The Void's Maw

The Void's Maw is a setting for a campaign within The Fields of Gravity universe, spoilers will be marked as such.

Location
The Void's Maw are located almost directly in the centre of the Fields, There are six systems that are considered at risk The systems connected to these are also considered unsafe and require extensive quarantine procedures
 * Beedle's Jump
 * Persephone
 * Hunnz
 * Redoubt
 * Maarmary
 * Lichstoun Retreat

Government
The Void's Maw is governed by a military Taskforce that is made up of various races. 4 Major factions are represented, the USP, the CAQ, The Clans, The commonwealth. Twiglet is too preoccupied to oversee a large expeditionary force, and the TECOY refuse to move so far away from Yontarra especially if there are commonwealth soldiers there already.

Each faction has an independent force that acts under one council made from the commanders of each fleet. These leaders are responsible for everything that goes on in The Void's Maw. The fact that the military is run by committee and is also responsible for policing these systems means that there is a lot of mismanagement.

The planets in these systems are ostensibly run under martial law but most populated regions have an elected governor who liaises with the military.

There are very few laws that are upheld what with such a diverse leadership, the one exception is the quarantine rules where ships must be thoroughly decontaminated in order to leave.

Voidlings
Voidlings are creatures from the void, while they are all called the same they have wildly different biologies and capabilities dependent on where they are from. Coreward Voidlings tend to be short, stocky humanoids who are hyper-violent and must be killed on sight. Prograde Voidlings are slender creatures that seem to exist much more slowly than any race in the Fields.

The voildings that show up in The Void's Maw are all similar in appearance and behaviour. They are six limbed Mollusks with a central body that contains their sensory organs. These creatures appear in the system from large rocks that hit the system at a significant fraction of the speed of light and then slow down very quickly before depositing the Voidling somewhere in the system, the creature will then explore the system and find a place to land. All efforts to communicate with the Voidlings have failed due to their seeming disdain for all lifeforms that have been put before them. When observed in secret the Voidlings can communicate intelligently with one another but will not respond to other species except to indicate a desire to leave.

Spoilers

Voidlings all come from a home system of Diamu, a star that is very near to the Void's Maw but due to interstellar dust cannot be reached with Gravitation Drives. The Voidlings are sentient beings that are not very intelligent individually but as a community grow stronger, similar to the Bronnx but the community gets smarter not just an individual Alpha.

Voidlings are motivated by a similar desire to humans, exploration and colonization. They are aware of their cognitive limitations when separated so will try to link up as quickly as possible. They do not wish to interact with other species until they can approach a community intelligence worthy of interacting with outsiders.

Voidling Ships are made out of a crystalline fuel that thrusters use to maneuver the craft. Due to surface conditions on Diamu it is easier to send Voidlings up in individual craft rather than sending a single large craft. Since the craft is used up in slowing down to enter the system the Voidlings need to approach landing sites only in their exosuit and personal propulsion units. They will then land and seek out other Voidlings as quickly as possible.

Leaving Void's Maw
No one wants voidlings making their way into The Fields at large. As such The military have instituted a quarantine on all systems. There are two exit points to the Void's Maw. It is easier to set up a quarantine at an entry point rather than a exit so the two connecting systems have a quarantine station set up along the axis that connects the two stars. Any system that enters this quarantine zone must be searched and sterilized before continuing, any failure to comply will result in the ships destruction. Due to the vast scales of space and the limitations of the gravitation drive this is effective in 99% of all scenarios.