BARD PAPER: OPAL9501

Hexos

X-534000-0

by Lewis Roberts

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
ORBITAL MOTION
HISTORY
SOCIETY
SYSTEM DETAILS

Physical Parameters: Orbital Period:.644 years Rotational Period: 34 hours Orbital Eccentricity: 0.015 Avg Temperature:283K = 7C Axial Tilt: 39 degrees Planet Density: High

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

From orbit Hexos appears as a normal world, it is only when seen through high resolution imaging devices can one see the rotting corpse of a world that is Hexos. The extremely thin atmosphere does not retain much heat, so the average temperature hovers about 10 C. Most of the water on the planet is located in two large ice caps at each pole. Geothermal vents keep small lakes liquid. Primitive lichens and algae live around these lakes, so far these are the only native forms of life that have been found on the planet.

HISTORY

History: Hexos was settled in the year 631, by waves of immigrants from the Imperial core seeking a new life on the frontier. The planet was an important station in the Xboat route. The Imperial Navy established a base on the moon of the closest gas giant. The planet was fairly stable, the technological level was almost stagnant rising from seven to eight over two hundred years. This fit in with the personality of the population, they were quite laid back.

Not much changed until the Civil War. By 1117 the Aslan ihatei had made major inroads in the Trojan Reaches and were starting to enter the Spinward Marches. The naval base was upgraded and expanded. This provided a bit of an economic boom, as more naval personal took shore leave, and civilian contractors needed some place to spend their wages. Most citizens thought that the boom was changing Hexos too much; too many new people with new ways of doing things. They also didn't understand the Hexos way of doing things. On 338-1120 a large fleet gathered at Hexos, and launched a strike against Aslan targets at Craw/Glisten. While the fleet was gone, a group of thirty Aslan ships jumped into the system. These were mostly small ships, under 1000 tons displacement. A few of these ships attacked the Naval base, and engaged the Naval SDBs, others split up and started a light orbital bombardment of the planet. Ships returning from an earlier raid into Aslan space, jumped into the system and attempted to engage the raiders. Seeing the returning ships, the Aslan jumped away.

By the next day thousands of people had come down with a deadly disease. By 343-1120 half the population was dead, most casualties were in the capital city of Dione. The deaths were not limited to humans, livestock and Chirpers also died in huge numbers. On 019-1121 Imperial authorities announced to the TNS that the last inhabitant had died. Imperial investigations into possible use of biological weapons by Aslan ihatei never reached a definite conclusion, but the circumstantial evidence forced most observers to reach that conclusion. Dr Julia Kartinian, a scientist investigating the disease was quoted as saying "Whatever it is that's killing these people Aslan appear be immune."

Since 1121 the planet has been a wasteland. The Navy has designated the planet a War Grave and interdicted the planet. The Navy placed a warning beacon in orbit and only occasionally patrols the system. The threat of still active biological warfare agents is enough to scare off most looters. Recently several clans of Aslan that reside in the Imperium have asked that they be allowed to emigrate to Hexos. These clans were not involved in the destruction of Hexos, in fact they were not even involved in the invasion of the Imperium, rather having settlements in the Riftspan Reaches. They came to the Regency after fleeing the Virus. Since then they have lived on crowded refugee worlds in Troy. They reason that they are not being productive citizens of the Regency crammed in a refugee camp, and if they were given Hexos, they could help rebuild the planet. This has stirred up a huge public outcry, especially on formerly occupied worlds. Debate continues in the Regency Senate.

SOCIETY

Before the Civil War, the population of Hexos lived in small domed cities. Most of these cities were located around geothermal vents. These provided a source of liquid water, and heat. Geothermal power generation provided a cheap source of electricity.

Crops were grown in underground hydroponic tanks. Livestock were raised in huge factory farms, where animals were born, lived and died all within a few feet. There were several groups of animal rights activists which protested the conditions at these farms, but most residents wanted meat, more than they wanted happy animals. The government on Hexos was almost nonexistent, it existed mostly to take care of interplanetary issues, and to maintain the common facilities, such as the starport, power generation, and life support equipment. A Planetary Council of ten individuals were elected every three years to oversee the bureaucracy. They made most routine decisions, anything complex, important or even somewhat controversial was put to a planetary referendum. These were conducted over the planet wide computer net. A week long period of discussion would be followed by a vote. A simple majority decided all issues. These referendums were not that common, usually only one every few months.

Hexos had a sizable Chirper population. Unlike most worlds where Chirpers were second class citizens, if even citizens, the people of Hexos treated the Chirpers with respect and dignity. They had full voting rights, but few if any took advantage of it. Most of the chirpers worked at menial jobs such as janitorial staff, and all around grunt labor.

The population had a laissez-faire attitude towards most things. People were free to do as they please, as long as no one else was harmed. If someone was harmed, society would shun the offending party, until they made redress. Extremely violent crime was very rare, but did happen occasionally. When such an unfortunate event occurred a group of citizens would find and eliminate the diseased individual.

SYSTEM DETAILS

Orbit	Name	UWP	Satellite Orbit	Satellite UWP
Primary	SF 13847-33	K1 V
0	Hot Belt	Planetoid Belt
1	Gragfta	SGG
	Bracton		4	X-S00000-0
	Xavfor		7	X-S00000-0
	Lexot		40	X-100000-0
1	Hexos	X-534000-0
1	Yavin	LGG
	Inner Ring		2	X-R00000-0
	Rovwal		4	X-400000-0
	Querntal		8	X-562000-0
	Flofta		9	X-S00000-0
	Boghtop		13	X-710000-0
	Serton		35	X-300000-0
	Folo		50	X-400000-0
4	Cold Belt	Planetoid Belt
5	Wongal	LGG
	Smalt		4	X-834000-0
	Tlot		6	X-S00000-0
	Yongtal		8	X-100000-0
	Slofto		9	X-750000-0
	Oot		12	X-434000-0
45	SF 13847-33	M2 V

References: The Regency Sourcebook
Survival Margin