A world steadfastly resisting integration into the Imperium, Karothordar remains on good terms with the fringes of the Empire, granting permission for a Naval base and refuelling station in return for a starport upgrade. The entire population - 1,500 or so - live in a single small town on one of the tiny scattered islands that make up its' sparse dry land.
Despite the nasty atmosphere, the idyllic little islands and glorious blue-green oceans make the planet a popular holiday location - sunbathing in a filtermask isn't all that odd when you get used to it, and the naval personnel stationed there can visit almost any time. There are a lot of them, and their tourist business provides enough income for all the natives' needs.
Karalsen is not a particularly advanced world, and it's more than a little rowdy besides. There is little here to attract insterstellar travel, and the down-at-heel C-class starport reflects this.
Nasoslith is the manufacturing powerhouse of the subsector. Almost any assembly process in the Elchev region will use one or more parts created on Nasoslith. On top of this, Nasoslith has a second major industry of information. Many subsecor-wide corporations use the place as either somewhere to get their paperwork done, or alternatively a splendid place to get something unwanted safely buried in bureaucratic procedures and red tape.
Perhaps inevitably with this many people and this much bureacracy, the laws on Nasoslith are pretty draconian.
The C-class starport is inadequate for the trade that passes through here. An upgrade proposal has been launched, and has been trudging through Official Channels for several decades. Meanwhile, the existing facility remains hopelessly overstretched and crowded, causing serious friction and occasional violent incidents.
The IISS Exploration Office maintains a large base here, jumping off for missions out into the Unknown. Its' facilities are rated B and are accessible to Scouts active and detached.
A tiny rock in the middle of nowhere, Vakyur is a Naval Base and nothing else. The starport is owned by the Navy, not the SPA; facilities for civilians are rated at somewhere between X and C. The system is not zoned but civilian visitors are not encouraged.
A colony of Nasoslith, established as overspill office space, Permot has an intentionally less strict law-and-order approach, so as to allow the accountancy firms who operate there to collect business from the less straightforward clients.
Permot also has a set of Ancient ruins. These comprise a set of smooth, perfectly shaped domed caves under the seafloor. Some mechanism, baffling to Imperial science, keeps the water out but allows visitors in; many people have reported the caves very conducive to deep meditation and some have claimed to have received special insights while there.
Another of the colony worlds controlled by Nasoslith, Toyad primarly serves as a sweatshop. The system has almost no worthwhile industry or products, and the only employment available there is moronic data-keying and file-checking for the great accountancy houses of Nasoslith. Wages are low to pitiful, but the locals are glad of the work, because there's nothing else.
Drunkenness, despair, crime and so on are rife on Toyad; it has a seething underworld which preys on the unfortunate inhabitants, adding to their unhappiness. Toyad is not a nice place.
A massive, heavy-gravity world, Vrugul produces some of the physically strongest humans in the sector. Despite the pollution in the atmosphere, the genetically-altered crops that cover a vast percentage of the surface thrive, and Vrugul is one of the subsector's breadbaskets.
Unfortunately, the political situation is nowhere near as well organized. The planet is divided into four seperate countries - Nelomt, Ranner, Dremoc and Alirawan. Although commercial rivalries are strong, generally they have been peaceful, but in recent years tensions have been escalating between Ranner and Alirawan, and observers fear war pretty soon if nothing is done.
Both the Navy and the IISS maintain bases here, the navy primarily to clamp down on the smuggling off Vrugul of certain high-value products of the agricultural system.
The Aslan Heirate maintains a diplomatic outpost here, with a tiny staff and single company of ceremonial troops.
Sirnoth is a bit of backwater. It has several small manufacturing
firms
making a variety of unexceptional items at the local TL of B, and is
self-sufficent
agriculturally. The starport is slightly larger than would be expected
for
such a world, a situation carried over from a brief period of
prosperity
caused by the discovery of a rare pharmacutical base product plant
growing
wild on the planet. Artificial synthesis rendered the plant itself
unneccessary
more than a hundred years ago and Sirnoth sank back into sleepy quiet,
retaining
its' imposing starport as a sort of retirement benefit.
The unlicenced and undeclared research base established here to
study the Zerg was responsible for the disaster that wiped out the
entire population in early 1106. In the wake of the Zerg Incident,
fresh settlements have been established, and the radioactive ruins of
Elbane Base isolated and cleaned up to some extent. Repairs to the
starport are still ongoing, with the result that it doesn't match up to
its' C rating in all regards at the present.
Cispar is the primary Imperial Marine base in the subsector. All Marines serving in Elchev come here for some part of their training, OCS is here, and all officers have their "passing out" ceremonies here. Cispar's Military Academy has a fine reputation for producing some of the best officers and toughest fighting Marines in the sector.
Bifter is a high-security Imperial Prison Planet; the sort of place
where
the really, really dangerous political criminals, psychopaths and
out-and-out
loonies are dumped to shift for themselves. The population rating of
800,000
includes the Imperial forces who guard the place - around 10,000,
usually
- and is an assessment of the number of criminals exiled to the
surface,
not how many have actually survived. All female prisoners are
sterilized
before transportation, so the numbers shouldn't increase. Both the Navy
and
the Army maintain strong bases here, with gunboats and HOSDOCs
patrolling
high orbit constantly to prevent escape attempts, or fool adventurers
trying
to sneak down for some reason.
The entire population of Bifter was wiped out or absorbed in the
Zerg Incident, and a previously dormant volcano triggered by a massive
fusion explosion in mid 1106. However, none of this was sufficient to
dissuade the subsector government from using Bifter as a prison planet,
and transportation of prisoners resumed in early 1107.
Crabunk is a CorpWorld, owned in total by the cosily-named HomeBuild LIC. HomeBuild manufacture modular housing, ranging from simple portakabin shelters to entire sealed-unit-hostile-atmosphere exploration bases. They can take commssions for entire towns to be designed, constructed, shipped and assembled. The company controls all aspects of life on Crabunk; everyone works for HomeBuild in some capacity or other, except for the few people who work on the dirtside half of the starport. HomeBuild has a long-established contract with the Destri interstellar shipping megacorporation for the transport and delivery of its' products. This usually translates into a discount-voucher scheme aimed at the new inhabitants of wherever the units are going in order to persuade them to travel there via Destri transport.
Poskin is the site of one of the Imperial Navy's biggest bases in the Balguth sector; the Navy is currently considering whether to upgrade it to a Sector Depot. At the moment, the system serves two purposes; it holds the Navy's Central Logistics offices and warehouses (located on one of the outer moons) and fills the requirement for a Liberty World. All armed services have this sort of place, though many keep as quiet as possible about them; places where their personnel can go, relax, let off steam and play, without too many restrictions to spoil their fun, and get it out of their systems. Poskin is that place. The single city - Theborn - is located just off the starport, and houses some of the roughest, wildest dives and bars in the subsector. It's not a place to visit without being very sure you can take care of yourself, but if you are it's a great place to go and party.
Home of the Contemplative Order of The Amethyst Evening, Serorfar is a rather hostile place, with a bitterly cold climate, knife-edge mountains and air so thin it's painful for normal people to breathe. The Order are a reclusive organization, seeking higher reality through meditation and physical/mental awareness. While the Order discourages tourists and casual visitors, they will accept outsiders who wish to undergo a period of retreat with them. This is not, however, a rest cure. The Order live by almost brutal Spartan principles, believe in plentiful healthy outdoor excercise (in a class 4 atmosphere!), and train rigorously in their traditional martial art of Todasami. Bodyguards trained in Todasami earn very high pay in Elchev subsector; the training of such lay candidates earns what little money the Order requires for its' modest needs.
A technologically advanced world, Krofekil is cripplingly short of usable water. Only in the height of summer does the temperature anywhere rise anywhere above freezing, and temperatures of -100°c are common in the winter. Four nations squabble constantly over the reserves of water, or rather ice. The world in general is rather poor, though it has a reasonable export business in mined ores and durables going and - thanks to the Naval Base - a splendid starport to trade them at. The reason for this is that all four of the local governments spend vast sums on hiring mercenaries to fight in what have become known as the Ice Wars. Krofekil is not a popular posting among mercenary soldiers; it's incredibly cold and frighteningly hostile, and the tactics used by the employing nations are getting more and more unrestrained as the years roll by. Sooner or later, someone will step over the line into "bad war" and a lot of people will get nuked. The four nations are the Anarchium of Droncus, The Kingdom of Galewryth, The Kingdom of Grylyin, and the Republic of Druskar.
Cheltac is a barren rock with absolutely nothing going for it. It's the only planet in the star system; it has no air or water; there's no gas giant; the planet's surface is so unstable it can't even be used to build factories on; there are no minerals in the planet's crust worth the effort of mining them out. The Imperium has never bothered to exert authority over the Cheltac system - not that anyone else would object - so technically, it doesn't belong to anybody.
An orderly and somewhat dull place, Farwyn has a ruined Ancient base on a small island near one of the poles. Originally, the entire island was covered by the installation, but at some time during the Final War, some unimaginable weapon was used on the base, and the centre of the island is now cored out by a perfectly cylindrical shaft two miles across and nine hundred feet deep, leaving only tantalizing fragments of what must have been a pretty fair-sized Ancient city around the edges. The hole has long since filled with water, of course, and is now called Circle Lake; it's a very dangerous place, as the sides are fused to glass-like smoothness and are over a hundred feet high; anyone falling in has to be rescued as there's nothing to climb out onto.
Grumenn was a monarchy until 837, when a bloody revolution propelled the Revolutionary Committee of Brasmol to power. Fifty years of purges and continual increases in the powers "granted" the RCB "in the name of the people" completed the changes, reducing the population from nearly five million to under three, and causing the IISS to reevaluate the government and law codes from 36 to FF. Daily life on Grumenn is pure terror; the laws against counter-revolutionaries are so strict that almost any activity - including doing nothing - is a crime against the state. Loyalty to The Party is everything; other bonds are almost non-existent, and informing on friends, co-workers and family is commonplace. The TAS regards Grumenn as one of the least appealing destinations in the subsector, but has issued an Amber Zone warning just in case anyone hasn't read the library data. Grumenn has some farming, and a massive mining industry - the mines being one common punishment for wrongdoers or dissidents. The world's reputation is sufficiently bad that it keeps away a lot of the business the place would otherwise attract, and it remains poor by interstellar standards.
Dolkin is one of the most significant worlds in the Elchev subsector. A massive planet, with Terra-normal water and life forms, good starport, a high tech level, and good law-and-order, its' slightly polluted air doesn't prevent it being the single largest food producer in the region. Unusually, all four of the sub-governments are Type 1 (company); control of the planet is shared by four large agricultural companies, each centered on a noble family which gives it its' name. These are Tapferherz, Hügelheim, Panthermörder and von Sturmheim.
Vrinkon is a backwater, owned by the eccentric Imperial Noble Earl Dusastra Mulkdeo. Uninhabited except for his single, gloomy, louring castle, the world's air is too thick with sulphides to support any normal life-forms. The Earl's family has dedicated their lives to tending the massive terraforming engines, financed no-one knows how, which slowly but surely are changing the ecosystem towards a Terra-normal ideal. By custom, the Earl never leaves the surface of Vrinkon, and never will until he can walk across it without artificial aids and sit beneath trees.
Vrulcir, while self-sufficient in foodstuffs, has another industry, which completely dominates life here; lasers. It is home to the Galeidan Laser Research Institute, an Imperial-funded privately-run research base dedicated to the expansion of the field of laser technology. All planetary inhabitants not working on farms are employees of GLRI, which has a very good reputation as a good employer. The tech level of the GLRI is actually G as far as its' main field goes. Projects and products range from enhanced weapons-grade lasers for starships and military weapons through to miniscule lasers small enough to carve molecule-size nanite robots. Security, needless to say, is quite tight, and interstellar traders and tourists discouraged though not banned.
Rhagosus is a prison world, reserved for the most violent and
psychopathic
criminals Balguth sector has to cope with. Bifter takes political
prisoners
as well, but Rhagosus is purely for the High Justice cases. A full
regiment
of crack Imperial Army troops is stationed on one of Rhagosus' moons,
and
a squadron of light destroyers patrol the entire system against rescue
attempts.
Although the atmosphere of Rhagosus is technically unbreathable,
prisoners
aren't provided any filter masks or breathing equipment; they aren't
considered
worth it. It is generally believed that a heirachy has been established
with
some very strong individual setting himself up as King.
The high-level conspiracy responsible for the Zerg Incident had used
Rhagosus as the primary barracks and training facility for the
Ultramarines, and most of the prisoners had been massacred in "trainign
excercises". After the destruction of this facility, Rhagosus'
atmosphere has now become too posionous to support human life at all.
Discussions are still underway as to whether to clean the biosphere or
abandon the planet.
Skeligir, or "the Skelig Isles" as its' inhabitants sometimes call it for their own reasons, is the only asteroid belt in the subsector. All mining licences are issued by the local monopoly company, SkeliCorp, and it is thus the de facto government of the generally wild and lawless belt. While no-one much cares what wandering meteor miners do to each other, SkeliCorp protects its' own personnel, property and especially its' monopoly zealously, with a large private security force to give the rules teeth. The Imperial Marines maintain a zero-G training base and research facility in one zone of the Belt, from which miners and SkeliCorp are firmly excluded.
Slumser is a major naval base, primarily a fuel production and distribution centre. The five massive gas giants in the system make it a superb resource for starshiup fuel, and the navy has sown the atmospheres of all five with large sky rigs. The stated population of the system actually includes the 750 crew of each of the thirty rigs the navy operate here; relatively few people actually live on the "mainworld" except the few who operate the downport. The law level of the Naval base is IN regulations (around 9, usually), but the crews of the rigs themselves have evolved a proud, independent culture with their own rules, and the rigs can be a bit rough for non-riggers.
Roaming the rocky plains of Skarlus, the inhabitants claim descent from ancient Solomani Romany stock, and do not establish fixed homes. They collect and sell the tiny but beautiful red gems unique to Skarlus, some of which are sold to trade factors from the GLRI on Vrulcir. This produces more than enough income for them to purchase the few things they can't make themselves.
Bremerton is the capital, not only of the Elchev subsector, but of the Balguth sector as well. A teeming administrative centre, it is ruled by the sector Duke, Henry Logan. Logan is an able ruler, and a wily politician with many useful connections. Bremerton is also the trade centre of Elchev subsector, and the starport reflects this; it's very large and well-equipped. The Imperial Navy maintains its' Sector Base here, normally with two fleets garrisoned in the system. The base and fleets are under the command of Admiral Manfred Strongbow. Duke Henry also has a personal squadron of medium cruisers which escort him on his (relatively rare) trips into his domain.
Bremerton has one A class starport, Sefur, located on a peninsula
between
the Prywon Ocean and the Matod Seat. An equivalent facility is located
in
permanent orbit, and an orbital city has grown up around it, primarily
inhabited
by those connected with interstellar trade and the servicing of the
starport.
Though the starport is, of course, on the equator, the climate there is
rather
too warm for comfort, and all the planetary population live in one city
-
Lymdon - located at the southern end of the Fresyn Ocean. An H class
spaceport
serves the city proper, and regular shuttles run between that and Sefur
Downport,
as well as an underground monorail. Permission to land directly at
Lymdon
Spaceport from orbit is very rare and generally only available to the very
rich or important. There are two planetary Naval bases on the surface,
at
Slatin and Slorfil, and each has a corresponding orbital facility. They
are
equivalent to an A class starport in capacity but open only to Navala
vessels.
Members of the civilian police force on Bremerton are issued with small
domesticated
lizards who travel with them; these are rumoured to assist their
detection
of criminals in some way.
The Duke and the Admiral were both implicated in the Zerg Incident,
and have been replaced; the new incumbents are Duke Eldric Lehman and Admiral Eben J Highsmith. A small
nuclear device destroyed the ducal residence during the Incident, for
reasons unknown, and Duke Eldric has taken up residence in the Barbican
hotel in Lymdon.
Brustun is an undeveloped, unclaimed world, and has only had a very cursory survey from the IISS. There are some metals in the crust which might be worth mining, but so far nobody has felt it worth the effort. The Navy visit occasionally just to check no pirates or smugglers have set a base up here, and that's about it.
Before the Final War, the Ancients had a manufacturing installation here; no-one knows what it made, though it was almost certainly on land at the time. What is known is that some attack or another during the Final War caused a catastrophic meltdown of the facility, forever altering the nature of the planet. Now, there is no dry land, the whole planet is submurged in corrosive, poisonous, fluid, and the atmosphere is almost as bad. Archaeology in a corrosive atmosphere is hard enough but when it's under fathoms of acid as well it's nearly impossible. The noxious brew of Stonorgren's ocean produces some useful and valuable chemicals, and it produces enough of these to make export a viable trade option. Stonorgren is a colony of nearby Gilussor. The Scout base is the main centre of operations as far as exploring the Ancient ruins goes.
Dernan, like Stonorgren, is a world controlled by Gilussor. The primary industry of the mainworld is the manufacture of high-carbon steel and precision metal blades. Swords, daggers and blades manufactured on Dernan are easily the best edged weapons available anywhere in the sector. The products are marketed under the trade name Dernhelm, with a logo of a conical helmet. The Marine Academy on Cispar has a standing contract with Dernhelm for the ceremonial cutlasses carried by Marine officers, and the far more useful, though prosaic, commando daggers issued to all IM personnel.
Another of the subsector's major breadbasket worlds, Rustis is also home to the 2643rd Fleet, and to the IISS Outward Exploration Office. The OEO is the mustering and jumping-off point into the unknown territory to spinward of the Balguth sector; exploratory missions are launched from here. Some of them come back. The local government is a complete mess, with tiny nations rising and falling on an almost annual basis, and the number of "sub-governments" ranging from five to ten, a remarkable number for an Imperial world. Minor wars are not uncommon, and while the personnel of the Naval and Scout bases are forbidden from the surface, mercenary units of all stamps find Rustis a profitable place to do business.
Brecrun is an insular place. Its' ruling nobility have Imperial titles, but are almost disdainful of them; nothing that happens outside their atmosphere is regarded as even vaguely as important as the affairs of the planet itself. With such an attitude, one might expect interstellar trade to be minimal, and such is indeed the case. Off-worlders will find themselves treated with perceptible dislike on Brecrun.
Despite being rated Agricultural, Kiltec is not a significant producer of foodstuffs on an interstellar scale. The government has set their sights on progressing to Tech Level A or even B within a hundred years, and ultimately plans to make their world an industrial centre instead. Of course, being self-sufficient in foodstuffs makes this slightly easier.
Sidban is one of only two High Population worlds in the subsector (Nasoslith is the other) and the only one ruled by a single man. Grand Emperor Mordred Garthroc was once the most successful officer in the planetary army; a swift coup and some skilful PR have left him an extremely popular and (so far) successful and enlightened despot. Despite his sole leadership, he maintains a corps of advisors, experts in their fields, and generally takes their advice. So far, this has allowed him to carry off the incredible feat of ruling nearly half the accumulated population of the subsector solo fairly well.
Prior to being contacted by the Third Imperium, Gilussor was a
"pocket
empire", having used sublight colony ships to colonize Dernan and
Stonogren.
The Gilussan Empire was so adamant about retaining its' colonies that
the
then Emperor actually threatened to go to war with the mightiest
civilization
ever created by mankind rather than give them up. These traditions
survive
to the present day, and Gilussor is ruled by a military elite.
Gilussan-trained
troops are much in demand by mercenary units in the subsector, and the
Marine
Academy on Cispar is glad to welcome recruits who originate here.
Invaded by Ultramarines during the Zerg Incident, Gilussor suffered
some material damage and enormous damage to its' prestige and
self-respect. Reconstruction goes on apace, but the Gilussans remain
extremely touchy.