(A repost, an update, and new material)
Ghawdeen---Paladin Steel Industrial Outpost/Colonial Protectorate
“We might want to reserve some of our laser production for our own security. That last refugee ship reported being shadowed by several other vessels on the edge of detecion range. They couldn’t get a clear ID on any of them, but they acted military. Odds are we’ve got company out there. Hopefully they’re just pirates in military surplus gear and not some larger organization with an unhealthy interest in us.”
Ghawdeen is a borderline terrestrial-habitable world, akin to a wet Mars, in the Anvil Galaxy.
Ghawdeen was of little interest to most of the powers in that corner of the galaxy until the breakup of the Golgan Republik. As former client states broke away from the Republik, the political stability that typified the ‘us against the common enemy’ mentallity of the client states towards the Republik has collapsed. This has meant that in several cases of former provinces declaring independence, they’ve almost immediately begun arguing with their neighbors over possession of other former Golgan territories, or have gone at former and traditional rivals with a renewed vengeance, now that the Republik is no longer keeping them apart. Two former Golgan territories in particular, the newly-declared T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment, have opened up on each other, regardless of the several non-allied colony worlds in between, in all-out interstellar war. Though a generation or two behind the Republik in technology and short on numbers, the Domain and Alignment have made up for their relative shortcomings in sheer bloodymindedness and brutality against each other and anybody standing in their way. The result has been a large number of refugees, from non-aligned settlements, and both the Domain and Alignment, fleeing the warzone and seeking new sanctuaries. Ghawdeen is one of those worlds, and a growing number of refugees have settled on the planet.
Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries had already staked a claim to the planet(pointed at by N’R’Mar scouts) and was developing several mining and industrial efforts on the world, with an eye towards eventual open colonization, when the refugees started arriving in numbers. Unwilling to start shooting down refugee ships entering the system, Paladin Steel has tried to accommodate them in their development plans.
Paladin Steel’s presence in the region has helped curb some of the excesses of the unsettled and unnerved refugee camps. Several efforts to introduce piracy on the planet have been thwarted by PS Security, and PS-led construction teams have helped create support infrastructure to support the refugee camps. More importantly, the company has been providing employment for the refugees, getting them active in creating their own infrastructure(and incidentally defusing the demands of the more vocal newcomers that as the hosts on planet, the company isn’t doing enough to help the refugees). PS/ASI has also been employing displaced persons in their own field operations, and has been able to expand their operations three-fold since the refugees started arriving. This has raised some catcalls that PS is exploiting the refugees by employing them as cut-rate wage-slave labor, but the company has countered that the added manpower and profit has helped defray the costs of the refugee-support efforts and given the listless refugees something constructive to do.
Ghawdeen, however, may be the victim of its own success. As more refugees are drawn to the world by the prospect of safe haven and the corporate establishment there grows and becomes more profitable, more powerful pirate bands, and the eyes of both the Domain and the Alignment are being drawn to the planet as well, forcing PS/ASI to increase its security garrison and armed presence to deter attacks and annexation attempts. This in turn is drawing the attention of the resurgent Republik, who are concerned by growing foreign presences along its borders, especially ARMED foreign presences. Furthermore, the existence of large industrial plants on a formerly unused world, in a sector that the Republik once effectively owned and would like to control again, has some in the Golgan Argosy considering the long term benefits if they could take those industrial facilities intact.
Solar System
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 3
- Gas Giant---Nicknamed Great Robin. (Small Gas Giant)
Uranus-sized Great Robin, with its blue coloration, is beautiful, but currently of little significance to PS/ASI. Its 16 small moons are in the process of grinding each other into a new ring system.
PS had few plans to explore/develop Great Robin, but the threat of piracy in the region made establishing at the very least early warning outposts has prompted PS to establish a presence there, if only to deny any pirates a local base. Typically 2-3 corvette-class vessels make regular patrols of the planet’s moon system, and several automated sensor and assistance facilities have been established on the larger moons.
- Terrestrial(Ghawdeen)---The system’s life world and site of its inhabitants.
-Terrestrial---Nicknamed Paltor.(Tiny)
Icy Paltor is a dwarf planet of little significance. Again, given the rise in pirate activity in the region, PS/ASI have planted an early warning sensor array on the planet, just in case.
Planet(Ghawdeen)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 13,780 km
Gravity: High; 1.7 g. The GNE’s Chaichuks find the planet’s gravity comfortable, but others find the high gravity fatiguing.
Temperature: Warm(ish), akin to terrestrial tropics.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons---3 small Deimos-sized moons; Sori, Mezos, and Adi.
-Craters----Ghawdeen is littered with large craters, many of them forming large circular lakes and even small seas.
Atmosphere: Breathable, though oxygen content is on the thin side, and many residents take to carrying assist-masks and supplemental O2. The atmosphere around the refugee and corporate enclaves is richer, thanks to water-cracking atmospheric modification works.
Terrain:
Mountains, large dry plains, and mudflats
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Molybdenite
-Zinc
-Pitch Blend
-Copper
-Sulfur
-Gypsum
-Diamond
-Emerald
Hydrosphere:
Moist; shallow high-salinity seas cover roughly 64% of the planetary surface.
Biosphere:
Sparse. There were already a few forms of algae(especially in the crater lakes) and photosynthetic mosses on the planet. Any higher lifeforms have been recently imported, including vermin. There’s been some trial and error with imported species brought by refugees to create agricultural areas. PS has debated planting fast-growth terraforming species, like grasses, in order to further improve the air quality.
Civilization: Refugee/Colonial
Population: Roughly 1 million people
Technology: Roughly equal to Rifts Earth, with some disparity between the less well-off refugees and the GNE/PS/ASI enclave.
Economy:
Can be considered to be Mining and Manufacturing
Wealth:
Can be considered to be Prosperous in terms of the corporate activity. The refugee quarters can be generally considered to be Poor(Squalor/Impoverished has been avoided by corporate-sponsored civil works).
Government: Between PS/ASI and the refugees, a rough representative government has been cobbled together to address both the needs of the refugees and the concerns of the company.
The arrangement is far from perfect, and a great many issues need to be hammered out, including overall supervision of planetary affairs. Many in both the refugee communities and the corporate enclave want PS/ASI to be in supreme charge as the landlords and defacto government, while others want as little corporate involvement in civil affairs as possible. Both arguments vary as to how much the company is expected to support the refugee economy, and how much it can ‘profit’ from them(a recent issue is that of who has salvage rights to the many decrepit starships the refugees arrive in).
Law Level: Moderate. There’s some crime between the refugees, and some feuding between former Domain and Alignment citizens that flares into open violence, but most people on Ghawdeen are too busy trying to survive and put their lives back together to particularly care.
Popularity: Ambivalent; there’s grousing about shortages and lack of particular services. More medical aide could be forthcoming, better wages, and better living conditions, but there’s the acknowledgement that things could be FAR worse.
Stability: Stable, with protracted argument and debate balancing out any flare-ups of unrest.
PS/ASI Outpost Presence:
Size: Massive; PS/ASI has some 22,000 employees on planet, in addition to 15% employment amongst the refugees.
Type: Industrial/Mining
Security: Strike Force
PS/ASI maintains a small army(7,000) security militia on the ground, in addition to deputized citizen watches among the refugees.
PS/ASI has also begun putting up several dozen battle-ring satellites in orbit of the planet to provide early warning, scan incoming refugee ships, and provide some protective cover in event of an attack.
Contact: Weekly
Products:
-Processed Metals---Mainly copper and molybdenite, as well as refined fissionables(‘yellowcake’).
-Vehicular Weapons Assemblies----The Ghawdeen works in particular turn out laser weapons. This is another factor that makes the PS industrial facilities on Ghawdeen an attractive target for outsiders.
-Crystal Components---Ghawdeen’s mines produce valuable diamond and emerald components for TW systems.
USA Regional Updates:
(Anvil Galaxy)
*Ghawdeen---
“It’s fatiguing working on the Ghaw. It’s a muddy and dusty place, but the air is at least fresh and progress is visible. A lot of people who came here as a sanctuary of last resort are making a go at making it a proper new home, and dang if some of them ain’t coming up with something special !”
“The nu-towns are quite a mix of local and outsector cultural influences; the Tag-Bru wars certainly stirred up and displaced a surprising number of people, Those who couldn’t flee the sector altogether came here, and now that they’ve got some breathing room, they’re looking to make some normality for themselves, even if they are having to work with local materials...for instance, wood as construction material is at a premium around here. There’s been some inadvertent or deliberate cross-pollinations of cultural cues, so the results can be quite intriguing."
This industrial colony, which became a refugee destination during the hot brush-war between the T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment, is now seen increasingly as a regional ‘hub world’ or sector-state capitol. Though the embers of the T’ghari-Brualli conflict still smolder, the chance of a resumption of all-out hostilities decreases with each passing year-cycle, especially as several neighboring worlds/polities have applied to join the United Systems Alliance, insuring that spill over of renewed hostilities will result in aggressive containment. Also helping is a much more subtle embargo conducted by the USA that has curtailed, at least in part, the import and sale of foreign weapons to the exhausted combatants.
(It’s also whispered in some corridors of power that the USA’s Office of Positive Outcomes had been nipping in the bud several attempts by the Brualli to enlist Dark Coven aid from the United Worlds of Warlock, as well as several attempts by the Golgans to enlist Brualli mercenaries in return for assistance in fighting the T’gheri)
The expansion of Ghawdeen into a more substantial geopolitical location has necessitated some organizational changes. Established as a corporate outpost of Paladin Stee;/Aegis Stellar Industries, the larger civilian area, bloated by refugee arrivals, has required greater oversight, and what was once a company town/colony is now governed by a Greater New England(with United Systems Alliance oversight and guidelines)-appointed colonial governor overseeing a representational civilian council.
Increased military activity in the region to fend off pirates and protect the valuable PS/ASI factory complexes on the planet has led to the recent construction of several small military bases, including aerospace fields servicing transatmospheric fighters and small craft. A strong garrison and expanding locally-recruited militia, well-supplied with locally-supplied laser weaponry, protect the surface, while a new military spacedock-station(Plymouth-class) provides a stopover anchorage for sector-patroling USAJC ships. This complements a larger civllian space station facilitating the expanding trade and transient traffic through the system. There’s talk of adding a proper space-haborbitville for those who can’t handle Ghawdeen’s gravity, but don’t want to move out of the system altogether, usually because theu have friends and family that have adjusted better to planetside life.
Ghawdeen itself has seen an expansion; several new satellite settlements, some using new biotechture, have been established. Population has burgeoned to some 8 million now, with a large number of transients. Living conditions have improved substantially, and extensive use of grav-insulation in living quarters and public areas has helped offset the planet’s fatiguing 1.7 g gravity. Large desalination plants provide an increasing supply of potable water to the communities(and many of the new biotechture structures themselves are capable of filtering brackish water).
The global Economics have now increasingly included Agriculture with expansion onto the plains and mudflats, using salt-tolerant crops as a basis. While tending the new farms often requires stepping back out into the punishing local gravity field, there’s a grwoing support system of relief and field first aid to treat exhaustion and broken/sprained limbs(common under such conditions). Assist exoskeletons and float-chair systems are increasingly popular, as are agribots.
The refugee economy Wealth index has risen to a hearrtening 5(Average/Solid)on the Kauffin Scale , with the GNE government aggresively pursuing anti-squalor measures in its new colony. New civil works and a large local office of GNE Human Resources makes sure that those who can work can find employment in safe clean conditions, and that affordable comfortable housing is available.
Popularity has risen slightly from Ambivalent to a low Popular as a result of improving conditions. While there’s still a lot of grousing about services, many of the refugees have pitched in to help build infrastructure and start local businesses of their own. The aforementioned gravity insulation has heled lift morale considerably.
Though hostilities along the T’ghari-Brualli have cooled down considerably, many of those who fled to Ghawdeen are reluctant to try returning to their homelands, afraid of another flare-up and the increase in criminal(pirate) activity around the affected worlds.
-Panmandu---With its climate crisis currently resolved or at least stabilized, sector-neighbor Panmandu seems to be on the track to become an associate member of the United Systems Alliance, The hearty leather-skinned high-gravity-accustomed Panmanduans have already expressed interest in helping develop and colonize other arid red-sun worlds in the USA.
Other New Associates:
-Dergan’s Gulch--------Dwarven Private Colony
“The term ‘Gulch’ may conjure up images of barely habitable, but Dergan’s Gulch is something of a paradise for deep-downer dwarven folk. Come war or cosmic catastrophe, the Gulchers aren’t about to give up their homes without making a fight of it.”
“The Gulch is a classic rags to riches story; struggling freighter captain breaks down, but strikes it rich finding a habitable world and sellable real estate. So far it seems to be on track for long term prosperity, but where there’s money, there’s usually trouble of one kind or other brewing. ”
Dergan’s Gulch is a Dwarf-settled world named for Captain Kanips Dergan, who crashed her damaged freighter on the forbidding-looking planet and just managed to land at the entrance to the cave systems concealing the planet’s abundant underground water. Once Dergan managed to get rescued, she laid claim to the planet and began promoting it as a colonization opportunity. Captain Dergan moved her family to the Gulch, staked claims, and effectively quit the merchant-marine to go into planetary real estate development. The Dergan family began doling out land to colonists. The first-comers got first pick, albeit at prime prices, and soon established the First Families(a designation common to many colonial efforts).
Dergan’s Gulch was one of the worlds that traded with the T’ghari Domain for foodstuffs, but both the curtailment of T’ghari trade by Brualli Alignment commerce raiders and the use of bioweapons on T’ghari agriculture led to worried Gulchers looking to the USA for help. The USA was happy to oblige, opening up trade and extending protection in return for favorable trade terms and basing rights in the Memos system. With increased and secure commerce thanks to USAn hulls and protective patrols, Dergan’s Gulch is making even more money exporting minerals and is even thinking of promoting cavern tourism.
Solar System(Memos)
Number of Stars: 2
Types of Stars:
----Blue Sub-Giant(Memos-Alf)
----Yellow Dwarf(Memos-Beth)
Number of Planets: 5
-Asteroid(Megh)----Megh is regularly radiation-blasted on its orbit around -Alf and -Beth, so it’s barren and waterless. It does somehow manage to avoid getting sucked in by the two stars’ gravitational antics, which puzzles many astronomers who using conventional mathematical tools, have predicted the small rocky body should have dove into one of the two stars long ago.
-Terrestrial(Dyansis)----Enormous ‘super-Venus’. Thick clouds and a dense atmosphere conceal a vast acidic ocean and hot volcanic continents that are almost always in a state of accelerated land-building and erosion. Not a great colonization or exploitation prospect with a very good reason and a LOT of expensive equipment.
-Gas Giant(Aros)----Saturn-sized gas giant. Named for another member of the Dergan family, Uncle Aro, who purchased several old freighters and just-past-obsolete gas refinery barge, flew them to Aros, and combined them into an orbital scoop garage and gas-collection depot, ‘Aros’ Bench’ provides passing starships with an opportunity to refuel and also sends refined helium and hydrogen isotopes to Dergan’s Gulch.
Aros also possesses a magnetic field that produces some spectacular aurora activity easily visible from orbit.
-Terrestrial(Dergan’s Gulch)----Colonized system lifeworld.
-Gas Giant(Paltras)----A gargantuan gas giant on the edge of the Memors system, Paltras is ringed by a thick accumulation of dust and ice particles. Occasionally a prospector of ice miner will make a trip out to sift through the rings looking for anything of value, but generally the dark planet is left alone .
Planet(Dergan’s Gulch)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 9,800 km
Gravity: 0.9 g
Temperature:
Cool; -200 degrees F on the surface. The caverns, however, can be quite warm; 50-67 degrees F on average.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Rings----The Gulch at one time possessed at least one small moon, but that has since broken up into a thin ring of debris.
Atmosphere:
Breathable terrestrial nitrox mix. especially near the caverns. The farther one gets from the caves, however, the thinner the atmosphere becomes.
It is thought that the greater portion of free oxygen on DG is thanks to a great abundance of polymetallic nodules, known to slowly release oxygen as a result of chemical reactions. The greater portion of these mineral concentrations exist in the cavern systems, and vent to the surface.
Terrain:
Hostile; the Gulch’s surface is rough and tumble, and collapses of the underground caverns result in regions of loose ground, sinkholes, and chasmal gulches. There are also occasional gaseous ‘blowouts’ that can send rock flying for dozens of miles unexpectedly.
However, an extensive network of caverns underlies the dangerous surface. These networks hold underground rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as well as underground lifeforms and massive crystalline structures.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Tin
- Sapphire
-Wolframite
-Manganese
-Zinc
-Ruby
-Asbestos
-Titanium
-Samarskite
-Cobalt
Hydrosphere:
Arid and barren on the surface, but there’s much more water underground
Biosphere:
Sparse. There’s evidence that there was once much more life on the surface, but some cosmic catastrophe, possibly large solar flares, irradiated the planet, leaving only what survived underground to repopulate the planet.
Most of the surviving life is chemotropic and lives in the cavern systems, especially near hot springs. A number of amphibious worns, fishes, and small crustacean-analogues constitute the highest native lifeforms on the planet.
Civilization:
Late Colonial
Population:
8 million(Dwarfs)
Technology:
Low Galactic---The Gulchers can maintain much of the technology they’ve brought in, but as yet have limited industrial capacity to produce more than electronics and basic mechanical hardware. They can also service their fusion powerplants, but are still dependent on imports for heavier items.
Economy:
Mining primarily, but the colonists are also looking into diversifying into light industry, particularly crystal-based computing systems.
Wealth:
Rich; the early settlers of the Gulch have been making out very well for themselves selling the planet’s mineral wealth.
Government:
Plutocracy-----Most everybody looks to the Dergen family, who holds most of the readily-available land(and the best at that), for overall leadership. The First Families usually made their own piles selling essentials to the latecomers, and maintaining monopolies on certain goods and services, but the Dergens have wisely and publicly encouraged competition and even made small business loans to promising entrepreneurs and traders, in order to prevent future unrest.
Law Level:
Lawful. The Dergens set down the law early, with the assistance of some of the First Families. The Gulch legal code follows that of the UWW Dwarven worlds in general, but with a few colony-specific changes. Those exploring /developing new cavern systems are obligated to report all new discoveries and changes to the colonial administration. Offworld trade is done through the central administration and are subject to review to see that the agreements and arrangements do not jeopardize the safety of the colony. Violators can face expulsion from the colony for infractions, or execution for more serious crimes such as murder.
Popularity:
Ambivalent, shading towards Popular. There’s been some grumbling, especially from later immigrants, about how the First Families run everything, especially offworld trade, but in general the Dergens run their side of things fairly, not wanting to spoil things in their little realm now that they’re established.
Stability:
Dergan’s Gulch seems set to become a Dynastic regime, given the great regard the colonists hold for the Dergen family.
-Valgar -----Aolumis System, Ferrikor Iron Lord Colony
“It’s a hell-world that few would look at twice, but the white star-protostar arrangement is of scientific curiosity, and we were looking for pirates anyway, so we took the opportunity to look around. Aolumis turned out to be a lot more interesting than initially thought, and potentially important sector-wise.”
“Actually, it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that the Ferrikor came to Valgar; they seem to like extreme star systems. Their own star system apparently underwent a nova event and the Aolumis system is a dying star. Draw what conclusions you want from that, but I’d group the Ferrikor in with other extremophile species.”
“One of the possibilities we’re looking into is negotiating using Valgar’s dimensional field to open travel rifts to some of our other territories. Or possibly using the Ferrikors’ existing dimensional gateway to travel to their homeworld and use that as a waystation hub. It will require the use of heat-resistant transit capsules, but we have the technology and the magic, and it will shave weeks, if not months, of travel time off some of our routes.”
The Aolumis System is notable in that it is a contradiction in cosmology. It has at its heart a white dwarf star surrounded by a nebula, suggesting an older system well-past its prime, yet the central star is surrounded by five brown dwarfs, or protostars, suggesting a younger system that failed to ignite.
It is speculated that Aolumis may have been a test system for stellar engineering, with the brown dwarfs brought in to possibly refuel an ailing star or re-ignite the white dwarf into a main-sequence star, though who was the responsible culture and why they seem to have abandoned the effort remain unknown.
Valgar is inhabited by a colony of the Ferrikor, a species of near-Elemental beings who live inside their homeworld of Phasen. They rarely travel off their homeworld, so the discovery of an offworld colony of them has aroused great interest in xenocultural circles. The Ferrikor claim to have come to Valgar traveling by dimensional gate.
Contact was made with the United Systems Alliance after USAJC ships did a sweep of the system for pirates or rogue units of the T’ghari / Brualli belligerents, and detected odd subsurface activity on what turned out to be an inhabited planet. Follow-up deep scans of the planet discovered organized energy patterns and several surface installations, where contact with the chthonic colonists was made.
Though the Valgar-Ferrikor have little interest in affairs outside the crust of their new home, let alone the T’ghari / Brualli brushwar, they have agreed to limited trade with the USA. The Ferrikor find the USA agreeable neighbors, given the latter’s embrace of magic and general open-mindedness.
Since coming to an agreement, the USA has established a n orbital station around Valgar. Valgar has become the point of contact between the Ferrikor of Phasen and the United Systems Alliance. The association is proving profitable; the Ferrikor trading crystals and white iron for Technowizardry in particular.
While the association has done little with regards to the security situation in the T’ghari / Brualli sector, it has increased Ghawdeen’s importance as a sector trade center.
Solar System(Aolumis)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
---White Dwarf and five brown dwarfs
Number of Planets: 3
-Terrestrial (Valgar )----Colonized ‘lifeworld’ of the system. Its close orbit of Aolumis and its protostar companions makes it unusually warm for a planet orbiting a white dwarf star.
-Gas Giant (Penktus)----Small gas giant. The USA has negotiated its use as a refueling stop. However, exolife has been found floating in the planet’s atmosphere, and atmo-scoop operations have been limited until closer evaluation of the floaters has been conducted.
-Asteroid(Dredmak)----An ice and rock dwarf planet, Dredmak is also a convenient location for a deep space communications relay and life station.
Planet(Valgar )
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 12, 225 km
Gravity: 1.1 g
Temperature:
Warm; surface temperatures average 400 degrees F.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Energy Field----Valgar possesses a geologically-generated PPE field which helped establish the Ferrikors’ two-way dimensional links to their homeworld.
Atmosphere:
Hostile and Toxic; mainly airborne oxides and volcanism byproducts.
Terrain:
Hostile---Valgar’s surface is particularly rough and treacherous.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Amethyst
-Molybdenite
-Iron
-Colombite
-Fluorite
-Diamond
-Samarskite
-Emerald
Hydrosphere:
Desert; what little water percolates to the surface quickly boils away into steam which gets trapped in the toxic atmosphere.
Biosphere:
None originally, but the Ferrikor have been planting their colony with near-Elemental, non-organic lifeforms to create a Phasen-like ecology. Some of the heartier neo-lifeforms have begin colonizing the surface. Can be considered as Thin.
Civilization:
Colonial
Population:
55 million Ferrikor
Technology:
Technology analogues are roughly equal to early 20th-century Earth, but magic replaces most technology. TechnoWizardry is a growing art among the Ferrikor, so information exchanges with the TW-using USA are particularly welcome.
A particularly interesting application of technowizardry is a ‘light fountain’; a column of reduced gravity generated by mechanisms in an extinct volcano, which is used to loft cargoes into orbit, where they are retrieved by the USA space station and attendant ‘catcher’ spacecraft. .
Economy:
Commercial; while originally established to harvest materials to sell back to Phasen, Valgar has since become a trading contact between the Ferrikor and the USA.
Wealth:
Average, on the upside, with an upward trend as commerce increases.
Government:
Valgar is run by a colonial governor appointed by a sponsoring government oligarchy back on Phasen.
Law Level:
Lawful. The Ferrikor have a comprehensive legal system, and the colonists are too busy exploring and exploiting their new environment to engage in much criminal activity. The dangerous environment also precludes offworlders coming in and making trouble.
Popularity:
Ferrikor who move offworld can be considered a particular odd or adventurous lot. They generally like their governor, though they reserve the right to grumble about some of the directives.
Stability:
Stable, like a rock.
- Calmolins---Tri-Species Colony Venture
“When dealing on Calmolins, remember that at times you’re dealing with one civilization, and at times you’re dealing with three distinctly different societies. It can sometimes get confusing and the locals will almost certainly unite to take advantage of you if they sense that.”
Calmolins was a joint colonization effort by three unlikely partners; an offshoot Seljuk ethnicity, a group of Kai-Shem minotaurs, and a goblin consortium. The three colonization groups actually arrived at Calmolins at roughly the same time in a case of would might be horrible coincidence ending ina conflict, but despite some initial tension, cooler heads prevailed, and the three groups agreed to share the planet, while choosing to settle different regions and environments. This developed into a sharing of resources in time, and the three different species were settling into a comfortable, if not warm, relationship while developing the system.
They were even trading in limited fashion with neighboring systems, including both the T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment when both were members of the Golgan Republik. Then the Republik pulled out of the area and the Domain and the Alignment went to war with each other and trade soon withered. Then agents of both the Brualli and the T’ghari came around demanding that the Camolins choose sides. The two warring polities approached each of the three Camolinsan species separately, but the colonists were comparing notes and delivered a unified response that they would remain neutral.
Since that momentous day, the T’ghari and the Brualli have periodically made threatening moves near the Charmis system, and refugees from the war zones have stopped seeking assistance. The Camolinsans have charitably offered what help they could, but became painfully aware of not only the T’ghari and the Brualli combatants hovering nearby, but increased pirate activity preying on targets of opportunity. There was the very real fear both that local resources would be over-stretched(the Camolinsans were turning away refugees) and that warships or pirates would come in force and fall upon the almost defenseless colonies.
Though all three groups had left their respective home cultures to seek their own freedoms and pursue independence, all three used what contacts they had to seek advice and ideally help. They were advised to appeal to the United Systems Alliance, which had begun making a name for themselves in the sector and were close enough in force to lend aide.
The Seljuk have been delighted to have their overtures reciprocated so well, and a fair and equitable treaty offered.
The minotaurs were pleased to make contact with their origin world and even more pleased to learn that the Kai-Shem were an integral part of the United Systems Alliance. Although they still reject the heavily technological society they left behind, they hope to entice tourism to learn of the ‘simpler life’ they live on Calmolins.
The goblins were nonplussed to learn that the royal line of Punkis was no more popular with the society back home than when they overthrew Punkis VII in favor of the Ountha mageocracy. However, they were pleased that in the USA there is little to no discrimination against their people.
Since establishing diplomatic contact with the United Systems Alliance, the Calmolinsans have seen the USAJC extend their sector patrols to protect the Charmis-23 system.
Solar System(Charmis-23)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
----Blue Sub-Giant(Charmis-23)
Number of Planets: 8
-Exotic----Micro-Wormhole---A late discovery by the United Systems Alliance was of a micro-wormhole in the system close to Charmis-23. Though too small to allow for the passage of ships or anything larger than an aspirin pill, the tiny extra-space passageway has proven to have extraGALACTIC range and two way communications capability. Test pings show the terminus point to be the far side of the Corkscrew Galaxy, near Phaseworld. The United Systems Amalgamated Communications Service (USACS) is excited about potentially using the Charmis micro-hole to facilitate uninterrupted communications with an important galactic sector. To investigate and guard this important find, the USAJC has established a solar orbiter station following the wormhole.
-Terrestrial(Calmolins)---- Colonized system lifeworld
-Terrestrial(Talif)----Miniscule, with a thick covering of ice, making it attractive as a site for hab-dome colonization. Exotic atmosphere
-Gas Giant(Joran)----Miniscule for a gas giant, Joran is considered ‘easy’ for purposes of gas mining.
-Terrestrial(Malcree)----Small, rocky, and possessing only a thin argon atmosphere, Malcree could potentially be a site for dome-habs, if there can be discovered any suitable reason to establish industry there.
-Terrestrial(Nathu)----Small, with nearly nonexistent gravity, but a surprisingly thick and toxic ammonia-laced atmosphere.
-Terrestrial(Vorog)----Large, possessing a heavy gravity and a dense, exotic atmosphere
-Gas Giant(Beysu)----Large Beysu has a polar orbit, rather than following the regular planar orbit of Charmis-23’s other satellites. Beysu also has its own retinue of 19 orbiting bodies, two of which are substantial in size.
Planet(Calmolins)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 14,000 km
Gravity: 1.3 gs
Temperature:
Temperate, but tropical
Unusual/Special Features:
-Craters---Calmolins is dotted with large craters, suggesting prior large-scale imprecator events.
Atmosphere:
Dense, but breathable terrestrial nitrox mix. Those visiting Calmolins are advised to undertake a decompression program when leaving the planet.
Terrain:
Varied, but also possesses Unusual Seismology; the planet’s tectonic activity is almost uncannily regular, given to ‘pulses’ and ‘grunts’ of low-amplitude earth shocks, which seem connected in location to the position, relative to the planet, of the system’s primary, suggesting a solar gravity connection.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Zinc
-Scheelite
-Lead
-Chromium
-Titanium
-Fluorite
-Calcite
-Sulfur
Hydrosphere:
Moist; 75% surface coverage in open water
Biosphere:
Thin, and increasingly displaced by imported species on land. The oceans are dominated by algae and sea weeds, with a variety of proto-molluscs being the high-end animal lifeforms. The land lifeforms were a variety of algae, lichens, and mosses.
Civilization:
Late Colonial/Settled
Population:
80 million(30% Seljuk*, 30% Kai-Shem Minotaurs, 24% Goblins, 16% other---mainly refugees)
*The Calmolinsan Seljuk are of an ethnic variant distinguished by having very large slightly protrudent eyes, and earflaps/flanges.
Technology:
Overall can be considered Stellar Age, with limited space travel capability.
The Seljuk are the planet’s top technologists, and are responsible for most of the advanced industry and maintaining the advanced technology the planet acquires.
The minotaurs embrace a limited amount of technology equal to Information Age. Their original space transports have either been cannibalized or are effectively rented out to the other two Camolinsan societies.
The goblins originally relied on a combination of magic and technology, but when the goblin-mages of Nombus overthrew their former royal superiors, pretty much all the court mages threw in with the rebels, as they were almost certainly assured of high positions in the new regime. The few mages who accompanied the exiles did so virtually at gunpoint and almost all died soon after landing on Camolins. The few true loyalists have tried to keep their arts alive and teach a new generation of mages, but have been hampered by Camolins’ low ambient PPE . Like the minotaurs, the goblins of Camolins have rented out their remaining un-cannibalised spacecraft to be used as in-system transports.
Economy:
Agricultural. Many of the largest farms are run by the minotaurs, the factories are operated by the Seljuk
Wealth:
Overall can be considered to be Average; the Seljuk are reasonably prosperous, the minotaurs are comfortably well-off, while the goblins are facing a Depressed state, in part due to the extravagant expenditures made by their king to fuel his self-indulgences.
Government:
Bureaucracy-----Each species keeps its own culture, leading to some interesting interactions and friction form time to time, keeping a permanent staff of legal experts of all three species arguing solutions and busy passing rulings. The resulting global bureaucracy meets regularly to discuss common projects and set overall policies, especially with regards to overall affairs.
(Seljuk) Democracy--The Camolinsan Seljuk practice representational democracy, with regular elections every six local years.
(Minotaurs) ---Clans, led by headsmen, and ruled by a council of clans/herds. The Kai-Shem of Calmolins wanted to pursue a simpler life than that of their more technologically inclined and astronomically-industrious cousins.
(Goblins) Monarchy---The Goblins of Calmolins were fleeing a palace coup on their homeworld of Nombus, and brought with them the remaining heirs of the deposed bloodline. They’ve made an effort to reestablish the royal regime on Calmolins with limited success(the planet’s gravity and atmosphere are not as conducive to the goblins as the other species). They also have much less support from their home culture because they are effectively exiles who fled into the night. The current king, Punkis IX, ascended the throne when his father Punkis VIII, originally sixth in line to the throne back on their origin world, died in an industrial accident.
Law Level:
Moderate--The Seljuk are ruled by law, the minotaurs typically by rule of strength, and the goblins by royal law. The refugee community is divided by who they live in proximity to.
Interaction between the Seljuk and the Kai-Shemites sometimes results in a contest of strength, with both sides roughly equally matched physically. Similar contests with the goblins, unless the smaller beings are fast or conniving enough, usually result in the goblin getting squashed. So issues between goblins and the other species are arbitrated by a corps of proctors.
There has been some resentment , specially among the goblins, of the refugee communities, especially when the latter agitate for a greater say in governance(fanning goblin fears that they may be squeezed out of importance on their own sanctuary world), and a fair amount of local crime is committed either against the immigrants or by desperate refugees, with several feuds/vengeance cycles playing out.
Popularity:
Ambivalent in general. While everybody supports the coalition, the individual cultures have their problems or issues.
-The Seljuk President, currently Malfus Trang, is beloved for her statesmanship in negotiating many of the treaties with the USA. She is, however, facing some criticism from conservatives for reestablishing contact with the Seljuk society the immigrants left behind.
-The current head-bull of the minotaur herds, Koljan Broadhorn, is also well-liked to the point of having to fend off harem proposals(other bulls wanting to marry their daughters to him).
-King Punkis IX of the goblins, on the other hand, having learned that there will likely never be a return to power of his bloodline on Nombus, has rashly engaged in self-pitying debauchery, much to the disgust of his advisors and a growing number of his subjects. The young king has so alienated his followers to the point that many are considering either replacing him with another Pukis(and here the prospects are very slim, as the next in line would be Punkis IX’s eight-year old little sister or his ninety-year old cousin), or eschewing their original reason for fleeing to Calmolins altogether and adopting an entirely different form of government.
Stability:
Overall, the coalition on Calmolins has proven Stable, though the individual constituent cultures have their issues. The seljuk are seen as rock-steady, the minotaurs are seen as stable(at least until Koljan Broadhorn ages to the point that some stronger bull emerges to challenge his position), and everybody is waiting to see what shakes out with the unsteady goblin monarchy.
(Side note: Nombus
Nombus is a world settled by spacefaring(but also magic-using) goblins. Until fairly recently(thirty-odd years ago), the planet was dominated by a hereditary monarchy, until the senior court mages decided they were better suited to rule and overthrew the king-emperor in a palace coup.
Part of the Royal Family managed to flee offworld and settle on Calmolins in hopes of rebuilding their power base and returning to restore the monarchy on Nombus. They’ve had fleeting contact over the decades with Nombus, and the Nombusians are vaguely aware of the Calmolinsan exiles, the Ounthans do not consider them a threat, in part because magic scrying has discerned no danger to the regime coming from that direction.
While not wildly popular, the Ountha mageocracy does have enough popular support to be considered Stable, and frankly of the Nombusans take issue with the mageocracy, they will more likely seek new leadership closer to home, and not drag up an old clan of has-been aristocrats who scurried away in the night(however much it was a matter of personal survival). There’s been no movement to bring back the old kingdom rulers.
Agolan- -----Refuge Colony
“The Agolans are largely a reclusive lot with a fair degree of paranoia, or more properly xenophobia. It took a lot to make them open up enough to reach out for help.”
“With a little work, Agolan can become a very nice iceworld colony. The Agolans were limited by what they brought through their d-gate, and later what they could salvage or buy with their limited funds, so their habs are rather rustic and techno-shabby. But with a reliable source of supply, I bet they could turn the place around into something special.”
Agolan is a marginal world settled by a group of extradimensional refugees of the Caecil species(Aliens Unlimited, pgs 52-53). The refugees were a group of super-powered military special forces who were fleeing government and civilian lashback on their homeworld; tired of being bullied by super-powered ‘elites’, greater Caecilan society was ‘demobbing’ the meta-powered and the military in particular was facing forced ‘adjustment’. The Agolans’ ancestors used an experimental dimensional warp technology to escape arrest.
They found dubious refuge on the dwarf planet Agolan, a cold world roofed in ice, but with a global liquid ocean under the ice cap. With their dimensional gateway destroyed in the effort of establishing a linkage, the Caecilans had a hard fight to survive, but they managed to establish a self-sustaining refuge under the ice.
The Caecils have mellowed out as the original fugitives have died of old age, but their descendants still carry a cultural dislike of their original culture, which has been increasingly demonized over the generations.
The Caecils have made limited contact with aliens; mostly trampers and low-end prospectors looking to mine ice from the thin belts of asteroids around Agos-Trent, but they had encounters with pirates looking for places to set up temporary hideouts. These encounters generally ended in violence, with the Caecils’ inherent superpowers letting them carry the day initially, acquire useful salvage, and learn of the cosmic and geopolitical environment around them. They also made some daring trips FTL to neighboring star systems to gain information and needed materials, selling salvage from the pirates’ possessions, while the Caecils wore concealing and radiation-containing suits to conceal their identities.
Though they still had superpowers in their bloodlines, the Agolans felt that if the T’ghari-Brualli conflict spilled over into their system, the fragile Agolan environment would be shattered and the inhabitants massacred. Rising piracy around them also worried them; though some Agolans were perfectly willing to sign up as mercenaries working for the pirates, the fear was that a sufficiently well-armed pirate group could similarly threaten Agolan and take it over. Already Algolan had been attacked by pirates seeking to turn the settlement into a base of operations, but each attack was defeated, albeit at growing cost to the Agolans. The Caecil-Agolans looked to the United Systems Alliance for assistance, sending one of their precious few working starships to Ghawdeen to appeal to the authorities there.
The e USA has offered the Agolans assistance with economic and technological aide packages, and has extended their monitoring patrols to cover the region.
Solar System(Agos-Trent)
The Agos-Trent system is a marginal system, notable for a ring of dense stellar debris and a single moon-sized iceworld. Any larger bodies were either blown off into interstellar space or broke up, or else have yet to form.
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
----Yellow Dwarf (Agos)
Number of Planets: 1
-Asteroid(Agolan)----Actually a dwarf planet covered in ice, it is an unlikely refuge.
Planet(Agolan)
Agolan has managed to not be battered to pieces by all the cosmic debris that rings the system’s primary.
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 1,570 km.
Gravity: 0.4 g
Temperature:
Frigid on the surface.
Agolan’s core is kept warm by a concentration of radioactive minerals, supplemented by fusion powerplants the Caecils were able to ri g up. This keeps the surrounding liquid ocean warm enough for aquaculture.
Unusual/Special Features::
-Energy Field---A fluctuating energy field that may be the remnants of the dimensional energies from the since-collapsed Caecilan D-gate. It occasional traps radiation particles and throws of sensor readings.
Atmosphere:
Thin; Agolan’s outer icy shell is veiled in a thin atmosphere of argon and nitrogen.
Terrain:
Most of Agolan’s terrain is submerged, with only a few very high seamounts penetrating into the upper ice cap.
Deep down, it has a surprisingly active core; though not hot enough to really heat up its oceans, it does keep them from freezing, and circulate a fair amount of various chemicals.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Wolframite
-Zinc
-Mercury
-Cobalt
-Salt
-Borax
-Graphite
-Samarskite
Hydrosphere:
Wet. Global ocean under a dense miles-thick roof of ice.
Biosphere:
Was originally nonexistent, but the refugees have managed to establish aquaculture with imported and modified species, mainly algae, seaweeds, plankton, fish, shellfish and crustaceans.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
5 million Caecil( Agolans)
About 30% of Agolans possess random superpowers; this is higher than the 10% average on the Caecil homeworld because the refugees were a concentrated cadre of supersoldiers.
Active and latent metapowers seem to have kept later generations of Agolans from suffering muscle degradation as a result of living in the low gravity of Agolan, but 20% of the population does suffer a penalty of -2d4 to P.S. from generational muscle atrophy.
Technology:
Information Age, late period because the Agolans can build and maintain life support equipment, fusion powerplants, and computer gear.
The Agolans have managed to acquire several spacecraft they captured from pirates. They use them for both defense and to scour the surrounding nebula for resources.
Economy:
Subsistence----The Agolan economy is based on keeping life support going and producing enough food to feed everybody.
Wealth:
Subsistence----The Agolans live pretty much hand to mouth; assistance from the USA would go a long way towards improving their situation.
Government:
Paramilitary; the Agolans follow a military structure of government, with a Grande-General heading the government, and progressive ranks of colonels, majors, captains, so on down the line to the lowliest sca-private(effectively a civilian with only basic military training).
Law Level:
Lawful---The Agolans live in a disciplined society with a codified legal system. The military personnel had no reason to abuse their accompanying families, so the law can be considered fair and just. It only becomes Overbearing or Authoritarian when dealing with matters of life support and shared community property.
Popularity:
Angry; the younger generations are getting increasingly upset with ‘living in a fishbowl’ with no clear path forward. They’re tired of hearing the same tired refrain that ‘sacrifices have to be made’. Even among the older generations, there’s petty bickering over resources. Reaching out to get help took overriding a great deal of paranoia and xenophobia.
Stability:
Unrest. Frankly, the Agolans are getting tired of a subsistence living. Despite having worked relative miracles in making Agolan habitable, many would immigrate offworld if a better world were available. There are, however, many who would stay, having set their roots into this unlikely sanctuary.
