Outcasts

The Outcasts are one of the largest (and most mysterious) crime organizations in the Sirius sector, known mostly for their distribution of the highly addictive and popular drug, Cardamine, across the sector.

The Outcasts are based on the secret planet of Malta, found orbiting a medium green sun in the Omicron Alpha system near Kusari space. Malta is slightly larger than Earth with a diameter of 13,534 km, and dispite a relatively harsh environment (such as acidic oceans) is classified as terrestrial and is habitable without need for terraforming. It is the only known place where Cardamine can grow - in fact, the yellow grass from which the drug Cardamine is synthesized appears to be the dominant form of flora on Malta, as it is one of the only forms of plant life that can thrive on Malta's acidic soil. One can find entire hills covered by this intriguing plant. The air, the water, everything on Malta has a trace of Cardamine particles, which are capable of rewriting the human DNA code. As a result, the Outcasts who are born on Malta are utterly dependant on Cardamine, and are incapable of surviving away from their homeworld - when they leave their home planet for prolonged periods, their health deteriorates rapidly, and eventually leads to shock and death. Thus, the Outcasts are ultimately bound to their home planet and to Cardamine, which is, ironically, the source of their power. A partial solution to this was to bring supplies of Cardamine with them, usually in the form of breathing masks containing Cardamine-rich air.

As a result of their rewritten DNA code, there were some side effects. Chief among them was a severe decrease in birth rates, that left the Outcast population relatively few in number. However, another side effect is the extension of the natural lifespan of the Outcasts, which currently stands on 124 on average.

The Outcasts themselves are in fact survivors of the crippled sleeper ship, the Hispania, which blew up during the voyage from Earth to the Sirius sector. The damaged ship can still be found in orbit around Malta even 800 years after its arrival, and is a testament to the Outcast heritage.

After exploring their surrounding systems intensively, the Outcasts eventually encountered the major houses, somewhere during the 7th century to planetfall. They began selling Cardamine and making huge profits, quickly leading to Cardamine being declared illegal across Sirius sector. The Outcasts have kept spreading the drug through a network of hidden jump holes that avoided the common travelling routes and lead all the way to the core of the major houses. Through the distribution of the drug to lesser criminal groups such as the Liberty Rogues, the Lane Hackers, the Kusari-based Golden Chrysanthymums and especially the so-called Junkers, Cardamine had spread across the entire sector and is considered very popular among the wealthy social elite (most of the addicted people being in the New-York system, Liberty space), while the Outcasts have remained largely mysterious and unknown. Outcast experts estimate that a quarter of the Sirius sector population will be addicted to Cardamine, and thus easily manipulated by the Outcasts, within the next decade.

The Cardamine usually passes through the two major distribution bases - Ruiz in Omicron Theta, and Cali base in Tau 23, before being distributed across Sirius sector.

Recent efforts by the drug company Cryer Pharmaceuticals to synthetically replicate the Cardamine drug has been percieved as a threat by the Outacsts. This is to be expected, as nearly all of Malta's population is involved in Cardamine trafficking in one way or another, and thanks to the huge influx of money from smuggling, the standard of living on Malta is exceptionally high. To protect their interests, the Outcasts launched an attack against Atka research station, the closest and most accessible Cryer facility to Outcast space. Unfortunately, the station's location in Corsair space has resulted in retaliation by the Corsairs, another faction that descended from the Hispania's survivors. It is quite possible that early in their history these two groups, being the descendants of the same group, were highly cooparative. Today, however, a state of open rivalry exists today between these two major criminal groups.

In addition to Cardamine distribution, the Outcasts also carry out strikes against rival groups which they percieve as a threat, such as the Independant Miners Guild and the Gas Miners Guild. Thanks to their brilliant mechanical experts, who have many decades of experience due to their extended life spans, the Outcasts can field a powerful fleet of small raider ships, that can easily rival even the most advanced ships fielded by the major houses. Their numbers are estimated in the hundreds, possibly thousands of ships. It should be noted though, that most of the ship components are not manufactured by the Outcasts themselves, but are imported from the neutral base of Freeport 10.

Their home planet, Malta, is defended by a highly-advanced planetary missile defence system, which uses plutonium-tipped warheads to induce a destructive chain-reaction in its target - a unique weapon developed by the Outcasts through the use of MOX, a substance they also use in their larger ships.

The Siniestre cloud, a nebula in the Omicron Alpha system, has a particular significance to the Outcasts as a burial grounds for pilots, which is one of their holiest sites. The deceased pilots and his most prized weapons and possessions are left inside their ships in a large 'graveyard' that is centered on a jump hole. The jump hole leads to a scarcely explored, far away solar system, where alien Nomad ships have been frequently sighted. All dead ships in the graveyard are facing this jump hole, in honour to the 'alien spirits', a bizzare belief of the Outcasts. It is obvious that the Outcasts do not comprehend the true nature of the Nomad race.

The Outcasts believe that by being changed by the Cardamine, they have become more than human beings, and that it is their destiny to one day rule over all Sirius sector.

Record 919 - group - Last update 28 Mar 2007, 23:07:04

Entry written by: Wicked

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