Encounter-a-Day

The system called Blacksun, named after its unique sun which emits only ultraviolet light, is considered by many to be the center of the universe. No one’s sure why, and many think it’s directly linked to the bizarre sun, but almost every wormhole has one end in this system. As a result, it serves as a link between almost any two places you could imagine.

The Blacksun system has five planets, though only one is habitable. Due to tidal forces, Blacksun I, the closest planet to Blacksun, always has the same half of the planet facing the sun. Despite that and its proximity, the surface of the planet is quite cold. The far side, which never sees the sun, is a frozen wasteland, like the other planets in the system.

Needless to say, Blacksun’s strategic importance has assured that its been at the center of many, many wars. To control Blacksun is to control all trade in the universe. It is not, however, an easily defensible position; being at the center of the universe means having to fight on every side.

Therefore, historically, whenever someone managed to gain control of Blacksun, they didn’t hold onto it for very long. The past century, however, has seen an unprecedented length of peace in the region. After the last bloody war, in which literally trillions lost their lives, all the major players signed a truce declaring the Blacksun system a neutral territory.

It is an uneasy truce, and the Blacksun Committee set up to oversee the system has little actual power, but at least thus far it has lasted. No one wants to be the first to try and claim it, as doing such would assure all others would ally together and destroy them before falling back to the old in-fighting which has defined the system for its entire existence.