Dandelion

Dandelion

Creator: JPR

Technology: +4 (On the verge of collapse)

Environment: -3 (Barren World; gravity, no atmosphere)

Resources: +0 (Sustainable)

Connections

Bastion,Clipping,Flare

Description

The system known as Dandelion is currently undergoing an active Transcencence, and has been for over a decade.

The system proper used to contain a habitable near-Terran world, but that was mostly dismantled thousands of years ago for habitat materials. The occupants now live in a habitat swarm circling the remaining cinder of their world. The swarm used to number in the hundreds of thousands, but began diminishing rapidly once the people cracked their personal Transcendence event and figured out FTL (or possibly dimensional?) travel.

Now the system has emptied out and continues emptying, as habitats put the finishing touches on their realspace drives, cruise out to the Slipknot nodes, and disappear for good. None have been observed to return, and from what little is known about the effects of their drive, no returnees are expected.

The remaining few thousand "poorer" habitats can be traded with, but are uniformly monomaniacaly focused on gaining the resources (both material and technical) needed to finish their personal drive and "punch out", as they say. Additionally, there are thousands more abandoned habitats in near-perfect condition matching anything T3 can make where the occupants just walked out to board another one that finished their drive and was taking passengers.

The system is protected by T4 defensive machinery concentrated at the Slipknots. In order to pass in without being vaporized, an invitation must be procured. As they're isolationist, this means dealing with someone who already has one and begging an introduction.