THE HUNDRED WORLDS

Human space is often called the Hundred Worlds.  This is a very inexact term.  If one is talking about habitable worlds, there are not nearly a hundred.  On the other hand, if “worlds” refers to colonized planets and moons, then there are more than a hundred, and if one is counting any planet or moon in the region inhabited by humanity, the number may approach a million.

Humans have been settling this region for about three centuries, thanks to the aid of several technologically advanced races who not only gifted humanity with the tools to expand into space, they all but required it.  In addition, this coalition aliens all but ended humanity’s wars, hunger, disease, pollution, and political corruption.  There was a price.

Humanity had been watched, and judged, and in the mid 21st century, contacted.  The aliens came with propositions and demands heretofore unanticipated.  In exchange for various gifts, the stars being the most important, humanity would be organized in the manner the aliens taught.  Also, humanity would fight a war.  Aggressive yet instinctively cooperative, flexible, with a natural gift for tactical coordination so central to the Human mindset that it was the centerpiece of the most popular Human past times- sports- Humans were the ideal “warrior race” for the defense of the coalition of sentient species.  It wasn’t even that great a burden.  It was a war of technology far more than a war of armies, and only a tiny fraction of Humans, on the order of one in thousands at any one time, would be fighting it.  The political changes, doing away with nations and installing the Commonwealth of Governates, had a far greater impact.

THE WAR

Of all the potential resolutions of the Fermi paradox, “galactic war” was the least palatable, but it had been going on for longer than all of Human civilization… many times over.  The two sides are beyond reconcile:  on the one side, the civilization humanity calls the Carinans, because they appeared to originate in the direction of the Carina Arm.  On the other, every other known intelligent species.

The Carinans have never been seen, except for their spacecraft which are not only uncrewed, but are not even built to accommodate living creatures.  Only machines.  Wave after wave of mechanized assaults, spreading into the galaxy, destroying any civilization they can find and sparing non technological life.  Most believe that if there was a biological Carinan race, it is long gone.  Only machines remain, on their endless crusades.   There aren’t even clues about what kind of creatures Carinans might have been.

The addition of Humans has apparently changed the balance of power.  Humans helped to stop a Carinan offensive into Oumo (See Aliens) space two centuries ago, and the Carinans, learning that they had a dangerous new opponent, then directed their next waves towards Humanity.  Though the Carinans even reached Earth their attacks were defeated.  Finally, Humanity went on the offensive.  Fifty years ago, there was another Carinan wave, aimed at Humans and their alien allies simultaneously.  This “Great Wave” was defeated, and in the counter attacks that followed, the Carinans were pressed far back- their “Front” is now more than eight hundred light years from Earth.  Living worlds where Carinans had eradicated technological civilizations were recovered, and the Carinans seem unable to match the advancing Human capabilities.  The last few decades have been very quiet, with humanity having the clear upper hand.  No Human colony has been damaged in a long time, and the loss of a ship is now a rare tragedy.

Except for this, war has almost ceased to exist for Humans.  It is, many say, a golden age.

THE COMMONWEALTH OF GOVERNATES

The arrival of the Oumo (See Aliens) in the 21st century created considerable shock across humanity, although the shock was unevenly distributed.  Some people simply accepted it more easily that others.  The Oumo announcements that they would aid humanity were generally welcomed, especially after demonstrations of what their technology would do.  Less welcome was the fact that from the beginning, there were conditions attached, and these conditions were steadily increased.  They established “cooperation centers” across the planet, choosing locations through their own opaque methodology.  The first appeared on South Pacific islands.

Eventually their influence encompassed most of humanity, which, in order to receive the benefits the aliens offered, was reorganized into a system of “governates”.  The whole system of Governates became the Commonwealth, which has no central leader, just a large Parliament of Governates.

A Governate is a region with a maximum population of around 25 million.  Larger Governates are generally divided into smaller ones.  This was to help Governates become more balanced in economic and social influence.  They are ruled by centrally appointed bureaucracies, the leaders belong to a common pool, educated and trained, and then given assignments far from their native homelands.  This was the alien method of subverting corruption, partisanship, ethnic rivalries and other problems.  Leadership in each Governate has no local ties, nor are they permitted any material rewards from their Governate- they are all paid from a common fund.  Thus, the Governor of Quebec might have been born and raised anywhere else in the Hundred Worlds, educated in a Commonwealth Administrative Academy, and might have served in the administration of Governates scattered across human space.

Democracy was largely written out, except for local “advisor” bodies with very limited (generally) powers.  This disturbed many Humans, but enough saw it as a reasonable price:  quite a few Democratic nations at the time had considerable internal political strife.

But, after three centuries, many Humans are wondering if the system is too repressive and too remote, and far too unconcerned with local needs and priorities.  There is increasing demand for direct local rule in many Governates, and this has been putting the Governates under great stress.  Many Governates have been fighting for the right to send locally elected (or selected?) observers to the Parliament of Governates, to make sure that their own Governate representatives are actually acting in accordance with the wishes of their Governate.  An “Elected Congress of Commonwealth Representatives” has been created, unofficially and with no legal authority, to act as a “voice”.  Tensions have been rising.

TECHNOLOGY IN THE HUNDRED WORLDS

Jump- Jump Drive was the most important gift from the aliens to humanity.  Jump is a little different from the system used in standard Traveller.  Speeds and voyage times vary, there is no "one jump takes one week".  Instead, ships have a jump speed in LY per Day.     Maximum distance of a jump for Human and most other ships is about 13 Light Years.  Speeds  tend to be greater than 5-6 for the fastest military, scout, and passenger, 4-5 for typical older ships, and less than 4 for cargo vessels.  Old bulk cargo carriers might be less than 3, and some couriers, faster than 6.

Sleep- Hibernation, AKA “Cold Sleep” is often used on ships carrying many people over very long distances, because it is cheaper, easier, and much less trouble than keeping people awake and fed for months.  With proper equipment, preparation, and recovery facilities, it is almost 100% safe.  This requires a lot of medical preparation and recovery time, so it is typically not done for shorter voyages, especially those less than a month.

Gravity- The Chukats (see Aliens) have much more advanced “gravitronic” technology but have allowed only a little to be transmitted to Humans.  Available technology here (generally bought from aliens) is at an early level; it is used to provide an assist to landing and launching spacecraft and to provide relatively small areas of partial gravity.   It cannot sustain flight; there are no air-rafts.    Space stations and large ships most often use rotating habitats- much cheaper.

AI and Robotics.  One of the leading theories explaining the Carinans is that the alien machines are the product of a “runaway AI” that has decided to exterminate all potential competitors.  Fearful that this might happen again, the Chukats have for many thousands of years made the construction of “high level” artificial intelligence illegal.  It is probably within Human technology to do this, but no one dares.  The Aliens take this restriction very seriously.  Many near-sentient robots exist, however.  Often, only an expert can differentiate between “near sentient” and thus in compliance with Chukat rules, and “sentient” and forbidden.  The Chukat can tell quite easily.

Tech Level: In most other areas, the Commonwealth’s technology is generally at TL9-10, although the robotics and communications are better described as TL 12-13

ALIENS

1) The Chukats: 
Furry, pseudo-mammalian spider-like creatures with six main limbs, described as what a spider monkey might look like if created from an actual spider.  They are arboreal and social.    Their limbs have many joints, but are not “tentacles”.  The limbs divide and divide again towards the tips, giving them four usable digits at each arm tip.  Two additional digits used for holding are located along the length of each arm.
Chukats are an old race, and the ones who developed Jump Technology, passing it the Oumo and others, and eventually to Humanity.  They are the first technological civilization to survive the Carinans, and this seems to be part luck:  their rise, actually their second after being reduced to pre-technology by a Carinan attack, coincided with a gamma ray burst that decimated the Carinans.  The Chukats then decided that they would resist the Carinans, and develop and support other civilizations which would unite their efforts.
Today they are rarely seen.  They are remote, and aloof, and possess advanced technology no other race has.  They are unwilling to expose their technology to accidental loss or capture, and so take a reserved, indirect approach.  Their worlds are unknown, and distant, with no nearby colonies.


2) The Oumo
These strange heavy world aliens from a “super terran” world are the primary contacts and main designers of the social system by which Humanity was integrated into larger interstellar society. They claim to have been observing Humanity for thousands of years, occasionally destroying Carinan probes in the vicinity.  They were forced into action by Humanity’s unanticipated sudden technological growth.

The Oumo are not a single species, instead, at least a dozen species of their planet exists in a single combined social structure.  Functions are delegated by species- the large Momo, which have been described as a something like a squashed rhinocerous with a squid for a face, are the leaders of each group, and the much more commonly seen, taller and smaller Amimo are couriers, agents, and “liaison officers”.

Their native gravity is significantly higher than comfortable for Humans, and low or zero gee causes medical problems for them, so they do not live permanently among Humans.  They do have some colonies in Human space, on worlds that Humanity does not want to colonize because of the gravity.

Their method of integrating Humanity has been to create a governing system that in some ways resembles their own.  They created the Commonwealth, and the system of Governors who have no blood ties, allegiance, or economic interest in the territories they govern-presumably making them immune to the lures of corruption and self interest and the traditional rivalries and loyalties of the people they govern.  The Oumo disdain for Human democracy is in part related to their own experience:  there is no democracy in Oumo society.  The Momo are the smartest and most capable rulers, and the very idea that others should have an “equal” voice is absurd to them.

3) The Crossers:
Biologically and psychologically one of alien classes more similar to Humanity.  They resemble bipedal, tailed dinosaurs, like small tyrannosaurs with large brains and well developed forearms.

Generally friendly and interested in Humans.

They have lost their homeworld in the Carinan war, and have no known colony planets.  They claim to have a small, scattered population living on large Home Ships, traveling endlessly and engaging in trade.

They are skilled in large scale space engineering, such as habitat construction.
Their name derives from their own translation of their species name, unpronounceable by Humans.  The fact that this relates to their current nomadic existence means that it has replaced their earlier self-name; their civilization is believed to have been destroyed by the Carinans over a hundred thousand years ago, with relatively small numbers evacuated successfully by the Chukats.

4) Lipaps.
The Lipaps are an amphibious species resembling bipedal frogs.  Biologically, they are easily understood but their philosophies disturb many Humans.  Lipaps breed in very large numbers, the females laying hundreds of eggs at a time.  A handful, if any, reach maturity.  Lipaps feel no grief at the loss of juveniles, only pride in the “strong and worthy” that survive.  It’s not unusual for Lipap parents to kill some of their own offspring themselves- even during the later juvenile stages when the young are clearly sentient creatures.  Newly adult Lipaps feel little bond for their parents, but do have family attachments.

Lipaps seem to take some of these life lessons into other areas.  Creative destruction is a necessary thing for them.  All things deserve to be tested, abused, pushed, prodded, provoked… how else does one measure the true strength of a thing?  As friends, Lipaps are known for pushing the emotional boundaries.  For them, this tests and therefore displays the strength of the underlying friendship.

Lipaps are the second most capable warriors available to the coalition after Humans.  They are agile and quick like Humans, and quite brave, being eager to face challenges.  On the other hand they do not seem to coordinate with each other as well, and have trouble forming stable command structures.



5) Antarean Ecosentience.
Named not for Antares, but for the region of space in which their homeworld is located.  No human has ever seen it.  The Antarean Ecolosentience is an example (according to the Chukats there are more, but none have been detected) of an entire planet’s biosphere sharing a single sentient thought-network.  There are no individuals- even freely moving creatures attach themselves to the network, joining with the single giant mind of the planet.

The Ecosentience is able to create independent entities, apparently it can tailor their forms and characteristics.  These are something between free willed beings and organic robots, and can exist for years before being reconnected to the Ecosentience.  Traveling Antareans are always of this nature, even their ships are partially living beings.
There are believed to be at least five “daughter worlds” of the original mother world.  In colonizing space the Ecosentience has achieved the ability to reproduce itself.  One of these is in Human space, on Kayon.  Here, the Ecosentience is not planet-wide, but it is spread out over a considerable area of the tropics.



6) Mimosans

Mimosans are mollusk-like swamp dwellers, creatures with natural shells, and protruding limbs and sensory organs of several sorts sharing a common opening in the shell.  They breathe a dense, hot, moist atmosphere unbreathable to Humans.  In turn, Earth atmosphere will not support Mimosans.  They are named for a bright star in the general vicinity (it is believed) of their home world.  No Human has visited the Mimosan home world.

Mimosans can be challenging to deal with, even though their skills with language translation are the best of any known species.  They carry some concepts to the point of obsession, such as their pursuit of perfectly clear, ambiguity-free language.  They also have perceptions that differ wildly from the Human experience, for example, they apparently perceive relationships in complex, interactive networks as tangible and physical things.  The first Humans to learn this reacted in disbelief, but the Mimosans reminded them that Humans perceive differences in electromagnetic wavelengths as “color”, a concept that has no direct meaning to Mimosans.  It is thought that the radically different perceptions of Mimosans have allowed them to develop sciences that are virtually incomprehensible to Humans.  Their technology is very advanced.


7) Velorans 
Another “refugee race” evacuated with the help of Chukats and Oumo.  They were a barely technological society, given great aid by the other races as they were between the Carinans and the Mimosans.  Before the Carinans reached their space they had achieved a modest group of colonized systems, including eight habitable planets.  All of these have been lost, and the Velorans have been relocated elsewhere.

Velorans are tall, slow and graceful, with four long legs and two long arms.  They have been likened to “giraffe centaurs”.  They live in extended families, polygamy is common.   They are the tallest known sentients, and this makes space flight awkward for them.  As a result, they are rarely seen.

8) Droyne
The Droyne might be have a history even longer than the Chukats, if their stories are true.  They are short, winged humanoid creatures with outsized heads and eyes and wings that can only provide flight on worlds with gravity less than .8 G and at least standard atmospheric pressure- not a common combination for habitable planets.  Droyne prefer these worlds, though, and so their main enclave in Human space is on the planet Terpsichore (though they are very much a minority here).  They are one of the few species that can comfortable coexist alongside Humans, though their very different mental and social structures keep them socially distinct.

Droyne have three genders, and six castes, with the castes being biologically as well as socially distinct.  Droyne of different castes can share the same parents, though: it is believe that their differences develop before birth, with certain as yet unknown triggers activating different sets of genes.

Droyne have almost no personal freedoms, nor do they seem to wish for any.  The lower castes are not mindlessly obedient, but they are obedient, and see it as natural.  The Human preoccupation with freedom, as it often comes at the expense of the group, is alien to them.




9) Flialeesh
Often called “Frillies” by Humans.
Native to a low gravity (.85G) and low pressure (about half an atmosphere) world, the Flialeesh evolved in an ecosystem where plants and animals never diverged long ago.  Divergences, where they occurred, were much later, therefore there are mobile creatures with some plant like features, sessile creatures with some animal characteristics, and all kinds of intermediate states.  The Flialeesh themselves are tripodal creatures with long, colorful clusters of breathing  fronds- their “frills”.    In addition to their three legs they have three “sensing stalks”, one of which has evolved into a sophisticated manipulating appendage.  It is both strong and dexterous, though having only one is a disadvantage when compared with Humans, who are gifted with two.  They are intelligent but not advanced,  being in a “stone age” culture.

The Frillies are the first and thus far only alien race discovered by Humans, who reached their homeworld at BD+33 4737 on a long range survey about fifty years ago.  This world is on the remote “back end” of Human space, 155 light years from Earth.  Several expeditions followed, but when word got out to the Oumo they demanded that they oversea the delicate “first contact”.   This, however, had already happened, to a very limited degree.  Human explorers had chosen to make contact only with one remote subgroup of the pre-technological Flialeesh.

Elaborate gestures along with color changes and movements of their frills are part of their communication.  They can communicate by sound alone- their voices are squeaky and high pitched- but consider this a limited, “cold” form of communication, as if Humans were communicating only by Morse Code.


10) Riders

The Riders are intelligent symbionts, looking like long slugs with many legs.  They have evolved to “ride” a number of different species on their planet.  Sometimes, a single Rider may own a number of “bearers” and alternate.  This is a measure of status in their culture, however it has some cost:  switching a bearer is not a quick process as the neural connections must grow into place and the rider must learn the use of its new body.
Like the Velorans and Crossers, the civilization of the Riders on their homeworld was destroyed by the Carinans, and the current civilization is a much reduced remnant, evacuated to new worlds with help from others.

Though the animals used as bearers are non sentient, they do have brains, and this results in interaction with the rider.  The two link, and the personality and self-experience of the rider becomes a fusion.  Riders report being very “different people” when attached to different bearers.

Maintaining suitable numbers of bearers is a major task for the Riders.  It is a significant drag on their productivity, described as being something like a requirement that every human raise horses.  But as the riders see it, the Humans have a disability- Humans are permanently joined to their host body, and cannot leave it for a different one, even when it dies.   The idea of being trapped in a body, and dying when it dies, is frightening to a rider, which would instinctively slither off and find a new bearer were the old one to die suddenly.

Human scientists believe that Riders are a devolved form of a different, more independent species.  Horror fiction aside, though, there is no chance of a rider joining with a Human- it is highly fine tuned by its own evolution, adapted to the specific forms of animals of its own planet.  Riders, though, have discovered that the idea of parasitic mind controlling aliens has been popularized in Human fiction, always in a monstrous way, and find it strange and somewhat amusing.

THE WORLDS

More information is available on these worlds as needed, this is an introduction.  See the MAPS for locations.

1)  MIDWAY FRONTIER SECTOR

Commonly called the “Zinderneuf” Sector because the location of Midway is actually a military secret, this is the most distant inhabited sector.  It is in the direction of the Carinan enemy, and many of the settlements were established for military purposes.  It begins 300 LY Anti-Spinward from Sol, and extends.. at the moment, as far as it needs to.

Areong  One of the youngest colonies of Humans, established only 44 years ago but already having a population in the millions.  Areong is the only Korean language dominant planet, though English and Chinese are also in use.  It is a warm world, referred to as “Pangean” as the land belongs primarily to one continent, called Aseu.   Gravity is higher than on Earth but within Human “comfortable’ range at 1.08  (Visitors often disagree, 1.08G is noticeably heavy for someone accustomed to 1G or less).  Native life is at the microbial level though abundant in the wet (and extremely hot to the point of unlivable) tropics.  The colony is expanding through ongoing engineering operations.  It is the home of a large athletics training complex, taking advantage of the higher gravity.  It is also popular with young families, many of which eventually leave, as many people believe that the higher gravity is physically beneficial to the development of young children.


Atlas is a young, Earthlike planet known for high levels of tectonic activity.  Native life is simple, at a microbe level, and uses a system unlike Earth Life.  Native Atlas microbes are unable to survive in samples where Earth life is introduced; meaning that colonization will likely destroy the native life eventually.  The only colony here is unauthorized, but local authorities have not acted to remove it, because it has become useful as a military outpost- commanders apparently believe that multiple inhabited frontier colonies in the area might confuse an enemy searching for Midway.  It has about 50,000 people, and is predominantly English speaking.  It is part of the “Freeland” movement- people founding colonies to remove themselves from what they see as overly controlling government and social systems.



Bongarde.   A system with no habitable planets, one of the prior locations of “Midway”, which was later moved to Zinderneuf and then further out.  When this move was made, much of Midway was replaced with new components.  Older elements left behind were used to create Bongarde Habitat.  About 22,000 people live here.


Kayon   Known for its spectacular trees which Kayon is home to a “daughter” of the Antarean Ecosentience.  The original Ecosentience encompasses a planet (or so humanity has been told), but the Kayon Daughter stretches over a thousand kilometers of tropical and subtropical ecosystem.  The Kayon Daughter appears to be trying to “blend” with the native ecosystem, rather than displace it.

Kayon is one of the last colonies to be established with alien assistance, and also the most distant.  What makes this exceptionally unusual is that this occurred in a region of space that was far from safe at the time.   It was established in 2173, partly to test the theory that the Carinans would ignore a “low signature” Human presence screened by the Kayon ecosystem.  This proved to be mostly correct.  Carinans targeted only significant technological signatures, and with few exceptions, paid no attention to Kayon.  Over 5 million people live on this distant world now,  exporting the unique products of the Kayon plants and animals, but with a deep regard for the ecology.  English is the primary language.


Midway is the furthest inhabited system, but its location is classified.  It is the forward defense base for humanity, as well as a stop over on the long journey towards the current battlefront more than 600 LY distant to anti-spinward, on the edge of  Oumo space.  There are few details about the system.  Midway itself is a massive space station.  The inhabitants are mostly military, with some civilian contractors and concessionaires, and a limited number of dependents.  A large Commonwealth fleet is stationed there.


Otranto is a frontier fortified space habitat coreward from Zinderneuf.  Like many other of its kind it is bored into an asteroid for defense.  Along with Gojimin to rimward it helps the fleet from Zinderneuf create a protective front line for humanity.  Both have some light industry and other businesses in the “space service support” role, and both have fuel processing plants.  Otranto is home to about 4000 people, and Gojimun, 3000.



Temerity is a habitable planet discovered anti-spinward from Zinderneuf.   Temerity is very dry, with no oceans (one sizable sea and some lakes in the southern hemisphere), with only .76 gravity.  The atmosphere is slightly thin, but breathable.  While the settlement at some other unauthorized colony worlds has been overlooked or even tacitly accepted,  (see Atlas), here,  the Commonwealth Navy physically evicted settlers.  The planet is currently uninhabited and the settlements are abandoned.  This has led many to believe that  Temerity is too close to Midway, or lies along a route to Midway, and the world is kept empty to help conceal Midway’s location.


Zinderneuf is as far as one goes before entering restricted space.  To protect the location of Midway, only military ships and carefully vetted civilian ships make the trip from Zinderneuf to Midway, which is believed to be about 20-25 LY and done in three jumps.  Zindeneuf was once the “Midway” system, but military success has allowed Midway to be moved closer to the enemy.  There have been a number of these moves.  Zinderneuf is arid, but otherwise fairly Earthlike.  Fewer than half a million people live here, and the economy is based around support for the military.  Many of the settlements are old military sites.  Zinderneuf is mainly English speaking, though there is some Chinese, a little Korean, and a few other languages spoken.

Military ships returning from the Carina front are often stripped of damaged and obsolete equipment here and at Midway.  Much of this is sold off in salvage lot auctions.  Annually, this brings in about half a billion credits to the local economy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:35, Sat 18 Apr 2020.

2)  TERPSICHORE SECTOR
Close to the far end of the “Main Line” linking the human colonies in the direction of the Midway, the Oumo, and the Carinan Enemy.  The Main Line is the route most travelled by shipping.  It is shown in red on the sector maps.  Very often, there are short cuts available, for example, one could travel to Juwuku to Niosca via HD85863, but most ships will take the longer route that passes through more important system.  The systems along the “short cut” routes frequently lack outposts along the way.

 Alamut is another fortified base, this one buried in a small outer moon of a temperate Jovian world.  Alamut is now used mostly in a support role, for service, repair and logistics, and as a home base for local area patrols.  It is an important naval supply depot, and is home to the naval procurement office furthest from Sol.  Alamut is home to a about 14,000 people, including a growing civilian segment.



Apollo  was not declared safe enough for extensive colonization until about 75 years ago, but has grown in population rapidly since.  About 22,250,000 people live here now, and colony ships, including the immense sleeper ships ferrying thousands of people in cold sleep from Earth, still come.   The colonists have been coming largely from Latin America, and there is a local “creole” language developing blending Spanish and Portuguese (which are already quite close).  It is still a colony world in the early development phase, but in many places it has a rushed and haphazard look.


Argoa is an ocean world with about 96% of its surface covered.  The atmosphere has a higher CO2 concentration than Earth, but it is not into the dangerous range.  More important to colonists is the eccentric orbit.  The planet experiences extreme seasonality.  The axis of rotation is only 11 degrees, so where it not for the orbit seasons would be extremely mild.  As it is, the southern hemisphere’s winter coincides with the apogee, and northern hemisphere’s winter coincides with perigee.   This tends to calm the seasons in the northern hemisphere and enhance them in the brutal southern hemisphere.  Settlements, home to about 3,900,000 people, exist only in the northern hemisphere.
Argoa was deliberately established as a “low tech” colony.  A significant number of people prefer to live in a less developed, less complex, less technologically advanced (and inevitably, less wealthy) society, and places like Argoa cater to them.


Juwuku is the largest space habitat on the frontier, and is the property of Cyrene corporation, which treats this as a small “company nation” even though it legally operates as its own governate.  The founders of Cyrene believed that they had to move their company as far as they could to the frontier, and they have prospered for it.  Cyrene is a diverse high tech manufacturing conglomerate, producing many of the consumer goods in use not only on the frontier, but as far as the “New Core” region.  The yachts of the owners are often parked here, and they are the most luxurious private spacecraft in the sector.

Nearby is JWK-001 Commonly called “Joke One” this system is currently only a transit point.  JWK-001 is a solitary Brown dwarf, with some rocks and dust in orbit


Niosca,  Calchas, and Tacitus were once fortified, front line defensive bases.  Calchas has been entirely turned over to civilian use other than a small observation section.  It has a gas giant with many moons, and two major asteroid belts, and hosts mining and fuel processing centers. About 36,000 people live in the system, mostly on the Calchas Habitat.   Niosca has fewer resources but does lie along the Main Line route.  It still has a significant naval presence, largely support for the more forward operations, and the rest now has a local government that is subordinate to the Terpsichore Governate, but on a fairly loose leash.  It has about 32,000 people.  Tacitus, scene of a number of battles, has been abandoned and largely dismantled, with many of its components being reused elsewhere.  The asteroid in which the defense base was built is scarred on its surface from attacks, but the tunnel network within is still there.  It is considered by some to be a historic site.




Terpsichore has the distinction of being one of the lowest gravity human habitable worlds.  This moon of the temperate zone gas giant Achelous supports an atmosphere of .89 Atm with just .68 G gravity.  Scientists believe that the “shepherding” effect from Achelous and other moons Parnasse and Gorgo  confines escaped gas from Terpsichore, allowing Terpsichore to eventually reclaim it, and a equilibrium (or good approximation) has been reached.  The world is home to about 8 million Humans and a few hundred thousand Droyne.  Many Humans are drawn here by the low gravity- it is popular with those with debilitating physical conditions who cannot be treated.  There are some sports here that are virtually impossible elsewhere.  Contact and trade with the Droyne is also a major draw, as this is the largest Droyne concentration in Human space.  A major manufacturer of health, dance, and fitness wear is located here.  Terpsichorean was originally set up largely to take advantage of the name and the images of locals moving so effortlessly (Terpsichore was the Greek muse of dance) but has become unexpectedly popular.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 03:09, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

3)  CALDERADA SECTOR
Years ago, this was the “front” in the war with the Carinans.

Agwe  is an ocean planet with warm water shallow seas covering 96% of the surface.  The planet has a high 02 content in the atmosphere.  This can be tricky for visitors to adapt to.  Humans limit their time outdoors without masks, and monitor their breathing and oxygen intake.   Habitats are kept at lower pressure, the combination of low pressure and high oxygen makes breathing safe.  Everything is more flammable, and all kinds of oxidation reactions occur faster.

Despite the very different conditions, Agwe is one of the rare planets with native life biologically compatible with Earth life.  That is, the local plants and animals can be eaten, and will provide nutrition.  Of course it works both ways.  Agwe has over 12 million people, and has a thriving seafood industry.


Brociliande orbits the planet Ipomedon, a “Water-Superterran” world with a dense atmosphere and an ocean hundreds of kilometers deep. The pair are more of a “double planet” than a planet-moon arrangement, because of the ratio of the masses- the barycenter of their mutual orbit lies between the two, though much closer to Ipomedon.  Brociliande is not tidally locked, though the tidal drag has slowed rotation enormously and tides are very, very large.  Brociliande orbits Ipomedon in about 55 Earth days, and a local day is 165 standard hours.  This results in extreme differences between daytime and nighttime temperatures.  The colonists say, every day is summer, every night is winter.  The local biosphere has adapted.  In the thick forests that are common here, many plants retract leaves.  Bioluminescence may be an adaption to the extended nights, as it is much more common here than on Earth plants.  Over 35 million people live here, and French and English are major languages.  Despite the size, the colony has a remote feel and a strong “local” identification.  It is home to the newest of the Governor’s Academies.




Calderada is an Earthlike world with a geologically recent (5-10 million years ago) major asteroid impact.  The world’s ecosystem is still recovering, and the planet has very high vulcanism and tectonic activity.  Sulfur dioxide and other pollutants make the air not toxic but unhealthful over much of the planet.  Colonization has been limited to areas where the air is cleanest.
It is home to a major Commonwealth Naval Base.   It is a largely Hispanophone planet.  The population is notable for being very socially and culturally conservative and traditionalist.  There is a history of friction with the Navy over some social issues.

The Naval Base is a major stimulus to the economy, though it also attracts much discontent.  Processed Food, Real Estate, Professional Training and Placement, Textiles, and Publishing are also important.  About 45,000,000 people live here.




For years, Balanjar was an unauthorized colony, resisting the Commonwealth’s attempts to remove them.  The Commonwealth, opposed to using force, tried negotiation, enticement, and flirted with blockade before suddenly and unexpectedly giving up and issuing a charter.  For the people of Balanjar, this was a victory, but they still do not trust the Commonwealth.  This is an irony lost on them- the more remote, less self sufficient colonies need the Commonwealth to provide trade and security.
Balanjar is a cold, arid planet with an eccentric orbit.  Language is predominantly English, with some Arabic spoken.  It has good rare mineral deposits, so mining has become important.  It is home to about a quarter million people.




Caesius  is a tidally locked oceanic terrestrial planet orbiting an M star.  It is close enough so that the “hot pole” has liquid water while the cold side is engulfed in ice.  This type of planet is often called a “Eyeball world”.  The atmosphere is toxic, but could support agriculture (or aquaculture) and the planet is a candidate for terraforming.  It is uninhabited.

Dewberry  an uninhabited system with an M type star, and various small icy bodies.  Scene of a battle, home to an automated sensor and navigation system.  Often used for exercises by the naval fleet at Calderada, as the navy does not like practicing in frequently travelled systems.




Gamboge   A toxic yellow-brown world with seas that could function as kitchen cleanser, Gamboge is home to a thriving Reclamation and Recycling industry.  So many advanced devices contain rare and valuable metals and metamaterials, but breaking these things down and recovering these materials is an environmentally brutal process.  Here, no one complains.  About 150,000 people live in the surface habitats here, collectively called Gamboge City.





Indomidus is a young double star system in an exotic orbit around the galaxy.  The system has several small rocky worlds, a Neptunian gas giant, and rings of gas, dust and ice.  It was once host to a military outpost, and the unusual orbit makes it a target for researchers, as the system may carry traces of interactions with distant parts of the galaxy.  It is uninhabited.


Lepanto is an important historical battle site, with an outpost, home to 35,000, established on a cold, airless, lifeless terrestrial planet.  The largest planet in the system is Naupactus, a superterrestrial with a dense, toxic atmosphere some .25 AU from the M class star.  Lepanto is an industrial center known for its domestic service robots.


Minos is a “temperate gas giant” orbiting a K type star.  The outpost here was once a fortified military base, now turned over to civilian use.  The outpost made use of a small, iron rich moon, which is officially “Minos Base” but most people just call it Minos as well, unless more context is needed to know which someone is talking about.  Vela Express has a contract to provide courier and communications service for the systems along the main line between Caldera and Zinderneuf, and it has its main operations and service depot here.  Minos is home to about 24,000 people.  It is, per capital, one of the wealthiest systems in Human Space, but this is largely an artifact of the small population coupled with the presence of a company headquarters.

NCDDM02 Often referred to as “Nicodemos”, this is a triple system with two white dwarfs and one class M star.  It is home to a small outpost.


Pomola is a cold, wet planet with an atmosphere that is slightly thicker than Earth’s but cannot support Human life as it is oxygen poor.  It can support some plant life, which has been imported.  It is of interest because it is a “post garden” world.  Previously, Pomola was warmer and had a much more extensive biosphere.  It was possibly even capable of supporting Human life.  There is speculation that it might have had intelligent life.  Now, it is home to outposts and research camps, digging into its tragic past.  It also has something relatively rare:  petroleum.  Though humanity no longer depends on oil for fuel except in limited cases, it is still valuable as a precursor in the plastics industry.  292,000 people live here.  Languages are Spanish, Portuguese, and English.





Safyre is a low gravity water world.  Oceans cover 94% of the planet.  Surface pressure will not support human life, but with the increased air pressure found underwater, living is comfortable.  Hence, most of the settlements are fully underwater, or have underwater components. Because of the lower surface pressure on Safyre, engineering of underwater habitats and submersibles is easier than it is on Earth.  It is home to about a half million people.

Salgaria This system has a tidally locked terrestrial world, with a  thin, toxic atmosphere, and shallow oceans covering ¾ of the surface.  The outpost here is largely for research purposes, experimenting with engineered aquaculture.  Population is 4000, and the dominant language is Spanish, though English is commonly understood.


Thoas is home to Thoas Human Endeavor, an agency with the sometimes confusing abbreviation “THE”.  This is a group determined to run mining, basic industry, and agricultural operations with a “by and for the workers” approach.  Thoas’s enclosed farms, factories and mines have no outside owners.  Workers have shares, and labor boards dictate wages, benefits and conditions.   The system is not socialist; individual enterprises are owned by their workers and are competitive, but they must operate under the local rules.  Thoas has not been *very* prosperous, but they manage a stable, middle to lower middle class and surprising low stress life.     The colony of 135,000 people is on a terrestrial world with a methane-ammonia atmosphere, far from habitable to Humans, but supporting a strange native (but not highly advanced) ecosystem, with black-charcoal gray vegetation.

4)  KURIPAN SECTOR

Between 185 and 225 LY Anti-Spinward from Sol.  Here, the Main Line jogs around the starless Kuripan Gap.  The systems here are much closer to humanity’s core than the Calderada, Terpsichore, and Merlin sectors, yet, this region is still regarded as “frontier”, as once past  Lyonesse, population densities begin to drop off and settlements thin out.

Alphala, less interestingly known as "HD 82578" is a large A type subgiant, labelled "chemically peculiar" because of its high concentration of some metals and known for strong magnetic activity. The star is interesting from an astrophysics view, and the magnetic field is useful for certain metamatter material processing, so there is a small navigation, observation and industrial outpost here.  There are several smaller stars in orbit, and large quantities of dust, gas, rock and ice, but no planets.  Population is 3,000





Hengest </b>shares its orbit with a partner, its extremely large moon/co-planet Horsa.  Hengest is a very hot world, though pleasant near the poles.  Despite ocean cover being only 43%, the heat puts a lot of water vapor into the atmosphere and when heavy clouds are carried towards a pole, torrential rain storms are produced.  Conditions on Hengest can change from dry to flooded quickly, over large areas.  Tides induced by Horsa add to the challenge: they can pull water quite far.  A heavy rainstorm coupled with a high tide can turn a plain into an inland sea, and it might remain for weeks.  The settlements (over 13 million people live here) are designed with this in mind, drainage and flood resistance are paramount.

Kuripan is the major colony world of the sector.  It is an important point along the Main Line, and is habitable.  It is a warm, dry world (46% ocean cover).  The day is longer than Earth's- 28.2 hours, possibly due to drag from the next world out in the system, the cold superterran Antaboga.  This is just long enough to prevent humans from ever truly feeling "in synch" with the world and the work day and planetary day are on separate cycles.

Kuripan has a developed biosphere with a range of plants and animals, with many of the marine creatures notable for their size.  Oxygen content is higher than Earth's but the pressure is slightly less- the two almost balance out.


Hrethel   Far off the Main Line and as a consequence somewhat isolated, Hrethel is a small tidally locked world with .79 surface gravity, 62% ocean coverage, but too little oxygen to support human life.  It will support agriculture, though, and the small colony of 75,000 is surrounded by crop land.  The colony is the personal property of family established here in 2225- the founder, Joni Makipa, wanted to be a "king" and was wealthy enough to indulge the fantasy.  Today it is still a monarchy (under commonwealth oversight) under king Ali Makipa.


Although remote, cold and dry, Hnaef has everything going for it except a good location.  Seas cover only 20% of the surface, and those in the equator are surrounded by the planet's most comfortable areas.   It has native life, but not developed past the "simple" stage: microbes, and some worm-like creatures.
Hnaef was a later colony, established in 2224 by religious sect: Mandeans, who felt that isolation would help revitalize their very small faith. The colony, rimward of the Main Line, suffered an early setback when it was struck by Carinan warships in 2239.  It recovered, and expanded.  Today it has a population of about 250,000.  Colonists have been struggling to find backers for a terraforming project for years but have only attracted some researchers.  The colony today is considered poor.  In many cases, poor struggling colonies on uninhabitable worlds are simply abandoned, but the population is determined to stick it out- and live in the only known Mandean majority society.  Although English is the main language (a result of centuries of diaspora status) the Manichean language has been revived, is a official language, and is used in worship.  As Commonwealth law dictates that no one can be forced to live in a region with an ideology they are opposed to, those who do not choose to live here are transported to other colonies.  They face social ostracism, but many do leave.


Merlin is a habitable oceanic moon of the gas giant Nimue, 81% water covered.  Merlin's orbit around Nimue is almost precisely in plane with Nimue's orbit around the star (Nimue Prime, a G class sunlike star) and Merlin is tidally locked to the planet.  Thus, there is an "inner" face with Nimue always overhead (experiencing eclipses in the middle of long day) and an outer face from which Nimue is never visible.  The long day (about 9 Earth days) means the days are hot and the nights cold, though this is counteracted by the oceans, and especially in the tropics on the inner face where the eclipse breaks the day.  This area is the prime location for habitation.  Merlin has a very diverse population of about 36,000,000.  There are a number of cities, concentrated in the planet's most habitable areas.  Merlin's exports include living specimens of its unique and bio-luminescent sea life. These are prized by aquarium aficionados throughout the 100 worlds.



Velagar.  This is a type M star with small rocky worlds (Velagar I, II, and III) and 2 distinct asteroid rings in orbit.  Nothing here is large enough to hold an atmosphere, but there is the Velegar Outpost. Sometimes, ships travelling between Hengest and Calderada but not wishing to make the diversion to Merlin will drop or pick up cargo here, with the regular ferry between Velagar and Merlin making the rest of the trip.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:17, Wed 25 Mar 2020.

5)  TRANS-MERLIN COREWARD

Approximately 185-225 LY Anti-Spinward from Sol, and extending coreward from 25 LY Coreward.  This is a barely explored region with a few settlements.

ANANKE is a “Meltwater” world around a red giant.  Meltwater worlds were frozen earlier in the life of their star but now, with the star in its late life giant phase, the surface temperatures are within habitable range.  Despite having a thicker atmosphere than Earth, it is too oxygen poor to support Human life, but it would be capable of being terraformed, and it may be able to support anaerobic life. It is fairly dry- 33% of its surface is covered by water.  Towards the poles, this is frozen over.    It is uninhabited.

FULGORA is a peculiar world, mostly Earthlike though on the warm and very wet side, but marked by an extremely high magnetic field.  Electrical storms and auroras are strong and common, and storms have been known to move along lines of magnetic force.  Ongoing research is studying the planet’s magnetic field, among other things.  It is home to about 220,000 people.  Research and some mining and manufacture are important (especially with special materials created by the strong magnetic fields).   There is also a tourism industry- the planet’s electrical storms and auroras have become famous, despite the distant frontier location.


GANDALF is a “Superterrestial” world around a K type star.  Surface gravity is about 1.43, and the atmosphere is much thicker than Earth’s, with too much CO2 to sustain Human life.      The system contains a gas giant, named “Saruman”.  The system contains a small outpost, and fuel processor, using Saruman as a fuel source.


MAMIAN  No habitable planets here, but about 12,000 people live in a habitat in the system’s dense asteroid belt, between two gas giants.

YENNENGA is a recent colony world, with a population of about 60,000.  Yennenga's colony is being supported by a media group, which in turn extensively documents the new colony.  It appears that Yennenga's principal economic activity is reporting on itself, yet, this seems to work.  Yennenga is hot, with seas covering about half the world. Yennenga has an active and advanced biosphere.  It is the largest moon of the gas giant Nedega.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:17, Wed 06 Nov 2019.

LYONESSE SECTOR

This sector, and especially Lyonesse itself, is considered the border between the Frontier and the Center.  These worlds are the furthest worlds upon which the hand of humanity is widespread- that is, here is the end where you can expect civilization to spread across the whole of planets, more or less.  Further out, settlements tend to be small areas, with most of the planet still untouched wilderness.  These worlds are "in between".

Deseret Many people, including some of the residents, erroneously connect Deseret with “desert”.  Often they assume Deseret is arid.  But the name comes from a word meaning “honeybee” in the lore of the Mormons, who initiated the settlement of the planet and came here in large numbers.  Deseret is wetter than Earth, and larger, with a higher gravity (1.06) and heavier (but breathable) atmosphere.
The first waves of human settlers were mostly Mormon, and for reasons unclear today they placed a priority on attracting Jewish settlement as well.  When colony charters guaranteed a basically “theocratic democracy” structure for the planet, several Orthodox Jewish movements joined the Mormons.  They eventually managed to establish Deseret as a haven for minority religious groups that could be, here, their own local majorities, with Bahais, Zoroastrians, and several others establishing enclaves.
Deseret has seen the highest natural population growth of any colony, and has the highest ratio of population size to original colonist numbers.  But, being on the outskirts of Human space, distance has made it less attractive.  About 150 million people live here.

Freyja is known for its high axial tilt- 34 degrees- which gives the planet strongly seasonal weather.  It is also an cool, dry world, 34% water covered, with lower gravity and atmospheric pressure than Earth, although the atmosphere is sufficiently dense and oxygen enriched at lower elevations.  The planet has two large seas in the southern hemisphere, divided by an isthmus.   Settlement is along the northern shore of this ocean.  The northern hemisphere is largely empty desert.  The planet has very strong seasons and long days, so the northern deserts are scorching during summer days, and frozen during arctic nights, with temperature variations much greater than seen on Earth.  The north is essentially inhospitable.  In the south, the oceans act as moderating forces.
Freyja is a little off the Main Line, and is a kind of “second choice” for colonists despite having plenty of good, comfortable surface area.  Drawing colonists from a variety of places, it’s become somewhat Balkanized, with nine Governates lined up along the shore, theoretically cooperating under a unified planetary system, (after all, they all belong to the same commonwealth) but socially quite independent.  A variety of languages are spoken.  Freyja’s first colonists were from Northern Europe, and one can find here a rare bastion of the Swedish language.

Lyonesse is the center of a triangle of settled planets that forms the border between the teeming core of humanity and the much smaller settlements of the frontier.  Outward from here, one is generally considered to be “on the frontier”, though of course conditions change dramatically between places like Kuripan and Zinderneuf.   Lyonesse is a temperate, wet planet known for the temperate, moderate climate.  Ocean cover is greater than Earth’s though at 77% it is not an “ocean planet”, but the land is concentrated in the southern hemisphere where much of it is too cold for human comfort.  The population is clustered in the tropical and semi tropical regions, though the tropics here are not as hot as Earth’s.
Lyonesse’s colony charter stipulated very strong land rights.  Land ownership is difficult to transfer outside of inheritance, and impossible unless one actually lives on it. This was designed to empower a society of land owners, not beholden to off-world owners.   Since founding, the more successful land owners have acquired an increasing share of property, and the upper class of Lyonesse has become quite aristocratic.  Some but not all of the Governates here have embraced a low technology “simple” lifestyle, with a few taking it to a Luddite extreme.

Lyonesse orbits a secondary star in the system of a red giant, HD82445.  Lyonesse Prime,  AKA Near Sun  (the system primary being Red Sun) is a modest K5 type star.  Lyonesse orbits once every 283 Earth days.  A local day is 19.6 hours- the sync being uncomfortable for humans, who rely on longer days (about 24.5 hours) which are called Dates to avoid confusion with the local, shorter days.

Fazhan is the waystation system between Lyonesse and Deseret.  The planet is the second orbiting an orange K type star, with a smaller red star in a distant orbit.  Fazhan is a "proto-Gaian" world, with life and planet development in its earliest forms.  The atmosphere is toxic.  Fazhan has about .86 Earth gravity.  Two thousand people live here, split between the research outpost on the surface, and the station in orbit.  There is a large, hot rocky world in the innermost orbit, with a surface gravity of 1.37, and a few smaller icy bodies further out.



Glooskap is an old fortress-station, enlarged several times, at a key junction in the Main Line.  Here, traffic from the Main Line splits off for Deseret to coreward and Freyja to rimward.  Glooskap hasn’t been needed as a military base in a long time (though due to the traffic, there has always been a small station with a few ships, generally small ones, on duty)

Gideon is a lonely  red star with no planets, just a few minor bodies, including one rock and metal asteroid close to the star (and also called Gideon, the star is technically Gideon prime) and icy Jether and Jotham further out.  Gideon is 118 km across and has unsually rich copper deposits.  This has become the basis for an electrical components factory, which sustains the small outpost settlement of 12,000.  The system is also a battlefield, with one major and several minor engagements against the Carinans fought here. It is a refueling point for ships enroute to St. Brendan.  Fuel arrives by tanker, raising the local cost, so ships looking for budget over speed generally stop at Deseret instead.

Carbuncle is a hot, tidally locked Jovian world tight orbit around a small red sun.  Carbuncle Station is in its own stellar orbit, further out, a rare example of a station not in the company of a planet or asteroid.  A few thousand people live here- its only function is as a waystation along the Main Line.

Uathach is a blue-green Neptunian world whose chemistry has made it a particularly rich fuel source.  Helium-3 from Uathach powers the fusion reactors aboard ships, stations, and on planets.  Several companies have licenses to operate here (though the gas giant has plenty of fuel, one cannot simply show up and begin extracting gas, that’s dangerous!) and the population of about 45,000 lives in orbital habitats, mostly supported by this work.  It has a reputation for being more politically and socially vibrant than its small population would be; when one gas extraction company closed down and left a large portion of usable habitat unoccupied, a fringe arts and music community moved in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:51, Sun 08 Dec 2019.

ST. BRENDAN, aka ST BRENDAN’S WORLD, is named for the legendary explorer-saint who discovered (legendarily) an island no one has seen since.  It is a habitable world with 55% ocean cover, atmosphere and gravity both similar but to Earth’s but lighter, known for extreme seasons due to its high axial tilt and very long days.  Snow reaches the equator at almost irregular intervals (when either pole is in the depths of winter, a swirl of very cold air can reach the equator at any time) and summers in the high latitudes are extremely hot.  Many of the wet areas on the planet are seasonal, or otherwise temporary.  Settlements are in the tropic lowlands, where the weather does not reach the extremes, though the tropics are cooler those on than Earth.  Life has had a hard time on this planet- it is microbial, but apparently multicellular life developed, and then became extinct, several times.

St. Brendan is located coreward from Deseret, and it’s colonization was spearhead by the Roman Catholic Church.  They saw Deseret’s “theological” colonization success and wanted to copy it.  Further out from the Main Line, St Brendan never had the same success.  The settlements here are not as wealthy as those on Deseret. On the other hand, success is relative, and many colonists were recruited from very poor areas on Earth.  Most agree that St. Brendan offers a better life than they or their ancestors faced on Earth. It has a population of about 16,370,000 people, mostly in the "East Coast" settlement area.  Most of the population is Catholic, and the Church is the main social presence on the planet, running schools and various charitable and professional organizations.  English, Spanish, and Portuguese are common languages, and there is some Filipino as well.

LDMLT01 // KOZAANA   A very recent settlement system coreward from St. Brendan, Kozaana is a tidelocked, small world with low gravity and low atmospheric pressure, but it has retained plentiful water (about 55% of the surface).  While the low oxygen pressure will not support Human life, it could support some forms of Earth life, and there is a thriving local ecosystem that is largely bio-compatible with Earth life, concentrated in the "green belt" in the twilight zone of the planet, the equator dividing the hot, permanently sunlit side from the cold perpetual night side.

Kozaana has a population of about 54,000, most of whom live in Port Kozaana, the town straddling the starport.  Because of its coreward location, it has a small military station, and is a common stop for alien visitors.  Exports are limited, largely to things acquired from alien visitors, and products of the very new aquaculture industry. Aquaculture relies on native edible sea life, not introduced Earth life; the eel like K'zeels, and the Flappies being recently certified for Human consumption.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:13, Sun 09 Feb 2020.

EPONA SECTOR

This is the heart of the "New Center"; worlds that were heavily settled by humanity, with the aid of alien help in a century long massive emigration program.

Poseidon is an Ocean planet, in keeping with its name.  It orbits HD 82207, a star in a double star system with enough separation to allow each star to have its own planets.  About 1% of its surface is dry.  The planet is larger than Earth, and one percent goes a long way, so this gives the planet a usable, land area about 6 times the size of Britain.  Making good use of the limited land area has been an important consideration by the colonists, and most of the approximately 67 million inhabitants live in urban arcologies.  The planet has no native life, and is currently being terraformed, with an ecology based on Earth life being developed.

Of the arcologies, Metropelago is certainly the most interesting, and one of the wealthiest regions in space, and the most populous city on the planet.  Metropelago is built entirely over and under ocean, using large pylons built where the ocean is fairly shallow.  It is home to some important corporations in the fields of marine engineering, entertainment, finance and defense.

Gamma Crucis Sector is coreward of the well traveled Tangaroa area, but with so many more lucrative sectors elsewhere this has remained a backwater. The few colonies are small, and sponsored mainly by private and special interests.

Damballa is an "ice bullseye" world- tidally locked to its star, it is completely and permanently icebound except for the "hot pole", where the sun is always at high noon.  It is a sterile, lifeless world, despite having the conditions for life, including and oxygen rich atmosphere.  It is home to a few early stage settlements and research centers, and one large terraforming settlement introducing Earth life to the world.  There is an orbital station, and a fuel processing plant at a distant, cold Neptunian world.  The planet is controlled by corporate interests.  Although a Governor has supreme authority, laws are generally in consensus with the Damballa Association, the group of corporations working here.