Alberto: I come up with 10 major Terragen colonies. The problem is that Galactics wouldn't count Mars or Venus as proper leaseholds, so I get 8 leases.
In fact, my exepectation is that if you asked a Galactic how many leaseholds their race had they would only report their Homeworld, B, and C class leases, and some wouldn't even include the Class B leases. (Arabs sometimes do something similar, you ask them how many kids they have and they say three boys -- most will say three boys and two girls, very few will say five kids boys and girls together. [This is partly because the Arabic word for children is ambiguous and in the strict sense means boys.]) So, Alberto, the question is should we accept that there are 8 leases and 10 colonies or do we need to invent two more leased planets? ----------------------------------- Various Terragen Confederation Territories by GIM Leasehold Type Terragens have 9 colonies and their homeworld lease on Earth. By Galactic standards Mars and Venus do not count as proper leaseholds so Humans have only 8 B or C grade leases, and of these three are only temporary leases. --- Class A-: Mars: Venus: Galactics regard the Human efforts to terraform Mars and Venus as folly. Few Galactics would put more than a military outpost on a desert planet like Mars or a greenhouse planet like Venus. --- Class A (terraforming candidate with some life present): Humans have no Class A leases. --- Class B (ecological remediation): Deemi: Before Contact Humans had established a few small outposts on Deemi and an orbital way-station. Early Human explorers thought Deemi was too far gone to make a good colony. Nevertheless, the GIM issued Humanity a Class T lease on Deemi. This has since been converted to a Class B lease along with the obligation to provide a "refuge" for Uplift transportees. Dezni: A planet where mulc spiders are found. The presence of mulc spiders is testimony to how recently Dezni was returned to fallow. That it is already candidate for ecological remediation indicates how badly its former tenants treated the world. Otherwise, Dezni is in many ways a typical B grade planet. It is the Terragen's second most recently awarded leasehold. The small, young colony has been raided since the start the Streaker War, but the neither the colony nor the planet are worth much as either hostage or prizes in their own right. Horst: Horst was badly damaged in the Fututhoon aggression 50 million years ago and has not recovered on its own. It is currently in an ice age, but is otherwise pretty typical for a B grade planet. [NB this conforms to GURPS Uplift 2nd ed, and not current A4P narrative for Horst.] Omnivarium: Planet of song-birds, that will mimic any sound the settlers make. Omnivarium is ecologically robust for a B grade world. It has a strong agricultural sector and active exploitation of a local asteroid belt. After Calafia, it is the largest extra-Solar Human colony. This Human colony can probably defend itself in the present crisis. --- Class C: Calafia: Calafia is Earth's only C Class leasehold. It is unofficially regarded as a garden world, but with less than an ideal amount of dry land. The lack of dry land was no obstacle for the Terragens. It was expected that the Terragens would eventually petition to make Calafia the Neo-Dolphin homeworld. However, Calafia was invaded by Brothers of the Night, and subsequently by Soro forces resulting in a nasty three-way war. The future of Calafia is in doubt. --- Homeworld: Earth: Earth is the Human homeworld. It is a garden world extraordinare and the genetic treasure trove of the Galaxies. --- Class T: Class T leases are interim leases granted as an extension when tenants run late vacating a planet. By the time of Contact Humans had established colonies on Atlast and NuDawn and an outpost on Deemi. Shortly after the Library Institute granted Humanity a sealed Research Patent for Stellar Exploration, the Galactic Institute of Migration granted considerably leniency to Humanity and Clan Terragen by dropping all proceedings against Humans for Fallow Violations and granted Class T leases on Atlast, NuDawn, and Deemi. The lease on Deemi has since been upgraded to a Class B lease. Atlast: A rustic Human colony world. Atlast was discovered by Earth during its Bureaucracy. Its first colonists were political transportees. It is no accident that Atlast's capital city is named Gorky. Many colonists on Atlast are members of anti-modernist or anti-technology groups such as the Amish. Atlast has a reputation for liberalism bordering on xenophilia. It also boasts one of the premiere universities in Terragen space. Atlast is only leased for only 6,000 hab-years, in a compromise reached with the G.I.M. (See also, "Lease of Atlast.") Atlast is in located in the Ash. It would not qualify for lease on Class C terms and the GIM is expected to convert its lease to Class B. NuDawn (Mudaun in Gal-7): An Earth "colony." Site of the notorious NuDawn Massacre. Unlike Atlast, that was originally settled by political transportees, NuDawn was settled by Hero Technocrats favored by the Bureaucracy. A compromise, negotiated with the GIM 127 Earth Years after the Massacre, resulted in NuDawn being leased as a research park for low-technology, affordable bio-remediation. (See also NuDawn Memorial Foundation for the Study of Alternative Methods in Bio-Remediation.) The lease stipulated that several vast areas were to be left in various degrees of Fallow. These are administered by the Terragen Confederation Park Service as either Confederation Natural Parklands, or as Wilderness Preserves. NuDawn has fewer sapient residents than any other Terragen colony. All indigenous manufacturing grossing more than 2^16 gal-coin per hab-year is located off-planet per GIM lease-hold agreement. Like Atlast, NuDawn is located in the Ash. Unlike most planets in the Ash NuDawn is nearly ready to be released from Fallow as a planet that (barely) qualifies for a Class C lease. Ecological recovery has been spotty, however. Some biomes stand to benefit from moderate environmental remediation. Because the Human Infestation of this desirable planet was so scandalous, Terragens will never be granted a full leasehold on NuDawn. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
