Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Xyman

Xyman is a planetoid belt system (and replacing Shionthy from the adventure). From the Pilot's Guide:

Xyman consists of a single gas giant and a planetoid belt that has a surprising amount of antimatter planetoids. The population of just over 8000 people lives on several stations, and the entire system is mostly run by the Imperium. The TL 9 stations have early grav plates. Xyman Station is a class C port that only supplies unrefined fuel. There are 4 interior berths for ships up to 1000 tons, a dozen shuttle bay sized bays. Many ships just move to a station keeping orbit and use shuttles. There are also several smaller stations scattered about, such as the Lochlyn 9 station that is run by the League of Planets.

Some spacers swear they have heard defunct military radio codes being broadcast here, but exploration is dangerous due to the contra-terrain planetoids scattered throughout the ring.

The small Scout waypoint station houses about 30 Scouts and is posted in the L4 Trojan of the gas giant, Geron. The Trio Hab is a large industrial station owned by Ling-Standard Products that processes the contra-terrain a safe distance from the port. It is run at TL A with some equipment at higher tech levels.

 

I'm using a couple 0Hr stations as well. The small Imperial Scout Station is Waypoint 39 and the League asteroid station is the Lochlyn 9. Sadly, we are not at a table so if we actually get here, I can't just set out a few rocks and the minis to make the scene. I may do that anyway for myself and take a picture.



Additional background for Xyman. It is on the border of the League of Planets but has a captured government: the Imperium is using this to mine anti-matter. Being outside the League borders, but a source of potential energy, the League has established the Lochlyn IX station. It is a few hundred kilometers from the Imperial Trio Hab which is processing the antimatter. It is both a research station for antimatter as well as keeping an eye on the Imperium. As such, there are two megacorporations at play here: General Products (previously outlined) and Ling Standard which is in charge of the Trio Hab:

Ling-Standard Products: Originally a mining firm (and still very active in that area) LSP currently engages in a wide spectrum of activities including (but by no means limited to) manufacture of electronic equipment of all sorts, ground and air vehicles, starships and starship armaments systems, drive systems, power systems, computer systems and software, small arms, and a variety of other items. Concerned to a small degree with banking, insurance, and other activities, LSP maintains mining and manufacturing facilities throughout the lmperium and beyond.

Most of Xyman is TL9: the League is stretched a bit thin at times, and so the stations are kept to a lower TL than they could be to simplify maintenance. Grav plates are in use at all stations, though there may be a ring station that rotates for gravity.

Interestingly enough, antimatter has a few conflicting use cases according to various sources. The Wiki says: 

By TL–9, most cultures can make great quantities of antimatter, though at great expense, and by TL–10 most cultures can store it for extended periods of time. Since it is extremely useful for a number of different applications, it likely exists in any TL10+ culture to some extent for various uses. Due to its inherent danger in sufficiently large quantities, most sensible cultures will do their antimatter research and production operations in specialized orbital containment facilities and highly regulate both its production and use. 

Yet the chart shows antimatter as an energy source at TL 17! T5 has it as an early tech at TL 16. Anyway, that Ling-Standard Products station is not actually part of the adventure per se, but it could be. It is an Argos class station:


Orbital mechanics wise, the gas giant & Scout Station are going to have some interesting travel times. Ended up asking an AI as, while I really should do the math, I fear I am getting lazy. Based on the belt being about 1.5 AU out, and the gas giant at 4.5 AU out, the closet they get is 3AU, the furthest 6 AU.

Travel times between the Scout base and Xyman Port is actually not nearly as bad as one would think. Having a constant, unlimited acceleration really changes things for space travel! Which means the Scouts could visit the station to get a break from their smaller station, or if need be, theplayers may get to the Scout Station. I know one character is a Scout.

Accel (g)

Accel (m/s²)

Min distance (3 AU) time (days)

Max distance (6 AU) time (days)

1 g

9.81

≈ 4.95 days

≈ 7.01 days

2 g

19.62

≈ 3.50 days

≈ 4.95 days

3 g

29.43

≈ 2.86 days

≈ 4.05 days

4 g

39.24

≈ 2.48 days

≈ 3.50 days

5 g

49.05

≈ 2.22 days

≈ 3.13 days

6 g

58.86

≈ 2.02 days

≈ 2.86 days


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