Gibson

History

Gibson was a Mars-sized world without a significant atmosphere or a biosphere, close to the early borders of the Planetary League. It is only a few light-years from the Paradise system, and unknown to the Planetary League, it held significant deposits of gravitonium and antimatter crystals, two rare and highly valuable materials.  Word of this got around, though, and the rush was on.  

After the mining wars settled down, (during which, the Planetary League was fended off by assorted mercenaries and pirates), the big corporations moved in.  Ultimately, the planet’s ownership fell to a cartel of a few of the largest companies.  Gibson is defended by a sizable force of mercenaries.  The cartel maintains public order through private security firms, but there are no regulations on business.  All residents are required to pay a prohibitive “citizenship fee” every year, or face indentured servitude to the cartel.    

The gravity was boosted to Earth-normal via gravity-satellites, and a breathable, if polluted atmosphere was introduced.  All the life-forms on Gibson were imported from off-world.

Gibson quickly became a favored location for companies to locate their headquarters.  There are no business taxes on Gibson, and the surface is studded with arcologies and open-pit mines.  Gibson is also a major hub of telecommunications and computer networking.

During the Great Reckoning, Gibson peaefully joined the Empire of Man, as much of the power behind the throne resided there.

During the war of Galactic Unification, Gibson resisted the Galactic Republic to the bitter end.

Dionysus

History

Dionysus orbits a G-class star (like the Sun), in a solar system with about a dozen planets.  

When it was first visited by explorers from the Planetary League, ( in GSC 155) Dionysus was home to a large number of hunter/gatherers and a handful of city-states at a bronze-age level of development.  The local people look essentially human, except for some distinct ridges on their foreheads, and are known as Dionysians.  

An important feature of the planet is that many of the fruit trees have evolved in such a way that the fruit has a high alcohol content.  The fruit comes in a wide variety of flavors and forms, and is a highly sought-after commodity. After the Planetary League arrived, the alcoholic fruit became Dionysus's chief export. Within about a century, many of the local cultures had created an ad-hoc government that moved immediately to join the Planetary League. The ad-hoc government and the Planetary League were careful to protect the locals who had relatively little exposure to the outside world, but in the later years of era-1, outside business interests were able to start exploiting the planet and its people.

Dionysus was conquered by the Holy Empire of Man after the official end of the Great Reckoning, before the War of the Empires.  The local garrison was small, and the battle was one-sided.  Dionysian fruit graced the tables of the Emperor and the imperial court throughout Era-2 until Dionysus joined the Galactic Republic, after a short, relatively peaceful revolution during the War of Galactic Unification.

Notable native life-forms

Del-Brikki is a tree that bears alcoholic fruit, and is one of Dionysus’ chief exports.

Dionysians are the native inhabitants of Dionysus.

Gabriel

History

Gabriel is a planet deep in the heart of the Veil of Fear, a nebula famous for making human visitors feel uneasy due to its slowly oscillating magnetic fields.  Being a little too far from its star, extensive terraforming was needed when it was colonized by the Planetary League late in Era-1. 

Even after terraforming, the dominant biomes were arctic, taiga, and steppes.  Despite this, it was still strategically located, and populated enough to become a regional capitol, and supported the largest garrison in the sector.  

At the end of Era-1, a young and aggressive general, Potus Clarke, was assigned to lead the garrison.  Clarke had bigger ambitions, however, and when news got out that the Planetary League had made contact with the long rumored and dreaded Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, he seized the opportunity.  Assisted by the Church of God, (an extremist religious group, combining elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), and a number of mega-corporations, Clarke founded the Holy Empire of Man.  

Gabriel was the capitol of the Holy Empire of Man throughout Era-2, even though the Emperor did maintain a palace on Earth after the end of the Great Reckoning.  

At the end of the war of Galactic Unification, after the Emperor's defeat, the remaining loyalists to the Empire rallied on Gabriel for a final stand.  There was a brief siege, and an even briefer battle as the Galactic Republic took over the planet.

In Era-3, Gabriel was largely turned over to parkland, historical memorials, and museums with some agriculture and industry. 

Bonnard's World

History

Discovered by Zoe Bonnard early in Era-1, Bonnard's World orbits Bonnard, an F-class star, in its habitable zone.  

Bonnard's World had a simple ecosystem consisting of single-celled organisms based solely on RNA.  After discovery, the Planetary League set up a research station.  

After considerable study, it was determined that the planet would be ideally suited for a terraforming project to recreate the conditions of the Triassic Period as part of an initiative to restore extinct species.

A local economy grew up around the Triassic nature preserve, and several areas were set aside as hunting grounds where people could hunt dinosaurs for a fee.

During the Great Reckoning, as the Planetary League was crumbling, Bonnard's World joined the Midori Republic.  

For a period in the run up to the War of the Empires, the Holy Empire of Man did capture Bonnard's World, but the Midori Republic took it back during the War of the Gods.

During the War of Galactic Unification, Bonnard's World joined the Galactic Republic by popular vote.

Fitzgerald's World

Description

Fitzgerald's World is a very Earth-like planet, orbiting a G-class Star.  

The biosphere of Fitzgerald’s World is one that sustains complex plant and animal life, but lacks intelligent species.  This lack of a native intelligence may stem from the fact that Fitzgerald’s World doesn’t have any land-based predators larger than an insect.  Not having predators means that the populations of land-based herbivores regularly explode, and then collapse, as they eat all the vegetation in one area, and then quickly die off due to starvation.  The herbivores also lack a lot of the specific adaptations that are typically used to escape or fend off predators.  They tend to be large and slow-moving.  Many are brightly colored, in order to attract mates.  Since there are no notable predators, adjacent ecological niches tend to be hyper-developed.  Scavengers are common and highly aggressive, and there are a wide variety of deadly pathogens as well.  Fortunately, most of the pathogens don’t generally infect non-native species very easily.  One exception to this is Fitzgerald’s Lung Rot, a debilitating, and occasionally deadly infection.   

Notable Life-forms

A notable herbivorous species is the Fitzgerald’s Landstrider, a towering creature that stands as tall as a ten-story building, and eats trees whole when fully grown.  The backs of these creatures are occasionally fitted with enormous howdahs by visiting intelligent life-forms, and used as living transportation for entire tour groups.

The Juffalope is a grazing animal noted for its unusual coloration, and small head.  During Era-2, it was raised for its hide and meat.

The Spud Bug is a native species, of a type most similar to terrestrial insects.  It is approximately the size, shape and color of a large potato, hence the name.  The Spud Bug is a scavenger that lives off the bodily waste, and remains of the larger herbivores.  Spud bugs have two large, yet vestigial black wings on their backs, and breathe through a series of visible openings in their sides.   The most disconcerting aspect of these bugs is their instinct to follow any large, moving thing, including humans.  The bugs are harmless scavengers, but they often sneak up on people, who tend to react violently.  Unfortunately, these bugs have stowed away on various ships and are seen as a nuisance throughout much of the galaxy.  They are sometimes taken as pets by Cielioids (who have a biologically-driven affection for insects), and by teenage boys (who like to gross people out).

Economy

The main industries of Fitzgerald’s world (after colonization by the Planetary League during Era-1) are agriculture and ecotourism.  Ranchers, especially, thrive here because of the lack of predators, and several of the local species have been domesticated.

During the Great Reckoning, Fitzgerald's World was conquered by the Holy Empire of Man.

During the War of Galactic Unification, Fitzgerald's World joined the Galactic Republic by popular vote.

The Moons of Jupiter

History

Early in Era-1, when the Solar System was being settled, simple life was discovered on Jupiter's moon, Europa.  Beneath the surface ice there was a tidally warmed sea, and a research station was set up to study it.  

Next the Planetary League decided to terraform Ganymede and Callisto using precisely planned asteroid and comet impacts.  Through careful tending, these moons became habitable, and acted as a forward base for further exploration.  Io, being highly geologically active, was deemed too unstable for terraforming, but a few small outposts and mining operations did spring up there.  Due to the hazards of mining on Io, the Tardigrades were founded, as a search and rescue operation.

Ganymede became the capitol of the Jovian system, and Callisto became the commercial center.  Both Ganymede and Callisto had significant agriculture to support themselves and the other moons.  Most industrial operations were carried out in space colonies, or on the smaller moons. 

Jupiter's smaller moons were mined for raw materials, and a group of thriving colonies emerged.   

Over time, Jupiter's moons attracted members of the Steampunk community, and the area became known as the Clockwork Empire.  Although the Jovian colonies remained a part of the Planetary League, they developed a strong local culture that resembled a more fantastical version of Victorian England.

During the Great Reckoning, the Jovian system was captured by the Holy Empire of Man.  The resistance was significant, but the HEM had vastly superior numbers.  During Era-2, the moons of Jupiter became a manufacturing center for the HEM.

During the War of the Gods, the Jovian moons rose up and joined with the forces of Troniac, due to the largely robotic workforce that worked there.  

In Era-3, the moons of Jupiter became part of the Galactic Republic by popular vote.

New Albuquerque

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Locale

New Albuquerque is an arid, terrestrial world near the center of the galaxy. Situated in the middle of a “stellar graveyard” where black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs and magnetars slowly decay. Orbiting the star known as Saurex, New Albuquerque has an 18-hour day and a long and checkered history.

History

Orbiting in the warmer part of Saurex's habitable zone, New Albuquerque is dominated by desert biomes.  Two large seas, one in the northern hemisphere, and one in the southern, hold most of the planet's water.  Each of these seas has an associated "rain band", an area spanning around the planet, at the latitudes of the sea with increased rainfall and corresponding biomes.  Several large mountain ranges cross the planet, mainly oriented north-south.  New Albuquerque has three significant moons.

A rare tripple-full moon with the Copper Moon, the Chalk Moon and the Jade Moon all fully visible.

Life evolved on New Albuquerque, finding its most complex expression in the race of Vorgons (also known pejoratively as Gobblins, little green men, etc) that originated in the jungles around the southern sea.  Life is densest right around the seas, with the rain-bands being dominated by grassland with scattered forests.  The deserts that dominate the landscape are not entirely barren, but have a sparse covering of life.

When the Vorgons were a new species, still in their paleolithic age, a large piece of debris struck the ocean, rapidly removing most of the water on the surface of New Albuquerque.

Because of its location, New Albuquerque is at the center of a lot of cosmic storms, and spaceships often crash there.  The first real contact with interstellar civilization was during the 1,000 Years War, when the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns military set up a base on the planet. At that time, the vorgons were living at a tribal level of organization, and had some limited interaction and trade with the Empire.  

New Albuquerque was the location of the Battle of the Three Moons during the 1,000 Years War.

After the war, the E1MS used New Albuquerque as a scrap yard.  The Gobblinoids (Vorgons) rapidly took to scavenging and re-purposing the cast-off technology they found.   

Midway through Era-1, a colony ship from the Planetary League crash-landed there, setting up an impromptu colony, and giving the planet its name.  The original name of the planet in the most common Gobblinoid language translated to "The Teeth of God", and referred to the sharp and forbidding mountains surrounding their homeland.  

Because of its isolated location and harsh environment, New Albuquerque remained as a holdout of the Planetary League throughout Era-2.  During the Great Reckoning, the population ballooned from the stream of refugees from the Planetary League.  On a few occasions, there were skirmishes with, and raiding parties from the Holy Empire of Man.  The Empire of Man even occupied the planet for a few brief periods, only to be repulsed by uncooperative locals and asymmetrical warfare.  

During the War of Galactic Unification, the people of New Albuquerque elected to join the Galactic Republic.

Landmarks

The Main Debris Zone is a place that has been used as a scrap-heap since late in the 1,000 Years War.

Reactor Springs is a place where natural reactors underground heat a system of hot springs.

The Stilted City is a city built in a lake bed that is dry half the year, and is built on stilts.

 Tornado Point  is a place where a standing atmospheric vortex persists year-round.

The Valley of the Avatar is the local center of the Cult of Troniac.

Life-forms

Vorgons are the most numerous (and only native) intelligent species, though humans and cielioids tend to dominate the affairs of the planet.

The Orgaff is a large pack-animal that stores water and nutrients to traverse the desert.

The Saurexian rock-toad is a descendant of Earth toads.

The vase-tree is a source of both food and water to those crossing the planet's extensive deserts.

Related Stories

Awakening a tale of self-realization on New Albuquerque

The Autonomous Republic of Lindbergh

Overview

Named for Charles Lindbergh, The Autonomous Republic of Lindbergh was founded by a group of space colonies at Mars’s L5 point.  The people who gathered there tended to see the mid-20th Century period of American history in a positive light, and built their society on an idealized imagination of it.  Krieg Enterprises, a major mining corporation was based in the Autonomous Republic, and one of the Republic's founding fathers was Amadeus Krieg.  In addition to asteroid mining, the Republic’s main industries were devoted to manufacturing consumer goods, mostly designed with an eye to the style of their preferred time period.

The government was loosely based on the US constitution, but with a much weaker central government.  Racial and gender equality were enshrined in law and custom, and the society was largely secular.  There were, however, a few “old-time” colonies where attitudes more closely reflected those of the actual mid-20th Century, but they were marginalized politically and socially, and tended to be the poorest as well.  Since the legal framework that governed the Republic gave wide latitude to the individual colonies, the “old-time” colonies remained ossified in their archaic attitudes until the end of Era-1.  

Late in Era-1, after most of the main asteroid belt had been mined out, The Republic became a popular tax haven for the wealthy, and emphasized its unique culture as a way to draw in tourism.

Throughout most of its history, The Autonomous Republic of Lindbergh only had a very small military, due to the fact that it was in a defensive pact with the Planetary League.  Although it never officially joined the Planetary League, The Republic was on good terms with them overall, maintaining steady and prosperous trade.  

During the Great Reckoning, the “old-time” colonies allied with Krieg Enterprises, and seized power during a brief civil war, and then promptly joined the Empire of Man.

During Era-2, Lindbergh became an industrial hub for the Imperial war machine.