Basic Facts
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System Designation: 10 527 Pegasi
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Sector: Pegasus
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Quadrant: Perseus
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Number of suns: 2 (Stable Binary with 10 616 Pegasi)
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Number of moons: 3 (Hyperion, Ulysses, Rogue)
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Population: 4.27 Billion
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Continents: 4
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Surface water: 71% of surface Area
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Length of Day: 28 standard hours
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Length Of Year: 280 local days
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Planetary Capital: Corvallis
Environment
Sapphire's diverse planetary landscape ranges from sub-tropical forest, to desert, to savannah, to mountains, to tundra, and most other standard features of terra-class worlds.
Sapphire's environment is dominated by the presence of large planetary oceans. These serve as heat and atmospheric sinks and climate regulators, producing a planetary environment that is, on the whole, mild and suitable for human inhabitation. Most of Sapphire enjoys a warm to temperate climate. Polar regions are limited and equatorial climate is moderated by ocean currents. The growing season is long and water is plentiful in most areas. Only the Nef Desert and some isolated regions of Boreala and Carpentaria suffer from severe water deprivation. Winter Storms occasionally occur in Delta and Carpentaria continents. Southern Carpentaria, the Northern Coast of Alpha in Graceland Territory, and the ocean around Jutland Territory give rise to cyclonic storms. Tornadoes occur across the central region of Alpha continent.
Geography
Major Continental Land Masses
Alpha
The Alpha Continent contains almost 40% of the total land area of Sapphire. 90% of the landmass of the largest continent is located in the southern hemisphere. Alpha is divided into Five Regions (or Territories), each with a regional seat of government: Arcadia, Graceland, Jutland, Oz, and Panrovia
Boreala
Located primarily in the north
arctic region of the planet, Sapphire's second largeast landmass is a land
of mountains, glaciers, and fjords. Some islands and peninsulas jut into
the northern extremes of the north temperate zone, but most of the
continent is uninhabited and undeveloped. Seat of government is at New
Sapporo. Major Cities: Kaliska
Carpentaria
Carpentaria describes a long
crescent stretching from the northern subarctic to the equator. It is
extremely mountainous, with only one major river system, the Hope.
Carpentaria is a geographical fluke, having risen entirely from the seabed
in a violent upheaval some 400,000 years previously, an event that may
have doomed an earlier civilization, evidence of which has been found in
one location on the planet's surface. Carpentaria holds the planet's
primary reserve of mineral resources. Seat of government is in Hew
Halifax. Major Cities: Nostromo, Bonneville, Roderick
Delta
Delta lies in the northern
hemisphere. It is dominated by a major continental river system, the
Corvallis and Griffin river system, and the planet's tallest mountain
range - The Wall of God - in the east. Its climate is mild, temperate to
subtropical. Delta is divided into the Federal District, that includes the
planetary capital of Corvallis (Population 1,800,000) and the rest. It
remains the most densely populated are of the planet. Although Delta
contains less than 20% of Sapphire's surface area, more than a third of
the planet's population resides on Delta Continent. Other major cities:
Hootch Grabr, New Tenochtitlan, Coolsville, Amity, Cyonara, Dan, Hadrian,
Radella, Takara.
Oceans
Deep Blue
Ocean
The largest Ocean is the Deep
Blue Ocean which lies east of Carpentaria and south of Boreala. The
Western Deep Blue Ocean (Sometimes called the Western Sea) laps the
western shore of Oz continent. The East Deep Blue Ocean (The Eastern Sea)
washes the eastern shore of the Oz continent.
Brightly Shining Sea - Area of the Easter Sea, extending southeast of Alpha Continent.
Cerulean Sea - The Cerulean Sea lies between Delta and Alpha continents.
Easter Sea - The Easter Sea lies east of Alpha Continent and West of Carpentaria continent.
Borealan Sea - The Borealan Sea lies between Boreala and Delta continents.
South Polar Sea - The South Polar sea covers Sapphire's South Pole, and consists primarily of a permanently frozen ice cap.
Wester Sea - The Wester Sea lies between the east cost of Carpentaria and the West Coast of Alpha Continent
Major Cities
Most citizens of Sapphire live in cities with populations under 100,000 persons. Even the largest urban area, around Corvallis, contains less than ten million people. (2.27 million live in lunar colonies, the out-system, or on Republic.)
Arcadia (Population 620,000 + 2,200,000 Environs) Arcadia is the capital city of Arcadia province and circumscribes a long Oxbow lake cut-off from the nearby Arcadia River. It is surrounded by the dense rainforest that covers the Arcadia Peninsula. Arcadia originated as a monastery and vineyard. When the Alpha Continent was divided into provinces to enhance the power of local governments, Arcadia was the only real settlement in the vast wilderness that was Arcadia province, and so was established as a regional capital. It remains remote. The Arcadia Highway and MagLev line connect Arcadia to the nearest settlement, Sienna, nearly a thousand kilometers away, with nothing but a few automated service outposts in between. Arcadia hosts thriving industries based on cultivation of native rainforest products, which are harvested for use in pharamceuticals, beverages, and a number of chemical applications. It is also a prime recreational destination. During the winter months, travelers from Boreala, especially, are fond of escaping to Arcadia for sun, warmth, watersports along the lakeshore. The monastery, now the largest on the planet, is considered one of the greatest architectural treasures on the planet. Traditionally, Sapphireans prefer to spend the last years of life in monasteries, preparing for the transition to the next level of existence. The main monastery no longer serves this function, but smaller monasteries around the city permit the dying to make regular pilgrimages to the Holy Monastery. Thriving on isolation is one of the themes of life for Arcadians. The city is very spread out, with the lowest population density of any major urban area on the planet.
Baden Baden Baden - (Population 1,790,000 + 6,300,000) Baden Baden Baden is an industrial city located on the north coast of Jutland Territory, a center of production for manufactured goods and the seat of the regional government. It encompasses a large harbor on the Cerulean Sea and near the mouth of the Asgard River. Its people have a reputation for being industrious and with a high acumen for business. However, the city is renowned for having the most colorful "Night of the Living Dead" festival week on the planet, a long celebration involving masks and parades.
New Tenochtitlan - (Population 660,000 + 2,800,000) New Tenochtitlan, located on Arrival Bay on the southern coast of Delta continent near the mouth of the Corvallis River, New Tenochtitlan and its sister city across the river, Bainbridge is a major center of commerce and industry. It is also known as the scientific and research center for Delta Continent, and rivals New Cleveland as a center of learning. Its people are regarded as more serious than those elsewhere on the planet.
Corvallis (Population 2.79 million + 6.9 million environs) The largest city on Sapphire is also the capital. The center of government on Sapphire is The Thing, which meets every year in the Capitol Building on Government Island. Government Island is inhabited only by those with a seat in the Thing or a designated governmental function. As such, its population changes over every five years when the planetary government changes. Each Continent and Territory maintains an Outpost on Government Island, which is connected to the mainland by six bridges. The three government departments of Sapphire --- Permanent Sapphirean Defense Situation, The Permanent Sapphirean Civil Situation, and the Permanent Supreme Executive Council also have complexes on the island, and there is a Sumacian War Temple not far from PSDS headquarters. The South Shore of the Corvallis River, at the foot of the mountains, contains the commercial megalopolis that has grown up adjacent to the Seat of Power. On the North Side, on the vast plain on the opposite side of the river, are industrial and residential complexes and suburbs such as North Shore, which contains over 90,000 full time residents. Six square kilometers of land on the North Side are occupied by the Embassy of Republic, which also occupies a complex of buldings (including 66-Storey Republic Tower) on the Corvallis Waterfront.
Kandor (Population 1,520,000 + 2,600,000) Kandor is located on the southwestern coast of the Panrovian peninsula, at the edge of the Great Nef Desert, the only true desert region on the planet. Its position near the desert and the Brightly Shining Sea, as well as the Spine of Cthulu and Angry Dead Mountains makes it a popular resort destination. However, it is also known as a center for the development of space vehicles and interplanetary transports. A large portion of Sapphire's Entertainment Community also makes its home in Kandor, leading to a reputation for facetiousness and unreliability on the part of the city's inhabitants.
Matthias (Population 880,000 + 4.2 million) Matthias is located at the confluence of the Matthias and Dmitri Rivers near Nation's Bay, where the Cerulean Sea reaches deeply into Alpha continent. Matthias is a center of industry, shipping, focused especially on the export of agricultural products from the Graceland Interior and the processing of agricultural resources into foods. Its people are known for their honesty, and down-to-Sapphire attitude toward life. It is also a city known for its commitment and loyalty to sport, including groundball, air hockey, and smashkill.
New Cleveland (Population 2.72 million + 4.4 million) The second largest city of the planet Sapphire is the location of the University of Sapphire at New Cleveland. It is located in south-central Oz continent on a peninsula of land extending into Lake of the Loons. The city and the University were founded by the eccentric Lexington Keeler, an Admiral of the Christian Fleet of the Commonwealth, who also authored much of what would eventually become the planet’s Constitution. Originally founded as an artist’s colony, the city’s history is as colorful as its founder’s, during the waning days of the Commonwealth, New Cleveland was regarded as the ‘Paris of the Outer Arm,’ and attracted a vast number of artists, thinkers, and entrepreneurs. It is named for a legendary city of ancient Earth, a name that was not previously used on any other colony, suggesting that the originally 'Cleveland' may have been a sacred or holy place, or a city of such wonder that no colonial city could ever match it. The University, as a center for learning and research, has provided New Cleveland with the nucleus of an economy based on research, teaching, publishing, and the production of entertainment.
New Halifax (Population 1 million + 3.2 million)New Halifax is the seat of Government and the largest city on Carpentaria continent. It sits on Halifax Harbor at the mouth of the Halifax River. When Sapphire was first settled, Carpentaria was the only continental landmass containing exploitable amounts or certain key mineral resources, including platinum, molybdenum, tungsten, titanium, and cobalt. The initial significance of Halifax was as a mineral extraction and processing center. Within a thousand years of settlement, most of these supplies had been depleted. New Halifax declined, but remained a center for re-extraction, and reprocessing of critical ores. When Sapphire began mining the moons, asteroids, planets, and comets of the out-system for ore, beginning around the year 8000, Halifax again became a key reception and processing point for inbound mineral and chemical resources. The Platinum Festival, held in the late summer, is a celebration of the city’s heritage and its close link with the extraction and processing industries.
New Sapporo Population: 420,000 (+200,000 environs). Capital and largest city of the Continental Province of Boreala. Located on the banks of the Arctic River on the Seaward Peninsula Every Winter, from November 21 through 28, Sapporo holds an ice sculpture festival centered around carving ice into statuary and objet’s d’art, but also encompassing a Winter Sports festival, where the annual planetary hockey championship is played. Every year, a massive Ice Hotel is built a few kilometers away on the Arctic river, and in the spring, residents gather to watch it collapse and melt into the water.
Calendar
The Sapphirean day is divided into 28 hours. The Sapphirean year is 280 days long, divided into ten months of 28 days and 40 weeks of 7 days.
Months:
- Avember
- Sectember
- Tercember
- Quarters
- Pentember
- Sestember
- September
- Octember
- November
- December
Days:
- Sunday
- Moonsday
- Landsday
- Windsday
- Watersday
- Firesday
- Sabbath
Holidays
Many traditional
Terran Holidays were preserved intact on Sapphire, although minor
variations in patterns of celebration have occurred over the course of the
centuries. Sapphireans also celebrate Solstices and Equinoxes as planetary
holidays.
- New Year’s Day - Avember 1
- Vernal Equinox- Avember 14
- Lover’s Day - Sectember 14
- Fat Landsday - Sectember 24
- Landfall Day - Tercember 11
- Summer Solstice - Quadrille 1
- Pentember 5 - Pentember 5*
- Autmnal Equinox- Sestember 14
- Remembrance Day - Octember 14
- Winter Solstice - Octember 28
- Night of the Living Dead (Delta, Boreala, Alpha continent except Oz)/ Hallowe'en (Oz and Carpentaria)- Octember 28
- Thanksgiving - November 26
- Vesta's Covenant - December 1
- Christmas Day - December 25
Pentember Fifth has no
particular significance, but it only comes once a year, so Sapphireans
celebrate it. A custom that began in New Cleveland and became part of
Planetary Culture.
Religion
Theologianism – Theologism is the dominant religion of Sapphire, approximately 70% of the population adhere to the teachings of The Theological Communion, which was brought together in AS 4200-4244 and feature representatives of all the Old Faiths, including Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, The Saints, Iestan, and Spritualist movements. The Theological Communion established a set of Fundamentals, which underline the commonalities of all faiths, the Principles, which set out the basic laws of conduct (proscriptions against murder, theft, and so forth.) and the Prioritus, which refers to the meaning of faith to the individual, and advocates the individual search for spiritual integration, communion with the Creator-Sustainer, and acceptance of the Supreme Design. Theologism emphasizes the redemption of the individual through spiritual development. Adherents are expected to participate in the organized religious services of one or more established religion, but more important is to devote a substantial portion of one's life (at least seven years) in profound religious contemplation and study.
Iest – Vesta is the dominant figure of the Iestan religion. Vesta was born on Earth sometime in the 21st Earth century. According to believers, Vesta made 1,000 prophecies, 999 of which came true in the century following her death. She fused science and religion into a seamless and complete whole, thus forming the basis for inter-stellar travel and the eventual human conquest of the galaxy. She re-appeared on the Bright Angel colony planet three hundred years after her death and led armies of human starships on a quest to purge the galaxy of darkness and evil (The Crusades). A central tenet of the Iestan Faith is the metaphor of "Life as Journey," which holds that the purpose of life is to prepare for existence on a higher plane. An off-shoot of this belief holds that in an infinite number of universes, every possible journey through life is made, and the consequence of every choice is learned. In death, the infinite souls are reintegrated, providing infinite wisdom.
Fundamentalists – A tiny minority of Sapphireans adhere to one of the faiths of Ancient Earth: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Iest. (In contrast to the Theologist Philosophy of finding the essential truths of multiple belief systems.) These people are broadly known as 'Fundamentalists.'
Government
Sapphire's people are highly individualistic and freedom-loving. Its system of planetary government is centered in a legislative body known as The Thing, whose 400 to 500 members are appointed by lottery from among the citizenry, and which possesses very limited powers. Sapphire’s Constitution differentiates between ‘citizens’ who are eligible for government service, and ‘inhabitants’ who are not. The criteria for each varies from continent to continent and from region to region.
Constitution for
the Governance of the People of the Planet
Sapphire
Adopted Octember 1, 6286
We the people, as representatives of the human race on the new world Sapphire, do hereby establish this set of laws and strictures to protect and secure the rights of all the citizens and inhabitants of the planet Sapphire, the moons of Ulysses, and Hyperion, and Rogue, and wherever our people may reside throughout this star system.
Section I: On the Rights of Citizens and Inhabitants and Limitations to Government
First Resolution
No
citizen shall be denied any right or privilege under the law that is held
by any other citizen, unless deprived of that right by a court of law. No
inhabitant of the planet Sapphire shall be denied any right or privilege
under the law that is held by any other inhabitant, unless deprived of
that right by a court of law.
Second Resolution
The
right of all citizens and inhabitants to engage in free discourse and
expression of political, social, philosophical, artistic, and religious
speech shall not denied or restricted by any Government or Agency of the
Planet Sapphire.
Third Resolution
No
government of Sapphire shall deprive any citizen or inhabitant of property
without due process of law. Citizens and inhabitants must be compensated
for any deprivation of property or reduction in the value of property
resulting from any government action, except in time of war or
emergency.
Fourth Resolution
The
right of citizens and inhabitants to petition the government to address
the public interest and to peacefully assemble shall not be prohibited or
restricted by any Government of Sapphire.
Fifth Resolution
No
government of Sapphire shall interfere with the right of any citizen or
inhabitant to practice religion, except to secure the rights of a citizen
or inhabitant as enumerated in the Constitution of the Planet
Sapphire.
Sixth Resolution
The
right of any citizen or inhabitant of Sapphire to live in any region or
territory of the planet, or any world of the system, shall not be denied
by any government of Sapphire unless said citizen or inhabitant be
convicted of some crime or possesses some condition creating hazard or
peril to the life, liberty, or well-being of inhabitants in said
territory. Any citizen of any territory is a citizen of
Sapphire.
Seventh Resolution
Citizens and inhabitants may form governments of
their own design to secure their freedoms. No government may be formed on
Sapphire that does not guarantee the enumerated rights in this
Constitution. The territories retain the sovereign right of self-defense,
and to form militias for the purpose of territorial
defense.
Eighth Resolution
No citizen or inhabitant of Sapphire may be deprived
of life or subjected to torture or imprisoned by any government of
Sapphire without due process of law. No citizen or inhabitant shall be
deprived of the sovereign right of self-defense, nor deprived of the means
thereof, without due process of the law. No citizen or inhabitant may be
subject to unreasonable or intrusive search of property or person or
personal history in the absence of a writ issued by a justice of law. No
citizen or inhabitant may be compelled to testify against himself. No
citizen or inhabitant may be tried more than once for the same offense
unless so ordered by the highest court of the Continental or Territorial
government.
Ninth Resolution
The government of Sapphire is permitted to make laws
to secure the right of personal privacy to all citizens of
Sapphire.
Tenth Resolution
The Government of Sapphire is permitted make laws
only within the context of the Constitution of Sapphire. All other
concerns of government are left to the Governments of the Continental
States (the Territories). No law passed by the legislature, nor any
expenditure approved by the thing or the Supreme Executive Council, may
remain in effect for a period of more than ten years, nor may any law be
made that renews itself by default of the legislature.
Part II Form of Planetary Government
The Government of the planet Sapphire shall be seated in the City of Corvallis on the Delta Continent.
There shall
be one body for the formation of laws, and determining the expenditure of
public funds, and that body shall be known as the Thing. The Thing may do
the following things by a vote of the majority:
1. The
Thing shall have the power to coin currency,
2. The
Thing shall have the power to maintain a planetary defense, to declare
war, to dispatch planetary forces to places of conflict
3. The
Thing shall have the power to approve treaties with other
worlds
4. The
Thing shall have the power to facilitate commerce among the territories,
to enact laws in the protection of real, personal, and intellectual
property
5. The
Thing will also oversee and provide the raising of revenue for the organs
of planetary government, which shall serve to advise the territories,
municipalities, and counties on all other issues of public interest; among
these being uniform standards of technology and infrastructure,
preservation of lands, promotion of science, culture, education and social
good, and the protection of the health and well-being of citizens and
residents. The power to establish laws over these areas is left to the
Territories.
6. The
Thing shall have the power to remove members of the Supreme Executive
Council by a vote of the majority.
The Thing shall consist of at least 100 and no more than 500 members. One half of seats shall be divided equally among all the continental territories. Half of all seats shall be apportioned among the continental territories according to population. All members of the Thing shall be citizens of Sapphire. Members of the Thing shall be chosen randomly from the populations of continental territories by such means as may be determined by the governments of the continental territories. Each territory shall have the power to determine the eligibility of citizens to participate in The Thing.
The Supreme Executive
Council
The
power to execute the edicts of the Thing, to maintain diplomatic relations
with other powers, to judge the laws of the planet and territories, shall
be vested in a Supreme Executive Council, whose members shall be selected
from former members of the Thing and/or chosen by the people of the
continental territories.
The Supreme Court
Within the Supreme Executive Council will be
established a Court to judge the laws, edicts, and expenditures of the
Thing and to ensure fidelity to the Constitution. The power to judge all
laws of the planet Sapphire shall be vested in this Court. The court shall
have no fewer than twelve nor more than eighteen members, and its
membership shall be nominated by the Supreme Executive Council and
approved by vote of the Thing. The Continental Governments shall also
establish courts to ensure the protection of the rights of citizens and
inhabitants. In any extraordinary circumstance of judgment, the common
sense of the court will prevail.
Succession
If any
member of the Thing, or the Supreme Executive Council shall be removed by
death, disability, or censure, that member shall be replaced by another
citizen, chosen according to the same manner and same qualifications as
the member exiting.
The citizens of any territory or district of Sapphire shall have the power to remove any member of the Thing who resided in that district at the time of his selection by referendum.
The Representation of Citizens
Off-Planet
Those living off-planet may be
represented by their continental repesentatives if citizenship in those
continents is still claimed. Citizens of Hyperion, Ulysses, and distant
outposts shall send representatives as part and parcel to the delegation
of the continent of Boreala and shall have their populations counted into
the total of that continent’s population for representational
purposes.
Referenda
Citizens of Sapphire retain the right to enact laws
through referendum. No election on any public issue may be called at such
time or place, or in any such manner, as to disenfranchise or discourage
the participation of citizens.
Amending the Planetary
Constitution
Any provisional amendment must
be approved by referendum of three-quarters of Sapphirean voters, and by
three-quarters of the voters in each continental state, no sooner than
three years nor later than nine years after it be presented for vote by
the Assembly to the citizens.
The vote to submit an amendment to the citizenry must comprise three-fourths of the Thing and be approved by three fourths of the Supreme Executive Council. The Continental and Territorial Governments may, by consent of two of the three Continental governments and at least four of the Alpha Territories, submit provisional amendments to the Assembly and demand that vote be taken to pass said measures to the citizenry.
Legal
system:
The Sapphirean legal system descends from Terran Democratic and Legal Custom. The current form of government was adopted from the regional government used in the Old New Cleveland Territories after the first planetary government was seated in Corvallis in 4256. This form of government was designed to prevent the concentration of power in any person, institution governmental body, and ensure that creative and dynamic forces prevailed.
Military
Sapphire maintains a standing military force known as the Permanent Defense Situation. It is a highly-trained tactical force consisting of some 400,000 fighting men backed by an equal number of support staff. Because the planet is largely peaceful, and because the threat from Republic is viewed as minimal, these 'Warfighters' conduct training and drilling, provide security for interplanetary trade, and support search and rescue and emergency assistance.
The Permanent Defense situation is further backed up by the Sumacian Warrior Cult, a religious organization whose numbers are unknown, but who maintain a constant state of readiness so to engage The Adversary upon their return (as foretold in prophecy.
Economy
Sapphire enjoys an
open and diverse economic system based on minimal regulation and open
competition. The Sapphirean economic structure discourages the creation of
enormous combines on the scale of those found on Republic. Currency Unit - The Buck
One buck equals 100 samolians
Largest Enterprises:
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Anything (Artificial Intelligence) — Hootch Grabr, Delta
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Arcadia Resources Group (Lumber, chemicals, bio-chemicals, pharmaceuticals) – Syzygy, Arcadia
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CloudBuster Avian (Air and Space Transport Systems) — New Tenochtitlan, Delta
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Cars (Ground transportation, Personal Transport vehicles) – Matthias, Graceland
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Consolidated Mind Hut (Consulting, Analysis, Philosophy) – New Cleveland, Oz
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Halifax Resource Group (Metals, composites, chemicals) — New Halifax, Carpenteria
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Sikkim (Highways, Mag-Levs, Transport Control Systems) — Matthias, Graceland
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Kaini Industries (Communication Systems) — Corvallis, Delta
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The Vinegar Works (Food) — New Edmonton, Graceland
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USNC School of Business (Holdings, Consulting, Management) — New Cleveland, Oz
History
Discovery and
Exploration
The Sapphire system was charted by the starship Carpentaria, under the command of Captain Jephthah Fenris in the old Terran year 3972 A.D. Inspired by the planet’s beauty and suitability for human inhabitation, he named the world Sapphire.
A survey crew was deposited on the surface and made its base-camp near the site of present-day Corvallis. The first human to set foot on the planet Sapphire is recorded to have been a young geo-cartographer by the name of Joshua Nation, who was the team leader. Nation returned to settle some years later and became the colony’s first Governor-General.)
The survey team developed extreme allergic reactions to Sapphire’s atmosphere, water, and pollens and developed genetic therapies to compensate. They surveyed the planet’s lands from the ground and from orbit. They catalogued the planet’s flora and fauna, analyzed soil and water, and surveyed for mineral deposits. These data were correlated on board the Carpentaria to select primary and secondary locations for colony sites.
The planet was approved for colonization seven years later. The contract for colonization was won by the Tellis Consortium. The first colonist arrived on board the starship Olympia and were landed in three sites on Delta Continent near the present cities of Corvallis, Landfall, and New Medicine Hat in the old Terran year 4252 A.D., which became Sapphriean year 4252 A.S. Subsequent years were added to the Sapphirean Calendar according to the local year.Early on, the colony played a role in providing food and support for the colony on Republic and as a way station for exploration ships pushing further into the Frontier. Delta was the first continent to be colonized The first outpost off Delta continent was established in Matthias in 4263, but remained the only settlement off-Delta founded for almost three hundred years. In 4502, an outpost was established on the North Coast of what is now called Jutland near the present city of Baden Baden Baden. An outpost near New Halifax was established the following year.
Lexington Keeler
In
A.S. 4623, the transport ship Sheffield arrived bearing, among its
passengers, a former Admiral in the Commonwealth fleet named Lexington
Keeler. He had a mandate to found a colony in the large unexplored and
uninhabited temperate zone of what was then called South Alpha Continent
Region 804.
At the time, the colony on Sapphire was in danger of languishing. Although the colony was well-suited to the sustenance of human life, fewer and fewer colonists had been arriving. The planetary economy was stagnating and it could no longer afford to trade for goods produced on other worlds. Planetary industry was immature, hampered by a lack of mineral resources, lack of population, and lack of technical expertise.
Keeler took his party to a peninsula of land on the north shore of what was then called Freshwater Lake Alpha Australis. He renamed the body of water "Lake of the Loons," and founded a city which he called New Cleveland. Keeler made his settlement a laboratory for his phlosophies, which emphasized individual freedom and liberty above all else. This, combined with his contempt for governments and authority, earned him the wrath of colonial leaders in Corvallis and in the Continental capital of Matthias.
Nevertheless, Keeler’s unlikely outpost survived and prospered, much to the surprise of colonial officials. Furthermore, he drew thousands of new colonists to his site until it became the largest city on the planet. Three years after landing, he founded New Cleveland University (Now the University of Sapphire at New Cleveland) and founded the New Cleveland Permanent Arts Festival.
Within a decade, New Cleveland had gained a reputation as "the Paris of the Outer Colonies." Visitors came from across the galaxy to visit its Arts Festival and numerous other facilities. New Cleveland University attracted intellectuals and thinkers. Many visitors stayed on to colonize South Oz continent.
In 4667, Keeler’s followers instituted a new
government for South Alpha Continent, which was renamed Oz at his
suggestion. He also championed a radical form of government called True
Democracy or Randomocracy, by which the government’s leaders were chosen
randomly from among qualified citizens. The concept eventually became the
standard form of government on Sapphire and was included when the New
Planetary Constitution was drawn in 7286.
Lexington
Keeler is revered as one of the Founders of
Sapphire.
The Thean
Siege
(c. A.S. 4860-4880)
Toward the end of the colonial period, ruins were
discovered on the southern expanse of the Nef Desert. The site covered
over 1,000 hectares and was believed to be at least 120,000 standard years
old. Since Sapphire was not thought to have ever harbored any native
civilization. Since archaeology was an unknown science on this world,
exo-archaelogists were dispatched from elsewhere in the Commonwealth. By
the time they arrived. they found the site already being carefully
excavated. In defiance of orders from Old Earth, the citizens had simply
dug out some old databases on archaeology, chosen a few competent
individuals to plan and lead the expedition, and gone in
themselves.
Shortly after the discovery, a war party of battle cruisers from the aggressive species known as the Theans appeared in the Sapphire system. The Theans claimed that the ruins were theirs, from a colony they had established previously, and so asserted a right to the entire planet. Their Sha-rak raiders attacked the outposts on Ulysses and Hyperion, but planetary defenses kept them at bay until the Third Fleet, led by the Cruiser Ark Royal and the dreadnoughts Reagan and Sierra arrived.
(An alternate theory holds that the Thean belief that Sapphire was a former colony actually prevented an invasion, since the the Thean belief system held that they were not entitled to a world they had failed to colonize, or hold, previously or had abandoned. The structure of the Thean language was never comprehensively understood, and it is possible their intentions were misinterpreted.)
The archeologists claimed that there was no way to determine if the ruins were, in fact, Thean. Furthermore, the layout of the ruined buildings suggested that it was part of an accelerator system used to hurl materials off-world. Whoever had previously settled Sapphire were almost undoubtedly alien, and had used the planet as an exploitation colony, harvesting its resources with no intention of permanent settlement.
In Autumn of 4880, it became apparent that the Theans were preparing to withdraw. This was an extremely tense time since the Theans were believed to be terrible losers. Intelligence reports confirmed that the Theans were assembling mass engines, also known as Extincters, planning to bombard the planet with asteroids and wiping out all life.
The Governor of New Cleveland territories was a former erotic performance artist known as Eccentrica. (nee, Moon Unit Keeler IV) Eccentrica was taken with the fact that Thean culture had no concept of art. She persuaded the Thean Warlords to visit her residence in New Cleveland. Instead if diplomatic negotiations, the warlords were taken on a tour of the New Cleveland Permanent Arts Festival, where they were exposed to the complete range of human artistic endeavours: music, painting, sculpture, cinema, dance. Each and all were a revelation to the Thean warlords, who recalled their forces, set up a mission in New Cleveland to learn more about the concept of art, and signed a peace treaty the following year.
The third fleet withdrew, and Human warships never again came into Sapphirean Space.
The Departure of the St. Beryl
On Avember 06, 5586, The St. Beryl arrived at Sapphire. This would be the last Earth ship ever to call on the colony.
In 6923 AS, Duncan Keeler-McShane write The Manifest of St. Beryl, a semi-fictional novel about passengers from the St. Beryl who became marooned on Sapphire when the ship left and no other ship came to call. The Manifest of St. Beryl is regarded as the best novel in all of Sapphirean literature.
The
Tarmigan Assault
(A.S. 5644)
On Octember 14, 5644, a fleet
(the fleet?) of Tarmigan ships(?) passed through the Sapphire system. When
they passed near the Hyperion moon, it is believed they activated their
star-drive engines, bathing the moon in broad spectrum radiation. Of the
3,000 inhabitants of the Hyperion lunar base, only 17 survived.
By this time, Sapphire had been out of contact with the other Human colonies, except for Republic, for nearly 400 years. For the population of Sapphire, this attack was the final acknowledgement: Earth was gone, and she was never coming back. The Sapphirean Defense Act of 5644 was soon passed, which created the Permanent Sapphire Defense Situation (P.S.D.S.), and a planetary/system defense force was created.
Octember 14 is called Remembrance Day. On this day, all Sapphireans are expected to spend the whole day with the people they love, and exchange self-made tokens of affection.
The Thousand Years
Blight
(c.5800 – c.6700)
The collapse of the space travel
system presaged a long decline in Sapphirean . The planetary government
had decided to bring the colonists back from Hyperion and abandon the
lunar mining colonies in favor of more inexpensive automated systems, but
the systems broke down eventually broke down and the colony was deprived
of new resources.
An asteroid
impact on the southern tip of Boreala in the year 6001 AS exacerbated the
decline. The impact rocked the planet as far away as Corvallis,
annihilated the city of New Sapporo, and caused a prolonged planetary
climate shift. The planet became much cooler, crops failed, and population
declined. Boreala became uninhabitable, and most of Delta and Carpentaria
became sub-arctic. The Capital of Corvallis became a ghost town.
Elsewhere, Planetary population fell during the period, from nearly one
billion to barely a half billion inhabitants. The climate finally returned
to normal beginning around 7,400, and the planet began
recovering.
The most unexplained aspect of this event is that the initial colonial survey should have detected and destroyed any threatening space bodies.
Renaissance
(c 6700 – 6900 A.S.)
In the
Aftermath of the 1,000 years blight, Sapphire fell into a long period of
social and technological stagnation. In the sixty-eight century, however,
as the planet’s population recovered, technological advances began to take
place again. Art and literature flourished, Corvallis was re-built as the
planetary capital. Eventually, world government, based on the Oz model,
came to fruition. This permitted a stable structure of laws coupled with a
degree of planetary unity to be balanced against the protection of
individual rights and the sovereignty of territorial governments. Oz had
weathered the blight better than most other regions, and so its art,
literature, science, and philosophy dominated the new world. Another
strong source of influence was Arcadian, where strong religious traditions
preserved culture and learning even during the harshest
times.
This Era
(c 6900 – present A.S.)
The current era is said to have
begun on Avember 12, 6903, when the first space vehicle left orbit and
achieved a landing on Hyperion, marking our return to space.
It was marked by a return to space travel, and re-exploration of the
Sapphire System. A few missions were also sent to Republic. Ships began
exploiting comets and asteroids, reviving a planetary economy starved for
lack of resources. Eventually, a Tachyon Pulse Communication System was
established, making possible instantaneous communication with Republic.
Travel times between the worlds shrank from years to days. It has been an
era marked by an increase in population and strident advances in
technology, approximating the probbale level of human technology existing
prior to the Great Silence.
10 Selected Historical Figures
Cruz the Mad (AS 6242 – 6359) Cruz the Mad declared himself Absolute Ruler by Divine Right of an obscure desert settlement called "Kandor" in the late 63rd Century. At the time, the outpost numbered only a few thousand souls, scratching out a bare existence from the sparse water in the shadow of Cthulu’s Spine, a line of broken volcanic mountains, some still active, stretching across the loneliest expanse of Sapphire’s only desert.
Cruz the Mad was born to an artisan and his
wife, a city bureaucrat. He was short, standing not much more than a meter
in height, deformed, having only three fingers on each hand and a
prehensile tail, and, perhaps because of that, known to be violently
misanthropic. At the age of six, he was apprenticed to a
sorceror-Alchemist named Gaspode, who taught him certain of the Magical
Arts. He became a Master Swordsman, and for a time served in the City
Guard.
How he
attained power is a matter of speculation, but is widely attributed to his
‘prophetic vision’ that an eleven year drought would soon end, which it
did in 6285, and further ‘prophecies’ concerning storms, harvests, and
earthquakes, all of which came true between 6281 and 6289. (Other sources
credit his ascent to the machinations of two local rulers, vying for
power, who thought to install Cruz in a puppet regime, exercising real
power behind the scenes while the warrior was sated with all manner of
indulgences.) Cruz also discovered a vein of diamonds hidden deep in the
Cthulu’s Spine, whose careful exploitation not only brought him vast
wealth, but tapped off a rush to the region that tripled the settlement’s
population between 6290 and 6292.
Once the prospectors arrived in Kandor, Cruz the Mad made it extremely difficult to leave, by edicts ordering new-comers to be ‘enveloped in hospitality,’ by not allowing wealth to be expatriated, and also by providing departure schedules for ships and aircraft to bands of roaming bandits, who were rumored to split the pilfered booty with him. Cruz the Mad had another relatively straightforward way of gaining still more inhabitants, he kidnapped them. His pirate vessels drove ships ashore, at which point the survivors would find warm welcoming parties of loyal Kandoran citizens.
In 6356 A.S., Cruz the Mad reportedly became fed-up with settling petty squabbles among his citizens and the constant sycophancy of his courtesans. He ordered his palace burned to the ground and left to dwell deep in the Spine of the Cthulu, where he died alone, unmourned, and unloved in 6359.
Lexington J Keeler (A.D. 3966 – 4009, A.S. 4616-4673) Lexington Keeler was an Admiral of the Christian Fleet during the Last Crusade. His ship was destroyed in the Battle of Outer Fornax, in which the Dark Lord Enoch and his followers were driven out of the galaxy. He was put into stasis and revived when his vessel was recovered nearly three centuries later. He could have returned to Earth or any of the inner colonies as a hero. Instead, Keeler fulfilled a lifelong desire to found an artist’s colony by settling with a party of one-hundred and seventy-nine colonists on the North Shore of what was then Lake Alpha Australus in an uninhabited area of a sparsely populated Outer Colony.
Keeler was obsessed with the idea of eliminating politics from government. He determined the difficulty was that those most drawn to serve in government were most often exactly the kind of people whom power must be kept away from. His strategy, therefore, was to limit the power of government, and also to limit the ability of power-hungry people to serve in government. He hit upon an ancient expression to the effect of "I would rather be governed by the first four-hundred names in the Boston Phone Book than by the faculty at Harvard." He decided that the ideal governing body would be randomly drawn from the populace. Keeler favored a complete random sampling, but subsequently his vision was revised to "eligible citizens," a citizen having earned the right and the responsibility to serve through education and/or service to the community. The sunset provision that no law be allowed to remain in effect longer than ten or twenty years was the idea of a contemporary, Maynard Wilson, but was enthusiastically embraced by him. This philosophy of random selection and temporary empowerment became the basis for the laws under which his colony of New Cleveland, the region that came to be known as Oz, and ultimately the entire planet of Sapphire were governed.
Quote: "Some will not trust government to the hand of ordinary citizens for fear bad laws might be passed. They are more comfortable being governed by professional politicians, by whom bad laws will certainly be passed."
Ellen Gloria Roaring (A.S. 4560-A.S. 4692) Ellen Gloria Roaring was the Governor-General (By Grace of the Commonwealth) of Sapphire Colony from 4612-4632. An able administrator, her term might have gone little remarked were it not for her epic rivalry with the retired Admiral of the Christian Fleet Lexington Keeler, and his unconventional colony of artists and writers, living in the interior backwaters of her planet’s largest continental landmass.
Curiously, two books about their decades-long
rivalry are each considered masterworks on their respective worlds. Kelvin
St. Romaine’s The Pissing Contest, is considered part of the Sapphirean
Canon of Great Books. August Mustard’s The Princees and The Admiral, is
required reading for all Republicker students of Sapphirean
history.
Creep RockShadow (A.S. 7010 – 7050) Creep RockShadow was a political activist of the Eighth Millennium who advocated vigorously for reform of the Sapphirean government from Random Citizen Representation to Elective Democracy. He was born in the South Oz city of Mt. Pleasant to a family of agro-botanists who cultivated barley and rye. At 20, he left home to attend the University of Sapphire at New Cleveland. Studying the Republicker political system, he became convinced that electoral democracy was superior in all ways to the system on his own planet. At 24, he left Sapphire, returning eight years later (at this time, voyages between the worlds took as long as two years) and began the Campaign for Democratization.
Although widely despised at first, his charismatic speaking style and powerful personal magnetism brought him a large coterie of followers, especially among women. He led large demonstrations outside ‘The Thing’ in Corvallis, and stormed the Recreation of ‘Hoot’s Tavern and Bordello,’ where Lexington Keeler is said to have penned the first draft of the Sapphirean Constitution. In 7045, his followers succeeded in having a referendum for Electoral Representation placed before the people of Panrovy. It was narrowly defeated.
His followers hoped to seize the momentum and eventually succeed. However, the Panrovy vote marked the high point of his Advocacy. Rockshadow soon found his character under assault by all quarters. Evidence was found suggesting his group was being supported by elements within Republic’s government. His personal life became a public scandal after his mistress was driven to suicide by his infidelities. Rockshadow continued his advocacy until 7050, when he mysteriously vanished after inciting a student demonstration at the University of Sapphire at New Cleveland.
Countess Margarita von Collins (A.S. 6690 – 6754) A direct, male-line descendent of Cruz the Mad, she inherited none of his physical deformities. In fact, she is believed to be among the most beautiful women of Sapphire’s history. Whether she inherited his madness is a matter of debate. At the age of thirty she became, through a combination of careful manipulations, the City-Lord of Kandor, and immediately used her power to undertake massive reforms. Over fiercesome resistance, she threw out many of Cruz the Mad’s laws, and ended the city’s centuries of isolation to outsiders.
Under her direction, the many palaces and grand edifices of the Cruz-the-Mad era were rehabilitated. She established Kandor first as an essential travel destination for Sapphireans, and gradually, as a major city, eventually surpassing, in importance, the Provincial capital of Harlequin.
Her parties were legendary. Her New Year’s Eve bash of 6799 actually altered the regional climate for the next decade, producing gorgeous and colorful sunsets as well as abnormally high periods of rain.
The Countess was named a Supreme in 6738 and spent eight years in service to it, during which time, she reformed the institution in several ways. She introduced the rules against inheritance that forbade direct descendants of Supremes from serving. She restructured the body from one having authority over The Thing to a body of more balanced influence.
Joshua Nation (3952-3977, 4252-4350) After Lexington Keeler, no figure looms larger in Sapphire’s history than Joshua Nation. As the young geo-cartographer in the crew of the Carpentaria, he so fell in love with the beauty of the new world that, at the age of twenty-five, he had himself put into stasis until the planet was colonized. When revived almost three centuries later, he went to the new planet. He led several exploratory parties and was the among the first humans to explore the hidden lakes deep in the rift of the Wall of God mountains, the full length of the Arcadia, Ankh, and Truelove rivers, many of the Awkward Islands, and the Archiopoli of Boreala. In 4263, he founded a colony at the mouth of what was then called the Alpha Prime River, which he named ‘Matthias’ after his infant son. Later, he would name the river after his other son, Dmitri. Joshua Nation then became the world’s first Governor-General, holding office from 4272-4296.
In his time, Joshua Nation presided over decisions that would shape his world for centuries. He opted for Corvallis as the planetary capital. He divided the planet into continental governing authorities, with high degrees of independence and autonomy from the Colonial-Commonwealth authority in Corvallis. He believed strongly in an independent, and sovereign world, and focused most of his attention on developing a self-sustaining colony. He focused particular attention and adaptation of native plants and grains to the human diet. He founded the Sapphire Diverse University at New Tenochtitlan as an institution especially devoted to the cultivation of native varieties of wheat, barley, oats, and triticale as well as trickster nuts, moon peas, salt marsh harvest pods, and other vegetables. This university also became the locus for planetary geographical expeditions, the cataloguing of all native plants and animals, the mapping of trade routes, plans for the development of identified colonial settlement sites … which, over time, grew into the cities of Baden Baden Baden, New Archangel, Morning Glory, and Outer Guardian. When he retired from the Governor’s chair, he became Chancellor of the University, which was renamed "Joshua Nation University." His name also became attached to two settlements, deep in the Wall of God mountains, Joshua-Nation, which has, for millennia, been a foremost retreat for Sapphireans from around the planet. The third and fourth highest peaks in the same range are named for him, Mt. Joshua, and Mt. Nation. Joshua-Nation plaza, at the heart of the Capitol District on the Island of Government features a modest statue of Joshua Nation, his wife, and their children, holding a loft a globe of the planet which he loved and served.
Ontario
Breeder (6776 to 6880)
Foremost composer in planetary
history.
Sumac (c. 5940 – 6006) Sumac was a prophet of God. He was found abandoned in the Arcadian Wilderness by a band of Arcadian Monks and was raised by them collectively. Sumac predicted the asteroid impact of 6001 and the Thousand Years blight that was to follow. He made prophecies of great accuracy. He performed miracles, and delivered a message to the children of God on Sapphire, that they were chosen and protected of God, and that if the forces of darkness ever returned to the galaxy, they would be called to lead a great crusade to drive them out again. He urged the planet to maintain readiness, and be always prepared to fight if God called them to battle. Under his guidance, he founded an order of Warrior Monks, dedicated to faith and martial arts, they preserved knowledge of martial arts and military strategies for the time they would be called again.
His teachings not only guided the warrior
monks, but were put into practice by Sapphire’s Marine Core. The entire
martial tradition of the planet Sapphire is based upon Sumac’s techings of
honor, self-discipline, and adherence to a belief system higher than
oneself, constant striving to attain the unattainable. While celibacy is
not required of warrior monks, Sumac taught that that only fools and the
weak made reproductive urges the focus of their existence, and that the
energy expended in their pursuit was better spent in pursuing
perfection.
In his
honor, followers of the Warrior tradition go by a single name, and it must
be a unique name no warrior has taken before.
Horselover Gates (AS 6940 – 7049) Horselover Gates (born Gates Horselover) was a renowned author, playwright, and satirist. His scripts have been repeatedly revived and interpreted through the centuries, but his witty, uncanny insight into the human condition, exemplified by his masterwork, Witty, Uncanny Insight Into The Human Condition, has never been equaled. His most famous works include Swain, Carafe, and Dispatch, a story of two young, star-crossed lovers, and Two Assols from New Halifax, a story of love, trade, and misunderstanding that was considered scandalous in its time, and still is.
Ace Fielder (A.S. 6880 – 6980) Fielder was a leading figure of the late Renaissance. A physicist by training, he was the primary inventive force behind the two greatest achievements that changed the course of Sapphirean History. The Gravity Engine made interplanetary space travel routine and Inter-stellar space travel possible. The Tachyon Pulse system of communications made instantaneous transmissions between Sapphire and Republic possible.
Born in Matthias, Ace Fielder was left an Orphan by the Earthquake of 6886. He was adopted by the SpeedRacer family, who themselves were cousins to the Keeler Dynasty, and raised by a pair of engineering professors from The Matthias Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). He showed an amazing aptitude for physics, and had received an advance degree in theoretical physics by the age of fifteen. He turned down professorships at both MIST and USNC to instead work for a rather eccentric businesswoman named Painted Sky CloudBuster (nee Renee Soundlab), who had, as a director at Thruster Aerospace Concern had designed the ion-power spacecraft that had explored the planet Loki. She was founding a new company, CloudBuster Aeronautical, with the mission of realizing the application of theoretical physics to build propulsion systems for new spacecraft.
They relocated to a remote outpost at the edge of the Nef desert outside Kandor, a town called Los Arcos, named for some nearby geological formations. Its remoteness, broad expanse of flatlands, and open areas made it ideal for the company’s operations. With funding from the New Planetary government in Corvallis, which was aching for the kind of project that would give it legitimacy. After numerous failures and near insolvency, the program finally succeeded in perfecting what was called "The Limited Effect Gravity Engine." The problem with using graviton propulsion is that the strength of the field necessary to propel the spacecraft also effects every object in the universe and expends enough energy to knock planet’s out of orbit. By using short-lived Pseudo gravitons, the effect is limited to the environment of the ship. Within a century, ships powered by the Fielder Principle were making the haul between Sapphire and Republic at one-half light speed, cutting travel time to six weeks, which seemed like mere days to those on board at relativistic speed.
His legacy lives on in the CloudBuster Avian Company, which builds most of Sapphire’s spacecraft, which is a direct corporate descendant of CloudBuster Aeronautical.
Indigenous Life Forms
Native Faunae (Examples thereof)
Snikket – A semi-domesticated creature native to all regions of the planet but found most often in the temperate zones of Delta and Alpha/Oz continents. A snikket is the size of a large Terran domestic cat, fur-covered, a stocky trunk with a large, broad tail, rounded ears, large paws, and pointed canine teeth. Snikkets are usually mottled gray-green in color, although black and white, tawny yellow, and ferric red variations are also common. Snikkets prefer to nest in wooded thickets, where they dig burrows and line them with leaves before bearing litters of two to four young. They are affectionate toward humans, but averse to indoor living. Snikkets hibernate during the short Sapphirean winter, and their mating call has been likened to birdsong, but only by the most charitable of biologists.
Scrawler — A small animal, not much larger than a half grown Terran domestic kitten, Scrawlers are native to all regions of the planet and are related to snikkets, although they have small, rabbit-like tails and are primarily vegetarian, especially fond of berries and pulpy fruit. Their paws are small and surprisingly adept. Their fur is usually tawny yellow, but can be brown, red, or forest green, and is usually mottled, striped, or spotted, depending on breed. Some breeds are readily domesticated, and prove to be acceptable pets. Others prefer to live at the edge of human inhabitation, and subsist on human refuse.
Land Monster — A large, semi-reptilian beast native to the northern coasts of Panrovy and Jutland provinces. Land monsters have leathery, purplish skin with pale pink or orange spots across the back. Their large jaws are lined with squarish teeth. Land monsters are omnivores, subsisting on a diet of insects, smaller animals, and some types of native vegetation. They are harmless to humans. Although their urine produces a fatally allergenic response in 80% of the population, it has to be directly injected for exposure to be lethal. (Don’t ask how this was found out.) Skin contact will produce an abiding rash that requires medical treatment, but is usually not permanently disfiguring.
Branch Monster — a quasi-reptilian beast native to the dense forests of Jutland province, with some related species found in the Rainforests of Arcadia. An adult branch monster is 2 to 3 meters long, with a snake-like body and hundreds of tiny leg-like structures (think of a caterpillar) underneath its body and two large prehensile appendages around its jaws for drawing food into its maw. Branch monsters subsist primarily on small mammals and reptiles. The bite of some species is fatal to humans if not treated.
Stalking Cat — A Feline species found in Panrovy and eastern Alpha/Oz provinces. Stalking cats are a highly intelligent predatory species, with black fur and bright yellow eyes. They resemble Terran panthers, and may be descended from them, as they are known not to be native to the planet. No one knows, however, how they came to be there. They are known to hunt in packs, communicating through signals almost indistinguishable to human ears from ambient wind noise. Their diet is dominated by the quadropeds of the savannah regions — dryad antelopes, yes deer, and spotted zerbas.
Shrieking Llamas — A quadroped native to mountainous regions of Delta continent. Shrieking llamas resemble terran llamas in form, although their feet are not cloven but set in the "pads and plates" design of most native quadropeds, and their fur, rather than white, is the mottled grey and dark green more often found in nature on Sapphire. They are said to make excellent pack animals, except for their cry, which is described as sounding like a woman screaming and can be sustained for up to forty-five seconds.
Milkbeasts — Non-native quadro-peds, almost assuredly from Earth. Milkbeasts are raised throughout the planet — most especially in the dairy districts (Midgard, Hod, Audhumla, Beowulf, and Cardigan being among the most prominent) of Delta, Alpha/Oz and Carpentaria continents. Their mammory fluid provides essential nutrients for humans, and cellullar extractions are lab-grown into cuts of natural meat.
Gongo — A large, hairy semi-biped of the Arcadian rainforest. Described as a cross between a Terran bear and a Terran ape, Gongos live in the thick trees of the rainforest, primarily subsisting on insects, fruit, and leaves. Gongos have large paws with short, stubby two-knuckled fingers. They are shy, and rarely venture far from their native territory, although they do move on, as family units, once the local food supply has been exhausted.
Griffeys — A strange quadroped native to forest lands of Alpha/Oz continent. Griffies are variously described as "deer-like bears" or "bear-like deer" in reference to Terran animals they are said to resemble. Their faces are large and woolly, as are their forelegs. Their handquarters tend to be smoother, shorter-haired, and more lithe. They are omnivores, carrion eaters who seldom take live prey.
Native Flora
Janeberry — a small orange berry native only to Carpentaria continent. Fermented janeberries produce a chemical, known colloquially as tripolity, which, on its own produces no effect, but in combination with alcohol enhances the effect of the former 300%. Unfermented janeberry juice is widely used as a homeopathic remedy.
Moonblossoms — A kind of flower, whose pale, translucent blossoms unfold only in the light of the moon. Native to Sapphire.
Moonwillows — A kind of tree, whose few branches end in large, almost perfectly spherical pods, that close in moonlight but open in the light of day to reveal bunches of deeply curled branches. Native to Sapphire
Rainblossoms — Pale gray flowers, a traditional flower of
mourning, result of cross-breeding a native Sapphirean plant with a
colonial flower known as a star-grazer.
Other Worlds Of The Sapphire System
Cerberus
The Inner-most planet. Cerberus is an
airless hunk of rock with a semi-molten surface and no natural satellites.
Orbit: 32,212,000 km. Diameter: 5,878 km. Mass: 4.04e23 kg
Terrapin
Another
hot, airless rock in a close solar orbit with no natural satellites.
Orbit: 56,190,000 km from Sun. Diameter: 5,278 km. Mass: 3.98e23 kg
Fenris
Third planet
from the sun has a thick atmosphere of highly-ionized methane, ammonia,
and sulfur dioxide. Its rotation is unusually rapid. The planet completes
a rotation in less than seven hours. No natural satellites. Orbit:
88,720,000 km from Sun. Diameter: 9,375.6 km. Mass: 3.9989e24 kg
Loki
The fifth
planet has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and almost 7/8 Sapphire normal
gravity. Prolonged cometary bombardment combined with terra-forming
activity may eventually make Loki habitable. One small natural satellite.
Orbit: 172,660,000 km. Diameter: 12,003.6 km. Mass: 5.689e24 kg
Ronin
A gas giant
with no ring system and no satellites. Astronomers theorize it once had as
many as ten, but all were pulled away through gravitational interaction
with Rook. Because of the lack of satellites or rings for bases, Ronin is
seldom visited except by occasional Guild ships seeking gravitational
velocity assists. Orbit: 504,000,000 km. Diameter: 42,528 km (equatorial).
Mass: 1.027e26 kg
Rook
Another moderately-sized gas giant. Rook has a highly
irregular ring system and some forty three natural satellites it has
acquired from wandering asteroids and gravitational liberation from Ronin.
Outposts are currently occupied in the first, third, eleventh, and
twenty-first moon. Several other moons contain uninhabited or irregularly
inhabited outposts. Rook 1 contains SPDS Raven Outpost, a key installation
for system defense. Orbit: 714,000,000 km. Diameter: 64,528 km
(equatorial). Mass: 2.042e26 kg
Forseti
The second largest gas giant, Forseti sports a thin,
close ring system and eleven natural satellites. There are permanent
outposts on the first and second moons, and automated outposts on six
other moons. Forseti 1 is the home base of Wolf Station, a key SP2DS and
Customs facility. Orbit: 1,409,400,000 km. Diameter: 96,536 km
(equatorial). Mass: 3.228e26 kg
Gigantor
The largest gas-giant with a well-developed ring
system and twenty-one natural satellites. Permanent outposts are located
on the second, third, fifth, and seventh moon and automated outposts or
abandoned habitats on thirteen of the other moons. The Alpha Complex on
Gigantor II contains the headquarters of the Mining Guild and the
Out-System Commodities Exchange and is the largest out-system settlement,
with nearly 250,000 permanent inhabitants. The Fifth Moon contains
Sentinel Base, a key installation of the SP2DS. Orbit: 2,880,880,000 km.
Diameter: 122,340 km (equatorial). Mass: 1.63 0e27 kg
Aegir
Third largest
of the gas giants, with a small, dense ring system and eight natural
satellites. Permanent outposts are located on the first and third moon and
automated outposts on two others. Aegir 1 contains Prime Mover station,
the primary exchange point for minerals and chemicals harvested from the
comets and asteroids of the Oort cloud and Kuiper Belt. Aegir 3 contains
Frontier Station, where the Customs Fleet Out-System Command of the SPDS
is headquartered. Orbit: 4,206,000,000 km. Diameter: 89,528 km
(equatorial). Mass: 2.227e26 kg
Sprite
Sprite is a small ball of rock and ice in a highly
elliptical orbit, commonly recognized as the outermost terrestrial body
orbitting in the plane of the Sapphire system. It is uninhabited and
contains only an automated navigation/communication/defense relay and
surveillance station. Orbit: 4,913,520,000 km (average). Diameter: 6340
km. Mass: 9.32e22
Characters From Republic
- Commander William Keeler
- Tactical TyroCommander Philip Redfire
- Specialist David Alkema
- Technician Third Class Eddie Roebuck
- Queequeg
- Flight Captain Halo Jordan
- Medical Technician Jersey Partridge
- Flight Lieutenant Blade Toto
- Warfighter Specialist Anaconda Taurus
- Flight Captain Ponyboy James
- Flight Lieutenant Paul Ironhorse
- Tactical Lieutenant General Kitaen
- Warfighter Specialist Johnny Rook