Tau Ceti Sector (0,0,-12)
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| System | Population | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Beatrix | 1.2b | Civilian |
| Cyclomane | 2.4m | Mining |
| Gennah | 312m | Mining, Refinery, Industrial, Civilian |
| Infans | 640m | Civilian, Mining, Refinery |
| Machina | 1.3b | Mining, Refinery, Industrial |
| Ozymandias | 2.8b | Civilian, Mining |
| Tau Ceti | 85b | Civilian (Duke of Tau Ceti) |
| UV Ceti | 8m | Waystation |
| Total | 92b |
The Tau Ceti sector lies directly south of Sol and is the capital sector of House Jardine.
Beatrix
Beatrix is a stable, but small red dwarf with a host of relatively small terrestrial and icy planets. Of particular note are the fifth and sixth planets, Torr and Tira, which are both Earth sized, tidally-locked planets within the habitable zone, and both originally had indigenous microbial life.
Both planets were terraformed by 2840, and were stable enough for the inhabitants to survive the dark ages, following the Rift Wars. Each has a ring of habitable territory on the surface.
Beatrix has a reasonably large amount of Rift Wars wreckage nearby it, particularly in the direction of Machina.
Cyclomane
Cyclomane is a triple system consisting of two closely orbiting red dwarfs (a dominant A member with very dim C companion), and a red dwarf B component of similar size to A on an orbit of just over two years. All three exhibit strong variations in their output with the A member being a strong flare star.
The conditions of these stars has resulted in just a few terrestrial planets orbiting the B member, with various rock-ice and ice asteroids making up the rest of the non-stellar mass.
Other than mining, Cyclomane has a small waystation in the kuiper belt.
Gennah
Genna’s most distinctive features are a single, very bright, but very stable, red dwarf star, with two ,very large terrestrial planets, orbiting at 0.068 and 0.12 AU, respectively.
Beyond these, are s system of further terrestrial and icy planets, including Volla, a large, rotating terrestrial, which has been terraformed into a suitable, if rather cold, habitat.
The system is a centre for mining and industry, and is the second largest centre (after Machina) for ship building in the sector. Gennah is also an important waystation, as it is the equal closest (with UV Ceti) to Rigil and the Technocratium.
Infans
Infans is an old and metal poor red dwarf with a system of small planets. The stability of the central star makes it suitable for the staging of ring habitats. There is also some mining, mainly for Carbon, Silicon and other low atomic number elements, with refining occurring in-system.
Machina
Machina, itself is a system of two metal-poor red dwarfs in a relatively close orbit. This resulted in much of the planetary material, never going much beyond the planetesimal phase. There is only 1 planet, a cold jovian, which has split the kuiper belt in two.
The value of Machina is not no much the richness of metals, but the relative accessibility of all material. Over the centuries of activity in Machina, vast orbiting refineries, shipyards and, ultimately a portal has been built.
Near to Machina were four titanic battles, during the Rift Wars and vast fields of wreckage drift in slow orbits around both Machina and nearby Beatrix.
Ozymandias
Ozymandias is a mature and stable red dwarf like Gennah, but has a much more extensive system of planets, starting right near the star. While stable, the star shows both flare and sunspot variations, but is far milder than most of its age and class.
Tau Ceti
The Tau Ceti star is the inner region’s most similar star to Sol in terms of age and spectral type, although a little older and dimmer. The main contrast is Tau Ceti’s low metallicity, which has led to carbon and silicate based planets. The inner system has four, surprisingly large, terrestrial planets, with the outermost, Spance, being the planetary habitation. Beyond this, there are many ring habitats, mostly inside the orbit of Spance.
The system has a large number of outer planets, but no significant jovians and only one ice giant larger than 5 earth masses.
Spance is on a 30-hour rotation, has a surface gravity of 1.12G, almost three times the surface area of Earth, and is slightly more seismically active. Following terraforming in the 29th Century, which involved thinning its atmosphere, its surface temperature has been, on average, slightly lower than Earth’s and the surface water is slightly higher by proportion.
UV Ceti
UV Ceti consists of two intense flare stars in a highly eccentric orbit with a semi-major axis of 5.5 AU. This arrangement has disrupted much of the original terrestrial system before it was even formed, and there are only two shallow belts of ice-coated rocky material at 9 and 14 AU.
The economic activity is low key, consisting of small-scale mining and refining, supporting a few waystations. The way stations point to UV Ceti’s main selling point: its proximity to Rigil.