Vastris
At a glance
World type. A Keth tech world at the far end of the Keth constellation.
What it does. Builds long-range relays and beacons, makes salvage maps, and settles fights over wrecks.
Keth constellation. Slipwind for the Archive of Routes, Harlune for turbines and power, Vastris for relays and salvage maps.
Reputation. Slow and careful. Very fast if your papers are in order.
Who runs it. The Keth Cartographic Guild, the Relay Authority and the Salvage Board.
Vastris in the Drift
Vastris keeps the lanes talking. It builds and services the long-range relays that carry messages between the stars, updates beacon software, and makes salvage maps. Crews come here to update their charts, claim wrecks, and buy maps to wreck fields that are legal to pick over. Vastris courts decide who found a wreck first, which scan counts, and what can be taken.
History
USD 0002. Keth navigation records become the standard, and Vastris becomes the place where relays are built and tested.
USD 0025.5. The Keth constellation forms. Vastris takes on relays and salvage maps.
USD 0060 to 0065. After signal tampering in nearby sectors, Vastris starts sending important messages twice and sets rules for handling flight recorders.
USD 0101 and after. Drift zones grow. That means more wrecks, more demand for salvage maps, more emergency software fixes and more claims.
Who runs it
Relay Authority. Owns the main relays and licenses private ones. It runs the beacon factories and approves beacon software.
Keth Cartographic Guild. Makes the maps, sets how surveys are done, and checks scan data.
Salvage Board. The court that decides who owns a wreck, which wrecks are off-limits, and when a wreck is too dangerous to touch.
Data Integrity Watch. Investigators who chase faked scans, faked time stamps and beacon tampering.
The three big laws on Vastris are simple. Messing with a beacon, its software or its keys is a serious crime. The first crew with a good scan who stays on site gets the wreck, and wrecks with hot cores or military frames are closed. Flight recorders are opened only in front of witnesses.
Money
Sells. Relay hardware, beacon cores, salvage maps, survey kits, wreck ownership papers and training.
Buys. Metal and ceramics from the Talarq, building stock and workers from the Caraphex, computer blocks from the Synthborn, and lawyers from Kedra.
Side markets. Used parts, hull patch kits, drone parts, courier work and locked storage for recovered cargo.
Prices rise with beacon updates, drift growth, convoy crowding, and how far behind the Salvage Board is.
Districts
Orbital Relay Yards. Drydocks where relay towers, marker buoys and antennas are built and tested.
Beacon Foundry Way. Where new beacons are made and their keys burned in.
Survey Quadrant. Map labs where scans get stitched into maps.
Court Ring. Hearing rooms, claim desks and evidence vaults.
Archive Branch. A read-only copy of the Archive of Routes from Slipwind, with local notes.
Courier Dock. Fast berths for message ships.
Quarantine Aprons. Wash-down yards where wreck parts are cleaned and hot cores are locked away.
The cities. Kavryn Lift is the freight elevator. Orisi Court is the wreck court city. Rellune Span is the map city. Talvek Loom is the relay town. Veskir Yard is the relay factory. Vastris Relay Gate is the port in orbit.
Maps and the people who sell them
The Keth Cartographic Guild sells official salvage maps. They show which wrecks are open, which are closed, and which ones will kill you. They are good maps, and they are expensive. So every bar on Vastris has someone in a back booth selling the other kind. Some are old Guild maps with the closed wrecks still on them. Some are copied from a dead crew's flight recorder. Some are made up. Independent surveyors sell good ones at fair prices, if you can find them. Old salvagers say to never buy a map from someone who will not fly the route with you.
Arriving on Vastris
Most ships arrive through Vastris Relay Gate in orbit.
Before you arrive, send your last beacon list, relay keys and drift warnings.
Take your berth, pass the beacon key check, and update your charts from the Archive Branch.
If you carry salvage, name the wreck, show your scans, and move the cargo to quarantine until it is cleared.
To claim a wreck, file your time stamps, position logs and witnesses. If the claim is accepted, you get temporary protection.
Buy maps, beacon updates and new relay keys.
Before you leave, make sure you have no open claims, no quarantine holds and current beacon software.
The usual delays are missing time stamps, scans that do not match, and old beacon keys.
Life on Vastris
People on Vastris like clear records and hate guesswork. Shifts follow relay repair schedules and court dates. Children learn map rules and how to clean a wreck part safely in school. Housing is modular and close to work. Many people have two trades, such as survey and cleanup, or relays and software. Street stalls sell quick food between the labs and the docks. Fun means training sims, map puzzles, and gossip about who found what wreck.
Power players
Relay Authority. Controls relay money, software schedules and licenses for private relays.
Keth Cartographic Guild. Decides what goes on the official maps.
Salvage Brokers Union. Matches crews with legal wrecks and buyers, and pushes the court to go faster.
Courier Guild. Carries important messages by hand when signals are bad.
Data Integrity Watch. Chases fraud and runs stings on claim forgers.
Independent survey crews. Small teams with good names who sell special maps.
Syndicate salvagers. Want early word of new wrecks, and go after unguarded relays and slow court cases.
Neighbors
Slipwind. Keeps the main Archive. Vastris copies its updates and adds salvage notes.
Harlune. Sends turbines and power units for relay towers.
Kedra. Human courts finish ownership papers, debt claims and insurance on disputed salvage.
Brightline. The Synthborn there run big scan merges and open locked flight recorders.
Caraphex hubs. Send labor clades and heavy tools for relay installs and wreck work.
Talarq foundries. Send heat-proof parts for beacons and hot-core containers.
Serean sites such as Mistral Gate. Stormy lanes that need lots of beacon repair and new maps.
Crime
The main crimes are faking signals, faking scans, stealing beacon keys, and stripping closed wrecks. The Relay Authority runs live checks and changes keys at random. The Data Integrity Watch checks court filings and maps. Getting caught means losing your ship, your data and your claim. Claim jumpers who fake a scan to steal another crew's wreck are the most hated people on Vastris, and bounty hunters make a living off them.
Tech
Beacon software. Signed releases with a way to roll back.
Relay keys. Keys that expire and change on their own. Critical messages go out twice.
Map versions. Every map has a version number and a list of the scans it came from.
Claim packets. Time stamps, positions, witnesses, and a record that you stayed on site.
Flight recorders. Opened only with locked readers, with copies kept on Brightline.
Quarantine steps. Clean it, test the core, and release it only after the court says yes.
Notable places
Array 7 Proving Line. A full-size relay test lane for breaking in new hardware.
Salvage Board Hall of Records. Public screens where anyone can check a claim and who has owned a wreck.
Guild Merge Lab. A big room where long-range scans get stitched into maps.
Foundry C-12. A beacon core burn room with a viewing gallery.
Courier Green. Lockers and booking desks for couriers.
Quarantine Bay E. A low-pressure cargo hall for dangerous salvage.
Trouble spots
Drift growth. New wreck fields appear faster than the courts can handle the claims.
Bad software. One bad beacon update can confuse a whole lane.
Relay outages. Weather and debris can break the links and slow messages down.
Fraud. Faked scans and time stamps make every ownership paper worth less.
Too many hot cores. If quarantine fills up, the whole port stops.