Campaign:SBRD/Library/Nexus (world)

Nexus (RD 3226)/Urlaqqash_Subsector/Reavers' Deep Sector

(Note: This article is about the SBRD campaign setting in the year 3731 AD, during the Long Night.)

Nexus (RD 3226) B3105AA-B Ni Ex In Ri - - 712 14 X8 F6 V M9 V Frozen
Size: 4800 km (3), Atmo: Trace, Hydro: 00%, Climate: Frozen
Pop: 700 K, Charismatic Dictator, LL: A, TL: B
Star(s): F6 V M9 V, 14 Worlds, 1 Belts, 2 GGs, Orbit 12
Delphi Union, No Base

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Nexus is the transit center that Devonia (RD 3125) was originally planned to be. The current Leader led a revolt against the previous oppressive government fifteen years ago (3716). The next year, Nexus applied for membership in the Delphi Union, which was immediately granted.

Trade Classifications of Industrial and Rich are included because of this system's relatively large amount of interstellar traffic and commerce.

GM Notes about this place

Conditions/Environment

Nexus is more properly referred to as Nexus-A XII-G, as it is the 6th moon of the 12th planet around its primary star, an F6 V. None of the other bodies have official names, so the system is referred to as Nexus, the primary star as Nexus-A, the distant M9 V binary as Nexus-B, and planets numbered according to the usual default nomenclature (see System Astrography).

Nexus has a Frozen climate, has surface gravity of 0.377 G, has Trace atmosphere, and no surface water or ice. The surface is rocky, with fine dust in places from impacts by smaller bodies. There is no natural biosphere.

Starport and Transport Infrastructure

Nexus has a Class B Starport, including highport facilities in orbit. Both facilities have both refined and unrefined fuel for sale, skimmed from the gas giant's atmosphere by a trio of 100-ton fuel skimmers based at the downport, where the fuel refinery is located. Good quality TL 11 repair and maintenance facilities are available at both Nexus-High and Nexus-Down. Gravity inside the starport buildings is maintained at 1 G by means of grav plates in the floor, as is common throughout the inhabited parts of Nexus. The Starport has personal grav vehicles for rent, and there is regularly scheduled passenger/freight service by grav transport to other facilities on the surface of the moon.

History

Nexus was colonized in 2600 by a consortium of governmental and corporate interests from Ashima, Delphi, and Zhemi. The intent was to get a headstart on a transit facility for commerce with Riftrim Deep Sector, in competition with another group that was planning a facility to be built at Devonia (RD 3125). The Nexus facilities were completed a full twelve years ahead of those at Devonia, and Nexus has been the default entry point into the Deep ever since.

The original consortium planned to run Nexus as a company facility, with no government other than the administrators appointed by the consortium, but as the population grew and other facilities were built in addition to the Starport, the people demanded their own government. The consortium grudgingly allowed the individual population centers each their own Town Hall participatory democracy, but did not agree to any centralized government other than the consortium itself.

By 2800 the population had increased to over 300,000, and when the Third Twilight War began in 2814 the people of Nexus took advantage of that distraction to declare their independence. The consortium didn't take the declaration calmly, but could not muster significant military forces as their own world governments were committed to the war effort. A battalion of mercenaries were hired and loaded aboard civilian transport, but when they arrived insystem at Nexus they found that the revolutionaries had taken control of system defenses, and the mercenary transport was outgunned. The mercenaries were forced on threat of destruction to offload their weapons and ammunition, then were sent back to Ashima with a delegation of the revolutionaries empowered to negotiate.

The final treaty gave the former members of the Nexus consortium a broad selection of free or discounted services for shipping through Nexus, along with a cut of the profits from any shipping through the system by non-consortium members. The people of Nexus were granted their independence and the right to determine their own government.

The situation remained stable for the next 550 years, but as population increased and the people of Nexus forgot who had actually built the facilities they lived in, the NexusForUs party became popular and swayed an increasingly large share of the vote on any issue, especially since non-party-members often didn't even bother to vote. First the NexusForUs group pushed through a constitutional change, completely rearranging the form of government from a participatory democracy to a representative democracy, on the grounds that the population had gotten so large and the governmental issues so complex that the old system could no longer do the job. At the first election of the new government, the NexusForUs candidates were overwhelmingly elected to all positions. The new representatives immediately started putting into place the NexusForUs plan, which called for increased numbers of Protectors (state police armed as military) and increased construction of defensive fortifications around the Starport and in orbital stations, along with several System Defense Boats. Reavers had become a common phenomenon by this time, so the extra defenses were applauded by most of the populace.

The next phase of the NexusForUs plan was extremely popular, as it allowed not only the repeal of all personal taxes on the citizenry, but also a government stipend for each citizen. The extra revenue to support these measures came from the shares formerly paid to the consortium members out of earnings from non-consortium shipping through the Nexus system. The former consortium members complained, but had other concerns to worry about and were not eager to test the upgraded system defenses of Nexus.

As the Nexus government became the payor of a large part (if not all) of the income of most of its citizens, it also assumed a greater and greater regulatory role in their daily lives. A brief civil war confined mainly to the Representative classes and their loyal troops resulted in about half of the top political families being removed, and the remaining ones changing the form of government to an unelected oligarchy. By the early 3600s, the government of Nexus was a Type F Totalitarian Oligarchy, enforcing a Law Level of D. Numerous small rebellions broke out, but were quickly crushed as the rebels were almost completely unarmed.

The Nexus government made its biggest mistake in 3695, when it unilaterally cancelled all treaties with the former members of the consortium that had built Nexus, and began to charge their ships the same fees as all other shipping that came through Nexus. Over the next ten years the opposition to the government suddenly became much better organized and much better armed, with offworld mercenaries to train and lead the rebel troops. By 3716 the revolution was over, the former members of the oligarchy had been tried, convicted, and executed, and the Leader of the Revolution was carried by cheering mobs into the old government complex to take over and build a new government. Carlingus Skretten, retaining the revolutionary title of Leader, has been effectively the Charismatic Dictator of Nexus for the past fifteen years. Interestingly, one of his first acts on taking over the government was to apply for membership for Nexus in the Delphi Union, and upon that application being granted to order that all shipping from the Delphi Union was to receive the same free or discounted services that the consortium members had previously enjoyed.

Population and Government

The population of 720,000 is of mixed Terran and Vilani ancestry, plus about 6000 Bwaps from the colony on Ashima (Db 0126). About one-third of the population (including almost all of the Bwaps) lives at either Nexus-Down or Nexus-High. Another one-third of the population lives in small communities scattered around the surface of Nexus, either in habitat bubbles or underground warrens. The remaining one-third live in the Belt or at various other facilities around the system.

The government is the Leader, Carlingus Skretten, who rules by regulation and edict, plus a structure of delegated authority through trusted subordinates. He is Commander-in-Chief of the Protectors, including the system fleet which is now up to at least ten SDBs (the exact numbers and placement are a state secret) and two cruisers. The government owns both Starport facilities and many related industries, such as fuel production and power generation.

Economy/Imports/Exports/Trade

The economy is based almost entirely around the Starport and related industries. There is some hydroponic food production and several carniculture producers, but most food is imported. There are also a few mining companies on Nexus and in the Belt.

The world's natural Trade Classifications are Non-Industrial and Extreme, but it can also be treated as Industrial due to the amount of products from Ashima, Delphi, and Zhemi that ship through here, and the raw materials shipped back to them; and Rich due to the market for products of all kinds to be shipped back into Zhemi Subsector and the Delphi Union in particular. (Where a conflict would result from the Ni and In classifications, use the more favorable classification.)

Offworld Connections

Nexus is part of the Delphi Union, an economic and defensive alliance of which Ashima and Delphi are the power centers. The Union Navy has significant fleet elements on permanent station in Nexus system, both for the defense of the system and to deter any Reavers that might come through into the more populated systems of the Union. The defense forces of Nexus itself have not yet been incorporated into the Union Navy; this is something of a sore point between the Leader of Nexus and the Union Council.

Biology/Wildlife

The barren surface of Nexus does not support a biosphere.

System Astrography

Primary Star: F5 V (Nexus Star)
0 - empty
1 - Nexus I, X420000-0, no moons
2 - Nexus II, X210000-0, no moons
3 - Nexus III, X300000-0, no moons
4 - Nexus IV, X513000-0, no moons
5 - Nexus V, LGG(160), 3 rings, 8 moons
6 - Nexus VI, XBA7000-0, 2 moons
7 - Nexus VII XACA000-0, no moons
8 - Nexus VIII X510000-0, no moons
9 - Nexus IX X614000-0, 3 moons
A - Asteroid Belt, F0005AA-B
B - Nexus X, XAA0000-0, 2 moons
C - Nexus XI, X675000-0, 2 moons
D - Nexus XII, LGG(179), no rings, 8 moons
----Nexus XII-G B3105AA-B (orbit 5.76M km, 100-D limit 480,000 km) mainworld of this system
----Nexus XII-H X510000-0 (orbit 6.48M km, 100-D limit 800,000 km) abandoned mining base; see Nexus-Under (below)
Distant Binary: M9 V, no planets

Nexus-Under: real UWP is G510330-9; semi-secret smugglers' port; invitation required!

Important NPCs

Al-Bhakar, Nirid: aka Mr. Blake. Player Notes about this NPC

Augschmidt, Bergen: Corrupt Nexus Protector officer. Player Notes about this NPC

Brumley, Horace: Nexus Office of Trade and Development. Player Notes about this NPC

Dalton, Heather: Investigator; old friend of Nero Vulpinerrin. Player Notes about this NPC

Player Notes (Past Involvement Here, etc)

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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 Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• User:SpaceBadger, SBRD Reavers' Deep Campaign

This article is specific to the SBRD Reavers' Deep Campaign, which is set during the Long Night, beginning in year 3731 AD (-787 Imperial). This information may not be correct for the typical Traveller campaign set during the time of the Third Imperium.

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