The Cyndor Belt

This is a write up of the Cyndor Belt, an asteroid belt in the Galen Alpha planetary system, a setting for the Tyranny of the Daleks scenario, using the Second Edition of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7.

THE CYNDOR BELT

Astera, largest of the asteroids in the Cyndor Belt, with Galen Alpha visible in the distance

The Cyndor Belt is a mature, metal-poor asteroid belt and the innermost of the two belts found in the Galen Alpha system.  It formed from a relatively small reservoir of silicate and carbonaceous material, resulting in a sparse population dominated by a handful of major bodies. It has relatively little metallic iron and nickel. The belt has evolved over billions of years through collisions, fragmentation and gravitational interactions with the planets, leaving a depleted and dynamically structured population of surviving bodies.

It is found between 1.8 and 2.7 AU from Galen Alpha, between the orbits of the planets Karvtal and Thandor. It is a broad, relatively thin toroidal region, with most bodies orbiting close to the system's principal orbital plane but with a significant range of inclinations.

The total mass of the belt’s material is around 1.86 x 10^20 kg, around 6% of the Solar System’s asteroid belt.  

The belt is widely dispersed, with large distances between significant bodies.  No object within it is large enough to be classified as a dwarf planet. It is unusually top-heavy, with approximately 77% of its surviving mass concentrated in four major asteroids.

The four largest asteroids are as follows:

Astera, with a diameter of 380 kilometers and a mass of 7.8 x 10^19 kg.  It comprises approximately 42% of the belt’s total mass and is predominantly of carbonaceous rock, hydrated minerals and volatile-rich material, with substantial quantities of water ice preserved beneath its surface. Its mean orbit around Galen Alpha is 2.52 AU.

Thalia, a silicate-rich rubble pile roughly 290 kilometres in diameter and 4.3 x 10^19 kg in mass. It constitutes approximately 23% of the belt’s total mass. It orbits at an average of 1.99 AU and so is the innermost of the four largest asteroids.

Nysa is roughly 220 kilometres on its longest axis, with a mass of 1.7 x 10^19 kg. It makes up approximately 9% of the belt’s mass and is composed of primitive carbonaceous material. It orbits at 2.59 AU and is the outermost of the four largest asteroids.

Nysa

Corvus is around 170 kilometres in its longest axis, and has 6.2 x 10^18 kg in mass.  It makes up about 3% of the belt’s mass.  It is a porous, mostly silicate body, with trace minerals. It orbits at an average of 2.18 AU around Galen Alpha.

None of these are nearly-perfectly spherical as they are not large enough, but Astera is roughly spherical in shape, Thalia less so and Nysa is a rather lumpy, almost rectangular cuboid shape. 

The remaining 23% of the belt’s mass is divided amongst a much larger population of smaller bodies. These consist of six large asteroids of between fifty and 120 kilometres diameter, around fifty medium asteroids with diameters of between ten and fifty kilometres, and several thousand small asteroids with typical diameters of between one and ten kilometres. The remaining mass is distributed among tens of millions of smaller fragments, boulders and rubble particles, with the population becoming progressively more numerous at smaller sizes.

The belt is not uniformly populated and contains clusters, mostly formed by collision debris.  This includes the following:

• the Astera Region, a relatively stable, navigationally well-charted region surrounding the largest body.
• The Nysa Debris Family , a dispersed swarm of fragments originating from an ancient collision involving Nysa.
• The Corvus Fragments, a region containing unusually dense concentrations of small and fine rocky debris.

In addition, several prominent asteroid families are known within the Cyndor Belt, consisting of fragments produced by ancient catastrophic impacts. Their members share similar orbital characteristics and broadly similar mineralogical signatures. Some families are believed to be several billion years old, while others represent much more recent collisions.

The belt is is structured by gravitational resonances, collisional families and variations in composition with orbital distance. The inner regions are relatively richer in silicate material, while carbonaceous and volatile-bearing bodies become increasingly common towards the outer belt.

The Cyndorian Bombardment

The Cyndor Belt is now only a remnant of a substantially more massive primordial asteroid population. During the early evolution of the Galen Alpha system, gravitational interactions between the developing planets destabilised large quantities of material. Some was incorporated into the planets, some was scattered into the outer system, and some was ejected altogether. A significant fraction of carbonaceous material is believed to have been delivered to Thandor during this period.

In addition, some in the inner part of the belt fell onto Karvtal and Velnara, in some cases leaving impact craters that can be seen to this day.  This period during the early evolution of the Galen Alpha system is known as the Cyndorian Bombardment and planetologists estimate it occurred between 2.9 and 2.5 billion years ago. The surviving belt is therefore unusually sparse and strongly depleted compared with its original state.

A spacecraft entering the Cyndor Belt would not encounter the dense field of tumbling rocks often depicted in science fiction films. Instead, the region would consist primarily of vast empty distances punctuated by very occasional asteroids.

Navigational charts focus on:

• The four dominant asteroids, which serve as the primary landmarks in the belt.
• A dozen or so secondary bodies large enough to support mining operations or scientific stations.
• Numerous smaller asteroids and debris clusters produced by ancient collisions.
• Extensive empty space between significant objects.

Flying a spaceship safely through the Cyndor Belt is normally an Easy difficulty Coordination + Transport roll.

Velnara, frozen moon of Karvtal

This is a write up of Velnara, the rock and icy moon of Karvtal , in the Galen Alpha planetary system, a setting for the Tyranny of the Daleks scenario, using the Second Edition of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7.

The near  side of Velnara, the rocky and ice moon of Karvtal

Mass : 0.009 x Earth (0.731 x Luna)

Diameter: 3,161 kilometres

Density: 3.25 grams per cubic centimetre

Average temperature: -63.8 degrees Celsius (337 Kelvin) (minimum -117 degrees Celsius, maximum -49.7 degrees Celsius)

Rotational Period: 27.2 days

Orbital Period: 27.2 days (tidally locked)

Surface gravity : 0.146 g

Semi-Major Axis of orbit round Karvtal : 375,405 kilometres

Eccentricity of orbit : 0.00609

Inclination of orbit: 5.06 degrees

Obliquity : 1.04 degrees

Approximate escape velocity : 2.13 kilometres per second

Overview

Velnara is a cold, ancient rocky moon orbiting Karvtal, the third planet of the Galen Alpha system. Roughly similar in dimensions to Earth’s Moon it is a substantial planetary body, possessing a differentiated interior, a rocky surface, extensive impact cratering, deposits of water ice, and a thin but genuine atmosphere.

It has a thin atmosphere, estimated at approximately one fifth of Earth’s surface atmospheric pressure at ground level.  As such it has weather, winds, clouds and first, while remaining a harsh and inhospitable environment.

Velnara is tidally locked to Karvtal. Its rotational period exactly matches its orbital period around Karvtal of 27.2 days, meaning that the same hemisphere of Velnara always faces its parent planet. Karvtal consequently remains almost stationary in Velnara’s sky, while the stars and Galen Alpha appear to move across the heavens over the course of its orbit.

Velnara’s orbit around Karvtal is remarkably circular. Its modest obliquity contributes to a relatively stable seasonal environment.  From space it appears predominantly rocky with pale and blue-grey areas of exposed or near-surface ice scattered across its surface.  Its landscape is dominated by ancient highlands, impact craters, basaltic plains, fractured terrain and deposits of frozen volatiles. 

The icy regions are not distributed in broad, continuous bands, but occur irregularly across the surface, particularly in polar environments, ancient impact basins, recent landslides,  and permanently shaded regions. It is these deposits that give Velnara its characteristic scattered blue-grey appearance when seen from space. 

Velnara's orbit around Karvtal

Internal structure

Velnara is a differentiated rocky world as the heavier materials have generally migrated towards the core, while lighter silicate materials form the mantle and crust.

A core composed mostly of iron, nickel and sulphur has a radius of approximately 230 kilometres. Some residual internal heat permits limited geological activity deep within the moon.

A thick silicate mantel extending a further 1,300 kilometres is comprised mostly of magnesium and iron-rich silicate minerals.  Whilst the mantle is predominantly solid, temperatures deep within it allow for some limited convection. It is therefore not entirely solid.

Velnara’s orbit around Karvtal

A rocky, silicate crust some fifty kilometres covers Velnara, a relatively thick layering of basalt and other minerals.  The crust records a very long history of impacts. Ancient impact structures have been repeatedly battered by subsequent collisions, producing heavily fragmented regions and extensive deposits of pulverised rock.

Large areas of the surface therefore consist of regolith, a loose mixture of dust, rock fragments, impact debris and chemically altered material.

Regolith and near-surface ice

The uppermost surface consists of a variable layer of regolith, generally several metres thick although some areas are deeper. Mixed in with the regolith are significant quantities of frozen volatiles, including water ice, hydrated materials, frozen carbon dioxide, trapped atmospheric gases and carbon-bearing compounds and other material deposited by ancient comets and asteroids.

At these temperatures, ice is frozen hard almost like rock, and forms sheets, hills, valleys and low lying mountains. Ancient volcanoes from when Velnara had more geological activity hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years ago have left tunnels and channels in the ice.

At Velnara’s extremely low temperatures, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can freeze onto the surface under suitable conditions, leaving a short-lived frost.

The atmosphere

Velnara possesses a thin but genuine atmosphere rather than merely an exosphere.  It is around 0.2 bar at the surface, that is 20% of Earth’s surface pressure. It is thicker than Mars’, but far thinner than Earth’s.

The low gravity means the atmosphere is vertically extended, reaching up to forty kilometres or so compared with roughly eight kilometres for Earth.

The atmosphere is composed of 77% nitrogen, 11% argon, 7% carbon dioxide, 3% oxygen, approximately 1% of water vapour and less than 1% trace gases.

Weather and climate

The thin atmosphere is sufficient to produce genuine weather, including winds, high-altitude clouds, ground-level haze and localised snow-like precipitation.

The low gravity means that dust and fine ice particles can remain suspended in the atmosphere relatively easily.  Large storms can lift enormous quantities of fine regolith into the atmosphere, producing broad, slowly moving dust veils visible from orbit. Its atmospheric circulation helps moderate temperature differences between regions.

Velnara’s two faces

Just as with Earth’s Moon, Velnara has two distinct faces, one that is always turned towards Karvtal, the other looking away. This is due to tidal locking in its orbit.

The far side, entirely unseen from the surface of Karvtal, is lighter and more rugged than the Karvtal-facing side.  The highlands are more dominant, and impact craters far more numerous. Less icy-deposits are visible on the far side.  To anyone on the surface of Karvtal, they only ever see the same side of Velnara. 

Given its size, it would look roughly the same size in the sky as Earth’s Moon does from the surface of Earth, albeit ever so slightly smaller.  Velnara’s ice deposits make it shine brightly in Karvtal’s sky, giving it a somewhat brighter, slightly bluish appearance compared to Earth’s Moon, with surface features on Velnara distinctly apparent in the Karvtal sky. 

Tharkal Thregarson

Character details for Tharkal Thregarson from Tyranny of the Daleks.  This is using the second edition rules from the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7. 

THARKAL THREGARSON

Tharkal Thregarson, child of the Pham

Concept: Young child of the Pham

Focus: Maturing

Homeworld: Galentor

Tech level: 1

Short-term goal: Survive to my next Day of Birth

Long-term goal: Survive until adulthood

Awareness 2, Coordination 2,

Ingenuity 5, Presence 1,

Resolve 3, Strength 1

Skills: Athletics 1,  Conflict 0, Convince 0, Craft 0, Intuition 0, Knowledge 1, Medicine 0, Science 1, Subterfuge 0, Survival 1, Technology 1, Transport 0

Notes: Tharkal’s Knowledge is limited to matters concerning Galentor, and the Pham’s unwritten history and lore.

Equipment: Wooden staff (+2 to Strength)

Story Points: 3

Note: Tharkal is ten years old and his attributes and skills reflect his young age.

Character notes

Tharkal Thregarson is a healthy ten-year-old boy and one of the Pham's precious few children. Along with the other children of the tribe, he represents the future of the Pham, and his survival into adulthood is therefore of enormous importance. Fit, strong and bright, Tharkal possesses an unusually inquisitive mind for a child growing up in such a primitive society. Although his courage is genuine, he is still a child and can be frightened by dangers that an adult might take in his stride.

Tharkal is the son of Thregar the Forager and nephew of Garleth the apprentice herbalist, and has inherited their practical approach to life. He is fascinated by the natural world and particularly enjoys discovering how things work and how practical knowledge can be used to solve problems. He is perfectly devout in the traditions of the Pham, but his natural curiosity and pragmatic nature have begun to give rise to a nascent scientific philosophy. He does not regard science and the teachings of the Pham as contradictory. Instead, he suspects that understanding the world more clearly might ultimately help his people understand the mysterious achievements of their ancestors.

In another society, Tharkal's aptitude for science and learning might already have been encouraged through schooling, books, laboratories and access to technology. Instead, his education consists largely of observation, oral tradition and practical experience. What might eventually develop into a profound intellectual talent is therefore presently little more than an inkling, an acorn which, given the right circumstances, might one day grow into something remarkable. His greatest assets are his intelligence, curiosity and willingness to ask questions that other members of the Pham have never thought to ask.

Tharkal's Gift: The Backward Tongue

Tharkal has possessed the unusual ability to speak backwards for as long as he can remember. When he was very young, the Pham regarded it as little more than an amusing childish trick. He discovered that he could repeat individual words backwards and, with practice, reproduce entire sentences in reverse with remarkable accuracy. His parents assumed that he had simply developed an unusual talent, but Tharkal insists that he never actually learned to do it. As far as he is concerned, he simply remembers somehow knowing how.

There is, however, a deeper explanation. Before the Dalek conquest, the original human settlers on Galentor possessed sophisticated computers, automated equipment and voice-operated technology. Much of this technology was destroyed, abandoned or forgotten during the Dalek onslaught, although remnants remain scattered across the planet and occasionally continue to function. One such system was damaged during the conquest, causing its voice-recognition and audio systems to malfunction and produce fragments of speech backwards, distorted and incomplete. Tharkal encountered one of these remnants as a very young child while exploring with his father. His developing mind somehow recognised the sounds as language and began unconsciously reproducing them.

Tharkal can now reverse spoken Galentorian with extraordinary fluency. He sometimes uses the ability simply to amuse the other children, but it has gradually acquired practical uses. He and the other children have developed backwards speech into a rudimentary secret language which they can use when they do not want adults to understand them. More importantly, Tharkal has discovered that certain surviving devices from the Golden Age occasionally respond to backwards speech. He does not understand why, but rather than regarding this as magic, he sees it as a phenomenon which must have an explanation. He calls the phenomenon the Returning Voice and mentally catalogues the circumstances in which his backwards speech seems to produce unusual effects.

The ability is therefore an early manifestation of Tharkal's developing scientific curiosity. What the elders regard as a strange gift, Tharkal regards as a mystery waiting to be solved. In reality, his backwards speech may reproduce fragments of an ancient machine-language or voice protocol, allowing him to interact with technology that has remained silent since before the Daleks came to Galentor. Tharkal unknowingly possesses a potential key to the technological past of his people. The very ability that appears to demonstrate how far the Pham have fallen from the Golden Age may instead prove that some fragment of that Golden Age has survived within them.

Distrust of Koldar the Scout

Tharkal's distrust of Koldar the Scout began when he was about eight years old. While accompanying his father on a foraging expedition, Tharkal became separated from him while exploring the edge of an area of forest known to the Pham as the Old Place, where fragments of the Ancestors' mysterious technology can occasionally be found. There he encountered Koldar apparently investigating the ruins alone. Koldar was unusually angry at finding the boy there and ordered him to leave immediately. When Tharkal asked what he had discovered, Koldar refused to tell him and warned him never to return.

Tharkal nevertheless noticed something Koldar had apparently failed to realise he had seen. The Scout was examining an ancient metal device, and when he touched it, a faint light appeared upon its surface. Tharkal recognised symbols resembling markings he had seen on other relics of the Golden Age. More strangely, Koldar spoke to the device using a peculiar sequence of sounds which Tharkal later realised was remarkably similar to his own backwards speech. When Tharkal questioned him about it, Koldar became visibly uncomfortable and merely told him that the Ancestors' machines were dangerous and that some things were better left forgotten.

For Tharkal, this was deeply troubling. He already suspects that the Pham's traditional stories about the Golden Age contain fragments of genuine knowledge, yet Koldar appeared to know something about the ancient technology which he was deliberately keeping secret. Worse, Tharkal believed that Koldar had lied to him. He began to wonder whether the Scout had discovered something important in the ruins, perhaps something that contradicted the Pham's oldest traditions, and was keeping it for himself. Ever since, Tharkal has been watchful and guarded whenever Koldar is nearby.

The truth is more complicated. Koldar's experiences with the Robo-Men have left him deeply suspicious of advanced technology. He has seen apparently miraculous technology bring death and suffering, and fears that awakening the remnants of the Golden Age could expose the Pham to dangers they cannot understand. He therefore believes that keeping the truth from Tharkal was an act of protection. Tharkal, however, knows none of this. He sees only a man who knows more than he admits, dislikes questions, and has concealed the truth about the Ancestors' technology.

There is consequently an intriguing irony to their relationship. Tharkal is right that Koldar is hiding something, but wrong about why. Koldar believes that the Pham's survival depends upon leaving the past alone; Tharkal increasingly believes that their survival may depend upon understanding it. The old Scout and the young boy therefore represent two very different responses to the legacy of the Golden Age: Koldar believes that knowledge can be dangerous, while Tharkal is beginning to believe that ignorance is even more dangerous.

Selkar the Fire-Keeper

Character details for Selkar the Fire-Keeper from Tyranny of the Daleks.  This is using the second edition rules from the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7. 

SELKAR THE FIRE-KEEPER

Concept: Custodian of fire

Focus: Firekeeper

Homeworld: Galentor

Tech level: 1

Short-term goal: To keep the Holy Fiery Orb burning

Long-term goal: To help the Pham to reclaim their ancient magical power in a new Golden Age

Awareness 3, Coordination 2,

Ingenuity 2, Presence 3,

Resolve 4, Strength 3

Skills: Athletics 1, Conflict 0, Convince 3 (Inspire hope), Craft 3 (Firekeeping), Intuition 2, Knowledge 2*, Medicine 1**, Science 0, Subterfuge 1, Survival 3 , Technology 0, Transport 0

*limited to Galentor myths and rituals

** limited to primitive first aid

Equipment: Battered, non-functioning pocket computer (which Selkar calls a “Kommpta”) which when working is a terminal for the previous technological settlement’s digital data banks.

Fire-Keeper tools, including a flint striker, primitive tinder pouch, bone knife and ritual ash container.

Story Points: 3

Selkare the Fire-Keeper

Character notes

A respected elder-in-training among the Pham of Galentor, Selkar serves as guardian of the tribe’s sacred flame, known as the Holy Fiery Orb. Though only around thirty years old, he carries the immense cultural burden of preserving both the tribe’s literal fire and its symbolic hope for the future. Gentle, patient, and deeply compassionate, Selkar is far more comfortable tending children and embers than facing violence.

To the Pham, Selkar’s sacred relics and inherited vestments represent a direct link to the lost Golden Age before the Dalek conquest. Unknown to him, his revered “Kommpta” is actually a damaged portable computer from the pre-Dalek era, its data long inaccessible without advanced repairs.

The Fire-Keeper is a revered and honoured position within the Pham, the tribe of human survivors on Galentor that the Doctor meets.  Since the Dalek onslaught, and the reduction of the humans to a primitive mode of survival, keeping a fire lit at all times has become a deeply ingrained part of their culture. Fire is needed for so many things; for cooking, boiling water, heating, light, and for signalling. Selkar’s role was passed down to him from his father, Zarkal, and he learned the ways of the Fire Keepers through a lengthy and sometimes painful apprenticeship. 

Selkar is thought of highly for his caring attitude, especially with the precious children of the Pham, of which there are not many.  He works diligently in his role and since taking over the role four years ago, there have been no incidents in which the Pham’s Holy Fiery Orb has gone out.  He has no family of his own but is loved and respected by the rest of the Pham.

The role of the Fire-Keeper is, in keeping with the teachings of Lentargi, to keep alive the fire of hope that one day the people of the Pham will reclaim their heritage of being wielders of technology, which is a magical force to them.  As well as its practical uses,  the need to keep the fire burning symbolises their cherished hope that one day they will ascend to the golden age that existed before the coming of the Evil Ones, that is the Daleks.  Keeping the fire burning is a physical manifestation of keeping their hope alive.

As well as his sacred clothes, he wears a necklace with a centrepiece of a fearsome magical relic of the ancient golden age, called a “Kommpta”. It is said that the Kommpta is a repository for ancient magical lore, and when the Pham ascends once more to their rightful place, it will reveal all the ancient secrets to the Fire Keeper. In reality, the centrepiece is a battered, non-functioning miniature portable computer that once allowed direct access to the original settlers’ digital data banks.

Whilst Selkar is a reasonably strong man of average height and in his early thirties, he has only a little experience of fighting and does not carry any weapons. Whilst he is courageous and brave, his best tactic in terms of self-defence is to run, in combination with his knowledge of the terrain as a means for survival.

Within the Pham, he is noted for not only being caring, but also raising people’s spirits and hopes. He takes his role as Fire-Keeper to heart, and often can be found providing encouragement and support when he can.  He can calm fears and raise morale.  He is generally treated with respect by the other members of the Pham. His reliance on his myths and tales of magic make it impossible for him to conceptualise that the Golden Age he so dreams of was one of technology rather than sorcery or spells.

In the hierarchy of the Pham, Selkar accepts firstly the leadership of Thural in spiritual matters in the teachings of Lentargi, and secondly Elara in terms of practical survival and feeding the Pham. The role of Fire-Keeper is somewhat esoteric in comparison, but in Selkar a respected one purely down to his personal qualities and the admiration he is held in.

Description

Physically, he is around 5 foot 10 inches tall, with short brown hair, and strong, rugged features that suggest years of outdoor life and exposure to heat. He is in his early thirties. His expression is calm but alert, always looking out for danger from beyond the forests and ruins of Galentor.  

He wears some of the tribe’s oldest clothing as a mark of the honour in which his position is held, showing the ancient reverence for the role of the Fire-Keeper, going right back to the earliest days of the Pham in surviving the Dalek massacre.  This includes some ancient shoes, trousers (referred to as his “jeenz”) and a blue short sleeved top with a lighter blue stripe across it, along with pale shoes that are dirty and scuffed.

These clothes are sacred vestments handed down directly from the Golden Age before the Dalek conquest of Galentor, washed ritually to keep the Fire-Keeper pure and to maintain a direct link with the ancient humans who lived with their magical technology before the present wild times.  They are the clothes from the pre-conquest era that remain in the best condition due to the reverence in which they are held.

The Ember Sigil of Zahkur

Selkar has a secret which gnaws at his soul, darkening his days. He has lost the Ember Sigil of Zakhur, a family heirloom of ritual significance that dates back to before the Dalek conquest of Galentor, and its loss has caused him endless worry and sleepless nights, both for its importance to the Pham and how the discovery of its disappearance may ruin his standing.

In the secret magical language used by the spiritual leaders of the Pham, including Selkar, it is called the Za-Kommpta of the First Flame.  It is one of their holiest relics ever entrusted to the Fire-Keepers. It is a small, palm-sized device which in reality was an old emergency thermal regular and ignition controller from the first Federation settlement ship to land on the planet.  It was once used by engineers to activate industrial fusion furnaces and emergency power systems.

The people of the Pham no longer understand its true purpose.  To them, it is a sacred magical object forged by the “Sky Ancestors” during the Golden Age of Light. It is said to contain the “breath of the Eternal Fire”, and legends claim the first Fire-Keeper used it to relight the Holy Fiery Orb after the Daleks darkened the world with ash and death. This is true in mythical terms; following the Dalek conquest, there was one last time that the Sigil was used to ignite a pile of tinder the Pham had collected with a sizeable spark. The Sigil has not worked since.

The Ember Sigil of Zahkur

Zakhur is believed to have been the first Fire-Keeper, decades ago after the Pham established itself following the Dalek invasion.

Physically, the relic is beautiful and mysterious. It is  a flat oval of dark silver metal, covered in faded glowing lines beneath scratched translucent panels.  It has a cracked red thumb-pad at its centre with tiny unreadable symbols running around its edge.  One side bears the scorched emblem of the Federation at the time of the planet’s settlement. When shaken, components rattle inside.

Though long without power, it occasionally emits a tiny spark of red light when warmed by flame, something the Fire-Keepers interpret as proof of its divine nature.  The Ember Sigil was passed directly from Fire-Keeper to Fire-Keeper for generations. According to tribal law, no outsider may touch it without ritual cleansing. During the sacred Night of Rekindling, the Sigil is held above the tribe’s great fire, while the Fire-Keeper recites the ancient promise:

“While the Flame endures, Hope endures.”

The Sigil represents far more than merely fire. It symbolises humanity’s lost mastery of the “magic” of technology, the sacred duty of the Fire-Keeper and the hope that one day the Golden Age will return. Many believe it contains sleeping knowledge that will awaken when “the stars are right” and others that it can summon hidden cities beneath Galentor or event war-monsters to fight for them (that is mythical  representations of tanks and artillery).

Unknown to Selkar, the device actually contains a partially intact encrypted access key tied to ancient underground emergency systems beneath the ruined human settlements of Galentor, as during the Dalek attack the device was hastily repurposed. If restored, it could genuinely unlock forgotten technology caches.

Selkar lost the Ember Sigil around six months ago. During a violent electrical storm deep in the forests near the Pham encampment, he travelled alone to recover rare black resin wood to keep the Holy Fire burning during the rainy season. While crossing the shattered ruins of an overgrown pre-conquest roadway, he was startled by the distant sounds of Dalek hoverbout engines.

Terrified, Selkar ran into the woods. Only hours later, after hiding behind a fallen metal structure until dawn, did he realise the Ember Sigil must have slipped out of the leather pouch beneath his tunic in which he kept it for good fortune when traversing the land.

He searched frantically, but could not find it. Worse still, strange tracks marked the mud around the area in which he had thought he had lost it, circular impressions in the ground with thin drag lines.  Selkar became convinced one of the “Forest Demons” of Pham legend had taken it.  In truth, an Intruder Dalek had spotted it on the floor and taken it.

Selkar has told no one that it has gone. Amongst the Pham, losing such an important relic would be considered a terrible spiritual failing. Some elders, such as Thural or Elara, might even believe the Holy Fire itself had become cursed because of such carelessness. Selkar fears losing his sacred position and shaming his father’s memory. Since then he has secretly made journeys into dangerous ruins and forbidden forests trying to recover it, and has found this exhausting. Beneath his calm exterior, he is now somewhat anxious and depressed. Every time the Holy Fire flickers unexpectedly, Selkar wonders silently if the ancestors are judging him.

The Secret of Veldara

Selkar is, although he is not aware of it, an old acquaintance of Jorath the Path-Maker. They first met twelve years ago, when both were adventurous young men exploring the forbidden ruins beyond the lands of the Pham. They were united by their friendship with a brave and curious young woman named Veldara, the daughter of Koralyn, the Pham’s healer at that time. Both men loved her in different ways, and together they ventured into the dreaded Glass Plains, the site of a huge battle when the Daleks conquered Galentor, where they discovered an ancient underground human installation dating from before the conquest. Deep within its ruins they accidentally activated a mysterious crystalline relic from the pre-invasion “Golden Age”, unknowingly awakening long-dormant security systems and a damaged psychic archive filled with the memories of humanity's last stand on Galentor against the Daleks.

The resulting chaos was catastrophic. They were attacked by a seriously damaged Dalek drone that had been left when the installation was invaded. The chamber collapsed around them, and the psychic energies unleashed by the shattered archive overwhelmed the minds of everyone present. During the confusion Veldara vanished without trace, while Jorath was badly injured. Selkar destroyed the malfunctioning archive in an attempt to save his friends. The two men escaped with their lives, but the tribe declared the ruins cursed and forbade anyone from returning.

The psychic shock along with a blow to the head permanently damaged Selkar's memory. He remembers only scattered fragments of that terrible night: falling ash, blue fire, Veldara calling his name, and Jorath dragging him to safety beneath a blood-red sky. He cannot remember precisely how they met, what truly happened within the ruins, or whether he somehow failed Veldara. Jorath remembers more than he does, but the painful memories have driven a quiet distance between the two men, each carrying guilt for the tragedy.

Unknown to either of them, Veldara did not perish. The installation’s security systems erroneously triggered a forgotten Dalek emergency temporal field, hurling her forward through time into suspended stasis somewhere beneath the surface of Galentor. Selkar's recurring dreams of Veldara calling to him are more than troubled memories: they are faint psychic echoes from someone who is still alive, waiting to be found. This mystery could become an intriguing adventure awaiting the time-travellers on Galentor.

Concept: Custodian of fire 3

Forest maps for roleplaying using Inkarnate

I've been having a lot of fun recently working on maps for the Tyranny of the Daleks roleplaying scenario. I've been using Inkarnate, an easy to use mapping and floor plan website.  At the moment I'm only using the free assets, but these alone are really useful and varied.  

At present I'm working on creating maps or plans of the various scenes from the fan film.  The scale provided is in accordance with the Doctor Who roleplaying game from Cubicle 7, which is one range being equivalent to ten metres (normally) on foot.

It's enjoyable learning how to use a new application, and I'm excited about developing my skills with it. 

The TARDIS landing site

The clearing in which Garleth and Loran are encountered

Karvtal, world of ice and frozen forests, a planet of the Galen Alpha system

This is a write up of Karvtal, a world of ice and deep forests, in the Galen Alpha planetary system, a setting for the Tyranny of the Daleks scenario, using the Second Edition of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7.

Third Planet of Galen Alpha

Karvtal, seen from space during the northern hemisphere's summer

Mass : 0.94 x Earth

Diameter: 14,282 kilometres

Density: 3.68 grammes per cubic centimetre

Average temperature: -27.7 degrees Celsius (minimum -110 degrees Celsius, maximum 13.2 degrees Celsius)

Rotational Period: 2.44 days

Orbital Period: 1.5 years

Surface gravity : 0.749 g

Semi-Major axis of orbit around Galen Alpha : 1.35 AU

Eccentricity of orbit : 0.0182

Inclination of orbit: 0.2 degrees

Obliquity : 8.57 degrees

Karvtal is a world balanced on the edge of ice.

It is the outermost of the three inner terrestrial worlds of Galen Alpha, orbiting beyond the warm seas of Galentor and just outside the Cyndor Belt. It is a broad, cold super-terrestrial world of low density and expansive horizons, a place of deep forests, glacial valleys and immense storm systems that coil across entire hemispheres. Though less obviously hospitable than Galentor, and receiving only around two-thirds of Galen Alpha’s sunlight, Karvtal possesses a quiet grandeur and a geological vitality that make it one of the most compelling destinations in the system. 

Formation and Early History

Karvtal formed in the outer region of the inner system, beyond the optimal temperate zone but well inside the domain of the gas giants. During the protoplanetary era it accreted from volatile-rich planetesimals, giving it a significant inventory of water ice alongside silicate rock and metal.

Unlike the inner desert world Pentaurus, Karvtal retained much of its primordial water. Early heavy bombardment scarred its crust, and several of the largest impact basins remain visible today beneath ice sheets and sedimentary plains. As the young Galen Alpha brightened, Karvtal never quite crossed into full habitability; instead, it stabilised in a prolonged glacial regime.

Its iron core remains partially molten, sustaining a magnetic field that protects the surface from stellar radiation. Slow mantle convection drives modest tectonic activity, enough to renew the crust over geological timescales without plunging the planet into global resurfacing events.

Differentiation occurred early, producing:

A metallic core capable of sustaining a dynamo

A convecting mantle

A thick lithosphere, particularly in colder high-latitude regions

Its lower gravity, at roughly three quarters of Earth’s, allows mountains to rise somewhat higher relative to crustal strength, while atmospheric circulation behaves on a broader scale due to its longer rotational period.

Orbit and Seasonal Character

Karvtal circles Galen Alpha once every year and a half. Its orbit at approximately 1.35 AU is nearly circular and lies very close to the system’s primary plane. With only a modest axial tilt of just under nine degrees, seasonal contrasts are muted. Winters are long and severe at high latitudes, but not wildly variable year to year. Summers are brief and cool.

The planet rotates once every two and a half days, giving it broad atmospheric circulation cells and expansive storm systems rather than rapid, tightly wound weather patterns. From orbit, cloud bands sweep across ocean basins in slow spirals, sometimes stretching thousands of kilometres. Climate patterns are driven more by latitude and ocean circulation than by extreme seasonal swings.

The maximum temperature ever recorded at the equator, in sheltered dark-soil basins during peak insolation, is 13.2 degrees Celsius. That is exceptional. Most of the planet remains below freezing for much of the year.  

Composition and Atmosphere

Surface atmospheric pressure 116 kPa at sea level

Karvtal Atmosphere (by volume)

• 74.8% Nitrogen (N₂)

• 20.6% Oxygen (O₂)

• 1.9% Argon (Ar)

• 1.2% Carbon dioxide (CO₂)

• 0.45% Water vapour (variable, equatorial average)

• 0.04% Neon

• 0.01% Methane (biogenic and geological trace)

• trace krypton, xenon and others

Karvtal is slightly larger in diameter than Earth but less massive, giving it lower surface gravity. Its bulk density indicates a silicate mantle and iron core comparable in structure to Earth’s, though proportionally somewhat more volatile-rich in its crust.

Its atmosphere is thicker than Earth’s, dominated by nitrogen with substantial oxygen and an elevated carbon dioxide fraction. Surface pressure is moderately higher than Earth’s, enhancing greenhouse retention and helping keep equatorial oceans from freezing solid.

The oxygen content makes the air breathable to humans. The higher carbon dioxide level would feel noticeable but not immediately harmful. Radiation levels at the surface are slightly less than Earth’s, moderated by both atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Climate and Weather

Karvtal’s climate is defined by latitude.

At the poles, ice sheets extend for thousands of kilometres, their winter temperatures plunging into extreme cold. These ice masses are kilometres thick in places and grind slowly outward, calving into steel-dark seas.

Mid-latitudes host vast taiga forests: dark, conifer-like growths adapted to short summers and long winters. Snowfall is common, and seasonal thaws create sprawling meltwater plains.

The equatorial zone contains cold oceans that remain largely ice-free due to oceanic heat transport and atmospheric greenhouse warming. Sea ice forms seasonally along margins but rarely seals the oceans entirely.

Storms are large and slow-moving. Low-pressure systems build over ocean basins and drift for days, bringing heavy snowfall inland. Blizzards can persist across continental interiors, reshaping dunes of powder-fine snow.

Lightning storms are rare but spectacular, often associated with volcanic ash plumes.

Karvtal's orbit around Galen Alpha

Surface and Geological Activity

From space, Karvtal is striking.

Broad dark continents dominate the visible hemisphere, interspersed with cold blue oceans.  Around 41% of the surface is covered by oceans. The mid-latitude forest belt appears almost black-green, absorbing what light it can. Polar caps gleam white, edged by jagged ice shelves.  

Several major mountain chains arc across continents, their peaks perpetually snow-clad. Deep fjord systems carve high-latitude coastlines where ancient glaciers have retreated and advanced over millennia.

A vast tectonic rift valley splits one major landmass. Here, geothermal heat keeps the ground seasonally ice-free, and fumaroles vent steam into sub-zero air. These geothermal corridors are biological refuges and ideal locations for exploration.

Volcanism exists but is moderate. Basaltic shield volcanoes occasionally breach ice sheets, melting temporary lakes that refreeze into chaotic, fractured ice plains. Seismic activity is steady but not catastrophic; earthquakes and tremors ripple through crustal fault lines as mantle convection continues its slow work.

Impact craters are visible in older terrains, though many have been softened by ice and erosion. Some subglacial basins likely conceal preserved impact structures beneath kilometres of ice.

The Biosphere

Life on Karvtal is not exuberant. It is enduring.

The dominant terrestrial lifeform is the Talarith tree analogue: dark-spired, antifreeze-bearing forest giants that form dense taiga belts. Their pigments are tuned for lower light levels, and their vascular systems resist freezing.

Beneath them grow symbiotic vines and mineral-harvesting microbial mats that build soil from bare rock.

Fauna includes migratory herbivores adapted to snow and cold, pack-hunting predators that navigate blizzards by seismic sensing, and burrowing organisms that aerate frozen ground.

In the oceans, cold nutrient-rich waters support large filter-feeding organisms and extensive kelp-like reef systems anchored to basalt shelves.

And in the polar ice lives something rarer and more mysterious: large glacial predators that enter metabolic suspension during deep winter and roam subglacial caverns near geothermal rifts. They are few, ancient, and difficult to study.

Life survives here through:

• Antifreeze biochemistry

 • Slow metabolism

 • Symbiotic nutrient exchange

 • Seasonal dormancy

 • Efficient oxygen utilisation

Karvtal’s ecosystems operate on longer timescales than Earth’s. Growth is slow. Extinction is slower.

From Velnara

From the surface of its moon Velnara, tidally locked in its orbit, Karvtal dominates half the sky. Its polar caps are brilliant white arcs. Dark forest belts are clearly visible. Storm systems drift visibly over days. Occasional volcanic plumes rise like faint scars against the snowfields.

The view is serene and forbidding at once.

Surface Exploration and Points of Interest

Karvtal is a world of brooding skies and expansive wilderness. For time travellers, it offers a range of compelling environments:

The Hadrien Rift

A tectonic fracture zone thousands of kilometres long, where crustal plates are slowly pulling apart. Steam vents, shallow magma chambers and geothermal fields dot the landscape. Subsurface lava tubes could hide secrets or long-lost installations.

The Veloran Glacial Fjords

Immense ice-carved inlets where sheer cliffs plunge into dark waters. Subglacial melt channels occasionally collapse, creating sudden catastrophic floods.

The Eos Thermal Basin

A high-latitude volcanic caldera region where geothermal warmth maintains a microclimate of evergreen forest within a snowbound plateau.

The Cyndor Impact Field

A chain of partially eroded impact craters from early belt debris, now forming interconnected lakes and mineral-rich basins.

The Nareth Expanse 

A continent-spanning ice shelf fractured by tectonic rifting, beneath which lies a subglacial ocean connected to geothermal heat sources. Beneath kilometres of ice, liquid water caverns and microbial ecosystems exist.

Karvtal seen from its south pole during the southern hemisphere's winter

Tarack, Volcanic Moon of Galentor

This is a write up of Tarack, the Moon of Galentor in the Galen Alpha planetary system, a setting for the Tyranny of the Daleks scenario, using the Second Edition of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7.

Dalek battleship in high orbit around Tarack

Mass : 0.0106 x Earth ( 0.861 x Moon )

Diameter: 3,436 kilometres 

Density: 2.98 grammes per cubic centimetre

Average temperature: -35.4 degrees Celsius  (minimum -158 degrees Celsius, maximum -7.59 degrees Celsius)

Rotational Period: 7.88 days (tidally locked)

Orbital Period: 7.88 days

Surface gravity : 0.146 g

Semi-Major Axis of orbit around Galentor : 164,380 kilometres

Eccentricity of orbit : 0.0199

Inclination of orbit: 1.65 degrees

Obliquity : 2.29 degrees

Tarack is the sole natural moon of Galentor and one of the most visually arresting bodies in the Galen Alpha system. Though slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon, it is geologically far more active. Its deep red surface, streaked with darker lava plains and fractured highlands, makes it unmistakable from orbit and unforgettable in Galentor’s night sky.

There is no native life on Tarack. It is a world shaped by heat, stress and tidal strain. It is sometimes compared to Io, a moon of Jupiter in Earth's Solar System.

Formation and Early Evolution

Tarack most likely formed early in the history of the Galen Alpha system from debris placed into orbit around Galentor following a colossal impact event. Its relatively low density of 2.98 g/cm³ suggests a silicate-rich body with a modest iron core, consistent with differentiation during a molten early phase.

In its infancy Tarack orbited much closer to Galentor. Over time, tidal interactions transferred angular momentum from Galentor’s rotation into Tarack’s orbit, gradually pushing the moon outward to its present distance of approximately 164,000 kilometres.

Tarack’s orbital eccentricity is the residual outcome of its tidal evolution and the balance between internal energy dissipation and orbital circularisation. This small but persistent eccentricity is sufficient to generate ongoing tidal heating within its interior, which has led to huge changes over millions of years to the moon’s surface and a great deal of seismic and volcanic activity at present.

Orbit and Relationship with Galentor

Tarack orbits Galentor every 7.88 days and is tidally locked, always presenting the same hemisphere to its primary. Galentor’s rapid rotation period of 0.997 Earth days means Tarack rises and sets in the sky over the course of each Galentorian day, though its phase cycle spans the full 7.88-day orbital period.

From Galentor’s surface, Tarack appears immense. At a distance of roughly 164,000 kilometres and with a diameter of 3,436 kilometres, its apparent diameter is just over 1.1 degrees. This is more than twice the apparent size of Earth’s Moon as seen from Earth. It dominates the night sky and provides significant nocturnal illumination at full phase.

Its reddish coloration is clearly visible from Galentor without optical aid. At full phase it casts a faint copper glow across oceans and coastlines, giving rise to numerous cultural associations with fire, omens and endurance.

Tarack also exerts measurable tidal forces on Galentor’s oceans, contributing to pronounced tidal ranges in some coastal regions.

A small fraction of Tarack’s volcanic output does not fall back to its surface. During major eruptions, sulphur dioxide gas, sodium vapour and extremely fine dust can escape the moon’s weak gravity and become ionised by stellar radiation. Because Tarack orbits deep within Galentor’s magnetosphere, these charged particles are captured along magnetic field lines, forming a tenuous plasma torus along Tarack’s orbital path. 

Some of this ionised material is funnelled toward Galentor’s polar regions, where it enhances auroral activity, occasionally producing brighter and more complex displays than would otherwise occur. The total mass transferred is extremely small and environmentally insignificant at the surface, but in the upper atmosphere it creates a subtle and beautiful electromagnetic connection between the volcanic moon and the living world it orbits.

Tarack's orbit around Galentor

Internal Structure and Composition

Tarack is a differentiated rocky body composed of:

• A small iron-nickel core
• A thick silicate mantle
• A basaltic crust enriched in iron-bearing minerals

The red coloration visible from space is primarily due to iron oxides within its crustal rocks, especially hematite formed through oxidation of iron-rich basalts. Volcanic resurfacing has spread these materials widely across the moon.

Its mantle remains partially molten at depth. Although Tarack’s eccentricity is modest, the tidal forces exerted by Galentor are substantial because of the moon’s relatively close orbit. The resulting internal flexing generates steady tidal heating, estimated at perhaps half to two-thirds of Io’s heat flux. This makes Tarack one of the more geologically active rocky moons in its system despite lacking any outer resonant companion.

Surface and Major Features

From space, Tarack presents:

• Broad, dark basaltic plains formed by repeated lava flooding
• Massive shield volcanoes rising several kilometres high
• Extensive rift valleys and graben systems
• Large impact basins partially filled with younger lava flows
• Long tectonic scarps caused by tidal flexure

Unlike Io, Tarack lacks vivid sulphur deposits. Its palette is dominated by burnt reds, dark charcoal blacks and occasional brighter orange streaks where fresher lava has oxidised.

The surface is comparatively young in geological terms. Large ancient impact craters are present but often softened or partially buried by lava. Volcanic provinces cluster preferentially along zones of tidal stress, particularly near the equator and at longitudes facing and opposing Galentor.

If one were to stand on Tarack’s surface, gravity would feel extremely light at only 0.146 g. Movement would be slow and bounding. The terrain would be rugged and sharp, composed of fractured basalt, frozen lava channels and volcanic ash deposits. The horizon would appear relatively close due to Tarack’s small radius.

On the hemisphere facing Galentor, the primary world would hang in the sky, immense and blue-green, slowly rotating over the course of a Galentorian day.

Tidal Heating Mechanism

Tarack’s tidal heating arises from periodic distortion caused by its slightly elliptical orbit. As it moves closer to and farther from Galentor during each 7.88-day cycle, gravitational stresses flex its interior. This continual deformation generates frictional heating within the mantle.

Although the orbit is gradually evolving toward circularisation, the timescale for complete damping of eccentricity is long, potentially hundreds of millions of years. For the purposes of the present era, Tarack remains persistently active.

Volcanism

• Small to moderate lava effusions occur several times per year globally.
• Significant regional eruptions occur perhaps once every few decades.
• Lava is predominantly basaltic and highly fluid in low gravity, producing long, thin flows.
• Lava fountains may reach several kilometres in height.

Volcanic plumes are not as extreme as Io’s sulphur geysers, but they are dramatic by terrestrial standards. Thermal hotspots are visible from orbit.

Seismic Activity

Tarack experiences frequent tidal quakes.

• Minor quakes occur daily.
• Moderate magnitude five to six events occur several times per year.
• Larger magnitude seven events may occur once every few decades.

Because of the moon’s fractured crust and low gravity, seismic waves can reverberate for extended periods.

Tarack does not exhibit plate tectonics. Instead, it operates under a stagnant lid regime with crustal rifting and volcanic resurfacing acting as primary mechanisms for heat release.

Atmosphere and Climate

Tarack does not retain a substantial atmosphere. Its surface gravity is too low to hold one over geological timescales.

Instead, it possesses a tenuous exosphere composed of:

• Sulphur dioxide from volcanic outgassing
• Sodium and potassium vapour
• Trace carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide

Surface pressure is effectively negligible. There is no weather, no wind and no hydrological cycle.

Temperatures vary widely:

• Equatorial daytime highs may reach approximately −8°C under direct stellar illumination.
• Nighttime and polar regions can drop below −150°C.

The absence of an insulating atmosphere produces sharp thermal contrasts between sunlit and shadowed terrain.

Appearance from Space and Surface Perspective

From orbit, Tarack appears as a red volcanic world marbled with dark lava seas and intersected by pale tectonic scars. Occasional thermal glows mark active volcanic regions.

From Galentor’s surface, it is a dominant celestial presence more than twice the apparent size of Earth’s Moon. Its 7.88-day phase cycle produces dramatic crescents and striking eclipses.

From Tarack’s own surface, the sky is black even in daylight. Galentor looms vast and luminous on the near side, filling a substantial portion of the sky and displaying visible oceans, continents and cloud systems. Stars remain visible even during the day.

Long-Term Outlook

Tarack’s orbital eccentricity will slowly decline over very long timescales. As it does, tidal heating will gradually diminish. However, this process unfolds over hundreds of millions of years. For all practical historical and narrative timescales, Tarack remains a restless, volcanically active moon.

The TARDIS above Tarack, with Galentor in the distance