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.

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.

New Eden

History

New Eden was founded primarily as an agricultural colony at Earth's L4 point, and constructed largely from asteroid 2010 TK7 by the early members of the Edenite movement.  Edenites are a human culture combining the influences of the present-day subcultures of hippies and furries.  Edenites seek to live close to their conception of nature,  often by modifying their bodies to take on animal-like characteristics.  

The government and economy of New Eden was based on the tradition of hippie communes, combined with the practical concerns of a space habitat.  During the early part of Era-1, New Eden was the second largest exporter of agricultural goods in the Solar System, after Earth.  It was also one of the leading exporters of mind-altering drugs.  This state of affairs led to an uneasy alliance with the Planetary League.  The Planetary League outlawed many of the drugs produced in New Eden, but was at the same time dependent on the crops raised there.  New Eden was also dependent on the Planetary League, to a degree, for military protection.  During Era-1, the Solar System really didn't have any major military threats, (occasional pirates aside) but the Edenites, being pacifists, also didn't make any kind of military preparations.

Edenites spread throughout the galaxy, founding communes in various places, but many of them considered New Eden to be their home-world.  New Eden hosted a constant stream of Edenite visitors making pilgrimages to this major site for their culture.

New Eden never joined the Planetary League, but remained independent, until being destroyed by the Purification Fleet in the Great Reckoning.

Earth

History

In the near future, due to numerous factors, life on Earth becomes very difficult.  A changing climate brings increased warfare.  A host of new diseases arise.  The economy crashes.  With the arrival of affordable space travel, the construction of large-scale space habitats, and the colonization of nearby bodies, people leave the Earth in droves, seeking a better life elsewhere.  A great diaspora ensues, and the remaining governments unite with the United Nations to clean up and restore the economy on our home planet.

Later, Earth’s position as the main hub of commerce and communication among the inhabited planets led it to become the capitol of the Planetary League.  Earth remained the capitol, growing in wealth and sophistication throughout Era-1 until it fell at the close of the Great Reckoning.

After the Great Reckoning, the Emperor maintained a palace on Earth, even though the capitol of the Holy Empire of Man remained on Gabriel, where it was founded.  The holy cities and sites of Earth thronged with pilgrims seeking miracles, and a very substantial garrison was built up.

Earth was liberated by the Galactic Republic in one of the major battles of the War of Galactic Unification.

One of the unique features of the Earth is its single large moon, which is considered a sign of good luck in the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns.

Landmarks

Supercollider, TX is a town that exists between dimensions.

Paradise

History

Paradise was one of the first planets to be colonized outside the Solar System.  It is a terrestrial planet, covered by about 75% water.  Most of the land is in the form of islands, with two small continents as well.  The planet has very little axial tilt, so most of the surface is in the tropical zone, with temperate zones near the poles.  Paradise has no ice caps.  The gravity on Paradise is slightly less than on Earth.  Like Earth, Paradise does have a significant magnetic field that shields the surface from radiation.

When first explored, the biosphere of Paradise consisted solely of microscopic organisms.  Despite its simplicity, the biosphere of Paradise was quite old, and the planet had a large reserve of petroleum in the ground from sedimentary activity.  Since it lacked multi-cellular organisms, Paradise did not have soil suitable for farming, but imported plants and animals took over and the planet was quickly covered in swamps and jungles.

The Planetary League set up a research outpost early on.  Soon, corporate colonization followed, largely to exploit the planet’s petroleum.  Neo-Polynesia was a portion of the planet that was set aside as a new home for Polynesians displaced by rising ocean levels.  There was also an Edenite commune that sprang up early on. Paradise was also a major resettlement site for the Ki’tak (Red Takarrans) during the lead up to the Second Robot War, eventually supporting the largest community of them in the galaxy.

Mega-cities sprang up on several islands, and over time the atmosphere grew quite polluted.  For a long time Paradise was a relatively lawless place, full of pirates, smugglers, vice and corruption.

Eventually, the Planetary League stepped in with terraforming equipment to clean up the oceans and atmosphere, and the colonial marines to stop the lawlessness.  As a result, Paradise joined the Planetary League.  The Planetary League undertook a soil-conditioning program as part of the terraforming effort, and Paradise became a major exporter of various crops that grow in tropical climates. 

Paradise was the birthplace of the Emperor of the Holy Empire of Man.

In the Great Reckoning Paradise was overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the Empire of Man, and fell quickly.    

A significant battle was fought on paradise during the War of the Gods.

In the War of Galactic Unification, the population was convinced to join the Galactic Republic, with only minimal resistance from Imperial forces.

The University of Aldebaran 2

History

In GSC 142, early in Era-1, when explorers arrived at the Aldebaran system, they found a semi-inhabitable world, Aldebaran 2, with a diverse biosphere.  It had a variety of unique geological features and a few semi-valuable mineral deposits.

A research outpost was established, and the science started pouring in.  New species were rapidly discovered, exotic mineral formations abounded, and the outpost grew.

The Planetary League Astrophysical Survey started using the planet as a training ground for explorers, and the first educational institution at Aldebaran 2 was the PLAS Academy, housed in an O’Neill Cylinder in high orbit.

As time went on, the outpost specialized as a place where new scientists were taught how to do field-work.  The outpost became a learning institution in its own right, eventually gaining accreditation within the Planetary League as a University in GSC 150.

The University of Aldebaran 2 rose in stature to become the preeminent center of advanced learning in the Planetary League.  The best and brightest of the galaxy flooded in to get the best education available.   As time went on the University continued to grow, until the entire planet was an enormous campus.

The ruins of several primitive civilizations, and one rather advanced civilization were unearthed, and the tide of new knowledge was further bolstered.  It is believed by many that the more advanced ruins were an outpost of the fabled, ancient civilization of Zanath.  For a planet as young as Aldebaran 2, the number of archaeological sites was remarkable.  Unfortunately, the events that followed would prevent a full understanding of these archaeological discoveries.

When the Great Reckoning swept the galaxy, The University, and indeed the planet suffered the worst at the hands of the Empire.  Various weapons of mass destruction were used, torture camps were filled to capacity, and all manner of hideous experiments were inflicted on the population.  After the planet was thoroughly brutalized, the entire biosphere was burned off by the Purification Fleet. Only the Hammer of Redemption was spared, and Aldebaran 2 remained as a lifeless ember.

Landmarks

The Crystal Canyon is both an object of study for scientists and a popular tourist destination.

Life-forms

Lantern-vine is a popular ornamental plant, native to Aldebaran 2, with bio-luminescent flowers.

Factoids

The University was the galaxy's largest employer of the Gorox, an intelligent species that hibernates most of the time, but lives a Methuselan  lifespan.  The Gorox are celebrated for their long-term memories.

Scientists working at the University discovered methods of reprogramming Virobots for a variety of useful purposes.