Leytan III

Leytan III is a planet in the Leytan system, a remote, dimly lit system in the Shackleton Expanse, orbiting a red giant star. It is an arid, rocky world whose surface is scarred by deep canyons, wind-scoured plains, and an immense, monolithic spire that dominates its equatorial region.

Overview

From orbit, Leytan III is austere but not lifeless. Vast semi-arid plains stretch across the surface, broken by canyons and oases fed by subterranean aquifers. Hardy grasses and thorned brush dot the landscape, sustaining herds of tough grazing animals that in turn support small groups of nomadic hunters. Seasonal rains briefly transform valleys into fertile corridors before drying to dust, forcing constant movement. The atmosphere is dry but breathable, and while temperatures still swing sharply between day and night, the world sustains a fragile yet persistent biosphere.

The most striking feature is the spire - a colossal pillar of black stone rising over a kilometre into the sky. It is too uniform to be natural, constructed of fitted blocks larger than shuttlecraft. The structure is hollow, its interior lined with smooth walls that resist sensor scans. At its base lies a vast chamber centred on a now-inert crystalline orb.

Surrounding the spire are scattered ruins: low foundations of stone structures, toppled monoliths, and avenues leading outward into the desert. Their arrangement suggests they once formed a vast ceremonial city, though the erosion of millennia has left them weathered and broken.

Leytanor

Today, only a small population of indigenous people, the Leytanor, inhabit Leytan III. They are humanoid but lightly built, adapted to the planet’s arid climate with elongated limbs, leathery umber skin, and dark eyes well-suited to dim light. Their metabolisms can endure long periods of scarcity by storing nutrients in pronounced ridges along their backs. Their society is organised into kin-based bands that prize endurance, memory, and storytelling; disputes are settled through ritual recitations of history rather than combat, and prestige lies with those who can most faithfully preserve the past. Though divided by geography and belief, they share a cultural emphasis on oral tradition, itinerant craftsmanship, and reverence for natural landmarks that shape their seasonal migrations.

Some groups avoid the spire entirely, treating it as cursed ground. Others revere it, gathering in shadowed enclaves where rituals of fear and fury are practiced. These scattered societies are wary of outsiders. Some display hospitality in exchange for trade or protection, while others react with hostility, especially near the ruins. Archaeological evidence suggests they are the descendants of a once-unified culture whose decline followed the collapse of the great city around the spire.

Encounters

Any Starfleet ship investigating Leytan III and the spire can discover its true origins: that it projected part of the resonance field into the Shackleton Expanse that caused the Shroud, and was constructed by the Leytanor thousands of years ago when they were under the influence and rule of Vezda who possessed their cultural leaders. The Vezda eventually abandoned Leytan, and the globe-spanning civilisation of the Leytanor fell to scattered ruin.

It is down to the holder of the AOR to determine further facts about Leytan III, its people, its past, and the spire, but some of the following, optional prompts can be used:

• The Spire Awakens: Upon surveying the ruins, sensors detect faint but inexplicable energy signatures deep within the spire’s core. Further investigation may uncover sealed passages or inert mechanisms waiting to be studied.
• Atmospheric Disturbances: Lingering effects of the resonance field limit a starship’s abilities to use sensors or transporters, forcing any away team to rely on more conventional transportation to study the spire.
• Curse or Sanctuary: A nomadic band warns Starfleet to avoid the spire, describing it as a cursed place that brings only misfortune. Their accounts mix fear with fragments of cultural memory, leaving truth and superstition hard to separate.
• The Hidden Faithful: Another group secretly venerates the spire, approaching outsiders with suspicion or hostility. They may see Starfleet as defilers, rivals, or even figures of prophecy.
• The Sealed Chamber: A collapsed passage reveals a chamber that has never been opened. Its walls are scorched, as if by immense heat, and inside lies what appears to be a containment structure. Is there a Vezda trapped within the complex?
• Psychic Resonance: Individuals who remain near the spire for too long experience visions: memories of pain, some not their own. Glimpses of the spire and settlement standing whole and vibrant in ages past. Starfleet must decide if these are hallucinations, telepathic impressions, or something more.

In Play

• Leytan III is the exemplar of a Shroud Spire world. Writers can use it as a model for how to depict Vezda ruins and their cultural impact on indigenous peoples.
• The spire is the centrepiece: a vast, ancient structure that is obviously artificial, mysterious in function, and resistant to easy study. Any Vezda technology here should be inert, unstable, or fragmentary, with limited effects - not active galactic-shaking superweapons.
• The Leytanor embody the aftermath of Vezda rule: once a unified civilisation, now fractured into small nomadic bands with wildly different interpretations of their own past. They can be fearful, hostile, or reverent, but none have the full truth.
• Exploration stories here should focus on the mystery of the ruins, the challenge of understanding them, and the difficulty of engaging respectfully with a divided indigenous people.
• Leytan III should be used for exploration, discovery, and creeping unease, not direct combat against the Vezda. It is a site of echoes and scars, not an active threat - unless the story owner wishes to awaken something long dormant.