Cepheus Setting 1: Subsector

I made some revisions on that last jump map and outlined the subsector.

By chance the subsector's two class-A starports are right next to each other, and they're pretty close to the center. The orange dotted lines denote regular or semi-regular commercial/passenger traffic.

Shénnóng is a high-pop industrial world, overdeveloped, polluted, controlled by rival megacorporations whose decadent executives squeeze productivity out of their workers.

Izanami is an arid world with an unbreathably thin atmosphere, but it's an abundant source of [some valuable heavy metal]. No one gains political power on this world who is not either part of, or a major contributor to, the mining guild.

Yemoja is 97% water, limited to small chains of volcanic islands. For centuries it has been ruled by the five families.

Lofoten once hosted the most impressive shipyard in the subsector, but no starships have been built there for at least a hundred years.

When the Federation collapsed -- it's been at least a hundred years now -- many worlds fell off the trade lanes. Certainly no ship with news from Earth has visited any world in this subsector for as long as anyone can remember. Those living in the more cosmopolitan worlds probably know little about the planets out on the edge of this subsector, let alone the birthplace of humankind.

Next steps: hooks. What's going on around here?

Cepheus Setting 1: Points of Departure

I had it in my head to create a thing, a big and awesome setting for the Cepheus Engine, inspired by ideas at the heart of Classic Traveller: space travel is uncommon, the space lanes are dangerous, worlds are often isolated, people in power often suck, characters are troublemakers who didn't have the good sense to retire to a quiet life.

I imagined a big sector of stuff, old Terra in the middle, the ruins of the old Federation, dissolved by greed and politics and war and who knows what else into isolated clusters, plagued by pirates.

And then I thought, crap, do I really want to make all that stuff? Would anyone need all that stuff?

Don't get me wrong. I think the ideas are still worthwhile. Just, I think it'd be better to start smaller.

Like Christopher Kubasik says over at Tales to Astound, start small.

So I think something practical to start with would look like this:

Imagine a bunch of isolated clusters like this, centered around A-class starports and/or high-pop worlds.

The bottom edge, Gliese 785, is 6 jumps from Earth via a jump-2 ship, or 9 hexes as the space crow flies. I think I'll tweak those jump routes so that those bottom worlds aren't regularly traveled and the way to Earth is basically unknown to those who live 'round these here parts. Assuming anyone cares about Earth. We're not all Dumarest wannabes.

But anyway, here's 14 worlds. A couple months of shenanigans easily, even if the characters only visit half of them. More if there's a good reason to revisit.

Maybe the thing has a jump-3 map like this, and then it has a not-detailed map of stars, with notes about what kinds of things would be in different regions, e.g. what is probably to spinward of this particular map.

For the systems above, planet details, local maps, rumor  and encounter tables, patrons...

That's the plan for now.