Description
Status: Status: Active Black Site, An Authority prison complex erased from most charts. Few who enter leave with their name intact.
Suns: one
Moons: none
Thalor IX — Planetary Definition
Thalor IX is an Authority black-site world deliberately selected for its hostility to life. From orbit, the planet presents as a bruised sphere — vast expanses of iron-red and sickly gray broken by slow, polluted cloud systems. There are no oceans and no reflective bodies of water, only desiccated basins that suggest something vital was stripped away long ago. The world does not gleam; it absorbs light, dull and reluctant to be seen.
The atmosphere is thin and toxic, composed primarily of carbon dioxide and nitrogen with lingering industrial particulates from earlier extraction eras. Unprotected respiration is impossible. Even filtered air carries a persistent metallic taste that irritates the lungs. Surface winds rarely howl; instead they scrape across the terrain, dragging fine mineral dust in long whispering sheets that can sound disturbingly like distant voices.
Geologically, Thalor IX is dominated by vast rust-dark plains interrupted by ancient volcanic provinces. Long-dead calderas scar the crust like healed wounds, while immense canyon systems carve jagged networks across the surface—some wide enough to consume the horizon. A global coating of iron oxide gives the planet its muted blood-red coloration.
At both poles, fragile ice caps composed of water and carbon dioxide persist in layered deposits, though centuries of abrasive wind have left them visibly eroded and unstable.
The planet’s most defining environmental feature is its dust activity. Continental-scale storms move continuously across the surface, with some systems rising nearly a mile into the thin atmosphere and lasting for months at a time. From orbit, these storms resemble spreading bruises across the planetary skin.Encircling the world is a dense lattice of Authority surveillance satellites forming a fully integrated detection matrix. Sensor webs overlap in layered geometry, eliminating conventional blind zones. Patrol algorithms continuously shift focus patterns in subtle, unpredictable cycles, making unauthorized approach extremely difficult even for advanced stealth vessels.
Operational Assessment: Thalor IX is not merely remote — it is intentionally final. The environment, orbital surveillance grid, and prison infrastructure together form a containment ecosystem designed to ensure that escape, survival, and anonymity all fail simultaneously.