Astehu

Astehu is the name given to the scattered pieces of what once were the two planet’s moons and no small part of the planets themselves. Torn apart into an orbital ring akin to an asteroid belt, countless objects circle between the two planets in a figure eight formation, frequently colliding with one another and slowly amalgamating into larger bodies.

This area is the heart of trade and innovation, a wild west controlled by no single nation or corporation. Many lay claim to specific asteroids, but unless you’re living on it, there is no such thing as a sure or stable claim. As such, the rings belong to the Daraz, who have migrated the majority of their population there. There they dwell in hollowed out realms, with great cylinder cities which spin through space, hidden in the asteroids, and providing artificial gravity via their rotation. The largest of these, the great fortress-starcraft known as the Citadel, is so massive that its interior surface area is analogous to a small country.

These are the exceptions rather than the rule. Instead, most common are mag-locked ports of call and trade, where mining expeditions, traders, pirates, and privateers meet to barter, gamble, repair, and heal. The Astehu is also where Ra Rarkhir Temple of the Bonded is located, home to that peculiar order. But it is at once an area of great tension, and great potential, where cultures, much like the countless bodies around them, clash and collide, often violently. Folk here are particularly militant, few go unarmed, and battles are not uncommon. Of course, it’s not just to protect against one another. There haven’t been any great swarms of Phage in almost a century, but there are still plenty out there, and seems to be more every day.