Derchon (world)

Derchon/Lunion (Spinward Marches 2024)
Classic Era (1116)	C512799-8 Starport C Routine: No Construction, Major Repair, Unrefined fuel Size 5 Medium (8,000 km, 0.40g - 0.57g) Atmosphere 1 Vacuum (trace) Hydrographics 2 Dry World 20% Population 7 Moderate (90 million) Government 9 Impersonal Bureaucracy Law 9 High Law (no weapons out of home) Tech Level 8 Pre-Stellar (superconductors)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	M0 V M7 V
Planetoid Belts	0
Gas Giants	1

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Derchon is an icy, non-agricultural and preindustrial world, whose surface is ice-capped and with nearly all of its water frozen.

• It is unable to produce quality foodstuffs and must import them.
• It is a world working toward being an industrial powerhouse but lacks an adequate workforce to do so. It must now import many of its manufactured and high tech goods.
• It is a member of the Third Imperium in the Lunion Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector in the Domain of Deneb.
• This world has an Imperial Scout base, capable of handling IISS starships and personnel.
• Derchon is a member of the Spinward Main.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Stars

Derchon is a binary star system.

• Both are red main sequence stars.
  • They are close companions.

Binary Solar System

Derchon Binary Star System

Primary
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	M0 V	Main Sequence		0.57	3770 - 3850	0.13982
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0055	0.031	0.39 - 0.74	0.55	5.5
	Orbit #	*	*	2	1	6
	Remarks		None
Companion
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	M7 V	Main Sequence		0.09	2630 - 2680	0.00022
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0011	0.0012	0.02 - 0.03	0.11	1.1
	Orbit #	*	*	*	0	3
	Remarks		None

System Data

The worlds of the system have been surveyed. They consist of:

• The mainworld.
• x3 secondary rocky worlds.
• x1 gas giant.

Mainworld Data

Mainworld Size (S)

Derchon is a Meso World between 7,200km and 8,800km in diameter. The world has a standard gravity between 0.4G and 0.57G. The horizon will appear about 4km away.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)

Derchon has a pressure of less than 0.1 atmospheres which requires the use of a Vacc Suit. TL–8 or more advanced survival gear is required to settle this world.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)

Derchon has 15-25% of its surface covered by ice, largely within vast sheets at the poles. Wilderness refueling is possible. Water for the inhabitants can be got by mining and melting ice.

• The surface of the world is composed of a crust of ice many kilometers thick.
• Much of the surface is cratered and covered in thick layers of regolith and dust of meteoric origin, leaving only a part of the icy outer shell exposed.
• Below the outer icy shell there may be a world-ocean of liquid water.

Mainworld Geography and Topography

A basic map of Derchon showing the deserts and stony flatlands (orange-tan), rugged upland regions (brown), mountains (paler brown), deep rifts (darker fringed tan), and the ice caps and ice sheets (pale gray).

History & Background (Dossier)

Point of Interest: Derchon Anomaly

In early 1102, an unidentified object transited the outer reaches of the Derchon system, following a roughly coreward-trailing vector. Called the Derchon Anomaly, it was traveling at such high velocity (estimated 0.12C) that no ship could possibly intercept it.

Sensor data revealed that that:

1. The object had a high albedo.
2. It was spinning or tumbling rapidly.
3. Its mass was in the 1,000-2,000 ton range.
4. It was highly radioactive.

Although the object was not under acceleration, these facts argue strongly in favor of some type of artificial construction. Investigation of this object by the Derchon Anomaly Intercept Mission (DAIMISS) in 1103 revealed it to be a derelict spacecraft associated with the legendary Ahaja Bucherei and his fellow Dru'mhilla exiles.

World Starport (St)

Derchon has a Class C Starport, an average quality installation which includes amenities including unrefined fuel for starships, some brokerage services for passengers and cargo, and a variety of ship provisions. There is a shipyard capable of doing maintenance and other kinds of repair. Ports of this classification generally have only a downport, unless this is a trade port or system with an hostile environment mainworld.

• The world is host to a Scout Base.

World Population (P)

Derchon has a population of 90,000,000 sophonts (tens of millions).

Linguistic Topography

The following languages are most commonly heard:

• Anglic, one of the two official languages of the Imperium.
• Vilani, one of the two official languages of the Imperium.

World Technology Level (T)

Derchon possesses a Technology Level of TL–8.

• Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Fiber optics, improved telephones, and satellite communication and data networks.
• Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Improved geothermal and improved batteries.
• Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
  • Land: Advanced automobiles.
  • Water: Triphibians and early artificial gills.
  • Air: Improved helicopters and hypersonic jets.
  • Space: Space shuttles, early space stations, and improved interplanetary spacecraft (System Craft).

World Government (G)

Derchon is governed by an Impersonal Bureaucracy. The leadership of the government is another form (democracy, dictatorship, oligarchy), but the bureaucracy dictates government policy and its execution. Government leadership is reduced to little more than figureheads and does not select the bureaucracy leadership or its members.

World Law (L)

Derchon has a high law level with laws covering many areas of interactions of people, corporations, and the government. A few worlds with this law level may be Amber Zones. Any interaction with the judicial system requires an Advocate trained in the local legal system. Law enforcement is present almost everywhere, either as people or via technology. Legal proceedings can take weeks to months to resolve and involve a dozen or more people. All objects specifically manufactured as weapons are typically regulated or prohibited (outside private residences or visiting starships).

Imperial Landed Nobility

Derchon, as a member world of the Third Imperium, holds the estates of two members of the Imperial Nobility, who are charged with overseeing the world.

• It holds the estate of an Imperial knight.
• It holds the fiefdom of an Imperial marquis.

Trade Data

• Importance: -1 (unimportant)

World Economy

• Resources: A (abundant)
• Labor: 6 (millions)
• Infrastructure: 7 (generally available)
• Efficiency: +1 (average)

World Culture

• Heterogenity: 8 (discordant)
• Acceptance: 6 (aloof)
• Strangeness: 6 (very distinct)
• Symbols: 9 (somewhat abstract)

World Timeline

Major events that have affected this world and the wider region that it lies within:

• The Year 0: the Third Imperium is founded.
• 300-420: the Imperial First Survey charts the system.
• 589-604: First Frontier War.
• 604-622: the Civil War.
• 615-620: Second Frontier War.
• 624: the Express Boat Network is established.
• 979-986: Third Frontier War.
• 995-1065: the Imperial Second Survey charts the system.
• 1065: the Second Survey is published. Information about the system becomes widely available.
• 1082-1084: Fourth Frontier War, also known as the False War.
• 1102: the Derchon Anomaly is detected.
• 1107-1110: Fifth Frontier War.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 24-25.
• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches Campaign (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), 18-19.
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 94-100. (UWP only)
• Rob Caswell. "Domain of Deneb: Sector Data." MegaTraveller Journal 3 (1992): 47-58. (UWP only)
• Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 46. (UWP only)
• Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 92.
• Mike West. The Spinward States (Avenger Enterprises, 2008), 113. (UWP only)
• Martin Dougherty. The Spinward Marches (Mongoose Publishing, 2008), .
• Gregory P. Lee. Cirque (Greylock Publishing, 2014), 115-124.
• Martin Dougherty. Behind the Claw (Mongoose Publishing, 2019), 98-102. (UWP only)
• Contributor: Vendarth