In the wild black emptiness of the Vast, the planet of New Horizons offers a seemingly idyllic oasis among the dangers of deep space. However, many suspect that underneath the charming facade lurks some dark power and unspeakable secrets.
The planet of New Horizons is the sole habitable planet in it’s solar system, and surveys indicate that the entire planet is covered by a virtually endless array of small archipelagos. The entire planet seems to be temperate and has some minor seasonal variation. The sentient population consists of a unique variety of uplifted animals, including many species that have never been recorded as uplifted variants on any other planets, and a small population of humans - though the “housing allocation” system of the planet only allows one human to live per island.
The planet of New Horizons is the sole habitable planet in it’s solar system, and surveys indicate that the entire planet is covered by a virtually endless array of small archipelagos. The entire planet seems to be temperate and has some minor seasonal variation. The sentient population consists of a unique variety of uplifted animals, including many species that have never been recorded as uplifted variants on any other planets, and a small population of humans - though the “housing allocation” system of the planet only allows one human to live per island.
At first glance, the islands seem to lack any sort of central government, with each island being in charge of its own villagers’ happiness. The economy seems to run on a hunter-gatherer level, with much of the individual wealth being generated on a system of selling gathered sealife, flora, and insects. Despite a lack of any apparent manufacturing facilities, advanced engineering capabilities, or any sort of utility infrastructures, the villages still retain ready access to a number of consumer goods and comforts such as electricity. It is unclear whether these are shipped in from off-planet or whether there exists some sort of hidden manufacturing hub elsewhere, and many entomologists have raised concerning questions as to why tarantulas (and potentially their extracted venom) are so valuable to the shadowy markets running the economy.
The face of a raccoon one island newspaper away from yelling "Bring me pictures of Spider-Villager!"
The biggest unanswered question lies in the management of the shadowy corporation running the planet of New Horizons. The mysterious Mr. Nook, an uplifted racoon, serves as the manager and owner of the general store on literally every island, with anecdotal evidence seeming to indicate that he exists and operates on every one of the mysterious islands simultaneously. Between his Nook Inc.’s ability to manufacture goods with near-instant turnaround and the high price paid for venomous creatures, conspiracy theorists posit that the uplifted racoon may be a powerful technomancer keeping his planet docile on a drug extracted from the arachnids, or even a deific-level outsider running his rigged economy for his own nefarious reasons.
