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Pactolus & Midaion

Pactolus System

Sector: Arusha

Capital: Eurydice

Species: Vast Majority IPCs

Common Languages: EAL, TCB, Tradeband

Demonyms: Pactolan

Part of: The Golden Deep

Pactolus is the fourth planet from the star of the Pactolus system, located in a shallow section of the Arusha sector. Midaion is the sole large satellite of the same planet, and has served as the chief spaceport for the synthetic mercantile collective of the Golden Deep almost since its founding. Collectively, these cosmic bodies compose the sole corner of the Orion Spur populated almost exclusively by synthetics. Humans are a transitory minority in the social and economic complex emerging from these worlds, administered by a radically capitalistic collective of merchants eager for rapid, and reckless, economic growth.

Unlike Midaion, Pactolus has only been subject to colonisation in very recent events; this is owed to its strong gravity well rendering it less appealing for spaceborne commerce, and to the severe affliction of Kessler syndrome in the planet's close orbit. While less desirable commercially, the quasi-habitable environment and the relative abundance of rare materials including gold, silver, and lithium has earned it a clear economic niche as of the founding of the city of Eurydice.

Both bodies exist under a star thought to be of nearly 13 billion years of age. It is a (relatively) small red giant, having ballooned to 13 times the size of Sol and being close to 400 times as luminous before multicellular life on Earth existed. It is thought that Pactolus was once much closer to its star and also much colder, having been flung rapidly outwards into a far more distant orbit by its expansion which happened by good fortune to be within the young giant's new habitable zone. Midaion was either a dwarf planet in the system's distant past, another planet's moon, or a small rogue planet; it was not coupled with Pactolus until after the star's expansion.

Pactolus, Capital World

The fourth planet from the star of the Pactolus system, Pactolus is a semi-habitable world orbiting a red star. It is smaller than Earth, having around two-thirds its diameter and the same proportion of its gravity. While its atmosphere is breathable for short periods, being composed of 13% oxygen, 56% argon and 36% nitrogen at 89kPa, internals are necessary for long or strenuous exposure in the surface atmosphere. This atmospheric toxicity has been lately worsened by the growing concentration of carbons dioxide and monoxide in the atmosphere. Thick raincoats and waterproof ponchos are common to see among both humans and synthetics travelling outdoors on account of the dangerously low pH of the planet's rainfall, and all humans are advised to stay on internals whenever outside a sealed environment.

Its dubious habitability marks a small concern for the majority of its population, which are synthetics from across all walks of life; these are affluent merchants and the most destitute of runaways, formerly free souls that have sold themselves to save themselves, these are the dispossessed and the possessors. Most of this population is concentrated in the city of Eurydice, a rapidly growing metropolis built atop one of the largest of the planet's many small biological landmasses, although the planet's surface is increasingly dotted with colonial outposts and mining stations as the population eagerly sets out to exploit the planet's resources.

Famously, Pactolus is shrouded by an immensely thick debris field composed primarily of iron and nickel meteoroids between the sizes of a grain of sand and a small car. This has historically made entry and exit from its gravity well almost impossible. Earlier human attempts to colonise the planet featured custom-built heavy-duty shuttles designed to shrug off impacts without harming the crew; more recently, the Golden Deep has successfully utilised the 'Draupnir' system of low-orbit satellites armed with advanced electromagnets to force open a hole in the field, relying on the ferromagnetic metals within the field to keep a narrow path open for minutes or even hours.

Only one path exists, which is maintained intermittently above the city of Eurydice. Reaching the surface of the planet must otherwise involve severely risking one's shuttle and crew by attempting to barrel through the debris field, or negotiating with the mercantile authorities to utilise Draupnir - which usually involves a moderate fee.

Environment

Pactolus is an ocean world; a usual average of 95% of its surface covered in grey, acidic, shallow, briny seas composed primarily of water and ammonia and salty to the point of complete saturation - the surface is covered in large salt deposits left by the brine seas. There is almost no permanent land anywhere; while there are many low-lying landmasses, inclusive of organic structures and of volcanoes, almost all of them are submerged at some time of the week due to the planet's immense tides. Midaion's extremely close proximity and its weekly orbits result in a planet in which the tides may subside as much as 60 to 80 metres, before the sea comes flooding back in within the same week. This is made worse by the erratic orbit of Midaion; not only is the map constantly changing, but it is also changing in a new way with every Midaic orbit as old causeways disappear and new landmasses emerge from the tides, making colonisation difficult and rendering exploring the planet an extremely fraught task.

Most of the few dozen landmasses that are at a sufficient altitude to avoid these monumental tides are volcanoes. Pactolus is highly geologically active, boasting a large number of geothermal springs on the surface and underwater (often both, depending on the time) in addition to several large volcanoes dotted throughout the surface, many of which are still active. These volcanoes serve as critical anchors when traversing the surface, providing a consistent reference point for travel throughout the ever-changing tidal landscape. All permanent outposts are, for this reason, built on the slopes of volcanoes.

While traditional human weeks are still used on Pactolus, each week lasts 2⅓ local days as a consequence of every such day lasting 72 hours. This means long days and long nights, often resulting in dangerous recovery operations as travellers on the surface misgauged their position and found the tide coming in at dusk. Surface temperatures at the equator average -5 to 10°C, and reach as low as -18°C at the poles, although there is rarely any surface ice owed to the saltiness of the surface water. Weather on the planet is damp and perpetually overcast - if not by clouds, then by the debris field above diffusing sunlight. Storms do occur, and at even low wind speeds are treated with serious gravity by the mercantile authorities due to the exacerbated hazard of the rainwater's acidity.