Space
Space Colonies
Biosphere III
The oldest space colony, built in 2024. Originally a 100-meter habitat
later extended into a one kilometre cylinder with a mediterranean
climate. Biosphere III became the "capital" of geosynchronous orbit
and the transit point to L4, Mars and the asteroids. During the
information disaster the colony ecology was damaged and eventually
collapsed. Despite repeated attempts the ecology has not been possible
to restore, and the colonists remain dependent on technological
solutions for getting oxygen, water and food. While it was once a
commercial and political center, it is now merely a point of transit.
Academion
Built in 2030 to act as an emergency meeting point (and safe haven)
for the EU parliament. The colony was however sold to an international
educational consortium, and was (after many complicated political and
economical moves) colonised by scholars and humanists. Early attempts
at creating a humanist ideal state failed, and the 2030's was
dominated by internal quarrels. During the information disaster the
university council took over, and have run the colony since then. It
has become a kind of university-nation, with many unusual rules and
norms.
Academion is a bastion of humanist and european culture, with
prominent researchers in history, philosophy, linguistics and law. The
colony often acts as a negotiator or neutral ground in international
disputes.
SupraTokyo
The largest colony in geostationary orbit, a flottila of five
10-kilometre habitat housing over 10 million people. The colony was
originally built by the japanese, but is today dominated by the
chinese; the flottila lies between Tokyo and Beijing (some call it
SupraSeoul). The different habitats are all urban, often in several
levels and with extensive three-dimensional parks.
L4
Lagrange point 4 is home for many of the truly big space colonies, and
acts as the "port" of the Earth-Moon system. Some of the most well
known habitats are the Hunjiang (chinese space factory), New
Pensylvania (various american think-thnaks including SAIC, SRI and
RAND Corp), Al-Itquid (arabian holiday resort), Penglai (the chinese
equivalent to Beverly Hills) and Ganesha (India's biggest space
habitat).
CircumSol
The large amat farms orbit the sun just outside the orbit of
Mercury. Notable consortia are Look Outwards Combine, Jerusalem
Macrotech and General Dynamics Corporation.
Terraformed worlds
Mars
Mars was once a glacial desert, but through amat detonations in the
crust and beneath the poles the albedo has been lowered and water
vapor has been freed (despite strong protests from the "reds" who
wanted to preserve the planet as it was). Kuiper belt ice is being
imported and nanomachines employed to make the planet livable for
unprotected humans, a project expected to take at least 60 years more.
Mars is currently the most populous colony planet, with a population
of 90 million humans, mainly Indians and Australians. It is formally
divided into 24 independent regions, each having a seat on the
planetary council (which mainly manages the terraforming effort). The
council convenes in Phobos city.
Yi (Alpha Centauri A II)
The first extrasolar planet to be colonized. Yi was a pre-garden
planet with a reducing atmosphere, which was seeded with fast growing
algae and nanodevices that increased the oxygen levels within 20 years
to breathable levels. Land life has been introduced, largely based on
hardly species from Earth and Ice (the first attempt at
xenosymbiosis).
The international colonisation consortium Alpha Centauri Development
Consortium (usually called AC-DC) is formally responsible for the
colony to the states and organisations who have insted in it. AC-DC is
something between a megacorporation and a government, leasing social services from various provider organisations.
Yi is currently home to 60 million people. Most live along the coasts
or on the floating artificial islands that extract hydrocarbons from
the deep sea sludge. Agriculture is prospering since the plants get
more light thanks to the multiple suns and the absence of pests. The
capital is AC1 (usually called Arthur Clarke), a major space habitat
in orbit over Yi.
New Frontier, Tau Ceti III
Originally a lifeless pre-garden with a methane-rich
atmosphere. Unlike the terraforming of Yi, things went wrong here for
obscure reasons. The oxygen levels oscillate between oxygen rich
"winters" and oxygen poor "summers". The US have tried to dampen the
oscillations for over 20 years, but New Frontier is still known as a
tiresome planet.
The situation has also been worsened by internal conflicts due to
second generation refugees from the midwest who have been forced to
emigrate to New Frontier. Currently order is kept through a strong
presence of US Space Marines, but the planet is an economical and
political headache for the US.
Sun Tzu, Sigma Draconis I
One of the youngest terraforming projects. China is warming a glacial
planet through amat detonations and directing comets to collide with
it. Currently the planet is completely uninhabitable, but everything
points towards an imminent sudden climate shift that will make it a
promising candidate for seeding with a combination of terrestrial and
Ice-based life.
No. 4, DM+46 1797 IV
An experimental colony in the Abraham-system, where Lagrange
Engineering experiment with breaking the equilibrium of a hothouse
world by scattering ice crystals in the stratosphere, carbon-dioxide
eating nanodevices in the cloud layers and solar shields in orbits. So
far progress has been slow.
Lifebearing Planets
Five planets are known to have developed life on their own:
Eden, Delta Pavonis II
Earthlike planet with a dust-ring. It is covered with 76% seas. The
sea surface is gelled by algae, turning the water into a green sludge
or gel that extends tens of meters downwards. On these surfaces an
unique and unusual ecology of life thrive, including plants rooted in
the gel, various grazers and predators and many creatures living in
the gel itself. Beneath the gel even more bizarre life exists. The
climate is calm except for the storm seasons caused by solar shadowing
through the ring, which causes local hurricanes that can disrupt the
equatorial gel.
All spacefaring nations have researchers on Eden, but europeans, arabs
and chinese are dominant.
Castor/Sierra A, Zeta Tucanae III
A double planet, consisting of two planets orbiting so close to each
other that they are locked in their rotation. The days are 26
earth-days, and most of the surface is a volcanic desert. Several
small salty seas evaporate during the day and condense in the
night. Most of the life live in subterranean brine reservoirs. Plants
grow underground, sending up light pipes and dew-collectors, or bloom
during the dawn. Practically all animals are digging and live
underground.
The planet is mainly studied by americans and europeans. The double
planet was originally named Castor/Pollux, but the IAU renamed it
Sierra A and B to avoid confusion with the stars.
Inferno, Beta Hydri I
Inferno has an unique nitrogen-oxygen based biosphere, with a thick
atmosphere of nitrous oxides and nitric acid produced by the local
blue-black plants. Most of the surface is covered by silted seas,
where most life live.
The planet is studied by the chinese, japanese and korean, who have
already gained much from the unique lifeforms, which have turned out
to be highly useful for innovative chemical industry and plastics.
Ice, Alpha Mensae II
A largely glacial planet, with terrestrial equatorial regions and
large icecaps at the poles. Warm-blooded plants migrate during the
summers onto the polar ice or grow from hidden seeds in ice mixed with
silt along glacier rivers.
The planet has been a very profitable source of low temperature
biology knowledge and species for the chinese.
Storm, Beta Comae Berenices V
The so far most terrestrial planet found by humans. It is dominated by
a permanent superstorm, orbiting the equatorial sea and producing
"normal" hurricanes that sweep across the northern and southern
continents. The local life was well adapted to enormous storms,
flooding or sudden shifts in weather.
It was recently discovered, and not much more than a research outpost
mainly manned by americans. After the attack from the Enemy the status
is uncertain, but it appears that the entire ecosphere has been wiped
out and that no human survived.
Outposts
Barnard's Star
The star is surrounded by a large asteroid belt, and many space
industry installations were located here. At the start of the current
crisis the Barnard Allied Fleet Base was set up here.
Ishmael, DM+46 1797 V-III
The third moon of the gas giant Abraham. Major Arabian settlement,
where subterranean cities are burrowed into the crust. Advanced
mining, habitat engineering and energy production makes Ishmael an
important crossroad for colonization in the second and third octant.
al-Chwarizimi
Arabian research station in orbit around RY437, a nearby neutron
star. Mankind encountered alien intelligence for the first time here
in 2068 (see added report), but the contact
was brief. In 2070 the station was destroyed, likely by the same
aliens. During its existence al-Chwarizimi was devoted to studies of
neutron star physics, gravity spectroscopy and pregeometry studies.