Story update: The Tantalus System
Tantalus is an O-type star 27 light-years away from Earth, relatively near Vega. It is orbited by 14 planets (3 gaseous, 11 rocky, named "Tantalus 1" through "Tantalus 14") and one large brown dwarf called Ixion, which orbits between Tantalus 8 and 9.
The Tantalus system was identified by Exotech industries as a promising location for new deep-space mining operations, due to its abnormally high number of rocky planets. A claimstaking probe bearing a SCARAB unit was immediately sent to the Tantalus system to evaluate the resource viability of each of the 14 planets, only to discover that all of them seemed all but completely depleted of heavy mineral deposits, making them unfit for any long-term mining investments.
Unable to return to Hegemony space on its remaining fuel reserves, the SCARAB AI selected the most promising planet to claim. It selected Tantalus 13, due to the presence of a few moderately large cobalt deposits.
As the SCARAB unit entered into orbit above Tantalus 13 and searched for the optimal location to land and begin its operations, it discovered an unexpected windfall: at the base of a large asteroid crater near Tantalus 13’s south pole, SCARAB detected a massive deposit of unusually pure platinum. It landed there, and immediately set to work building itself and further exploring the unexpected treasure that awaited its arrival.
Want to learn more about what SCARAB found there? Pre-order a copy of Tantalus Depths today, and you’ll learn more than you bargained for...
I think follower count is a great default metric seeing that this is a crowd funding platform, however, I think raw sales would work well, too.
Whichever you all choose, I just don’t get why the current default and listed as most relevant would reward a failed draft over best sellers and large follower base. Am I missing something?