Setting Info: The Third Horizon

Larger image of the Third Horizon


The Third Horizon consists of thirty-six star systems. All are probably inhabited, but one cannot be completely sure about a few of them. Some systems see traffic only by way of the portals. Only six systems have large populations: Algol, Dabaran, Kua, Mira, Zalos and Sadaal. The busier routes connect these six systems. The populations in the other systems vary in size depending on the number of planets, the luminosity of the stars and a range of other factors. Many systems house human life only in relay stations, small colonies, outposts or prospector camps – and corsair nests, of course.

The Coriolis Station is located in the Kua System.


THE PORTALS
The so-called portals are actually fields without any physical structure, made up of exotic particles and waves. Foundation professor Yaqub Fazari believes that the fields can be understood and described mathematically, and when this has been achieved, the people of the Horizon will be able to create new portals. However, this is all just a theory so far. When a ship passes through a portal, it is instantly transported to the next. Each field links two star systems together and jumps can be made both ways, simultaneously and without risk of collision. Jehna Karmathe, the noted Dabaran philosopher, teaches that no two things can happen anywhere at the same time in the universe, and that this explains why parallel passage is safe, but that level of philosophical detail is not something
normal skippers care about.

The Dangers of the Portals
One major problem with the star portals is that they aren't stable. Complicated algorithms and sequences are used to calculate the flux of the field and a good entry vector, and getting the math wrong can lead to the ship being torn apart or swallowed by the field, never to be seen again. A second problem is that no living creature can portal jump while awake without suffering serious neurological and mental damage. Stasis technology is required to provide some measure of safety for the crew during a jump. The factions are devoting massive funding into research about ways to get around this, but no one has succeeded so far. The last problem is the jump itself. No one knows exactly what happens in the moment when the ship makes the jump, but according to folklore, evil djinni and other entities hunt in the vicinity of the portals. There are stories about whole crews waking up from their frozen slumber possessed by unspeakable things from the Dark between the Stars.

The Portal Jump
Because of the dangers and the complicated calculations, preparing for a portal jump takes about a day. To facilitate easier jumping and to prevent accidents, portal stations have been constructed close to all of the portals. The crew of the portal station aids the skippers in calculating the size of the fields, making for quicker preparations, but at a hefty cost. Since several ships can use one entry vector, jumping in groups to share the cost is common. It is not certain exactly how many ships can use the same coordinates – it depends on the flux of the field and the will of the Icons – but no one wants to go last.

The portal stations are also small oases for bored crews and somewhere to make repairs. Larger stations even have vacuum docks for proper service. Poor skippers can wait at the station for other ships to come along to share the jump fee with, or jump solo – using self-calculated coordinates, or piggybacking on another ship. This is both risky and illegal, however. The solo jumper could end up at the edge of the field, collide with the other ships or get too close to their graviton exhausts.

Other Considerations
◆ FEES AND CONVOYS. For a price, the portal stations can calculate the portal fields’ movements and current size, making the jump relatively safe. The fees are usually high, between 5,000 and 10,000 birr, which means most skippers prefer to share the cost by forming convoys and jumping together. Portal jumps with coordinates calculated for a convoy gives a +3 to the pilot’s PILOT test.
◆ BULK HAULERS. Another way to jump is to wait for a bulk hauler to come by and jump alongside it. The haulers always get their coordinates and entry vectors on approaching the portal station, and tagging along with them is free, but requires an Easy (+1) PILOT test. Unfortunately, bulk hauler jumps are few and far between.
◆ SOLO JUMP. The broke skipper’s last resort is to have the ship’s crew itself make all jump calculations. This takes about four hours and requires a successful SCIENCE test. Each extra six reduces the time by one hour (to a minimum of one hour). The jump itself requires a PILOT test at -1.
◆ JUMPING BLIND. The truly desperate, often corsairs on the run and other criminals, can choose to jump blind, without any astronical calculations. This requires an unassisted PILOT test at -3.


THE ROUTES OF THE HORIZON
The routes through the Horizon were mapped a long time before the Portal Wars, both within and between systems. Some of them fell silent and were forgotten during the Long Night, but the Zenithian rebirth has opened them again, as the lifeblood of commerce is once again flowing in the Horizon. Below are descriptions of the most important routes and the problems and dangers that affect them.

The Algol Route
Many free traders work the route to Algol as the systems along the way are relatively safe from corsairs, and have yet to be exploited by the factions. The portals are stable and the stations are well manned, up until one reaches Algol and the surrounding systems. After Nharmada, things are much more quiet, and only the most stubborn or desperate crews push on all the way to Eanu.

The Dabaran Circle
The busiest route in the Horizon goes from Mira via Kua to Dabaran. The bulk haulers prefer the shorter route across Uharu, but since the rebellion there is pretty much constant traffic and the portal stations are often understaffed, and this way has become increasingly unsafe. The longer Amedo route past Algebar and Rigel is used primarily by free traders, but has also become dangerous since Almida, the corsair queen, has expanded her operations in Caph and Marfik.

The Miran Chain
The Miran chain is not the most traveled route in the Horizon, but perhaps the most important. The shorter route across Aiwaz and Zalos used to be the safest choice, as the portals in the Odacon system are still unreliable from damage they suffered during the Portal Wars. After a bulk hauler going the long way round disappeared when jumping from Odacon, the Consortium forced the Order of the Pariah to open their portal stations again. The Order's tangled bureaucracy still makes the jump across Zalos difficult – expensive customs fees and arbitrary restrictions often create a queue of ships waiting to jump to and from the system. Desperate free traders still prefer the Odacon route despite the dangers, as trade is good along the way in the Quadrant of the Pillar.

The Sadaal Route
The Sadaal route has the least amount of traffic of all the routes, probably because the largest hub along the way, Sadaal, only recently allowed off-world trade. Since the Consortium started factories on Sadaal, the whole route has come alive. The Sadaal portals are easy to use and the high frequency of Portal Builder finds in Ghodar, Daybul and Menkar attracts many explorers and archaeologists. Menkar is also home to the empty portal – a portal no one has returned from, said to connect to an unknown, Fourth Horizon.

The Firstcome
The Firstcome are a diverse group of people that migrated to the Third Horizon in great colonization vessels in many waves, countless years ago. The order of their arrival has been forgotten, but tradition names Algol as the first planet they settled on. Starting out as a rather homogenous group regarding language and culture, they slowly grew apart over the centuries. Today, almost every system has its own language, although migrants and colonists spread the tongues within the Horizon – the Conglomerate on Kua has a large Algolan speaking minority, for example. The Icon faith is the one constant across all the Firstcome peoples, albeit with many different variations in practice. The Firstcome societies tend to be centered on the extended family or the clan, but this is beginning to change.

For a long time, the Firstcome lived only in the core systems, but when time turned colonists into natives, new waves of pioneers colonized the systems farther out. The war against the First and Second Horizon stopped the spread and laid waste to vast territories however, and the population declined during the Long Night. Today, the Firstcome are expanding again, as a reaction to the arrival of the Zenithians and their trade.


The Zenithians
The popular saying "Everyone is a Zenithian and everyone is not" describes how many regard the Zenithian people or themselves. No one in the Horizon, with the possible exception of the hemographers in the Hegemony, knows exactly how many Zenithians there actually are. It is however obvious that a lot more people call themselves Zenithians than the Zenith brought with her. Data from the Mathematical Institute in Daddah show that there are more Zenithians in the Horizon than there possibly could be, given the size of the arkship. This is because many call themselves Zenithians without actually being one.

Two generations have passed since the arrival of the Zenith, some 60-odd cycles of marriages and couplings between Firstcome and Zenithians that have created a Horizon far less divided than it appears to be at the Council of Factions.

The Zenithian Hegemony claims to speak for all Zenithians and offers assistance whenever it is in the faction’s interests, whether the help is appreciated or not. The best known example of their aid is probably the storming of the Autumn Palace on Dabaran where a Zenithian noble had applied for asylum with the emir. According to the press release to the Bulletin, he had been "brainwashed by
anti-Zenithian interests". During the storming, led by an Astûrban strike team, the emir and all of his family were killed, and the fleeing nobleman was escorted back to the Monolith. Those who call themselves Zenithians feel more modern than the Firstcome, although they are still Icon believers. Zenithians in other systems than Kua are often connected to colonies from Coriolis or Kua, or to a Consortium corporation. Some cities have whole districts populated by Zenithian exiles, such as Little Zenith in Alburz, Sadaal, or the round Par-Corioli block in Tirgonum, Mira. The Zenithians are generally of a more pragmatic nature than the Firstcome, and have replaced family ties with corporations, factions and birr.


The Starfarers
The space nomads travel the Horizon in ancient ships, often heavily modified and jury-rigged, using whatever spare parts their engineers can get hold of. Just like other Firstcome people, the nomads are clan oriented with large families, passing down a profession through generations. From your early years, you will be an apprentice pilot, hydroponic farmer, life support engineer, security guard, or maybe an exo warrior. The clan organizes all of society’s functions.

Since the arrival of the Zenithians, the nomads are increasing in numbers, probably due to the fact that ships are easier to come by and that the best planets are quickly becoming crowded. Many people are faced with the choice of moving away and becoming colonists or making the stars their home, and choose the latter. The nomads fear nothing. They know death is waiting on the other side of the hull and that the smallest mistake could lead them to it. On the other hand, they are freer than any other people – they can go any where, jump as they please, and lead adventurous lives. The saying "a drop of nomad’s blood in you" is used to describe wild or impulsive people. Most nomadic groups keep to one route or territory, usually remaining within one system. There are reports indicating that more mystics have appeared among the nomads than elsewhere, something that would support the theory that it is the Dark between the Stars that is the source of these strange powers.


Humanites
Not everyone in the Horizon is a normal human, or a "pureblood" as the older Hegemonists would say. Some groups of people are biosculpted. These "humanites", as they are called, often live isolated lives in remote colonies on hostile worlds or distant space stations. Common folk view the humanites as sub-human and dirty, but they are usually superbly fitted to life in the environment they were designed for.

The humanites are a scorned and despised group. They are modified humans created to perform certain functions or endure certain hardships better than base humans. Even the plebeians, whose work is almost the same as that of the humanites, look down upon them.

Recognizing a humanite without advanced sensors and biometric scanners can be hard. Tiny sculpts like reptilian third eyelids, extremity hearts, or modified glands are invisible to the naked eye, while larger modifications usually are the result of cosmetic sculpting on Coriolis, the independent station Ahalimm or in the Algolan meat district. According to the stories of some of the more primitive peoples, there are humanites that have lost almost all their humanity and have become more like animals. Rumors claim that the nekatra are actually the result of the Legion experimenting with lupine biocode.

Only a few populations of humanites are publicly known. One known group is the Sirb, usually found on remote space stations or mining vessels. The Sirb have the ability to live as a group without conflicts arising and can emit scent signals that affect feelings and behaviors. The technically skilled Xinghur have an unknown origin, but are in several ways adapted to hot desert climates, and seem to have relatives in the Algolan deserts. The Ichtar, who live on the Kuan north cap, are extremely cold resistant. The Nerids in the oceans of Sadaal can breathe under water and are used by the Iconocracy as workers in the heavy industry located in the planet’s oceans and marshes.

Life for the inhabitants of the Third Horizon is governed just as much by the Icon faith as it is by location and situation. Most people share roughly the same daily routines and the division of the day into four watches: morning, day, evening and night. The morning and day watches are devoted to work and the evening watch to one’s family, the Icons, or leisure. During the night watch, decent people sleep, but the party life continues for the privileged, students and criminals. True believers start each watch with prayer, but visits to a chapel or shrine usually take place at the end of the day watch or during the evening. In the larger cities and on Coriolis, life is rather easy in regards to supplies, food, entertainment and information, but the lives of colonists, stationaries, nomads, and slummers are harder as one or more of these resources may be scarce.

Currency
Birr is the currency of the Horizon, but is actually several different currencies mixed together. Electronic transactions are equal everywhere, but physical money – bills, Miran Icon coins, Algolan gem spheres – vary in worth depending on where you are. Locally, cash money is generally equivalent to digital birr, but this may not be true when you travel to another system.

Music and Song
The cirra is a string instrument played all over the Horizon, its bright notes elevating baria ballads as well as Algolan round dance. Apart from the cirra, the Horizon contains a myriad of instruments with local variations beyond counting, from wooden flutes on Mira and Algol to mechanical music machines on Dabaran. The nine-string Charou lyre is a legendary instrument mastered almost only by Ahlam’s courtesans, who can bestow both ecstasy and torment on the listener. There are two major styles of singing: the baria, melancholy and portentous, and the kabbah, which is more dance oriented and backed by computer organs. The kabbah is all the rage in the clubs in the Core of Coriolis and in the dars of Dabaran where popular musicians such as the Gouri Brothers, the Cirras of Dartarlides and Hala-hal perform it. The stars of the baria include Honna Ibrim, Aicha, and modern legend Sani Sowal. A more obscure song style is the prophet songs popular on and around Mira and Zalos – six bar stanzas about the words of the Icons, visions of the future or passages from the holy scriptures. A Zalosian version of the prophet songs are the chant choirs, although they often end in revels of flagellation. The blood operas of the Zenithian Hegemony are the complete opposite – extravagant compositions with huge orchestras, elevating Zenithian order and reason over the Icons.

Literature and Storytelling
Storytelling is just as strong a tradition as singing in the Horizon. The champions of the craft are often the tarrab, people similar to traveling poets or bards. Literature is also popular and reading is considered a noble pursuit, a sign that one has time to spare. The privileged make sure to always keep books around their homes, and some even have special reading rooms, or balconies with special light reflecting fields around them. The very rich employ courtesans or readers to perform the stories for them. On Coriolis, the well-off often get together to "kawah read", meaning that they listen to a storyteller while enjoying kawah, chai, dates, and sweet fruit. The most famous writer in the Horizon is without a doubt the secretive Mazelman, allegedly living somewhere in the Rimward Reach to research his next book. His earlier works The Siren’s Call, The Nightingale, and Stories From a Lost Age are must-reads among the upper classes. The so-called tag stories are very popular among the plebeians and the poor. They are short, adventurous stories, often about brave heroes and captains who defy evil factionaries, bureaucrats or the rich. The series about Captain Imsalima of the Lotus Leaf is a best seller, and comprises about twenty parts to date with many shadow writers working on the project.

Holo, Proxy, and Pictorial Media
The technology used to spread news across the Horizon is also used by the entertainment industry. The Bulletin is a market leader here as well, through their Seven Stars studio, and people everywhere follow their popular holo dramas The Plantation Owner’s Daughter, Guesthouse Brahima, and the comedy show The Avant-Kuarde, centered on the mischief and escapades of the students living in the Mulukhad district. Other players also produce and market holo films – the Iconocrats on Sadaal and a few Algolan trade houses for example – but they are rarely up to Bulletin standards. The theater is very popular throughout the Horizon, from the street corner puppet shows on Algol to the acrobatic Miran theater. The proxy media has spread to the public thanks to the Syndicate’s illegal erotic proxy trips, but more and more proxy novellas are beginning to circulate. They are often of impressive quality, which hints at a big corp or faction sponsored production.

The peoples of the Horizon dress very differently. The Firstcome tend to prefer loose-fitting garments such as djellabas or gallabeyas, while Zenithians prefer shirts such as the kameez or the kurta, as well as vests and veils. Among space station and ships crews, practical clothes with pockets are common, along with tight coats and belts. The fashion changes over time, and different groups are influenced by foreign styles and designs, which makes beautifully embroidered djellabas or gallabeyas common among important Zenithians and wealthy merchants, for example.

◆ BURRA: A wide, straight skirt worn over pants by both men and women. Common in dance rituals performed by preachers or ascetics.

◆ DHOTI: A piece of fabric worn as a loincloth or strapped on as pants. Common together with a kurta or kameez.

◆ DJELLABA: A full-length robe usually made from cotton or wool. Certain local variations include a hood. Belts are sometimes used to accentuate the waist.

◆ DUPATTA: Long shawl that can be worn in many different ways, usually tied around the head.

◆ GALLABEYA: A wide, full-length robe without collar, and sometimes without buttons. The sleeves are usually very wide and sometimes contain small pockets. Most common in hot climates.

◆ GUTTRAH: A smaller piece of cotton fabric worn as a turban-style headdress or fastened with black string, called agal.

◆ CAFTAN: A long coat with wide sleeves. Commonly not buttoned in the front but worn open or with the front parts overlapping, sometimes with a belt.

◆ KAMEEZ: A long pull-on shirt, usually with embroidery.

◆ KURTA: A knee-length, straight shirt or jacket with a round collar.

◆ THAWB: A full-length robe with straight sleeves and no collar. Usually worn with pants underneath.

Cell
A cell is basically a small hydrogen battery that can power a wide range of portable tech. Refueling a cell with hydrogen can be done in most Ordinary environments for a small fee. In weapons, the cells are usually built into the magazine. Heavy weaponry may require several cells in series or parallel. Refueling stations can be found here and there on Coriolis and in other civilized places.

Communicator
A communicator can send and receive sound and video. It can also be used to take pictures and record shorter film segments. Sometimes called a com link. Personal communicators have a range of about 20 kilometers and are the size of a wrist watch or smaller. Other models with longer range are also available.

Computers
Anyone who has grown up in a high-tech environment will have a basic proficiency with computers and databases. All standard computers are voice operated and self-programming, which means that they are ordered rather than programmed by the user. The DATA DJINN skill is tested to make a computer perform tasks properly. Ordinary computers are harder to command (-1) than Advanced ones (+1). The most difficult machines are the primitive thought machines that must be operated using keyboards and programmed manually in obscure code languages (-3). They still exist in certain primitive parts of the Horizon in the forms of computing and punch card devices and other rudimentary processing units.

Holograph
The holograph can transmit and receive holographic messages. The holograms are detailed enough to show tiny text and detailed pictures, and can for example be used to see through a disguise. Three-dimensional floor plans and maps can also be transmitted.

Language Unit
The language unit is worn as a heavy medallion around one’s neck. If the wearer speaks slowly, clearly and with pauses, the unit provides real-time translation to another language. The unit can hold software for three different languages. Tags with language software cost half the price of the unit.

Licenses
Without the proper licenses, purchasing, using and producing weapons is illegal in the civilized parts of the Horizon. Without a license, you can only obtain weapons and armor illegally through contacts in the right places or factions. Licenses purchased on Coriolis will be valid in affiliated places as well, with some local variations. Most space ports and portal stations have sensor equipment that scan for weapons and contraband. Being licensed is not the same as being permitted to carry all kinds of weaponry in public, however. Local regulations can still stop you from carrying weapons you are allowed to own.

Musical Instruments
The Third Horizon contains many different musical instruments, from Primitive flutes and drums to Ordinary cirras, harps and chordophones.

Tabula
A tablet that can be operated by hand or using ornate stylus pens. Everyday object used to gather information, keep a diary or just to read the Bulletin’s news.

Tags and Transactors
Tags and transactors are information storage devices. Tags are crystalline memory sticks, while transactors take the form of credit cards. Transactors and tags are common methods of payment on Coriolis, on space stations, and in larger cities. The difference between the two is that a transactor is locked to its owner’s biocode while a tag is anonymous, only protected by a numeric code. Direct transfers between bank accounts are of course available in hubs like Coriolis, but other methods are required when one is out traveling. If an even higher level of anonymity is required, one can use physical birr, printed by the company banks, the factions and some of the royal courts. Physical birr are used for small purchases – using large sums of cash will look suspicious, and some systems have outlawed it all together.

Talisman
Picture or symbol representing one of the Icons. Worn on the body or placed somewhere visible in a vehicle, spaceship or shop to bring good fortunes and protect against dark influences.

The Third Horizon is full of technological marvels, from the primitive shepherds’ flutes found on Zamusa to the advanced grav belts the Miran dancers use. The most basic technology is called "primitive", found generally on the fringes of civilized space, in the lost colonies or with certain planetside nomads. The technology that came with the Zenith is called ordinary, and the same goes for most of the Firstcome tech. Spaceships, exo shells, and grav crafts are "ordinary" technology. The technology necessary for portal jumps, such as stasis beds and complex ship computers, is called "advanced" technology. The advanced tier also includes the different life lengthening inventions, such as bio sculpting, body part cloning, and certain cybernetics.

SPACE TRAVEL
Travel, once reserved for a select few, is now blooming across all the systems. Planetside transportation varies between the worlds – people use river barges on Kua, shuttles on Dabaran, and trains on Sadaal, for example. Before the Zenithians opened up the Horizon again, there were only a handful of spaceships in operational condition, and they belonged to larger powers such as the Order, royal courts in the fringe systems, or to ruthless corsairs. Interplanetary trade was rare and existed in only a few systems. The new era is boiling with free traders. The most heavily trafficked route is that between Mira and Dabaran, a trip the bulk haulers make regularly each segment. Big cruise liners with thousands of stasis beds follow the same route, but not as often, maybe once per triad. Yachts, pleasure sloops, and emirs’ cruisers carry rich passengers between safaris and exotic shopping on distant worlds, but the masses travel for business or for their faith. Pilgrims make up a large portion of the Horizon’s travelers.

COMMUNICATION
To communicate in a city or on a station, most people use messengers, or communicators if they can afford them. Space stations have relay transmitters onboard that make sure all communicators can reach each other, as long as their users have the identification codes necessary to find the intended receiver. Newer cities usually have enough relays to make communicators fairly reliable, although the variation between cities or systems can be big. Supposedly, Lord Yionid pas-Dasmaku had to wait three whole days to get an audience with the matriarch of Mira because his communicator was unable to reach the guard towers in the Icon City

TERMINALS AND THE INFONET
On Coriolis and in cities with a strong Consortium presence, you will find the Bulletin’s terminals, connected through the encrypted infonet. Notable exceptions include Karrmerruk on Zalos, the City of Prophets in Alburz, and some of the more conservative dars on Dabaran. The infonet can also be used by computers, tabulas, and advanced transactors for information sharing, data storage or birr transactions. The Syndicate has just started to realize that the infonet is a new arena for profit making. Apart from the infonet, smaller networks using power lines or relay towers exist in the modern districts of Algol, Mira, and Dabaran, as well as on larger space stations such as Djachroum. These networks are usually less reliable than the Bulletin’s infonet. The Algolan Zou bank was declared bankrupt a few cycles ago after an overload in the AYM network fried the intelligence that administered all of the bank’s transactions.

NEWS AND COURIERS
The largest news agency in the Horizon is the Bulletin, a Coriolis-based media conglomerate. Their motto is "Newsworthy and Accessible", something that colors both their news coverage and their other programs. Being Coriolis-based, both news and other programs are mainly from the station itself, or from the portal stations, most of which have some degree of Bulletin presence. They do of course send correspondents to the far reaches of the Horizon if some event there is sensational enough, and to the sites and planets most visited by pilgrims. They usually contract freelancers for the most remote jobs – this keeps both the costs and the risks to a minimum.

Other than news and entertainment, the Bulletin also offers a post and courier service called the Ermes Courier. Ermes ships carry mainly the Bulletin’s own news, but also other messages and information, and, in rare cases, physical mail.

Before the Bulletin, news had always been distributed by word of mouth in the Horizon. Nomads, merchants, or tarrabs all spread the news on their travels, albeit for different reasons. The larger cities have newspapers, either in printed form or on tabulas. When the systems began communicating again, the free traders were the first to start spreading news and rumors between systems, but it was the Bulletin which really organized interstellar communication when it started supplying the portal stations with their probes. Their ownership of the probes also means that they are the ones who determine which news to spread.

Communication waves travel at the speed of light, which is roughly one AU per eight minutes – thus, getting a reply to a question takes at least 16 minutes per AU between you and the other party. No communication signals can pass through portals. Instead, a ship or a probe must make the jump and then transmit the message on the other side. Relays on the other side transmit the data to new probes near the next portal, and so on. This leads to great communication delays between systems. The Bulletin keeps multiple probes ready on every portal station, and anyone can pay to use them to send information. This is both expensive and not without risk however, as you never know who might be listening on the other end.

Probe-to-probe, the news is spread roughly one system per day, at least along the route between Mira and Dabaran. Farther out, where the portal stations are less secure, information is usually recorded on tags and carried by free traders or the Ermes Courier, the Bulletin’s own courier service. Sending mail is generally a slow affair. With a chain of free traders eventually getting from sender to receiver, a package usually takes a week, sometimes a whole segment, to arrive at its destination. For speedy deliveries, one must hire a fast courier vessel, an Ermes ship perhaps, or one of the many other players on the courier market. Couriers are costly but fast, usually making it through a system in two days.