Description

[Kannon]

This unique site, a big rock shelf right in the midst of almost five-kilometre-high wall of ochre rock, looks like a toothy mandible of some ancient monster who had lost the incisors, but not the fangs nor the molars. It hosts the largest spaceport east of Carthag, and for a good reason - this is the hub of spice mining operations on Arrakis and the main distribution centre of spice on the planet. While offworld clients often pick melange cargoes up from Carthag or Arrakeen, this is where the Harkonnen rarely allow any outsiders except the arriving or departing mining personnel.

It is sheltered from the storms coming from the deep desert but is in sufficient proximity to it so that extended spice mining operations can be conducted and coordinated from here. In truth, the area is cluttered with arriving and departing carryalls and spotters. Their harvesters are left and picked up at a special restricted landing field way up the cliff, at the foot of Mt. Dmitri.

As can be imagined, space is at the premium, so there isn't much beyond the necessary facilities at this level. And even they get deeper into the cliff face caverns, natural or man-made, leaving the flat spaces for landing pads and fuel cell charging stations. There is a canteen, and a 'hostel' with a bar owned by Rima Birawi. There is a harvesting command centre and offices of various operators, that of Omri B'rrican probably the most important of them. There is a large cavern called the Union Hall were Dune Men gather for their collective meetings and celebrations. Finally, there is a fortified and turreted Harkonnen guard post right at the stop of the giant elevator that leads up to the refinery at and in Mt. Dmitri.

Only basic maintenance is done here. More complicated repairs are way down, at the foot of the cliff, in the Hagga Basin, also connected to the Splintered Rock by a creaky yet sturdy lifting system that can hook up and descend an aircraft if needed.

The panorama from the verge of the rocky splinters encompasses almost the entirety of the Hagga Basin, its distant settlements, and the dark, pollution-shrouded megalopolis of Carthag. It differs from the Imperial Basin in that it is far less flat and cultivated. Dunes are high there, and winds often displace them, revealing some bottom layers of salt and gypsum from time to time.