Another blast from my past, this time, it is an oldie but goodie

AN: Djazlah was and is a plaything of mine. A world that combines the worst aspects of many of the nightmares you see on the cable news, and COIN in the worst way. It's also a bit of "Beau Geste" with automatic weapons and ray guns! So, it's got a little of everything for everyone. I had it on my old blog, but I wanted to repost it and clear it up a bit before putting it up here, as I think I can do better than my older efforts.

While all the stats here are for AAG's Tomorrow's War, you can easily convert them for things like StarGrunt 2, Gruntz, or your chosen rules set.

In any event, have fun and enjoy!

Djazlah

Djazlah, the first image taken by the Broussard Probe, 2165.

Physics 

Type      Standard iron/silicate

Radius   6329.64 km   (0.99 x earth)

Surface Area      5.03 x 108 km2

Land Area            2.32 x 108 km2   (1.55 x earth)

Mass     6.47 x 1024 kg   (1.08 x earth)

Density 6.09 g/cm3   (1.10 x earth)

Composition      50.8% iron, 20.6% oxygen, 15.0% silicon, 9.5% titanium, 4.1% other metals, trace other elements

Gravimetry         

Gravity 10.73 m/s2   (1.10 x earth)

Escape Velocity 11.65 km/s

Rotation               

Period   17.20 hours

Axis Tilt 3.15 °

Hydrosphere     

Water   55 %

Ice          10 %

Atmosphere      

Type                   Standard breathable

Pressure              98.34 kPa   (0.97 x earth)

Composition      86.6% nitrogen, 13.4% oxygen, trace other gases

 Climate 

Type                    Standard

Min Temp           238 K   (-34 °C) or (-29 °F)

Avg Temp           299 K   (26 °C) or (78 °F)

Max Temp          395 K   (122 °C) or (252 °F)

Biosphere           

Chemistry           Carbon

Lifeforms            Prokaryotic microbes

Civilization           

Type                    Mining Colony

Population          27.8 Million (as of last census, conducted in 2278)

Tech Level          Starfaring tech in evidence, but local supported tech is somewhere around 21st  Century Standard

Special  Features             

5 small moons, advanced alien artifact

History of the Colony

Djazlah was discovered by the French fly by probe Boussole III in 2165, at the time, it was considered a marginal world, and the French sold the discovery rights to the Persian Empire the next year. The Persian survey vessel Ahmad ibn Rustah followed up the French survey, and conducted several flybys and probe drops of its own.

The world was considered somewhat marginal for colonization, as the climate is on the hot and wet side in the lowlands, but its mountains are mostly arid, dry peaks, and large mesas where nothing lives, as it's too hot for life to survive. There is only one main continent, referred to locally as Rumallah where all the cities and villages are. However, much of the planet is too hot or too cold for humans to live on.

The Persians did not see any need to proceed further with any sort of colonization. However, it was the middle of the "prestige colony" phase of human expansion and the Hashemite Kingdom purchased the rights to colonize the world in 2205 from the Persians. The the first colonists arrived in 2210, and quite a few died establishing the colony due to a mix of poor colonial management, and a badly chosen initial colony site in what later became known as the Plain of Bones.  After another colony site was found three years later, the colonial population grew, but at a flat rate.

However, huge Osmium deposits were found by the Canadian based Bard Ventures Company in 2215, and they brought in labor from the Af-Pak region of Earth to mine the mineral for use in FTL drives. A caste system soon developed, as the Af-Pak tribes whose labor was surplus were chased by the government into the highlands, with the arid climes where not much grew or lived and the temperatures were often life threatening. The prosperous Hashemites and those lucky enough to find work lived in the lowlands, where it was easier to live, and it was possible to farm or mine the Osmium without special equipment and where water was far more plentiful and the temperatures far more amenable to human life.

This new-found wealth and the associated caste system brought trouble as the Hashemites and Af-Pak workers didn't get along at all, and local conditions exacerbated long standing differences of culture and religious outlook. It wasn't long before things broke out into open warfare, first taking on the form of an ever-escalating insurgency on the part of the Af-Paks. The mines were abandoned by Bard Venture six years later as the political situation became unstable and open civil war soon followed. The local emir was deposed by a radical Hashemite Caliph who declared jihad on the Af-Pak "Pushtun heretics" and four years of bloody, confused conflict followed.

In 2225, the price of Osmium went up three-fold due to spot shortages and a run on demand, and many nations and companies were returning to older strikes to see if they could get something out of them in the newer high-priced climate. The French mining concern Eramet-SLN saw the data that had been collected by the fly by probe in 2165, as well as the reports by Bard Venture, and convinced the French government to send troops to pacify the situation on Djazlah. Within three months, the French President had made the decision to intervene on Djazlah for what he termed "humanitarian reasons".

Within two weeks of the announcement by the President, a Demi-Brigade of the FFL was landing in the three major cities on world and meeting ineffective resistance from the tired, weak combatants, mostly made up of rival Hashemite factions. The surviving Af-Pak tribes had retreated into the uplands and mountains to the north of the main continent and were getting money for weapons and equipment from the sale of Osmium to black market traders and quasi-pirates.

The French backed the Caliph and brought in their own workers to run the mines, propping up the Caliph and his army to keep the mines and starports safe. They also cracked down on the illicit Osmium trade, which was often run by the Af-Paks to get money for weapons from a variety of American and German free traders dealing in the latest off the shelf weapons technology.

But soon, a prophet arose among the Af-Pak tribes of the upper highlands...and he proposed the way of Sahad, a seeming new sect of Islam only of interest to religious scholars and anthropologists in the larger universe. But the Sahad had called for a cleansing of the unbeliever.... Another call came from the son of the dead Emir, calling the Caliph a "French puppet" and the Af-Paks "religious zealots". The sides of the civil war began to coalesce, but like half a hundred worlds, where low level wars burn like weak candles against the never-ending night of space, Djazlah's plight was often ignored, except on a slow news day. Few knew...fewer cared. And thus, the war went on, with no end in sight for anyone.