Monsoon River
A region of the Hypersea frequently hit by Black Hole Pulses, the Monsoon River is perfectly accessible by normal Starships most of the time, but becomes incredibly hard to traverse when under the effect of a pulse. Even worse, the pulses have a longer duration than in most areas of hyperspace. As a result, normally transport is planned with the so-called Monsoon season in mind, to avoid the stormy weather.
However, because the pulses aren't entirely rhythmical, occasionally people are caught by surprise. In these cases, the services of Stormfarers become essential to transport any goods that spoil easily. A lot of money can be earned by the lucky crew present at the right time in the right place. But at the same time, this attracts pirates who know they will face less opposition and can escape more easily.
Another group that is drawn to the Monsoon River, are scientists. The frequency of black hole pulses allows them to study hyperspace physics in a way they cannot do elsewhere. Even if there is no cargo to transport, a stormfarer crew can make money by housing a scientist working on a new thesis.
Ironically, there are those that actually prefer to travel during Monsoon season. As lower Tranquility comes with an increased travel speed, some corps send their armies through in this duration, as to better catch their opponents by surprise. At the same time, this leaves them vulnerable to a clever ambush if they gave the game away in advance.
As for the systems depending on the Monsoon River for their business, they make sure to prepare stockpiles and have more storage space than other systems tend to have. Some businesses make a killing when a crew is caught out and cannot leave, while others might gamble on stability and may go bankrupt when suddenly cut off. Most people, however, do not dare gamble on such uncertainty and insist on maintaining their stockpiles.
Comments