Surhani
The only real settlement on Surha is located in the shadow of the giant Harballa massif; the outpost Surhani, in popular speech ironically known as Hope’s End. Here, under protectional domes and in hollowed out mountain vaults below the surface, rough-mannered miners and old freighter pilots together with religious pioneers from the Ramsha sect (and a couple of fortune seekers) live out their lives. The settlement is formally under the Colonial agency’s jurisdiction and its representative Malva Sarhal who makes sure that everything runs smoothly. A couple of hundred souls have made Surhani their home, and live their lives here in fragile harmony.
In the shadow of the mighty Harballa crouches Surha’s only real settlement, the Surhani outpost, called “Hope’s End” by the locals. Underground vaults and protective domes gather hardened miners and indentured freighter pilots as well as the Ramsha followers and one or two bitter entrepreneurs cursing their fate. The settlement is formally owned by the Colonial Agency and the faction’s local representative, Malva Sarhal, makes sure everything is running as it should. A few hundred souls call Surhani their home and manage to live here in peace and relative comfort.
Although the extreme weather and the crushing gravitation makes life on the ice planet rough, the right equipment, knowledge and protection makes living on Surha possible. Settlements and stations are often carved out of the ice or the mountains surrounding the Harballa massif and gravity projectors are essen-tial to make life bearable. For surface transportation snow crawlers are mostly used. They’re constructed to be able to travel through most storms, except the most violent blizzards. Reinforced exo shells with servo locks are essential for those who want to spend any considerable time out in the open. Every so often the planet is ravaged by giant ice storms, often several hundreds of miles wide, and those who do not immediately find cover will not survive long in the violent weather.
Guilds and Factions
THE RED HYENAS
The Red Hyenas are a smuggler community created to decrease friction between varioussmuggler groups active in the Kua system. Through their size they also wanted to get a better position to negotiate with the Syndicate. The Hyenas have in a short time made a name for themselves in the outer system and particularly in the Rimward Reach. They mostly smuggle opor and proxy trips, but also tax free tabak, weapons and “cheap labour”. Truth be told they smuggle most things if the price is right. It’s rumoured that they have several secret stations on Surha and in the planet’s rings. Their main station is on Surha, somewhere in the Harballa massif, and it’s been around since before the founding of the community and now serves as a water hole between the Rimward Reach and the rest of the Kua system. The local leader of the outer system is the cunning Moses Umbara. The operations of the Red Hyenas in the area have blossomed much thanks to their contacts within both the nomad- and prospector clans. The only real reason for concern is that the Syndicate has been starting to use their own ships and resources of late to smuggle within the Kua system. Mainly because the Zenithian Hegemony rangerflottilla Sarakhad managed to blow up the Hina route to Kua. Now suddenly the Hyenas find themselves on the same side as the Akbar of Djachroum, opposing their old employer, because both of them want to prevent the Syndicate from getting a foothold in the Rimward Reach.FEREKAM
Considered to be the top weapon smugglers of the Kua system and according to several sources a part of the Syndicate affiliated family Birbasil’s operations. Conspiracy theorists claim that Ferekam handles smuggling for the Legion and the Consortium in order to add fuel to different trouble spots in the Third Horizon. The branch on Surha has been identified as the top suppliers of weapon systems to the prospector clans in the Rimward Reach who’s fighting the nomads around the Marrab cluster.THE HEAD OF THE SNAKE
A league of human traffickers originating from Sadaal that’s even managed to get a bad reputation among the other smuggler organizations. The head of the snake began as a peaceful trader clan who recognized new opportunities when the political climate on Sadaal grew more hostile. What started as the transportation of free thinkers, rebels and refugees over time turned into pure people smuggling with increasingly brutal methods.THE HUNTERS
Smuggling is by its very nature not a safe occupation and as there are corsair hunters there are also companies and free traders specialized in capturing smugglers, and in some cases to uphold blockades against smuggler sites and less scrupulous stations. The newly founded rangerflottilla Sarakhad, comprised of a squad of fast patrol ships in the Exersis class, have in short time frame cleaned up the smugglers of the Hina route and have managed to maintain a short blockade against a station in the asteroid field until the torpedo ships of the Legion could arrive. The flotilla have now been ordered to patrol the area around Surha to curb the extensive activity coming out of there. A task that has so far proved very difficult.
Alternative Name(s)
Hope's end
Type
Outpost / Base
Population
300
Location under
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