Now that you have had a chance to look over the Gamba Subsector as origi-
nally rolled, I'll show you the world descriptions I worked out. These are
all in the order that I have them in my notebook, and you'll notice a
tendency for them to get longer as we go on. The order is fairly random,
starting with those that were either more obvious or more in need of expla-
nation. Additional information on the Agricolans will be included in part
3.
THE WORLDS OF THE GAMBA SUBSECTOR:
Madrigal: Most noteworthy features are a dense tainted atmosphere, a
religious dictatorship and an oppressive law level. A combination of the
Puritan and the Soviet Union, and maybe we'll get back to them later...
Agricola: Standard atmosphere water world, with a native population of
mammalian amphibians, plus a human/dolphin colony. The natives are balkan-
ized, with the main source of conflict being over islands which are re-
quired for breeding grounds and technology platforms. Pregnant females and
young children can't swim, so they need boats or islands.
Susato: Dense atmosphere, dry world, governed from Lassus since the Imperi-
um intervened to prevent a global war about ten years ago. The natives are
a minor human race, although there are no known ancient sites on the pla-
net. <future enigma?>
Jenkins: An uninhabited earth-like planet with a tainted atmosphere.
Obviously, whatever the taint is can't be overcome economically with the
use of technology...
Violone: Low tech with a high population and a captive government--this
will need explanation, later...
Canzona: Settled by even more fanatical religious dissidents from Madrigal,
who are split up into groups that can't agree. Potential Amber travel
classification.
Adriano: This world is too good to pass up, so it's a new colony site, and
the population represents the advance survey team presently on the ground.
Motet: An agricultural colony of Madrigal, ruled by a hereditary vice-roy
of some sort.
Weelkes: As mentioned in part 2, Weelkes has been selected by the Gm as the
main ship producing planet for the subsector. So, while there is no com-
mercial shipyard as such, the Weelkes planetary navy is primarily made up
of cargo carrying vessels. In fact, the government of the planet is obvi-
ously a "macro-corporation" and the world will eventually have an "indus-
trial" trade classification.
Brade, Tenor: Mining colonies. Tenor is a rich lanthanum source, closely
guarded by the corporation which runs Weelkes.
Lassus: Since I'd like to have a little bit of an excuse for some reasona-
bly high tech manufacture, I'll declare that Lassus is famous as a robotics
center, and benefits from the output of a large "population" of robotic
factories. Rather Asimovian, crossed with "The People of the Wind" by
Anderson.
Ricercar: X class starport, interdicted because of residual disease contam-
ination. The local ecosystem produced a virulent mutant plague about 200
years ago, shortly after the initial settlement. Survivors were more
resistant, but lost technology for a variety of reasons (to be determined
if necessary later). The current government structure has developed along
bureaucratic/repressive lines because of the need to follow an aggressive
public health/decontamination policy. Survivors were not evacuated for
"public health" reasons.
Baldwyn: Ice-capped, Mars-like planet with all population geared toward
starport services. A few prospectors in outlying pre-fab habitats and the
like...
Simpson: Run from Lassus. A waterworld with detailed exploration still
continuing. There are very few scattered atolls, but interesting groups of
island-sized floating plant clusters (Anyone read "The Demon Breed" by
Schmitz?). The starport is a tethered submersible structure. Like Lassus,
there is extensive use of robotics.
Gibbons: Low tech agricultural planet with population mostly spread over
large ranches and/or farms. Main trading partner is Lassus, but some
higher value luxury goods carried to Agricola, Susato and even Madrigal.
Morley: Mining colony economically dominated by Weelkes. Some farming
around the sea coast, but extensive desalinization facilities (run by
fission--fissionables are the main mining purpose) required for irrigation.
Attaingnant: Icy rockball orbiting a gas giant, inhabited only by tran-
sient freelance miners. Groundside is a bazaar frequented by asteroid
mining teams. Law enforcement is a matter of having bigger lasers and
calling out the posse. Susato is the main recipient of the raw materials.
The mining equipment in the system includes lots of obsolete space junk,
including oddities like Agricolan built and crewed seekers.
Galliard: Built as a research station over a hundred years ago for inves-
tigation of the remains of the largest Ancient site in the subsector. The
families of the highly skilled researchers were themselves a valuable
resource, and the University and naval base are today the main industries.
Abel: Settled about thirty years ago by a dissident group of Agricolans.
The atmospheric taint (whatever it is) is something that bothers the
Agricolans less than it does the humans. Total population is about 20,000,
up from an original group of 10,000. There are fewer than 200 permanent
human residents, mostly associated with the Imperial government.
Fantasia: The starport at Fantasia was completed a few years ago with
Imperial assistance. Fantasia is one of the two colony sites in the sub-
sector being developed by the Imperium (the other being Adriano). It is
rather heavy for Agricolans (1.6 of their G's), but tolerable for them
while they are in the water. Both humans and Agricolans require filters
against the atmospheric taint (excess CO2?), but it is anticipated that
introduction of terran-type vegetation will eventually bring the CO2 levels
down to human/Agricolan standards.
Pavane: Pavane was one of the first worlds settled in the subsector, since
it could support life as is. However, colonization proceeded slowly, since
a more attractive colony site was being developed on Madrigal, and scien-
tific interest was drawn to the Ancient site at Galliard and the native
populations of Susato and Agricola. The conservative culture that the
original colonists brought with them eventually became insular and xenopho-
bic, and stabilized there. At present a growing faction of merchants with
Imperial trade interests is agitating for changes, and are the targets of a
systematic governmental campaign of suppression. The planet's scout base
is fairly isolated, on an island 50km or so off the coast in the main sea.
Potential Amber Zone if guerrilla warfare breaks out. Also a potential
site for arms smuggling adventures.
Lawes: Lawes is a research station with no manufacturing capability,
sustained by occasional chartered flights from Lassus. The subject of the
research is a highly classified Imperial secret, and _no_ reference will be
found in any database. The cover story is that it is a potential lanthanum
mining site, but a close examination of the available data will show that
this is probably not true.
Byrd: Byrd is very similar to Lassus in a planetological sense, and is
currently occupied by a Lassus-based exploration organization. Little of
commercial value has been found, and the current phase of exploration is
expected to end in a few years.
Treble: Treble is a marginal colony world isolated due to its astrographi-
cal position. A group of fifty selected couples settled in 1096, and the
population in 1105 is 323. The scout base consists of a single 100-ton
sized hangar, a permanent staff of five, and a package fuel refiner.
Vielle: Mining operation with an emphasis on fissionables extraction for
export to Fantasia.
Bass: All inhabitants are associated with the scout base, which was estab-
lished to support an extended system survey after the discovery of trace
amounts of long half-life superheavy elements in an asteroid sample in 923.
Periodic mining rushes have occurred when additional deposits have been
identified, but have seldom (never?) been profitable for the miners.
However, the Imperial government doesn't give up...
Bach: Convenient station for Jump-2 traders bound to and from Madrigal.
Not particularly useful otherwise, and basically a one city planet clus-
tered around the starport. A lot of trading company offices and the
like...
Haydn: Haydn remains unsettled due to a combination of unpleasant large
animals and tectonic instability in the temperate regions. Despite the
fact that these problems have ended three previous colonization efforts,
two competing groups are currently attempting to set up colonies. (Madri-
galans and Susatans?)
Pardessus: A mineral rich planet chosen as the site of a self-sustaining
colonization project (with a view toward developing another industrial
planet) by the Imperium about thirty years ago. Lifeless planets have some
advantages when viewed as potential industrial worlds....Much of the popu-
lation is Imperial veterans given shares in the colony as discharge bonus-
es.
Marais: Developed as a companion to Forqueray with an emphasis on industri-
al growth. Not very far along yet.
Forqueray: A reasonably good planet, easier to settle than the others in
the cluster. As a result, it was colonized about 120 years ago. However,
the original constitution tied voting rights to land ownership, and as a
result the has been a split between the landed and the non-landed classes.
Since the planet has a high tech level, and regulation is light, disgrun-
tled non-landed inhabitants have a tendency to emigrate. The pattern of
settlement is large estates with "rental villages" for the landless inter-
spersed. A fair amount of robotic agricultural gear imported from Lassus.
Loosely inspired by Hermes from Poul Anderson's Mirkheim.
Violone: (Again) OK. We'll make this one the inevitable lost colony dating
back to the Rule of Man. Much archaeological work remains to be done
before the history of the planet is firmly established, but it appears that
a planetary nuclear war was fought about 2000 years ago. In the aftermath,
the survivors were reduced to TL0. Recovery to TL3 was achieved by 600,
and cultural stagnation set in. Violone was recontacted by the IISS in
706, and an administrative protectorate established. Import of advanced
technology is strictly forbidden. The atmospheric taint rating is due to
seasonal plant spore problems, which the natives have adapted to be able to
handle. <Sorry, it's allergy season here in the U.S.>
OK. Those are my versions of the worlds. This has gotten long, so I'll
type up some preliminary information on the Scout bases, the Imperial
presence, and the Agricolans tomorrow.
Rob Dean