System Specs:
- Stellar Mass: N/A Sol Masses
- Stellar Class: N/A
- Luminosity: N/A Sol
- Planets: 6
- Moons: 0
- Asteroid Belts: 1
- Asteroids: 1
- Objects: 2
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Planets Directory:
- Kurinth
- Thessia
- Piares
- asteroid belt
- Janiri
- Athame
- fuel depot
- Tevura
- Mass Relay
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Kurinth:
- Orbital Distance: 0.45 AU
- Orbital Period: 0.3 Earth-years
- Keplerian Ratio: 1.013
- Radius: 4,103 km
- Day Length: 57.5 Earth-hours
- Atmospheric Pressure: 69.95 atm
- Surface Temp: 734 °C
- Surface Gravity: 0.32 g
- Mass: 0.131 Earth-masses
Wrapped in a crushing haze of hydrogen and methane, Kurinth is named for an asari goddess of war and hunting, the two being similar in the asari mindset. The planet is particularly bright in Thessia’s morning and evening skies, enough to cast noticeable shadows on moonless nights. Understandably, warriors and hunters operating at night were grateful for Kurinth’s blessing.
The planet was never heavily exploited for minerals; early asari explorers focused on the asteroid belt and by the time robo-mining machines were created that could withstand the intense heat, more lucrative planets were already on the star charts. Modern charts record several scientific stations orbiting the planet, but it appears that all have been destroyed by the Reapers.
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Thessia:
- Orbital Distance: 0.94 AU
- Orbital Period: 0.9 Earth-years
- Keplerian Ratio: 1.025
- Radius: 5,940 km
- Day Length: 27.6 Earth-hours
- Atmospheric Pressure: 0.96 atm
- Surface Temp: 25 °C
- Surface Gravity: 1.1 g
- Mass: 0.947 Earth-masses
- Satellites: 0
- Homeworld: Asari, population 5,500,000,000, 33,000 in orbital stations (both figures are pre-invasion; before The Reapers)
The asari homeworld has been called the “crown jewel of the galaxy,” the “apex of democracy,” and the “beating heart of galactic love.” Its republics have a remarkably low incidence of war, disease, violent crime or famine, riding a stable economy backed by wealthy colonies and Thessia’s vast element zero reserves. Traces of eezo in the water and soil are so common that most life on Thessia has adapted to its presence.
Thessia’s fortunes have been upended by the Reaper assault. The communications infrastructure that forms the backbone of the society’s e-democracies has been eliminated. Millions are without power, water, or food, a move to coerce the asari into widespread surrender. This is a necessary part of the Reaper strategy, since husks alone have difficulty disarming or capturing a population full of biotics.
Codex Entry
Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.png Audio: Thessia
The asari homeworld, Thessia, is the core of the largest economy in the Milky Way. The planet’s reserves of element zero are so vast that they affect its price galaxy-wide. Because life on Thessia evolved in an eezo-rich environment, the world is home to a wealth of both biotically active and eezo-resistant species. Travel to the planet is strictly controlled, but smuggling remains an issue.
Thessia is host to varying republics instead of a single government and, although each maintains a formidable military, it is notable for having long been free of internal or external wars. The asari are renowned for their cultural and political dominance, and they excel in ambassadorial ventures. They have a strong presence in Citadel politics and galactic policy. However, it is the unfocused political structure of their homeworld that has left the Thessians unprepared for the current conflict.
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Piares:
- Orbital Distance: 1.75 AU
- Orbital Period: 2.3 Earth-years
- Keplerian Ratio: 1.013
- Radius: 5,984 km
- Day Length: 35.5 Earth-hours
- Atmospheric Pressure: 2.94 atm
- Surface Temp: 61 °C
- Surface Gravity: 0.9 g
- Mass: 0.786 Earth-masses
- Colony: Asari
The lifeless sister planet to Thessia lacks water or oxygen. It is covered instead with deserts, the “air” a mix of carbon dioxide and ethane. The manageable temperatures and gravity on Piares led to heavy exploitation for mineral wealth in the beginning of the asari space age. Today, Piares is largely mined out.
Piares is named for an ancient asari goddess of death, who was not seen as a malefic figure, but as one who guided asari spirits on their final journey. From her home in the stars, she could grant an asari who had lost a lover the ability to restore them to life in another body. This legend, heavily modified, formed the basis for a recent, highly profitable human simstim called “Nekyia Corridor.”
The Reapers targeted Piares from orbit, its population too small to bother harvesting. Wreckage of the old domed cities and spaceports dot the landscape.
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Janiri:
- Orbital Distance: 6.6 AU
- Orbital Period: 17.0 Earth-years
- Keplerian Ratio: 0.995
- Radius: 54,704 km
- Day Length: 8.8 Earth-hours
- Atmospheric Pressure: N/A atm
- Surface Temp: N/A °C
- Surface Gravity: N/A g
- Mass: N/A Earth-masses
Janiri is a hydrogen-helium gas giant, named for an ancient asari goddess of seasons, storms and agriculture. With the advent of the siari religion, Janiri’s holy day Janiris became largely secular, but it is still celebrated on worlds with asari influence.
During the Reaper attack on Thessia, the asari armada used Janiri as a staging base for their hit-and-run attacks on the invading Reapers, striking, jumping to FTL to lose pursuers, and discharging the static into Janiri’s magnetic field as they prepared for another attack. This forced the Reapers to mount a counter-offensive to drive the asari away from the planet, using ships that would otherwise have been hammering Thessia itself.
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Athame:
- Orbital Distance: 13.3 AU
- Orbital Period: 48.6 Earth-years
- Keplerian Ratio: 0.996
- Radius: 64,549 km
- Day Length: 18.7 Earth-hours
- Atmospheric Pressure: N/A atm
- Surface Temp: N/A °C
- Surface Gravity: N/A g
- Mass: N/A Earth-masses
Athame is a hydrogen-helium gas giant with spectacular rings. The planet’s apparent magnitude varies when seen from Thessia based on atmospheric conditions and relative distance. To the ancient asari, the “mysterious star” that shone in some months and disappeared in others was linked to fortune, and so it was named Athame, after the matriarch of the pantheon and a goddess of prophecy and fate. Athame’s worship changed over time, eventually becoming the basis for a monotheistic religion in which her maiden, matron and matriarch aspects oversaw all stages and roles in asari society. When an asari says “by the goddess,” they are referring to Athame.
Like Janiri, the planet Athame served as a rally point during the Reaper invasion, where fleeing asari ships could discharge their drive cores so they could make another FTL jump. The Reapers were forced to chase the asari away from the planet, buying Thessia valuable time.
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Tevura:
- Orbital Distance: 24.4 AU
- Orbital Period: 120.9 Earth-years
- Keplerian Ratio: 0.994
- Radius: 26,655 km
- Day Length: 15.5 Earth-hours
- Atmospheric Pressure: N/A atm
- Surface Temp: N/A °C
- Surface Gravity: N/A g
- Mass: N/A Earth-masses
- Satellites: >1
Tevura is a hydrogen-methane ice giant with a core of frozen ammonia and trace hydrocarbons.
The world is named for an ancient asari goddess of love, sex, travel, and law–spheres of influence whose overlap initially baffled human xenoanthropologists. Asari reproductive instincts are strongly exogamous, and before alien contact, their instincts sent the asari roaming outside their kinship groups to avoid mating with relatives. The journeys necessitated a system of rules governing guests, fugitives, and alliances–all watched over by the goddess Tevura.
The Reapers have ignored Tevura so far, its science stations and moon-based mining equipment offering little strategic importance. It is likely that a destroyer will eventually be sent here to exterminate any civilians.
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