settled-reach/wiki/star-systems/GJ-174/index.md

Tiefenbach

GJ 174 | K-type | deep_frontier

The name means "deep creek" — modest, topographic, the kind of name that people give a place when they are focused on living in it rather than describing it. The founders came here three hundred years ago during the early Secession upheaval, having read the political situation in the inner Reach correctly and decided to be elsewhere when it resolved. They built a community designed from the first year to sustain itself through instability it could not predict and would not be close enough to experience directly. Three hundred years later, their descendants are still here.

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System Profile

Star	K · 30.5 ly
Bodies	0 habitable · 2 inhabited
Gates	2 aperture · through_route
Settlement	wave_3
Industries	fusion_fuel, metallic_ore, hospitality, financial_services, legal_services
Exports	financial_services
Imports	processed_food, electronics, consumer_goods, medical_goods, refined_metals, heavy_equipment
Population	—

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Supply Dependency

Tiefenbach is agriculturally self-sufficient. The K-type star gives more light than the M-dwarfs that dominate the deep frontier, which has meant steadier agricultural yields and somewhat less intensive adaptation work than the corridor systems further out. The founding cohort arrived with agricultural expertise and institutional memory of what the first generation would require, and they built accordingly.

The dependency structure that the founders designed has remained intact: local production covers food and most common materials; external supply provides manufactured components and medical equipment on a schedule measured in years rather than months. The emergency reserve protocols established in the founding generation are still in operation. They have been reviewed in every generation. The review process is part of the community's institutional calendar.

Faction Notes

Tiefenbach has minimal external institutional presence. The Compact of Westphalia's framework covers the community nominally, but the distance and the community's founding disposition toward self-reliance mean that Compact affiliation is more historical than operational. The community does not call on the Compact for governance functions. The Compact does not impose them.

The Lattice Commission has a compliance record for Tiefenbach that is clean and infrequently audited. The community maintains its compliance filings on schedule. Commission agents have not visited within the current generation's experience.

Silence Topic

What Tiefenbach does not discuss openly: the unresolved question, in every generation, of whether the founding decision was prescience or cowardice.

The founders left the inner Reach during the Secession upheaval. They predicted that the situation would become unpleasant, and they were correct — the Secession period was difficult for inner Reach communities in ways that Tiefenbach, at deep frontier distance, did not experience. This outcome vindicates the decision in practical terms. Whether leaving was the right thing, whether a community with Tiefenbach's resources and capabilities should have stayed and participated in the political outcome rather than withdrawing from it, is a question that each generation has addressed and not answered. The founding narrative celebrates the founders' judgment. The community's private discourse is more equivocal. Nobody talks about this with outside visitors.

Narrative Hook

Tiefenbach was founded during the Secession upheaval by families who predicted correctly that the inner Reach was about to become unpleasant; three centuries later, their descendants celebrate the decision and privately debate, in every generation, whether they should have stayed.

Celestial Bodies

Orbit	ID	Name	Type	Inhabited	Pop	Mass	Gravity	Year (d)	Day (h)	Atmo	Class	Hydro	Economy	Settlement	Industrial
1	GJ174b	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.42g	22	19.2	none	barren	—	—	—	—
2	GJ174c	Clausthal	planet	yes	20K	terrestrial	0.90g	180	26.4	standard	temperate	liquid_water	agricultural	dispersed	agricultural_export
3	GJ174-belt	—	asteroid_belt	no	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	GJ174d	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.56g	560	27.4	thin	cold_arid	—	—	—	—
5	GJ174e	—	gas_giant	no	—	—	—	1800	11.8	gas_giant	—	—	—	—	—
↳ 5.1	GJ174e-m1	—	moon	no	—	dwarf	0.11g	6	139.2	none	frozen	—	—	—	—
6	GJ174f	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.44g	4600	33.8	trace	frozen	ice	—	—	—
7	GJ174g	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.34g	10800	42.4	trace	frozen	ice	—	—	—
8	GJ174h	—	planet	no	—	dwarf	0.12g	24000	28.6	none	frozen	ice	—	—	—
9	GJ174i	—	planet	no	—	dwarf	0.08g	52000	22.4	none	frozen	ice	—	—	—
10	GJ174-oort	—	oort_cloud	no	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Stations & Facilities

ID	Name	Type	Orbits	Population	Economy	Governance	Docking	Gate	Districts
GJ174-oort-S1	Tiefenbach Horizon	horizon	GJ174-oort	380	transit	—	major	yes	1

Topology

• Hop Distance from Gateway: 9
• Adjacent Systems: GJ 189 (Altgrund), GJ 69