St. Jean

St. Jean
St. Jean 3151.svg
System Information
X:Y Coordinates-467.418 : 1066.007[e]
Star names1
Spectral classK1V[1]
Recharge time192 hours[1]
Recharge station(s)Zenith[2]
Planet(s)2[2]

Political Affiliation[edit]

  • ca. 2750 - colony established, affiliation unknown[2]
  • 2825 - "St. Jean - as the monks called it -" mentioned in diary of questionable authenticity[3]
  • 3050 - independent colony of Franciscan monks; occupied by Clan Jade Falcon after 13 January[2]
  • 3059 - Clan Jade Falcon[1]
  • 3095 - unknown/contact lost; implication that the colony was destroyed, abandoned or otherwise lost[4]

St. Jean II[edit]

St. Jean II
Astrophysical
System position2[2]
Jump Point distance5[1]
Moons1[2]
Geophysical
Atmospheric pressure(thin and declining atmosphere; see text)[citation needed]
Highest native life(see text)[citation needed]
History and Culture
Population<200 (3050)[citation needed]
Government and Infrastructure
CapitalSt. Jean monastery[citation needed]

Planetary History[edit]

St. Jean (also occasionally written with a dash, i.e. St-Jean) is a colony in the Deep Periphery, approximately 150 light years spinward of Nueva Castile. It is unclear when exactly it was first colonized; as of the mid-thirty-first century, certain structures on St. Jean were described as "over three centuries old" already. The system notably features a space station at its zenith jump point as of 3050 that was described as a full-blown DropShip maintenance yard.

By 3050 the colony was home to an order of Franciscan friars, who would activate the otherwise mothballed space station by means of a pair of long range shuttles to service visiting spaceships in exchange for needed goods. During Operation REVIVAL, the colony was occupied by Clan Jade Falcon and subsequently used as a surface cargo waystation for Jade Falcon invasion forces.

Prior to 3095, Interstellar Expeditions sent three JumpShips to St. Jean and Ghent. None of those ships returned.[5] It was assumed that the colony had been destroyed, and St. Jean was marked accordingly on an Interstellar Expeditions star map as of 3095.[4]

The St. Jean colony is situated on the system's second planet. The planet was described as a reddish-brown world with a thin layer of clouds ringing the equatorial region.[2]

The colony, located in a deep equatorial rift called Trinity Valley, had once been set up to house tens of thousands of people but by 3050, barely 200 Franciscan monks lived at the monastery settlement which was the only settlement on the planet. An array of nav beacons is available to guide approaching DropShips into the rift. Unspecified terraforming machines are mentioned, as is an ancient weather station on top of Mount Dolus in the Fraticelli mountain range, thousands of kilometers away from the monastery settlement (and apparently to the east, as the upper plains 1,100 km west of the Fraticelli mountain foothills seem to be located between the mountains and the colony). The Fraticelli mountains include the Benedict's Garden caldera, suggesting volcanic origin.[2]

The moon of St. Jean is falling towards the planet slowly, but much faster than had been predicted when the colony was initially set up. While expected to hit the surface several millennia down the road, it did draw the planet's atmosphere into space at a much higher rate than anticipated. As a result, the ancient terraforming machines could not keep up with the loss of atmosphere and most of the planetary surface was dead by 3050, with only the deep equatorial valley still able to sustain life. It was expected that there would be no breathable atmosphere left after twenty years, i.e. by ca. 3070.[2]

Military Deployment[edit]

3059[edit]

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 20 systems (0 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Ramsey 76.1 Santiago 168.9 Castile 195.1 Aragon 209.8
Galicia 211.8 Graystone 213.3 Kinbrace 214.5 Hallelujah 221.5
Glory 226.6 León 226.8 Granada 228.8 Córdoba 238.6
Valencia 247.7 Asturias 254.9 Khanquest 257.7 Navarre 259.5
Holdout 264.3 Danzig 279.9 Winston 280.9 Antwerp 281.2

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Explorer Corps, p. 52, "Known Jade Falcon Facilities"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Trial of Faith
  3. Jihad Secret: The Blake Documents, p. 123
  4. 4.0 4.1 Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3, p. 32
  5. Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3, p. 31
  6. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, pp. 107, 154, homeworld given as "Deep Periphery"

Bibliography[edit]