On Thursday 2004-01-15 12:51, Alberto Monteiro wrote: > Trent Shipley wrote: > > 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. > > You mean: Earth (homeworld), Mars, Venus (crap) [what about the Moon?], > and the 8 colonies: Deemi, Dezni, Horst, Omnivarium, Calafia, > Atlast, and NuDawn? Oops, I counted _seven_, you missed Garth.
[Yes, the Moon counts as a major colony. But I didn't count it here. First we can surmise that a lot of races will colonize convenient moons, per Buyer on Jijo. Second, it is NOT terraformable so not applicable to this discussion.] So a total of 9 respectable leasholds Homeworld 1. Earth Class-C+ 2. Calafia Class-B 3. Deemi 4. Dezni 5. Garth 6. Horst 7. Omnivarium Class-T(C-) 8. NuDawn Class-T(B) 9. Atlast > IIRC, there is a reference to the early explorations to Alpha Centauri > and Tau Ceti, where the Ash was found. Tau Ceti should be NuDawn, > for it makes a great Asimov-pun, but there is no colony around any > of Alpha Centauri's stars. Maybe there's room to place one A planet > around each one of the pair :-) Ok. Two problems. First, to my way of thinking a Class-A leased planet needs to have some life (probably algal mat stage) and be terraformable. Would you believe that such a planet would exist in the Alpha Centuri system? Second, how does putting a Terragen Class-A colony in Alpha Centuri help us get a 10th B or C lease? (Also, please explain Azimov joke.) Revised fan-fic follows. ================================ Various Terragen Confederation Territories by GIM Leasehold Type Terragens have 10 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. Garth: Heavily damaged in the Buralli Holocaust, Garth is a poster child for the Institute of Migration's ecological remediation program. It also exemplifies why most races are reluctant to take on the responsibility of a Class-B leasehold. More than 50,000 years after the initial disaster Garth's ecology is still in free-fall. Three island continents have been reduced to ecosystems based on lichen-like organisms and a handful of nearly microscopic insectoids. Other land masses have kept more genetic diversity. From a Terragen perspective the planet is even less promising since ocean chemistry precludes Neo-Dolphin colonization. Nevertheless, Garth was a moderately important Human colony prior to the Gubru invasion, and promises to be even more important in the aftermath. 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 located in the Tau Ceti system. 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
