High Orbit
The region at and above geostationary altitude. Orbits here are slow and stable, and outside the drag that clears low orbit of neglected objects. Comms relays, weapon platforms and stations their owners do not want inspected sit here, and they stay where they are put.
Exposure
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No pressure and no air to breathe, with survival measured in rounds.
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Countdown
Without a seal, a creature holds out for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier, minimum 1. At the end of that time its hit points drop to -1, unless they are already lower, and it is dying. It cannot be stabilized or regain hit points until it can breathe.
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Decompressed
Exposure inflicts the Decompressed condition, which a return to pressure does not by itself remove.
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Holding your breath
Holding a breath in vacuum ruptures the lungs. A creature that does so takes 2d6 damage on the first round and gains no benefit from the attempt.
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Sound
Sound does not travel. Verbal spell components, shouted orders and Perception by hearing all fail across open vacuum. Suit comms and touch are the only channels.
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Unfiltered light
Without air to filter it, the star's output arrives unreduced. An hour of unshielded exposure in direct sunlight counts as a failed Contaminated Atmosphere save against radiological dose.
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Free fall, where there is no down, no moving body stops on its own, and a missed handhold leaves a creature adrift.
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Movement
Moving requires a surface to push from. A creature with nothing in reach continues in the direction it last moved until it reaches something.
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Changing course
Changing direction mid-drift requires a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure the creature continues as it was.
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Melee
An unanchored melee attack has disadvantage and pushes the attacker 10 feet away from the target after it resolves.
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No falling
There is no up, no down and no falling damage. A creature cannot be knocked Prone, and the Prone condition does not apply.
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Mag boots
Magnetic boots or a tether remove every entry above while a ferrous surface is underfoot, at the cost of half movement.
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In play
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Stationkeeping
An object here holds its position over one point on the world indefinitely.
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Delay
Signal to the surface and back takes a noticeable fraction of a second. Remote operation of anything at close quarters has disadvantage.
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No decay
There is no drag. Wreckage, mines and abandoned platforms stay on station for centuries.
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Ionizing dose
Unshielded, a creature gains a level of exhaustion each hour. A long rest does not clear it. A Medicine check at DC 12, a restorative spell or antiradiation drugs remove it. Rated shielding removes the effect, and most powered plate raises the interval to four hours.