The Grasping Star

Written by Timepool

Captain, I cannot— as you keep screaming— put our engines at full speed. We already are at full speed, something is pulling us in, and we are at its mercy.

— An engineer

The Grasping Star is a neutron star neighboring the system which contains Gaias— and humanity. The star contains an abnormally strong gravitational pull— even for a neutron star— so much so, that anything that enters within 4 light years of its body is pulled into its orbit— or directly into its surface.

The Guardian

During the early days of humanity's inhabitance within the Heliox galaxy, their exploration attempts in the Grasping Star's direction were thwarted— leaving a veritable graveyard of ships in its orbit. Many have attempted to search for the secrets they believed must have been hidden within— only to find themselves unable to escape. So strong is its gravitational pull, that it even bends light nearer to its surface. In a sense, it can be regarded as a black hole— yet it is not quite that powerful, and still remains, visibly, a star.

Alternative Name(s)

Gravitational Guardian, The Holder

Type

Star

It Whispers

Those who sleep within the star's orbit report dreams of darkness, and strange, unintelligible whispers.
These whispers are not in any known language— not even that of the Ferajx.

I don't know nothin' about it— just that I want to get the hell out of here.

— A frightened scrapper

An experiment

Eventually, a particularly headstrong explorer was able to find a pinprick in the star's orbit where its gravitational pull was nullified— just enough to fit an exploration vessel. What she found upon the star's surface would come as a great surprise to Gaias. A megalithic tower stood upon its surface, surrounded by lazily drifting metal rings. A Ferajx ruin, one unlike any seen before. Many believe the tower to be the source of the star's strange properties— and generations of researchers have attempted to discover exactly how.
Some believe that the tower was built to limit the star's strength— and protest against those who disturb the quiet of its halls, fearing that the star may endanger Gaias.

Defender

In recent years, the Grasping Star has served as a strategic defense for humanity's home system— one that has won wars in the past. Most famously, when an entire Vulin fleet was lost to the star's grasp after a double agent reported it to them as an undefended shortcut to Gaias. Schisms have been fought along the edges of the star's influence, as well, with fighters playing a game of chicken among the floating wreckage that orbits it. This wreckage, too, has served as a veritable gold mine for scrappers— as modern coil drives allow ships to escape more of the star's pull.