Paldor system

The Paldor System lies deep within the Shackleton Expanse, dominated by a massive gas giant whose turbulent atmosphere contains rare isotopes essential for advanced warp containment technology. The moon Paldor Secundus is home to the Secundi civilisation, who for centuries have relied on orbital engineering to harvest these gases. With the collapse of the Shroud, Paldor’s resources have become a target for raiders and opportunists, leaving the Secundi vulnerable and drawing the attention of external powers.

Soon after the fall of the Shroud and the arrival of the Beta Quadrant powers, the Klingon House of K’Rath, loyalists to Chancellor Toral, arrived at Paldor and insisted the Secundi are under their protection. The validity of this claim under the Khitomer Accords is dubious.

Overview

The gas giant Paldor is a vast, storm-wracked world of shifting bands, lightning storms, and turbulent cyclones. For centuries, the Secundi have tapped its atmosphere through immense orbital platforms, lowering collectors tethered by superconducting cables into the upper layers to extract valuable isotopes. Tankers transport refined gases to nearby systems, though until recently this trade was slow and sporadic, limited by the Shroud’s restrictions on warp travel.

Since the Shroud’s collapse, Paldor’s importance has multiplied. Its rare isotopes now reach distant markets in weeks rather than years, making the system strategically significant and commercially lucrative. Raiders and foreign powers have begun targeting Paldor convoys and refineries, and the Secundi’s modest defence craft have struggled to contain these threats. The result has been instability at the very heart of the society’s livelihood, and growing pressure to accept outside ‘protection.’

Secundi

The Secundi are a humanoid species adapted to their moon’s thin atmosphere, tall and wiry with pale skin and wide nasal ridges. Their society is built on orbital life: most live aboard vast engineering habitats, organised into cooperative Consortia that manage each refinery platform. These bodies emphasise technical expertise, discipline, and shared responsibility, and the Secundi value collective achievement over individual ambition.

Culturally, they hold a deep philosophical respect for the storms of Paldor, seeing the giant’s turbulent yet enduring atmosphere as a metaphor for life’s balance. Patience and resilience are virtues, and rituals often incorporate storm imagery or the recitation of ancestral records of great tempests. With little history of large-scale warfare, they rely on diplomacy and engineering ingenuity to resolve disputes - qualities that leave them poorly prepared for the predations of raiders and would-be conquerors now drawn to their world.

Encounters

The focus of this AOR is the notion of a pro-Toral Klingon House overstepping by taking the Secundi under its ‘protection’ - a move which gives them a foothold in the Shackleton Expanse and access to Paldor’s riches, and the diplomatic fallout of this. Some concepts which can be used for a story at Paldor include (some mutually exclusive):

• The Protector’s Claim: Upon arrival, the crew finds Klingon warships of the House of K’Rath already in orbit, asserting they were invited to safeguard Secundi refineries from raiders. Local leaders are reluctant to contradict this openly, but their unease is clear. The House of K’Rath rejects any effort by Starfleet to intercede, and appealing to Qo’noS for what could be a violation of the Khitomer Accords will take time.
• Disrupted Convoys: A Secundi gas freighter has been attacked or gone missing on its route to a neighbouring system. K’Rath insists the raiders are Free State agents - a convenient fiction to justify K’Rath presence, or a sign of Paldor being pulled into conflicting political agenda?
• The Tax of Protection: K’Rath officers demand tribute from Secundi Consortia in exchange for continued protection. The Secundi quietly reach out to Starfleet, asking if a Federation presence might let them push back without provoking Klingon retaliation.
• Council in Turmoil: One of the Consortia leaders openly sides with the Klingons, denouncing other guilds as weak. Their betrayal fractures the Council, and Starfleet must mediate before a civil conflict erupts — which K’Rath would be happy to exploit.
• The Wrong Help: Assistance for Starfleet from other Klingons does arrive in the form of visitors from a pro-Federation House - but this angers the Klingons of the House of K’Rath, and Paldor risks becoming a battlefield for internal Klingon political conflict.

In Play

• Paldor is a straightforward setting for conflict with the House of K’Rath. The Secundi are not helpless, but they are engineers, not warriors, and their reliance on Starfleet reflects the imbalance of power between a local society and Klingon opportunism.
• The focus should remain on the Klingon presence and its political implications: is K’Rath’s claim legitimate under the Khitomer Accords, or a thinly veiled annexation? Captains may need to balance legal, diplomatic, and practical responses to prevent escalation.
• Stories can emphasise the precarious position of the Secundi: some leaders welcome protection, others resent it, but none want to provoke outright Klingon retaliation. Starfleet’s intervention risks making promises it cannot keep.
• This AOR works well to highlight Klingon internal divisions. Assistance from pro-Federation Houses, or even Federation diplomacy with Qo’noS, can add extra pressure on K’Rath and expand the conflict beyond a single star system.
• The Secundi themselves provide a distinctive cultural backdrop without overwhelming the narrative. Their storm-centred philosophy, engineering focus, and cooperative Consortia can be woven into character interactions, but the central challenge is how Starfleet manages Klingon aggression.