Zarona is a barren planet an arid wasteland that only the hardiest settlers can survive on. Nonetheless, rich oil fields make it of high value to the Imperium. Naturally the extraction fields scattered around the planet’s surface are targets for pirates and those factions in possession of these stations are in a powerful position.

Settlements

The settlements of Zarona are few and far between and are mainly based around the oil extraction fields. The largest urban area and possibly the only place on the planet that could be deemed a city (although an extremely small one at that) is Guiles Port, even if it is just an extension of the planets only space port. Although it is not officially designated as such Guiles Port is considered the capital. This is mainly due to the only noticeable Imperial presence on the planet consisting of a small Arbites precinct, courthouse and administrative building.

Guiles Port also serves as the main trading post where the oil field and extraction station owners come to meet the fuel barons and cartels. These deals take place in the many seedy bars and inns scattered around the district known as The Market in central Guiles Port.

The Glave Cartel

The largest buyers or Zaronian Oil is the Glave Cartel. A large conglomerate of wealthy nobles, High Ranking Imperial Houses and, it is rumoured, prominent families of the Navis Nobilitai also have substantial shares. As well as oil buyers the Cartel also own a large proportion of the extraction fields, Cartel owned extraction fields are generally better protected than the smaller conglomerate and privately owned station. The chief buyer and representative of the Glave Cartel on Zarona is an extremely obese bureaucrat called Obar Flynn. It is Flynn who, with the aid of his agents, strike the deals with the extraction station owners, look after the Cartel’s assets on Zarona and avoid paying the Imperium’s high extraction and purchasing taxes through clever accounting and other devious means.

Pirates of Dark Void

The self-titled Dark Voiders a constant problem for the local authorities. Zarona, with its rich oil reserves and desolate, unpopulated landscape is a constant target and hideout for them. With the exception of Guiles Port and its immediate surrounding area, the pirates have, to all intents, a free reign of the planet, often raiding the isolated shantytowns and forcibly taking control of poorly defended extraction stations. The Glave Cartel has a particular hatred of the pirates as Cartel shipping and property is constantly attacked. While the pirates are still too small a threat to bring in the Imperial Navy, the constant pressure from the powerful Cartel means that it is only a matter of time before the local authorities have to deal with the increasingly defiant Dark Voiders.

Smuggling

Perhaps an even great threat than the Dark Voiders is that of the smugglers. While the Pirates raid, destroy and even steal the oil for themselves the smugglers will take great quantities off-world without paying Imperial tithes and export taxes thereby not only robbing the Imperium precious fuel but also substantial financial losses. There is no one major smuggling group but lots of small factions dotted around the planet. Arbites regularly patrol well-known smuggling routes but when raiding usually rely on tip offs that often come from rival smuggling factions. Even large organisations such as the Glave Cartel have been known as opportunist smugglers, fortunately for the Cartel they have enough clout so that on the rare occasions they have been caught they have got off with a minor fine.

Desert Predators

Being a barren desert planet with a hostile climate Zarona has very little native life. However it does have a few creatures worthy of note. The Sand Jackals are the largest beasts, standing five foot off the ground. They have been known to attack humans if they are in a large enough pack although such occurrences have been rare as the Jackals, being mildly intelligent, quickly became aware that humans were often armed and not worth the effort. It is not unknown for extraction field owners to have captured and tamed the offspring of Sand Jackals and then using them as Guard creatures, patrolling the oil fields. Even then they are still vicious creatures that will happily take a bite out of its master as well as an intruder.

Lashworms are not indigenous – believed to have arrived in spore form among textile cargoes from the Jubilon sector. Lashworms live in crevices where they wait, tightly coiled until a victim approaches close to them. The sensitive tip of the Lashworms tail protrudes almost invisibly from the creatures hiding place. Any vibration, such as a person moving, by will trigger the Lashworm to attack which it does by whipping out its long, flexible tail and slashing off a morsel of flesh off its victim. The Lashworms tail coils round its catch and pulls it back into its lair to be digested. The worms themselves are small, coiling up to the size of a man’s fist. Lashworms are almost impossible to kill because they are usually so deeply embedded in cracks and crevices.

Possibly the most dangerous, certainly it has been responsible for a large amount of deaths, is the Duneclaw. The Duneclaw is a large crustacean-like creature just over a foot long. The Duneclaw hides under a shallow layer of sand, waiting for anything unfortunate enough to stand on or near it. As soon as prey comes within reach a large claw shoots out from the sand grabbing the hapless foe. The creature will then rise from its makeshift barrow and attach the remaining claw before dragging the prey into the sand to eat at its leisure.

The Sullite Stones

Zarona is vast, arid desert, only interrupted by the occasional natural well and the large pumps of the extraction stations. However, it is not entirely a ball of sand floating in space. There are a couple of noticeable exceptions such as the Basalt Canyons and Skull Mountain, one such place is the Sullite Stones. It is a rocky, craggy area where great boulders the size of Land Raiders have been stacked on top of each other to create tall columns – as if a giant has come along and placed them on top of each other. This has created a forest of stone that spreads out for leagues. The Sullite Stones have been extensively studied but it remains a place of mystery, their origins unknown.

IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

Obar Flynn – Representative of the Glave Cartel

Obar Flynn is arguably the most powerful man on Zarona. He controls the large Cartel owned oil fields and buys a large proportion oil from the many other extraction stations. Although he is powerful on Zarona he exerts very little, if any, influence off-world. The dictates of the Cartel are stringently followed by Flynn for he knows if was to do anything else he would be stripped of his vocation.

Flynn rarely wanders outside of Guiles Port and even while roaming the city he is constantly flanked by two thug-like bodyguards. He spends much of his day dealing with buyers and oil barons in The Market district of Guiles Port. A man of ample girth he is known to be cunning and calculating but an abject coward. He constantly tries to avoid paying the high tithes the Imperium places on oil purchasing and exporting; some schemes are more successful than others. Recently he has been extremely vocal, some say with good reason, regarding the Dark Voiders who constantly raid Cartel installations and attack Cartel shipping whilst in Zarona’s system.

Judge Morgus Garrison – Magister of the Arbites

Along with the Administratum the Arbites Precinct in Guiles Port is the only evidence of Imperial presence on Zarona. While the Precinct towers over the pre-fab and shanty buildings of the city, comparably to other worlds it is small. Heading the precinct is Judge Garrison, a pious man getting on in years but still powerfully built and immensely strong for his age. Together with his small force of Arbites, Judge Garrison is tasked with upholding Imperial Law, a tough job on a frontier world. As well as keeping law and order he has been tasked with dealing with the Pirate threat and stamping out the ever-increasing smuggling. He is constantly pestered by Obar Flynn over the Dark Voiders but Garrison despises Flynn who he considers to be a fat, corrupted bureaucrat. It is Garrisons dream to catch Flynn smuggling and so be able to convict and sentence him!

Narson – Leader of the Dark Voiders

Very little is known of Narson the Masked, it is all pure rumour. Some say he is a disillusioned Navy Officer who managed to galvanise all the local pirate population into one force, some say he simply worked his away up through the ranks. All agree he is of slim build, still quite young and that he wears a metallic mask – that of a stern-faced cherub. The reasons he wears a mask is unclear a number of rumours circulate the bars of Guiles Port, one is that he leads a double-life and is highly placed in the local Imperial hierarchy others purport that he was hideously wounded in a raid. The latest rumours say that Narson and his most trusted men are currently holed up in the Basalt Canyons. Whatever the truth Narson’s Dark Voiders remain a constant threat to Zarona.