[ERF] Set: Layers of Set (Orbit)

THE LOST REACH
+500,000km
Beyond the point of no return is the realm of all things forgotten in space. It is, for most, the place where Set ends and its home system begins. The Lost Reach is the space around Set that is not taken with it during a wormhole transit. Ships, stations, junk, and satellites orbiting at this distance are, as per its name, lost forever. As a result, it is a vast emptiness where only a scant few derelicts and debris fields can be found. Further, the Lost Reach shares an unpredictable boundary with the Graveyard Orbit. Many craft close to the edge have vanished during wormhole transits despite being within what was, at the time, a safe distance from the planet.

The Lost Reach's boundaries are roughly 500,000km from Set's surface, but fluctuate wildly over certain landmarks. Of note are Zorah's Eye in Zuhverl and the Laboring Giant in Ventannen. The Lost Reach is nearly 74,000km higher over Zorah's Eye, while the Laboring Giant's influence draws its observed proximity closer by 28,000km. Similar variances abound over anomalous regions. A poignant example is the continent of Grusgau, where the Lost Reach's boundaries range from only a few meters from the planet's surface to tens of thousands of kilometers higher than normal.

SCUTTLER SLICE
250,000km - 400,000km
Debris and derelicts are at their most common below the Graveyard Orbit, in the appropriately-named Scuttler Slice 250,000km from Set's surface. Within it are various asteroids, dust clouds, and other orbiting bodies, including two of Set's six current moons. Most Space Looney fleets and salvagers ply the Scuttler Slice for scrap and scavenged supplies. Likewise, many pirates and bandit clans make the Slice their home and hunting grounds. Though invaluable to Set's population in orbit, the dumping grounds of the Scuttler Slice are some of the most deadly over the planet.

In addition to bandits, salvagers, and Loonies, the Slice is a common destination for garbage hauler droneships. Dozens of automated processing facilities ring the Slice, often times regurgitating their stockpiled junk as half-processed materials. The facilities serve as nexuses of prosperity in some regions, and many are protected by Space Looney fleets or ancient automated defense platforms. Though interdictions of drone-ships are common, few are bold enough to attempt an attack on one of the Slice's key contributors.

Thanks much to its asteroid content, Looney bunkers are a rare, but notable sight in the Slice. Many maintain a quiet, discontented peace with their Space Looney relatives. Most are sealed off entirely and subsist purely on captured junk or mining on their home asteroid. Their presence is regarded as little more than an oddity. Overall, they contribute little to the Slice, and most are discovered only after their asteroid bunkers have collapsed and died out.

Orbital weather in the Scuttler Slice is, in most cases, far different from weather below it. For the distant debris fields in the Slice, meteor showers, dust storms, and space storms vastly outweigh all others in bulk. Radiation hazards, including radiation storms, are at their most common in the Slice. Space monsters and harvester swarms are similarly prevalent, and it is believed that the total count of harvester swarms is higher in the Slice than anywhere else in orbit. Few venture into the Scuttler Slice alone. Fewer still go unarmed.

Viewed from the graveyard orbit or beyond, the Slice is responsible for a prominent halo of visible light and other emissions that surrounds the planet. Viewed from below, many orbiting objects in the Slice are mistaken for stars. In some regions, the Slice is so bright on the surface that night is virtually indistinguishable from daytime. In some, the sheer volume of debris shades the planet so much that day is indistinguishable from night. Orbit patterns for debris in the Slice can shift these twilight regions unpredictably across the planet's surface.

LOW ORBIT
5,000km - 100,000km
The orbit closest to Set's surface is the most populous of all high-altitude layers bar none. Countless space stations and small ships drift through low orbit amidst debris fields and swarms of satellites. While the Scuttler Slice is home to the most valuable of junk fields, derelicts and detritus pervade through low orbit. Many are utterly useless; literal garbage balls or waste fields, some piled over defunct satellites and small shipwrecks. Many are even still inhabited; derelicts and damaged ships shifted into stable orbit to serve as impromptu space stations.

Much of the debris in low orbit was once part of the now-defunct Pioneer Network's orbital infrastructure. Many stations and defense platforms were built by the now-extinct Zaschia and Orscruft. The Space Loonies hold claims on most infrastructure in low orbit, but few have mobilized to enforce them. To do so would uproot - and incite - millions of residents, many of whom are of species teetering on the brink of extinction. Some planetside Looney bunkers maintain their own claims on Set's orbital infrastructure, but few have the means to reach it, let alone seize it.

The population of low orbit is unknown. Estimates range from 100 million at its lowest up to 3 billion at its highest. Many cluster on habitation platforms, such as Unity Station and Lebedrovez Harbor. Many are Space Looney flotillas, often the smallest of their kind, forced to subsist off the limited resources in the junk fields of low orbit. Many more are formed into vagrant fleets roaming from service station to service station. Independent ships are common in low orbit and craft larger than frigates are scarce.

Despite the population levels of low orbit, most live in small groups trapped in various states of squalor and poverty. Resource shortages are a fact of life. Fleets of ships are often small. The distances involved in space travel, small craft size, and frequent interference from orbital weather patterns all serve to compartmentalize the residents of low orbit from one another. Only on major stations are fresh faces a common sight, and the lack of prosperity on most ensures that few ever leave.

Weather in low orbit is made up of a mix of high-flying clouds from Set's upper atmosphere and anomalous activity thrown up from major anomalous regions. Radiation is a rare hazard, but space lightning, plasma storms, and countless other forms of deadly weather patterns are common. Over meatscapes, crimson miasmas and orbital meat storms are routine. Acid mists are regularly thrown out from the the meatscapes, Evispin continent, and even some major industrial platforms. Smog from garbage hauler platforms is a regular contributor to difficult weather.

Garbage haulers are at their most common in low orbit. Their processing facilities, control centers, and service stations are everywhere throughout the space close to Set. Their presence is so significant that they regularly contribute to traffic congestion near populated areas. Massed waves of drone-ships have been likened to weather patterns in themselves. Garbage haulers often mistake inhabited platforms and ships for debris, displacing them to unpredictable locations or even abducting them entirely. Some are even fed into processing plants - with varying levels of success.

Harvester swarms are unheard-of in low orbit. Space monsters are virtually non-existent. Instead, creatures from the planet below are regular stowaways aboard ships and stations. Some live in uneasy coexistence with their sentient counterparts. Most are considered nothing more than nuisances. A handful are seen as catastrophic infestations. Some derelicts serve as their own miniature biospheres, completely overrun by wildlife arranged into semi-stable food chains. Most are avoided at all costs, but some are used as farms or even hunting grounds.

Densely-populated stations often suffer from the influence of the Cult of Meat. While the Space Loonies maintain security throughout most of Set's low orbit and beyond, their shield is not perfect. Cultists and stowaway meat monsters are regular arrivals on habitation platforms. Some act as no more than spies, others serve as preachers seeking to spread the Cult's sway. A handful act as pirates, seizing ships to begin raids and kidnappings across Set's orbit. The limited intervention the Space Loonies conduct in orbit is primarily aimed at pushing back the Cult in all these situations.

FREEFALL ZONE
2,000km - 600km
Just as the Lost Reach is the point of no return in leaving Set, the Freefall Zone is the point of no return in arriving. Upper atmosphere weather is at its most extreme, especially over anomalous regions and meatscapes. Atmospheric drag steadily increases with every kilometer downward. Ships that fall into the Freefall Zone rarely escape. Stations lost to it are all but guaranteed to crash or burn up. Satellites are scarce, armored to absurdity, and generally in various states of critical damage. Garbage haulers pass through the Freefall Zone as quickly as possible, whether climbing or diving.