Pan

Map of Pan

Pan is a modestly populated mining planet in the Illyria Unaffiliated Zone. Although hosting rich deposits of minerals including Illyrian Bluegem, siccatite, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths, the size and intensity of extraction operations is limited by the extreme and perpetual storms that plague the planet’s atmosphere, making flight from the surface extraordinarily dangerous in all but a few sheltered regions. Long-distance railways link these outposts to the distant mines. Pan's major cities are governed by a federation of municipalities which coordinates planetary policy, although most major institutions have been totally or partially subsumed by the Ixo Syndicate, a regional shipping cartel. Outside the sheltered urban corridors and dense railway junction live a number of itinerant groups known as the Storm Nomads; while small communities can be found in most settlements on the planet, and they are known to wander the storm-lands, they have been remarkably successful at evading attempts by the Syndicate to penetrate and subjugate their communities. Recently, the simmering conflict between nomads and the Syndicate has exploded into open war, with the Storm Nomads attempting to unseat the Syndicate by force.

Key Metrics

Population: 101,352,496

Surface Area: 539.2 Square Kilometers

GDP: 79.3 million gigawatts

Day Length: 23.7 Standard Hours

Average Surface Gravity: 9.39 m/s^2

Notable Population Centers

Most settlements on Pan are mining towns or storm nomad shelter outposts. The few major population centers are largely spaceports, built in the handful of places where terrain and climate combine to allow somewhat reliable flight to orbit through the storms.

Ixo City

Ixo City is located in an inland valley in the planet’s northern highlands, at coordinates 52N,13E. Due to its high elevation and quirks of the local climate, the atmosphere over Ixo City is among the most peaceful on Pan. Ixo city is the headquarters for the Ixo Syndicate, and is said to have been its first major base of operations. It is also the seat of planetary government. Its population is approximately 2.4 million, concentrated in the steeper valley walls to maximize the area available for spaceport and logistics facilities on the flatter valley floor.

Steepshore

Steepshore is a southern coastal spaceport nestled between sheer mountains and the rough coastline of the southern ocean, at 15S,34W. With a population of 1.2 million, it is much smaller than Ixo City, but is favored by independent shippers and smugglers for its distance from the Syndicate’s central bases and correspondingly lesser interference in local trade.

Xinto Peak

Located in the central planes of the fertile equatorial regions, Xinto Peak is a city built on a mountain whose summit is above the worst layers of the planet's storms. It is the smallest of the major spaceports, sharply limited by its small surface area capable of holding runways, The city is divided into an upper and a lower region, with a large number of cable cars, cog railways, and steep winding roads connecting the rail yards, housing, and industrial zones in the lowlands with the spaceport at the peak.

New Analleon

The only spaceport on a small continent in the planet's southern ocean, New Analleon is the most culturally distinct of the major population centers on Pan, and the least dominated by the Syndicate.

Blackmoss

Situated at the major rail junction between the Ixo City, Xinto Peak, and Steepshore, Blackmoss is not itself a

Economy

Pan’s economy is largely based on the export of minerals in minimally refined form and Illyrian Bluegem. Major mineral exports include cobalt, copper, rare earths, lithium, nickel, gold, and tungsten. Despite the unstable climate, farmers in the Steepshore lowlands are able to produce most of the food consumed by the spaceports and mining colonies, while the storm nomads are by and large self-sufficient. While some manufacturing industry is present, almost all advanced machinery and equipment is imported from off-world.

Climate and Ecology

Much of the surface of Pan is rocky and wind-blasted badlands coated in lichens and mosses strong enough to cling to the rocks in the face of the almighty gales. Larger plants are restricted to the lees of hills and other geological abutments. Most animals are small isopods which live amongst the surface mosses. There are only a handful of large animals, of which by far the most widespread and iconic is the giant crab, an eight-legged shelled creature which grazes upon moss in large migratory herds. Known as Homerids, these creatures are the primary pack beasts of the storm nomads, far more reliable in the rough and unforgiving terrain than any reasonably-priced vehicle.