The Rimward Reach

In the sector of the Lady of Tears, beyond the far borders of Transsurha, you will find the area known as the Rimward Reach. For a long time, this was just empty space on the edges of the Kua system, but this changed dramatically when a Foundation probe found something deep inside the Kandah cloud. An expedition traveled to the Rimward Reach and found that it hadn’t always been empty. Strange monuments and drifting shipwrecks bore witness to a time when Firstcome colonists didn’t fear the big black.
Today, many years later, the area is a haven for freethinkers and fortune seekers, but a bloody struggle for the area’s resources is being fought under the calm surface. This “end of the Horizon” gathers shady prospectors, cunning spies, and ruthless archaeologists, all fighting for their chance at a better life – a fight with few winners and many losers.
The Rimward Reach is not dominated by any one faction, an exception in the otherwise Consortium-controlled system. Because of its remote location, the factions’ initial disinterest, and the independent space station Djachroum’s strong position, the Rimward Reach is a melting pot of groups both big and small with colliding agendas.

THE INDEPENDENT SPACE STATION DJACHROUM

Thanks to its strategic position in the Mouth of Kandah, Djachroum has become the most important hub in the Rimward Reach. The head of the station is the enigmatic Aqbar who has turned Djachroum into both a protector of the Rimward Reach and a uniting force for its peoples. The roughly 12,000 inhabitants of the station include every sort of misfit or adventurer the Horizon has to offer, from independent miners and smugglers to radical theologists and eccentric mystics, all drawn to the Rimward Reach to escape the yoke of factionary oppression.

THE CAVE OF BRIDGES

The beating heart of the Djachroum station is the enormous cavern in the middle of the asteroid called the Cave of Bridges. Wabas visiting for the first time are met with a stupefying view. The circular cave is hundreds of meters high and wide, cluttered with Firstcome stone houses, plastic sheds, rickety ladders, winding stairs and above all, a thick net of stairs and ramps. The cave is never quiet – the sales pitches of the merchants blend with the kabbah from the Governor’s Palace and the snickering of the Kuan bantam monkeys that jump between the bridges high above the ground, searching for something shining or edible.

THE TWIN STATION

The station is split into two by a deep chasm called Eskalom’s rift. What caused the rift is unclear but analyses have determined its age to approximately three centuries, about the same time that the Founders disappeared from the Rimward Reach. The other side of the rift houses the ruins of an old part of Djachroum today called the Twin Station. The restless ghosts of the Founders are supposedly still haunting the halls of the Twin Station. Both Eskalom’s rift and the Twin Station are off-limits on the orders of Akbar. Djachroum’s inhabitants love a good ghost story about the halls on the other side, but are mindful not to come near the rift. The only ones with any kind of knowledge about the forgotten parts of the station are the mysterious and reclusive operators, the station’s engineer clan, running the ancient life support systems from their homes in the Machine halls. The Machine halls are also off-limits and very few have actually seen an operator.

THE LEGACY OF THE FOUNDERS

The Firstcome people that once lived in the Rimward Reach and constructed the Djachroum station are known today only as the Founders. Who they were or where they came from is unknown, but scientists of more or less honest repute have a plethora of theories. Studies of ruins and archaeological findings have shown that the Founders were deeply religious and worshipped the Icons, especially the Judge. They were also accomplished scientists and researchers; the many advanced machines they left behind are clear proof of this. Many Founder artifacts can be found throughout the Rimward Reach.

THE MARRAB CONFLICT

All of the Rimward Reach today is somehow affected by the low intensity conflict between the prospector clans and the nomad swarms. The heart of the conflict is a dispute over who has the rights to the valuable maghdan deposits that exist in the Marrab cluster. When the clans started looking for maghdan around Kandah, they founded bases on several asteroids around the cloud. All was well until one day when they discovered huge deposits of maghdan around the Marrab asteroid, traditionally considered a holy site and used as a meeting place and settlement by the nomad swarms. The nomads would allow no mining to take place and when the hot-blooded prospectors attempted to do it anyway, their ships and drones were shot down, and this is how the violent Marrab conflict started. Recently it has escalated, the confrontations becoming bloodier and bloodier.

KUAN EXPANSION

The last few cycles of Kuan expansion into the Rimward Reach, especially by the Consortium and the Legion, have caused tensions, but so far, violent confrontation has been avoided. In just the last few segments, the Legion has increased their presence in the Rimward Reach heavily. It started when they formed a blockade around the Armada of the Firstcome, something that surprised even their allies in the Foundation. Stubborn rumors claim that a bulk hauler under heavy escort is about to arrive at the Thalus base. The seers and info mongers of Coriolis are all in agreement that something is about to happen in The Reach.

Alternative Name(s)

The Reach

Location under

Kua System

THE ARMADA OF THE FIRSTCOME One of the greatest mysteries left behind by the Founders is the cluster of ship wrecks called the Armada of the Firstcome – hundreds of wrecks in eerily perfect rows. Some of them seem to have deactivated but operational systems. Investigators are puzzled by the incomprehensible encryption that protects the Armada’s slumbering systems – it would almost seem as if the old ships are waiting for their old masters to return. The Legion set up a blockade around the Armada a little while back. Maybe they have succeeded where the ship archaeologists failed?