Eocin Chiyat
Peacock
- Intent: Describe Erakhis' system and serve as a hub for future locations therein.
- Image Credit: Endless Journey by Vadim Sadowski
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Erakhis | The Blood Trail
- ArtStation Links: Orthris IV, Dissection by Sigurd Fernstrom.
- Star System Name: Luminex System
- Region: Unknown Regions
- Affiliation: The Erakhian Federation
- Accessibility: Located beyond the edge of civilised space, navigational data on the Luminex System is sparse, aside from a few heavily trafficked routes connecting to the Blood Trail - routes which a fleet of picket ships and surveillance stations carefully monitor.
- Description: A gleaming beacon of civilisation within the untamed reaches of the Unknown Regions, the Luminex System is famous for its mineral wealth, innovative shipbuilders, and legions of droid labourers - despite its distance from the Core, tourists and students alike have been known to journey here in droves... as have bioengineers and the like seeking a place untarnished by "silly taboos and superstitions".
- Size: Large; one star, eight planets, and two major asteroid belts.
- Wealth: Wealthy; the location of several technologically advanced worlds and an orbital shipyard, the Luminex System is quite wealthy, a wealth which is only added to by the vast legions of unfree droids and Gene Thralls in service to its free inhabitants.
- Major Imports: Raw & Refined Materials, Hyperfuel, Industrial Biomass, and Luxury Goods (Foodstuffs, Gadgets, Jewellery, etc.).
- Major Exports: High Technology, Entertainment, Medicine, Droids, Clones, Starships, Tibanna Gas, and Industrial Products.
- Exploited Resources: Duramentium, Duranium, Durelium, Borium, Agrinium, Vonium, Beryllius, Diatium, and Quadranium, as well as various base chemical elements, most prominently significant deposits of Platinum.
- Unexploited Resources: Several Cortosis deposits are located on Infernex, the extraction of which is made difficult by the planet's general hostility to all but the hardiest of equipment. A middling Phrikite deposit is located in Erakhis' "Abyss" - a mysterious region known for its unplunged depths, dangerous natural phenomenons, and enormous predators.
- Hyperlanes: N/A, though local routes provide ready access to Esfandia, which in turn connects to the Blood Trail.
- Population: Heavy; with a population of approximately nine billion sentients split between Erakhis, Khiriv Minor, and Cseora, the Luminex system is highly populous by the standards of the Unknown Regions, with much of its population residing in heavily urbanised habitats to boot. While the Federal Census Bureau can be trusted to track down practically every sentient in the system, they do not count unfree droids and Gene Thralls - it is believed that the population of these is closer to ninety billion, likely more, though this number is more uncertain.
- System Traffic: High; given the presence of a shipyard, numerous factories, and a number of mining operations, the Luminex System sees a lot of traffic, though only rarely does this cause any major problems - this is largely due to the quintessentially Erakhian preference for automated starships and the constant surveillance maintained by the Federal Intelligence Bureau.
- Demographics: Though the majority of the population are human or improved variants thereof, Luminex is both diverse and meritocratic, with notable minorities including Arkanians, Chiss, Sluissi, Zabraks and, unusually enough, Free Droids; unfree droids far outnumber their citizen cousins, however, and "Gene Thralls", organics bioengineered for servitude, are common as well.
- Native Species: Scions of Luminex, Free Droids, and various bioengineered creatures, | Various nonsentient native creatures.
- Immigrated Species: Humans, Arkanians, Chiss, Sluissi, Zabraks, Anomid, Devaronians, Verpine, Bith, Drall, Priapulin, Duros, Twi'leks, Givin, Zeltrons, Bothans, Sephi, Rodians, Kaminoans, Thyrsians, Echani, Hapans, and many more.
- Luminex: The primary star of its namesake, Luminex is a white-hot Type A star whose radiance renders the inner planets molten beyond hope of conventional habitation. Even beyond the Belt of Cinders, its immense UV output makes sunbathing unusually hazardous.
- Infernex: A scorched hellscape deprived of anything even remotely resembling an atmosphere, Infernex's red-hot surface shifts between boiling and slightly less boiling as it turns on its axis. A few automated mining expeditions have been successful, if barely.
- Reikhin: Slightly less of a hellscape than its neighbour, Reikhin possesses a, admittedly toxic, atmosphere and is somewhat more stable, though much of its surface is still covered in seas of lava. Permanent settlements have been established, mostly research outposts and automated mining facilities. Mustafarians could probably live here relatively comfortably.
- Belt of Cinders: The first great asteroid belt of the system, the Belt of Cinders is home to a number of fairly rare materials, though nothing extraordinary - automated mining expeditions are common, if made hazardous by the presence of strange crystal formations that reflect Luminex's harsh radiance, sometimes creating downright hellish feedback loops.
- Eleb: A young and barren world sporting a poisonous atmosphere and severe seismic activity, Eleb is rarely visited but by automated mining vessels. It has been used as both a scrapyard and prison colony, over the years, but recent waste management and prisoner welfare reforms have reduced activity to a minimum.
- Khiriv Major: A large gas giant orbited by only a single true moon (as opposed to, e.g., asteroids), Khiriv Major is a major source of Tibanna gas, which is extracted and refined in massive orbital installations.
- Khiriv Minor: The second most populous planet within the system and the location of its largest city, Khiriv Minor is known for its horrifyingly powerful equatorial storms and major mineral deposits, most notably Agrinium, Borium, Duramentium, and Duranium. The orbiting shipyards and the numerous factories on the surface are of immense importance to the system as a whole.
- Erakhis: Erakhis, Jewel of Luminex, is the fifth and arguably most important planet of the system. Covered in vast seas and glittering habitats, Erakhis is a world of great biodiversity, though human life is made difficult by Luminex's intense UV output and frequent thunderstorms; solutions to such issues have long since been developed, but most of the population still live in sealed habitats.
- Orthris: The sixth planet of the system, Orthris is a large blueish planet encircled by numerous rings composed primarily of ice, rock, and space "dust", as well as seven moons. Given its high gravity (2.8 Standard), violent storms, and thick, poisonous atmosphere, Orthris has remained largely unused, but it is rumoured that both smugglers and shady government projects have established bases on the surface.
- Orthris IV: A thoroughly unremarkable moon sporting neither life nor a breathable atmosphere, Orthris IV is the location of a Federal Blacksite charged with uncovering and catalogue the secrets of the Force through somewhat dubious means, so far with mixed results.
- Cseora: An icy world at the very edge of the habitable zone, Cseora was settled by Chiss refugees in the wake of the Gulag Plague and elevated from a mere protectorate of the Erakhian Federation to true Freehold following revisions to the Articles of Federation in 635 ABY.
- Belt of Wraiths: While theoretically far safer than the Belt of Cinders, the Belt of Wraiths is a truly eerie place - officially designated as a naval "line in the sand" during the centuries-long quarantine of the Four Hundred Year Darkness, any ship attempting to pass without direct approval from the Federal Security Council would be spaced without warning - no exceptions, no survivors. Even today, drifting hulks can be spotted among the asteroids, with spacers' legends claiming that horrid Starweirds and the angry spirits of the dead haunt their airless halls.
- Pevrex: Named after the Zabrak captain of the survey ship which catalogued the system, the outermost planet of the system is well outside the habitable zone, yet sustains life nonetheless - small and dense, it is blanketed by a thick atmosphere that obscures even Luminex's radiance and is home to both a number of enormous geysers and a range of dangerous and exotic predators. The Federal Navy maintains a garrison aboard an orbiting space station known as Point Pevrex, but the surface is rarely visited but by the most eccentric of big game hunters and determined of scientists.
- Maximum - The centralised nature of the Erakhian Federation and the strength of its industrial capabilities have allowed it to assemble a potent defensive grid around the system, one that is aided by a network of surveillance stations - though hardly a match for a concentrated effort by even a fraction of a Major Faction's forces, the decision to maintain nearly the entire Federal Navy as a fleet in being is sufficient to deter all but the most determined of aggressors.
Surveyed as late as the late 200s ABY and colonised a few years later, when miners began to trickle in, the Luminex System is a comparatively recent addition to the galaxy, though one who has come a very long way indeed since its humble origins.
While war has yet to reach the surface of its worlds, the system suffered greatly during the early phases of the Gulag Plague and again under the much more recent Netherworld Crisis, both of which left deep marks in its residents' collective identity, the former instilling a pervasive germophobia and ensuring that the medical sector never wants for funding and the latter forcing the Federation to finally taking a stance on "the Force".
A stance which, unsurprisingly, amounted to significant funding for research projects, perhaps the most disturbing of them all being the experiments conducted on Orthris IV under deepest secrecy, once again proving that the Federal Administration's benevolence quickly starts to fray at the edges once its citizenry is threatened by external sources.
With the tendrils of civilisation once more making its way into the Unknown Regions in the form of the New Imperial Order, the system's future is more uncertain than ever, for no one truly knows what the future holds.
P.S.: For a more thorough examination of the system's history, please consult local Planet Submissions, currently only Erakhis.
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