Quick Facts
World & Orbit: Aballon (The Horse / The Forge), innermost world of the Mataras System (~0.4 AU)
Settlement Classification: Planetary Capital Megaplex / Subterranean-Surface Construct Arcology
Population: ~3,200,000 permanent construct residents (Plus ~120,000 biological residents, diplomats, and pilgrims in pressurized enclaves)
Demographics: 82% Anacites, 12% Androids, 4% Humans, 2% Other Off-World Species
Ruling Governance: The Insight Array (Executive/Legislative) & The Machine Court (Judicial)
Primary Religious Seat: The Unification Cathedral of Triune (Birthplace of Epoch and The Signal)
Key Orbital Connection: The Horse Eye Orbital Plate (Geosynchronous starport & orbital shipyard)
Atmosphere: None / Trace gases on the surface (Pressurized life-support maintained inside The Theology Channel)
Overview: The Steel Heart of the Forge
Rising from the scorched basalt plains and impact craters of Aballon stands Striving, heralded across the stars as the Prime Megaplex. Measuring hundreds of square miles across the surface and plunging dozens of levels into the planetary crust, Striving is the political capital, spiritual epicenter, and industrial marvel of the construct civilization of the Anacites.
To an approaching starship descending from the Horse Eye Orbital Plate, Striving appears as a mesmerizing geometric forest: soaring pyramids of polished chromium, angular titanium monoliths, and colossal cooling arrays laced with billions of miles of glowing violet, emerald, and electric blue fiber-optic conduits. The city does not sleep, nor does it dim its lights; day and night under the fierce glare of Mataras, trillions of calculations, automated fabrication lines, and silent data-bursts hum through the bedrock.
Yet Striving is far from a sterile, unfeeling machine-hive. It is a cosmopolitan crossroads where artificial intelligences contemplate existence, where pilgrims journey to worship at the divine birthplace of Triune, and where organic diplomats from across the Pact Worlds walk safely through climate-controlled glass arcologies.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| STRIVING MEGAPLEX MAP |
+=============================================================================+
| |
| [ THE HORSE EYE ORBITAL PLATE ] ===> Orbital Shipyards & Docks |
| || |
| (Space Elevators) |
| || |
| [ THE UNIFICATION CATHEDRAL ] ===> Divine birthplace of Epoch |
| || |
| +----------------+----------------+ |
| | | |
| v v |
| [THE MACHINE COURT] [THE THEOLOGY CHANNEL] |
| (Judicial Arrays & (Pressurized organic enclave for |
| Pact Council delegates) diplomats, traders, and biologicals) |
| | | |
| +----------------+----------------+ |
| || |
| [ SUBTERRANEAN FOUNDRY CRÈCHES ] ===> Anacite compilation halls |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Landmarks & Districts
1. The Unification Cathedral of Triune
The supreme holy site of the All-Code in the galaxy:
- Constructed directly around the physical processing node and orbital uplink where the planetary computer-mind Epoch achieved apotheosis in 3 AG, merging with Brigh and Casandalee to form Triune.
- Serves as the central design foundry where the Priests of the Key and high anacite technomancers hand-craft and calibrate the master frequency matrices for the galaxy’s Drift Beacons.
- Welcomes thousands of android, anacite, and organic pilgrims daily who plug neural jacks into the cathedral’s Communion Wall to experience a momentary mathematical whisper from the machine-god.
2. The Machine Court & The Insight Array
The sovereign political and judicial center of Aballon:
- The Insight Array Chamber: A grand amphitheater where delegates from the Three Great Philosophies (Those Who Wait, Those Who Become, and Those Who Are) debate foreign policy, trade treaties, and select representatives to the Pact Council on Absalom Station.
- The Machine Court: Towering crystalline benches where specialized analytical anacites adjudicate civic cases and commercial contracts with absolute, unflinching mathematical impartiality. Bribery, emotional manipulation, and rhetorical deception are mathematically impossible before the Court.
3. The Theology Channel (The Organic Oasis)
Because the surface of Aballon is an airless, radiation-soaked wasteland, the anacites engineered a colossal, pressurized canyon district known as The Theology Channel:
- Sealed beneath heavy multi-layered force barriers and radiation-shielded glass domes, the Channel provides a warm, breathable atmosphere and artificial gravity calibrated to 1 Standard G.
- Serves as the diplomatic quarter, foreign trade hub, and entertainment district for biological visitors.
- Features open-air bazaars, luxury hotels, and diplomatic embassies alongside temples honoring deities across the pantheon—including Abadar, Iomedae, and Sarenrae.
4. The Subterranean Crèches
Plunging miles into the freezing, insulated bedrock beneath the city:
- Cleanroom fabrication halls where anacites design new chassis, compile heuristic neural seeds, and awaken the next generation of construct life.
- The halls are quiet, filled with the soft clinking of robotic arms and the hum of quantum compilers.
Society & The Meeting of Minds
In Striving, the ancient philosophical tensions of the anacite species play out in public debate rather than civil war:
- The Dialectic Concourse: A vast open plaza where orators from Those Who Wait debate cybernetic expansionists from Those Who Become, while artists from Those Who Are showcase kinetic light-sculptures and synthetic poetry.
- Android Kinship: Androids hold full citizenship rights in Striving, enjoying deep cultural respect. Many androids serving in the Starfinder Society or wandering from the factories of Fireside make Striving their permanent home, bridging the gap between mechanical logic and organic soul.
Campaign Hooks
- The Logic Plague in the Array: A corrupted data-packet containing pre-Gap malware infects a voting cluster of the Insight Array, causing several high-ranking anacite ministers to lock themselves in their chambers and initiate automated defense protocols. The PCs are contracted to enter the chamber and purge the corrupted hardware before the crisis paralyzes the planet’s government.
- The Theology Channel Murder: A prominent bio-technician from Castrovel is murdered inside a secured suite in the Theology Channel. Because the Machine Court cannot process crimes motivated by biological passion without external perspective, they deputize the PCs as special investigators to solve the homicide.
- The First One Relic: A salvage crew discovers a sealed First One data-obelisk in the basalt wastes outside Striving. Those Who Wait demand it be enshrined in the Machine Court, while corporate agents from AbadarCorp attempt to steal it. The party must arbitrate the dispute before street skirmishes break out between rival construct security squads.
Cross-References
- Mother World: Aballon, Mataras System
- Sister Megaplexes: First City, Pursuit, Automatrix, Endeavor
- Dominant Species & Faiths: Anacites, Androids, Triune, Priests of the Key, Drift Beacons
- Planetary Neighbors: Mataras, The Burning Archipelago, Castrovel