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Post by Insano-Man on Jan 9, 2019 22:06:32 GMT -5
This topic is a child of the Zorah's Eye article directory.DARK SPACEExtending into space over the Eye is a big cone of darkness that stretches as far out as high orbit. Inside it is absolutely nothing - so far as anyone on the outside can tell. The reality of it is that there are a few thousand ships, stations, harvester drones, and stray asteroids floating around inside at any given time. The truth is that, inside, light and most other concepts associated with perception only work about as far as you can throw them. Some people call it the "Black Sector" or the "Empty Expanse". The official title in most places follows the traditional naming pattern; Zorah's Gaze. SECTIONS- Dark Zone & Inner Glow- Gaze's Edge- Population
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Post by Insano-Man on Jan 11, 2019 23:55:27 GMT -5
DARK ZONE & INNER GLOW
The Gaze edges out the Scuttler Slice and the Well of Japes as the most visible part of the planet from orbit. It's all thanks to the fact that the Gaze - and everything behind it - is nothing but black from every angle but straight up. Taken from one side of the planet, it blots out most of Set in a giant funnel of emptiness. Taken from the ground, it's an empty triangle in the night sky where the stars should be. Everything inside the Gaze follows the same rule. Whether it's a blazing hulk, a radiation storm, or a lurking harvester fleet, it's as invisible as invisible can be. Looking out from inside, everything is black, empty, and motionless - until something's too close to pull away.
Looking at the Gaze from directly above, where the black cuts out, it's brighter than sixteen stars slapped in the same spot. Deep down inside, the Eye shines brighter than anything on Set. Viewed from above, it's bright enough to swallow up the entire planet from halfway across the system - and cause permanent blindness for anyone staring at it. Even with advanced optics and imaging electronics, the tiny silhouettes of the Gaze's residents are close to impossible to pick out. Solar power is surprisingly unpopular for Gaze-front property; most panels burn out after just a few hours of the Eye's light.
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Post by Insano-Man on Jan 11, 2019 23:55:50 GMT -5
GAZE'S EDGE
Surrounding the Gaze, from the Eye at the bottom all the way to the top level of low orbit, is a wall of pure death. Some sources call it by its own name, like "Zorah's Funnel", the "Black Edge", and so on, but most spacers lump it in with the Gaze itself. The wall is essentially a precisely-cut terrorscape that forms a hollow cone extending up from the Eye, with a thickness of at most 30km on any side. It tapers down to nothing the further it gets from the Eye, and its effects become less and less pronounced.
For a terrorscape, the Gaze's wall is surprisingly simple and reliable. Anything that touches the outside of the cone is completely annihilated, reduced down to a ragged mess of its basic atomic elements. It doesn't matter what it is or how it's built. Wind, light, birds, air traffic - if it hits the wall, no one's ever going to see it again. The quantum meatgrinder eases up on a linear scale with every kilometer from the surface. If you hit the wall around low orbit, you might only lose half of your atomic mass. Around high orbit, you might get away with a few tumors and a dizzy spell.
Planetside, the wall forms something of a permanent vacuum, constantly sucking in air that helps drive the sandstorms in the Iris. Up in orbit, it's the biggest headache for space stations over Set. Just about every stationary platform over the planet is forced to plan everything around the Eye and its wall. Unity Station, Lebedrovez Harbor, and even some of Set's moons have to figure out how they're supposed work around the Eye without vanishing from existence. To top it off, passing near the wall is a sure-fire way to win a visit from a harvester fleet or a few armadas' worth of pirates.
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Post by Insano-Man on Jan 11, 2019 23:56:07 GMT -5
POPULATION
It's of no surprise to anyone that a place where no one can see anything is a popular hideaway. On Set's surface, the Iris makes it impossible to stay because of how wide and empty it is compared to the rest of the planet. In orbit, wide and empty is the norm, and all a Gaze-lurking ship needs to do to leave is to go up - if they can still remember which way up is. In a way, the Gaze is something like neutral ground for everyone. No one can see eachother long enough to flick their guns on. Harvesters and space monsters snuggle up with pirates and Space Loonies without a single shot fired. Some stations even lurk inside with publicized locations. If ever someone needs to hide, all they've got to do is jump into the Eye.
Apart from marauders and fugitives, science teams are regular sights around the Gaze. For an anomaly as big, well-known, and mysterious as the Eye, it goes without saying that unionites and independent researchers can't get enough of it. On most days, there's a permanent buzz of little science flotillas hovering over the Eye, just out of view of the scorching light on the inside. Most usually show up on a Unity Trust contract, with a small mercenary fleet as an escort. The ones that slink in alone and unsupported usually end up with their expensive equipment heading in the opposite direction in a pirate's hold.
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