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Player > Setting > Planets > The Diaspora
Starfinder Core Rulebook p.448
Diameter: Millions of asteroids, each up to 600 miles across
Mass: ×2 total (less than ×1/100 for any single asteroid)
Gravity: Varies
Location: Pact Worlds
Atmosphere: Special
Day: Varies; Year: Varies
A vast asteroid belt, the Diaspora was formed when the
twin planets Damiar and Iovo were destroyed by an
unknown catastrophe millennia ago, long before even the Gap.
The fractured remains of these two worlds spin lazily in their new
orbits, and though there are more than a million celestial bodies
with diameters greater than a mile within the Diaspora, all are
spaced far enough apart that they rarely collide with one another.
Most of these planetoids consist of formless chunks of rock or
ice, though a few still hold traces of the civilizations of Damiar
and Iovo. Some have just enough gravity—or technological
assistance—to hold a thin atmosphere, while others are devoid
of breathable gases. Dust and tiny pieces of stone and metal
float between the asteroids, occasionally posing a threat to ships
passing through at speed.
The true dangers of the Diaspora, however, are the beings that
inhabit the asteroids. Smugglers and space pirates—especially
the Free Captains of Broken Rock—store their ill-gotten goods
on various rocks; some protect their stashes with high-tech
security, while others hide their lairs in plain sight on otherwise
nondescript chunks of stone. Many planetoids rich in minerals
and other resources have been claimed by various mining
companies—the most prominent being several dwarven star
citadels—often all too eager to fight to protect their interests. In
addition, androids calling themselves the Refugists have recently
begun construction of their own home world by pulling together
asteroids with tractor beams and gravity guns. Whether or not
they’ll succeed at this endeavor has yet to be seen, but rumor
has them approaching their work with almost religious fervor and
little patience for interruptions.
All of this, of course, ignores the Diaspora’s indigenous residents.
Called sarcesians, these humanoids supposedly descend from the
natives of the lost twin planets, evolved and adapted to life in
hard vacuum. Able to suspend respiration indefinitely, they soar
between the lonely asteroids on wings of pure energy stretched
impossibly long to catch the solar wind. Sometimes referred to as
“angelsâ€â€”both derisively and admiringly—the sarcesians maintain
a number of carefully terraformed “crèche worlds†within the
belt where they can relax and raise their children. While usually
peaceful, the sarcesians have never forgotten their ancient feud
with Eox, which they believe was responsible for their worlds’
destruction. Like many of their neighbors, the sarcesians send
representatives to the Pact Council in order to make their views
known, yet they have no overarching government capable of
taking them beyond the status of a Pact World protectorate,
instead following a libertarian philosophy of holding on to what
they have and allowing others to do the same.
With a 600-mile diameter, Nisis is the largest body in the
Diaspora. Under its crust of ice, this planetoid is mostly composed
of fresh water, an immense mass of liquid home to aquatic predators
that have claimed the lives of countless would-be colonists. Only
small enclaves of sarcesians live in inverted dome-villages clinging
to the underside of the planet’s ice crust, and the settlers are
always on high alert for threats from below, ready to abandon their
homes and retreat to strongholds on the planetoid’s surface at a
moment’s notice. The water of Nisis also serves as the source of the
River Between, a strange waterway surrounded by atmosphere in
a cylindrical containment field, which flows through the Diaspora
and connects many of the asteroids and crèche worlds. The River
Between used to be a well-used way to travel quickly through the
asteroid belt, but recently the water has turned dark, and sailors
have begun reporting vicious attacks by unseen creatures. Traffic
on the river has dropped precipitously since the coming of these
“diaspora wyrms,†and some scientists have noted that both the
attacks and the change in the waterway coincided with another
inexplicable event: Nisis started slowly growing in size.
Among many famous Diasporan locations is the House of the
Void, a mysterious asteroid monastery whose black-robed monks
stay tight-lipped about their goals. On the other side of the belt,
the hollow asteroid known as the Wailing Stone now sits empty.
Long ago, miles of silent corridors were drilled into the rock and
used to quarantine victims of some terrible madness, and they
later served as a penal colony—before all the residents vanished
at some point during the Gap. Attempts to recolonize the stone
have so far failed, as all who remain longer than a few days report
disturbing nightmares and glimpses of twisted figures dressed in
yellow rags.
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