Nandalekon System

[Turambar]

Here's the map I created for the July/August 2024 Mapping Challenge. WIP thread here.

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Welcome to the Nandalekon System! A solar system steeped in ancient forgotten history and modern galactic business, orbiting a large O-type star (blue giant). While humans traverse many corners of this system - mining, syphoning from gas giants, and scrounging up ancient tech - there are five locations that are most pivotal to this systems life. These are highlighted in the insets on the right side of the frame and are the following:

Glegid: Beneath the icy shell of this frozen planet, remains forgotten place of refuge for this system's original intelligent lifeforms: Reishi. Eons have past since the Reishi ruled the system, and their levels of technology have devolved far when their ancestors traversed the galaxies. Yet they have maintained some semblance of civilization under the ice, unbeknownst to the human inhabitants of the Nandalekon System... for now.

Mendellion Gate: Such was the technology of the Reishi's ancestors, that 2.3 million years later, the pinnacle of their achievement remains, functional as ever: the Mendellion Gate. This megastructure maintains a stable wormhole to the Kerapas Galaxy even now, and serves as memorial to Reishi's success and the eventual cause of their destruction.

Hiraeth: A superearth, mutated beyond the means of any natural evolution, the planet Hiraeth is the remnant of the Reishi homeworld, corrupted by the awful - and forgotten - fate that seeped through the Mendellion Gate and destroyed their civilization over 2 million years ago. What life remains is tarnished, corrupt, and devoid of any semblance of nature. Travellers beware.

Leth Station: Leth Station is the prize possession of Tarius Holdings, the corporation that maintains the concession of the Nandalekon System from the United Federation of Earth. This orbital factory hovers close to the superjovian gas giant of Asterion, and secretly churns outs human clones in preparation for the Federation's next push for conquest across the Milky Way. Some who know of Leth Station's secret existence say it was the reason Tarius Holdings was granted the concession of the Nandalekon System to begin with.

Arquis: The initial draw of humans to the Nandalekon System, was the discovery of Arquis a terrestrial planet in the habitable zone, with similar makeup and atmosphere as earth. Initially a small human colony, over the past 70 years, Tarius Holdings has turned the planet into their corporate home, building megacities, industrial complexes, and mines across Arquis.

[Ilanthar]

This is looking glorious Turambar! Full of cool elements and the general layout is very cool. Details of the planets and orbiting elements are also great.

[Turambar]

This is looking glorious Turambar! Full of cool elements and the general layout is very cool. Details of the planets and orbiting elements are also great.

Thank you so much! I have to say your space maps have been an inspiration in getting into this mapping niche myself.

[Cooperillustrations]

This is awesome, I keep meaning to make some sci-fi maps and space maps and never get around to it. You have inspired me to try one

[Turambar]

This is awesome, I keep meaning to make some sci-fi maps and space maps and never get around to it. You have inspired me to try one

Thank you! They are a lot of fun to make. I look forward to seeing yours as well.

[Wired]

Very cool! Would give you some rep, but seems I have to spread it around a bit first. :/

[Turambar]

Very cool! Would give you some rep, but seems I have to spread it around a bit first. :/

Thank you! Much appreciated. Your own space maps were among my inspirations.

[Peter Toth]

An absolutely gorgeous map, Turambar! Is it based on Space Engine or any other software? If not, then how did you get those beautiful planet textures?

You've really inspired me to create a my own solar system map; this style is my second favourite, after atlas style of course.

As it happens, I'm currently working on a spreadsheet that creates random planetary systems, using some random seeds and user inputs. Once completed, it will provide a whole range of interesting fields such as temperature, atmosphere (gases present), tidal lock time, etc. I know that other software MUCH more powerful exists already, but my method is just fun and easy to use. (If anyone is interested please let me know).

Peter

[Turambar]

Hi Peter, thank you so much! I really enjoyed this one. I did not use any software (though SpaceEngine is an excellent idea), and I have to admit the numbers and stats are a bit of guesswork rather than well thought through and calculated. I created this using Gimp and site called maptoglobe to spherize the textures, and then bring them back to Gimp to add atmosphere and place on the map. The spreadsheet sounds very intriguing and I would love to see your results when finished!

[ThomasR]

That's a marvelous one, congrats !