Starburst Sanctum

Overview

Starburst Sanctum is a No-Fly-Zone which spans a radius of seven (7) parsecs blockading a vast area in the direction of the Andromeda Galaxy, nearly blocking the entire possibility to leave the Milky Way in this direction. People know what happened here and so the Council of the Stars declared the heavily defended No-Fly-Zone which was former a star system with a Yellow Dwarf. It was the former attempt of the Voidwalkers to open a portal to their home; it went horrible wrong and caused the Purple Cataclysm, an event so devastating that it destroyed several star systems and spread out a deadly radiation.

The rests of the once lively star still emits the radiation which causes the Purple Haze condition. Because of the radiation which causes electronic devices, ships and other things using even the slightest of power to fail, to tumble and to not function anymore. Sometimes for hours, sometimes to functioning never again.

Holding the Line

After the first years where people had to figure things out, Relic Hunters, brave - or mad - explorers and more darker forces tried to explore the what lies inside the once bright region.

Nobody came back. Not even ships with the strongest shields.

The construction of a fleet began. Of a fleet which was armed to the teeth, well outfitted with shields and nearly self-sufficient. The Council directed resources from every species - except Humanity, because at this point Humanity weren't allowed in the Council - into the Sanctum project. Which means metal, reactors, guns, ammunition, provisions, building up logistics.

The goal? Crafting a well-defended No-Fly-Zone. The main goal was to secure the way into the Sanctum. Since space has three dimensions it was a really huge, really daunting endeavour to get not only the X-axis, not only the Y-axis, but also the Z-axis and the space between covered. The enormous No-Fly-Zone was a really, really, really huge ball, encapsulating more or less visible death.

The plan was to build huge defending plattforms at every connection point of the X- and Y-axis with smaller armed platforms covering the space between them.

One of them is the Gladius station, directed in the direction of the most obvious incoming flight vector. It is the most known station of the six main stations, because it is the oldest and largest, grown and tested over time. They all have the same layout - except for Gladius now - and the same capabilities, including small research stations.

The stations between the main stations are partly automated and manned with different members of every species. Even the Chronomancers have their fill of people on these stations. The only ones pretty unhappy with the entire situation are the Simiiforcs because in space there is no place to battle, no place to fight, no one to fight with, only yourself.

Stationed maintained

All of those heavily armed platforms serve one purpose: to keep people out of the Starburst Sanctum. For their own safety mainly, but the ████████████████████ have their own plans. Research stations are scattered throughout the defense shell of the Starburst Sanctum, gathering data. For what purpose nobody knows.

Of course miner, researcher, militant groups and other forces tried to get inside the ring. Some tried it with speed, but were intercepted by a swarm of plasma missiles. Others tried it with raw force, which was a target-rich enviroment for the long-range cannons, torpedos and missiles. Even when they shot back and hit one of the stations - Gladius was always the first to be attacked because of its strength - it was futile most of the time.

Faster or smaller ships got past the ring, mostly damaged and limping. They weren't followed, because why should they be? They are dead anyway.

But those Crackslippers - as they are called - are seldom and countable on two (human) hands. The only thing what remains are the wracks of ships and the frozen corpses of the souls that were on board. Some companies got contracted to scrap and haul away the wracks and the debris.

Inside the Ring

Rumours go that inside the ring treasures linger, valuable and ripe for the taking for the soul brave enough to try it. But that is nonsense, since there is only the remains of an exploded sun and probably a lot of dead ships. Or are they?

Sanctumed Stories

I was stationed there half of my life. You know, getting away from the wife, the kids, it was a dream. Getting paid, have a routine, reading, writing, watching movies... besides the daily routine and tasks it was quiet. Really quiet. Never had a contact during my duty. The only thing which bugs me is the dead zone behind us. Hopefully it is really dead and nothing lurks in there.

— Senior Chief Weapons Officer Lethró

We had one Crackslipper in the last two decades. A small and fast ship, only a crew of ten. It was one of a fleet of what... sixty ships? All armed to the teeth, their engines operating way over limit. They slipped through our barrages. I think we hit them once. Poor bastards. Sometimes the radiation from inside is still so strong, that we have to deploy the radiation blocker.

— Radar Tech Lorh'han'Do (Anthraxian Translation)

Never look behind you. You might not like what looks back.

— Chronomancer proverb across the various stations

You know that old song back from Terra? Thunderstruck? Yeah, I was thunderstruck as we were engaged by a conglomerat of twohundred large ships. A strange mixture from all over the place. Including humans, yes. Never saw Gladius and the other stations around us open fire all at once. Even the shields and the strong doors couldn't hold off the booming of the plasma-launcher and the glittering of the laser-cannons. It was hellfire brought to life. So beautiful, so shiny, so brutal and so absolute.

— Security Guard Thompson

Main Station Data

-4 fusion reactors
-16 solar-powered backup generators
-12 Mark VI shield generators
-40 independent working laser-based point-defense-cannons
-12 long-range laser-cannons
-8 plasma-torpedo launcher
-20 close-range plasma-missile launcher

Sub Station Data

-2 fusion reactors
-6 solar-powered backup generators
-4 Mark VI shield generators
-14 independent working laser-based point-defense-cannons
-4 long-range laser-cannons
-3 plasma-torpedo launcher
-7 close-range plasma-missile launcher

Type

Galactic Sector