YEAR LENGTH: 100 standard days CLUSTER SIZE: `E' (5000 mile diameter) NUMBER OF ASTERIODS: 30 DISTANCE FROM PRIMARY: 20 - 40 million miles
This cluster has a nearly inert magma body (Epsilon-One) instead of a proper firebody; as a result, most of its worldlets are cold, dead lumps of rock and ice.
The Invaders found this cluster particularly frustrating; aside from the water ice (which was more easily obtained elsewhere), this cluster offered little in the way of exploitable resources, and only a single habitable asteriod (Epsilon-Two).
ASTERIOD NAME: Epsilon-Two ASTERIOD TYPE: Spherical earthbody ASTERIOD SIZE: `C' 500 mile diameter DAY LENGTH: tidally locked
Epsilon-Two is in close orbit about the magma world of Epsilon-One. It is a world of red dust, thin air, little water, and less life, with steep cliffs rising far above flat reddish plains. It is tidally locked with Epsilon-One, and only the (comparatively) low temperature of the magma world keeps it from being scorched on that side (the other side is a dark, frozen wasteland). And it is on this unappealing world that the Invaders found the lost temple of Ptah.
Locations:
Redstone Temple: The church of Ptah is vast; Ptah is revered
in a hundred spheres or more and his church has
branches in all of them. Why they built a temple in
this sphere is unknown - it may have been a secret
retreat, or perhaps the priests hoped that
colonists would follow in their footsteps. Or
maybe, given the nature of Ptah's church, it was
established on some bureaucratic whim. But build it
they did, well over a millenia ago, according to
the inscriptions found by the Invaders. These
records, carved onto tombs and a handfull of
monuments, are maddenlingly vague as to why the
priests of Ptah established this outpost and what
they hoped to gain as a result. The records extend
for well over two centuries, listing appointments,
promotions, and deaths, making a rare reference to
an important ritual or a spelljamming traveler.
Then the records stop. What happened to the priests
and followers of Ptah stationed here is one of the
great mysteries of Passarspace. Those Invaders
posted in the Gamma Cluster say they know what
happened: the `Dark Things' got them (disturbingly,
the last inscription, hastily done and badly
defaced, seems to support that thesis).
Bitter Well: This small Invader outpost is here mostly just
to keep tabs on the cluster. Being posted here is
considered a sign of mild disfavor.
Haven: This is a large colony of escapees from the Invaders
mines and work camps, brought here under the
auspices of the Broken Chain. Haven is a nearly
anarchic underground community underneath a large
mountain on the other side of the world from the
Invader outpost. Many of Havens inhabitants are
slightly crazed owing to repeated passages
through the Dark Zone.
