Aurinko

Rogue Trader: Drake Dynasty
GM
Adam
Dynastic Power
Character Level: 31,250 XP / Rank 8
Profit Factor: 43𝖕
Command Crew
Lord-Captain Drake Navigator Primus Mordecai Arch-Millitant Winter Astropath Solarus
House Drake Fleet
Aurea Albion Hound of Albion • Abhorrent Fortuitous Purpose • Penance of Iocanthos
Drake Trade Empire
Damaris • Scintilla • Kulth Svard • Dross • Aurum Sepheris Secundus • Tennenberg Killian's Rest
Drake Expeditions
Open Missions
Grand Endevours
Personnel
Magistrates • Retainers Militants Svard 1st • Stormtroopers House Drake Expeditionary Army
Assets
Materiel Aerospace Craft • Ground Vehicles
Armoury Wargear • Relics and Artifacts
Other Estate Secrets and Contacts • Awards and Honors
The Galaxy
Locations Calixis Sector Koronus Expanse • Periphery Subsector Personalities Peers of the Imperium Rival Rogue Traders
Utilities
Rogue Trader Timeline House Rules Guide and Lore

[Intro]

Astrography

Aurinko - the star of Svard system, Aurinko is a Class M RGB-III red giant. With a mass double that of Sol and diameter hundreds of times bigger, Aurinko is believed to have swallowed most of the inner planets.

Jatti - is the largest planetary body of Svard system. This Jupiter-class gas giant has captured most of the remaining planetary bodies of Svard into its orbit. It also presents a significant navigation hazard as its atmosphere is being slowly drained by Aurinko's proximity, creating a spectacular particle storm. It was in the upper layers of Jatti that Lord Drake finally discovered the ‘’Whisperer’’, and ancient warship of Yu’voth origin.

Cog – is a tectonically stable small moon half again as close to Jatti as Svard. Cog would be unremarkable among Jatti’s planetoid moons were it not for its abundance of rare earth and heavy metals and remarkable geological stability given its location.

Inner Asteroid Ring – Between the planetoids of Svard and Cog sits a ring of asteroids in a constant fluxing orbit around Jatti and intermingled among themselves. A good half of the asteroids are simply chunks of ice, with the rest a mix of silicoid and ferrous. Silence, with its abundance of marble, is the only asteroid so far to be unique enough to warrant note.

Svard - is the largest moon of Jatti, as well as the most distant of the settled moons. Mechanicus Astrographers believe that Svard used to be an independent planetary body until it was captured by Jatti's gravitational pull during Aurinko’s expansion phase. Certainly the fact that the planet contains massive river basins despite having a temperature that only rises above freezing in a few locations on the equator lends credence to this theory. The planet’s oceans remain liquid under a layer of ice, warmed by geothermal vents. It has a breathable atmosphere, as well as native animal and plant life, though most of it resides in the oceans.

Demographics

As the only planet in the system that does not require void technology to survive, Svard in naturally the largest settlement in the system, it is home to four of the five million residence of the system.

History

The Aurinko system was first mapped by Rogue Trader Wilhelm Thaurn of House Drake in 682.M39. He made a note of the habitable planet and potential for a promethium refinery and a unique mablesque asteroid before moving on to other projects. Two years later he sold the asteroid to a religious statuary group, who set up a monastery.

In 701.M439 he discovered a derelict Yu’voth battleship. Knowing that it would be dangerous to smuggle the ship through the Maw before he had a buyer, he towed the craft to the Aurinko system and hid it among Jetti’s clouds, who’s massive particle emissions would hide the crafts presence. Planing to use the profit from the ship to boost his place in the House, he informed no family members of its existence.

Founding of a Colony

After three years of unsuccessfully attempting to locate a buyer for the xeno craft and a close call during the exploration of the system another Rogue Trader, Wilhelm founded the colony of Svard as a cover to keep other explorers away from the system. Although some family members were curious, the system had enough benefits to justify Wilhelm funding the colony project himself. Five years later, with Installation 23 just starting construction, Wilhelm’s ship disappeared, presumed lost with all hands.

Unaware of its original purpose, other members of House Drake took over management of the colony, eventually completing Installation 23. The profit from the high-grade promethium refinery proved to be sufficient for the well-connected Drake dynasty to in turn pay for the construction of the roving factorium of Cog. Just a little two centuries of its founding, the colony of Svard was breaking even, and nearly self-sufficient.

The success of Svard, however, coincided with the fall of House Drake. Visits from members of the dynasty became less frequent as their number of ships decreased. Under the regency of High Factorum Marinas the Mad (283.M40 to 440.M40), the all references to the ownership and colony of Svard disappeared from the Drake House records. The Drake Dynasty’s last connection to the colony, a writ of trade from there to Damaris, was finally sold off to a free captain in 912.M40. The colony would continue to exist and grow slowly as an independent colony for nearly a millennia.

The Whisperers

In 766.M41 the sudden closure of the Synosol warp storm sent a warp energy shockwave through most of the foundling worlds. It is believed that this energy “jumpstarted” the derelict Yu’voth ship, bringing it back to life. It then slowly returned to its original mission of destroying humanity, starting with the Aurinko system. Unable to contact any other Yu’voth, and unknowing the relative abandonment of the system, it started subtly, using its insidious mind control ability to indoctrinate nearby humans.

The first indications the government of Svard had that something was going on in their system was the increasing reluctance of free captains to continue trading with the colony. This hesitancy was initially dismissed though, along with the necessity to relocate the citadel of psychers, as a warp resonance within Jetti. Over the next few years, a few free traders stopped using the route, but enough stayed to prevent a complete economic breakdown.

Four years later Svard suffered an unexplained mutiny onboard Installation 23. The mutineers, which consisted of nearly three quarters of the population of the station across all levels of the organization, swiftly took the station intact and with a minimum of casualties on either side. Knowing that the high-grade promethium was the only export keeping the traders in the system,

Economics

Cog – is the second hub of Svard's economy, with a significant Adeptus Mechanicus industrial facility constructed on the surface, where they can directly refine the planetoid’s minerals. Its proximity to Jatti, however, means that approaching Cog can be tricky at times.

Silence - Technically the oldest inhabited place in Svard system, Silence is a single asteroid within the belt that was settled by a group of religiously-motivated sculptors, artists and monks nearly a thousand years before the planet Svard.

Installation 23 - the primary source of exports and the draw of Rogue Traders on the way to Ragged Worlds and Heathen Worlds, Installation 23 is a huge prometheum extraction and refinery station in low orbit over Jatti. The unstable gas giants particle emissions allow Installation 23 to be one of the few producers of high grade pormetheum within the Expanse. Although thought lost to the whisperers, the Drake Dynasty located and recovered the station, and at great expense has finally gotten it running again.