[2400AD] Worlds of the League, Part 1
Apr. 4th, 2003 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldHere is the first part. Maps can be found here; the South American Arm and the Beta Aquilae and 61 Cygni sectors will come later.
***
Earth: Homeworld to humans and their offshoot uplifted species and AIs, Earth is a pleasant world. The massive ecological damage suffered during the 20th and 21st centuries has been repaired as best as possible, and the six thousand million inhabitants of Earth enjoy an enviably high standard of living and a central role in astropolitics--Earth remains the most important human-settled world, and the European city of Genève is seat of the League of Nations. (The growing importance of Tirane, Muan Gwi, and Stark in League affairs does not detract from this.) Earth, unlike Muan Gwi, Stark, S'sushina or (presumably) the Pentapod homeworld is not a united planet; rather, it is divided into a dozen major power centres, whether blocs (European Confederation, South Atlantic Community, Trans-Indian Ocean Bloc, Indochinese Federation) or Great Powers (China, Korea, Japan, Australasia, Mexico, West Africa, and others).
Mars: The first world settled in large numbers by humans (and related species), and the first world terraformed by humans, in the three and a half centuries since Mars colonization began Mars has evolved into the third world of humanity and one of the most important worlds of the League, with a population of some 300 million people and an unquestioned dominance of the rich outer Solar System and access to the Cerean diaspora.
Tirane: Alpha Centauri A a is the first Terrestrial-type world settled by humans. The seven colonies founded on Tirane--by the European Confederation, the South Atlantic Community, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Australia, and the Trans-Indian Coalition--have prospered enormously. More than 1.7 billion people live on Tirane, which has evolved into the second homeworld of humanity. Tirane and the Alpha Centauri system are administered by the Conseil planétaire du Tirane, a loose confederation of the different colonies and outposts at Alpha Centauri, but all but a few Cerean outer-system colonies remain linked to their founding nation. A Conseil planétaire du Tirane terraforming program is active at Limbes (Alpha Centauri B c), and a multinational colony is maintained at Chi Draconis in the 61 Cygni Sector.
Inferno: For a century and a half, the Nyotekundu system--formerly known as Wolf 359--was a vital way-station on the French Arm as the intermediate point between Sol and Bessières. However, the introduction of Eber stutterwarp allowed ships equipped with Eber stutterwarp drive to pass directly to Bessières, leaving Nyotekundu a relative backwater. Despite this marginalization--or perhaps because of this marginalization--the mineral-rich planet Inferno has attracted many aggressively transhumanist elements of the Cerean diaspora, which see in this profoundly hostile world a potential seedbed for a radically transformed transhumanity. The League and the major Solar governments maintain embassies on Inferno to watch over the locals.
Bessières: Known in pre-stutterwarp times to human beings as Lalande 21185, Lalande has always suffered for being one stutterwarp interval away from the garden world of Nibelungen. This is unfortunate, since although Bessières lacks a garden world, the abundant planetary system of Bessières (three gas giants with extensive moon systems, two rocky planets outside the life zone, and a Kuiper belt unusually close to Bessières) could provide more than enough resources for a thriving Cerean or pseudo-Cerean civilization. Since the development of Eber stutterwarp drive, Bessières has become a major refueling point, with some pseudo-Cerean settlement by the European Confederation in the moon systems of the three gas giants.
Barnard: Barnard is the gateway to four major sectors of League space: the South Atlantic Arm and the Beta Aquilae Sector to trailing, and the Pacific Arm and 61 Cygni Sector to coreward. Barnard's historic role as a gateway system gives it a small permanent population made up of pseudo-Cerean residents of habitats connected to the fuel stations orbiting the terrestrial planet Barnard's Star a and a dispersed Cerean population in the Kuiper belt.
Sirius: Before Eber stutterwarp, the Sirius system--a binary of a white giant star and a smaller white dwarf companion, with very extensive asteroid belts and some distant gas giants orbiting the pair--was located at the far end of the Mexican finger of the Pacific Arm. Accessible only at great cost after more than twenty stutterwarp intervals, in the generation after the first League automated probe arrived in 2269 only a few long-duration manned missions from Paulo visited the system to maintain an automated outpost. With Eber stutterwarp, in contrast, it lay as far from Sol as Alpha Centauri or Bessières. The subsequent rush of Cerean and pseudo-Cerean settlers to the Sirius system assumed massive proportions, as entire communities flooded the energy- and resource-rich Sirius system. At present, Sirius is home to a thriving system-wide civilization estimated to include more than 100 million residents. Uplifts and non-incorporated AIs form a high proportion of the system's population. Sirius is organized in a loose confederation, which has member-state status in the League.
Nibelungen: Neubayern a is the first terrestrial world colonized exclusively by the European Confederation. When Nibelungen was settled in the 2250s, Germanophone immigrants were prominent owing to a recent baby boom in the German states, and despite substantial immigration by non-Germanophones German remains the dominant language of the system's total population of 140 million people. There are extensive automated mining facilities elsewhere in the Neubayern system, which is a major source of tantalum. The Neubayern system is a member-state of the European Confederation.
Beowulf: Queen Alice's Star b was settled in the 2270's. A prosperous world, Beowulf is divided into two competitive colonial states (Anglophone-majority Alicia, almost entirely human in population, and Francophone Europe Neuve, more transhumanist and xenophilic), both of which have separate member-state status in the European Confederation. Europe Neuve is of note for its native sentient species, the hexapodal Rousseauvians, which has been assigned a reserve occupying most of the southern two-thirds of Europe Neuve; the sparse Rousseauvian population is protected from outside contact by a League protectorate.
Kimanjano: DM +34 2342 a was settled in the 2210's by transhumanist Francophones interested in studying and exploiting the unique non-living amino-acid/RNA ecology of this world. Of the 61 million residents of Kimanjano, two-thirds have been genetically altered to tolerate the substantial methane content of the planetary atmosphere. The gas giants in the outer DM +34 2342 system--Setanne, Nivith, Roubaix, and Lyth--are home to some 300 million people (overwhelmingly squid uplifts, uploads of various sentient species, and AIs) organized in 43 autonomous states, all of which are organized along with Kimanjano in a system federation that has associate member-state status in the European Confederation.
Nous Voila: Beta Comae Berenices c was colonized by the European Confederation beginning in the 2230's, from the start attracting a large number of immigrants from minority European cultures--Egyptian Copts, Syrian Druze, Russian Slavs, French Bretons, and Saxon Sorbs are only some of the more prominent ethnic communities installed on this fertile world. The Kafer War devastated Nous Voila, killing three-quarters of its then-population of 12 million; the current population of the planet has remained stable at 22 million, including large numbers of incorporated AIs, uplifts, Sung, and Muan Gwi attracted by an open immigration policy. Nous Voila is an associated member-state of the European Confederation.
Dunkelheim: DM +36 2993 a was colonized in the 2240's by a mixture of German-speakers, Slavs, and Balts, but in the two generatins after colonization began this mixture gelled into an iconoclastic German-speaking population. Devastated by the Kafer War, Dunkelheim nonetheless recovered quickly, inviting Muan Gwi immigrants to settle on the planet and inviting Cereans to occupy the outer worlds of the DM +36 2993 system in exchange for aid in importing water and organic compounds from the Kuiper belt. Modern Dunkelheim, after eighty years of intensive efforts, is now a relatively more habitable world, though still predominantly desert. Dunkelheim and the Cerean-populated out-system confederation each are associated member-states of the European Confederation.
Hochbaden: The largely Germanophone population of DM+27 2296 a was decimated in the First Kafer War in 2301. The European Confederation decided by the beginning of the Second Kafer War that rather than waste valuable resources in building up such a distant colony, it would sell rights to another power. The Federation of Mars was quick to purchase sovereign rights to the DM+27 2296 system; Hochbaden planet was a perfect match for Mars, while the outlying gas giant moons and Kuiper belt had more than enough volatiles to bring a Martian ecosystem to life. At present, Hochbaden is an energetic Martian frontier, already inhabitable to genetically-modified humans; more than 40 million people (humans, incorporated AIs, Muan Gwi, Sung) live in the DM+27 2296 system, mostly on the planet but including large pseudo-Cerean communities at Sturmwelt and Hoffman.
Aurore: Eta Bootis C c was settled in the 2260's by a mixture of Francophone immigrants, a large Ukrainian diaspora, and America's first interstellar colony. A fierce-fought battleground in the first two Kafer Wars, Aurore nonetheless recovered to a position of some prominence. Now a world of some 65 million people, Aurore gained independence from its colonizing powers early in the 24th century as a loose federation of eight states (three Francophone, two Ukrainian, two American, and one Muan Gwi).
Beta Canum: Before the Kafer War, Beta Canum Venaticorum d as one of the most Earthlike and prosperous colony worlds of the European Confederation. Later misadministration of Beta Canum and neighbouring worlds alienated many, with the utter failure of the Confederation to provide sufficient military aid to defend Beta Canum inciting the secession of Beta Canum and associated worlds to an independent (Pentapod/Muan Gwi-aligned) Interstellar Federation. The original settlers of Beta Canum--Anglophones, Francophones, Germanophones, and Polonophones, each assigned their separate continent--have since been joined by immigrants from the outer worlds of the Federation, and by large Pentapod and uplifted cetacean populations to form a total population of 350 million.
Crater: Henry's Star a is a marginally habitable world, despite efforts by the mainly Anglophoe human population to import water from offworld. Colonized by humans in the 2250's, from the 2310's Crater has attracted many Muan Gwi immigrants; of Crater's current population of 11 million people, eight million are Muan Gwi. Crater remains nonetheless a member-planet of the Federation.
Joi: 61 Ursae Majoris c was a promising Earth-like world, and attracted--like Beta Canum and Nous Voila--large numbers of human immigrants from Earth. By the time that Joi broke with the European Confederation, some nine different nation-states--two Germanophone, three Francophone, two Anglophone, one Polonophone, one Hispanophone, and one a multilingual city-state--had coalesced. Joi's current population of 22 million enjoys very high living standards, though many Joians resent Beta Canum's economic dominance and the growing presence of Beta Canum-based corporations in the outer 61 Ursa Majoris system.
[Kie-Yuma]: Xi Ursae Majoris A a is a pre-Terrestrial world that, owing to the fragility of its native biosphere, has been placed under a protectorate by the Federation. The population of two million (largely humans, incorporated Ais, and Muan Gwi) is confined to a half-dozen domed cities, and concentrates on biological research.
Adlerhorst: Vogelheim a is a world on the frontiers of the Beta Canum Arm. First colonized in the 2210's, over the 23rd century Adlerhorst rapidly developed into a world (by the time of the First Kafer War) with seven million human and incorporated AI inhabitants, most Francophone. In the First Kafer War, hastily-mobilized system defenses only barely managed to defend the system with Muan Gwi support, later advancing to occupy the nearby binary red-dwarf system known as Port-caché to prevent advances behind the rear of the European Arm. Adlerhorst joined the rest of the Beta Canum Arm in seceding from the European Confederation, joining the Interstellar Confederation. Adlerhorst is unique among the Federation's world in being an autonomous interstellar power--Port-caché has remained a territory of the République souverain du Adlerhorst, and the chain of red dwarfs to rimward of Vogelheim have also been annexed. Adlerhorst has promoted Cerean and pseudo-Cerean immigration throughout its domains, including to the planetary surface. Sung biotechnologists have engineered two of Adlerhorst's abundant avian species to sentience.
Muan Gwi: DM+41 2147 b is a dry, desert-like world that is the homeworld of the Muan Gwi species. Other worlds in the ecosphere of this bright G0V star have been ecopoeticized with the help of Pentapod biotechnology, and several ice moons have likewise been transformed (by collaborations between Pentapod biotechnology and Muan Gwi mechanical technologies) to provide oxygen-rich aquatic environments for the Muan Gwi system's Pentapod population. Rich and industrialized, with almost 9 thousand million inhabitants, the Muan Gwi home system ranks alongside Sol, Alpha Centauri, and DM+4 123 as one of the linchpins of the League's economy.
Muan Kwoyen: Before it was ecopoeticized, DM+41 2147 b-I was a dry Mars-sized world entirely lacking in complex life. The joint Pentapod-Muan Gwi effort was the first and most spectacular achievement of the bispecies alliance, and succeeded in implanting a cold- and dry-adapted biosphere perfect for members of the Muan Gwi species. Some 1 200 million Muan Gwi live on the world, with a negligible Pentapod population.
Muan Issler: DM+46 1635 a combines attributes of the Pentapod and Muan Gwi homeworlds--fertile shallow seas cover half of the planet's surface, while flat and relatively dry subtropical continents occupy most of the remainder. Commonly known as Muan Issler, this world--a joint colony, but sovereign in its own right--is home to some three thousand million Muan Gwi and an unspecified number of Pentapod gods and their entourage. Industrialized heavily before the introduction of stutterwarp, since stutterwarp's development Muan Issler has become almost a satellite of Muan Gwi, to the displeasure of many tuhuirs.
Pentapod Homeworld: DM+43 1953 b is homeworld to the Pentapod species. Covered almost entirely by shallow seas, marshes, and low-lying islands, DM+43 1953 b is in many ways mysterious world given the opacity of Pentapod culture, despite the warm welcome given to visitors from elsewhere in the League. The Pentapods have built up an extensive in-system presence over millennia, ecopoeticizing ice moons and establishing stations and colonies deep in their Kuiper belt; this presence has extended, since the acquisition of jump drive in the 2320's, to include more isolated Pentapod colonies near the home system in interstellar space.
Klaxun: DM +417 2611 Ab is the homeworld of the Klaxun. Since 2305, Klaxun has been under a League protectorate aimed at protecting the fragile native sophont species from outside threats. There are surveillance and defense stations in orbit, and some observing teams on the planet surface. There are extensive pseudo-Cerean habitats in the system aimed at supplying vessels passing deeper into the Virginis Sector.
Wolf 433: This red dwarf lacks planets, and is surrounded only by a thin collection of asteroids and comets. It is of note mainly as a refuelling station for ships travelling to Krung Thep. Recent tensions with the Sygmani has caused the Indochinese Union to deploy some military forces in a defensive posture.
Krung Thep: DM+16 2404 a is the first exclusively Indochinese colony world, allotted to the Indochinese Union by the League in 2315. Since Krung Thep's colonization in 2317, however, the Indochinese colony has been plagued by the problems of adapting to Krung Thep's ecology, rich in poisonous heavy metals, from Krung Thep's distance 14 stutterwarp intervals from Sol has also discouraged colonization. More recently, the two million inhabitants of Krung Thep (largely Thai, with smaller Vietnamese, Burmese, and Bengali populations) have begun to fear the possibility of attack by the Sygmani, who resent the Indochinese Union's intrusion into their space.
Arcturus: After the Second Kafer War, the Arcturus system was opened up to civilian use, but the lack of any large planetary bodies hindered exploitation. Most of the million-odd permanent inhabitants of the Arcturus system live in space habitats (often converted from military use), providing fuel and recreation to the crew and passengers of ships passing through to points deeper in the Trans-Arcturus Sector. League militaries retain a substantial unmanned presence here.
DM +18 2776 a: The world Wiseman is a post-garden world, which owing to its extreme age lost much of its atmosphere and nearly all of its water, destroying most of the formerly diverse biosphere on that planet. Following the Second Kafer War, the League coordinated an extensive paleontological mission on Wiseman; plans to ecopoeticize Wiseman have yet to come to fruition, although recently Muan Gwi have shown interest in transforming the world. Wiseman has a small population of a quarter-million people, mainly humans, incorporated AIs, and Muan Gwi.
DM +18 2776 b-2: Long before the First Kafer War, this ice world had been colonized by a reclusive neosquid society in 2271. In the following thirty years, the neosquid jettisoned most of the technology seen as unnecessary for ecopoeticizing the underwater ocean. It came to the notice of the outside world only when the Kafer established a refuelling base on this world; in 2302, neosquid paramilitaries assaulted the base and reestablished contact with the League. Since the First Kafer War, the neosquid of this world have remained isolationist.
New Ceres: In 2308, League and Kafer forces fought a pitched battle in the DM+16 2708 planetary system, a hard-fought League victory. Upon the conclusion of the Second Kafer War, many Cereans migrated directly from Sol to this planetary system. In the 80-odd years since settlement, the New Ceres system has rapidly developed into a prosperous system civilization home to some 80 million entities (humans, uplifts, incorporated AIs).
Terreneuve: DM +19 2881 A b is a virgin world, settled only very lightly by Kafers before the First Kafer War and claimed by humans after the Second Kafer War. Terreneuve was placed under a League mandate and opened up to settlement from hitherto non-starfaring societies; America, Persia, Tamilnad, West Africa, and China all placed colonies on this world, alongside smaller Sung, Muan Gwi, European Confederation, and Korean colonies. Presently 45 million people live on Terreneuve.
Ross 508: This red dwarf planetary system lies less than seven light years from the Kafer homeworlds at Gamma Serpenti, and saw extensive combat between League and Kafer forces in the Second and Third Kafer Wars. Ross 508 is an exclusively military system.
AC+18 1890-112: Like Ross 508, AC+18 1890-112 lies on the route between Gamma Serpenti and League space. There is a small Cerean community of three million people in the moons of the system's unusual gas giant binary, supporting military forces insystem.
New America: DM +24 2786 A b was formerly the homeworld of the Kafer suzerain of Triumphant Destiny, but the Berenices Plague--a lethal virus keyed to kill all organisms with Kafer biochemistry,deployed by vengeful survivors of Nous Voila serving in the European Confederation's military forces--destroyed all Kafer life throughout Triumphant Destiny's domain. After the Second Kafer War, the European Confederation agreed to lend financial and technical aid to American and Indochinese colonial efforts; in 2331, the failure of the Indochinese effort led to the sale of Indochinese rights to America and the transformation of the entire world into an American colony. New America has thrived, in large part because of its open migration policy--automatic citizenship is granted to residents of countries with large English-speaking minorities, as various as Canada, Namibia, Tamilnad, and Oman. New America's 23 million--almost entirely human--are organized in the framework of the State of New America, which includes the outlying systems, all placed under American administration and opened to pseudo-Cerean settlement.
Zhongguo: Lambda Serpenti d, formerly one of the most important Kafer world and the seat of the suzerain Gvah, was devastated in 2311 by the onset of the Berenices Plague; the system's entire Kafer population died within a month of the Plague's deployment. China acquired sovereign rights to Lambda Serpenti d at the end of the Second Kafer War, and has since established (with Japanese, Indochinese, and Mexican assistance) a thriving colonial society of some 11 million people on this pleasant world. Zhongguo is notable for its large population of assimilated incorporated AIs. There are currently efforts to build a network of beanstalks stretching to synchronous orbit, in order to facilitate Zhongguo's plans to import offworld water to aid in the ecopoeticizing of barren desert areas.
[Gh'kang'ah]: Lambda Serpenti e had only a small Kafer population. Since the Second Kafer War, China has led a multinational effort to ecopoeticize this potentially Earth-like world, using supergreenhouse chemicals and orbital mirrors to reflect sunlight to this world. The ecopoesis effort has seen considerable success, establishing an ice-free equatorial zone that is being seeded with Earth life. The two million colonists (mainly Chinese) on this world are organized, like neighbouring Zhongguo, in a self-governing province of China. As Lambda Serpenti lies only 7.8 light years from Gamma Serpenti--just within the range of old-style human stutterwarp, just outside the range of old-style Ylii/Kafer stutterwarp--the Chinese and European Confederation militaries maintain extensive presences on this world's outer moon.
Cold Mountain: Delta Pavonis a is an unusually hostile world populated by aggressive life forms. Nonetheless, Delta Pavonis' central position in the Pacific Arm mandated its settlement by the different starfaring states--Japan, Korea, and Mexico all planted colonies on this world in the 2200's, followed by China in the 2290's and the Sung nation-state of Akcheektoon in the 2310's. The inhospitability of the lowlands forces settlement to be concentrated in the world's high plateaus. Of the Delta Pavonis system's population of 30 million, five million live offworld in assorted habitats associated with the systems' two asteroid belts and in the area of the gas giant Jade Emperor.
JAPANESE FINGER
Daikoku: Beta Hydri b is a fertile garden world that was first settled by Japanese and Koreans in the 2310's. The nascent Korean settlement was overrun in 2331 in a border clash, however, and most of the colonists were relocated to [Chengdu], leaving the world an exclusive Japanese preserve. The Beta Hydri system, with its population of 23 million (almost exclusively Japanese by ethnicity and citizenship, though including many incorporated AIs and uplifts) living in an extrasolar prefecture of Japan. Daikoku is home to extensive Eber ruins; Daikoku was once the farthest colony world of the Ebers, but its Eber population was destroyed and the only Eber on this world are a scattering of pilgrims and researchers from Komoran.
Syuhlahm: Gamma Pavonis d is an ancient Earth-like world some nine thousand million years old. First visited in 2210 by Japanese explorers who proceeded to establish research bases, it was subsequently neglected by the Japanese owing to the world's cool temperatures and metal-poor surface. To Japan's Chinese allies, however, Syuhlahm was a perfect world, and on the centenary of the first Japanese visit to the Gamma Pavonis system sovereignty over the planetary system was formally transferred to the Democratic Republic of China. China has spared no effort in colonizing this world, and now some 17 million Chinese citizens live in Syuhlahm's relatively attractive equatorian zones. Syuhlahm's planetological cycles are slowly dying, as even the world's two relatively massive moons are unable to keep planetological cycles going; Chinese scientists are investigating the possibility of intervening directly.
Syun: Zeta Tucanae a-4 is the largest moon of the Zeta Tucanae system's inner gas giant. Detected in the 21st century, the first probes to arrive in the Zeta Tucanae system confirmed that this world, though a desert world with some small seas in the polar regions, had a dense nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and a rudimentary biosphere related to that of neighbouring [Syuhlahm]. In the 23rd century, Japan and Korea maintained small research installations on Syun's surface, though the Third Korean-Japanese War in 2274 saw Korea's presence on Syun eliminated. In 2311, Japan ceded Syun to China, which (with Japanese and Martian cooperation) set about establishing a colony on Syun, engaging in marginal ecopoeticization to increase the oxygen content of Syun's atmosphere the amount of surface water, genetically engineering the colonists to tolerate dry low-gravity environments. China's Syun colony has grown rapidly, not only because of China's extensive commitment of resources but because of Syun's popularity to the Sung--the low-gravity terrestrial environment of Syun
[Syuhlahm]: Zeta Tucanae b, despite the distinctively modular organization of its biosphere's organisms, is generally a pleasant Earth-like garden world with roughly the same range of climatological and ecological variations as Earth. [] was first colonized by the Japanese in the 2310's, who proceeded to maintain the entire planet as their protectorate. The 25 million people currently resident on [] enjoy a very high standard of living, derived in part from their world's sophisticated biotechnological industry; the principles behind the organization of []'s organisms have been extensively used in 24th century biotechnology and nanotechnology to produce new generations of self-reproducing automatons.
[Heidelsheimat]: Rho Eridani b is a world with unusually low gravity, just under 44% of Earth's. For the Japanese, Rho Eridani b was never a particularly important colony in itself--it was important mainly as a base to support operations in the planetary system of Rho Eridani's companion star DM-56 328 and 82 Eridani. (That the Japanese colony denied the Korean-Mexican colony of [New California] exclusive use of the world was also important.) Following the discovery of the Eber at Komoran, [Heidelsheimat] enjoyed a measure of prosperity as the last human world before Eber space. The modern world has a very large alien population--Komoran Eber immigrants alone now outnumber humans in [New California] by two-to-one, while there is also a large Sung presence. The Pentapods have established their major colonies in the Pacific Arm on this world.
EBER WORLDS
Komoran: Although 82 Eridani d is not the true Eber homeworld, the long history of human contact with the Komoran Eber have privileged the Eber of this system over their Zeti Reticulan brethren. Under League protection since their world's discovery in 2256, the Eber have advanced to a level roughly equivalent to that of early 21st-century Earth thanks to trade with the various semi-sovereign enclaves maintained by various interstellar powers (Korea, Japan, Mexico, China, and the Sung state of Kasiiknoot). The 2312 Komoran War, pitting the sedentary Eber and their human allies against the nomadic Eber, ended with a victory by the sedentary Eber; the nomadic Eber are now confined to reserves.
[]: Zeti Reticuli B c is the true Eber homeworld, but this was only confirmed in 2303 with the arrival of the first human expedition to Zeti Reticuli. The Eber of [] had maintained organized cultures in the three millennia since their civilization-destroying war, but resource shortages and their innate conservatism ensured that their cultures were materially simple and socially conservative, with only a few remnant high-technology artifacts. In the subsequent century, the native Eber of this system have remained conservative despite the growing influence of Komoran Eber and a pseudo-Cerean human/Eber society in the system's Kuiper belt.
INDUS FINGER
[Chengdu]: Epsilon Indi b is the jewel of Korea's interstellar colonial efforts, financed and maintained entirely through Korean efforts. More than 50 million Korean citizens live here; although more than half of [Chengdu]'s are of Dongbei Chinese descent, a dynamic colonial economy helps encourage assimilation to a liberal Korean norm. There is a large Sung expatriate community on [Chengdu], which depends heavily upon trade with the Sung for its current prosperity.
Stark: The ten thousand million Sung living on the Sung homeworld of Stark live on a world that might well be the most technologically advanced in the entire League. The Sung have superbly assimilated the advanced technologies developed by humans and related specieis, and have gone on to make innovations of their own. (Uplifted avian species on a half-dozen worlds owe their existence to curious Sung biotechnicians.) Stark is easily the economic capital of the Pacific Arm, given its large population, immense industry, and sophisticated technology, while Sung offshoot states in the 61 Cygni Sector and the Sung mercantile diaspora spread across the League help integrate the Sung into the fabric of the League.
Home of the Mother: The Sung nation-state of Kasiiknoot co-exists uneasily with the League's protectorate over the Xiang; Kasiiknoot Sung feel constricted by the League's strict regulation of Home of the Mother's environment, and play a disproportionately important role in the Sung presence outside of their home system.
[Van Maanen's Star]: This solitary white dwarf was only of scientific interest until the introduction of Eber stutterwarp, which made it the major Sung jumping-off point into the 61 Cygni Cluster.
[Doris]: The Sung's first extra-system settlement was on DM+20 5046 b, settled in 2293 and known as [Doris]. Later in the 24th century, [Doris] found itself on the far edge of Sung-settled space, away from the main focus of Sung expansion in the 61 Cygni Sector. it has done reasonably well, however,
MEXICAN FINGER
[Dukou]: Epsilon Eridani A a is a young world that might evolve of its own accord into an Earth-like world once Epsilon Eridani A's radiant energy increases with age, but for the time being it is a chill world only minimally habitable in equatorial regions. [Dukou] was colonized by Mexico in the 2230's; most of the colonists were incorporated AIs whose bodies were modified to suit the extreme cold and relatively high gravity of this world, dispatched to support ground-based research and space-based activities. Still dependent on Mexico, [Dukou] became a Mexican state in 2348, and is currently home to some 580 thousand permanent residents.
[Kwantung]: Tau Ceti b is by far the most important Mexican colony world. First settled in 2322, [Kwantung] languished until the 2340s when Mexico offered its non-starfaring allies in North America and Asia immigration quotas in exchange for financial support. Today, only a minority of [Kwantung]'s population is of Mexican origin; descendants of colonists from Canada, Yucatán, Indochina, Salvador, China, and Morocco are some of the more prominent communities. Since 2298, the Tau Ceti planetary system has been fully integrated into the Mexican federation, with five states on [Kwantung] and a further two states in the Tau Ceti planetary system, which has seen extensive pseudo-Cerean settlement.
Montaña: Omicron2 Eridani A b is another Mexican world, colonized since the 2240's. Like [Kwantung], Montaña was opened up to immigrants from Mexican allies; the world's population of 17 million people including large populations of Canadian, Chinese, Indochinese, and Yucatecan descent, with several dozen smaller human and incorporated AI ethnicities along with an estimated 300 thousand cetacean uplifts of various species. This oceanic world is unique in hosting many undersea habitats, which engage in mining, agricultural,and research activities. There is a relatively limited presence in-system, although there are research facilities studying the unusual B-C binary pair some 400 astronomical units from Omicron2 Eridani A.
Nuevo Tejas: First colonized in the 2270's by Mexico, the young world of DM-3 1123 a was bypassed by colonists even after Eber stutterwarp placed Nuevo Tejas only four stutterwarp intervals from Sol: The League interdicts placed on the exploitation of the world's fragile oceanic biosphere, still at the level of simple multicellular organisms, has discouraged settlement. The colony of three million people is concentrated in the major landmass, which has been carefully ecopoeticized.
[Ross 614]: This pair of dim red dwarfs was settled by Mexico in the 2280's in suypport of its Procyon operations; since the introduction of Eber stutterwarp and the consequence bridging of the Sol-Sirius Gap, there has been extensive pseudo-Cerean settlement.
[Paulo]: Procyon A c-II is a world that should not exist: Existing as one half of a binary planet whose halves are evenly matched in size, revolving around Procyon A just inside the star's life zone but sufficiently close to remain in a stable orbit around its primary, possessing a complex biosphere despite its youth that somehow survived the evolution of narby Procyon B into a white dwarf. [Paulo]'s existence puzzled the Mexican explorers who first visited it in the 2280's. Subsequent research suggests that [Paulo] and its co-orbiting planet [Pedro] were moved to their present orbit some 300 thousand years ago and ecopoeticized, like Sygman and i-Sygman in the Beta Virginis planetary system; presumably, whatever civilization ecopoeticized [Paulo] was interrupted before it could work on [Pedro]. A relatively fertile Earth-like world, [Paulo] had received only a half-million colonists (primarily from Mexico, with smaller Canadian and Salvadoran contingents) before the Sirius Gap was bridged by Eber stutterwarp. As the second-closest Earth-like world to Sol (after ony Tirane), [Paulo] received a huge influx of colonists from Sol and Alpha Centauri. Modern [Paulo] is a bustling planet home to some 110 million people; after Mexico renounced its sovereignty over the planet in 2322, [Paulo] was reorganized into a planetary confederation of several dozen semi-sovereign and sovereign member-states. [Paulo]'s rapid development makes it one of humanity's major worlds; already, [Paulo]-based explorers and businesses are reaching out into the Procyon system's hinterland of red and brown dwarves.
observers, while pseudo-Cerean and Cerean settlement is occurring in the Procyon system's abundant asteroid belts.
[Pedro]: Although Procyon A c-I co-orbits Procyon A in with [Paulo], when Mexican explorers reached the Procyon system they found it to be lifeless. In the 2290's, when the Mexican colony was firmly implanted on [Paulo], Mexico organized the formation of the Procyon Coalition, a consortium of the Pacific Arm's starfaring powers which had the aim of ecopoeticizing this barren world. With some fits and starts, the Procyon Coalition's work has proceeded apace; although [Pedro] is not yet an Earth-like world, it now possesses a dense nitrogen-dominated atmosphere, large bodies of open water, and a limited biosphere. [Pedro]'s two million permanent residents are self-governing, but ultimate sovereignty resides with the Procyon Coalition's member-states.
Beta Virginis c-I and c-II: These worlds are the Sygmani homeworlds--Sygman and i-Sygman, respectively. Ecopoeticized three hundred thousand years ago, archeological researches on the Sygmani homeworlds has suggested that the advanced species which ecopoeticized these worlds and transported proto-Neandertals to Syugman used them as a base until their self-destruction. In the course of the Sygmani's rise to interstellar civilization, ecologies on both worlds--never complex to begin with--were disrupted by Sygmani industrial civilizations. Currently, these worlds lie at the heart of the Manler Empire: home to twelve thousand million people between them and supporting a growing interstellar presence, inside the League they would rank in importance alongside any of the other homeworlds.
lub-Sygman: DM+0 2989 a, like Sygman and i-Sygman, was ecopoeticized roughly three hundred thousand years ago, and an Earth-derived biosphere installed. Tidelocked and low-mass, the biosphere has degenerated since ecopoesis into a collection of cold-temperate ecologies in the twilight zone. lub-Sygman (translated, "lesser Sygman") was colonized in the 17th century by a single sublight starship launched four centuries previously by an i-Sygmani federation, but the i-Sygmani settlement failed to thrive and reverted to medieval Earth technological levels and feudal sociopolitical structures. In the 2340's, Manler troop carriers arrived at this world and easily annexed it. Modern-day lub-Sygman is run by a coalition of Beta Virginis-based business conglomerates on the Empire's behalf, with little room for native political life. Many lub-Symani natives have emigrated to vot-Sygman.
vot-Sygman: DM+10 2531 b is the jewel of the Sygmani Empire's interstellar efforts. A notably Earth-like world recently emerged from a global ice age, conditions are perfect for the rapid expansion of Sygmani settlement on vot-Sygman's fertile plains. Already, eight million Sygmani live on this world, which is developing a vibrant agricultural economy to support growing space-based industry. Socioeconomic conditions on vot-Sygman are relatively egalitarian, owing to the lack of any landed estates; most Sygmani are property-owners in their own rights, and their independence from outside authorities has encouraged local magnates to support a liberal and participatory regime unlike on the Sygmani homeworlds or lub-Sygman. There is a small human community on vot-Sygman, mainly of Chinese and American descent.
***
Earth: Homeworld to humans and their offshoot uplifted species and AIs, Earth is a pleasant world. The massive ecological damage suffered during the 20th and 21st centuries has been repaired as best as possible, and the six thousand million inhabitants of Earth enjoy an enviably high standard of living and a central role in astropolitics--Earth remains the most important human-settled world, and the European city of Genève is seat of the League of Nations. (The growing importance of Tirane, Muan Gwi, and Stark in League affairs does not detract from this.) Earth, unlike Muan Gwi, Stark, S'sushina or (presumably) the Pentapod homeworld is not a united planet; rather, it is divided into a dozen major power centres, whether blocs (European Confederation, South Atlantic Community, Trans-Indian Ocean Bloc, Indochinese Federation) or Great Powers (China, Korea, Japan, Australasia, Mexico, West Africa, and others).
Mars: The first world settled in large numbers by humans (and related species), and the first world terraformed by humans, in the three and a half centuries since Mars colonization began Mars has evolved into the third world of humanity and one of the most important worlds of the League, with a population of some 300 million people and an unquestioned dominance of the rich outer Solar System and access to the Cerean diaspora.
Tirane: Alpha Centauri A a is the first Terrestrial-type world settled by humans. The seven colonies founded on Tirane--by the European Confederation, the South Atlantic Community, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Australia, and the Trans-Indian Coalition--have prospered enormously. More than 1.7 billion people live on Tirane, which has evolved into the second homeworld of humanity. Tirane and the Alpha Centauri system are administered by the Conseil planétaire du Tirane, a loose confederation of the different colonies and outposts at Alpha Centauri, but all but a few Cerean outer-system colonies remain linked to their founding nation. A Conseil planétaire du Tirane terraforming program is active at Limbes (Alpha Centauri B c), and a multinational colony is maintained at Chi Draconis in the 61 Cygni Sector.
Inferno: For a century and a half, the Nyotekundu system--formerly known as Wolf 359--was a vital way-station on the French Arm as the intermediate point between Sol and Bessières. However, the introduction of Eber stutterwarp allowed ships equipped with Eber stutterwarp drive to pass directly to Bessières, leaving Nyotekundu a relative backwater. Despite this marginalization--or perhaps because of this marginalization--the mineral-rich planet Inferno has attracted many aggressively transhumanist elements of the Cerean diaspora, which see in this profoundly hostile world a potential seedbed for a radically transformed transhumanity. The League and the major Solar governments maintain embassies on Inferno to watch over the locals.
Bessières: Known in pre-stutterwarp times to human beings as Lalande 21185, Lalande has always suffered for being one stutterwarp interval away from the garden world of Nibelungen. This is unfortunate, since although Bessières lacks a garden world, the abundant planetary system of Bessières (three gas giants with extensive moon systems, two rocky planets outside the life zone, and a Kuiper belt unusually close to Bessières) could provide more than enough resources for a thriving Cerean or pseudo-Cerean civilization. Since the development of Eber stutterwarp drive, Bessières has become a major refueling point, with some pseudo-Cerean settlement by the European Confederation in the moon systems of the three gas giants.
Barnard: Barnard is the gateway to four major sectors of League space: the South Atlantic Arm and the Beta Aquilae Sector to trailing, and the Pacific Arm and 61 Cygni Sector to coreward. Barnard's historic role as a gateway system gives it a small permanent population made up of pseudo-Cerean residents of habitats connected to the fuel stations orbiting the terrestrial planet Barnard's Star a and a dispersed Cerean population in the Kuiper belt.
Sirius: Before Eber stutterwarp, the Sirius system--a binary of a white giant star and a smaller white dwarf companion, with very extensive asteroid belts and some distant gas giants orbiting the pair--was located at the far end of the Mexican finger of the Pacific Arm. Accessible only at great cost after more than twenty stutterwarp intervals, in the generation after the first League automated probe arrived in 2269 only a few long-duration manned missions from Paulo visited the system to maintain an automated outpost. With Eber stutterwarp, in contrast, it lay as far from Sol as Alpha Centauri or Bessières. The subsequent rush of Cerean and pseudo-Cerean settlers to the Sirius system assumed massive proportions, as entire communities flooded the energy- and resource-rich Sirius system. At present, Sirius is home to a thriving system-wide civilization estimated to include more than 100 million residents. Uplifts and non-incorporated AIs form a high proportion of the system's population. Sirius is organized in a loose confederation, which has member-state status in the League.
Nibelungen: Neubayern a is the first terrestrial world colonized exclusively by the European Confederation. When Nibelungen was settled in the 2250s, Germanophone immigrants were prominent owing to a recent baby boom in the German states, and despite substantial immigration by non-Germanophones German remains the dominant language of the system's total population of 140 million people. There are extensive automated mining facilities elsewhere in the Neubayern system, which is a major source of tantalum. The Neubayern system is a member-state of the European Confederation.
Beowulf: Queen Alice's Star b was settled in the 2270's. A prosperous world, Beowulf is divided into two competitive colonial states (Anglophone-majority Alicia, almost entirely human in population, and Francophone Europe Neuve, more transhumanist and xenophilic), both of which have separate member-state status in the European Confederation. Europe Neuve is of note for its native sentient species, the hexapodal Rousseauvians, which has been assigned a reserve occupying most of the southern two-thirds of Europe Neuve; the sparse Rousseauvian population is protected from outside contact by a League protectorate.
Kimanjano: DM +34 2342 a was settled in the 2210's by transhumanist Francophones interested in studying and exploiting the unique non-living amino-acid/RNA ecology of this world. Of the 61 million residents of Kimanjano, two-thirds have been genetically altered to tolerate the substantial methane content of the planetary atmosphere. The gas giants in the outer DM +34 2342 system--Setanne, Nivith, Roubaix, and Lyth--are home to some 300 million people (overwhelmingly squid uplifts, uploads of various sentient species, and AIs) organized in 43 autonomous states, all of which are organized along with Kimanjano in a system federation that has associate member-state status in the European Confederation.
Nous Voila: Beta Comae Berenices c was colonized by the European Confederation beginning in the 2230's, from the start attracting a large number of immigrants from minority European cultures--Egyptian Copts, Syrian Druze, Russian Slavs, French Bretons, and Saxon Sorbs are only some of the more prominent ethnic communities installed on this fertile world. The Kafer War devastated Nous Voila, killing three-quarters of its then-population of 12 million; the current population of the planet has remained stable at 22 million, including large numbers of incorporated AIs, uplifts, Sung, and Muan Gwi attracted by an open immigration policy. Nous Voila is an associated member-state of the European Confederation.
Dunkelheim: DM +36 2993 a was colonized in the 2240's by a mixture of German-speakers, Slavs, and Balts, but in the two generatins after colonization began this mixture gelled into an iconoclastic German-speaking population. Devastated by the Kafer War, Dunkelheim nonetheless recovered quickly, inviting Muan Gwi immigrants to settle on the planet and inviting Cereans to occupy the outer worlds of the DM +36 2993 system in exchange for aid in importing water and organic compounds from the Kuiper belt. Modern Dunkelheim, after eighty years of intensive efforts, is now a relatively more habitable world, though still predominantly desert. Dunkelheim and the Cerean-populated out-system confederation each are associated member-states of the European Confederation.
Hochbaden: The largely Germanophone population of DM+27 2296 a was decimated in the First Kafer War in 2301. The European Confederation decided by the beginning of the Second Kafer War that rather than waste valuable resources in building up such a distant colony, it would sell rights to another power. The Federation of Mars was quick to purchase sovereign rights to the DM+27 2296 system; Hochbaden planet was a perfect match for Mars, while the outlying gas giant moons and Kuiper belt had more than enough volatiles to bring a Martian ecosystem to life. At present, Hochbaden is an energetic Martian frontier, already inhabitable to genetically-modified humans; more than 40 million people (humans, incorporated AIs, Muan Gwi, Sung) live in the DM+27 2296 system, mostly on the planet but including large pseudo-Cerean communities at Sturmwelt and Hoffman.
Aurore: Eta Bootis C c was settled in the 2260's by a mixture of Francophone immigrants, a large Ukrainian diaspora, and America's first interstellar colony. A fierce-fought battleground in the first two Kafer Wars, Aurore nonetheless recovered to a position of some prominence. Now a world of some 65 million people, Aurore gained independence from its colonizing powers early in the 24th century as a loose federation of eight states (three Francophone, two Ukrainian, two American, and one Muan Gwi).
Beta Canum: Before the Kafer War, Beta Canum Venaticorum d as one of the most Earthlike and prosperous colony worlds of the European Confederation. Later misadministration of Beta Canum and neighbouring worlds alienated many, with the utter failure of the Confederation to provide sufficient military aid to defend Beta Canum inciting the secession of Beta Canum and associated worlds to an independent (Pentapod/Muan Gwi-aligned) Interstellar Federation. The original settlers of Beta Canum--Anglophones, Francophones, Germanophones, and Polonophones, each assigned their separate continent--have since been joined by immigrants from the outer worlds of the Federation, and by large Pentapod and uplifted cetacean populations to form a total population of 350 million.
Crater: Henry's Star a is a marginally habitable world, despite efforts by the mainly Anglophoe human population to import water from offworld. Colonized by humans in the 2250's, from the 2310's Crater has attracted many Muan Gwi immigrants; of Crater's current population of 11 million people, eight million are Muan Gwi. Crater remains nonetheless a member-planet of the Federation.
Joi: 61 Ursae Majoris c was a promising Earth-like world, and attracted--like Beta Canum and Nous Voila--large numbers of human immigrants from Earth. By the time that Joi broke with the European Confederation, some nine different nation-states--two Germanophone, three Francophone, two Anglophone, one Polonophone, one Hispanophone, and one a multilingual city-state--had coalesced. Joi's current population of 22 million enjoys very high living standards, though many Joians resent Beta Canum's economic dominance and the growing presence of Beta Canum-based corporations in the outer 61 Ursa Majoris system.
[Kie-Yuma]: Xi Ursae Majoris A a is a pre-Terrestrial world that, owing to the fragility of its native biosphere, has been placed under a protectorate by the Federation. The population of two million (largely humans, incorporated Ais, and Muan Gwi) is confined to a half-dozen domed cities, and concentrates on biological research.
Adlerhorst: Vogelheim a is a world on the frontiers of the Beta Canum Arm. First colonized in the 2210's, over the 23rd century Adlerhorst rapidly developed into a world (by the time of the First Kafer War) with seven million human and incorporated AI inhabitants, most Francophone. In the First Kafer War, hastily-mobilized system defenses only barely managed to defend the system with Muan Gwi support, later advancing to occupy the nearby binary red-dwarf system known as Port-caché to prevent advances behind the rear of the European Arm. Adlerhorst joined the rest of the Beta Canum Arm in seceding from the European Confederation, joining the Interstellar Confederation. Adlerhorst is unique among the Federation's world in being an autonomous interstellar power--Port-caché has remained a territory of the République souverain du Adlerhorst, and the chain of red dwarfs to rimward of Vogelheim have also been annexed. Adlerhorst has promoted Cerean and pseudo-Cerean immigration throughout its domains, including to the planetary surface. Sung biotechnologists have engineered two of Adlerhorst's abundant avian species to sentience.
Muan Gwi: DM+41 2147 b is a dry, desert-like world that is the homeworld of the Muan Gwi species. Other worlds in the ecosphere of this bright G0V star have been ecopoeticized with the help of Pentapod biotechnology, and several ice moons have likewise been transformed (by collaborations between Pentapod biotechnology and Muan Gwi mechanical technologies) to provide oxygen-rich aquatic environments for the Muan Gwi system's Pentapod population. Rich and industrialized, with almost 9 thousand million inhabitants, the Muan Gwi home system ranks alongside Sol, Alpha Centauri, and DM+4 123 as one of the linchpins of the League's economy.
Muan Kwoyen: Before it was ecopoeticized, DM+41 2147 b-I was a dry Mars-sized world entirely lacking in complex life. The joint Pentapod-Muan Gwi effort was the first and most spectacular achievement of the bispecies alliance, and succeeded in implanting a cold- and dry-adapted biosphere perfect for members of the Muan Gwi species. Some 1 200 million Muan Gwi live on the world, with a negligible Pentapod population.
Muan Issler: DM+46 1635 a combines attributes of the Pentapod and Muan Gwi homeworlds--fertile shallow seas cover half of the planet's surface, while flat and relatively dry subtropical continents occupy most of the remainder. Commonly known as Muan Issler, this world--a joint colony, but sovereign in its own right--is home to some three thousand million Muan Gwi and an unspecified number of Pentapod gods and their entourage. Industrialized heavily before the introduction of stutterwarp, since stutterwarp's development Muan Issler has become almost a satellite of Muan Gwi, to the displeasure of many tuhuirs.
Pentapod Homeworld: DM+43 1953 b is homeworld to the Pentapod species. Covered almost entirely by shallow seas, marshes, and low-lying islands, DM+43 1953 b is in many ways mysterious world given the opacity of Pentapod culture, despite the warm welcome given to visitors from elsewhere in the League. The Pentapods have built up an extensive in-system presence over millennia, ecopoeticizing ice moons and establishing stations and colonies deep in their Kuiper belt; this presence has extended, since the acquisition of jump drive in the 2320's, to include more isolated Pentapod colonies near the home system in interstellar space.
Klaxun: DM +417 2611 Ab is the homeworld of the Klaxun. Since 2305, Klaxun has been under a League protectorate aimed at protecting the fragile native sophont species from outside threats. There are surveillance and defense stations in orbit, and some observing teams on the planet surface. There are extensive pseudo-Cerean habitats in the system aimed at supplying vessels passing deeper into the Virginis Sector.
Wolf 433: This red dwarf lacks planets, and is surrounded only by a thin collection of asteroids and comets. It is of note mainly as a refuelling station for ships travelling to Krung Thep. Recent tensions with the Sygmani has caused the Indochinese Union to deploy some military forces in a defensive posture.
Krung Thep: DM+16 2404 a is the first exclusively Indochinese colony world, allotted to the Indochinese Union by the League in 2315. Since Krung Thep's colonization in 2317, however, the Indochinese colony has been plagued by the problems of adapting to Krung Thep's ecology, rich in poisonous heavy metals, from Krung Thep's distance 14 stutterwarp intervals from Sol has also discouraged colonization. More recently, the two million inhabitants of Krung Thep (largely Thai, with smaller Vietnamese, Burmese, and Bengali populations) have begun to fear the possibility of attack by the Sygmani, who resent the Indochinese Union's intrusion into their space.
Arcturus: After the Second Kafer War, the Arcturus system was opened up to civilian use, but the lack of any large planetary bodies hindered exploitation. Most of the million-odd permanent inhabitants of the Arcturus system live in space habitats (often converted from military use), providing fuel and recreation to the crew and passengers of ships passing through to points deeper in the Trans-Arcturus Sector. League militaries retain a substantial unmanned presence here.
DM +18 2776 a: The world Wiseman is a post-garden world, which owing to its extreme age lost much of its atmosphere and nearly all of its water, destroying most of the formerly diverse biosphere on that planet. Following the Second Kafer War, the League coordinated an extensive paleontological mission on Wiseman; plans to ecopoeticize Wiseman have yet to come to fruition, although recently Muan Gwi have shown interest in transforming the world. Wiseman has a small population of a quarter-million people, mainly humans, incorporated AIs, and Muan Gwi.
DM +18 2776 b-2: Long before the First Kafer War, this ice world had been colonized by a reclusive neosquid society in 2271. In the following thirty years, the neosquid jettisoned most of the technology seen as unnecessary for ecopoeticizing the underwater ocean. It came to the notice of the outside world only when the Kafer established a refuelling base on this world; in 2302, neosquid paramilitaries assaulted the base and reestablished contact with the League. Since the First Kafer War, the neosquid of this world have remained isolationist.
New Ceres: In 2308, League and Kafer forces fought a pitched battle in the DM+16 2708 planetary system, a hard-fought League victory. Upon the conclusion of the Second Kafer War, many Cereans migrated directly from Sol to this planetary system. In the 80-odd years since settlement, the New Ceres system has rapidly developed into a prosperous system civilization home to some 80 million entities (humans, uplifts, incorporated AIs).
Terreneuve: DM +19 2881 A b is a virgin world, settled only very lightly by Kafers before the First Kafer War and claimed by humans after the Second Kafer War. Terreneuve was placed under a League mandate and opened up to settlement from hitherto non-starfaring societies; America, Persia, Tamilnad, West Africa, and China all placed colonies on this world, alongside smaller Sung, Muan Gwi, European Confederation, and Korean colonies. Presently 45 million people live on Terreneuve.
Ross 508: This red dwarf planetary system lies less than seven light years from the Kafer homeworlds at Gamma Serpenti, and saw extensive combat between League and Kafer forces in the Second and Third Kafer Wars. Ross 508 is an exclusively military system.
AC+18 1890-112: Like Ross 508, AC+18 1890-112 lies on the route between Gamma Serpenti and League space. There is a small Cerean community of three million people in the moons of the system's unusual gas giant binary, supporting military forces insystem.
New America: DM +24 2786 A b was formerly the homeworld of the Kafer suzerain of Triumphant Destiny, but the Berenices Plague--a lethal virus keyed to kill all organisms with Kafer biochemistry,deployed by vengeful survivors of Nous Voila serving in the European Confederation's military forces--destroyed all Kafer life throughout Triumphant Destiny's domain. After the Second Kafer War, the European Confederation agreed to lend financial and technical aid to American and Indochinese colonial efforts; in 2331, the failure of the Indochinese effort led to the sale of Indochinese rights to America and the transformation of the entire world into an American colony. New America has thrived, in large part because of its open migration policy--automatic citizenship is granted to residents of countries with large English-speaking minorities, as various as Canada, Namibia, Tamilnad, and Oman. New America's 23 million--almost entirely human--are organized in the framework of the State of New America, which includes the outlying systems, all placed under American administration and opened to pseudo-Cerean settlement.
Zhongguo: Lambda Serpenti d, formerly one of the most important Kafer world and the seat of the suzerain Gvah, was devastated in 2311 by the onset of the Berenices Plague; the system's entire Kafer population died within a month of the Plague's deployment. China acquired sovereign rights to Lambda Serpenti d at the end of the Second Kafer War, and has since established (with Japanese, Indochinese, and Mexican assistance) a thriving colonial society of some 11 million people on this pleasant world. Zhongguo is notable for its large population of assimilated incorporated AIs. There are currently efforts to build a network of beanstalks stretching to synchronous orbit, in order to facilitate Zhongguo's plans to import offworld water to aid in the ecopoeticizing of barren desert areas.
[Gh'kang'ah]: Lambda Serpenti e had only a small Kafer population. Since the Second Kafer War, China has led a multinational effort to ecopoeticize this potentially Earth-like world, using supergreenhouse chemicals and orbital mirrors to reflect sunlight to this world. The ecopoesis effort has seen considerable success, establishing an ice-free equatorial zone that is being seeded with Earth life. The two million colonists (mainly Chinese) on this world are organized, like neighbouring Zhongguo, in a self-governing province of China. As Lambda Serpenti lies only 7.8 light years from Gamma Serpenti--just within the range of old-style human stutterwarp, just outside the range of old-style Ylii/Kafer stutterwarp--the Chinese and European Confederation militaries maintain extensive presences on this world's outer moon.
Cold Mountain: Delta Pavonis a is an unusually hostile world populated by aggressive life forms. Nonetheless, Delta Pavonis' central position in the Pacific Arm mandated its settlement by the different starfaring states--Japan, Korea, and Mexico all planted colonies on this world in the 2200's, followed by China in the 2290's and the Sung nation-state of Akcheektoon in the 2310's. The inhospitability of the lowlands forces settlement to be concentrated in the world's high plateaus. Of the Delta Pavonis system's population of 30 million, five million live offworld in assorted habitats associated with the systems' two asteroid belts and in the area of the gas giant Jade Emperor.
JAPANESE FINGER
Daikoku: Beta Hydri b is a fertile garden world that was first settled by Japanese and Koreans in the 2310's. The nascent Korean settlement was overrun in 2331 in a border clash, however, and most of the colonists were relocated to [Chengdu], leaving the world an exclusive Japanese preserve. The Beta Hydri system, with its population of 23 million (almost exclusively Japanese by ethnicity and citizenship, though including many incorporated AIs and uplifts) living in an extrasolar prefecture of Japan. Daikoku is home to extensive Eber ruins; Daikoku was once the farthest colony world of the Ebers, but its Eber population was destroyed and the only Eber on this world are a scattering of pilgrims and researchers from Komoran.
Syuhlahm: Gamma Pavonis d is an ancient Earth-like world some nine thousand million years old. First visited in 2210 by Japanese explorers who proceeded to establish research bases, it was subsequently neglected by the Japanese owing to the world's cool temperatures and metal-poor surface. To Japan's Chinese allies, however, Syuhlahm was a perfect world, and on the centenary of the first Japanese visit to the Gamma Pavonis system sovereignty over the planetary system was formally transferred to the Democratic Republic of China. China has spared no effort in colonizing this world, and now some 17 million Chinese citizens live in Syuhlahm's relatively attractive equatorian zones. Syuhlahm's planetological cycles are slowly dying, as even the world's two relatively massive moons are unable to keep planetological cycles going; Chinese scientists are investigating the possibility of intervening directly.
Syun: Zeta Tucanae a-4 is the largest moon of the Zeta Tucanae system's inner gas giant. Detected in the 21st century, the first probes to arrive in the Zeta Tucanae system confirmed that this world, though a desert world with some small seas in the polar regions, had a dense nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and a rudimentary biosphere related to that of neighbouring [Syuhlahm]. In the 23rd century, Japan and Korea maintained small research installations on Syun's surface, though the Third Korean-Japanese War in 2274 saw Korea's presence on Syun eliminated. In 2311, Japan ceded Syun to China, which (with Japanese and Martian cooperation) set about establishing a colony on Syun, engaging in marginal ecopoeticization to increase the oxygen content of Syun's atmosphere the amount of surface water, genetically engineering the colonists to tolerate dry low-gravity environments. China's Syun colony has grown rapidly, not only because of China's extensive commitment of resources but because of Syun's popularity to the Sung--the low-gravity terrestrial environment of Syun
[Syuhlahm]: Zeta Tucanae b, despite the distinctively modular organization of its biosphere's organisms, is generally a pleasant Earth-like garden world with roughly the same range of climatological and ecological variations as Earth. [] was first colonized by the Japanese in the 2310's, who proceeded to maintain the entire planet as their protectorate. The 25 million people currently resident on [] enjoy a very high standard of living, derived in part from their world's sophisticated biotechnological industry; the principles behind the organization of []'s organisms have been extensively used in 24th century biotechnology and nanotechnology to produce new generations of self-reproducing automatons.
[Heidelsheimat]: Rho Eridani b is a world with unusually low gravity, just under 44% of Earth's. For the Japanese, Rho Eridani b was never a particularly important colony in itself--it was important mainly as a base to support operations in the planetary system of Rho Eridani's companion star DM-56 328 and 82 Eridani. (That the Japanese colony denied the Korean-Mexican colony of [New California] exclusive use of the world was also important.) Following the discovery of the Eber at Komoran, [Heidelsheimat] enjoyed a measure of prosperity as the last human world before Eber space. The modern world has a very large alien population--Komoran Eber immigrants alone now outnumber humans in [New California] by two-to-one, while there is also a large Sung presence. The Pentapods have established their major colonies in the Pacific Arm on this world.
EBER WORLDS
Komoran: Although 82 Eridani d is not the true Eber homeworld, the long history of human contact with the Komoran Eber have privileged the Eber of this system over their Zeti Reticulan brethren. Under League protection since their world's discovery in 2256, the Eber have advanced to a level roughly equivalent to that of early 21st-century Earth thanks to trade with the various semi-sovereign enclaves maintained by various interstellar powers (Korea, Japan, Mexico, China, and the Sung state of Kasiiknoot). The 2312 Komoran War, pitting the sedentary Eber and their human allies against the nomadic Eber, ended with a victory by the sedentary Eber; the nomadic Eber are now confined to reserves.
[]: Zeti Reticuli B c is the true Eber homeworld, but this was only confirmed in 2303 with the arrival of the first human expedition to Zeti Reticuli. The Eber of [] had maintained organized cultures in the three millennia since their civilization-destroying war, but resource shortages and their innate conservatism ensured that their cultures were materially simple and socially conservative, with only a few remnant high-technology artifacts. In the subsequent century, the native Eber of this system have remained conservative despite the growing influence of Komoran Eber and a pseudo-Cerean human/Eber society in the system's Kuiper belt.
INDUS FINGER
[Chengdu]: Epsilon Indi b is the jewel of Korea's interstellar colonial efforts, financed and maintained entirely through Korean efforts. More than 50 million Korean citizens live here; although more than half of [Chengdu]'s are of Dongbei Chinese descent, a dynamic colonial economy helps encourage assimilation to a liberal Korean norm. There is a large Sung expatriate community on [Chengdu], which depends heavily upon trade with the Sung for its current prosperity.
Stark: The ten thousand million Sung living on the Sung homeworld of Stark live on a world that might well be the most technologically advanced in the entire League. The Sung have superbly assimilated the advanced technologies developed by humans and related specieis, and have gone on to make innovations of their own. (Uplifted avian species on a half-dozen worlds owe their existence to curious Sung biotechnicians.) Stark is easily the economic capital of the Pacific Arm, given its large population, immense industry, and sophisticated technology, while Sung offshoot states in the 61 Cygni Sector and the Sung mercantile diaspora spread across the League help integrate the Sung into the fabric of the League.
Home of the Mother: The Sung nation-state of Kasiiknoot co-exists uneasily with the League's protectorate over the Xiang; Kasiiknoot Sung feel constricted by the League's strict regulation of Home of the Mother's environment, and play a disproportionately important role in the Sung presence outside of their home system.
[Van Maanen's Star]: This solitary white dwarf was only of scientific interest until the introduction of Eber stutterwarp, which made it the major Sung jumping-off point into the 61 Cygni Cluster.
[Doris]: The Sung's first extra-system settlement was on DM+20 5046 b, settled in 2293 and known as [Doris]. Later in the 24th century, [Doris] found itself on the far edge of Sung-settled space, away from the main focus of Sung expansion in the 61 Cygni Sector. it has done reasonably well, however,
MEXICAN FINGER
[Dukou]: Epsilon Eridani A a is a young world that might evolve of its own accord into an Earth-like world once Epsilon Eridani A's radiant energy increases with age, but for the time being it is a chill world only minimally habitable in equatorial regions. [Dukou] was colonized by Mexico in the 2230's; most of the colonists were incorporated AIs whose bodies were modified to suit the extreme cold and relatively high gravity of this world, dispatched to support ground-based research and space-based activities. Still dependent on Mexico, [Dukou] became a Mexican state in 2348, and is currently home to some 580 thousand permanent residents.
[Kwantung]: Tau Ceti b is by far the most important Mexican colony world. First settled in 2322, [Kwantung] languished until the 2340s when Mexico offered its non-starfaring allies in North America and Asia immigration quotas in exchange for financial support. Today, only a minority of [Kwantung]'s population is of Mexican origin; descendants of colonists from Canada, Yucatán, Indochina, Salvador, China, and Morocco are some of the more prominent communities. Since 2298, the Tau Ceti planetary system has been fully integrated into the Mexican federation, with five states on [Kwantung] and a further two states in the Tau Ceti planetary system, which has seen extensive pseudo-Cerean settlement.
Montaña: Omicron2 Eridani A b is another Mexican world, colonized since the 2240's. Like [Kwantung], Montaña was opened up to immigrants from Mexican allies; the world's population of 17 million people including large populations of Canadian, Chinese, Indochinese, and Yucatecan descent, with several dozen smaller human and incorporated AI ethnicities along with an estimated 300 thousand cetacean uplifts of various species. This oceanic world is unique in hosting many undersea habitats, which engage in mining, agricultural,and research activities. There is a relatively limited presence in-system, although there are research facilities studying the unusual B-C binary pair some 400 astronomical units from Omicron2 Eridani A.
Nuevo Tejas: First colonized in the 2270's by Mexico, the young world of DM-3 1123 a was bypassed by colonists even after Eber stutterwarp placed Nuevo Tejas only four stutterwarp intervals from Sol: The League interdicts placed on the exploitation of the world's fragile oceanic biosphere, still at the level of simple multicellular organisms, has discouraged settlement. The colony of three million people is concentrated in the major landmass, which has been carefully ecopoeticized.
[Ross 614]: This pair of dim red dwarfs was settled by Mexico in the 2280's in suypport of its Procyon operations; since the introduction of Eber stutterwarp and the consequence bridging of the Sol-Sirius Gap, there has been extensive pseudo-Cerean settlement.
[Paulo]: Procyon A c-II is a world that should not exist: Existing as one half of a binary planet whose halves are evenly matched in size, revolving around Procyon A just inside the star's life zone but sufficiently close to remain in a stable orbit around its primary, possessing a complex biosphere despite its youth that somehow survived the evolution of narby Procyon B into a white dwarf. [Paulo]'s existence puzzled the Mexican explorers who first visited it in the 2280's. Subsequent research suggests that [Paulo] and its co-orbiting planet [Pedro] were moved to their present orbit some 300 thousand years ago and ecopoeticized, like Sygman and i-Sygman in the Beta Virginis planetary system; presumably, whatever civilization ecopoeticized [Paulo] was interrupted before it could work on [Pedro]. A relatively fertile Earth-like world, [Paulo] had received only a half-million colonists (primarily from Mexico, with smaller Canadian and Salvadoran contingents) before the Sirius Gap was bridged by Eber stutterwarp. As the second-closest Earth-like world to Sol (after ony Tirane), [Paulo] received a huge influx of colonists from Sol and Alpha Centauri. Modern [Paulo] is a bustling planet home to some 110 million people; after Mexico renounced its sovereignty over the planet in 2322, [Paulo] was reorganized into a planetary confederation of several dozen semi-sovereign and sovereign member-states. [Paulo]'s rapid development makes it one of humanity's major worlds; already, [Paulo]-based explorers and businesses are reaching out into the Procyon system's hinterland of red and brown dwarves.
observers, while pseudo-Cerean and Cerean settlement is occurring in the Procyon system's abundant asteroid belts.
[Pedro]: Although Procyon A c-I co-orbits Procyon A in with [Paulo], when Mexican explorers reached the Procyon system they found it to be lifeless. In the 2290's, when the Mexican colony was firmly implanted on [Paulo], Mexico organized the formation of the Procyon Coalition, a consortium of the Pacific Arm's starfaring powers which had the aim of ecopoeticizing this barren world. With some fits and starts, the Procyon Coalition's work has proceeded apace; although [Pedro] is not yet an Earth-like world, it now possesses a dense nitrogen-dominated atmosphere, large bodies of open water, and a limited biosphere. [Pedro]'s two million permanent residents are self-governing, but ultimate sovereignty resides with the Procyon Coalition's member-states.
Beta Virginis c-I and c-II: These worlds are the Sygmani homeworlds--Sygman and i-Sygman, respectively. Ecopoeticized three hundred thousand years ago, archeological researches on the Sygmani homeworlds has suggested that the advanced species which ecopoeticized these worlds and transported proto-Neandertals to Syugman used them as a base until their self-destruction. In the course of the Sygmani's rise to interstellar civilization, ecologies on both worlds--never complex to begin with--were disrupted by Sygmani industrial civilizations. Currently, these worlds lie at the heart of the Manler Empire: home to twelve thousand million people between them and supporting a growing interstellar presence, inside the League they would rank in importance alongside any of the other homeworlds.
lub-Sygman: DM+0 2989 a, like Sygman and i-Sygman, was ecopoeticized roughly three hundred thousand years ago, and an Earth-derived biosphere installed. Tidelocked and low-mass, the biosphere has degenerated since ecopoesis into a collection of cold-temperate ecologies in the twilight zone. lub-Sygman (translated, "lesser Sygman") was colonized in the 17th century by a single sublight starship launched four centuries previously by an i-Sygmani federation, but the i-Sygmani settlement failed to thrive and reverted to medieval Earth technological levels and feudal sociopolitical structures. In the 2340's, Manler troop carriers arrived at this world and easily annexed it. Modern-day lub-Sygman is run by a coalition of Beta Virginis-based business conglomerates on the Empire's behalf, with little room for native political life. Many lub-Symani natives have emigrated to vot-Sygman.
vot-Sygman: DM+10 2531 b is the jewel of the Sygmani Empire's interstellar efforts. A notably Earth-like world recently emerged from a global ice age, conditions are perfect for the rapid expansion of Sygmani settlement on vot-Sygman's fertile plains. Already, eight million Sygmani live on this world, which is developing a vibrant agricultural economy to support growing space-based industry. Socioeconomic conditions on vot-Sygman are relatively egalitarian, owing to the lack of any landed estates; most Sygmani are property-owners in their own rights, and their independence from outside authorities has encouraged local magnates to support a liberal and participatory regime unlike on the Sygmani homeworlds or lub-Sygman. There is a small human community on vot-Sygman, mainly of Chinese and American descent.
