System: Alioth

The colonists who first came to Alioth were impressed almost immediately by the thick, hyper-oxygenated atmosphere and unusual warmth for a planet that orbits so far out from its parent star. Only slightly more intriguing was the abundance of native flora for such a geologically young world, a factor attributed to bursts of solar radiation that appear to pulse from the sun every few hundred years or so.

In the centuries since colonizing Alioth, the natives have learned to shield their structures against the harmful bursts of solar radiation created by this unusually active sun, which have been known to completely disrupt communications and produce worldwide outbreaks of cancer cases every few generations. Local astronomers have also long since learned how to read the telltale signs of new bursts of activity, in response to which the planet itself goes into a kind of global shutdown, as if waiting out a worldwide storm.

Yet, despite its drawbacks, life on Alioth has been remarkably pleasant since its first settlements appeared in mankind’s early exodus, thanks to fertile soils and mild weather cycles that made it possible for a variety of Terran and Terran-hybrid food crops to flourish and support a booming agricultural industry. In addition, the island chains off the coasts of Uvania, the planet’s large northern continent, with their semitropical landscapes of wildly varied native flora, and striking mountain landscapes, were perfect for establishing exciting getaways for the idle rich, creating a robust tourist trade.

During the Terran Hegemony era, Alioth became a breadbasket and holiday retreat for citizens across the Hegemony, and business truly boomed in the Star League era, when the world opened up to foreign travelers as well. Unfortunately, the Amaris Crisis led to this world’s fall from grace. Claimed by House Steiner after the fall of the League, Alioth became another Free Worlds/Lyran border planet, a strategic point during raids and campaigns waged between Steiner and Marik forces for the centuries to come.

Through the Succession Wars, Alioth’s farmlands became scarred battlegrounds and its resorts declined as garrison troops and invading soldiers alike consumed the local resources like locusts. The capital of Alioth, Warrinzer, is located on the northeastern coast of Uvania, fifty kilometers north of the primary port city of Staniskil.

There are no functional factories located on this planet.