• Overview
  • Map
  • Areas
  • Points of Interest
  • Characters
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  • One-Shots
  • Game Master
  1. Drift💫A Space Odyssey
  3. Lore

Harlune

At a glance

  • World type. A Keth factory world between the Core and the Mid.

  • What it makes. Turbines and rotor cores for jump beacons, port air systems, Serean storm rigs and heavy ship drives.

  • Keth constellation. Slipwind, then Harlune, then Vastris.

  • Reputation. Harlune parts do not fail. When one does, everybody wants to know why.

  • Who runs it. The Rotor Houses Consortium, a group of old Keth manufacturing families.

  • What it buys. Heat-proof metal from the Talarq, composites and resins from the Vellari, heavy tools and workers from Caraphex clades, and computer blocks from the Synthborn.

  • What it sells. Turbines, rotor cores, beacon stabilizers, port air turbines, storm rig fans, spare parts, repair kits and repair contracts.

Harlune in the Drift

Most big jump beacons in the Core and Mid spin on Harlune rotor stacks, or on copies built to Harlune sizes. A beacon is the Keth marker station that keeps a Jump Lane safe to fly, and a beacon with a bad turbine goes dark. Ports buy Harlune parts with a full build history, so when something breaks, everyone can see who made it. Harlune also trains beacon mechanics. A Harlune mechanic card gets you work at almost any Mid port.

History

  • USD 0025.5. The Keth constellation forms. Harlune becomes its turbine world, next to the charts of Slipwind and the salvage maps of Vastris.

  • USD 0034.2. The first Harlune Rotor Code comes out. It sets the rules for how a beacon turbine is balanced and broken in.

  • USD 0048.1. The Spinway test range grows and adds long vacuum tunnels for endurance runs.

  • USD 0085.2. Beacons fail across the Rim. Emergency orders make Harlune triple its output.

  • USD 0091.7. A wave of bad resin ruins a run of turbines. After that, every part is tracked from raw material to finished core.

  • USD 0104 to 0107. Beacon upgrades are wanted everywhere. Harlune repair teams now live at ports across the Core and Mid.

Who runs it

The Rotor Houses Consortium runs Harlune from Ravisk Crown. Each Rotor House is a family company with its own foundries and its own secrets, and they compete hard for contracts. The Mechanics Yard trains beacon mechanics and gives out their cards. Its inspectors also turn up without warning at field jobs. A house that ships bad parts can have its exports stopped. Faking a part's history, or putting a real serial number on a fake part, is a crime that can cost a house everything. When a part fails, it goes back to Kalvyr, where engineers take it apart and a court decides who pays.

Work and money

Every turbine core has a serial number. It follows the core from the ore to the test stand to the beacon, and buyers pay more for a clean history. The houses make money from sales, port repair contracts, upgrade kits for old beacons, and rent-to-own deals for Rim ports that cannot pay up front. When a lane is redrawn or a beacon fails, orders flood in. The factories run all night, and Caraphex labor brokers ship in extra crews. Those are good months to be a mechanic on Harlune.

Cities and districts

  • Spinway Gate. The main spaceport. Crated turbines and coil pallets go out all day.

  • Rotor Row. The oldest Rotor Houses, with their warehouses, balance halls and serial stamping rooms.

  • Vacuum Run Tunnels. Long straight tunnels where new cores spin for days to show they will hold.

  • Coilworks District. Coil winding shops. The solvent fumes give everyone headaches.

  • Balance Fields. Flat slabs and gantries for balancing big rotors. Houses book time here months ahead.

  • Mechanics Yard. The training campus and exam bays for beacon mechanics.

  • Recall Depot. Where returned parts are torn down to find out what broke.

  • The cities. Ravisk Crown is the capital. Orvane Coil is the foundry city. Tilvar Array is the test range. Kalvyr is where failed parts come home. Velis Tramport is the freight elevator, with Harlune Highlift Station in orbit above it.

Tech

  • Harlune Rotor Code. The rules for rotor shape, shake limits, break-in hours and how often a turbine gets checked.

  • Spin logs. Test stand records of speed, heat and shaking for each core.

  • Stabilizer kits. Drop-in parts that make an old beacon steadier without replacing the whole tower.

  • Storm rig fans. Tough fans for storm rigs, built to survive salt and grit. Crews at Mistral Gate buy them by the dozen.

  • Mechanic cards. A mechanic's ID, with training hours and any black marks.

Neighbors

  • Slipwind. Uses Harlune sizes in its beacon repair notes.

  • Vastris. Sends salvage maps. Harlune makes kits to reuse old beacon housings that Vastris crews pull out of wrecks.

  • Talarq worlds. Send heat-proof metal and shafts for the heaviest cores.

  • Vellari cluster, including Brinelight. Sends resins and blade fabric.

  • Kedra. Its courts use Harlune spin logs when they decide who is to blame after an accident.

  • Brightline. The Synthborn there keep copies of spin logs for big contracts.

  • Rim ports. Buy rent-to-own kits and rely on traveling Harlune mechanics.

Crime

The two big crimes are cheating the spec and faking serials. Spec cheaters use cheaper metal or cut the break-in hours, and their turbines fail early. Serial fakers put a real Harlune number on a fake core and sell it to a Rim port for full price. Both pay well until a beacon goes dark and ships go missing. Thieves also go after resin lots, tool heads and blank serial plates. Fake Harlune parts turn up in pawn shops all over the Rim, and a bounty hunter who can trace one back to its maker gets paid well.

Life on Harlune

Harlune people count time in shifts and batches, not days off. Senior mechanics teach the young ones on real jobs. Life happens in the shift canteens next to the Balance Fields and in the cheap sleep pods for visiting crews. The local news is mostly part warnings, safety notices and court results. At shift change, Keth workers glide between the factory roofs, and the wind in the canyons never stops. Most people speak Trade Common and Keth shop talk, and many know some Vellari and Talarq words for materials.

Visiting Harlune

Crews come to buy parts or get a turbine fixed. Bring your ship ID, your beacon's model number and your mechanics' cards. House engineers match the part to your lane and your beacon. The part gets built, balanced, spun up and numbered, and you get it in a crate with tools and a service chart. The usual delays are wrong beacon numbers, missing payment codes and expired mechanic cards. Export checks at the port look for stolen parts and parts that have been pulled from sale.

Notable places

  • Rotor Houses A-Line. The six oldest houses, numbered A1 to A6. They keep plans for turbines nobody else still makes.

  • The Long Run. The biggest vacuum tunnel, used for the longest endurance and heat tests.

  • Calibration Hall East. Where tools get tested and tagged to a mechanic's card.

  • Recall and Warranty Board Annex. A public counter where anyone can check whether a part has been pulled, and ask for a refund.

  • Slipwind Liaison Office. Posts repair notes that go with new lane charts.

  • Vastris Exchange Bay. A catalog of old beacon housings pulled from wrecks, and which new parts fit them.

Trouble spots

  • Bad resin. One bad batch can pull hundreds of turbines off the market.

  • Fake serial plates. When one turns up, whole fleets get grounded while everyone checks.

  • Rush orders after beacon failures. Long shifts and tired crews make mistakes.

  • Bad Rim installs. Crews without mechanic cards install parts wrong, and people die. Harlune sends trainers out, but never enough.

  • Doctored spin logs. If buyers stop trusting the logs, they stop trusting Harlune.