The Vertices

Similarly to Centerpoint, the four stars orbiting the dyson sphere were unimaginatively named The Vertices. All four are G-type stars similar to our own Sun. Scientists have so far failed to reveal any measurable difference between them, and the stars have in the meantime simply been named according to the order in which they were first visited: Vertex Alpha, Vertex Beta, Vertex Gamma and Vertex Delta. Although the stars themselves seem identical, the compositions of their solar systems differ significantly. All share one commonality, however: they are dotted by ruins of bygone civilisations. The following is just a small sampling of planets in their orbits.

Glacigneus

One of the farthest planets orbiting Vertex Alpha, Glacigneus doesn’t receive much heat from its sun and its surface is mostly covered by eternal ice and snow. The inhospitable terrain is not entirely devoid of life, but most of the creatures surviving here are equally harsh as the environment.

The remaining portions of the surface are pockets of steamy tropical jungles, gathered around magma flows criss-crossing the planet’s surface. They are inhabited by a wide range of dangerous flora and fauna, and bands of barbaric aliens battle for territory among themselves and the beasts.

Despite its dangers Glacigneus is a popular destination for explorers, as both the glaciers and the jungles hide the remains of a vanished civilisation in their depths. Entire cities of stone structures are encased within the ice or hidden beneath thick layers of flora, with traces of advanced technologies within. Undisturbed for millenia, what secrets could they hold? So far they have brought only misery to their visitors, as survivors report strange machines, undead and indescribable horrors raising from slumber.

Denuri

By all evidence this was once a prosperous world mostly covered by a single immense city. But sometime during the Gap, a devastating global war engulfed this planet orbiting Vertex Beta. Was it a mad terrorist plot, a civil war or an alien invasion, nobody remembers and all the records are lost. Denuri remains an urban graveyard of decrepit skyscrapers rising high into the atmosphere, multiple sublevels between them, and lower reaches covered with refuse and rubble.

Remnants of the native humanoids survive among the ruins. Their lives are harsh as scavenging is complicated by hostility between the tribes, collapsing debris, haywire servitor robots and more. Addicted to an endemic plant sprouting throughout the urban jungle, they are unable to leave the planet. The few efforts by offworlders to find a cure have so far been fruitless, and the Denurians themselves have very little left in the way of technology or knowledge which could help.

When resources grow scarce, many are tempted to consume more of the plant than is neccessary for survival for the increased strength and resilience it grants. But that is a slippery path, leading to gradual degradation of mental faculties until only feral cunning remains. The body simultaneously grows stronger and twisted, until the afflicted is completely transformed into a monstrous form called the Forsaken by Denurians. As time goes on, their numbers are ever increasing…

Ravenus

Orbiting Vertex Gamma, Ravenus is a hot world of bleak wastelands, jagged cliffs and gigantic skeletal remains of creatures which can only be described as demonic. Its atmosphere is choking and its waters resemble oily blood, poisonous to most living creatures. Small wonder then that it’s inhabited mostly by savage fiends, and indeed the boundaries to the hellish realms are thin across the globe. The opressive landscape is only accented by the visages of the planet’s broken moons.

There are traces of civilisation here, if they can be called that. Grotesque complexes of iron, stone and bone dot the landscape and tunnel into the ground, abandoned, infested by unintelligent monsters or ruled by fiendish overlords in equal measure. Only the insane would venture here, if it weren’t for the promises of vast eldritch secrets and ruinous weapons to be uncovered in hidden vaults. Thus, the desperate and the reckless are the most common visitors in addition to madmen. Few return, and fewer still unscarred.

Arcad

A planet in the temperate belt of Vertex Delta’s solar system, oceans and other bodies of water cover 80% of Arcad’s surface. The rest is evenly distributed between continents and large island archipelagos. The climate ranges from tropical along the equator to merely cool around the poles, with temperate in between and no frozen or arid areas. And ideal location for a vacation or setting up a colony.

Or it would be, if the natives were more welcoming. They live in small secluded communities and are amenable to negotiation if approached correctly. But woe to anyone who unwittingly breaks one of their taboos, most often by simply entering an unmarked (to the unknowing eye) sacred territory. Of which there are a lot dispersed across the lands. In such cases, they descend upon the oblivious transgressors with unrelentable fury and highly advanced magitech weaponry.

That is also which draws most of the visitors to Arcad. Highly advanced ruins of what appears as highly polished stone but has properties of extremely light and tough metals dot the planet, not so much ruined as abandoned and obviously de-powered. Sometimes inhabited by dangerous creatures, but mostly just guarded by ageless automata, many hope to loot their blend of technology and magic. It is supposed that they were built and inhabited by the natives in ages past, but the mere mention of the ruins is taboo.