#spaceports

Izadamar (Planet Agilae-4 in the Scoured Stars system). It’s an ancient industrial megacity that was abandoned when the inhabitants fled their god (and planet), and went through several later attempts at reoccupation, once by the original inhabitants’ enemies, and now by the original inhabitants with Pact World aid. Basically it’s a fortified spaceport surrounded by the near-endless ruins of an ancient technological megacity that archaeologists and scientists and descendants of the original inhabitants are trying to explore and repopulate. If you want a post-apocalyptic archaeology vibe?

Outpost Zed (Azlanti space). An old Azlanti mining station that has been repurposed by rebels and anarchists and independent traders into a fiercely independent enclave on the edge of Azlanti space. Trade is the lifeblood, and the only ‘law’, as such, is don’t steal (murder is fine, but theft will get you killed). Independent space stations just make me happy. There’s also a separate society in the sealed-off utility spaces built from the indentured workers the Azlanti left on the station to die when they abandoned it, which is ruled by an ysoki queen and acts like a chivalric court, and I adore them.

Shulgi Station (a city on a planetoid in a system on the edge of the galaxy). Sometime during the Gap, the planetoid of Shulgi gained an extra satellite: a planar rift into the Astral Sea with a ‘gas giant’ on the other side. Shulgi Station is built on thought-forms eddying out from the Sea, meaning that there are actually several versions of ‘Shulgi Station’ called ‘neighbourhoods’ layered atop each other, and which ones you can access depends on how mentally suited to them you are. It’s a nexus for alternate, non-Drift forms of transport, including magical orrery travel enabled by the Church of Ibra. It’s just a cool, funky little town.

Midios (Planet Silselrik on the north galactic edge). It’s a city of small oozes built on the back of an absolutely titanic ooze, on the surface of a planet in a binary star system that is subject to massive gravitational warping of the crust. It’s got diamonds galore down here, but getting through the grav storms to the surface is a feat and a half, so you’ve got to go through the oozes. Also, the giant ooze that supports the moving city feeds on kinetic energy, so ships landing or taking off from it make it very happy. It purrs. I love this.

Ravel Station (orbiting the chaos singularity of LTH-3 in the Cordias Nebula). It’s a research station orbiting a portal to the Maelstrom which accidentally grew into a tourist destination on the side because weird shit happens there. It also has mildly healthful benefits short term as the chaos breaks down poisons and curses, but massively detrimental effects longterm as it also breaks down you, both mentally and physically. The stations crew are rotated off on a biweekly basis onto the tourist cruise ships on their outward legs to stay sane and in one piece.

Ternia (a small aquatic moon in the Vast). The city of Ternia constantly and unpredictably plane shifts between three landing zones: a jungle island in the Abyss, a gorge in Elysium, and a watery moon in the Vast. It’s been doing this since at last the Gap, after which it’s celestial and demonic inhabitants woke up very confused and hostile but vaguely convinced that they needed to be working together towards something. Being attacked the first few times they shifted helped consolidate the alliance. The shifts are constant, usually between a couple of days to a week in any one location, and everybody in it (and who visits) just has to adapt to that.

The Clump (variable). Originally joined together to watch eclipses, the Clump is a massive convoy of starships that link all their airlocks up to each other to form a massive interlocked raft city. They regularly disassemble, move to a new location such as orbit above a planet, and reassemble there, with three particular hub ships and a farming biodome as the core of the formation. The Clump has done some engineering to fortify the linkages between them and sync up life support. I just adore this idea. It’s a free-floating space commune of starships.

Last Call (variable). Death in space can happen anywhere and anywhen. So a cult of Pharasma called the Cemetarians retrofitted a colony ship and turned it into a mobile temple and funerary barge and trading post to offer funeral services across the galaxy (and also fight undead where required). Which is just … the perfect junction of fantastical and weirdly practical, and I adore it. There’s something vaguely Warhammer-y about it, but it doesn’t matter. A massive funeral ship bopping around and offering services is a fantastic image for me.

Morilux (Planet Astevint in the Vast). A spaceport and shipyard built by a doomsday cult inside the splintered remains of some vast brass titan on a planet orbiting a dying star. A cult of Groetus, god of the end times, washed up here because of the doomed star and built a safe space to contemplate entropy, but then astronomers started showing up to study the star, and they also realised that badly damaged and dying starships had a habit of breaking down right in Morilux’ vicinity. So the cult had to cohabitate a bit, and offer repair services on the understanding that they will not repair it all the way, because entropy, so you’ll get maybe one good shot out of this. It’s just a morbid little corner of the galaxy and I’m suddenly very fond of it.

Masentia (operates in the Tabori Cluster). It’s a pre-Gap colony ship of unknown origin that’s been partially reclaimed and operated by a bunch of ysoki salvagers, who use it to operate as a trading ship and ferry between the Tabori Cluster and the galaxy outside because its weird-ass ancient magic engine can survive the nebulae inside the cluster in a way that a lot of tech-only engines can’t. I really love how ysoki are just the general salvagers of the galaxy. I love the little ratty bastards so much.