Argos

A fiercely independent republic. Headquarters fo the Verge Confederation, a talent and employment agency for explorers, operatives, and troubleshooters of all types.

Stellar Bodies

  • Argos A (Jason) – a small orange K5 star, over 12 billion years old
    • Pindar – this Hot Jupiter’s appearance is dominated by vividly alternating latitudinal cloud systems of white to yellow and brown to red bands, with transient white or red anticyclonic storms, or spots, of various sizes.
    • Proteasa – a volcanic terrestrial world, captured billions of years ago. Supports an extensive biosphere of sulphur-based organisms.
      • Polychrome – a carbonaceous chondrite asteroid moved into geosynch orbit by He3 Enterprises and Better Worlds Corporation to allow monitoring of Proteasa
    • Ebony – a tiny, inactive terrestrial world in a highly eccentric orbit; likely captured from Argos B during stellar capture.
    • Glauke – a small Jovian-type gas giant with a ring system and 7 moons. Its appearance is dominated by muted alternating latitudinal cloud systems of white to cream and brown to rusty bands.
      • Aison, Alkimede, Creon, Hypsipyle, Kretheus, Mermerus, Pheres
  • Argos B (Medea) – a yellow G5 star little more than a billion years old; 178 AU distant from Argos A; orbited by 12 planets, including 2 firmly in the habitable zone
    • Puck – a Hot Jupiter with no moons, although He3 Enterprises has a gas mining operation in orbit and there is a collection of small asteroids around the Puck/Medea L-4 point
    • Medos – little more than the iron core of a shattered world, Medos orbits at the Medea/Puck L5 point. Maritec Mining’s New Clarkestown facility is located on the lagging illuminated terminator.
    • Wonbard – a large, highly active, sulphur-rich, terrestrial world. Hot acidic rains have left the surface a combination of flat, clay-rich plains and wide, shallow oceans of sulphuric acid.
      • Glom – the survivor of a catastrophic event that shattered it into at least thirteen major parts which now orbit as a loosely agglomerated whole
    • Hartrest – a “wet hothouse” world with an atmosphere dominated by nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Warm oceans support extensive aquatic vegetation.
      • Damocles’ Sword – this flattened, elongated, triangular body is a captured moon; Goldsword Base houses security forces of Admiral Thomas Maritec.
      • Mersenne – this small carbonaceous chondrite asteroid acts as Better Worlds Corporation’s base for space-borne terraforming operations
    • Marybelle – having undergone a century of terraforming, scientists claim that within another decade it will be possible to walk the surface unaided by filter-masks or e-suits
      • Fibonacci – a small carbonaceous chondrite asteroid, housing customs & immigration, as well as a dry-dock facility
      • Fiera – a spherically shaped, differentiated terrestrial body
      • Saigar – an irregularly shaped, extinct cometary core
    • Fogg – a small, frigid terrestrial world with frozen oceans of carbon dioxide
      • Martyn
      • Phileas
    • Symplegades Belt – ranging from 2.13 to 4.07 AU
    • Euripides – a latitudinal-striped jovian world with 22 moons
      • Alcibiades, Anaxagoras, Anouilh, Anthenagoras, Apollodorus, Archelaus, Cherubini, Cleitos, Cleon, Corneille, Dionysius, Grillparzer, Harryhaussen, Herodotus, Hyginus, Magnesia, Mnesarchus, Ovid, Pausanias, Protogoras, Seneca, Valerius
    • Maygen – the very model of a modern Saturnian-type gas giant, with a sizeable ring system and 13 moons. Its overall pale-yellow appearance is dominated by a low contrast series of alternating latitudinal cloud systems of light-colored zones and darker-colored band, plus a limited number of white or pale-pink transient anticyclonic storms, or spots, of various sizes.
      • Commisariat, Duty (a blue-green Uranian-type gas giant with its own moon, Recursia), Frederic, Hypotenuse, Mabel, Mamelon, Pinafore, Ravelin, Richard, Sat-a-gee, Schwenck, Seymour, Stanley
    • Messellina – a differentiated dirty iceball
    • Phineus – a blue-green Uranian world with a very limited ring system and 17 moons
      • Aethalides, Ankaios, Atalanta, Autolycus, Calias, Erginos, Erybotes, Idmon, Iphiclus, Lynceus, Meleagros, Mopsos, Orpheus, Poeas, Polydeukes, Tiphys, Zetes
    • Hylas – a pale yellow Saturnian gas giant, transferred from Argos A to B during stellar capture
      • Dryope – a small differentiated plutino from Argos B’s Kuiper belt
    • Aigeus – a blue-green Neptunian world
      • Achilles, Aethra, Aietes, Chalciope, Circe, Eidyia, Pasiphae, Perses, Theseus

Maelstrom Zone

In the 23 AU-wide area roughly from 91 AU from Argos B out to 64 AU from Argos A, there is an area of mass-communications breakdown and wildly inclined and eccentrically orbiting cometary bodies. These icy bodies are all that remain of both star’s Kuiper belts following the capture of the Argos A system. On either side of the mass-communications abyss are light-speed comms relay outposts (Kolchias and Iolkos) that continually monitor the swirling field of plutinos for “unusual” objects that may be lurking inside.