Asterope (world)

Asterope/Euxene (Aldebaran 0706)
Classic Era (1116)	C201151-A Starport C Routine: No Construction, Major Repair, Unrefined fuel Size 2 Small (3,200 km, 0.10g - 0.17g) Atmosphere 0 Vacuum Hydrographics 1 Dry World 10% Population 1 Low (60) Government 5 Feudal Technocracy Law 1 Low Law (no explosives, poison gas) Tech Level A Early Stellar (jump drive)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	M5 V M6 V
Planetoid Belts	0
Gas Giants	0

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Asterope is an icy, low-population vacuum world, with a population of less than 10,000 sophonts, warranting hazardous environment precautions.

• Its surface is ice-capped with little or no atmosphere and nearly all of its water frozen.
• It is a part of the Third Reformed French Confederate Republic, a member state of the Solomani Confederation, located in the Euxene Subsector of Aldebaran Sector.

• It orbits the system's secondary star.
• This world is a "Twilight Zone World", a planet that is tidally-locked to its star. It has a hot side that permanently faces the star, a cold side that permanently faces away, and a narrow twilight zone in-between.
• It is a member of the Euxene Cluster.

Asterope Primary System
Euxene/Aldebaran 0706
Position	Distance	Name	UWP
Primary		Primary	M5 V
1	0.32 AU	Planetoid	YS00000-0

Asterope Secondary System
Euxene/Aldebaran 0706
Position	Distance	Name	UWP
Primary		Secondary	M6 V
1	0.05 AU	Qui	Y100000-0
2	0.11 AU	Asterope	C201151-A
3	0.50 AU	Zunsaipah	H102000-0

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Stellar Data

Asterope is a binary star system.

• Both are red main sequence stars.

Asterope has two stars in the star system.

Primary
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	M5 V	Main Sequence (Dwarf)		0.162	2930 - 3060	0.00171
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0018	0.0034	0.04 - 0.09	0.18	1.8
	Orbit #	*	*	*	0	4
	Remarks		Flare Star.
Secondary
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	M6 V	Main Sequence (Dwarf)		0.102	2740 - 2810	0.00034
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0013	0.0015	0.02 - 0.04	0.13	1.3
	Orbit #	*	*	*	0	3
	Remarks		Flare Star. Approximately 75 AU from the primary.

Notes

The two stars of the Asterope system have an average separation of 75 AU and orbit a barycenter that lies between them.

• Both stars have elliptical orbits around one another, with an average orbital eccentricity (e) of 0.1.
• They have an orbital period around one another of 1,264 standard years.

The system does not orbit the actual star Asterope, which lies in the Pleiades Cluster, in Holowon Sector to rimward.

System Data

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

• The mainworld, orbiting the secondary star.
• x2 secondary rocky worlds, both orbiting the secondary star.
  • A single tiny planetoid, with a diameter of around 75 km, orbits the primary star.

Mainworld Data

Asterope is tidally locked to the system's secondary star.

• The star is always high in the sky on the bright face, it hangs on horizon in the twilight zone, while the cold dark face is in permanent darkness.
• The world experiences libration - a regular wobble - as it orbits, causing the star to move in the sky.

Mainworld Size (S)

Asterope is a Small World between 2,400km and 4,000km in diameter. The world has low gravity between 0.1G and 0.17G. The horizon will appear about 2.5km away.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)

Asterope has a pressure of less than 0.001 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)

Asterope has 05-15% of its surface covered by ice, either in vast sheets or contained deep within craters or fractures on the surface. 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

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

The mainworld is a tidally locked, ice-capped rock orbiting a tiny but dangerously temperamental red star. Most surface features are impact craters.

• The main settlement can be found in such a crater on the planetary terminator, near the local ecliptic.

(Blank map, vacuum world.)

History & Background (Dossier)

Asterope is a member of the Euxene Cluster, a small but important cluster and a major trade center lying in the spinward-coreward quadrant of Aldebaran Sector.

A mixture of outcasts and scavengers make up the bulk of the population.

The system's two stars experience regular bouts of flare activity, which causes interference, strange tones and noises, and heavy static on commo and sensors.

• During major outbursts of flare activity radiation levels within the system are dangerously high.
• Exposure to elevated radiation levels causes serious health issues and may damage unshielded electronic devices.

Solomani Security keeps a close eye on things to ensure the security of the Confederation and the well-being of its loyal citizens. Almost anyone could be a SolSec informant, passing on all sorts of useful information: some gain a reward or benefit for their actions, others are coerced, but many see it as an act of duty to help protect the Solomani state and its interests.

World Starport (St)

Asterope has a Class C Starport, an average quality installation which features 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's primary downport facilities are named Port Willis.

World Population (P)

Asterope has a population of 60 sophonts (tens).

• This is a Low Population World and the population would be too low to sustain itself without significant outside assistance. This may represent a transient population such as the crew of a starship, the final survivors of a dying colony, an advance team setting up to receive colonists, or a small outpost where establishing a colony is not the primary objective.
• The population almost entirely consists of Solomani humans.

Urbanization

Port Willis is the main settlement on this planet, located in a large terminator crater. It is ruled by a Governor Louis, who holds power by virtue of the fact that his supporters are numerous and better armed than competing groups. The main trade is in copper ores, mined within the crater deep point.

There is a mining settlement 200 km north along the terminator, Espirit de Pierre, with what might generously be called a Class G Spaceport. This settlement has an elected Mayor, called Philippe Artoi. The settlement was founded over a set of large veins of iron, precious metals, and pitchblende. Mayor Artoi apparently seeks a means by which the ores can be exported directly, but currently is beholden to use Starport Willis.

Linguistic Topography

The most commonly heard languages are:

• Euxene French, a Terran language principally spoken in the Euxene Cluster.
• Rim Anglic, a dialect of Anglic and the principal language of the Confederation.

World Technology Level (T)

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

• Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Holovision, Personal Global Communications, and advanced Translators.
• Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Increasingly advanced fusion plants and advanced fuel cells.
• Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
  • Land & Water: Grav belts and maturing gravcraft.
  • Air: Greatly improved hybrid grav-aircraft.
  • Space: Improved interplanetary spacecraft (System Craft).
  • FTL: Jump Drive-1.

World Government (G)

Asterope 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.

World Law (L)

Asterope 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. Body pistols, explosives, and poison gas are typically regulated or prohibited.

Trade Data

• Importance: 0 (unimportant)

World Economy

The economy revolves around the extraction of metal ores, mining, and various service economies.

• Resources: 6 (few)
• Labor: 0 (none available)
• Infrastructure: 0 (non-existent)
• Efficiency: -3 (poor)

World Culture

• Heterogenity: 1 (monolithic)
• Acceptance: 1 (extremely xenophobic)
• Strangeness: 5 (distinct)
• Symbols: B (abstract)

World Timeline

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

• -9235: far to coreward, the Vilani discover jump drive technology. Over the centuries pioneers and settlers gradually spread across Charted Space.
• -4045 to -2204: the Ziru Sirka controls vast territories.
• -2431: Terrans discover jump drive technology.
• -2404 to -2215: the Interstellar Wars. The young Terran Confederation battles against the ancient Vilani Ziru Sirka.
• -2204 to -1776: the Rule of Man administers the former Ziru Sirka.
• -1999: the Aslan gain jump drive technology.
• -1862 to -1110: the Terran Mercantile Community is active within the region.
• -1776 to 0: the Long Night.
• -1118 to 380: the Aslan Border Wars.
• -1110 to 588: the Terran Mercantile Community gradually becomes the Old Earth Union, shrinking to control the region around Terra.
• The Year 0: to coreward, the Third Imperium is founded.
• 300-420: the Imperial First Survey charts the system.
• 380: the Peace of Ftahalr ends the ongoing Aslan Border Wars and establishes understandings regarding human and Aslan influence.
• 588: the Old Earth Union and the former territories of the Terran Mercantile Community are annexed by the Imperium, moving its border adjacent to the Aslan Hierate.
• 604-622: the Imperial Civil War.
• 624: the Imperial Express Boat Network is established.
• 704: the Solomani Autonomous Region is formed.
• 800-820: the Psionics Suppressions.
• 871: the Solomani Confederation is founded.
• 940: the Solomani Autonomous Region is dissolved.
• 990-1002: the Solomani Rim War.
• 995-1065: the Imperial Second Survey includes data for the system.
• 1065: the Second Survey is published. Information about the system becomes widely available.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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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.

• John Harshman, Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman. Classic Traveller Supplement 8 Library Data (A-M), (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), various pages. (Library data entries)
• John Harshman, Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman. Classic Traveller Supplement 11 Library Data (N-Z), (Game Designers Workshop, 1982), various pages. (Library data entries)
• John Harshman, Marc Miller. Solomani (Game Designers Workshop, 1986), IFC, pages 3, 28. (sector named, background for the sector)
• Peter G. Celella, James Holden. Solomani & Aslan (Digest Group Publications, 1991), pages 8-11, various others. (dot map locating the worlds of the sector, background for the sector)
• Steven Eric Schwartz. MegaTraveller Periodical Imperiallines 2, 1991, page 5. (Bootean Federation, background for the sector)
• Michael Taylor. Fighting Ships of the Solomani (QuikLink Interactive, 2009), page 5. (background for the sector)
• David L. Pulver. Solomani (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), pages 50, 118, 119, various others. (background for the sector)
• Martin J. Dougherty. The Order of Prometheus (Mongoose Publishing, 2023), various pages. (scenarios and background for the sector)
• Zho Berka's Maps (Classic Era UWP Data for the world)
• CORE Data Site (UWP Data for the world)
• Author & Contributor: Garnfellow (development of the sector)
• Author & Contributor: Leroy W.L. Guatney of the Federation Development Agency (FDA) (development of the sector)
• Author & Contributor: Dochsavage