Archives of Nethys

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Deities | Systems & Settlements


Tarchuuva

Electrostatic Gas Giant

Source Starfinder #21: Huskworld pg. 40
Location The Vast (Chuuva)
Settlements
Diameter x2; Mass x4; Gravity x1 (at the surface)
Atmosphere Special
Day 17 hours; Year 150 years

Tarchuuva is a gas giant, relatively small compared to other gas giants, but still the largest planet of the Chuuva system. It sports six moons and faint rings, most of which are visible only from the moons. The composition of the planet is typical for a gas giant. Its depths boast exotic gases, but the Swarm didn’t need to bother with harvesting this rare air and therefore largely passed this planet over.

Tarchuuva’s depths are home to intense ion storms, some of which create lightning visible from the surface of Tarchuuva at night. These storms have broken the barrier between the Plane of Air and the Material Plane in several areas, allowing a sizable population of air and lightning elementals to enter the planet’s atmosphere. An invasive population of electrovores, which were accidentally introduced by some travelers, hunt the elementals in Tarchuuva’s upper atmosphere.

Adventurers might find themselves drawn to the following Tarchuuvan locations.

Contested Mine: Based on one of Tarchuuva’s moons, AH Mining was lucky enough to avoid the worst of the Swarm’s brush of Tarchuuva. However, the operation isn’t self-sufficient. Most of the miners want to barter ownership of the mine for passage to virtually anywhere else, but the mine’s overseer isn’t willing to back the plan. The growing tensions here are likely to explode into violence as soon as any visitors arrive, whether they’re sent by the mine’s owner or a concerned relative of one of the miners.

Sentient Moon: The smallest of Tarchuuva’s moons, which cruises just inside the atmosphere, survived the Swarm attack without incident, its “icy” surface unmarred. This facade is a complex illusion projected by the moon itself, which in actuality is a simple but telepathic fungal being. It awoke when the highly telepathic Swarm came near and stimulated it out of an eons-long slumber. The moon tried to communicate with the components but couldn’t break into their complex hive mind. Anyone who comes near the moon now feels an attraction to it but, upon landing, finds an environment unlike the outward visual. Animate extensions of the moon attack interlopers, the intention being to infect them with the moon’s spores to carry elsewhere in the system or galaxy.