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Rudolph |
A fiery-red gas giant on the edge of the old Disarchy volume, about 120 LY counterspinwards of Lynga 2.
While initially the sole property of the caretaker god Santa Khan (who still remains as a worship figure to this day) the Rudolph system became the property of the NoCoZo in 6954. However, it was not until 10138 that the first wormhole link was established.
In essence a theme system, Rudolph caters to the combat-fetishism market. Once a much scorned and even loathed polity, many of its patrons found the commercialization of it by the NoCoZo somewhat shameful. In addition many, most notably the Zoeific Biopolity, condemned it for its continuous and ongoing cruelty to biological sentients.
Many SI:1's, including many corporate systems, prefer to book some time on Valhalla, Rudolph's 5th moon. Valhalla is a large (nearly the size of a terrestrial planet) moon, cold, gray and inhospitable where, for an exorbitant fee, players are afforded the luxury of commanding armies of sub-baseline clones into battle against each other. These armies make use of nothing but crude, chemical projectile weapons, artillery and internal-combustion vehicles as well as many (also cloned) beasts of burden.
To win a campaign in Valhalla, a participant must lead eir armies to conquer the majority of the world's cities, such as the capital Blitzengrad, which is rebuilt at the end of each game by advanced femtotech.
Another famous moon of the Rudolph polity is XMAS187, the first of the system's 13 moons to be terraformed. The surface of 187 consists almost entirely of enormous, sprawling urban areas of continental scale surrounded by deep, thick jungle. Many cyborgs and vecs come to 187 to hunt for biological sentients for "therapeutic reasons".
While there is much pressure on the NoCoZo to close the Rudolph system down, particularly from some rather wealthy and powerful proponents of sentient rights, it does not look likely. Since the NoCoZo took over the operation it has become embroiled in an endless legalwar with 50 large lobby groups that has lasted, thus far, 257 years.
