Stars Without Number: The Cherion Sector

I recently acquired the RPG 'Stars Without Number' - second edition, and I love it's sandbox approach to universe building. It encourages the sort of self-created settings that early Traveller encouraged, before the entire Imperium was mapped out and catalogued. This is entirely deliberate on the part of the authors, who have created a post-apocalyptic setting where the players are - anything they want to be - in a galaxy recovering from a  devastating loss of it's powerful interstellar gate technology, in the far, far distant future.

The system has a nice random method for creating a sector to run a game in, and so of course the first thing I did was - create one. It's not as purely random as Traveller, and in some ways not as elegant, but I loved the random tags which encourage each setting to be unique, weird and adventurable in it's own way.

Cherion Subsector

Overview

The Cherion sector is a scattered selection of star systems that have tried and failed once already to recover from the Scream. The Cherion collective is a decaying autocratic religious dictatorship, that is losing control of the few system it influences, and which is rapidly shrinking. The Triull collective is rapidly bootstrapping itself, working to create a shipyard with the help of lost knowledge from an old preceptor archive. Finally, the Khafrore collective is a loose alliance of worlds who benefit from their trading in a fungal spore with kown anagathic properties, but which can cause outbreaks of a zombie like disease if not carefully managed. Each political entity is far enough away that war is unlikely and difficult, but close enough that spies, sabotage, influence, theft and bribery are rife.

Dotted lines indicate a single political entity, while straight lines indicate major trade routes.

The Sector

Khafrore

0106 Zombies/Local Tech/Breathable/Temperate/Immiscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL3

Fungal spores in the atmosphere can infect the population - they re rapidly mutating and there is constant vigilance to keep the disease under control. The spores can be used to create an anagathic, which is highly prized but prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthiest inhabitants.

Ietriri

0107 Area 51/Night World/Breathable/Warm/Immiscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

This planet is tidally locked behind it's gas giant, and is shrouded in perpetual darkness. It has a rich biosphere and it's lumenescant jungles are a thing of beauty. The local government has restricted all offworld contact, fearing social instability if the contact with offworlders were known.

Thoth

0110 Night World/Mercenaries/Breathable/Cold/Immiscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

A world far from it's star, it orbits a distant brown dwarf that gives off enough infrared heat and radiation to warm the air and support a biosphere. This world supports numerous warring factions, who use paid mercenaries to fight their proxy wars. The world is a hypercapitalist society, and mercenaries and private companies are seen as a valid way to wage war.

Skarth

0206 Anarchists/Utopia/Airless/Variable Warm/No Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

A propertyless society of people living in a massive system of underground caverns and cities. Every need is cared for and groups work on a reputation basis to form and disband various groups as needed.

Cherion

0209 Sectarians/Major spaceyard/Breathable/Temperate/Hybrid Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

A religious overcaste rules over a majority religious underclass, and controls the reactivated pre-event spaceyard. Religious riots and bombings are common. The theocracy is in the process of clamping down which is merely raising the temperature of the world. 

Saigantu

0210 Warlords/Hatred/Airless/Frozen/No Biosphere/Fewer than a million pop/TL4

Heavily xenophobic world that hates a neighboring world - perhaps they just overthrew the government of the shipyard world. The overthrown government is sowing instability, and the ramshackle shanty towns of the airlocked world are rife with gangs and shanty towns.

Kiater

0308 Forbidden Tech/Hatred/Breathable/Variable Cold/Human Miscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

This world also has just overthrown the shackles of the religious world, by introducing viral unbraked AI's. They are in uneasy alliance with the local humans but they are in danger of spiralling out of control.

Eibos

0406 Feral World/Police State/Breathable/Variable Cold/Human Miscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL2

A horrible totalitarian state that practices death worship, cannibalism, death camps, etc. an awful nightmare of a world.

Kadronoe

0407 Anthropomorphs/Sectarians/Invasive/Temperate/Immiscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

Locals in order to survive blended with a local lifeform called the Tare, in order to survive on the world and it's toxic atmosphere.

Brigeis

0410 Doomed World/Perimeter Agency/Breathable/Temperate/No Biosphere/Outpost/TL4

A small collection of perimeter agents who are working to contain some tech that is out of control but can't be destroyed. however the planet is about to be destroyed by an asteroid strike - which will set free whatever is being contained.

Etrip

0502 Alien Ruins/Utopia/Breathable/Variable Warm/Immiscible Biosphere/Fewer than a million inhabitants/TL4

A lost civilization used to live on this world - they reached bronze age and then died out, mysteriously. The current human inhabitants live a peaceful and harmonious existence.

Impresi

0503 Primitive Aliens/Heavy Industry/Airless/Cold/No Biosphere/Hundreds of millions of inhabitants/TL4

A huge alien population is ruled over by a human overclass. tycoon monopolists have heavily industrialised the world for the benefit of the humans. There is unrest but a class of educated local aliens helps the humans rule.

Vievis

0508 Hostile Space/Out of Contact/Breathable/Cold/Human Miscible Biosphere/Hundreds of millions pop/TL1

This world sits in the orbit of a black hole - the distortions of the black hole make it impossible for spike ships to land - the system has not been visited for over a thousand years. The humans have regressed to a medieval technology in the interim.

88

0510 Zombies/Unbraked AI/Breathable/Variable Cold/Human Miscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL4

A world ruled by 88, an insane AI that implants humans with obedience chips. It is a horrific machine dystopia.

Clion

0606 Seismic Instability/Preceptor Archive/Inert/Temperate/No Biosphere/Failed Colony/TL3

A highly volcanic world due to it's tidal stresses from a huge moon. This is the site of a preceptor library, and the missionaries here live in an antigravity city near the equator.

Zaucarro

0609 Cyclical Doom/Refugees/Breathable/Temperate/Human Miscible Biosphere/Several million inhabitants/TL0

The population here have fled the unbraked AI, and are trying to work out how to survive the great cataclysm - a deep winter that causes all of the world to die for a while, like Helliconia.

Thiea

0610 Psionics Worship/Psionics Academy/Breathable/Temperate/Human Miscible Biosphere/Billions of inhabitants/TL4

A major world, where psionics rule, and the psionics examination is the most important event of your life.

Iepra

0702 Refugees/Preceptor Archive/Breathable/Variable Cold/Microbial Biosphere/Hundreds of millions pop/TL4

A massive natural disaster has displaced millions on this world. The local archive is being used to help the locals rebuild.

Triull III

0706 Great Work/Utopia/Thick/Temperate/Immiscible Biosphere/Several millions pop/TL3

The locals are working on completing a spaceyard.

Whiuq

0707 Taboo Treasure/Alien Ruins/Breathable/Temperate/Immiscible Biosphere/Several million pop/TL3

These alien ruins contain slaver rings, which can be used to control another being.

Tanis

0710 Hivemind/Altered Humanity/Breathable/Frozen/Human Miscible Biosphere/Outpost/TL4

Genetically and physically altered to participate in the Collective, a hive mind. This was originally adopted as a way to defeat a rogue AI after the silence.

Arentis

0802 Psionics Academy/Cybercommunists/Breathable/Variable Warm/Immiscible Biosphere/Several million inhabitants/TL4

A highly functioning socialist government, led by enlightened psionicists and precognitive economists. 

Homn

0804 Feral World/Abandoned Colony/Breathable/Temperate/Immiscible Biosphere/Hundreds of millions inhabitants/TL0

A bronze age world of wars and ignorance, terrible cultural taboos, cannibalism, and awful crimes.

Diatune

0806 Battleground/Taboo Treasure/Breathable/Variable Warm/Remnant Biosphere/Several million pop/TL2

Outside groups battle over this world, and the highly addictive drugs that can be produced here.

Satreon

0808 Local Tech/Out of contact/Airless/Variable Cold/No Biosphere/Billions of inhabitants/TL4

A hidden world, using advanced stealth technology to hide from the rest of the sector. Occasionally agents from this world will travel to the rest of the sector secretly.