Before the cataclysm of the Sundering, Verokha Prime flourished as the jewel of Sector 36. It served as a prototype world for atmospheric manipulation and hyper-dense urban living, an architectural marvel where the Terran Empire tested its most advanced societal structures. Unbeknownst to most, the planet's founders had deployed a profound safeguard: the very "Shroud" that would later envelop the world was designed to hide Verokha from a looming cosmic catastrophe.
Deep within the Null Signal Archive, protected by the enigmatic Zara Nihil Gabrielle, lay the Chrysalis Protocol. This ancient directive revealed that Verokha was not dying but merely hibernating, its true potential locked away. If the ancient terraforming engines, now mistaken for gothic foundations, could be re-keyed with lost codes, the toxic fog would vanish, revealing a revitalized biosphere capable of sustaining the entire sector.
In 3200 CE, the Sundering shattered the galaxy, severing Verokha from the vital supply lines that fed its massive population. In the ensuing chaos, the planetary atmospheric stabilizers malfunctioned, permanently locking the world beneath a suffocating blanket of grey, toxic mist known as The Shroud. This "malfunction," however, was the Chrysalis Protocol activating, cloaking Verokha from the galactic cataclysm.
Survival necessitated ruthless control; the intellectual elite—engineers, scientists, and archivists—seized power, forming the Technocratic Directorate. They hoarded the remaining functional technology within the high spires, leaving the struggling masses to contend with the labyrinthine smog below. Over a millennium, this severe stratification hardened into a culture of extreme paranoia.
To protect their secrets and resources from off-world scavengers, the Directorate installed massive communication jammers, turning Verokha into a silent zone where long-range transmissions became impossible. In recent decades, however, this isolation was violently broken. The Red Sun Dominion (RSD) arrived not with aid but with warships, seeing Verokha's vast industrial capacity and desperate population as resources to be exploited.
The RSD swiftly annexed the world, reducing the Technocratic Directorate to a mere puppet government. They initiated the brutal Red Sun Harvest, systematically stripping Verokha of its resources and conscripting its people into the harsh Meristine work camps to fuel their relentless war machine. Yet, even under this oppressive regime, a unique contradiction persisted: the Varnak Hollow Bazaar, a massive subterranean market, was allowed to exist.
This black market thrived because it provided the Dominion with specialized tech they could not manufacture themselves, operating under the inviolable "One Rule": What is bought here leaves here. Unbeknownst to the Dominion, the Free Stars insurgency, bearing the legacy of Thorne Balesworth, unwittingly fights to uncover Verokha's true purpose, seeking the very Chrysalis Protocol that the Dominion unknowingly sits upon.
On May 20, 4158, Renlo Dannis, a mid-level bureaucrat for the Trade Constellation, was contacted by a Red Sun Agent. After Renlo refused a bribe to become a double agent, his daughter, Seren Dannis, was cruelly taken and transported to the Work Camps on Meristine. The agent then blackmailed Renlo, promising Seren's safety and eventual return if he cooperated, thus forcing him into unwilling servitude as a secret agent for the Red Sun Dominion.
On November 20, 4159, the crew of the Misfortune's Gambit arrived on Verokha seeking fuel and supplies. During their stay, the planet was abruptly placed under lockdown, plunging the spaceport into chaos amidst a riot of panicked merchants, travelers, and beleaguered guards struggling with stifling bureaucratic orders. Amidst the turmoil, rumors circulated about the Red Sun Dominion's internal manipulations.
The crew encountered individuals offering escape, including the coerced Renlo Dannis, who sought their help to rescue his daughter from the Don system work camps. True to his word, Renlo became instrumental in distracting a Red Sun Dominion Cruiser, enabling the Misfortune's Gambit to escape the system. In return, the crew agreed to rescue Seren Dannis from the Meristine work camps in the Don system.
Following the near-total destruction of infrastructure and immense loss of life in the Hele system, the perpetrators fled to the Felo system, using Verokha's Great Bazaar as a hideout on December 2, 4159. There, they forged alliances with "The Gears," a black market smuggling operation covertly working to destabilize the Red Sun Dominion. After The Gears aided the group in escaping the Red Sun-instigated lockdown on Verokha, the Dominion retaliated fiercely.
The Red Sun negotiated with the Trade Constellation, demanding the arrest and extradition of anyone who had assisted the fugitives. The Trade Constellation's subsequent investigation confirmed The Gears' involvement. Consequently, Thorne Balesworth and Grel Toffa, along with several other Verohkan affiliates of The Gears, were rounded up and transported to the brutal Red Sun work camps on Meristine in the Don system.
Currently, Verokha endures under strict martial law, a breeding ground for widespread insurgency against its Dominion oppressors. The echoes of past hopes and the potential for a revitalized future remain hidden, buried beneath layers of exploitation and conflict.
