| Planet Malta | |
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| Owner | |
| Outcasts | |
| Location | |
| D-5, Omicron Alpha |
DIAMETER: 13,534 km.
MASS: 6.02 x 10e24 kg.
TERRAIN: Terrestrial
TEMPERATURE: -23°C to 31°C
ESCAPE VELOCITY: 12.69 km/sec
The fifth sleeper ship, the Hispania, launched at the same time as its sister ships and broke through the Coalition blockade in the Sol system. Unfortunately, sabotage by Coalition agents that had secreted themselves onboard crippled the engines just as the vessel arrived in the Sirius sector. The passengers awakened from their cryogenic sleep to discover the ship was drifting towards an unknown star system. When the Hispania drifted within range of a red dwarf system, conflict aboard the ship escalated, and about half of the surviving colonists decided to take escape pods, chancing their survival on the promise of a habitable world. The remaining half coaxed the damaged vessel onwards to its eventual destination in the Omicron Alpha system, arriving some time in the year 41 AS Upon their arrival, the crew discovered a planet capable of supporting human life in orbit of the primary star. The Hispania's passengers named the planet Malta -- a harsh place of acidic oceans, gray skies, and vast plains covered in a species of tall, thin, orange grass. Taking whatever equipment they could salvage from the crippled Hispania, they left the hulk in orbit of Malta and began to make a home for themselves on Malta.
Eventually the Outcasts -- as they came to think of themselves -- began a limited exploration of their home system. As pilots wandered farther and farther afield in search of resources, many became seriously ill. Upon returning to Malta, the crews recovered quickly. After making a number of genetic scans of critically ill pilots, the doctors made a startling and disturbing discovery. Their genetic code had been altered considerably. The Outcast human DNA was found to contain strands identical to that of the orange grasses that covered the planet -- from which the drug Cardamine was derived. Trace amounts were present in everything on the planet, in their food, their water, even the very air. Once pilots made lengthier journeys away from Malta, their bodies went into shock, followed by death.
The Outcasts were now truly separated from the rest of humanity -- changed so that they could never expand beyond the planet on which they had landed. They needed Cardamine now, like air, food, or water. But with the origin of the sickness solved, they could at least compensate by carrying supplies of Cardamine with them and resume their exploration of their surrounding systems. Over time, their knowledge of Cardamine improved, and the Outcasts learned that distributing it in a highly concentrated dose causes extreme euphoria. When they finally encountered the rest of the Houses in the seventh century, a new strategy emerged. The Outcasts would deliver the poison that would rot the other Houses from the inside out and grow rich from the profits of their trade.
The planet's crust is largely devoid of usable metallic elements, with a few notable exceptions, namely at the heart of her largest continent, and highly unusual deposits of metallic Copper on the ocean floor. Most of its landmass is covered in prairies with natural, low-grade Cardamine grass; large plantations with heavily bred and modified strains have been built on the most fertile sites. Malta's architecture is a largely low-hung and flat, one-story affair in the rural areas; cities are an expression of extremes, built almost entirely in the rare hilly regions of the planet. There is little at ground-level, except starports; most structures are built both deep into the ground and into massive towers that reach towards the sky, constructed yet again as to mimic the textures of the ground. Malta's oceans are strongly acidic and home to algae that tolerate its high acidity. They appear to hold a slightly green tint from the surface.
These days the Outcasts conduct a lucrative drug-smuggling operation using the network of Jump Holes to escape detection and transport their product into the heart of the House systems through various proxies. They remain relatively few in number; a crash in the birth rate seems to have been another side effect of their genetic modification, although the modifications have lengthened the Outcast's lifespan and physical resilience considerably. There have been no known cases of cancer on Malta since the Outcasts made planetfall.
A new development has been Cryer's continued efforts to create a synthetic version of Cardamine that would be approved as a legal medication within Liberty. This poses a direct threat to the Outcasts' source of income. The Atka Research Station, with nearby access to Edge Nebula clouds, is the most immediate threat to the Outcasts. The location of the base within Corsair territory has brought the Outcasts into conflict with their ancient brethren. The Atka Research Station has come under repeated attacks by Outcast raiding parties in recent years, and the Outcasts always destroy any Cryer transports encountered throughout Sirius without mercy.
When the Dons instituted new disciplinary and security measures for Malta's plantations following Albegna's mining colony slave revolt in 831 AS, fear spread among Malta-bound slaves of mass executions and worsened living conditions. On plantations whose owners took a more lax approach to the new protocols, many slaves began to steal and cache weapons and materiel from their Outcast masters, culminating in a slave revolt that captured a starport and seized control of Malta's defenses.
Though many slaves died or were recaptured by Outcasts during the struggle, many others escaped off-world, either in stolen ships moored at the starport, or in ships flown by IMG, Crayter Republic, or abolitionist group pilots. Ultimately, the revolt was quelled, leaving the Outcasts without enough cardamine to meet market demand, and raising the problem of seeking a newer, more obedient source of labor.
Bribes & Missions Offered
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Ships sold
| Ship | Class | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Dagger | Light Fighter | 15,052$ |
| Sabre | Very Heavy Fighter | 23,679$ |
| Stiletto | Heavy Fighter | 18,108$ |
News
| [833 AS] Decisive Victory Over Stabiline Menace |
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SIGMA-17 -- 833 -- For decades Atka has been a thorn in the Outcasts’ side. Nuisance became an existential threat with the release of Stabiline - Cryer’s pale imitation of Cardamine. Four years ago we damaged production, but failed to finish the job due to intervention by both the GMG and the Corsairs, who we suspect Cryer had bribed as mercenaries. To ensure success in our current campaign, the Dons committed to a masterful strategy of deception. An attack on the Corsair-occupied Freeport 9 emboldened Zoner Militants to take up arms, prompting the Corsairs to draw in reinforcements from across the Sigmas. While the Zoners spent their lives as a sacrificial distraction, our own ships redeployed to the true objective, achieving Atka’s complete destruction. |
| [833 AS] Cardamine Shortages |
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MALTA -- 833 AS -- While the slave rebellion has been crushed after more than a year of fighting, many plantations and their warehouses were burned or severely damaged. Fortunately, the Dons had prepared for this eventuality - the cartels were required to pool supplies to service the distribution network in "maintenance mode". This means maximum emphasis is placed on supplying fully dependent pawns, with Cardamine stocks distributed on a key-by-key basis to ration out supply. Despite these measures, demand for Cardamine skyrocketed, triggering armed conflicts between the various network participants and driving prices to dizzying heights. While we have slowly suppressed these prices as supply recovers, they remain an impediment to orderly market function. The Dons expect production to return to pre-rebellion levels over the next four years as destroyed infrastructure is rebuilt. |
| [832 AS] Righting Past Wrongs |
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AUGUSTA -- 832 AS -- The fires of revolt still smolder on Malta, but we have no time to count our losses and mourn our dead. We are forced to steel our hearts and once more rise to defend ourselves from outsiders who would see the Outcasts destroyed. We of course speak of the Corsairs, who exploited our people's moment of tragedy to seize Freeport 9 as a forward base. The Corsair occupation of the Freeport represents an existential threat to the Maltese people, and their raids upon our very home cannot and will not be tolerated. The Battlecruiser Augusta has led a force into Omicron Theta with orders to destroy the station and its biodomes, disrupt the Corsairs, and annihilate the Artifact trade that funds them. Already we have won a great victory by striking down the Battleship Fes, with the Battleship Delos surely soon to join it in the grave. The Dons have promised a handsome payment to the cartel of each pilot that kills a Corsair in Omicron Theta. |
| [831 AS] Corsair Threat Looms over Theta Aggression |
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IBIZA -- 831 AS -- The barbaric Corsairs have made their move in the Omicron Theta system, seizing control of Freeport 9. While this does remove another Bounty Hunter hive from our borders, it provides the Corsairs with an unacceptable forward staging ground for their own raids. Ibiza Station has been reinforced with additional guard squadrons and placed on high alert, in case this is the precursor to a larger Corsair fleet movement. Once the current disarray on Malta is resolved, the Cartels will turn their attention to matters of security, and the fleets will be free to strike terror into the hearts of our foes once more. The Corsairs may feel they have won themselves a great prize in Omicron Theta, but the Freeport is no fortress and a biodome is a fragile thing. The Corsairs say they were forced to act to secure their territory. Soon enough they shall learn that men in glass houses should not cast stones. |
| [831 AS] Jump Hole Upheaval Causes Chaos |
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HEISENBERG -- 831 AS -- Jump holes across Sirius have become increasingly volatile and chaotic over the last year, with Professor Sophia Nagel from the Heisenberg Research Station linking the unusual phenomena to the Pulse. The Pulse was an unprecedented blast of hyperspace energy that was detected immediately prior to last year's jump gate Blackout. Professor Nagel and her team are certain the Pulse originated from outside Sirius, but are otherwise no closer to identifying its source or mitigating a future Blackout event. "Following the Blackout, we began to see immediate signs of jump hole destabilization in multiple different regions, with many ultimately falling out of phase alignment altogether", she commented. The dramatic upending of Sirius' jump hole network has already prompted many groups to abandon stations and withdraw from systems that appear to risk being cut off. While months-long trips between the stars are possible thanks to the Liberty Engine and many centuries of innovation, few ships are designed or provisioned to make such arduous journeys. Those who were displaced by Sirius' redrawn map hope that system connections will return, while adventurers and explorers rush to discover new routes. |
| [831 AS] Malta Ablaze! |
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MALTA -- 831 AS -- A slave rebellion has raged for months on the planet Malta as increasingly-organized rebel slaves have managed to take over some of the more sparsely populated and difficult-to-traverse areas. Our operations have been further complicated by the slaves' acquisition of sensitive planetary defense installations; our own defensive installations have been turned against us! While it remains unclear how the rebels learned of the orbital installation locations, it is possible that some of the more benevolent masters did not consider their slaves to be a serious security threat and allowed them access to portions of critical infrastructure. The Dons do not know how they will approach this pressing fact, but it is clear that the laxity of their brothers and sisters has allowed the rebellion to put up unexpectedly strong resistance. Despite this, the slaves themselves seem to realize the futility of their struggle as Outcast forces in Omicron Alpha have managed to disable most of the IMG and CR ships that attempted to smuggle aid and reinforcements to the besieged rebels. As the Outcasts succeed in gaining tactical and strategic superiority and their forces regain lost territory, the end of this rebellion is only a matter of time, blood and sweat. As a final act of revenge, the slaves aimed their weapons not only against the Outcasts themselves, but also against the reason they were brought here: Cardamine. As such, plantation fires stretch from horizon to horizon across the rural regions of planet Malta. |
| [831 AS] Slave Uprising on Malta I |
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MALTA -- 831 AS -- Across the planet Malta, widespread fighting rages as more and more slaves join the rebellion against their Outcast owners. Armed slaves have found it easier to conquer rural solitudes and vast swaths of plantations while the major cities have managed to quell the rebellion in its infancy. The slave rebellion itself began in the mines of the planet Albegna when the Benitez Cartel executed 200 slaves for sabotaging a mining facility. This cruelty resonated throughout the mining colony, even among the usually trouble-free slaves, and they quickly gained control of the mining facility, including Don Juan Benitez himself, who was to oversee the execution. When the Benitez Cartel learned that their Don had been executed by the slaves instead, they ordered the liquidation of the mining colony. Although the Albegna mining colony revolt was resolved in less than two weeks, promises by other Dons of 'precautionary measures' across the board, which most slaves interpreted as more mass executions, sparked a widespread slave uprising across Malta. Although the slaves themselves would hardly have been able to resist the well-armed Outcasts, the rebels had the element of surprise in the form of caches of smuggled weapons and other military equipment. As war rages on planet Malta between desperate slaves and their surprised masters, all Outcast forces from Sirius are recalled to planet Malta to quell the rebellion as quickly as possible. With the IMG and CR taking advantage of weakened Outcast influence in the Tau Region, the question arises as to whether this was all planned by their neighboring foes. |
| [830 AS] Cardamine Operations Expand In Response To Falling Profits |
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MALTA -- 830 AS -- The Maltese Cartels are scrambling to increase Cardamine production after a meeting between heads of influential families that revealed a general downturn in their profits, caused by a cascade of issues in our distribution network. Our smuggling routes have come under increased scrutiny from law enforcement throughout the Sirius Sector, causing an increase rate of failure for our smugglers. The independent smuggling contacts are also increasingly reluctant to continue their work as the risks begin to outweigh the rewards. That in turn, has a secondary effect of making people turn to the filthy Cryer for their Stabiline, a fake remedy for Cardamine withdrawal that we can only describe as snake oil, filling up pockets with false promises. Dissenting voices painfully point out that this is the first time in a century where we have seen three consecutive quarters of falling profits, with several minor Cartels allegedly facing bankruptcy amid the disaster. The Dons have quickly silenced such assertions, reassuring the public that the Orange Dream will continue to grow. To address the situation, the Dons demand ever-greater Cardamine yields, launching unprecedented expansion efforts. Steps will be taken to secure the product's shipping. In addition, they plan to import a large labor force from the colonies to bolster the Maltese plantations. This undertaking will require a coordinated effort from Maltese Navy captains, independent smugglers and subverted Sirian assets to acquire and ship slaves en masse to Malta. |
Rumors
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NOTE: Page generated on the 07/06/2024 at 15:55:47 UTC