YEAR LENGTH: 190 standard days CLUSTER SIZE: `G' (approx 50,000 x 20,000 x 20,000 miles) NUMBER OF ASTERIODS: 120 DISTANCE FROM PRIMARY: 50 million miles
Most of the asteriods in this cluster are `moonlets' of either Alpha-One (a size `C' firebody) or Alpha-Three (a size `C' earthbody). Alpha-One and Alpha-Three are separated by about 30,000 miles. A few fringe objects in the cluster orbit both bodies.
This cluster of asteriods was the first focus of Invader activity, the site of many of their initial mines and fortifications. These days it is the administrative and industrial hub of Passarspace.
ASTERIOD NAME: Alpha-One ASTERIOD TYPE: Spherical firebody ASTERIOD SIZE: `C' (200 mile diameter) DAY LENGTH: 4 hours
Alpha-One is the largest and brightest of this systems firebodies. It has over a hundred `moons', size `A' and `B' chunks of rock and ice. At one time, these asteriods were rich in resources; but a hundred years of heavy mining, military training, and destructive experimentation by the Invaders has changed that; these days few possess even a breathable atmosphere.
ASTERIOD NAME: Alpha-Two ASTERIOD TYPE: spherical firebody ASTERIOD SIZE: A (10 mile diameter) DAY LENGTH: 24 hours (tidally locked)
This small firebody is actually a `moon' of Alpha-Three; the light and heat it emits are the main reason that Alpha-Three is habitable at all.
ASTERIOD NAME: Alpha-Three ASTERIOD TYPE: Earthbody ASTERIOD SIZE: C (500 mile diameter) DAY LENGTH: 18 hours
Alpha-Three is one of the largest planetiods in Passarspace, and one of the few to have any sort of life at all prior to the arrival of the Invaders. While habitable, it is unimpressive, consisting mostly of stony hills, plains dotted with patches of scraggly grass and tough brush, and large, coldish lakes with an underabundance of fish and other aquatic life. About a fifth of its surface has been turned into farmland by the Invaders; however the soil is not all that good, and as a result the harvests are mediocre at best. The crops grown here are used to feed the miners elsewhere in the system.
There is some animal life here: Alpha-Three was home to rats and cats and wild dogs (all apparently brought here accidently by passing spelljammers) prior to the arrival of the Invaders, along with such wildspace vermin as gullions, slinkers, zurchin, and zards. To these creatures the Invaders have added cattle, goats, sheep, bears, and great cats (the last two being decended from escaped `pets' or `experimental' subjects). There is a single ragged forest on Alpha-One, consisting mostly of coniferous trees, maintained by the Invaders as a source of timber. At any given time there are upwards of 50,000 Invaders and probably twice that many laborers on Alpha-Three.
Primus: Home to almost a hundred thousand souls,
this is the largest city on Alpha-Three
(and the whole of Passarspace for that
matter). It is one third factory town,
dedicated to producing spelljammers, armor,
weapons, and other manufactured goods; one
third military camp; and one third thieves
den and centre of commerce.
Primus has a rather drab character; fully
90% of its structures are simple, blocky
cubes built of crudely fired brick, the
homes and shops of those who labor here
(wood, being more scarce, is generally
reserved for spelljammer craft). The more
solidly built stone structures are either
factories, fortresses, or dwellings for
high ranking Invaders.
Primus sits at the edge of a large cold
lake, with mile upon mile of farmland
dominating the surrounding countryside.
Most Invader spelljammers entering the
sphere call here first; its port facility
usually has a score or more vessels parked
on it.
Lakeview: This is a collection of estates for
senior Invader officials, grouped in a ring
about the cold waters of Black Lake. The
needs of these officials are tended to by a
vast array of servants, artisans and
farmers in a long strung out riverside
town.
Scrabble: Sat at the edge of the settled lands on
Alpha-One, this once typical farming and
mining enclave is now more than half
abandoned, after a seemingly unending run
of bad luck - brushfires, floods, vicious
storms, two plagues - in short all manner
of calamities. These days its inhabitants
are rebels, bandits, and drifters.
Starblazer Keep: This small, half ruined fortress
alongside a small lake was built by an
adventuresome petty noble from known space
some two centuries prior to the Invaders
arrival. When the Invaders discovered it,
Starblazer Keep was already mostly ruined
and occupied by only a few madmen.
Naturally, they tried to rebuild and
reoccupy it, only to meet with repeated
mishaps. Finally, they abandoned it
alltogether, deeming it cursed.
The Drillfield: Almost two hundred miles distant
from Primus, and connected to it by a long
stone paved road, this is a ten thousand
square mile expanse of hills, rivers,
straggly forests, and nearly barren plains,
all claimed by the Invaders as a military
training area. Here, their ground forces
are drilled in tactics, hand to hand
combat, survival training, ect. Several
camps and mock towns (to be defended or
attacked, depending on the exercise) are
found in this area.
ASTERIOD NAME: Alpha-Four ASTERIOD TYPE: irregular earth/water (ice) body ASTERIOD SIZE: B (90 by 70 by 60 miles) DAY LENGTH: 1 month (tidally locked with Alpha-One.
Like Alpha-Two, Alpha-Four is a `moon' of Alpha-Three, orbiting some 10,000 miles off. It is the only other truly habitable asteriod in this cluster, laced through with mining tunnels.
ASTERIOD NAME: Alpha-Thirteen ASTERIOD TYPE: Irregular Earthbody ASTERIOD SIZE: `B' (20 x 20 x 10 miles) DAY LENGTH: 4 hours
Officially, this is an abandoned mining colony, its only visitors the odd training vessel. In actuality, it is the site of a top secret military installation, intended as a `secure fallback position' in the event of a major revolt or invasion.
