Welcome to the HoloNet Uplink, citizen. This series focuses on Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Roleplaying Game, with content aimed mostly at the Gamemaster. Threats, adventure seeds, rules supplements, and more are all to come for those who access The HoloNet Uplink.
The Solo train continues. I provided write ups on the sabacc players, and specifically Therm Scissorpunch, on last weeks’ HoloNet Uplink. For players seeking a game of cards against the infamous dread lobster, a journey to icey Vandor is in order. So as a result of that train of logic, I present to you this week a gazetteer entry for that very planet.
VANDOR
Astronavigation Data: Vandor System, Mid Rim
Orbital Metrics: 435 days per year / 25 hours per day
Population: 200,000 (92% humans, 8% other)
Languages: Basic
Terrain: mountains, plains
Major Cities: Fort Ypso
Areas of Interest: The Lodge, Mount Vastadon, Mount Redolava
Major Exports: coaxium
Major Imports: foodstuffs, technology
Trade Routes: no major routes, imperial supply runs and smuggling routes only
Special Conditions: none
Background: A desolate world of frozen plains and ice covered mountains, Vandor was consisently passed over for colonization during the expansion of the Old Republic. While unappealing to corporate interests throughout galactic history, recent technological advances and the Imperial war machine’s thirst for fuel has brought soldier and settler alike to this world.
Locked within the ice and rock of Vandor are rich, but nearly inaccessible, coaxium deposits. New techniques, such as hyperfluid fracturing, allow for the extraction of these deposits at great expense. The state-owned Imperial Mining Corporation manage these drilling sites, most of which have been carved out of sheer ice and rock.
Vandor is secured by a series of small outposts anchored by a detachment of the fiercely independent range trooper corps. These outposts secure critical infrastructure, such as coaxium extraction sites and offworld shipping platforms, leaving vast swatches of territory to be patrolled by probe droids and the occasional range trooper squad.
A small civilian presence exists on Vandor. Catering to Imperial troops and mining staff, a limited number of commercial services are available in small settlements such as Fort Ypso. Due to Vandor’s remoteness, underworld elements have likewise flocked to Vandor as an out of the way stopover point and place for covert exchange. Imperial security forces largely overlook these activities; so long as these activities stay clear of resourcing operations, they provide welcome diversions from the spartan nature of Vandor garrison duty.
CONVEYEX RAIL NETWORK
With little infrastructure on Vandor, the Empire has established a linked network of conveyex rail lines. Kuat Drive Yards model 20-T-Railcrawler conveyex transports provide efficient movement of supplies, personnel, and extracted coaxium between imperial installations on world. These heavy lift rail cars allow the Empire to transport mass quantities of coaxium from mining sites to starports where freighters, such as the Zeta-class, provide spacelift onward to feed the Emperor’s war machine.
While attacks on this rail network are considered unlikely, with virtually no population for insurgents to hide amongst, conveyex transports are heavily armored and well guarded. Durasteel plating, laser turrets, and magnetic boot-equipped range troopers serve as a deterrent to would be train robbers. Beyond these protective measures, the very nature of Vandor’s inhospitable terrain serves as yet another safeguard to the Empire’s coaxium mines.
Christopher Hunt
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