Duergan’s Star system is where the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure takes place. Part of the module is a short write-up of the system. Presented here for you enjoyment.
There might be a few tweaks to this after Bill looks over it but for the most part this is the final description of the star system. Bill wrote most of the background, I primarily did the astronomical data.
Duergan’s Star System
History
In -391 GFT, a starship from a distant point of origin crashed on a terrestrial world orbiting a yellow star. The Hawthorne was a rather large science research vessel that supported a crew of 100 Human scientists and technicians. The captain of the vessel, Dr. Duergan Mindner, identified it as a safe place to set down the failing ship, saving its crew but stranding them far from home. This was the first time Humans set foot on any of the worlds of the Frontier sector, and would become the start of their long legacy of influence. Just under 40 years later, Human migration vessels began their voyage from afar to make these worlds their homes.
Today, Hawthorne and Parnell have heavy Human populations. These two habitable planets reside within the habitable zone of the system’s primary Star. Its people share a cultural and economic brotherhood with those of the Kassel and Bhant Systems, the three comprising a region known as “The Ring,” a central hub of cultural, corporate, industrial, and economic activity for the Galactic Federation.
The local government of Duergan’s Star, headquartered on Parnell, is a member of the Galactic Federation and has been since its founding. The Federation keeps a naval garrison here and operates three navigational buoys, providing secure trade routes to Kassel (4 LY away), Bhant (4 LY away), and Krighton (11 LY away, gateway to the Asimaar Prelacy).
Star System
The star itself is a yellow G7V main sequence star with a mass of 0.9 galactic standard solar masses (1.795×1030kg). It has a luminosity of 0.693 stellar luminosities (2.69×1026 W) and a diameter of 0.93 standard diameters (1.29 million km). Its surface temperature is 5472K.
Most of the star system is relatively close to the planet (less than 13 AU) but it has one distant world in the outer reaches. The Duergan’s Star system contains two asteroid belts, two habitable planets, an ice giant planet, and three other worlds. The FTL horizon is at 1.5 AU, 0.38 and 0.65 AU beyond the two habitable planets.
Inner Belt
The inner belt is a very high density asteroid belt filled with smaller objects that orbit between 0.2 and 0.4 AU from Duergan’s Star. There are considerable resources to be found by those that work the belt and numerous ships can be found here.
Wescott
Wescott is a large terrestrial planet orbiting 0.5 AU from the star. It has a surface gravity of 1.6g and is 1.34 standard diameters in size. It has six small moons that are asteroids captured from the inner belt. Its surface is covered with large impact craters – witness to regular bombardment by strays from the inner belt.
Hawthorne
Hawthorne was the first planet settled by humanity in the frontier. Despite its long history and large urban sprawls, Hawthorne is a remarkably clean planet. Founded by scientists who understood the need to be careful with their new world, the people have maintained that tradition over the centuries.
Hawthorne is a higher than average density world, Although it has a diameter of 11,097.9 km (0.87 standard), it has a surface gravity of 1.1g. It orbits 0.85 AU from the primary and has a warm pleasant climate with a day lasting 26.5 standard hours. It has four small moons.
Parnell
Parnell was settled much later after the Hawthorne colony was well established. Parnell is an ocean world with only a few very small island continents. These islands are completely covered with cities and overpopulated. The climate is very mild but not cold. The large oceans result in a bit more greenhouse warming and the planet is warmer than a typical terrestrial planet at this distance from its primary.
Parnell orbits 1.12 AU from Duergan’s Star and has a diameter of 8164 km. Its surface gravity is 0.9g and it rotates once every 21.3 hours. It has two moons. The mild climate, low gravity, and abundant beaches make tourism a major industry on the planet.
Outer Belt
The outer asteroid belt is not as dense and the inner belt (rating only a moderate density) but the individual objects in this belt are individually very large, often bordering on being minor planets themselves. Outpost Osiris is located on a medium sized asteroid in this belt. The belt is fairly wide with objects in this belt having orbits ranging from 1.6 to 2.8 AU from the star. Like the inner belt, there are considerable resources here and many mining operations are scattered throughout the belt.
Dungannon
Orbiting at a distance of 5.24 AU from Duergan’s Star, Dungannon is a dwarf planetoid 6250.5 km in diameter. It has a surface gravity of 0.53g and spins on its axis once every 75.5 hours. Dunganon has single large moon that is tidally locked to the planet (orbiting and also rotating once every 75.5 hours). This moon has a surface gravity of just under 0.1g. It has a diameter of 1722.2 km.
Coombs
Coombs is the system’s only Jovian planet and is classified as an Ice Jovian being composed of more methane and ammonia than pure hydrogen gas. It orbits 12.12 AU from the star, and has a diameter of 44646.7 km. It rotates once every 18 hours and has 37 moons ranging in size from small asteroids to o jects that are small worlds in their own right.
Winterbourne
The final, distant object in the system to be classified as a planet is the small dwarf planetoid Winterbourne. This cold, frigid planet orbits 78.83 AU from the star. It has a diameter of 3954.4 km and a surface gravity of only 0.21g. Like Dungannon, it rotates very slowly completing one rotation every 76.2 hours. Winterbourne is a solitary object with no moons. Lost in the clutter of small objects in the outer system, Winterbourne has only been considered a full plant for the past 43 years.
The following table summarizes the planetary data for the primary objects in the Duergan’s Star system.
| Name | Type | Distance (AU) | Diameter | Gravity (g) | Moons | Period (hrs) | Description |
| Inner Belt | Asteroids | 0.2-0.4 | small, very dense asteroid field | ||||
| Wescott | Terrestrial Planet | 0.50 | 1.34 | 1.60 | 6 | 44.1 | |
| Hawthorne | Terrestrial Planet | 0.85 | 0.87 | 1.10 | 4 | 26.5 | Walled, urban sprawls. Clean |
| Parnell | Terrestrial Planet | 1.12 | 0.64 | 0.90 | 2 | 21.3 | Vast Oceans. Overpopulated island cities |
| Outer Belt | Asteroids | 1.6-2.8 | Huge, moderate density | ||||
| Dungannon | Dwarf Planetoid | 5.24 | 0.49 | 0.53 | 1 | 75.5 | |
| Coombs | Jovian:Ice | 12.12 | 3.50 | 4.60 | 37 | 18.0 | |
| Winterbourne | Dwarf Planetoid | 78.83 | 0.31 | 0.21 | 0 | 76.2 |