Ksagval (world)

From Traveller Wiki - Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far future
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
Alien Moon 66a-0 Small.jpg
Ksagval/Ungludh (Gzaekfueg 2140)
Classic Era (1116)
B563753-A
StarportB Good: Spacecraft Construction, Overhaul, Refined fuel
Size5 Medium (8,000 km, 0.40g - 0.57g)
Atmosphere6 Standard
Hydrographics3 Wet World 30%
Population7 Moderate (20 million)
Government5 Feudal Technocracy
Law3 Low Law (no automatic weapons)
Tech LevelA Early Stellar (jump drive)
See also UWP
System Details
Primary F4 V
Planetoid Belts 2
Gas Giants 0
style="width: 220px; height: 250px;"
Jump map from Travellermap.com [1]

Ksagval is a rich world.

  • As a rich world, this planet has high-grade living conditions and is highly sought after by immigrating sophonts.
  • This is a rich world with a prosperous and thriving world economy.
  • Some of the sources of this world's wealth are well known, but others remain a mystery. Many speculate on these mysterious sources of wealth. Some even investigate them... to no avail yet.
  • It is a member of the Ruler of Five in the Ungludh Subsector of Gzaekfueg Sector, which is part of the Vargr Extents.
  • The world serves as the subsector capital with the significant extra trade and prestige associated with that role.
  • This world-system hosts a Naval Base, usually associated with military starships, which may be located on or off-world.
  • The system has two habitable secondary worlds, Irrla and Aenkadh-edh.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Ksagval is a binary star system.

  • The primary is a yellow main sequence named Rrakh.
  • The secondary is a red main sequence named Gharvar.

Binary G Type M Type.jpg

Binary Solar System

Ksagval Binary Star System
Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol)
Rrakh

G4 V

 Primary Main Sequence 0.985 5660 - 5680 0.94848
Unit Diameter Min Distance Hab Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit
AU 0.0046 0.0808 0.93 - 1.65 0.46 4.6
Orbit #  *  * 3 1 6
Remarks
None
Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol)
Gharvar

M0 V

 Secondary Main Sequence 0.57 3770 - 3850 0.13982
Unit Diameter Min Distance Hab Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit
AU 0.0027 0.031 0.39 - 0.74 0.27 2.7
Orbit #  *  * 2 0 5
Remarks
None

System Data

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

Ksagval System

   Orbit        Name            UWP        Trade               Remarks
--------------- --------------- ---------- ------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------
  Primary       Rrakh           G4 V
  0.22 AU       Inner World     Y100000-0  Ba Va / Tz Ho
  0.41 AU       Inferno World   Y8B0000-0  Ba / Tz Ho
* 0.72 AU       Irrla           F887220-6  Ga Lo / Tz Ho       Inner habitable Zone. Known as Ring of Safety, Ring Haven
     15 Diam        Planetoid   YD00000-0  Ba Va
* 0.89 AU       Ksagval         B563753-A  Ri / Tp Cp          Habitable Zone

 Secondary      Gharvar         M0 V                           2.75 AU from the primary
* 0.24 AU       Aenkadh-edh     H687473-4  Ga Ni Pa / Tu Lt    Outer habitable zone. Known as the Winter Daughter
  0.34 AU       Radworld        H400000-0  Ba Va               Monitoring Station
  0.68 AU       Planetoid Belt  Y000000-0  As Ba Va

(Circumbinary orbits)
  9.75 AU       Bigworld        GEFA520-7  Ni / Fr             Independent settlement
     25 Diam        Worldlet    H111331-4  Ic Lo / Lt          Doomed outpost, failing technology
 17.30 AU       Planetoid Belt  Y000000-0  As Ba Va

Mainworld Data

Mainworld Size (S)

Ksagval 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)

Ksagval has a pressure of 0.71 to 1.49 atmospheres. A Standard Atmosphere does not require survival gear and will likely be easy for most sophonts to breathe.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)

Ksagval has 25-35% of its surface covered by liquid water. It has a few small seas. Wilderness refueling is possible. Water for the inhabitants will be recycled.

Mainworld Geography and Topography

No centrally held map of the world exists within AAB Library Data records.

Blank World Map Arid.png
(Blank map, predominantly dry world.)

History & Background (Dossier)

Comp-Prog-Dav-R-Deitrick-Starter-Trav-Page-16 16-July-2018a.jpg

Ksagval is the most important world in its region, with the most advanced starport facilities, and supports a thriving maintenance and service trade. The system is centered on a yellow main sequence star that retains a small red main sequence companion. The system lacks gas giants but has two metal-rich planetoid belts which attract belters: a number of small in-system mining operations are active, though they are transient in nature and not counted as belt populations. Though not strained by the millions of Vargr on Ksagval, the thirty percent hydrosphere has caused the government to outlaw fuel being harvested from the mainworld's seas. Rather, ice is imported from the outer system and sold at a premium rates, both refined and unrefined. Corporations offer startup funds for belters and ice miners willing to take up harvesting operations.

Ksagval lies in the heart of the Ruler of Five. It is protected by naval forces and frequented by Corsairs. Termed the Gateway to Ungludh by traders and travellers alike, it is a popular stopping point for interstellar traffic seeking a breath of fresh air – available thanks to its standard atmosphere. Ksagval lacks an orbital highport or any natural satellites, and System Traffic Control coordinates rendezvous points in geostationary orbits. These orbital positions are marked by parking beacons that serve as interface points for commuting shuttles and other smallcraft.

The primary surface port facility, rated as a Class B Starport, is named White Mesa Downs. Located at a comfortably cool altitude for the furred Vargr, the mesa that it is constructed on conceals a subsurface Naval Base and extensive subterranean hangars, warehouses, and facilities. Elevators of various sizes can raise a smallcraft to starships up to 800 dTons to the starport. Larger vessels capable of landing are directed to hangars and pads accessed via portals in the sheer mesa walls.

The markets and bazaars encircling the main urban areas each serve a technological bureaucracy, and each specializes in selling their sponsors products. The mercurial and charismatic nature of the Vargr is reflected by a low local law level. Weapons are a common sight, especially around the startown and its outskirts where law enforcement is hard pressed to keep the peace. This, however, is what the locals want and the low law has only solidified the moniker of Gateway to Ungludh.

Travel to Aenkadh-edh, Ksagval's colder sister-world, is by local transport only: starships may not establish orbit over the world.

World Starport (St)

Ksagval has a Class B Starport, a good quality installation which includes all the expected amenities including refined fuel for starships, brokerage services for passengers and cargo, and a variety of ship provisions. There is a shipyard capable of doing annual maintenance, overhauls and most kinds of repair, and construction of non-starships. Most ports of this classification have both a Highport and a Downport.

World Population (P)

Ksagval has a population of 20,000,000 sophonts (tens of millions).

  • The population entirely consists of Vargr.

Ksagval is comprised of Urzaeng Vargr and some small enclaves of Ovaghoun Vargr. All other sub-species of Vargr or Humaniti are visitors.

World Technology Level (T)

Ksagval possesses a Technology Level of TL–10 or TL-A in Hexadecimal Notation.

World Government (G)

Ksagval is governed by a Feudal Technocracy. Society divides itself based on the technical requirements of the society. Each of these functions are granted as a fief to an individual or group. Leadership of these fiefs determines the head of the government.

Government on Ksagval is a hierarchy of charismatic technocrats, who control their technological feifdoms with an iron grip, creating a feudal pecking order which lobbies for funding and support. This is achieved by government legislation, ratified by the judiciary and then announced by the executive, if there are no vetoes. Urzaeng Vargr are the majority on Ksagval but some small enclaves of Ovaghoun Vargr still reside in a region called the Metro White Mesa, both atop the plateau and along its lower slopes. These Ovaghoun are holdovers from the Second Diaspora, and retain some seats in the planetary senate.

World Law (L)

Ksagval has a low law level. There are few laws, covering only important areas. There may be few or no law enforcement officers, the expectation is citizens will bring law breakers to the attention of the Judicial system. Legal proceedings will be fast, with few people involved. For interactions outside of the framework of the laws, cultural norms dominate. Machine guns, other automatic weapons, portable energy weapons, and other military weapons, body pistols, explosives, and poison gas are typically regulated or prohibited.

Ksagval's low Law Level and minimal government interference has facilitated trade and commerce within the system.

Trade Data

  • Importance: 3 (ordinary)

Ksagval is an important trade hub, with vast amounts of goods and commodities passing through its port facilities.

World Economy

  • Resources: A (abundant)
  • Labor: 6 (millions)
  • Infrastructure: A (extensive)
  • Efficiency: +4 (advanced)

World Culture

  • Heterogenity: 7 (discordant)
  • Acceptance: B (extremely friendly)
  • Strangeness: 3 (somewhat typical)
  • Symbols: C (very abstract)

Urzaeng Vargr culture predominates within the system but there is some allowance for Ovaghoun culture and Suedzuk ferocity.

Urzaeng, Ovaghoun, and Anglic are the most widely spoken languages on Ksagval.

Secondary Worlds

Two secondary worlds within the system are habitable.

Irrla

Alien Moon 61a-0 Large.jpg

Irrla is a secondary world in the Ksagval system. It orbits Rrakh, the yellow primary star, at 0.72 AU, lying just within the star's habitable zone.

Irrla has UWP Codes of F887220-6. It is a hot, low population garden world that is tidally locked to Rrakh. It is known as the Ring of Safety or the Ring Haven. Violent electrical storms, torrential precipitation, and high speed winds perpetually wrack the lowland temperate zones between the twilight zone and the Baked Lands, while similar storms dump snow and ice on the dark Frozen Lands.

Clustered about the F-rated Spaceport is a scientific outpost with a population of approximately 700. The surface landing facilities are located high in a range of equatorial mountains, where the dense atmosphere thins to standard pressure. The frozen Dark Face of this planet witnesses the red glow of the system’s secondary star when the primary star, Irrla, and the secondary star are in alignment: this event has become a local celebration.

The world is a hub of scientific research: scholars visit to collect gathered data and to conduct studies of their own: the main focus of research is Twilight Zone Worlds and their long term viability. Recently the outpost has seen an increase in prospectors seeking resources, particularly raw deposits of valuable minerals and metal ores present in the Baked Lands.

Aenkadh-edh

200 px

Aenkadh-edh (literally Winter Daughter) is a secondary world in the Ksagval system. It orbits Gharvar, the system's red secondary star, at 0.24 AU, lying at the outer edge of the star's habitable zone.

Aenkadh-edh has UWP Codes of H687473-4. It is a cold, low technology, non-industrial, pre-agricultural garden world that is tidally locked to Gharvar.

An equatorial navigation beacon and a basic class H spaceport form the worlds main urban center. The total population is approximately 40,000, with the majority of the population living in small satellite communities dotted across the surface.

Aenkadh-edh is an industrial age world. Equatorial belt agriculture in a misty, overcast and Dense atmosphere and Tundra world, colder in higher altitudes where air becomes Standard. Balkanized, Low-Tech (4) Packs labeled Winterpelts, Urzaeng Vargr of thicker and lighter-colored fur and preference for colder climates. Visited by mainworld spaceships to collect exported farming, ranching and hunting yields, locals term off-worlders who visibly shiver from the cold as ‘short-haired’ meant as an insult if spoken aloud to the visitor. Skills for local Vargr raised on this planet include: Animals-1, Driver (Wheeled)-1, Hostile Environment-1, Survival-1, and Trader-2. Winterpelts are shrewd traders and pride themselves on self-sufficiency. Some Packs will shun middle-tech comforts as lulling the locals on Aenkadh-edh into complacency and laziness. Anachronistic, hunting is by TL-4 weaponry or by natural weaponry in these Packs.

Instead of Pack Alphas, it is the Den Mothers who decide the courses each Pack will take. This is a social adaptation brought on by the planetary climate. The hearth is the center of Pack governance and the Den Mother, a female makes calls on a situational basis. Yet, the planet government is not considered a Matriarchy by local Vargr. Males contribute a valued say in the final decision of the Den Mothers, especially the one or more husbands in a family unit. A female Vargr can join the Den Mothers upon their first birthing of offspring as it is believed that parenthood motivates the females to protecting the hearth and home from all adversity. Communication between Packs in valleys, on steppes and mountain peaks is often relayed by radio as is the Basic Beacon Landing Zone at the equator. Wood, coal, peat, wind power, and wave action generators supply this low-tech planet with the barest of energy.

Local Culture

Many Vargr come to Aenkadh-edh to reconnect with the more primitive history of the Vargr, most especially the Urzaeng going through phases of simple living. Tourism is kept minimal for safety and ecology. Survivalists also travel to this planet to hearken back to Vargr prehistory often forgotten. Anachronistic Vargr also journey to this planet to connect with the more primitive arts, such as folk music, earlier crafts, hardcopy learning (books), often to vacation at hunting and fishing lodges. Not to be missed are the quarterly music and drum festivals held on solstices and equinoxes. Competing Pack anthems and drum circles are in demand by visiting tourists. Male Urzaeng often sing deep, haunting chants accompanied by a bass wind instrument related to the serpent. This deep instrument is played from the side of a Vargr muzzle instead of under the nose, much like one sounds a digeridoo. Female Urzaeng of Planet Aenkadh-edh are drawn to a vertically-played, stringed instrument similar to a viola. Full choirs of males with tenor and alto female ululates are heard on summer solstice each year and are cause for much celebration. Group dances involving concentric circles are also a sight to experience. Humaniti has recorded this gathering and describes it as harrowing to the ears and yet also haunting or spiritual. Much cavorting, drinking, feasting and wooing of mates occurs on this observance. A handful of visitors have found themselves accidentally married after the celebrations.

Local Vargr ferment a potent, thick, and alcoholic mead, called kfang, from equatorial honeybees the size of a Vargr fist. Swarms of these insects are generally avoided and honey is respectfully harvested on careful summer schedules. The fermented honey can be thinned and drunk after processing or eaten with a spoon or as a spread glaze over cooked and spiced meats. Kfang is a system-only export from Planet Aenkadh-edh to mainworld Ksagval by interplanetary contract, but smugglers often sell the mead beverage to other worlds in the stellar cluster for Cr500 to Cr1000 per bottle.

Native Lifeforms

Wooly grazers such as dire yak, wooly mammoths, and other cattle breeds are found on Aenkadh-edh and are hunted for survival only by local law. Sport hunting is illegal per the unanimous judgement of the Den Mothers of the Packs. However, for a fee, survival enthusiasts can pay to join hunting outings, ice fishing boats, and cattle drives upon registration at ‘Beacon’.

One predator that hunters tread carefully about is the Aenkadh-vokh or Winter Devil. This beast has the appearance of a wolverine the size of a Kodiak bear with long fore claws and a vicious, territorial attitude. The beast is a climber, a pouncer upon the local grazers and will not hesitate to drop from outcroppings or even redwood trees to crush and claw a Vargr to death. It too will raid wild hives for honeycombs between kills. Hunts for this fearsome predator are often rites of passage for young braves, but can include Vargr migrating to the Planet Aenkadh-edh to live as a rite of acceptance into a Pack.

World Timeline

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

Later Eras

  • Virus is unleashed upon Charted Space in the 1130s: the mainworld is lightly touched but Aenkadh-edh suffers disproportionately.
  • The Empress Wave crashes upon the Ksagval system in the year 1156.

References & Contributors (Sources)

62px-Information icon.svg.png This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.
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 Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
Retrieved from "http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/index.php?title=Ksagval_(world)&oldid=782520"