Mandible Reach
At a glance
World type. A factory world on the Rim, the poor frontier of the Drift.
What it does. Breaks up old and wrecked ships. It is the ship-breaking capital of the Caraphex constellation, and its Salvage Board settles who owns a wreck.
The Caraphex chain. Ravel sends crews, Shardplain makes tools, Pitchmire pumps fuel, and Mandible Reach breaks ships.
Reputation. Fast, dangerous and full of rules. Trusted to pay out fairly and to say who owns what.
Who runs things. The Yard Authority, the Salvage Board, the Salvage Courts, the Occupational Safety Office and the Hull Records Office.
Buys. Retired hulls, derelicts, tug parts, cutting gas, refinery chemicals and food for workers.
Sells. Graded scrap, rebuilt drives and flight computers, refined alloy, cleared salvage lots, and black-box data when a court orders it.
Role in the Drift
Mandible Reach is where ships come to die, or to be rebuilt. Crews tow in dead hulls, file a claim and wait for the Salvage Board. Licensed yards cut the hulls apart, sort the pieces and grade them. The Salvage Courts decide who owns a wreck when the records do not agree. The Board holds the payment and releases it by weight, grade and matched serial numbers. Many freighter crews buy refit parts here, especially old parts that the Core stopped making years ago.
History
USD 0027.0. Named the Caraphex constellation's official ship-breaking world.
USD 0045.2. The route here becomes a target for syndicate tolls. The Yard Authority makes inbound tows travel in guarded convoys.
USD 0064.1. New salvage rules for mixed crews and shared ownership, with separate pay, serial lists and split debts.
USD 0085.2. Beacons fail and drift zones spread, so more derelicts come in. The Salvage Board speeds up its hearings.
USD 0106.2 and after. Free Companies are hired as standing escorts for valuable wreck convoys. Yard edges get more guards.
Government and law
Yard Authority. Licenses yards and cutters, gives out breaking berths, enforces safety and checks weight tickets.
Salvage Board. Holds payment on each lot, checks what was delivered and pays out when the job is done.
Salvage Courts. Rule on finders' rights, abandoned ships, black-box custody, old debts on a hull and dangerous cargo.
Hull Records Office. Checks hull IDs, transponder histories and old debts before any cutting starts.
Occupational Safety Office. Tests suits, cutters, cranes and vent plans. It can shut down a yard on the spot.
Evidence comes first here. Every lot needs a custody chain, a weight ticket and a serial list. Cutting, venting or moving a black box without leave means instant seizure and fines.
Economy
The money comes from yard fees, lot premiums, Board fees, refining and the resale of old parts. Prices depend on the alloy grade, how dirty the metal is and who wants which old parts. Prices spike with convoy seasons and with wars near broken lanes.
Common deals.
Whole-hull breakup. One owner. The Board pays out by weight and grade.
Group salvage. Several owners. The Board splits the pay by serial list.
Hazard lots. Extra fees for venting and cleanup. The Board holds some money back until the hull is safe.
Refit swaps. An old drive is traded for a rebuilt one. The Board holds the pay until the bench tests pass.
Ports and districts
Tow Gate Array. Berths with heavy moorings for derelict convoys, and quarantine lanes for unknown cargo.
Cut Yards A to F. Heavy cranes, heat rails, plasma sheds, coolant trenches and closed sorting lines.
Refinery Row. Smelters and recycling plants with alloy test labs.
Board Concourse. Salvage Board offices, locked counting houses, hearing rooms and data vaults.
Salvage Courts Complex. Hearing halls with evidence docks for black boxes, serial plates and transponder logs.
Safety Quadrant. Test stands, suit fitting, cutter tests and emergency clinics.
Parts Exchange. Checked sellers of old flight computers, drives, heat exchangers and frame parts.
How a ship gets broken
Before arrival. Send your tow list, hazard notes and hull IDs.
Berth. Get a yard and a time slot. Unknown cargo goes to quarantine.
Records check. The Hull Records Office checks the IDs, old debts and beacon history. Conflicts go to court.
Board file. The Salvage Board opens a file on the hull, with clear rules for when the money gets paid.
Cutting leave. The Safety Office checks the gear, then the Yard Authority clears each section for cutting.
Sort and grade. Weighing, contamination tests and serial scans. Finished lots get tamper tags.
Payout. Money comes in stages. A fight over one lot holds only that lot, not the whole hull.
Final check. No open fines, no missing black boxes and no loose hazards.
Common delays. Missing serial lists, disputed debts, mislabeled hazards and missing vent logs.
Society and culture
People on Mandible Reach are blunt. Shifts are long but set. Crews eat in yard canteens between cutting shifts. Everyone keeps their safety gear in good shape and respects hazard lines, because the ones who did not are gone. Off shift, crews hang around repair stalls, haggle for parts and study for better yard licenses. The bars near the berths are loud and cheap, and tug crews drink there on credit until the next payout. Caraphex clades hold most of the skilled jobs. Off-world experts rotate in for rare systems.
Languages. Trade Common, Caraphex work-cant and enough Keth tech words for beacon and serial work. Basic Synthborn machine terms are common in the data vaults.
Factions and power players
Yard Authority Directorate. Gives out yards and enforces standards. It stays out of trade.
Salvage Board. The money and the trust. A Board ban can end a firm's business across several sectors.
Cutters' Guild. Trains and tests cutters, riggers and sort chiefs.
Refiners' Syndic. Sets alloy tests and bargains for power.
Towmasters League. Runs the long-haul tugs and forms convoy pacts for defense.
Parts Exchange Council. Screens sellers, grades old parts and handles recalls.
Outside brokers. Human finance firms and Serean chemical buyers keep offices for steady supplies of metal and chemicals.
Syndicate fronts. Try to grab valuable lots early. The Board runs stings to catch them.
Relations with other worlds
Ravel. Sends trained clades and new crews for yard growth.
Shardplain. Sends cutting tools, rails and spare crane parts.
Pitchmire. Sends fuel and chemicals for torches, smelters and cleanup.
Kedra. Confirms old debts on a hull, settles hard ownership cases and signs release orders.
Slipwind. Keth beacon logs and route records used in salvage claims.
Brightline. Synthborn computers that keep copies of Board records and check serials.
Mistral Gate and Brackenfeld routes. Dangerous tow routes that always need escorts.
Crime and danger
Tugs get hijacked on the approach lanes. People forge serial plates, file fake debt claims and steal black boxes. Yard Authority patrols and Free Companies guard the outer lanes when traffic is heavy. On the ground, most crime is fraud and skipped safety steps. Penalties come fast, from yard closures to frozen payouts to bans across the sector. Bounties on tug jackers are posted in every berth bar.
The wrecks are dangerous too. Old hulls hold leftover fuel, bad air, live reactors and sometimes cargo nobody can identify. Some come in from far off the lanes, older than the Authority, with markings no one can read.
Tech and standards
Serial checks. Every rebuilt part is scanned against the Hull Records tables. A mismatch means a hold.
Lot tags. Tamper bands and trace chips. Removing one is logged automatically.
Hazard rules. Venting and cleanup come before any hot cut. Safety checks are never announced.
Black-box custody. Black boxes move under guard with two witnesses and time stamps.
Bench tests. Drives and flight computers must pass a bench test before the Parts Exchange lists them.
Notable places
Berth Nine Quarantine. Intake for unknown or unstable cargo, with long vent bays.
Cut Yard C. Handles heavy frames, capital-ship spines and reactor shrouds.
Fine Sort Hall. Close alloy grading with outside labs.
Tier-One Vaults. Big-money contracts and backup computers, moved by armed couriers.
Courtroom Delta. Group salvage cases and many-owner debt fights.
Towmasters Dispatch. Convoy forming, route talks and escort hiring.
Life on Mandible Reach
Housing sits close to the yards. Transit is simple and tough. Training centers run night classes for cutter grades, crane licenses and hazard handling. Clinics mostly treat fumes, heat stroke, bad joints and eye burns. Public boards show accident rates for each yard and post a weekly safety score.
Risks and pressure points
Attacks on tows. Tows are slow targets. Insurance and escort costs can wipe out the profit.
Hazard surges. Reactor waste or illegal cargo shuts down yards and slows everything.
Serial fraud. Plate forgers and hacked firmware make buyers doubt old parts.
Power cuts. If the power ration drops, refinery output falls and alloy prices spike.
Court backlog. Big ownership fights can freeze lots and lock up money for months.