Planet: Aphrodite
Astronomical Name: Helios c
Star System: Helios
Type: Class E (Swampy/Tropical Earthlike)
Capital: Sanctuary
Aphrodite is the innermost Class E planet in the Helios system, envisioned as a humid, cloud-shrouded world reminiscent of pulp-era depictions of Venus. Its deep troposphere, near-constant cloud cover, and sparse deserts give way to a landscape of sprawling jungles, tangled swamps, and massive inland seas—rather than globe-spanning oceans. The climate is brutally humid, the air heavy with moisture, and the seasonal cycle limited to a sweltering wet-dry rhythm. Residents sardonically joke that the planet has only two seasons: summer and construction.
Once dismissed in Compact records as a “dumpster fire,” Aphrodite earned its reputation from three centuries of intermittent civil war between two settler groups: the original Tianese-backed colonists—later known as the Penqu—and a sleeper ship community of mostly Indian descent called the Kolkats. Though their shared goal was to make the steamy world habitable, a contested territorial claim led to longstanding animosity. Each side developed distinct cultural and linguistic traits, with the Kolkats retaining Bengali and Hindi influences, and the Penqu blending East Asian and North American elements.
Out of this melting pot emerged one of the Compact’s most influential cultural artifacts: Humanic, a widely spoken pidgin language formed initially as a trade dialect. Humanic evolved from Chinese, English, and Spanish roots, later incorporating Hindi and Bengali as both ethnic groups struggled to communicate and trade during lulls in conflict.
In the early 420s IE, in the latest of several attempts, Dasarius Interstellar sought to stabilize Aphrodite through large-scale infrastructure and economic investment, hoping to break the cycle of rebellion and decay. Their efforts brought in a volatile mix of stakeholders: seasoned engineers, cultural liaisons, hopeful idealists, and dangerous zealots. Among the latter were radical Cubists like Gerard Kurz, who twisted the core tenets of Cubism into violent authoritarianism, using Aphrodite’s instability as a proving ground for ideological purity. The fractured planetary identity, born of the uneasy coexistence between Penqu and Kolkats, made the world particularly susceptible to manipulation.
Among those swept into Aphrodite’s tangled politics was Suicide, who made a home for herself in a Kolkat village at the foot of Mount Buxanshal. There, she lived in relative peace with her partner and eventual wife Priya Chandrapurti, participating in local traditions, navigating community dynamics, and observing the slow encroachment of outside forces.
As a civilian pilot on Aphrodite in the early 420s IE, Suicide flew supply runs for various humanitarian and infrastructure efforts under the loosely coordinated Dasarius Interstellar initiative. Her early flights brought her to struggling Kolkat and Penqu communities where she delivered food, medicine, power relays, and survey drones to outposts so isolated they had no functional comms. Initially, she viewed the planet’s dysfunction with a seasoned cynicism—yet maintained a quiet hope that some kind of lasting peace could take root. That hope was tested quickly. As violence grew more commonplace, Suicide began to encounter armed groups calling themselves militias or liberation fronts—though many were little more than well-armed bandits seeking power in the name of ideology. She developed a near-zero tolerance for such posturing, frequently humiliating them by force. In one instance, she disarmed an entire roadblock of “freedom fighters” by flying a low pass and dumping their own confiscated supplies on top of them.
But the skirmishes became bloodier, and her missions more dangerous. As radical Cubist ideology spread across Aphrodite—distorted by figures like Gerard Kurz into a justification for control through purification—Suicide began landing her shuttle to find villages depopulated, cargo depots burned, and her landing zone surrounded by grieving survivors. The Sanctuary massacre marked a brutal turning point: an attack so sweeping, so indiscriminate, that neither Kolkat nor Penqu factions could be convincingly blamed. Suicide flew medical evac afterward, barely keeping her composure as she pulled children from rubble and ferried burned bodies to makeshift morgues.
Her final breaking point came with the death of her wife, Priya, in a cafe bombing. The blast destroyed the small life they had built together beneath Mount Buxanshal. Suicide left Aphrodite not out of defeat, but because there was nothing left to protect. The violence she had once fought against had become the only language anyone seemed to speak. The years that followed saw tensions continue to simmer, flaring in sporadic bursts until 434 IE, when Kurz attempted to unleash multiple mass casualty weapons across the planet. His failed bid for planetary domination finally provoked the Helios core worlds—Tian, Demeter, and Ares—to impose a Compact-backed military protectorate on Aphrodite, forcing peace by force of arms where diplomacy and ideology had failed.
Despite setbacks and the temporary imposition of Compact military authority to restore order, Aphrodite emerged with a functioning provisional government by 436 IE and attained core world status. Its capital, Sanctuary, serves as the center of administration and the symbol of Aphrodite’s fragile but determined rebirth.
Appearance: Royal Orders, Suicide Gambit, Breaking Liberty, Davra's Endeavour