Planets: Leviathan

Leviathan

Motherlode of Salt

Get vomity on boats? Leviathan is not for you. It’s one huge choppy sea plagued by endless hurricanes and massive tidal shifts brought on by the low-hanging Red Moon. If that’s not enough, the sea is chock full of ravenous Morack eels. The only thing Leviathan has going for it is that it’s supersaturated with fuel salt, enough to power all the superlight engines for the starships that connect the galaxy. This makes it the most valuable world in the Wilds, especially to the Guild. (And since the Guild is already there, they also make use of the eels – for every kind of processed meat product possible; and the lightning storms – which are harnessed for energy.)

SURVEY REPORT

:::::::GUILD PLANETARY ASSESSMENT 1414-b:::::::

Planet: LEVIATHAN

Location: Guild-Controlled Wilds

Diameter: 12,364

Moons: One !! DEGRADING ORBIT !! Moon is interacting with planet atmosphere, proximity is causing extreme weather and tidal forces. Orbit is degrading faster than first estimated. Leviathan will no longer be commercially viable in 10 years.

Atmosphere: Due to the immense size of Leviathan the dense atmosphere has seen little change despite the large volume of shipping traffic.

Weather: !! EXTREME STORMS !! Planetary hurricane systems are increasing in volume and intensity due to moon interaction with atmosphere. Ship traffic at higher risk.

Temperature: Temperature remains cool, no significant change.

Ecosystem: !! MORACK DEPLETION !! Morack are becoming more and more scarce. Reason unknown. Could be due to increasing storm intensity.

Financial Assessment: Fuel Salt compounds in water are increasing in density driving up yield. Morack prices increasing due to demand and depleting supply.

Spacelane Assessment: While main Spacelane access remains clear, encroaching minefield could pose a future threat.\

Overall Assessment: The planetary value is increasing with greater Fuel Salt exports and elevated Morack prices.

Recommendation: With planetary demise imminent, increase short term investment in local industry to maximize value. Must find a significant alternative Fuel Salt source ASAP.

Assessor 2001

:::::::END:::::::

WATER HAZARD

Leviathan is known for its abundant fuel salts, but salts aren't the only thing in its waters. The massive sea is home to the last living remnants of the Age of Monsters—the colossal Morack eels. The Moracks were first discovered when the Guild arrived to extract the salt-laced water. They couldn't have asked for a better welcoming gift from this world.

After the Tempest eruption, salt fuel was far from the only thing in short supply. Available food was also at catastrophically low levels. The Guild desperately needed a new source of cheap, ready protein to drive continued expansion and sustain the Wilds. Following the advice of the Board of Sustenance, Guild food corporations invested heavily into the dangerous but lucrative Morack fishing industry.

Since then, the industry has exploded. Of the heavy cargo ship traffic flowing outbound from Leviathan, about half of the ships carry Morack products for distribution around the Wilds. The Guild is able to keep up this breakneck pace thanks to the Moracks' adaptations. The eel population seems to be responding, both to the accelerating fishing industry and the closing Red Moon, by growing in both size and number. This suits the Guild's needs well.

The Guild is looking for this kind of dedication from the fisherfolk as well—after all, they've been hand selected from worlds across the galaxy for their hardy constitutions, brute strength, and capacity for taking risks. Everything on Leviathan is a risk.

Fisherfolk are trained in the entire process of harvesting Morack. They learn to spot the eels in the sea, entice them with pungent bait, wrestle them to the platform, and climb down into their mouths to drive the killing blows—because nothing outside of a plasma blade can cut through a Morack's rigid chitinous armor. A successful catch is then butchered and processed, often right on the platform, and prepared for shipping off world. This harrowing work is performed day in and day out for months at a time. Fisherfolk live and work on networks of floating platforms that move as the tides move, following the dictatorial Red Moon. Every three lunar cycles they are awarded a week of time spent someplace dry and warm. Most return to Leviathan after a day or two, citing how much they miss the salty sea air.

"No way people who eat a can of brined Morack know that some fisherfolk crawled down a gaping mouth filled with barbed teeth to put that meat in that can."
// WOVER, PLATFORM 96 //

SHOCK RISK

The Morack fishing industry relies on hundreds of platforms strung together in floating networks that move with the tide through the endless sea of Leviathan. These platforms need power. There aren't many options for power on this violent water-filled world, but there is one that stands out—the lightning.

The relentless hurricanes that ravage the sky generate a constant battering wind, an endless beat of thunder, and most importantly, a ceaseless barrage of lightning strikes. The Guild recognized the potential of this energy source early on and incorporated it into the design of the networked platforms. At first every fishing platform was equipped with its own lightning-collection conduits, but that meant that one stray spark would take out, not just the power generator, but the whole fishing operation.

After losing a few dozen platforms, Glimmer & Sheen's Director of Energy required all collection to occur on dedicated station platforms. Now there's one high-voltage lightning platform connected to each network of fishing platforms. Every lightning platform supplies power to a dozen fishing platforms, and there are battery backups for the moments when an errant spark takes out a power platform.

The process for harvesting lightning starts in the sky, where frequent strikes are drawn to the collection array and directed through a chain of capacitors that run down the receiving cable. The electricity is processed through banks of transformers and redirected to the working platforms via underwater cables or the large storage cell batteries that are filled on the lightning harvesting platform.

The electricity from these platforms is in high demand across the fishing platforms, but the biggest energy drainers are the starship dock platforms—one per network—where the crated Morack is shipped off world. Starship dock platforms consume about half the output of the networked lightning platform; they need the energy to counter starship thrust and stabilize the pad for takeoffs and landings. (Luckily, water tankers bound for Glance don't have to worry about landing platforms, as they're able to extract water through a giant straw-like extension while they skim slow and low over the stormy seas.)

With energy demand being what it is, lightning station administrators are frequently approached with enticing offers to redirect additional power to platforms that are under quota for the season. Sometimes they comply, but other times they fill extra battery cells to ship off world where they can make more profit. They're in high demand for superlight engine spark igniters.

"If you dig deep enough you'll find you always have more to give. In this way, Leviathan might be the Guild's most valuable employee."
// BECKART, DIRECTOR ON THE BOARD OF EMPLOYEE MAINTENANCE //

SPINEWORKS

Consumer satisfaction ratings across the Wilds show that spine wine is the crowd-favorite among Leviathan exports. It's often left out of the first listing, as salt and Morack feed and fuel the galaxy, but the signature tang is enjoyed by workers from the bone quarries of Akkar to the hydroponic fields of Three Rings to the mines of Seeda—even the folks of far-flung Hox import their fair share of the irresistible drink. It's something to look forward to after a long, hard day.

First discovered by the fisherfolk of Leviathan, spine wine is the fermented spinal fluid of the Morack eel. Fermentation is key, as the first fisherfolk discovered through trial and error. If the fluid is not fermented, its neurotoxic properties can lead to visual and aural hallucinations. Fermentation breaks down the neurotoxins, leaving only the satisfying tang.

This fermentation takes place on dedicated spine wine platforms on the Leviathan sea. Much rarer than fishing, lightning, or starship platforms, spine wine platforms are often isolated from networks, are self-powered, and tend to be built on extremely tall stilts for stability, which is important for the fermentation process. Many are attached to the equally rare jagged rocky outcroppings that are tall enough that their peaks stay above the tide level even when the Red Moon is at its nearest.

Spine wine platforms receive deliveries of harvested Morack from fishing platforms that cast off the smallest catches. Too small to justify butchering and processing, these Morack can be sold whole, but won't be shipped off world until their spines are fully drained.

Draining can take a few days to a week, depending on the length, age, and constitution of the Morack. It's not something that can be rushed, or the spinal fluid will separate and become thick, goopy, and foul-tasting.

Of note, the neurotoxic chemicals of spinal fluid are the same chemicals that Morack eels eject when they are in distress, alerting others to come to their rescue. If too much of the spinal fluid from the draining Morack drips into the water, the platform will be swarmed by vengeful, merciless eels.

After draining, the fluid spends another few months on the platform being filtered, treated, fermented, and diluted for packaging and shipping. Most transport ships that carry Morack off Leviathan have a dedicated Spine Wine deck.

"It's a bit sharp going down, but sometimes sharp is just what you need after a dull day."
// ANONYMOUS WORKER, BONE QUARRY, AKKAR //

GLANCE'S BOUNTY

Leviathan is a world of endless sea, a single body of water covers the whole planet—violent and raging. The weather system on Leviathan is a deadly mix of warring hurricanes and massive tidal shifts, both of which are triggered by the heavy Red Moon that hangs so low in the sky that it breaks atmosphere and draws water from the sea up into its orbit. As it moves across the horizon, the Red Moon takes the tide with it, pulling the sea along with such force that on the opposite side of the world there’s a small mass of exposed seabed. This ever-shifting dry land is surrounded by towering walls of water, supported in their unnatural position by the gravitational might of the Red Moon. The pace of the circling land mass at low tide has increased in recent years as the Red Moon gives into Leviathan’s gravity bit by bit dropping closer and closer to the planet, making its trip around shorter every day.

This ticking clock is one the Guild has its eye on as the sea of Leviathan is one of the most critical cornerstones of the galaxy. It’s brimming with the fuel salts that can be processed to make salt fuel for superlight travel. Leviathan is one of the only worlds in the Wilds known to contain this fuel salt en masse. Before the Tempest, salt fuel was shipped to the Wilds from the Core Worlds, but in what remains of the galaxy, Leviathan seems to stand alone as a fuel salt stockpile.

The Directorate of Salt Fuel Resourcing is in the midst of research aimed at developing better tools for detection, environment replication, and synthetic production trials. Until any of these measures succeed, Leviathan will continue to be the principal source in the salt fuel production pipeline.

That pipeline spans worlds, as extraction and processing are nearly impossible tasks to complete on Leviathan thanks to the brutal waters and vicious weather. Instead of engaging in a constant battle with the massive sea, the Guild ships the valuable salt-rich waters to the world of Glance, Leviathan’s antithesis. There, two scorching suns do the work of evaporating the waters, leaving behind the salts that are then processed into salt fuel. It's the connection between these two worlds that allows the connection of the entire Wilds. This dependency underlines the importance of spacelanes and the Guild’s constant exchange of goods and services; all fuel products coming out of Glance are actually coming out of Leviathan.

"Only a connected galaxy can stay connected. So we must ask ourselves, how was it that the galaxy first became connected? How did this all begin?"
// FIGMEN, GALACTIC PHILOSOPHER //

PICKLED SEAWEED

Leviathan is a dying world. The catastrophic tug of war between this liquid planet and its large red moon, the source of its massive systems of storms and unbelievable tidal shifts, cannot go on much longer. Soon—10,000, maybe 20,000 years from now—the rest of that moon will spiral in, bringing its ancient partnership to a cataclysmic end.

And the eels know it. Or at least they can instinctually sense it. The danger has pushed their reproductive cycles into overdrive. In their long history on this world, that evolutionary trait has served them well and helped their kind become the dominant and now almost singular species. But this is one threat they will not overcome. Their doom is written on the face of that angry moon.

This is a world of violence, danger, and bounty. Even in its agitated state, the deep dark waters of Leviathan provide the Wilds with two of the most critical components of a stellar society: food and fuel. The food comes in the form of eel products: filets, links, paste, cans, jerky, patties, straws, pickled, cured, freeze-dried, ground, jellied, and more. Seaweed is also pickled, packaged, and sold, but as more of an afterthought, and only if there's room on the outgoing transports.

"Leviathan, if it does not kill you, might make you rich. Approach with caution."
// UNKNOWN //