The World

Kephra-9 Orbital Station System & World Overview System: Unnamed — M5 V Red Dwarf (Main Sequence)
Other Bodies:
3 Gas Giants
2 Planetoid Belts
4 Other Worlds
Host World UWP: E100551–7
Starport: E (Frontier Installation)
Size: 1 (1,600 km diameter | 0.12g)
Atmosphere: 0 (No atmosphere — vacuum world)
Hydrosphere: 0 (No water)
Population: 5 (Hundreds of thousands ~200,000)
Government: 5 (Feudal Technocracy)
Law Level: 1 (Prohibits body pistols, explosives, poison gas)
Tech Level: 7 (Miniaturized electronics)
Importance Index: −3 (Very unimportant)
Remarks: Ni (Non-Industrial), Va (Vacuum)
Travel Zone: Green (No restrictions)
TAS Rating: Green
Allegiance & Culture Allegiance: NaHu (Non-Aligned, Human-Dominated)
Cultural Profile: [1-2-1-3]
Heterogeneity: 1 — Monolithic (One dominant human culture)
Acceptance: 2 — Very xenophobic (Aliens are distrusted or even barred)
Strangeness: 1 — Very typical (Culturally predictable)
Symbols: 3 — Very concrete (Culture values literalism, tangible symbols)
Station Profile: Kephra-9 Station Classification: Type: High-orbit modular space station
Role: Lifeline infrastructure for surface outposts and trade facilitation
Capacity: Permanent population of ~15,000; transient capacity ~5,000
Affiliation: Independent under a Technocratic Stewardship Council
Key Traits and Functionality: Environment & Infrastructure Operates in vacuum and zero-atmosphere conditions
Equipped with E-rated starport facilities (minimal ship repair, refueling only if pre-arranged)
Miniaturized electronics TL-7 support systems are widely used, including compact life support, wearable interfaces, and automated suit diagnostics
Economy & Trade Economics: (7 4 1 -5)
Resources: 7 — Basic mineral assets in nearby asteroid belts and planet crust
Labor: 4 — Tens of thousands; mostly semi-skilled
Infrastructure: 1 — Extremely limited; reliant on off-world imports
Efficiency: −5 — Inefficient logistics, redundant bureaucracies, and political bottlenecks hinder progress
Imports: High-tech gear, food, medical supplies, prefabs, and energy cells
Exports: Raw materials, mined ore from planetoid belts, trace elements
Government & Law Government Type 5 – Feudal Technocracy: A caste-based power structure where station sectors and planetary outposts are run by competing techno-clans or guilds. Access to better tech is power.
Law Level 1 – Lax Control: Most weapons are permitted, except body pistols, explosive devices, and poison gas — a pragmatic law born from fear of station decompression.
Daily Life & Culture on Kephra-9 Discipline & Detail-Oriented: Mistakes can be lethal. Residents and workers follow strict SOPs. Social status often correlates with precision and performance.
Xenophobia: Few aliens are seen here. Those who arrive are often watched and whispered about. Non-human traders usually transact via intermediaries.
Culture of Seals and Suit Integrity: Rituals have grown around equipment checks; a common greeting is, "May your seams hold."
Symbolism: Emblems and guild insignias are literal and practical—used for security clearance, social rank, and task assignments.
Notable Facilities on Kephra-9 The Guild Ring (Deck H) Rotating office habitat for the ruling technocratic clans. Filled with tense negotiations, backdoor deals, and power plays over resource allocations.
The Void Yards (Decks C–D) The main docking bays, where traders, miners, and freelance haulers exchange cargo under watchful sensors.
The Surface Gate (External Platforms) Shuttles and cable-drop capsules descend to the planet. Surface domes and outposts are harsh, dangerous, and mainly automated.
The Pit (Deck F) A scavenged entertainment zone built from decommissioned modules — features vacuum-proof dueling rings, VR dens, and barter bazaars.
The Medicae Tower Home to Kephra’s limited but efficient medical facility, run by a guild of cybernetic-enhanced physicians. Cloning is rumored but unconfirmed.
Kephra-9 Orbital Station The Gateway to a Vacuum World
(Non-Aligned, Human-dominated / Trojan Reach Sector / Tlaiowaha Subsector)
Station Profile (continued) Corporate Presence on Kephra-9 Despite its remote location and low economic efficiency, Kephra-9 hosts several corporate interests seeking to capitalize on the station’s role as the system’s logistical and commercial hub. These companies provide essential services, creature comforts, and supply chains that support both station life and the harsh planetary settlements below.
Notable Corporations Buy-N-Large (BnL) Sector: All Market Sectors
Presence: Kephra-9 hosts a secure-access, members-only Buy-N-Large depot, taking up nearly an entire commercial deck module. From industrial tools and starship components to entertainment media and luxury foodstuffs, it is the one-stop shop for those who can afford it.
Membership Cost: Cr240,000 per account per year
Cultural Impact: Access to BnL marks elite status. Technocrat families and mining consortiums purchase memberships as power symbols. A black market for BnL "guest codes" quietly thrives.
Security: Private guards with corporate jurisdiction have been known to override station authorities when it suits their interests.
Taco Bell Sector: Food
Presence: A ubiquitous force on Kephra-9. The station has:
A central Taco Bell flagship eatery on the promenade
Several micro-kiosks near docking bays and workstations
Contract farms in the orbital hydroponics ring (reportedly producing "locally grown" Bell-grade nutrient plants)
Cultural Impact: Taco Bell is synonymous with sustenance on Kephra-9. The station’s "Taco Tuesday VR bingo nights" are almost sacred. It’s one of the few places where all castes mingle.
Flavor Technology: Their TL-7 food replicators ensure consistency across planetary outposts—even when the only other flavor in town is rations.
Ling-Standard Products (LSP) Sector: Tech & Industrial Goods
Presence: Though based in the Third Imperium, LSP maintains a tech consulate aboard Kephra-9, focusing on:
Supplying low-to-mid TL (5–9) mining and environmental survival equipment
Maintaining comms relays in the outer planetoid belts
Leasing modular reactor components and infrastructure repair kits
Cultural Impact: LSP personnel are seen as “Imperial Outsiders” by the locals but are tolerated due to their utility. Some suspect LSP uses Kephra-9 to quietly monitor NaHu industrial and scientific activities in the region.
Corporate Zones & Layout Deck G – The Market Ring: A blend of corporate fronts, private vendors, and automated stations. BnL’s guarded outlet takes up nearly a third of this deck. Taco Bell eateries pepper the area, with LSP’s supply office housed in a secure section nicknamed the "Tech Bunker."
Deck A – Dockside Bazaar: Smaller franchises and unlicensed traders attempt to undercut the big corps. BnL's influence is rumored to extend here via shell vendors and scanners that track pricing.
Deck J – Hydroponics & Waste Reprocessing: Taco Bell’s contracts ensure that a good portion of organic material is rerouted into their private nutrient loop. Rumors of genetic food experiments persist.

Geography

Artificial Geography of Kephra-9 Station ("The World") Structural Terrain The station's geography is defined vertically and radially, not in terms of elevation or landscape but in decks, rings, and access levels.
Instead of mountains or rivers, Kephra-9 features:
The Grand Spine – a massive structural column running the station’s length, housing power conduits, gravity systems, and lift shafts.
The Green Expanse (Deck J) – hydroponics sectors that simulate rolling fields and hanging gardens in zero or low gravity. Rows of nutrient-fed algae pools and vertical crop towers form towering canopies and food-producing “forests.”
The Crucible (Deck B) – a noisy, semi-toxic industrial underdeck of energy cores and mechanical workings, considered taboo by most citizens. Echoes, vibrations, and the artificial heat make it feel like a volcanic hellscape.
Water Access & Simulated Ecosystems Water is 100% recycled via atmospheric condensers, hydro-capture from plant transpiration, and waste reclamation. Small pools and channels exist in hydroponic zones for irrigation and ritual bathing, but there are no rivers or lakes.
Some rare “gardens” near command sectors simulate flowing water via gravity-fed aquaducts or holographic displays.
The hydroponic areas also house:
Insect farms (protein sources)
Yeast and fungi caverns (for fermentation, decomposing waste)
Bioluminescent algae tanks used as both light sources and spiritual shrines
Artificial Views & Beauty “Windows” are typically holographic viewscreens, simulating skies, stars, or religious imagery. Most citizens never see true space.
In elite sectors, projected sunrises and sunsets mimic lost Earth-like beauty.
Aesthetic “temples” in upper decks feature glowing fiber-optic trees, softly humming crystal gardens (sensor arrays), and air-filter moss walls, offering a serene beauty few citizens understand.
The beauty is functional — a survival necessity disguised as sacred architecture.
Ecosystem Summary Kephra-9 Station’s ecosystem is an artificial closed-loop biosphere, engineered for survival, not aesthetics — though over generations, it has evolved spiritual and cultural meanings:
Primary Producers: Hydroponic plants, algae, fungi
Decomposers: Fungal beds, bacterial filters, waste processors
Consumers: Humans, insects, some genetically engineered aquatics
Climate: Artificial, deck-by-deck (some humid, others frigid, some pressurized for different crops)
Environmental hazards include:
Biofilter failures
CO₂ surges
Crop blight in monoculture zones
Black mold infestations in closed ducts

History

History & Background (Dossier) Kephra-9 Station – "The World"
Origins Kephra-9 Station began centuries ago as a frontier orbital logistics hub, constructed by early scout expeditions to support mineral prospecting across the barren system. Over time, its purpose shifted as the planet below was found to be inhospitable, uninhabitable, and wholly unproductive. The station itself became the focal point of habitation, expanding piecemeal through modular additions and salvage from wrecked or decommissioned vessels. What was once a tidy orbital outpost has since evolved into a labyrinthine megastructure orbiting an irrelevant rock.
Today, the station is referred to by its residents as "The World." To the majority of the 200,000 sophonts who dwell within it, the concept of space, stars, and the void are myths or obscure religious symbols. Generations of cultural drift, purposeful information control, and psychological compartmentalization have erased nearly all memory of its origin.
The Grand Illusion Only the High Command Staff—the ruling technocrats ensconced in sealed upper decks and administrative zones—know the full truth:
The "sky" is a lie; there is no open sky.
The "land beyond the corridor gates" is vacuum.
The myths of “gods beyond the dome” are projections, psychological coping mechanisms, or outright propaganda.
From birth to death, most citizens will never see a viewport, a starfield, or even an EVA suit. The majority believe:
The hydroponic towers are “forests” or “the wilds”
Corridor maintenance bots are “spirits of the path”
Structural collapse zones are “the edges of the World,” where sinners fall into the void
Even station sectors have been renamed to support this illusion:
Deck G (Commercial Sector) is "The Grand Market"
Deck J (Hydroponics) is "The Green Expanse"
Deck B (Reactor & Engineering) is "The Crucible"
Deck A (Docks) is the "Sea of Arrival" (though no one knows what’s beyond it)
The Hierarchy of Truth The Technarchs (Command Staff): Keepers of orbital mechanics, supply manifests, and airlock protocols. They are considered demigods by the population and carefully manage knowledge of the outside universe. Entry to their ranks requires generations of grooming and indoctrination.
The Keepers (Security & Engineering): Those who interact with the “Edge of the World” (airlocks, exterior hatches, system maintenance) are sworn to secrecy under pain of exile or spacing. Many are implanted with behavior-conditioning neurotech.
The Believers (Population): Caste-bound, micro-clanned, and ritualistic. Life is a series of sacred cycles: food, work, sleep, and tribute to the Core. Urban myths abound about "fallen angels in metal suits" (i.e., EVA workers) or "death shining from the ceiling" (maintenance drones).
Purposeful Ignorance The illusion is not accidental. Early commanders of Kephra-9 realized that keeping a population docile in a hazardous vacuum environment meant avoiding panic, nihilism, or rebellion. Over generations, knowledge of the stars was classified, erased, or mythologized. Technical literacy became caste-bound; only the Technarch families retain full archives and simulacra.
This containment is pragmatic, not cruel:
Mass EVA training or civic knowledge of the void would be deadly.
Overcrowding, limited resources, and structural fragility mean even minor insurrections could destroy "The World."
The mythos gives meaning to the lives of the citizens—and keeps them from breaching hull integrity in a quest for nonexistent "freedom."
Cultural Impacts

Type

Space Station

Location under

Tlaiowaha Subsector

Related Reports (Primary)

• Session 15 The World. Report