
Ballentine is a Core Systems-aligned planet in the Creek System of Tengu Sector.
Planetary Data
Geographic Data
Ballentine is a cold, isolated world on the edge of human space. The planet is 9,900 km in diameter, with a surface gravity of 0.75. There is only a bare 0.007atm covering of semirare hydrogen. During the sunlit hours, thin nitrogen seas rise in clouds of steam.
Demographics
Ballentine is home to 4 million people, mostly pioneers seeking jobs and cheap land, as well as speculators eager to push human space further rimward.
Economics
Ballentine has no major exports, as most of the population is receiving Republic vouchers for their work colonizing the planet. There is no official Scout post on the planet, but several private companies have set up shop and began tentative exploration of the regions adjacent to Creek System. Firearms and other weapons are in high demand, though the sale, purchase or ownership of any model is likely illegal. This does not dissuade residents who live or work in the hinterlands, far from government oversight.
Politics
Ballentine is technically under provisional status as a CSFR colony world, with all the social and commercial restrictions that the designation suggests. The ruling power, however, is with the three million or so independent-minded citizens that tend to disregard the law on business conducted in the frontier outside the small line of towns.
Travellers' Information
Advisories
Ballentine's resources and usage are (theoreticaly) carefully monitored by Republic posts in the major towns. Landing is forbidden without proper government clearance, and even then only in one of two designated areas near the largest settlement. The planetary satellite network, however, is extremely lacking, and the only real inducement to follow this law is the Navy base orbiting Ballentine's sister world Plydron.
Ballentine's atmosphere condenses and freezes during the nighttime hours, settling over anything exposed. Travellers who are outside or who have ships or other vehicles not treated for extremely cold atmospheres may suffer reduced functioning.
Travellers' Resources
Ballentine has only one real resource to offer - solid ground at the edge of human space. The Republic pays colonists to live planetside, and several venture concerns are on the verge of proving the Scout Service obsolete.
Destinations
See planet Plydron for a breakdown of travel destinations.