The Cinder Ring
The Cinder Ring is Helios Foundry's orbital shipyard -- four hundred and ten thousand people, most of them welders, foundry-men and orbital dock crews, ringed around an open-berth Pour Dock where finished Core-shell housings are mounted onto the Fold-capable hulls of the Nine's flagged ships.
Rules Reference
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Aesthetic | neo-hive |
| Anchor System | helios-foundry |
| Controlling Faction | Helios Foundry |
| Fold Bleed | low |
| Population | 410000 |
| Role | satellite |
| Zone | Core |
Notes
Dangers: Slag cascade: the Ring's outer berths take micro-meteor strikes that crack old pour-mountings; a single loose mounting can take out a dock arm., Foundry reprisals: Helios is not shy about burning a berth lease if the tenant is embarrassing the wrong Family client.
Hooks: A shipment of Core-shell housings is due at the Ring's loading dock, but the docket shows the previous courier as 'decommissioned by Foundry order' and the new courier has not been paid., A Helios orbital welder, half-Thrax, has been writing union pamphlets in the ring's lower berths; the Foundry wants them gone before the next Family audit tour., A Legion sloop docks for refit and the Legion quartermaster insists the welders are Confederation crew; the welders insist they are Helios crew; the work cannot proceed until the party decides who is right.
Lore: The Cinder Ring is Helios Foundry's orbital shipyard -- four hundred and ten thousand people, most of them welders, foundry-men and orbital dock crews, ringed around an open-berth Pour Dock where finished Core-shell housings are mounted onto the Fold-capable hulls of the Nine's flagged ships. The Ring is not pretty. The forges' induction fields spill up the station's spine, and only the Cool Decks -- the staff quarters and the senior billets -- have working climate control. The rest of the station is foundry heat and foundry air, recycled until the recyclers themselves need recycling. The Pour Dock is the only piece of real estate in the Core where a Family Fold-capable hull is publicly exposed mid-build, and the Ring's berth leases are priced accordingly. The Ring is also one of the few stations in the Core with a permanent Legion rest-billet for crews in transit; the billet's senior NCO is a Foundry-trained Thrax, and his loyalties -- publicly to the Legion, privately to Helios -- are an open secret. Helios is not shy about burning a berth lease if the tenant embarrasses the wrong Family client. The Ring is therefore unusually well-behaved for an industrial station of its size, and the bad behaviour is concentrated in the lower berths, where Helios does not look often.
Notable: The Pour Dock: the Ring's central feature -- an open-berth platform where finished Core-shell housings are mounted to waiting Fold-capable hulls., The Cool Decks: the only parts of the Ring with working climate control, lived in by the Helios staff; the rest of the station is foundry heat and foundry air., A Helios-sanctioned Legion rest-billet for crews in transit; the billet's senior NCO is a Foundry-trained Thrax whose loyalty is publicly to the Legion and privately to Helios.