Eight sites that change hands
The strategic points of Aurin
In a nutshell
The strategic points are eight fixed sites in the space of Aurin that the Zenith and the Nadir, the system’s two factions, contest on equal terms. The stations of each side never fall, but these points do change hands. That is why the tension between the two houses plays out here.
The cold peace is not peace, it is frozen inventory.
What are the strategic points?
They are fixed, named sites in the space of Aurin. The Zenith and the Nadir, the system’s two factions, contest them on equal terms. The catalogue lists eight.
The rule is flight time. Each point can be reached in a similar time from both faction stations: El Pináculo, of the Zenith, and El Fondeadero, of the Nadir. There are two exceptions:
- The Colector Solar Prima is somewhat easier to reach from either station, because it lies close to the inner orbit.
- El Fulcro is equidistant from both by definition: it is their midpoint.
None of them lies inside the protected airspace of Ithera, the neutral planet. The Armisticio de Ithera, the pact that stopped the war, forbids militarising its orbit. That is why the Relé Umbral, although it orbits nearby, is defined as civilian communications infrastructure.
Which are they, and where?
The last column shows the guild with a direct interest in each point. These are three of the five Guilds, the trade organisations that take no side: The Pathfinders, explorers; The Forge, producers; and The Pioneers, settlers.
| Point | Where | What it controls | Guild with an interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relé Umbral | High orbit of Ithera, near Selvane, its small moon | Trunk node for communications and navigation; early warning of fleets near Ithera | The Pathfinders |
| Cementerio de Aura | Debris band between Kharsis and Ithera | The largest salvage of pre-war technology; a navigation chokepoint | The Pathfinders |
| Astillero Meridian | Outer orbit of Kharsis | Abandoned shipyard of the Flota Aura: fleet repair without going home, and pre-war hull blueprints | The Forge |
| Ancladero de Ashkar | Orbit of Ashkar, the captured asteroid of Kharsis | Refuelling and cargo transhipment between the inner system and the Cementerio | The Forge |
| Plataforma Cuenca Cero | Inside the Anillos de Kaldrek | Extraction of heavy ore and ice without going down to the surface | The Forge |
| Colector Solar Prima | Surface of Ormek | Large-scale solar capture: power for the whole faction, with the risk of flares | The Pioneers |
| El Fulcro | Midpoint between the two stations | Neutral trade routes and the toll on traffic between factions | None: neutral trade |
| Baliza Confín | Outer edge, beyond Kaldrek, in the outer ice belt | Long-range listening; early detection of fleets across the whole system | The Pathfinders |
Every point starts out neutral. On paper it belongs to the guild with a direct interest. It only passes to a faction when that faction wins a siege.
What guards them?
Each point has a core. Within its radius patrol the Guardianes Automatizados, ancestral turrets of the MMU, the technology both sides inherited. They are hostile to anyone who does not control that core. They do not tell sides apart: they only know who holds it.
Two examples:
- Plataforma Cuenca Cero. A 250 m mining platform. It is anchored to a ring fragment that drifts slowly through the Anillos de Kaldrek. No faction keeps a garrison there: there are only Guardianes, and whoever contests it is in charge.
- Ancla de Recuperación Prima. It lies in the Cementerio de Aura, on a 300 m hull section from before the war. The fragment still bears part of a name: “…ORA”.
Which is the most coveted?
The Astillero Meridian, in the outer orbit of Kharsis. It is an abandoned, cross-shaped shipyard of the Flota Aura:
- a 600 m dry-dock spine;
- four 150 m crane arms. Three hold docking clamps. The fourth holds the skeleton of a pre-war ship, stranded there for good.
Its archives keep fragments of hull blueprints from before the war of Year 1. The design of the Aura-class corvette comes from there: the capital ship that no faction has yet (see the canonical fleet).
A small team of Forge technicians keeps it running informally. They answer to Hull Foreman Orso Dallent.
Those archives are not shown to just anyone. Colonel Reyna Ostrach, of the Vanguard, the military guild, makes that plain to whoever she hands the coordinates:
“So listen carefully: I’m giving you the coordinates of the Astillero Meridian archive because your rank says you’ve earned it, not because I trust what you’ll do with it.”
Colonel Reyna Ostrach, the Vanguard
Is there fighting anywhere else?
Yes. The eight in the catalogue are not the only places people shoot over.
- Plataforma de Extracción Ípsilon-7. A fortified platform with fresh combat scarring on its hull. It no longer extracts anything: today it is the Pathfinders’ data centre, holding the system’s charts, anomaly records and contracts. Both houses pay to consult it and try to steal from it, and its automated security fires on any intruder. It is a minor contested point and does not even appear in the catalogue. Recruits from both houses pass it on their orientation flight.
- Fosa Ámbar. An impact crater on the surface of Kharsis. It sets the Forge against the Flotilla Libre, the Nadir militia. They fight over the Ámbar Licuado, a unique fluid pumped from three wells. Whoever holds it controls it.
Why is there no fighting over the stations?
Because they cannot fall. At the core of each faction station runs the Palio, a field generator that absorbs any structural damage. No faction has ever managed to take the other’s home.
That is why the cold peace, the tense truce that began with the Armisticio, is fought over the strategic points. They do change hands.
