On 19 March 2698 CE, the planet Hephaest was officially founded, marking the beginning of its pivotal role in galactic industry. Designed as the "Forge of the Spiral," Hephaest was a masterpiece of geo-engineering, purpose-built to produce the ultra-dense alloys vital for Tier 6 Spike Drives. To achieve the extreme pressures and temperatures required for this specialized metallurgy, the planet's core was artificially destabilized and meticulously suspended within a complex network of high-output gravity tethers. These advanced tethers not only contained the volatile core but also ingeniously siphoned vast amounts of thermal energy directly from the mantle.
This immense power source fueled the continent-sized foundries that dotted the planet's surface, ensuring a constant and prodigious output of critical materials for over five centuries. Hephaest stood as a shining testament to technological prowess and industrial might, a crucial hub for interstellar travel and expansion.
The prosperity of Hephaest came to an abrupt and catastrophic end in 3200 CE, when the galactic event known as the Sundering struck. This cataclysm caused an an instantaneous and complete failure of the energy grids that maintained the delicate balance of the gravity tethers. The decoupling of the core was violent and absolute, unleashing centuries of stored kinetic tension. Without its containment field, the planetary core lurched uncontrollably, triggering massive planetary earthquakes.
These quakes shattered the crust like glass, and the resulting cataclysm swallowed cities whole. The few survivors of the initial quakes were either incinerated by the superheated atmosphere or succumbed to starvation as all supply chains collapsed. Hephaest, once the Forge of the Spiral, was utterly abandoned.
For the next thousand years, Hephaest churned in silence, a world consumed by its own destructive power. It became a graveyard of industry where the automated foundries occasionally roared to life, ironically powered by the very volcanism that had destroyed their creators, forging ingots for no one amidst rivers of molten lava and isolated obsidian islands. Its purpose was lost to time.
More recently, the Red Sun Dominion rediscovered the scarred remains of Hephaest. Recognizing the vast potential in its Titan-class manufacturing ruins, they established a perilous foothold on the hostile world. Unlike nearby Othrys, there were no indigenous survivors to exploit; the environment was simply too deadly for sustained natural habitation.
Instead, Hephaest now serves as a grim punishment detail for disgraced RSD officers and a crucial source of Maltech industrial components. Arch Technocrat Lyra Vesh desperately scavenges these ancient components, vital for maintaining her fleet's increasingly aging infrastructure. Today, Hephaest remains a rusted, volcanic industrial hellscape, kept under strict Red Sun Dominion quarantine.
