Talk:Aek Elakfough (world)

Black Cauldron Beltstrike! Notes (2020)

A sample System Map of Aek Elakfough for Referees

• Homestar K8 V Orange Dwarf
• Orbit 0 Hospitable H53726B-7 Tz
  • 100 Diameters from Homestar
• Orbit 1 HZ -1 N-Zone Planetoid Belt A000312-E As Lo Va Ho
  • The Black Wheel (Beltport-A)
• Orbit 2 HZ 0 Hospitable F986210-3
• Orbit 3 HZ +1 BigWorld GDA1105-9 Co
  • Satellite
• Orbit 4 M-Zone Planetoid Belt As Lo Va
• Orbit 5 Iceworld F495232-8 Fr
  • Ring
  • Satellite
  • 1000 Diameters from Homestar
• Orbit 6 Worldlet (Shattered Cluster) H000100-9 As Lo Va
  • Ring
• Orbit 7 M7 V (Main Sequence) Red Dwarf 'capture'
• Orbit 8 Iceworld F9A8100-6 Fr
• Orbit 9 Iceworld F877136-7 Fr
  • Satellite
  • Satellite
  • Satellite
• Orbit 13 Iceworld G556100-3 Fr (eccentric orbit)

Generated using Traveller5.10 by User: The Pakkrat

Stepping from the docking ring airlocks or from a premium hangar (extra corporate charge for that), the first thing a Traveller sees on the Black Wheel is the low population or lack of greater numbers. Visible next is that everyone is dressed in some variant of VaccSuit, HEV, Combat Armor and you might see a permitted Battle Dress or two trudging down the Wheel’s main avenue. Belted on folk are every melee weapon imaginable and firearms are present. Naturally, the Rraegnaell Oukh Security Teams have everyone outnumbered and outgunned since portable energy weapons and lasers are prohibited. On a Vargr station, one can never be too sure of the safety ratings on a spinning wheel Beltport. So long as nobody skins a blade or draws a firearm, Security can overlook a Vargr Charisma Infight or two per day in the bazaar or in the Black Trade Tavern the “Lone Star” of the Black Wheel.

Since the entire system was purchased by the interfacing line Rraegnaell Oukh, structure and a semblance of corporate governance has settled upon Aek Elakfough. Freight services, Passages, speculative cargos passing through and the occasionally glossed-over smuggling are present just under the Rraegnaell Oukh veneer. It is a dull growl of the markets that are the loudest noisemakers on the Black Wheel and even then it’s a welcome to the drone of the Beltport life support nodes’ hum and vibration.

A Traveller will see Gvegh Vargr the most here in the Black Cauldron. Being on the border with the Lianic Subsector Zhodani Consulate means one will spot more than a few Zhodani Proles and maybe an Intendant. No one can recall the last time an honest-to-Ancients Zhodani Noble deemed to step off their ship for a layover at the Black Wheel. After those, one can encounter the Aekhu Vargr doing business for the Imperial corner of this trade triangle of the Vargr Extents, Consulate and the Third Imperium. Imperials, Humans do pass through Aek Elakfough, but most are IISS Scouts, Oberlindes Lines (a competitor of Rraegnaell Oukh), and a few mom-and-pop tramp traders perhaps once a week.

Since the entire Black Wheel has close to two-thousand locals, dedicated employees of Rraegnaell Oukh, there are no refineries or large mercantile outlets aboard the station. The Vargr here mean to service ships and maintain the Beltport A rating of the Black Cauldron, only one of three A-rated Starports in Lianic Subsector. Due to the low population, the maiden voyage of a new hull launches around one per year.

Politics is barely a vocabulary word on Aek Elakfough. The locals either work for Rraegnaell Oukh who want the spacelanes kept open, or they are Vargr Loners or Human Belters looking to strike the motherlode in the two planetoid belts here. It is quiet, peaceful and utterly boring for those who live here. The only excitement is the ships that need a layover for maintenance, a pricy overhaul, or are just passing through. As an interfacing line, Rragnaell Oukh wants to appear as a lubricated logistics locale to all Travellers especially with the Zhodani so near. The static between the Worlds of Leader Rukh and the Anti-Rukh Coalition sometimes play on the newsfeeds on the Black Wheel monitors. Nothing of their feud touches this far spinward-rimward. Rraegnaell Oukh maintains a neutral face as an interfacing line between posturing polities such as the Zhodani Consulate and the Third Imperium.

A patron of the Black Trade Tavern can watch last year’s Zhodani Olympics while waiting on the steak served to order. Any meat cooked beyond medium-rare though will earn a Human some stares from the local Vargr. The Tavern is decorated with a huge shard of volcanic obsidian glass suspended in midair by a net of black chains. The Black Trade Tavern is host to a bar brawl on a weekly basis, giving rise to sturdy metal furniture and tables that are bolted to the floor.

Trade on the Black Wheel is public in the bazaar and can be kept hush-hush for the fee to use a private room in the Black Trade Tavern. Privacy remains problematic since Zhodani visit the system and bring their psionics with them. Most Vargr who trade with the Zhodani prefer that negotiations take place between them and Zhodani Proles trusted by their Intendant ship captains. Consumables such as food and water arrive from nearby Ag-worlds of Oughaetha and Kuenruekh as well as seafood mass catches from the Water World of Tagakfaduen a couple of parsecs coreward. Where Rraegnaell Oukh has ore finds shipped after purchasing them from local Belters are likely to be Uerzthu and the company headquarters of Dhaengae to trailing. Beltstrikes in the Black Cauldron are loud and proud but never last long once the dust settles. Smuggling only seems to draw more business than harm traffic. However, there is some small-time Corsair activity requiring merchant vessels to remain armed and wary. Pirates preying on Belters of Aek Elakfough strike out more than strike it rich. It is the nature of the prospecting beast. When asked if the Zhodani Thought Police have influence in the Black Cauldron, the answer is that everyone seems happy with the status quo and Vargr mercurial nature trumps constant monitoring. I’m happy. Are you happy?