Tier 5, Strong Hold The single true paradise planet in the Hades Cluster. Seat of the local Dominion Governor and surrounded by orbital platforms, home of the fleets. The citizens here are rich, cultured, and highly privileged.
Tier 4, Strong Hold A hospitable world, if somewhat on the cool side. Wealthy through trade and commercial enterprise, holds offices and labs of many businesses.
Tier 4, Weak Hold One of the first worlds to be colonized in the sector. As the name implies, warm and mostly aquatic with various islands scattered around. While government and many larger companies have moved on to better worlds, Oceania still contains various important institutions. It’s the home base of medium-sized local businesses, banks, and a prestigious university.
Tier 3, Weak Hold A failed terraforming experiment turned this would-be-paradise into a hot, sandy rock. Majestic buildings stand empty, and the luxurious pleasure-cities now serve has havens for renegades and ne’er-do-wells. The less ethical branches of corporations retain offices and labs here as well, plus a few token efforts to undo the cataclysm or mine the resources waiting underneath the shifting dunes.
Tier 2, Strong Hold An easy-going cultural melting pot world of red light districts, exotic shops, and obscure ethnic minorities. Fairly lawless, but not overly hostile.
Tier 2, Strong Hold A warm world, rich in natural resources. The population was pushed over more to increase production, and the planet is now in a state of near-open revolt. The Zulfiqar faction has significant influence here.
Tier 2, Strong Hold This system’s sun rages violently, scrambling most comms and sensors. Wrecks and debris litter the system. Due to the erratic gravity and flares of intense heat, the planets frequently undergo violent seismic events, unearthing valuable resources. The system is a tense patchwork of pirate bases, semi-legal mining operations, and mercenary outfits. Only Port Tortuga, an old and cramped station, serves as something of a neutral ground and safe haven for all.
Tier 2, Weak Hold A massive network of platforms at the edge of the Cluster, the only one of its kind capable of servicing capital-class ships. It serves as both the barrier that prevents the Cluster’s bullshit from spilling out, and the doorway through which trade with the rest of the Koprulu Sector is done.
Tier 2, Strong Hold Actually a moon in the Oceania system, completely covered with an outer shell of neosteel and plasteel, making it looks like a bright silver lantern. The rocky moon itself is hollowed out into a series grandiose tunnels and halls. It’s owned by the Yu Jing family, who employ their own private army and reside in complete safety within the “Forbidden Core” while their agents look after their interests throughout the Cluster.
Tier 2, Weak Hold, Status +1 A factory-world. From a distance the cities look like dark monoliths, tight clusters of tremendously tall towers wrapped in black smoke. Outside these cities, magrail trains cross seas of green-brown sludge and vast fields of rusting scrap. The local gangs and mercenaries are bred tough down here.
Tier 1, Strong Hold The breadbasket world of the Cluster. Military presence is high, to protect the world from pirates and to “encourage” high productivity. The people here are mostly hard, honest workers with a sense of community uncommon elsewhere in the Cluster.
Tier 1, Weak Hold A world of barren highlands and swamp lowlands. Contains the Cluster’s local and infamous prison. Well-connected prisoners can manage a short and comfortable stay. The rest are used as indentured servants to work in the nearby mires, ancient impact craters filled up with pea soup bogs and valuable minerals underneath. Apart from a small city to service the prison and its staff, few others live here, save for some refugees and hopeless cases who couldn’t make it anywhere else.