“Steel is our coin. Blood is our contract.”
Hade is a temperate rocky shrubland planet where arid winds sweep over rugged plains, jagged outcroppings, and hardy vegetation. It is a world defined not by nations or governments, but by mercenary clans who have ruled its surface for centuries. Each clan carved its own domain through blood and fire, and though the Treaties of Delicos brought an uneasy peace, the rivalries remain sharp. To be born on Hade is to be born into a clan — and that clan is everything.
The Council of Clans governs the planet, a conclave where the leaders of the great mercenary families gather to decide Hade’s future. Though the clans often feud, they present a united front to the galaxy, hiring themselves out as soldiers, bounty hunters, bodyguards, and infiltrators. Their services are infamous for being costly — but almost always effective.
Hade’s terrain is defined by rocky shrublands, jagged mesas, and dusty valleys where fortified settlements and mercenary outposts dominate the landscape. The climate is temperate yet harsh, with winds that carry a permanent haze of grit across the sky.
Hadean society is built around clan loyalty. Outsiders see the clans as competing mercenary guilds, but to a Hadean, the clan is family, law, and destiny. Betrayal of one’s clan is the gravest sin. Wars once raged endlessly across the planet, but the signing of the clan treaties centuries ago forged a tenuous balance, creating Delicos City as a neutral capital.
Delicos is a bustling metropolis of darksteel and neon, where gravcars buzz between spires and mercenary banners fly above fortress-enclaves. It is a city of contracts and weapons, where deals are made in skyscraper boardrooms and settled in blood on the streets.
Council of Clans Capital Building: A massive darksteel pyramid, its angles gleaming in the haze, serves as the heart of Hadean politics. Here the clan leaders convene, their guards standing shoulder to shoulder in full armor.
Clan Enclaves: Districts of Delicos are divided between the great clans, each enclave standing as both fortress and embassy, a microcosm of their clan’s power, style, and pride.
Specialization: Economic dealings, trade mercenaries, and financial manipulation.
Enclave: A sprawling fortress of darksteel structures with fortified walls, watchtowers, and trade halls. Their gold and tan banners fly high, adorned with their amber emblem. Guards wear tan and gold-trimmed armor.
Specialization: Diplomacy, infiltration, and elite bodyguarding.
Enclave: A sleek fortress of darksteel and mirrored surfaces, both elegant and intimidating. Hidden passages crisscross the complex. Their teal banners bear a black star, and their guards wear dark blue armor.
Specialization: Heavy weapons, demolitions, and siegecraft. Known galaxy-wide for their ruthless efficiency in cracking fortresses and ships.
Enclave: A fortress of squat, reinforced structures bristling with mounted cannons. Its walls are scarred with old siege marks, proudly left unrepaired as a testament. Their banners are crimson with a broken anvil, and their armored mercenaries wear bulky, explosive-laden rigs.
Specialization: Bounty hunting and long-range assassinations. Renowned for always bringing in their quarry — dead or alive.
Enclave: A tower rising like a black spear from Delicos, its exterior covered in sensor arrays and sniper nests. Their banners are silver with a crimson eye, and their guards wear matte black armor marked by crimson visors.
Specialization: Stealth operatives, saboteurs, and close-combat assassins. Often hired to cripple enemy supply lines.
Enclave: An elegant fortress of obsidian-darksteel, its halls lit with pale blue lighting. Inside, training arenas echo with the clash of blades. Their banners are midnight blue with twin daggers, and their warriors wear lightweight segmented armor designed for silence.
Specialization: Cybernetics, augmented mercenaries, and battlefield engineering. They provide heavily modified soldiers and elite combat drones.
Enclave: A hybrid fortress-factory, its smokestacks constantly churning. The walls gleam with augmented plating, while mechs patrol the perimeter. Their banners are black with a silver gear, and their mercenaries sport glowing augments.
Specialization: Grav-vehicle cavalry, aerial combat, and fast-response strike teams. Their mastery of mobile warfare is unmatched.
Enclave: A fortress-hangar complex where entire fleets of gunships and grav-bikes roar to life. Their banners are white with a lightning bolt, and their soldiers wear white-trimmed armor designed for pilots and riders.
Specialization: Tracking, reconnaissance, and wilderness survival. Masters of hostile environments, often hired for scouting in dangerous warzones.
Enclave: A rugged, sprawl-like fortress of stone and steel, resembling a hunting lodge more than a citadel. Trophy halls display mounted alien skulls and hides. Their banners are hunter green with a wolf’s head, and their mercenaries wear rugged scout armor with cloaks of beast-hide.
Membership: Hade joined the League of Independent Systems reluctantly, wary of binding treaties but recognizing the protection it offered against the Hardan Republic and Arkanis Imperium. Their Council of Clans sends one representative to the L.I.S. council, though the clans often rotate or fight over who gets the seat.
Role in the League:
Mercenary Backbone – Hadean mercenaries form a significant portion of the L.I.S.’s hired muscle, providing elite strike teams, assassins, and military contractors to defend other member worlds.
Clan Contracts – contracts with other L.I.S. members, strengthening interworld ties through direct services.
Political Influence – Their voice in the League is fractured by clan rivalries, making Hade less politically dominant than worlds like Skarkova or Vernali. Still, when the clans unite, few in the League can challenge their military leverage.
Summary: Hade’s value to the L.I.S. lies not in fleets or industry, but in the mercenaries it provides, giving the League teeth in wars of defense. Though internal rivalries weaken their voice, the promise of Hadean steel keeps their membership indispensable.
The clans of Hade are both feared and respected. To hire a Hadean clan is to guarantee results — though one must beware, for contracts can be broken if the price is higher elsewhere. Their loyalty is to clan first, credits second, and clients third.
The galaxy sees Hade as a den of mercenaries and killers, but to the Hadeans, it is a proud world where strength, cunning, and loyalty are virtues. Every neon-lit enclave in Delicos tells the story of a clan that survived centuries of endless war and still endures — sharpened, scarred, and ready for the next contract.