Primary: Hoffman's
Star, spectral class M3V. ICN S4G0208M3V. Mass 0.394 standard. Diameter 0.434
standard. Luminosity 0.020 standard.
Planetary System: Three
major bodies. One inhabited world (Hoffman, I). Two gas giants in system. No
planetoid belts in system.
I Hoffman: Mean
orbital radius, 59.84 million kilometers (0.4AU). Period 59.3 days. No
satellites. Diameter, 6166 kilometers. Density, 1.04 standard. Mass, 0.055
standard. Mean surface gravity, 0.39G. Rotation period, none (tidal lock with
primary). Axial inclination 39°11’12.8”. Albedo, 0.26. Surface atmospheric
pressure, 0.20 atm. Composition, oxygen-nitrogen mix with sulfur and sulfur
compound taints. Filter-respirator combination required to breathe atmosphere.
Hydrographic percentage, 10%; composition, frozen water-ice. Mean surface
temperature (dayside), -109°C. Protective clothing required in open atmosphere.
Remarks: The
colony on Hoffman was originally an accident; the colony vessel Germania,
outward bound from Caledon (Reavers' Deep
1815) in search of a new colony site crash-landed on Hoffman after a severe
drive malfunction. This was in the period shortly before the Long Night, prior
to Caledon’s loss of interstellar travel. The stranded colonists on
inhospitable Hoffman were thoroughly cut off; Hoffman’s Star was an
uninteresting red sun which, in Caledonian books, rated no more than a catalog
number. (Hoffman and its sun were named for the captain of the colony ship, who
died when the bridge of his ship was destroyed during the landing. His skill and
heroism saved the rest of the ship, however).
The
mortality rate on this bitterly cold colony world ran over 90% in the first
three years, but, somehow, shelters were built and the colony established.
Improvised hydroponics systems were gradually improved, and, ultimately, the
colony went underground in a cavern complex discovered by pioneer explorers.
Thereafter the colony flourished, albeit marginally, expanding their underground
cities slowly and building their technology as they could. The struggle for
survival made their progress slow, and, when a Caledonian
merchant ship discovered them in 126, they were still far from sophisticated.
Hoffman
welcomed trade with the Principality
of Caledon , but an ingrained tradition of independence
and self-sufficiency has caused the inhabitants to maintain a separate identity
outside the Principality. Likewise, they have rebuffed attempts by Germaine
(Reavers' Deep 2019) to form a federation of worlds to offset the power of the
Principality. Hoffman is the lynch-pin of such a Federation; Skye (Reavers' Deep
2018) is not particularly important, and Santiago
(Reavers' Deep 1718) (in the Linda star
system) unreachable except by way of Hoffman. For this reason, political
intrigue sponsored by the government of Germaine (and backed by the Maxwellian
claimants to the Caledonian throne) is common; plots to replace the hereditary
Captain of Hoffman with a puppet more pliable to Germaine’s interests are
often said to be in the making.