Strategic Location: On the outside of the rear Yaeger
border.
Temperature: 54% Standard.
Atmosphere: Thin, with slightly lower than the average
percentage of oxygen, resulting in shortness of breath and
respiratory problems, breath mask recommended for those otherwise
predisposed to problems of that type.
Hydrosphere: 83% of the surface of Rshukas is covered
in a permanent layer of frozen water. 94% of the water of Rshukas
has a salinity between 0% and 3%.
Gravity: 121% Standard.
Terrain: Rshukas is dominated by a number of
exceedingly steep and sharp mountain ranges, caused by the motion
of it's highly active tectonic plates. The world is also routinely
affected by massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as an effect
of that tectonic activity.
Mineral Resources: Massive reserves of duridium, gold,
raw durasteel, silver, platinum, palladium, and ytterbitrium. Some
gemstone crystals can be found in the regions of granitic
pegmatite, some of which can reach great sizes, particularly topaz,
almandine garnet, and quartzes.
Length of Day: 30 standard hours.
Length of Year: 450 local days.
Sapient Species: None native.
Capital City: Rshukas City.
Other Cities: Datrukberg, Boreolis Strike, and the
mostly subterranean Obart complex are the other major cities of
Rshukas.
Starport: Rshukas City is home to a planetary class
port, and there are several standard class ports scattered across
the planet.
Population (within +/- 1%): 32,947,500 Shakkur, 43,800
aliens of various types, including humans.
Government: Representative democracy, with a twenty
member legislative council, a single executive, and an elected
military commander in chief and chief judicial authority.
Tech Level: High Space. Rshukas is one of the richest
Shakkur worlds, and is the primary customer of the shipyards of
Karshur, as well as the source for much of the raw material for
those yards.
Major Exports: Minerals and processed ores, fish.
Major Imports: Technology, manufactured goods.
System: Beruvite
Star: Beruv
Name
Planet Type
Moons
Khur
Scalding Rock
2
Mackhu
Swamp World
1
Derum
Terrestrial Warm
0
Olbach
Terrestrial Cold
3
Rshukas
Frigid Terrestrial
1
Mursha
Ice World
2
Sura
Airless Rock
0
Mashal
Airless Rock
1
System Capsule:
Khur: Close to the very hot Beruv, Khur is uninhabitably hot.
Mackhu: This world is very hot, and very rich in life of
various types, with a pair of pre-stone age native sentient
species.
Derum: A large and pleasant world, dominated by plains and
temperate forests, Derum is home to many Shakkur who made their
fortunes on Rshukas, and want to live in a more pleasant climate.
Olbach: Similar to Rshukas, with somewhat milder
temperatures, Olbach has none of the mineral wealth that attracted
the Shakkur to Rshukas.
Rshukas: See below.
Mursha: Home to a few small mines, Mursha is devoid of native
life.
Sura: An outlying system, Sura has some diamond reserves of
limited interest.
Mashal: Very far from Beruv, Mashal is small and
uninteresting.
Planetary Capsule:
Flora and fauna: The landmasses of Rshukas are not
widely inhabited. Some stands of pines and other conifers thrive
where the terrain shelters them from the worst of the Rshukas'
violent weather. Massive, heavily furred varieties of wooly bantha
roam the wastes, sniffing out patches of lichen, and the
pantherlike white Ghel track the bantha. Glau Hawks chase the
small burrowing marsupial Umchai, but the vast majority of the ice
sheets are devoid of life.
The seas of Rshukas are an entirely different story. These
cold, nutrient rich waters are inhabited by vast shoals of fish,
invertebrates, and saurian megafauna. These shoals stretch for
miles, and are composed of literally millions of fish. The Shakkur
settlers have not ignored this resource, and massive, icebreaking
fishing trawlers provide over 90% of the foodstuffs consumed on
Rshukas, and fish are an important secondary export.
Sentient Species: There are no native sentient species.
History: One of the first worlds settled by the
Shakkur, Rshukas attracted a wide variety of fortune seekers and
prospectors after it's mineral wealth was discovered, and Rshukas
quickly gained a reputation as a rough and tumble frontier world,
with even more than the usual Shakkur resistance to authority of
any type. However, as time passed, Rshukas soon became the second
most stable Shakkur world, after Karshur.
The increasing wealth of the planet was responsible. Those
prospectors that struck it rich had no desire to lose their wealth
to roving bandits, and could afford to pay for private security
forces. Several of these newly wealth miners found that their
interests coincided, and soon joined their security forces,
protecting themselves and all other miners within their territory.
As prosperity spread, stability was desired by the population at
large, and from those mutual protection societies, a stable
planetary government emerged.
Since that time, the government has purchased and crewed a
large fleet, established an effective and efficient constabulary,
and maintained steady economic growth without providing sufficient
provocation to cause it's overthrow, an unusual accomplishment for
a Shakkur government. Rshukas has signed trade agreements with the
Yaeger, but closely monitors and restricts Yaeger shipping in it's
solar system, a usual position for Shakkur worlds near Yaeger space
and far from any of the other major powers.