Pulse of the Imperium

[Harmonthep pic TBA]

Harmonthep is the second planet of Delta Pavonis, sharing the system with Caladan. It is a planet of an equatorial swampsea and steppes. It features an unstable magnetic field due to a ring of metallic asteroids, and a slowly degrading yet breathable atmosphere.

The planet features long, meandering river systems flowing from polar caps down to the inter-tropical zone, where an extensive swamp-sea dominates, being the hotbed for biodiversity. These labyrinthine brackish marshes host drifting islands and murky reeds-corralled basins rich in moss clams, a source of the planet's biggest prize - the moss pearls. Beyond the swamp, temperate steppes stretch toward the poles, punctuated by karstic canyons carved in old organic sediments.

Harmonthep’s climate zones are broadly defined by a sharp 31-degree axial tilt, with tropical zones extending farther than on Caladan, steppes at mid-latitudes, and polar tundra regions transitioning to large ice caps. Seasonal variation is marked by shifting rainfall between the northern and southern hemispheres that bring violent storms which incessantly alter the landscape. The planet’s sparser atmosphere and weaker magnetic field give rise to frequent auroras as far down as the equator that illuminate night skies and partially substitute for moonlight.

The biosphere is diverse yet fragile. Large apex predators such as lions — brought to Harmonthep long ago and strictly protected at the behest of House Corrino — roam the steppes in designated sanctuaries and depend on offworld game imports to sustain their populations. Migratory quaraa, the avian crux of indigenous megafauna, play a vital ecological role by transporting nutrients from tropical zones to higher latitudes through their guano. The canyons usually serve those large stork analogues as mating stops while nesting occurs on the shores of the northern glacial lakes.

Nutritious osthmir tubers, bioengineered to fix iron and other scarce minerals in the times of the Old Empire, form the backbone of human subsistence in the swampsea. Milkbugs, producing lactose-like secretions, are also a key source of daily nutrition.

Human habitation is sharply divided into two types of habitats. The semi-nomadic Zensunni slave population dwells in drifting barges and small settlements within the swamp-sea, practising hunting-gathering, limited agriculture and harvesting pearls for their overlords. Their lifestyle adapts to the dynamic, storm-prone environment. In contrast, the ruling elites of House Ptolemaios and their retainers live in pyramidal cities strategically placed on bluffs overlooking limestone canyons, protecting them from random radiation events and offering refuge.

Economically, fishing, pearl diving, egg harvesting and tuber cultivation underpin Zensunni subsistence. Lions are carefully maintained and revered as symbols of power and cannot be hunted. In fact, more often than not during their migrations or sport events it is the humans who fall prey to those large felines. Other, less grotesque sports, especially quaraa racing, chariot racing, ball games or pyramidal chess, play important social roles, satisfying the elites' thirst for competition and spectacle and the slaves' hope to transcend their conditions.

The cultural and spiritual landscape is deeply influenced by the Zensunni faith, its legacy of pilgrimage, trauma and resistance, though House Ptolemaios follows their Hagal suzarain's proclitivity in letting both Orange Catholicism and Bene Gesserit spirituality to shape the ethics of the pyramid dwellers.

Mnemopharangos, the Monument Canyon, is a realm of layered stone and lapping waters, where the high steppe tilts toward the Sea of Marches. Its core feature is a spectacularly vast system of eroded terraces, fractured limestone shelves, and shadowed clefts carved by the river Thonios meandering all the way up from the northern ice cap. The landscape, like the rest of the planet, bears no signs of tectonic upheaval; its drama is in its erosion due to storms lashing at the boundary. The canyon is dotted with caves, inhabited primarily by bats and quaraa unless people have driven them off.

South of the canyon’s mouth, the land sinks into wetlands overgrown with reeds and mangroves all across the Thonios delta. Here the brakish Sea of Marches spreads outward, warm and shallow. It glows in tones of bronze and green beneath a sky often filtered by loess dust or iridescent clouds. The boundary between upland and water is mottled, pocked with islets of wandering sediments and studded with smaller limestone formations.

At this critical intersection there seats Hypatea, the planetary capital and seat of House Ptolemaios. It rises in three massive pyramidal complexes — Areteion, Nikeion, and Xenion — each built atop its own wide bluff of pocked limestone, spanning a fork in the Monument Canyon. From a distance, the pyramids shimmer in shades of white, pale green and blue, each reflecting the radiation insulation used during its respective eras of construction. The pyramids are connected by dramatic bridges hanging over the ravines, though a lot of transit happens via thopters. From those features, quaraa races up the canyon are witnessed and cheered.

The capital features prominently in CHOAM rosters an tourist guides. Moss pearls — organic wonders harvested from the sea's basins — are the chief export, light but precious, and easily shipped offworld. Trade relationships with both Caladan, the suzerain House Hagal as well as wider Imperium. The local trade, usually in foodstuffs like portyguls, osthmirs, turtlebugs or milkbugs as well as other boons of the marches, is thriving too.

Hypatea is ruled via a consensual duality amid House Ptolemaios. Lady Irene, the Archon and a woman of mature beauty, presides from the Areteion, which is said to contain large internal gardens. Irene is beloved by some, feared by others, often gossiped about for her romantic exploits, and never underestimated. Her younger brother, Philadelphos, holds the title of Strategos, a military governor with wide executive powers and moral authority, administering from Xenion, the commercial and strategic hub hosting a spaceport at its top. It is said that where Irene moves the pieces in the pyramidal chess, Philadelphos keeps the board from cracking.

However, the true power over the masses is enshrined at Nikeion. It's the sports hub, with large facilities within the pyramid and at its top devoted to spectacle in a growing number of competitive disciplines, among which lion chariot racing is the most sacred and the most deadly. The pyramid dwellers live for the thrill, the Zensunni live for their slim shot at transcendence through athletic achievement.