Noscius (world)
| Noscius/Antra (Deneb 1902) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classic Era (1116) | X222000-0
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| See also | UWP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Starport: Class X Diameter: 1978 Miles Atmosphere: Very Thin with trace amounts of Ammonia Surface Water: 22% Water Ice Climate: Very Cold Population: 0 Government: None Law Level: None Tech Level: None
Noscius is the only free world in an otherwise sparse red dwarf binary system. The companion star orbits Herrenvolk, the primary, at a distance of 3.0 AUs, leaving few orbits for worlds to otherwise develop. A single massive gas giant and a pair of carbon chondrite asteroid belts are found orbiting beyond the companion star, leaving Noscius alone in the inner system. The world has a small 500 km moon known only as Vagrant's Home, and is thought to be a piece of Noscius blasted into space about a billion years ago by a massive interplanetary collision.
The world was first discovered by Vargr explorers around -1230, though these and their successors saw little reason to settle or exploit the world. Few minerals are present, the local biosphere consists primarily of hardy lichens and single cell algae analogs trapped in the rock faces, and the system contains very little in the way of heavy metals or bulk organics required by industry. The colony that did develop here grew up around the local starport, which did brisk business servicing traders travelling between the Third Imperium and nearby Vargr states. The Imperium officially claimed the world, mostly to protect its more valuable cololy on nearby Filangger (Deneb 2001).
This colony was populated mostly by transients from the Extents, and these included the worst criminals and border trash. It was a well known fact that various Corsair groups used the system as a waystation for reconnaissance teams casing potential targets on the Imperial side of the border. The IISS and Imperial Navy tried at various times to have this illegal inflow stamped out, only to be stymied by several major Imperial Megacorporations, principally Tukera and Hortalez et Cie. Post-Rebellion evidence shows that these companies used these corsairs and "border coyotes" as agents and emissaries with various Vargr powers in pursuit of their own commercial and political interests. The lawlessness that they encouraged finally prompted the Travellers' Aid Society to declare the world an Amber Zone in 1071.
The Assemblage of 1116 captured the world during the same campaign that netted Filangger, though they considered garrisoning almost as an afterthought. With so much plundering and raiding occuring elsewhere the local scum pulled out, and the loss of Imperial trade nearly bankrupted the port. The few hundred souls that remained were mostly mercenaries between contracts, or pillage teams resting between raids. Most of the plunder taken from the Domain of Deneb passed through other ports, and the world catered mainly to either rookies or has-beens.
Surprisingly, the world suffered no casualties from the Collapse. The lack of traffic and the dilapidated state of the local infrastructure prevented Virus from reaching the system until after it had virtually destroyed most of the Extents. When word came that the Dzaargh Federate had been annihilated, the transient population fled for safer worlds or the Regency Frontier. An RQS watch team destroyed the starport and settlement with high explosives, and the world has no useful salvage.
- ↑ "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com