The Confederation Handbook (12 page)

The Nyvan star system has
two solid planets and a single gas giant. There is one small asteroid
belt (as yet uninhabited). The star is a G3 type.

There are two solid planets.

The gas giant is Linicus.

Physical
Data

The moon, Almore, is 3,900km
in diameter, and orbits 320,000km out. The tides it produces are
large, and have turned many coastlines into marshland areas.

Nyvan’s year is 372
days long. The planet has 0.91 standard gravity. Planetary rotation
is 24 hours 39 minutes. Axial inclination is 2.2°.

Forty-one percent of the surface is land. There are seven main
continents: Dayall, Kiernan, Fumiko, Mestal, Unarian, Hopeborne, and
Nangkok. The climate is of a standard range, and both Mestal and
Unarian extend into the polar circles. There is considerable volcanic
activity on all continents. The population is 320,000,000.

History

As with all worlds colonized
in the period before ethnic streaming was introduced (pre-New
California 2163), Nyvan has a checkered past. There was a great deal
of conflict between various ethnic groups crammed together in towns
and cities, which on several occasions erupted from mere civil unrest
into armed battles. The last major (global) conflict was the 2257
Land Liberation War, where resentment against Govcentral colonial
governance policy (essentially limiting the land grants and forcing
ethnic integration) and hostility between ethnic groupings compelled
to live together combined into outright rebellion. Attacks on
Govcentral buildings and staff resulted in a complete withdrawal of
Govcentral involvement from the planet. As Nyvan had very little
industrial or technological capability at that time, and certainly
did not have a starship-manufacturing capacity, all contact with
Earth and the rest of the colony worlds ceased for seventeen years.
(The system as a whole was not isolated; the Edenists naturally
maintained contact with their habitats orbiting Linicus.)

During this time there was a massive redistribution of population,
resulting in the formation of twenty-three separate nations. Each of
these new nations was based around a single and separate cultural or
religious ethic. Although the Govcentral administration had tried to
distribute ethnic groups evenly, concentrations invariably arose, and
these formed the nuclei of the emergent nations.

Migration was a constant
feature of Nyvan life for over a decade; it is estimated that over 70
percent of the population ultimately shifted in search of sanctuary.
Initially this was from choice, then, as living conditions and racial
violence worsened, people sought out their own kind in self-defense.
In the latter few years as the nations established themselves, and
very stringent (in some cases virtually fundamentalist) constitutions
were written, racial expulsions, purges, and deportation became
commonplace.

The hardships of this time
were appalling. No modern transport infrastructure existed. Some
continental railway lines were still in use, although they were
inevitably the target for partisan troops. The planes had all been
conscripted and adapted to military functions. Some four-wheel-drive
farm vehicles were in use, but again these proved useful for the
military. People traveling either used horses or walked; even
ocean-going ships were wooden-hulled, and over half of them used
sails rather than technological propulsion. Given that the distances
they had to travel to find a nation of their own ethnic grouping
could be up to half a world away, it is not surprising that an
estimated 4,000,000 died on the journey. All those who moved and
survived had meanwhile lost their homes and farms, and businesses
which had taken their families decades to build.

The enmity engendered by this migration and nation-forming period was
so virulent that to this day it has not abated. Several nations still
do not even consider establishing diplomatic relations. After the
principal phase of migrations finished in 2270, boundary skirmishes
continued to be fought for another 115 years, costing another 750,000
lives.

Today, four major nations
dominate the planet: Isfahan, an Islamic republic; Tonala, a
democratic republic; Nazareth, a Christian republic; and New Georgia,
a federal union.

The circumstances this world
now finds itself in are not favorable—a situation which has
come about entirely because of the multitude of uncooperative nations
it hosts, which is almost unique in today’s Confederation where
most worlds are single-state cultures. It is less developed than 90
percent of Confederation worlds, and its intrinsic nature means it is
likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

Most telling of all, there
is no record of immigration for the last two centuries, while
emigration, typically 50,000 a year, is constant. As only an
estimated 10 percent of the population has the financial or political
ability to buy themselves a ticket off-world, and it is inevitably
the most talented who leave, in doing so, by taking away the very
people (middle-class professionals) most needed to accelerate the
planet’s development, this further reduces the possibility of
Nyvan becoming anything other than a backwater.

Isfahan

With a population of
50,000,000, this is an Islamic culture run entirely by the mullahs
through a conclave. Theirs is not even a token democratic government,
but a highly fundamentalist regime maintaining technology at early
twentieth-century levels—with one exception, weapons, which are
imported. Education is severely limited, and no didactic technology
is allowed. The general population is not allowed to come into
contact with foreigners, nor are foreign nationals allowed entry
apart from company sales agents. Details on conditions outside the
cities are sparse, but it is probable that rural inhabitants know
little of the Confederation at large.

All trade is conducted by
state-appointed representatives; and what little foreign currency is
earned is invariably spent on weapons and medical nanonic packages
for senior mullahs. Isfahan has taken over the entire Nangkok
continent, absorbing three other nations in the process. They regard
Tonala as their principal enemy, and view that nation’s slow
but sure technoindustrial growth as threatening. Of course their own
culture prevents them from matching this kind of advancement; which
means that Tonala, with its starships and strategic-defense
platforms, will always have military superiority, although invasion
and conquest of Isfahan is not a serious option.

Isfahan refuses to
acknowledge the authority of the (moderate) Confederation Islamic
Congress, which in turn regards this nation’s extremist
fundamentalism with considerable embarrassment.

Nazareth

With a population of
47,000,000, this is a pastoral-technology culture. There is in fact a
Parliament, but all the political parties are orthodox Christian in
persuasion, so few new laws are ever passed. Everyday life is very
settled there. The nation occupies the central swath of the Hopeborne
continent, a position which gives it an overall temperate climate.
The land is very fertile, supporting a vast number of small farms.

Again technology is kept to
a minimum, with the exception of medical systems (good Christians
could hardly refuse aid to an injured person). Most of the money
Nazareth’s agricultural exports bring in is spent on importing
advanced medical supplies from the Confederation (the system’s
Edenist habitats are Nazareth’s major trading partners).
Although they permit free access to visitors, their own population is
discouraged from foreign travel, and few would have the financial
resources to do so anyway.

A reasonable road and rail
infrastructure exists, and electricity comes from a mix of
geothermal, tidal, and wind sources. Industrial capacity is modest,
supplying most of the nation’s needs. Little money exists for
imports. The press is reasonably honest, although very parochial.
There is no modern communication net, only a telephone system.

Tonala

With its population of 32,000,000, Tonala occupies two-thirds of the
Dayall continent. Its capital is Harrisburg. Although technically a
democracy, it is firmly run by the Free Union Party, which has been
in power for the last 180 years. Power swings between the wings of
the party, and internal maneuvering decides the leadership. This is
Nyvan’s most industrially advanced nation, although its
socioeconomic index is roughly equivalent to a stage-three colony
planet (one developing an astronautics capability, normally reached
150 years after colonization).

There is a vast disparity of
wealth, with the top 5 percent of income earners leading extremely
luxurious lives. Corruption is rife, with industrial baronies
effectively in charge of the country. It is they who raise money for,
and principally control, Free Union. These companies are desperate to
earn foreign currency, and ensure that little restriction is placed
on military exports, for which there is always a market. Although
Tonala companies hardly build the most sophisticated armaments in the
Confederation, there is a constant demand from semi-legal groups or
various independence movements who need weapons to further their
cause.

Military development
contracts, and national conscription, have ensured that Tonala
possesses the most powerful armed forces on the planet, including a
small strategic-defense capability.

Two asteroids, Kotok and Pringle, were moved into low orbit by the
Opia company. They are being mined for metal and minerals to
supplement planetary reserves, and an astronautics industry is slowly
developing along standard lines. Initial contracts are all heavily
supported by the state, and collaborative ventures are being sought
with major multistellar companies. A commercial starship-maintenance
capability already exists. Some military ship refitting can be
carried out by the industrial stations.

New Georgia

Having a population of only
20,000,000, this is the smallest of the “big fourâ€

The Dorados is a vast, dense
ring system orbiting a red dwarf star, Tunja, which includes 387
large asteroids (>40km diameter) with a near-pure metal content.
Tunja is 235 light-years from Earth. There is no terracompatible
planet in the system. Planetologists believe the Dorados and their
associated belt are the result of a collision between a Mercury-sized
planet and a very large interstellar meteor. Over 200 of the Dorados
are roughly spherical, indicating that they were core magma material
when the collision took place, and subsequently solidified in their
current shape.

The Dorados system has one
gas giant planet and one asteroid belt. The star is a M4 type, a red
dwarf.

The asteroid belt orbits at
a median distance of 40m km from the star.

The gas giant is Duida.

Physical
Data

In order of settlement:

The capital is Mapire, with
a population of 450,000. The total Dorados population is 1,300,000.
All the settled asteroids orbit in a zone 1m km in diameter, near the
inner edge of the belt.

History

The star system was first
explored in 2579, by whom is not known exactly. Both Garissan and
Omutan scout survey ships claimed they were first to discover these
extraordinarily metal-rich asteroids.

The dispute over discovery,
and consequently who had settlement rights, escalated into a war
which ultimately ended in the Garissa genocide, when Omuta launched a
series of antimatter planetbusters at Garissa.

Subsequently, the Confederation Assembly awarded possession and all
rights connected with the Dorados to the Garissan survivors, of which
there were nearly 2,000,000. Some of the survivors moved to the
system; these were mostly the civil servants and other government
officials, along with industrialists and financiers. They formed the
administrative core of the Dorados Development Authority, and opened
the system to Confederation companies wishing to exploit the
tremendous wealth inherent in the asteroids.

The DDA is the civil
government for the entire system (excluding Edenists), collecting
taxes from the industrial manufacturing consortiums, and mineral
extraction royalties from the mining companies. After governmental
costs have been met, all the remaining revenue is annually
distributed on an equal-share basis to the Garissa survivors across
the Confederation. In 2610 this dividend amounted to 38,000
fuseodollars per person.

Given that their development
only began thirty years ago, the progress on the Dorados so far has
been exemplary. The ore is so metal-rich that it barely needs
refining, allowing industrial stations to utilize it directly,
eliminating the costs usually associated with building and operating
refinery stations.

It is the DDA’s stated
policy to develop the Dorados system into the major supplier of
astroengineering alloy in this sector of the Confederation. It is a
policy acknowledged by financial analysts as easily achievable.

A great many multistellar companies have offices and stations in the
Dorados, and expansion is proceeding apace. In all respects this is a
unique system, as no other freshly discovered world or star system is
ever likely to advance its industrial output so quickly. And now that
its viability has been successfully proved, it is attracting a great
many further companies and investors, and expansion is estimated to
rise at a near exponential rate for the next century or so.

Given that the asteroid
settlements are basically company towns, and there is no
terracompatible planet, it is unlikely that civil development will
follow the standard pattern. The DDA has no mandate to hand over
government functions to an elected Parliament at any time in the
future, nor is any such action planned for. However, give that the
Dorados are a Confederation system, workers are granted basic civil
rights. With new generations of children continually being born in
the Dorados, the question of nationality is bound to rise at some
time, and this issue is likely to prove a thorny one. The Garissa
survivors are unlikely to relinquish their authority (and the income
derived from it), and indeed they have a valid case for continuation
of this situation, given their history. But certainly second- or
third-generation asteroid dwellers descended from non-Garissans will
in time be able to put forward an equally valid claim for an
autonomous government. The argument will not be helped by the fact
that these asteroid inhabitants derive from a variety of cultural and
ethnic backgrounds.