The Desolate Grimlands
Geography & Landmarks
The Desolate Grimlands is a region of space near the edge of our galaxy. The region itself is classified as a nebula and is home to three stars. Two of these stars form a binary system with a total of 12 planets split between them along with 26 moons. However, what sets this region apart is the existence of a treacherous and mysterious anomaly called the "the edge of reality". This rift is extremely perilous, as anything that enters becomes irretrievable, with limited sensor data suggesting that beyond the rift lies absolute emptiness, hence its name. Orbiting this rift is a solitary small moon, accompanied by a multitude of stellar debris, asteroids and sharp cosmic dust. Navigating through this area is dangerous due to the properties of the debris which can cause significant damage to engines and ship hulls unless they are sufficiently shielded which had lead to the region receiving its name as large portions now act as graveyards for ruined ships.
Despite the dangers housed by this system, three of the planets fall within the "Arcanis" classification and are capable of supporting life. Despite only one of these worlds residing in the binary system, all three planets resident fauna and especially the flora, are remarkably similar and inexplicably hostile. No permanent settlements have ever been established here that did not end with the residents forming a part of the planets food chain.
Orbiting the rift within a stabilized pocket of space lies a singular moon, barely large enough to avoid an asteroid classification, it contains a dense metallic core giving it an almost planet-like gravitational field and subsequent atmosphere that was terraformed to support oxygen dependant species. Despite its ludicrously dangerous location, it serves as the one and only settlement within the Grimlands. Unofficially it is known as "The settlement at the edge of reality" though most locals simply call it "Farlight" due to its close proximity to the rift which serves as the moons main light source.
Ecosystem & Localised Phenomena
Planets within the region vary from gas giants to molten hunks of rock. Two of the Arcanis class worlds, named Infernias and Pyrosia, share dense volcanic jungle biome's across their entire surface, giving rise to the planets highly volatile biome and lifeforms. With the third planet, Viora, posesses much more tundra-like biome which is no less hostile.
The wider region of space contains a higher-than-average level of particulate gases and debris which are hazardous to most vessels. Most notably this region is home to uniquely dangerous Celestrix-Shards which are created through debris interacting with the event-horizon of the rift. Periodic stellar currents create clear corridors of space that make travel into and out of the region safer, though not without some dangers.
The rift at the centre of the region "the edge of reality" is so named due to the frequent manifestation of matter-vaporising energy discharges, randomly occurring temporal-fields and, most notably, the random ejections of "junk” that are discharged from the rift frequently. This junk has included entire ruined starships, chunks of rock, buildings and general miscellaneous items. The origin of these artifacts raise intriguing questions about the rift’s ultimate source, as what lies beyond is perceived as complete nothingness, yet it continually produces bizarre and unpredictable objects.
History
The region was unintentionally colonized by a gang of raiders whose ship, ironically named "The Unvanquishable" ran aground on the rifts moon due to malfunctioning systems caused by the debris. Once they had repaired the majority of their ships systems their captain came to the conclusion that the hazardous conditions within the system would provide relative safety from other raiders and this moon could act as a safe den for the hoarding of their future loot. Cannibalizing some of their vessels non essential systems, the raiders slowly terraformed the moons atmosphere to be more hospitable. Their hindsight came too late however as they realized their ship was now in fact no longer functional enough to leave the planet.
Further records of the Unvanquishable crew show they eventually succumbed to starvation, and would have been quietly forgotten had it not been for a small merchant fleet who found the ships distress signal several decades later.
Having acquired some stellar maps that provide information the safe travel windows within the system, the merchant ships traversed the sector and landed safely on the moon, now finding its atmosphere fully established and suitable for humanoid life. Following a similar line of logic to the original raiders, they set up a small settlement and eventually established interplanetary exchange market, now acting as one of the few unregulated settlements for miscreants and lowlifes within the entire galaxy.
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