View source for Ben's Oath

World of rugged individualists, and suspected instability.

Ben's Oath is a strongly Balkanised system, with three primary power blocs over three inhabited worlds (and one outpost.) Tensions are currently very high and the outbreak of war may be near.

The system is a distant binary, essentially two distinct star systems.

Both the mainworld and the subsiduary world of Chogan are tidelocked in close orbits around their star, leaving only a narrow strip of habitable land around the terminator. The mainworld has a gravity of 0.98g and breathable air, albeit with sufficiently low levels of oxygen that offworlders require compressor masks until acclimated.


The largest nation is Chaska, based in the mainworld's Southern hemisphere. A TL-8 nation of 40m citizens, it is ruled by an unpopular bureaucracy and has relatively restricted laws. It is the wealthiest nation, hosts the (Class-C) Imperial starport and operates a small space navy of a dozen 400-ton non-jump missile boats.#


The second nation is Nampeyo, occupying three large islands in the Northern hemisphere. A TL-6 nation of 30m people, it is also ruled by an impersonal bureaucracy although the government is considerably less authoritarian. Nampeyo operates four purchased TL-8 system defence boats and a small constellation of four orbital weapons platforms.


Arapaho


Nantan

The third major power, Arapaho, is based offworld although it has a colony, Nantan, on the mainworld. Arapaho and Nantan each hold about 20m people, with Arapaho at TL-7 and Nantan at TL-6. Arapaho is a participatory democracy with a strongly individualistic streak and very light touch laws. Nantan has somewhat more policing. Arapaho operates a constellation of 4 OWPs over its own world, plus another 2 over Nantan.


In the secondary system, Chogan exists entirely as a populous but low tech client state of Chaska. 80 million people occupy another tidelocked world with an agrarian/industrial civilisation which has just about reached steam power. Chogan has few exports but many Chogans leave to take up low-paid menial work on Chaska. The world is usually garrisoned by a pair of Chaska's SDBs.


Finally, the moonlet of Kikala is home to a mining outpost operated by the Chaskan Kikala Company. Fifty thousand miners live here in some discomfort, supported and protected by small armed merchant jumpships purchased from out of system.