Alingon
From FABT
| |
|---|---|
| Star, position: |
Faryar, V |
| Location: | |
| Satellite(s): |
None |
| Gravity: |
0.5 G |
| Diameter: |
3,085 km |
| Day length: |
56.3 Earth Hours |
| Year length: |
31.7 Earth Years |
| Atmosphere: |
0.04 atm |
| Temperature: |
- -166 °C |
| Adjective: |
Alingonian |
| Population: |
Constantly shifting |
| Societal approximation: |
Uninhabited |
| Affiliation: | |
| Capital: |
Waystation X-RAY (231 CE - 2254 CE) |
Alingon (Eredraean name that means "deception") is the fifth planet of the Faryar system of the Hourglass Nebula. Discovered by joint-asari and salarian scouts in 367 BCE, the planet was named "Alingon" by the salarians, which in their language means "deception", referring to the fact their first probes deployed to the planet went awry, sending back false readings or failing to send any at all: explorers sent planetside soon discovered why when they lost contact with their ship in orbit, as the planet has an extremely high concentration of magnetically active periclase (magnesium) in the core and planetary crust, making it nigh-impossible for any signals to escape the planet, and making any broadcasts and scans theoretically possible, but immensely difficult and impractical, requiring specialized equipment that was too expensive for a planet of Alingon's low resource value, and so Alingon was passed up for colonization, with intelligence agencies even passing up on the potential of a facility on the planet due to the difficulty in establishing reliable communications on and offworld. Many folklore myths developed around Alingon's magnetic disruptions that were similar to the Bermuda Triangle, with entire ships that disappeared erroneously believed to have crashed on Alingon and become marooned due to their distress calls being unable to escape Alingon: some legends were similar to those of Earth-based pirate lore, namely Treasure Island, with tales of massive ships loaded with valuables and priceless items crash-landing on the planet and never seen again. Many of these rumors and myths were shrouded in controversy, with some blogposts spreading them as truth, despite most experts explaining that most shipping lanes never passed by Alingon. Regardless, the myths continued.
In 231 CE, the Shadow Broker saw the value of Alingon as a staging base and established an outpost there, calling it Waystation X-RAY. A closed communications outpost, the base was cut off from the larger galaxy, with the Broker seeing Alingon's broadcast disruption as an advantage rather than a disadvantage, as it allowed the base to operate with maximum discretion and made it difficult to detect on most sensors. Dedicated transport ferried operatives and mercenaries to and from the surface, and in 970 CE, the Broker established a communications array at the base that could punch through the interference of the planet, but was limited to short transmissions to converse power, solving the problem raised by the Broker being unable to contact his own base to direct operations, having to send runners each time just to give orders. In 2184 CE, the base was used to store the body of Commander Shepard during the week-long War for the Corpse, pending the Broker's transaction to sell it to the Collectors. Feron Huul and Liara T'Soni discovered the base when they placed a tracking beacon on Gukon Tazzik's ship and pursued it from Omega: infiltrating inside, they were able to temporarily cripple the base's communications and destroy its command center, facilitating Liara's escape with Shepard's body, although Feron had to remain behind. Following the raid, the base returned to normal operations. After the loss of the Halcyon in early 2186 CE, Waystation X-RAY became the temporary new headquarters of the Broker's paramilitary forces, making Alingon her de facto capital. This changed post-Reaper War, when the Broker transferred the army's headquarters to STINGRAY Base on Therum, relegating Alingon back to a support role.
After the dissolution of the Broker's organization in 2254 CE, Waystation X-RAY was quietly stripped of all equipment and personnel and destroyed, leaving Alingon uninhabited once more. Rumors continued that Prometheus remnants hid on the planet, waiting for their inevitable return, but as the Bucephalus Uprising came and went, these rumors were dismissed and despite continuing to be perpetuated by conspiracy websites, no credible source exists to prove them, and no Prometheus activity has emerged from the planet, making the existence of such remnants on the planet highly unlikely.