Here's some background for a planet I'm creating that is set in the Dragonstar setting. I'm still working on some of the big players and locations for the setting, this is just the basic stuff for the character races.
Comments and suggestions welcome:
Dragonstar Campaign Background
The Past…..
The Ruktor system, a nondescript yellow star with 11 planets, located on the frontier of the Dragon Empire, near where the Dark Zone cuts through the Outlands. The only habitable planets in the system are Ruktor IV (called Phaeril by the natives), and a moon orbiting Ruktor VII (a large gas giant called Moribane). Phaeril is currently populated predominately by orc and goblinoid races, although that was not always so. Just before the Empire found them, the goblinoid races and the orcs were on the edge of extinction due to constant warring among themselves and frequent purges by the more powerful civilized races (humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings).
Forty years ago Phaeril seemed to be on the verge of a planetary peace. The civilized races had banded together in the powerful Coalition of Nations, signing peace agreements and ending all their major boarder disputes. The dark elves had been annihilated decades earlier, except for scattered enclaves far underground, and the reptilian, orc, and goblinoid races were broken and soon to be completely exterminated, except for those permitted to live on historical reservations set aside for their primitive cultures. The civilized world was preparing to embark upon a new renaissance, devoting their creative and arcane energies to more civilized pursuits than war. Then came the Imperial Invasion, and the Night of Flame.
Most of the “civilized” races were decimated when the Emperors forces subjugated the planet 35 years ago. The head of the Coalition of Nations was the Elven Ambassador, Serenore Teh’Landria. When he saw the face of the enemy that had decimated their largest cities in the space of a day, he thought it was a last suicidal attempt by the vanquished dark elves to extract revenge on the surface world. He could not believe that the dark elves leading the invasion were representatives from an Empire of Dragons, and assumed that the size of their forces and apparent technology was part of an elaborate deception. The leaders of the other nations were persuaded to this point of view in a rapidly called secret meeting. They made the mistake of presenting a united front in resisting the Imperial Invaders. The greatest heroes and mages of the land were called upon to strike down these airships and reveal them for façade they surely were.
The initial uprising was seemingly successful, and the Imperial Forces that were on the planet took heavy losses, and were forced back to their fortified positions in a week of vicious and bloody fighting. When the Emperor learned of the stiff resistance, he sent very specific orders. Mezzenbone instructed his forces to be particularly brutal in breaking the back of the resistance. Thus came the Night of Flame, as the ships in orbit bombarded the surface of the planet with orbital lasers and targeted kinetic weapons. The largest dwarven city was turned into crater nearly mile deep, while the greatest of the elven forests was burned to the ground. Not only were the leaders of every nation killed, but also hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed for every Imperial trooper that had fallen. The dwarves, humans, and halflings lost 60% of their population, while the elves lost 80% and the gnomes lost 40%. The survivors were reduced to tightly guarded enclaves in the devastated remains of their former nations, their legendary weapons and artifacts now enriching the hordes of Imperial dragons, or taken to serve the Imperial Special Forces. Their greatest warriors were taken off-planet and turned into Death Knights to serve as part of the Emperors personal guard.
Enclaves of each of the surviving races can also be found in ghettos of the Ruktor Imperial Starport (simply called Ruktor). Located on the equator beneath a space station in geosynchronous orbit, Ruktor is now the largest city on the planet, and what passes as the pinnacle of civilization in the system. Since the Imperial takeover, the populations of the orcs, goblinoids, and kobold races have exploded. They are no longer permitted to war amongst themselves, instead being pressed into service in the Imperial Legion, and the formerly dominant “civilized” races are too busy trying to survive under the new regime to hunt them as they used to.
To make matters worse, many of the Orc and goblinoid Legionnaire’s have chosen to return to Phaeril upon mustering out, bringing back their military training, and whatever military hardware they can smuggle in with them. Many have set themselves up as little warlords, controlling the gangs that have sprung up in the sprawling streets of Ruktor, and in the wastelands that now make up the portions of the planet not being used by the Empire or the various companies of the Draconis Combine. The more ambitious and intelligent have formed mercenary companies, hiring themselves out to the highest bidder. There is a loose coalition of gangs that claims to represent the orc population in the city, and the leader of the most powerful gang, the Skulleaters, has a seat on the City Municipal Council.
Most of the dwarven clans have retreated into their underground strongholds, nursing their wounds. Very few outsiders have any contact with them, and the Orcs of the Imperial Legions have learned to stay away from their territories, unless backed up with heavy firepower and armor. Orcs have a way of just… disappearing… if they let their guard down in old dwarven territories, or in the dwarven ghetto of Ruktor.
Two new dwarven clans were formed in the aftermath of the Imperial conquest, the StoneRenders and Firetenders. They are made up of the orphans who survived the decimation of the ruling dwarven clans during the short-lived resistance. The StoneRenders moved into space, and now operate an independent and profitable mining operation from a concealed asteroid. The Firetenders rule the dwarven ghetto in Ruktor, and act as go-betweens for the dwarven clans underground, the StoneRenders in the sky, and any non-Dwarf who wants to trade with the dwarven clans. The Firetenders have a seat on the City Municipal Council.
The decentralized humans have recovered their population the fastest of the civilized races. Divided into many nations across the planet, some were destroyed in the resistance, while others were “merely” reduced to savagery, and still others collaborated with their conquerors. Although many of their prominent ruling families were wiped out during the Night of Flame, for every leader killed two more ambitious humans soon stepped forward to take up the reigns of power. Many humans scattered, and can now be found in the enclaves of the other races, and even in the orc and goblin gangs. Most of the human population now works the vast farms that cover the lands where the elven forests used to grow, located on Phaeril’s largest continent: Phaynor. (Due to the ministrations of the elven druids over the past millennia, the soil in those areas is incredibly fertile, allowing them to produce 4 crops a year.) In the past 25 years Phaeril has become a major supplier of food to the Imperial forces in the surrounding star systems. The current leader of the human ghetto in Ruktor is Dorian Tremont, a known collaborator from before the Night of Flame. He holds a seat on the City Municipal Council.
The gnomes have perhaps made the easiest recovery since the Night of Flame. They were not a strong force in the resistance, and their homelands weren’t targeted the way the elves, dwarves, and humans were. Nearly 60% of their population survived the Night of Flame, and they eagerly learned to use Imperial technology. They were also aided by their Imperial Brethren, gnome mechanists and technicians who arrived with the Imperial occupation forces, and later with the corporations of the Draconis Combine. Most of the gnome population has assimilated into the Empire, and most work at the Starport itself, or in off-planet installations. The gnome ghetto is the most peaceful in the city, frequently patrolled by the Draconis Combine Security Forces. The League of Gnomish Merchants elects one of their members to serve on the City Municipal Council every year.
Halflings were hit hard during the Night of Flame. The few halfling nations were decimated, but most of the halfling population were citizens of the nations of the other races, and survived as their host nation did. The Halflings that were with the dwarves suffered many losses, and most of the survivors were ejected when the dwarves closed their boarders. The halflings with the gnomes fared better, and many of those have assimilated into the Empire, becoming pilots and technicians. The halfling populations in the human nations had survival rates as varied as that of the humans. Many have become nomadic, and a few tribes of primitive ghostwise halflings have carved a niche for themselves in the city, after their homeland was literally destroyed by the mining operations of the Draconis Combine and the malevolent jungles created by the last of the elven druids. There is no recognized halfling ghetto, although there are neighborhoods that tall folk know to steer clear of. The halflings are not represented on the City Municipal Council.
The Elves were the hardest hit of all the races during the Night of Flame, as they were the most visible force of resistance and fielded the most wizards in the fight against the Imperial Forces. The best and the brightest of the elven leaders and heroes died that night, and only 35% of the elven population survived. But the worst was yet to come. Many of the great elven forests were razed during the Night of Flame.
Afterward, those areas that could still support life were turned into farmland to grow grain for the Imperium. It was discovered that the sylvan enchantments that the druids had laced the forests with over the previous millennia left the soil supernaturally fertile. Combined with the bio-engineered crops brought in by the Holistic Foods and Agriculture division of the Draconis Combine, they were able grow four crops a year. Within three years the entire northern continent had been turned into farmland, feeding the masses of Imperial Legionnaires and Imperial citizens on other planets. Five years after the Night of flame, one sect of elven druids resolved to take their revenge, and wove a spell that insinuated a slow acting poison in all the crops slated for the Imperial use. Thousands of Imperial troops and citizens died in agony, on 27 different planets. Eventually the Imperial Investigators traced it back to the elven druids, and new orders came down from Mezzenbone.
The dark elves of the ISPD took special delight in their orders, and did their best to carry out the mission of genocide. . Whole elven communities were slaughtered by the dark elves, even those that tried to surrender. The remaining elven forests and jungles on the southern and eastern continents were napalmed, burned, irradiated, blasted with foul magic, and the ground salted. Less than 2% of the remaining elven population survived, and in the years since then many have chosen to emigrate to other planets. The elves as a nation no longer exist, although scattered individuals and orphans remain. In a final mockery of justice, the dark elves claim to represent the elven people in the city, and appoint one of their own number to represent the non-existent “elven ghetto” on the City Municipal Council. The only half-elves are those living with the humans. All others were slaughtered along with the elves.
The few remaining elven druids were driven insane with grief and rage at what had happened to their sacred trust. They wove their magic in secret, attempting to re-awaken the ancient life-giving enchantments and force the blasted forests and jungles to revive and regenerate at supernatural speed. Unfortunately the heart of the forests had been irreparably damaged, and the new creatures were born as abominations, and the plants grew into twisted parodies of natural life. The spirits of the fallen elven druids, who hate what the forests have become even as they continue to defend them, now haunt these dark woods and twisted jungles. The other great elven forests on the eastern continent are now blasted graveyards with drifts of bones several feet deep, while the northern continent only grows endless fields of grain harvested by humans for Imperial grain silos and protein vats.
The Present…
Ruktor IV is still a nondescript yellow start with 11 planets, but it is no longer at the very edge of the Dragon Empires frontier. The frontier has moved outward as the Empire continues Mezzenbone’s program of conquest and expansion. Now Ruktor is a crossroads for that sector of space, linking the inner worlds of the Empire to the newly acquired systems farther out. Ruktor IV has become the major exporter of food for the local space-based mining operations, mining colonies in nearby systems, the military, and to the highly industrialized planets within the inner worlds of the Empire.
The Draconis Combine has created two cargo elevators (called “Magic Beanstalks”) that stretch from the Ruktor Imperial Starport on the surface of the planet to the Draconis Space Station, 240 miles above. The Up beanstalk is a series of permanent 100’ diameter levitation rings, while the Down beanstalk is a series of 100’ diameter levitation rings, both assisted by mage hand spells, creating what is effectively the largest grain elevator in existence. In addition to the grain, frozen meats, ores, and other goods being lifted into orbit, you can buy transport on a habitat pod and take the slow trip into orbit. It takes 4.4 days to reach the space station via the beanstalk, but it is much less expensive than taking a shuttle.
The Draconis Space Station (DSS-1) at the top of the beanstalk is a joint project by the Imperial Legions and the Industrial Might & Magic division of the Draconis Combine. The Combine provides the infrastructure and docking facilities, and the Imperial Legion provides military grade orbital defenses for the Space Station, the beanstalks, and the Ruktor Imperial Starport. In return the Imperial Legion gains a section of the Space Station dedicated to their use, and reduced fees on docking and cargo transport.
The DSS-1 is the primary commercial hub for the system, tying together the agricultural and technical exports of the planet with the raw ores and crystals from the space based facilities, and is a major crossroads and refilling station for travel in this sector of space.
The Ruktor Imperial Starport lies on the equator of the planet, built on the ruins of one of the largest elven cities. This site was chosen because it enabled the Draconis Combine to place a space station in geosynchronous orbit directly above the city. Having the space station in an unchanging location makes it much easier to levitate cargo between the surface and the space station. It is also conveniently located on the isthmus that connects the large northern continent where most of the agricultural fields are located, and the southern continent with it’s unnatural jungles, created in the aftermath of the elven druids final rituals. The northern edge of the jungle actually touches upon the Starport’s southern border, and often has to be burned back before it envelops an outlying warehouse or landing strip for the shuttlecraft. Despite it’s lethality, expeditions often sent into the jungle to recover elven artifacts or collect samples of the new plant and animal species that evolve and become extinct at an incredible rate. Some are collectors of rare things, others hope to find new herbs, and others collect animals to be sent to the Arena for the bloodsports that the orcs and goblins find so entertaining.
North and west of the Starport is the Industrial sector, where local ores are refined, hi-tech composite materials are created, and various goods are manufactured. North and East lies the Warehouse District, where the massive grain silo’s store grain before it is packed for transport to other planets, and warehouses full of raw ore and finished goods are also located. The warehouses near the southern end of the district are mostly abandoned, due to the proximity of the jungle. North of both the Industrial Sector and the Warehouse District is the Sprawl.
The Sprawl is where most of the population lives, in apartment buildings built among the crumbling elven ruins defaced by orc graffiti. The Sprawl is the single largest section of Ruktor, stretching for many square miles and densely packed with citizens of all races. It is divided into several ghettos devoted to each race or subculture, yet it also has vast stretches of “no man’s land” that the various gangs fight over. The raw recruits for the Imperial Legions are inducted/press ganged into service from amongst the gangs and those who are desperate to get out. This is the part of Ruktor that the City Municipal Council theoretically has control over. The Draconis Combine and the Imperial Legions share control of the Spaceport and the beanstalks, while several dozen companies share control of the Industrial and Warehouse districts. Several wide roads and highways cut through the Sprawl, transporting goods from the northern continent, and goods from the western continent, shipped in via the nearby port city of Daevon.
The southern edge of the Sprawl also contains the Business District, where office buildings dedicated to the various companies, manufacturers, and speculators have been built. They are dozens of stories high, and clustered together in a dark hive of rampant capitalism in service to the Imperium (think Blade Runner). Most residents of the Sprawl think that the Executives and owners of the various companies can be found in the Business District, but they are wrong. Only the middle managers and exiled executives work in the business district. The lower echelon executives reside in the DSS-1, high above the grime and filth of the city. The truly successful executives, as well as the Draconis Combine Board of Directors, can be found in the inner reaches of the Empire, on the Throne worlds.
Comments and suggestions welcome:
Dragonstar Campaign Background
The Past…..
The Ruktor system, a nondescript yellow star with 11 planets, located on the frontier of the Dragon Empire, near where the Dark Zone cuts through the Outlands. The only habitable planets in the system are Ruktor IV (called Phaeril by the natives), and a moon orbiting Ruktor VII (a large gas giant called Moribane). Phaeril is currently populated predominately by orc and goblinoid races, although that was not always so. Just before the Empire found them, the goblinoid races and the orcs were on the edge of extinction due to constant warring among themselves and frequent purges by the more powerful civilized races (humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings).
Forty years ago Phaeril seemed to be on the verge of a planetary peace. The civilized races had banded together in the powerful Coalition of Nations, signing peace agreements and ending all their major boarder disputes. The dark elves had been annihilated decades earlier, except for scattered enclaves far underground, and the reptilian, orc, and goblinoid races were broken and soon to be completely exterminated, except for those permitted to live on historical reservations set aside for their primitive cultures. The civilized world was preparing to embark upon a new renaissance, devoting their creative and arcane energies to more civilized pursuits than war. Then came the Imperial Invasion, and the Night of Flame.
Most of the “civilized” races were decimated when the Emperors forces subjugated the planet 35 years ago. The head of the Coalition of Nations was the Elven Ambassador, Serenore Teh’Landria. When he saw the face of the enemy that had decimated their largest cities in the space of a day, he thought it was a last suicidal attempt by the vanquished dark elves to extract revenge on the surface world. He could not believe that the dark elves leading the invasion were representatives from an Empire of Dragons, and assumed that the size of their forces and apparent technology was part of an elaborate deception. The leaders of the other nations were persuaded to this point of view in a rapidly called secret meeting. They made the mistake of presenting a united front in resisting the Imperial Invaders. The greatest heroes and mages of the land were called upon to strike down these airships and reveal them for façade they surely were.
The initial uprising was seemingly successful, and the Imperial Forces that were on the planet took heavy losses, and were forced back to their fortified positions in a week of vicious and bloody fighting. When the Emperor learned of the stiff resistance, he sent very specific orders. Mezzenbone instructed his forces to be particularly brutal in breaking the back of the resistance. Thus came the Night of Flame, as the ships in orbit bombarded the surface of the planet with orbital lasers and targeted kinetic weapons. The largest dwarven city was turned into crater nearly mile deep, while the greatest of the elven forests was burned to the ground. Not only were the leaders of every nation killed, but also hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed for every Imperial trooper that had fallen. The dwarves, humans, and halflings lost 60% of their population, while the elves lost 80% and the gnomes lost 40%. The survivors were reduced to tightly guarded enclaves in the devastated remains of their former nations, their legendary weapons and artifacts now enriching the hordes of Imperial dragons, or taken to serve the Imperial Special Forces. Their greatest warriors were taken off-planet and turned into Death Knights to serve as part of the Emperors personal guard.
Enclaves of each of the surviving races can also be found in ghettos of the Ruktor Imperial Starport (simply called Ruktor). Located on the equator beneath a space station in geosynchronous orbit, Ruktor is now the largest city on the planet, and what passes as the pinnacle of civilization in the system. Since the Imperial takeover, the populations of the orcs, goblinoids, and kobold races have exploded. They are no longer permitted to war amongst themselves, instead being pressed into service in the Imperial Legion, and the formerly dominant “civilized” races are too busy trying to survive under the new regime to hunt them as they used to.
To make matters worse, many of the Orc and goblinoid Legionnaire’s have chosen to return to Phaeril upon mustering out, bringing back their military training, and whatever military hardware they can smuggle in with them. Many have set themselves up as little warlords, controlling the gangs that have sprung up in the sprawling streets of Ruktor, and in the wastelands that now make up the portions of the planet not being used by the Empire or the various companies of the Draconis Combine. The more ambitious and intelligent have formed mercenary companies, hiring themselves out to the highest bidder. There is a loose coalition of gangs that claims to represent the orc population in the city, and the leader of the most powerful gang, the Skulleaters, has a seat on the City Municipal Council.
Most of the dwarven clans have retreated into their underground strongholds, nursing their wounds. Very few outsiders have any contact with them, and the Orcs of the Imperial Legions have learned to stay away from their territories, unless backed up with heavy firepower and armor. Orcs have a way of just… disappearing… if they let their guard down in old dwarven territories, or in the dwarven ghetto of Ruktor.
Two new dwarven clans were formed in the aftermath of the Imperial conquest, the StoneRenders and Firetenders. They are made up of the orphans who survived the decimation of the ruling dwarven clans during the short-lived resistance. The StoneRenders moved into space, and now operate an independent and profitable mining operation from a concealed asteroid. The Firetenders rule the dwarven ghetto in Ruktor, and act as go-betweens for the dwarven clans underground, the StoneRenders in the sky, and any non-Dwarf who wants to trade with the dwarven clans. The Firetenders have a seat on the City Municipal Council.
The decentralized humans have recovered their population the fastest of the civilized races. Divided into many nations across the planet, some were destroyed in the resistance, while others were “merely” reduced to savagery, and still others collaborated with their conquerors. Although many of their prominent ruling families were wiped out during the Night of Flame, for every leader killed two more ambitious humans soon stepped forward to take up the reigns of power. Many humans scattered, and can now be found in the enclaves of the other races, and even in the orc and goblin gangs. Most of the human population now works the vast farms that cover the lands where the elven forests used to grow, located on Phaeril’s largest continent: Phaynor. (Due to the ministrations of the elven druids over the past millennia, the soil in those areas is incredibly fertile, allowing them to produce 4 crops a year.) In the past 25 years Phaeril has become a major supplier of food to the Imperial forces in the surrounding star systems. The current leader of the human ghetto in Ruktor is Dorian Tremont, a known collaborator from before the Night of Flame. He holds a seat on the City Municipal Council.
The gnomes have perhaps made the easiest recovery since the Night of Flame. They were not a strong force in the resistance, and their homelands weren’t targeted the way the elves, dwarves, and humans were. Nearly 60% of their population survived the Night of Flame, and they eagerly learned to use Imperial technology. They were also aided by their Imperial Brethren, gnome mechanists and technicians who arrived with the Imperial occupation forces, and later with the corporations of the Draconis Combine. Most of the gnome population has assimilated into the Empire, and most work at the Starport itself, or in off-planet installations. The gnome ghetto is the most peaceful in the city, frequently patrolled by the Draconis Combine Security Forces. The League of Gnomish Merchants elects one of their members to serve on the City Municipal Council every year.
Halflings were hit hard during the Night of Flame. The few halfling nations were decimated, but most of the halfling population were citizens of the nations of the other races, and survived as their host nation did. The Halflings that were with the dwarves suffered many losses, and most of the survivors were ejected when the dwarves closed their boarders. The halflings with the gnomes fared better, and many of those have assimilated into the Empire, becoming pilots and technicians. The halfling populations in the human nations had survival rates as varied as that of the humans. Many have become nomadic, and a few tribes of primitive ghostwise halflings have carved a niche for themselves in the city, after their homeland was literally destroyed by the mining operations of the Draconis Combine and the malevolent jungles created by the last of the elven druids. There is no recognized halfling ghetto, although there are neighborhoods that tall folk know to steer clear of. The halflings are not represented on the City Municipal Council.
The Elves were the hardest hit of all the races during the Night of Flame, as they were the most visible force of resistance and fielded the most wizards in the fight against the Imperial Forces. The best and the brightest of the elven leaders and heroes died that night, and only 35% of the elven population survived. But the worst was yet to come. Many of the great elven forests were razed during the Night of Flame.
Afterward, those areas that could still support life were turned into farmland to grow grain for the Imperium. It was discovered that the sylvan enchantments that the druids had laced the forests with over the previous millennia left the soil supernaturally fertile. Combined with the bio-engineered crops brought in by the Holistic Foods and Agriculture division of the Draconis Combine, they were able grow four crops a year. Within three years the entire northern continent had been turned into farmland, feeding the masses of Imperial Legionnaires and Imperial citizens on other planets. Five years after the Night of flame, one sect of elven druids resolved to take their revenge, and wove a spell that insinuated a slow acting poison in all the crops slated for the Imperial use. Thousands of Imperial troops and citizens died in agony, on 27 different planets. Eventually the Imperial Investigators traced it back to the elven druids, and new orders came down from Mezzenbone.
The dark elves of the ISPD took special delight in their orders, and did their best to carry out the mission of genocide. . Whole elven communities were slaughtered by the dark elves, even those that tried to surrender. The remaining elven forests and jungles on the southern and eastern continents were napalmed, burned, irradiated, blasted with foul magic, and the ground salted. Less than 2% of the remaining elven population survived, and in the years since then many have chosen to emigrate to other planets. The elves as a nation no longer exist, although scattered individuals and orphans remain. In a final mockery of justice, the dark elves claim to represent the elven people in the city, and appoint one of their own number to represent the non-existent “elven ghetto” on the City Municipal Council. The only half-elves are those living with the humans. All others were slaughtered along with the elves.
The few remaining elven druids were driven insane with grief and rage at what had happened to their sacred trust. They wove their magic in secret, attempting to re-awaken the ancient life-giving enchantments and force the blasted forests and jungles to revive and regenerate at supernatural speed. Unfortunately the heart of the forests had been irreparably damaged, and the new creatures were born as abominations, and the plants grew into twisted parodies of natural life. The spirits of the fallen elven druids, who hate what the forests have become even as they continue to defend them, now haunt these dark woods and twisted jungles. The other great elven forests on the eastern continent are now blasted graveyards with drifts of bones several feet deep, while the northern continent only grows endless fields of grain harvested by humans for Imperial grain silos and protein vats.
The Present…
Ruktor IV is still a nondescript yellow start with 11 planets, but it is no longer at the very edge of the Dragon Empires frontier. The frontier has moved outward as the Empire continues Mezzenbone’s program of conquest and expansion. Now Ruktor is a crossroads for that sector of space, linking the inner worlds of the Empire to the newly acquired systems farther out. Ruktor IV has become the major exporter of food for the local space-based mining operations, mining colonies in nearby systems, the military, and to the highly industrialized planets within the inner worlds of the Empire.
The Draconis Combine has created two cargo elevators (called “Magic Beanstalks”) that stretch from the Ruktor Imperial Starport on the surface of the planet to the Draconis Space Station, 240 miles above. The Up beanstalk is a series of permanent 100’ diameter levitation rings, while the Down beanstalk is a series of 100’ diameter levitation rings, both assisted by mage hand spells, creating what is effectively the largest grain elevator in existence. In addition to the grain, frozen meats, ores, and other goods being lifted into orbit, you can buy transport on a habitat pod and take the slow trip into orbit. It takes 4.4 days to reach the space station via the beanstalk, but it is much less expensive than taking a shuttle.
The Draconis Space Station (DSS-1) at the top of the beanstalk is a joint project by the Imperial Legions and the Industrial Might & Magic division of the Draconis Combine. The Combine provides the infrastructure and docking facilities, and the Imperial Legion provides military grade orbital defenses for the Space Station, the beanstalks, and the Ruktor Imperial Starport. In return the Imperial Legion gains a section of the Space Station dedicated to their use, and reduced fees on docking and cargo transport.
The DSS-1 is the primary commercial hub for the system, tying together the agricultural and technical exports of the planet with the raw ores and crystals from the space based facilities, and is a major crossroads and refilling station for travel in this sector of space.
The Ruktor Imperial Starport lies on the equator of the planet, built on the ruins of one of the largest elven cities. This site was chosen because it enabled the Draconis Combine to place a space station in geosynchronous orbit directly above the city. Having the space station in an unchanging location makes it much easier to levitate cargo between the surface and the space station. It is also conveniently located on the isthmus that connects the large northern continent where most of the agricultural fields are located, and the southern continent with it’s unnatural jungles, created in the aftermath of the elven druids final rituals. The northern edge of the jungle actually touches upon the Starport’s southern border, and often has to be burned back before it envelops an outlying warehouse or landing strip for the shuttlecraft. Despite it’s lethality, expeditions often sent into the jungle to recover elven artifacts or collect samples of the new plant and animal species that evolve and become extinct at an incredible rate. Some are collectors of rare things, others hope to find new herbs, and others collect animals to be sent to the Arena for the bloodsports that the orcs and goblins find so entertaining.
North and west of the Starport is the Industrial sector, where local ores are refined, hi-tech composite materials are created, and various goods are manufactured. North and East lies the Warehouse District, where the massive grain silo’s store grain before it is packed for transport to other planets, and warehouses full of raw ore and finished goods are also located. The warehouses near the southern end of the district are mostly abandoned, due to the proximity of the jungle. North of both the Industrial Sector and the Warehouse District is the Sprawl.
The Sprawl is where most of the population lives, in apartment buildings built among the crumbling elven ruins defaced by orc graffiti. The Sprawl is the single largest section of Ruktor, stretching for many square miles and densely packed with citizens of all races. It is divided into several ghettos devoted to each race or subculture, yet it also has vast stretches of “no man’s land” that the various gangs fight over. The raw recruits for the Imperial Legions are inducted/press ganged into service from amongst the gangs and those who are desperate to get out. This is the part of Ruktor that the City Municipal Council theoretically has control over. The Draconis Combine and the Imperial Legions share control of the Spaceport and the beanstalks, while several dozen companies share control of the Industrial and Warehouse districts. Several wide roads and highways cut through the Sprawl, transporting goods from the northern continent, and goods from the western continent, shipped in via the nearby port city of Daevon.
The southern edge of the Sprawl also contains the Business District, where office buildings dedicated to the various companies, manufacturers, and speculators have been built. They are dozens of stories high, and clustered together in a dark hive of rampant capitalism in service to the Imperium (think Blade Runner). Most residents of the Sprawl think that the Executives and owners of the various companies can be found in the Business District, but they are wrong. Only the middle managers and exiled executives work in the business district. The lower echelon executives reside in the DSS-1, high above the grime and filth of the city. The truly successful executives, as well as the Draconis Combine Board of Directors, can be found in the inner reaches of the Empire, on the Throne worlds.
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