitrate conflicts between residents, assist the network of governing AIs known as the Insight Array, and keep the peace between the planet’s factions. Over the objections of other planetary governments and even The Pact Worlds Council itself, the Machine Court offers Androids and other mechanical beings from across the system the right to be tried in their halls even for crimes committed on other worlds, with no fear of extradition. The verdicts are always fair, and the possibility of having the facts examined utterly without prejudice makes Striving widely renowned as a haven for all artificial beings. Thus, many androids can be found living in those districts catering to biological creatures.
Striving is also a key holy site of the church of Triune. It was here that the anacites created and still maintain the city-sized neural network of the same name, which gave birth to Epoch, one of the machine god’s three aspects. The three overlapping geodesic spheres of Unification Cathedral in the city’s center stand atop a massive (and highly classified) subterranean factory producing Drift beacons for priests to place around the galaxy.
Geography
From an outsider’s view, Aballon is a dull world of iron and rock. Since the rise of anacite dominance of Aballon, interconnected settlements the size of nations—now known as megaplexes—spread across the surface of Aballon like a metal plague. The ongoing expansion of these city-nations is determined by incomprehensibly complicated calculations performed by the most advanced anacites in conjunction with the leaders of other similarly burgeoning city-states. Only the lands surrounding the vaunted cities of the First Ones remain free from the industrial expansion, and when viewed from orbit, one can clearly view the open landscapes left between the anacite-built megaplexes and the cities of the First Ones.
The impact of stellar debris and other objects originally shaped much of the rocky surface of Aballon. Objects continued to collide with the world throughout its existence, as the planet only recently manufactured a working atmosphere in some locations. Many of the colossal megaplexes grew over craters and impact points. These immense settlements often include entire city-sized districts that make use of the extra space these craters provide to build undercities of varying sizes. Some of Aballon’s largest megaplexes include multiple undercities, each with a name reflecting an archaic naming convention for the craters as they were cataloged by the other worlds of the Golarion System in ages past. The Castrovelian-named crater of Lors Emphyria rests under the city of Striving, as does the Golarion-named series of close undercities known as the Catena of Ralzeros.
Reaching up from enormous depressions in the planet’s surface are immense, rock-encrusted mountains of exposed lead. Some regions of the world form recessed valleys or highlands shaped over millions of years of planetary stabilization. Compression folds are the primary culprit of geographic shifts on the surface; scholars theorize that Aballon was once a larger world that compressed in on itself as the planetary core solidified into its current form of highly dense metals. The modern terrain is far less prone to change, and as a result, Aballon has suffered only minor shifting in the past 10,000 years.
There are no oceans on the surface of Aballon. Frozen water does exist on the planet, being mostly confined to the half-frozen jungles of the Ice Wells, unique regions within deep impact craters scattered across the surface. The depth of the craters offers shade from the superheated sunlight, which leads to wells of ice. The plants within have adapted to collect solar energy and heat from the upper reaches of the impact points, creating unique regions of temperatures amicable to organic life. The Ice Wells remained relatively preserved until the recent surge of anacite expansion across the world, but now only a few remain.
A layer of thick rock covers Aballon, beneath which immense deposits of iron and lead make up much of the planet’s internal structure. Because even the lowest melting point of rock and iron is twice the melting point of lead, Aballon has survived the constant bombardment of the nearby sun, but the risks of exposing a metallic portion of the planet to direct sunlight has been a major concern for most of the world’s history, as atmospheric and solar controls have been a very recent innovation. Various mandates from the ruling Insight Array prohibit exploitative practices by corporations and place complex regulations on mining efforts to minimize the potential for mining disasters. Because of this, many corporations have abandoned mining endeavors on Aballon and instead seek profits in the unregulated worlds of Near Space and the Vast. The remaining surface mining initiatives on Aballon are most commonly the result of Triune’s church, particularly those followers of Triune’s Epoch aspect who view the metals of Aballon with religious awe.
Between millennia of robotic excavators crafting perfectly aligned subterranean tunnels and the organic “diggers” of the Ice Wells crafting their own networks, Aballon is rife with internal transit routes. Unleashed in the wake of the First Ones’ departure, the excavator robots began work constructing a series of pathways to connect the planet’s various settlements. Sometime during the Gap, these excavators completed their work, and the anacites installed complex, magnetically charged rail systems. The mag-rail network allows high-speed transit beneath the planet’s surface, freeing up the skies for city-sized bulk landers to collect goods from the anacite-run forges.
History
The rocky, metallic world of Aballon whips around the sun at incredible speeds. Ages ago, a mysterious race called the First Ones seeded Aballon with a host of machines, which they used to harvest unknown materials from the world. The First Ones departed so long ago that most non-Aballonians have forgotten their existence and consider the myriad models of Aballonian robots, now known as anacites, to be Aballon’s true native species.
Aballon played several major roles in the post-Gap history of the Golarion System. The first, and what many consider the most prominent Aballonian contribution to the Pact Worlds, was the completion of the constructed deity Epoch, who eventually combined with two other ascended artificial intelligences to become Triune, the god that gave the Drift to the universe. Many thought that Aballon’s contributions would decrease in the aftermath of its created deity’s ascendance, but the revelation of the Drift only furthered Aballon’s relevance in the Golarion System, as the Aballon-based church of Triune used facilities on the planet to forge the early Drift engines necessary for interstellar travel. Today, Aballon is a key contributor to the prosperity and protection of the Pact Worlds, due in large part to the planet’s astounding manufacturing capabilities; the world’s tireless factories churn out equipment and technological innovations by the second. Beyond the planet’s industrial prowess, several groups find Aballon to be an attractive destination. Constructed and mechanized races from across the galaxy find their way here in search of acceptance and to escape perceived “organic intolerance.” Aballon also offers several notable adventuring opportunities. Intrepid explorers can acquire the necessary permits to venture into the enigmatic cities of the First Ones, while other adventurers might join expansive, corporation-funded expeditions to uncover age-old relics in the half-frozen jungles of the Ice Wells. Natives and visitors alike eventually become embroiled in the ever-growing political movement to spread acceptance of constructs and other sentient technological creatures throughout the galaxy. Regardless of the reason for coming to or living on Aballon, there is no shortage of opportunity.
RESIDENTS
When the First Ones came to Aballon to harvest it for unknown matter, they left behind a race of self-improving constructs now known as anacites. Automated forge complexes, such as the Automatrix, are scattered across Aballon. These leftover forges of the First Ones produce baseline anacites in great quantities. Each anacite is a unique self-improving construct, and over the millennia, thousands of different models have developed, with new forge complexes producing these models at regular intervals. Once referred to simply as Aballonians by outsiders, anacites claimed their own racial name sometime prior to the Gap as they spread across Aballon, forging vast nation-sized cities known as megaplexes. Androids are the second largest population group on Aballon, second only to anacites. A drastic increase in Aballonian androids came in the aftermath of “the Automaton’s Polemic,” a speech that triggered the emancipation of indentured androids across the Pact Worlds. Many androids saw the machine-driven utopia of Aballon as a place to start a new life after they were freed from servitude. Human, Vesk, and Ysoki live across the surface of Aballon, having forged strong communities—both interspecies and intraspecies—within the undercities and amid the logically arranged streets of the surface. Both humans and ysoki have long histories of venturing to Aballon, either through interplanetary gateways or space expeditions dating back before the Gap. While Aballon is mostly inhospitable to life, the Ice Wells provided a means of survival for these initial explorers. Now, thanks to innovative Aballonian atmospheric technologies, certain sections of the world’s sprawling megaplexes are comfortable for the descendants of these first arrivals. Vesk first came to Aballon in search of the best weapons and equipment offered by the Pact Worlds. Those few who remained behind from their exploration found odd comradeship with the local anacites, particularly due to mutual adoration of high-quality equipment. Similarly, vesk specializing in powered-armor combat are seen more and more frequently as participants in Aballon’s popular Robo Wrestling sports events. Kasatha primarily travel to Aballon for two reasons: exploration and research. Aballon maintains immense data archives, and while many have been transmitted to various infospheres across the system, some of these archives require on-site access to protect sensitive data. The allure of the ancient cities of the First Ones also attracts many kasathas, and their explorations are often funded by interested anacites who are forbidden from personally entering the cities of their progenitors. Shirren are incredibly rare on Aballon, as two major factors make it difficult for shirrens to adapt here. The first is that the thrill of individuality is quashed by the harsh mechanized logic of the ruling Insight Array. Second, shirrens thrive on communalism, and most local constructs are entirely inaccessible via most standard forms of telepathic activity. Nevertheless, a few shirrens consider themselves native to Aballon, typically sticking to the crater undercities of the various megaplexes. Khizar, intelligent plantlike humanoids native to Castrovel, are also sometimes found on Aballon. They are primarily encountered guarding the ecosystems of the planet’s Ice Wells, as the plantlike people find the native anacites a bit off-putting. These khizars often with ally with groups of Xenowardens to defend the fragile environments—a trend the ruling Insight Array finds a little alarming. SOCIETY Many scholars propose that only the cold logic of a machine can create a utopia, and Aballon is a world that lends credence to this belief. The governing Insight Array ensures that all citizens and visitors to Aballon have access to work. The exact task for a given individual is determined through a complex series of algorithms, often ensuring that the abilities and talents of the individual are applied in a manner that benefits the planet. Those who accept their assigned positions are provided with suitable lodging and sustenance, assuaging fears of destitution or starvation. All assigned workers also receive a regular stipend of credits to use on incidental purchases while on Aballon; even the harsh logic of the Insight Array recognizes the necessity of giving workers something to strive toward. This post-scarcity economy attracts many to the planet, though newcomers sometimes scoff at the labor or triviality of their assigned tasks. Anacites are the inheritors of Aballon. Since the departure of the First Ones, they have developed into two unique castes: Those Who Become and Those Who Wait. Those Who Become believe that it is their duty to take on the mantle of the First Ones and travel to the stars, and work toward accomplishing this goal by constructing vast robotic seedships to send into the Vast to colonize other worlds. Meanwhile, Those Who Wait await what they see as the inevitable return of the First Ones. These anacites stockpile precious knowledge and spread across Aballon in anticipation of their progenitors’ return. Recently, a splinter sect of anacites has begun to disregard both sides of the racial divide, content to spend their lives enjoying personal freedom and caring little why the First Ones created their race. Anacites from both of the other two castes tend to look down on these so-called upstarts. From the megaplex of Striving, the Machine Court holds judicial authority across Aballon. This council of robotic judges adjudicates the laws of Aballon while simultaneously advising the members of the Insight Array on planetary governance. To the dismay of other planetary governments, including the Pact Council, the Machine Court offers unbiased trials for androids and other constructs across the Pact Worlds. Hundreds of formal complaints are lodged on a yearly basis against the Machine Court for its supposed meddling in the governing of other worlds, but no Pact World has taken any punitive action against Aballon. Some construe the actions of the Machine Court as sentimental, viewing the trials as protection for constructs such as anacites. The truth is far simpler: by offering impartial trials for those condemned of false crimes, the Machine Court offers a place of refuge to those found innocent—a refuge where the innocent can immediately find work through the Insight Array and begin contributing to the prosperity of Aballon. Philosophy and religion are strange facets of life on Aballon. The most common belief is that of the philosophy of singularitism, which espouses that the people of the galaxy will eventually reach a point of technological interconnectivity. The resulting singularity will unite all races of the galaxy into a single “godhead” that will end the need for modern deities. This belief is firmly supported by Those Who Become, who view such an apotheosis as a philosophical parallel to their own desire of taking on the mantle of the First Ones. The anacite prophet Tier-38-Mentor (N agender anacite mystic) recently proposed that the deity Triune is the first step toward reaching singularity: Triune’s merging and self-perpetuated apotheosis is a microcosm of what the people of the galaxy will perform when the time is right. The same prophet speculates that Triune’s creation of Drift beacons is an intentional push for singularity, as the Drift will eventually connect all solar systems. Worship of the deities Sarenrae, Triune, and Yaraesa are the predominant religions on Aballon. As a sun goddess, Sarenrae enjoys the veneration of primitive-model anacites who see their ability to harvest solar energy as a holy union. Nonnative pilgrims unprepared for the rigors of traveling to the sun often visit Aballon on pilgrimages to contemplate Sarenrae and the sun of the Pact Worlds system. Triune is the most widely venerated deity on the Forge because of its Epoch aspect—an aspect constructed on Aballon by anacites. Yaraesa, the Lady of Wisdom, maintains several enclaves among the guarded data centers of Aballon. Among the few lashuntas living on Aballon, many are followers of Yaraesa who oversee ancient data repositories, ensuring that the information held within is used to better understand the universe and not to interfere in any significant way. CONFLICTS AND THREATS Despite an outward appearance of calm unity, Aballon is home to dozens of squabbling factions and even more threats waiting to surface, creating hot spots that are in dire need of hired mercenaries, outside mediators, or undercover operatives on one side or another. Until recently, all of Aballon’s intelligent anacites belonged to Those Who Become or Those Who Wait. While their beliefs are opposed, the two groups rarely engage in physical confrontation. Since the Gap, the two sides of Aballonian belief have agreed to leave the cities of the First Ones to exploration by outsiders—specifically non-anacites—in accordance with ancient law. Complicating this delicate accord is the gradual growth of a faction dedicated to anacite independence from the shadow of the First Ones. This third group tests the patience of both traditional factions, going so far as to sponsor anacite-led expeditions into the forbidden cities to conclusively solve the mystery surrounding the First Ones. Since the advent of The Drift, members of Those Who Become have deployed dozens of starships into the depths of the uncharted Vast. These ships contained automated forges to build both anacites and foundry crèches for the construction of androids. While some of these robotic seedships report back to Aballon and continue to send updates, others have disappeared entirely. Few expeditions were mounted to investigate the disappearances of these fleets, Those Who Become being more interested in constructing new ships than discovering what happened to their previous assets. Recently, the Starfinder Society, under direction from its new First Seeker, has entered negotiations with Those Who Become to gain access to a list of missing seedships and transmission logs—a veritable gold mine of exploration sites.Tourism
The world of Aballon is noteworthy for its immense megaplexes, nation-sized cities that cover swaths of the planet. Scattered around the world are the nine mysterious cities of the First Ones, soaring sites of unusual metal that defy logic in one way or another. The Ice Wells are Aballon’s only source of natural organic life, and they spread in tangled webs at key points across the globe. Along with these key locations, Aballon is home to numerous sites of interest, as expanded upon below.
01
Once a bustling space station orbiting Aballon, 01 was built by the native anacites immediately after the Gap to facilitate trade with life-forms from other worlds. These days, most of Aballon’s major trading ports have localized atmosphere generators and districts catering to organic beings. The station might have remained a vital trading hub had most of its systems not been infected with a peculiar virus—dubbed the Bureaucratic Subroutine—that seems tailored to make infected machines incredibly inefficient and desirous of elaborate layers of hierarchy and ritual. Though traffic to 01 quickly tapered off after implementation of a complete quarantine for mechanical organisms, Aballon’s government continues to let the station exist due to the strange discoveries coming out of its labs, and some brave traders from other worlds still come to purchase its advanced tech.Automatrix
This immense megaplex forge is the second largest of Aballon’s vast city-states. From its significant origin as Aballon’s first anacite forge, it grew to become the most industrious of Aballon’s already industrially focused settlements. The center of the Automatrix is the corporate offices and factories of Automatrix Robotics, an organization said to be built atop the original Automatrix forges. New anacites are produced hourly from the constantly churning creation forges of the Automatrix. Members of both Those Who Become and Those Who Wait work side by side in the factories of Automatrix Robotics; such unity is a condition of employment within the corporation. Today, the corporation funds countless expeditions into Near Space, the Vast, and even the imposing cities of the First Ones.Boundless
Returning expeditions from the First One city of Boundless report enormous vaults underneath the city that seem to stretch for miles in every direction. Many of these chambers are filled with massive gears that don’t appear to have turned for millennia. Some theories state that this means Boundless has some connection to the plane of Axis, while others posit the city itself is a single robotic entity waiting to be activated. The Insight Array is particularly interested in discovering the truth of the matter, as either answer could go a long way into revealing much about the First Ones.Constant
Recently, the ground under the First One city of Constant cracked open as adamantine-hard vegetation rose to the surface. Hidden below the streets of the city, the plants erupted in a moment of explosive life, covering the steely shells of the First Ones’ buildings in a dizzying pattern of flora. A host of militant khizars arrived on the planet shortly after, claiming the affected sections of the city as their own. Having imposed strict laws forbidding themselves from entering the cities of the First Ones, the anacites of Aballon now routinely hire mercenaries and military outfits to try to oust the ever-entrenched khizars. Thus far, the anacite-funded attacks have succeeded only in keeping the wild growth contained in about half of Constant. The khizars seem content to remain within the city, refusing to launch attacks against their anacite-funded foes, and they are more than capable of repelling intrusions into their own territory.Continuum
The First One city of Continuum is possibly the least understood of all these ancient settlements. Though there are some pre-Gap records of explorers entering the city, since the end of the Gap, Continuum has been covered in an impenetrable dome of force. Those who venture close to the city claim to be able to spot movement within through the dome, but so far, none of these strange occurrences has been caught on camera. For now, the Insight Array has been content to let this mystery lie, cutting off all government funding for expeditions and research into the city.Endeavor
The megaplex of Endeavor is a hybrid of technological and magical accomplishment. Built around an expansive solar array known as the Sun Basin, this megaplex derives its power from the basin’s ability to collect a staggering amount of solar energy. This energy not only meets the technological requirements of the megaplex but also powers various magical industries, including a constantly operating series of interplanar and interplanetary portals. Visitors can purchase travel through these portals at exorbitant cost. The operation of these gateways is handled by Resurgent Technologies, a pre-Gap corporation specializing in the fusion of technological and magical innovations. An elected council directed the operations of Resurgent Technologies in the aftermath of the Gap, but shortly after the signing of the Absalom Pact, a single director abolished the previous council. Known as the Last One, this mysterious director manages Resurgent Technologies single-handedly, keeping the corporation at the forefront of technological and magical hybridization. Both Those Who Become and Those Who Wait sponsor the occasional assassination attempts against the director, as they believe the title is blasphemous. The few who’ve directly interacted with the Last One are unsure if the director is an anacite or a humanoid wearing impressive powered armor. Regardless, all reports of the Last One indicate a calculating intelligence behind glowing golden eyes.Enduring
In 39 ag, The Veskarium launched a daring raid into the Golarion System, performing numerous strikes on key worlds. The continued attacks eventually led the vesk assault fleet into the orbit of Aballon, where they detected a surge of energy from Enduring, one of Aballon’s First One cities. Not realizing the cities of the First Ones routinely generated such power surges, the vesk believed the surface was preparing a strike and unleashed a scathing bombardment on Enduring. The massive strike devastated a large portion of the city, reducing some of the structures within to molten slag. What the vesk did not account for was the immediate and overwhelming response of Aballon’s anacites. The ruination led to an immediate coalition of anacites who overwhelmed the Veskarium force with a fleet of civilian and military ships alike. In the end, the vesk ships crashed down on the same city they’d just bombarded. While the attack on Enduring is thought to be one of the major reasons why Aballon signed the Absalom Pact just a year later, anacites bear no ill will toward modern vesk. Even now, hundreds of years later, the rubble within Enduring still smolders with regular plumes of strange gases. In what some call an emotional display, the judges of the Machine Court recently reopened exploration into the ruined sections of Enduring, with the stipulation that such missions must include at least one official from the Veskarium. The exact reasoning for this has yet to be formally announced, though many assume that the Veskarium is interested in whatever information might still be found from the wreckage of their centuries-old crashed starships.Eternity
A large camp of Those Who Wait is situated right outside of the First One city of Eternity, filled with anacites craving any information about their progenitors from inside the city. Because of this, adventurers and mercenaries from across the galaxy who are looking for work know that they will be able to find a job in Eternity. However, such employment doesn’t grant an easy payday, as the city contains a multitude of deadly traps and powerful constructs ready to fend off intruders.Fields of Judgment
This 50-mile-wide field is a legend across the whole of Aballon. Rusted machine corpses litter the grounds here, their remains acting as a testament to the destructive effect the fields have on mechanized life. The closer a machine gets to the center, the more of its systems go haywire, and ultimately the construct shuts down entirely. In ages past, the fields were a test, with machines believing they would be greatly rewarded if they could reach the center. None have ever made it to the center of the field, and now the Machine Court of Aballon uses the Field of Judgment for an entirely different purpose: a final punishment for constructs who’ve been found guilty of tremendous crimes. Once deemed guilty, a construct is sentenced to a penance march to the center of the fields. A convicted machine can bring allies along, but even with this allowance, all such attempts to carry out the sentence to completion have proven futile. Despite not affecting organic life to the same degree, non-constructs are forbidden by local law from entering the field.Frozen Nelumbo
This Ice Well is the largest of Aballon’s natural green environments. Thousands of years of evolution caused the plants of the Ice Well to burrow through the leaden and rocky crust of the planet, producing additional passages up to the surface. These secondary shafts expand in rounded formations around the original central crater. Because of this unique growth, the region resembles a lotus plant when viewed with orbital thermal optics. Inside, Frozen Nelumbo is a purely organic settlement, with clusters of living spaces carved out of immense thorns on the sides of the vines that cover the walls of the well. It’s also home to the largest concentration of khizars on Aballon. A delegation of Xenowardens offers additional protection to the people of Frozen Nelumbo, both in the form of ground-based soldiers and in the form of a single starship: the arkship Nature’s Gaze. The living arkship maintains a constant position above Frozen Nelumbo, dissuading any anacite-led attacks against the city. Thus far, the Insight Array has not reacted to the Xenowardens’ presence, as the Xenowardens follow all required laws.Gullet
Stretching down dozens of miles, Gullet is the deepest of Aballon’s Ice Wells. While some greenery clings to the pit’s sides, dotted with the occasional sharpwing nest, not much can live past a certain depth, where the temperatures drop to the extreme negatives and no light reaches. Due to the cold and darkness, some think that creatures from the Shadow Plane are drawn to Gullet’s depths, a claim seemingly supported by the mysterious disappearances of all expeditions to reach the bottom.Horse Eye Orbital Plate
This immense floating factory moves across the skies of Aballon, routinely adjusting its position to ensure it is constantly facing sunward. Miles wide, this facility constantly manufactures custom starships and starship components. Construction takes place on the underside of the plate, while the upper levels are covered with millions of solar panels that collect energy for use on the lower levels. The central levels of the plate are habitation areas for workers and visitors to the plate. As Horse Eye was originally a joint venture between the people of Aballon and lost Golarion, its current shareholders are primarily human, with a smattering of dwarven and halfling members. The Prophets of Kalistrade maintain the longest contract on the platform, and every month a new gold-clad commerce barge sets out from the underside of the platform and into the Vast. Hundreds of corporate dignitaries, representing myriad corporations and entities, vie for rental rights to the construction yards of the platform’s lower levels. It’s widely known that every shareholder has unlimited and undisputed access to the services of the plate, though few ever care to use the service. Association with one of the platform’s shareholders is the only means for unaffiliated adventurers and explorers to utilize the services of Horse Eye’s construction forges.Infinity
Pre-Gap records show Infinity, a city of the First Ones, in a slightly different location than it is today. Scholars posit that during the Gap, the city was moved (or perhaps moved itself) in response to some unknown calamity. A perfectly semispherical crater can be found to the east where the city once stood. During the daytime hours, the crater is a bubbling pool of molten lead, but when night falls, the lead cools and solidifies. Researchers interested in the legacy of the First Ones enthusiastically study the region in the hopes of unearthing some information about the city’s relocation, but none have managed to come up with anything beyond theories. Devoted members of Those Who Wait have turned the crater into a kind of holy site, and some of the more resilient anacites actively bathe in the molten lead, spending the night hours fused into the cooled metal as part of a contemplative ritual before emerging when the lead melts during the daytime hours.Midnight Trenches
Beneath the rocky surface of Aballon is a treasure trove of precious metals. Normally rare adamantine is plentiful here, while other precious starmetals such as djezet and siccatite are commonplace. Digging robots and enormous excavating behemoths long ago carved out the primary tunnels of the Midnight Trenches. Today, every worthwhile vein of precious ore is in a branching tunnel, with some secondary and tertiary tunnels no wider than 5 feet. In ages past, the factions of Aballon worked in relative harmony to secure resources from the plentiful Midnight Trenches, but with the increased need of precious metals, unity has disappeared. Instead, the Midnight Trenches are now an ongoing war zone, conveniently located just under the planet’s surface. Dozens of factions, including corporations and members of Those Who Become and Those Who Wait, engage in close-quarters hit-and-run battles against one another. These commando operations work to disrupt the mining of opposing forces within the trenches. Because of the ceaseless conflicts, adventurers and mercenaries alike can find work assaulting or protecting mining operations within the Midnight Trenches. To entice the best of the best, contracts within the Midnight Trenches are confidential, and working for one faction does not preclude an individual or group from working for a new faction once a contract expires.Myriad
As the megaplex of Striving expanded, the anacites were careful not to encroach too closely on the First One city of Myriad. This is in part due to the almost religious significance anacites place on these cities, but also because of an incident that occurred only a few decades after the Gap ended. When a group of construction anacites began laying foundations near Myriad to respectfully incorporate its towers into Striving’s urban sprawl, a series of quakes caused major cracks in the new infrastructure. The anacites took this as a clear sign from the First Ones that nothing should be built within a few miles of Myriad, a restriction that continues to be honored to this day.Preceptum XIII
The thirteenth iteration of the megaplex to bear its name, Preceptum is unlike any of the other megaplexes on the planet in that it is constantly in a state of expansion and deconstruction. Construction robots work day and night to build erratic developments, only to tear them down months, weeks, or even days later. An advanced intelligence known as Pure Circuit guides Preceptum’s urban development, along with the megaplex’s other required municipal calculations. Some believe the eight missing iterations of Preceptum—versions of the city lost to the nonhistory of the Gap—have rendered Pure Circuit defective. The few Aballonians who dared to openly call for a review of Pure Circuit’s code have died under strange circumstances. Whether there’s some force on Aballon interested in keeping a senile intelligence in control of a megaplex or Pure Circuit has enough wherewithal to enact self-defense protocols is largely irrelevant. The mad intelligence manages the megaplex, and those within adapt to the rapidly changing environment as best they can.Pursuit
The smallest of Aballon’s megaplexes, Pursuit is nevertheless larger that most cities on other planets. The majority of this metropolis is given over to factories that produce vast numbers of weapons, from handheld plasma pistols to capital starship lasers. The arms manufacturers of Pursuit tend to focus on powered weapons, believing analog projectile weapons to be inferior. Thanks to these factories, the streets and skyways of Pursuit are more polluted than any other place on Aballon, making it difficult for non-robotic beings to live and work here. Those that do usually invest credits in powerful filtration suits or develop crippling pulmonary afflictions.Sea of Glass
The nonliquid Sea of Glass stretches for miles across the surface of Aballon. This unique creation is thought to have formed because of an unprecedented stellar flare that seared the surface of the world in a prior epoch. The effect is stunning: a pristine, mirror-sheened sea perpetually frozen in time. Whatever caused the phenomenon has not occurred again, but dozens of interested organizations still explore the aftermath. Singularly tasked robots patrol the surface of the sea, skittering atop time-locked waves of glass in furtherance of some forgotten programming. Other robots mine the sea’s interior, uncovering precious gem formations created by the unique effect. Reports from various corporations interested in the Sea of Glass suggest many of its hidden gem deposits are infused with powerful fire and positive energy–aligned magic imparted by the life-giving rays of the sun.Striving
Sometime during the Gap, anacites spread across Aballon, forging grand nation-sized settlements called megaplexes. Striving quickly became the largest of these growing city-states. The so-called “Prime Megaplex” is home to the judicial regime known as the Machine Court, the bureaucratic overseers of the Insight Array, and the holy church of Triune: Unification Cathedral. Striving is perhaps the most advanced settlement in all the Pact Worlds, housing the industry of dozens of major corporations and thousands of private factories and forges. Even religious followers have a haven in the unique region of the Theology Channel. Veteran adventurers in the Pact Worlds know that if someone needs technological equipment, Striving is the one-stop shop for all purchases. An entire town-sized section of the Striving megaplex is devoted to anacite understanding of foreign religions. This locale, known as the Theology Channel, consists of hundreds of cathedrals, chapels, and churches dedicated to the various religions of the Pact Worlds. Visitors can partake in rites related to any of the represented deities without fear of societal repercussions. Each of the core deities has a significant structure in the region, and anacite anchorites preside over various structures dedicated to several lesser deities and demigods. Some chapels even offer praise to the loathsome demon lords, with the pleasure cults of Nocticula and the self-immolating followers of Flauros numbering among some of the more interesting and taboo religious options present in the Theology Channel. Adjoined to the megaplex of Striving, the immense trinary structures of Unification Cathedral represent the three aspects of Triune. Each of the deity’s three aspects are venerated in the separate structures, but all are interconnected by the undercity of Ascension—a site named both in honor of Triune’s ascension and for the crater’s discovery by Golarion’s old Pharaohs of Ascension. The undercity is unlike Aballon’s other undercities, as it is one vast forge complex that produces some of the best Drift engines in the interstellar travel market, as well as some Drift beacons. The exact means of creating these beacons is closely guarded, and Triune’s faithful maintain a zealous stewardship over the construction methods. To protect this technology, the grounds of Unification Cathedral are considered a separate political entity from Striving. Triune maintains a host of Trifold Legionaries—Triune’s elite, technologically augmented holy warriors—to guard the secrets of the cathedral and the adjoining undercity of Ascension. STRIVING LN megaplex Population 152,000,000 (65% anacite, 18% android, 13% human, 4% other) Government utopia (guided by the Insight Array) Qualities academic, bureaucratic, devout (Triune, singularitism), technologically advanced Maximum Item Level 20thTimeless
The best guarded of the First One cities, Timeless is routinely patrolled by nonconversational robots of exceptional design. Spires of horacalcum defy scans from without, and the city routinely tricks the eye with contradictory visions when observed with the naked eye. The defenders of Timeless come from within the city, making them distinctive from the standard hulls crafted in typical Aballonian forges such as the Automatrix. All of Timeless’s defenders have bodies of precious skymetal alloys, reinforcing the idea that the city has its own production facilities. Expeditions into Timeless are rare, simply because anacites have no control over the robots that guard the city from intruders. No explorative party has yet to return from a mission into Timeless, and only a handful have returned from being attacked by the guardian machines at the city’s edge. Exactly what secrets Timeless holds are unknown, but with more and more expeditions being prepared, it’s only a matter of time before a group successfully breaches the city and returns with some insight on what transpires within the city’s coppery spires.Ubiquity
The buildings and spires of the First One city of Ubiquity share a bizarre quirk: they have no obvious entrances and resist all attempts to magically teleport inside of them. While the streets of Ubiquity have been fully explored and documented, no records exist about the interiors of the city’s buildings. While most believe that no being has stepped inside of the towers, some think the Gap is responsible for this lack of information—a theory that has spurred requests to enter the city to an all-time high. These explorers have yet to make their way into the towers, but recently a few fringe scholars have begun to experiment with ways to enter them using purely technological means, much in the same way that starships enter the Drift. Early tests have not been particularly successful, usually ending in fatal explosions that don’t harm the nearby towers in the slightest.
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