
     Upon entering the system, the first thing travellers notice about
     Rhylanor is its bleak-looking slate and obsidian color and a scarcity
     of active weather patterns.  Rhylanor's very thin atmosphere, rocky
     composition and mineral-rich oceans make it as gray as jump space.
     Scant meteorological activity can be accounted for by weak stellar
     emanations coming from Rhylanor's solitary dying main sequence star,
     Icarus.

     Despite the planet's humble appearance at 100 diameters, as travellers
     approach close orbit they begin to notice immense amber and brown
     splotches of urban sprawl on the small world's surface.  Rhylanor's
     linear and hard-edged coastlines stem from massive terraforming
     projects performed over generations since Rhylanor was settled in the
     frontier days of the Spinward Marches (ca. 150).  Urban areas include
     scores of arcologies, gravitic cities and even undersea settlements,
     whose main business is the distillation of valuable ore products that
     seep forth from Rhylanor's multitude of undersea vents.

     Before planetfall, travellers may want to stop at Rhylanor Orbital
     Starport (R.O.S.) or "Ross," as it is affectionately known.  Ross is
     home to some 600 million inhabitants.  Ross is unique in that it is a
     modular orbital city, comprised of three separate units.  Normally the
     three units are united into one cohesive orbital starport/city, but
     during major fleet maneuvers or wartime, the three modules divide into
     separate entities that are strategically placed at equidistant
     vertices in point defense of Rhylanor proper. Each module is equipped
     with a 2-G maneuver drive and dozens of PAWs, missile launchers and
     meson-gun mounts for such exercises.

     The three starport modules are called Vord, Emberheim and Xao, named
     for a famous scientist, entrepreneur and military leader,
     respectively, drawn from Rhylanor's colorful history.  Emberheim, the
     largest of the three modules, contains Rhylanor's massive orbital
     shipbuilding yard.  Administered by the system government, major
     portions of the yard are leased to Ling Standard Products and General
     Products LIC.  Many smaller indigenous shipbuilding outfits also lease
     manufacturing space at the facility.  Each of the three modules
     contains space leased to the Regency Navy and Regency Interstellar
     Scout Service (RISS) as well.  The majority of Rhylanor's SDB
     squadrons are docked at Xao.

     Do not let the military presence overwhelm you, however.  Over 70
     percent of Ross' permanent population is civilian.  Most of the
     civilian population is employed in some capacity by Rhylanor-based
     subsidiaries of Regency megacorporations.  Numerous merchant lines
     including such notables as Oberlindes lease or own major lots in each
     of Ross' modules.  Two arcologies are mounted on each module, housing
     approximately 85 percent of the civilian population.  The remaining 15
     percent live in settlements located in scattered areas of Ross'
     immense lattice-like structure.

     Let the free trader be forewarned that highly competitive trading
     blocs operate on each of Ross' modules, each with its own dominant
     bloc.  The blocs are very turf-sensitive and will take quick and
     decisive action against any offworlders who come into their territory
     and trade without paying an appropriate obeisance to the dominant bloc
     on the module.  The blocs are known to employ their own assassins and
     on occasion independent mercenary groups to enforce their unwritten
     laws.

     In addition to the dangers posed by the blocs, the powerful Rhylanori
     Ministry of Trade (MT) keeps a watchful eye on all mercantile
     activity.  The export of Rhylanori technology, especially cutting-edge
     Rhylanori computer and robotics technology (see below), is heavily
     policed by law enforcement agents assigned to the MT.

     Despite the clannish trading blocs and intrusive MT on Ross, free
     trade manages to flourish, with offworld goods constantly flowing into
     Ross' ports from throughout the central portion of the Regency.

     Proceeding to Rhylanor itself is a simple task.  Rhylanor's bicameral
     government prefers to keep a hands-off approach for the most part,
     allowing easy passage on and offworld.  Liberal weapon possession and
     personal freedom laws are intended to encourage offworld trade and
     touristry.  The MT presence is every bit as intrusive as it is on
     Ross, but the moblike trading blocs do not have a presence on Rhylanor
     proper.

     The Executive Proxy is the reigning government on Rhylanor, consisting
     of eight senators.  The EP have historically been drawn from the ranks
     of retired flag rank Imperial and now Regency naval officers, native
     Rhylanori corporate executives, Rhylanori nobility and senior
     legislative-branch politicos.  Upon taking office, each member of the
     EP prepares a preferred list of three successors.  The senator may
     optionally alter his preferred list at the end of each eight-year
     term.  Most do not, however, as altering one's list is seen by the
     electorate as a sign of weakness.  When a senator dies or willingly
     secedes, the general population of Rhylanor votes for one of the three
     successors to replace the senator.

     The EP, for the most part, try to facilitate free trade and offworld
     touristry by maintaining a hands-off approach.  Their primary function
     is directing the economy of Rhylanor, promoting industrial projects
     and public works and generally touting Rhylanor to the rest of the
     subsector and the Domain in general.  Legal power and administration
     of the powerful MT is administered by the Magistracy, Rhylanor's lower
     governmental house and judicial branch.  Magistrates are elected by
     popular vote in population bloc electoral districts.

     A division exists between the governmental approach and native
     Rhylanori sentiment to offworlders.  While the government does its
     best to encourage free trade and touristry, the citizens of the planet
     are to known to be rather smug.  In fact, "Rhylanori pride" is known
     throughout the Regency as the defining characteristic of this system's
     citizens.

     Rhylanori pride stems from historical events.  Rhylanor served as the
     pivotal system in the Fifth Frontier War.  Advancing Zhodani forces
     were stopped and turned back at its borders.  This elevated the system
     to "godlike" status in the eyes of many, most especially the Rhylanori
     themselves.  For a time, prominent local groups such as the Sisters of
     Rhylanorae, the local Brotherhood diocese and the Olavopolis Patriot
     Guild even lobbied the Imperium to establish Rhylanor as the new
     capital of the Spinward Marches.

     Though Mora was eventually selected for astrographic and historical
     reasons, most Rhylanori believe their world is more deserving of the
     honor.  To this day each of the above-listed groups and many other
     political action committees continue to pressure the First Regent for
     a referendum on the subject.

     One might infer that the Rhylanori end up feeling like a Regency
     stepchild, always coming in second best.  In fact, just the opposite
     is the case.  The Rhylanori are a progressive people and look at
     defeat as part of an ongoing struggle.  Any and all recognition is
     quickly magnified and extolled.  The Rhylanori are extremely proud,
     for instance, that their system is to be the location of the 1202
     Regency Grav Ball Cup.  This event, while important to the
     higher-population and technologically elevated worlds of the Regency,
     has become a full-blown historical event to the Rhylanori, who are
     always hungry for recognition and approval in the eyes of their peers.

     Offworlders may be put off initially by Rhylanori pride.  Attempts to
     make trading pacts or, heaven forfend, establish permanent residency
     on Rhylanor, may well be rebuked in the courteous but decisive
     Rhylanori manner at first.  Persistence, however, wins out on
     Rhylanor.  Offworlders will discover that the exclusive and
     conservative Rhylanori greatly admire mavericks, entrepreneurs and
     frontiersmen.

     In the colonial days of the planet, tough settlers had to brave
     Rhylanor's harsh and unforgiving environment to establish the
     foundation of what is, in their minds, the greatest jewel and example
     of technological might in the Regency.  As a notable offworlder who
     made his way on Rhylanor as an oceanic wildcatter once said, "If you
     dig your way in like a tick on a kian's back, hold tight and weather
     the storm, you're a Rhylanori for life."

     The capital city of Rhylanor and location of its main starport is
     Olavopolis, named for the First Frontier War hero, Admiral Olav
     hault-Plankwell.  Olavopolis is an immense city of five billion, and a
     planetary nexus for commerce, education and industry.  The city is
     comprised of arcologies, floating gravitic residential and industrial
     centers and subsurface oceanic domes that extend beyond the coastline
     of Olavopolis' terrestrial sprawl.

     Arbellatracon, Rhylanor's largest city with eight billion souls, is
     the planet's manufacturing center.  Consisting mostly of massed
     arcologies, dismal industrial Arbellatracon is for the most part a
     rough and tumble blue-collar city.  Eighty-eight percent of the
     population are members of the Brotherhood church.  On their weekly day
     of rest, Wonday, Arbellatrans don bright ritual compressor apparatuses
     adorned with fetishes and ascend to the surface of the planet to pray
     in the dim light of Icarus.  Under the moonless violet Rhylanori
     skies, they engage in two to three hours of prayer and then return to
     their apartments for ritual feasting and drinking (read:  gourging and
     boozing).

     Rhylanor boasts several smaller cities as well, the largest of which,
     Fuirmidh (pop. 90 million), is the home of the University of Rhylanor.
      A referendum to rename the city Norriscon, after the Fifth Frontier
     War hero and former Duke of Regina, was defeated in a landslide vote
     in 1110, after opponents of the referendum successfully reminded the
     citizens of Rhylanor that Norris too clearly represented Regina to be
     worthy of such an honor.

     As for Rhylanor's technological might, almost all of the planet's
     industries operate at TL-15, with Rhylanori specialties such as
     computers, robotics and many aspects of starship building, achieving
     early to mid-TL 16.

     After the Rape of Trin in 1139, Rhylanor's robotics industry was
     pressured to close down due to widespread hysteria.  Regency citizens
     predominantly from pre-stellar to early stellar systems understood the
     capabilities of the robotics industries of Rhylanor and other
     high-stellar systems, and demanded that the Regency shut them down
     until further notice.  Only within the last five years has Rhylanor
     been able to finagle its way back into the business of creating robots
     with its high-tech manufacturing infrastructure.

     In 1196, Rhylanor successfully plea-bargained the First Regent for
     limited robotics production rights.  Part of the agreement includes
     unlimited use and sale within the Rhylanor system and limited robotics
     trade with its preferred trading partners:  Risek, Porozlo, Macene and
     Jae Tellona.  Many of the leading-edge robotics firms, including
     several divisions of LSP, have reestablished Rhylanor's benchmark
     TL-16 robot production capabilities.

     Part of the agreement with the First Regent includes a clause that all
     robots built by Rhylanori companies must be fitted with a special
     "dumb firewall failsafe" device that activates itself if any virus
     activity is detected within the robot's CPU.  The system is free of
     volatile AI chips and thus labeled "dumb."  This clause is overseen by
     the bureaucratic Regency Robotics Commission (RRC), who maintain an
     office in Olavopolis that oversees all Rhylanori robot manufacturing
     activity.  In the beginning of Rhylanor's new age of robotics, many
     prototype robots mistakenly firewalled due to the sensitivity of their
     systems.  Defects of this sort have since been eradicated.

     Word on the street has it that a lucrative black market Rhylanori
     robot trade exists to serve buyers outside the RRC-sanctioned realm.
     Buyers beware:  the RQS mercilessly prosecutes offenders of the RRC
     regulations.

     Research in virus-proof robotics has consequently put Rhylanor on the
     cutting-edge of virus-proofing computer technology as well.  The
     Regency Navy, with a large presence in the system, takes full
     advantage of their proximity to this technological advancement.  Local
     computer companies bid aggressively for naval contracts.

     Members of Rhylanor's highly technical planetary navy, COACC and 23rd
     fleet Regency naval personnel staff are drawn primarily from the
     population of Rhylanor proper and other planets in the system.
     Conversely, Rhylanor's army and marine regiments are only about 20
     percent Rhylanori.  The bulk of Rhylanor's soldiers are volunteers and
     conscripted troops from nearby Porozlo and Jae Tellona systems.  The
     highly disciplined Jae Tellonan units are known as the "Rashakhras,"
     named for a long-dead Vilani warrior caste that fought in the
     Interstellar Wars.  The Rashakhras are respected and feared throughout
     the Regency and are known to be some of the toughest soldiers of the
     Domain.

     The majority of Rhylanor's technological R&D talent comes directly
     from each graduating class of the University of Rhylanor in Fuirmidh.
     A hotbed of ideas and liberalism, UR has long been a place where
     innovation and intellectual freedom flourish.  The conservative
     population of Rhylanor often sneer at the mention of the university,
     but grudgingly accept it for its merits.  Known during the Fifth
     Frontier War for pro-Ine Givar student protests, the university
     remains a place where dissenters can voice their opinions.  UR is
     Rhylanor's bastion of liberalism.

     The very thin atmosphere freely admits stellar radiation from Icarus,
     making the planet typically hot, averaging 21.3 degrees C.  The
     atmosphere and extreme axial tilt of Rhylanor (48 degrees), however,
     result in large daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations.  Because
     of these extremeties, nearly all Rhylanori own and frequently use
     compressors.  Those who engage in prolonged exposure to the elements
     own vacc suits and PLSS systems.

     Rhylanor's weak natural gravity (0.28 G) is augmented in urban areas
     by immense artificial gravity grids.  Rhylanor's urban artificial
     gravity level is about 0.6 G.  Rhylanori technology also defies the
     planet's weak planetary electromagnetism for the purpose of
     maintaining its maglev public transportation network.  EMP generators
     are maintained at intervals along the maglev public transportation
     web.  The generators enable maglev to operate on the planet despite
     Rhylanor's weak natural electromagnetism.

     The Rhylanori are essentially a proud and forward-thinking people
     whose world is just reaching maturity in the galactic scheme of
     things.  Though commercial enterprise and legal bureaucracy have made
     their imprint on the system, native Rhylanori long for the days of
     colonial freedom and the wild frontier.  Consequently, most Rhylanori
     greatly admire the adventurer's spirit though most are loathe to give
     up the golden handcuffs of their technologically advanced and
     liberated society.

