Welcome to Shardpoint
2024 / 03 / 27
Hello Keleres! In preparation for the upcoming release of War for the Throne, we’ve been keeping an eye out for any documents that seem like they might be related. Just the other day we got this report about a particular outpost that seems to have some outsized importance.
System Recon Report – Code Level Viridum
Subject: Shardpoint, Kirostraz System
Freelance Scout Tak Mirs reporting:
I swear, if you Keleres keep sending me to these miserable backwater worlds, I’m going to double my rates.
Shardpoint is an outpost on a moon (also called Shardpoint) that orbits the gas giant Kirostraz, the only major planet in the Kirostraz system. The place is, in my professional opinion, a dump. The moon is big enough for a proper atmosphere, but that atmosphere is freezing cold. In fact, it’s a miracle there’s any biosphere at all, much less a breathable oxygen atmosphere. What air exists is mostly due to an unremarkable assortment of microbial slow life, and an invasive plant called ghost-root. It’s used in mining operations (I’m not sure how) but apparently you can also make it into a broth that has some narcotic effects.
The entire population of the moon (which is no more than a thousand, and many are transients) is clustered around Shardpoint’s single spaceport. The spaceport facilities and its adjacent power generators are run by one Bridget Lee, who is the closest thing Shardpoint has to a mayor. The outpost has nominal affiliation with the Mentak Coalition, but the word “nominal” is doing some heavy lifting. I saw no Coalition presence the entire time I was there.
All this is incredibly interesting, and I could file Shardpoint under Places I Don’t Want to Live and be done. But I don’t earn my extravagant fees by reporting the basics. Some deeper digging turned up the following:
- Most locals think Lee is a former smuggler made good. But I found a “Commander Bridget Lee” in Federation military records who retired after a very long and very successful (read: violent) career. Even more interesting was what I didn’t find: no records of her at all between retirement and showing up on Shardpoint. Maybe she’s not so “ex” after all?
- Shardpoint’s position is less than 100 light years from the Primor Gate. Sure it’s not on any major trade routes, but Mentak Coalition ships can reach it easily through the wormhole, and it’s within striking distance of Jol and Nar, Mecatol Rex, Primor, and Archon Tau and Ren. You can’t tell me the Mentak weren’t thinking “forward base” when they made Shardpoint part of their little Coalition. But if that’s true, where are their ships?
- One business that does thrive on Shardpoint is issuing printed Mentak Coalition credit chits. Obviously, the only reason you need physical currency is to conduct shady business, and the Coalition wouldn’t empower a trader to do so unless there was plenty of shady business that needed conducting! It took me a while, but I found out who; a Hacan named Craag. He does his business out of a large, glassed-over bazaar called the Longhouse.
That concludes my report on Shardpoint. No more ice balls for a while, if you don’t mind. I’d like to scout a place with some sun next time.
Well it seems like Shardpoint is a very boring and not at all suspicious place! Sorry to have wasted your time, and we’re sure it has nothing to do with escalating galactic events! Of course, if you think we’re wrong, you can find out for yourself when War for the Throne releases on April 12th!
