Stygia – Survivor’s Reach Arriving, the colonists looked on their new world and called it hell. Stygia was a habitable but unpleasant example of the terraformed worlds, lacking a complex water cycle the majority of the surface is desert of scrub. Largely the colonists elected to remain in orbital settlements, living off the rich asteroid belts and shipping those they did not like to the surface. They managed a prosperous stability, took part in radio conversations exchanging ideas, and were the first to achieve hyperspace. Using this, they visited local systems eventually traveling as far as Orion, rescuing a few struggling societies, and planting two colonies – Vebulen and Archen. But the people stranded on Stygia were not idle; they built themselves up, traded, and argued with their space neighbors. Eventually their resentment led to war, shattering the space societies ability to support themselves and reducing the surface to primitive subsistence. Archen – Survivor’s Reach Archen was settled in two waves. The first arrivals found a lush paradise that they named Gardenia where they sought a peaceful farming existence. Since this system was calculated as a prime candidate for a habitable planet, they were forced to fight off or incorporate several groups. But in the end the group interested in simple pastoral life triumphed, and they eventually achieved their quiet, static agricultural world. Industry was exclusively small scale and few technical things were produced. The culture largely approved of this, though some longed for the things their ancestors threw away. The Stygians changed everything. Arriving by hyperspace they renamed the system in honor of their home. Recognizing the world that according to parts of their theology they had been denied they quickly established a presence across the entire sky. Over decades they increasingly dominated the land dwellers. Hearing of the devastation of their parent culture, the Stygians reached lasting compromises with the Gardeners – each would trade materials and permit people to travel freely between their two life styles. With this safety valve, Archen has become a prosperous, stable, and unagressive system. They share considerable trade volume with the better located Vebulen and their optics are viewed as the best in Human Space. ++ Sexuality and reproduction occupy and important role in the Science Fiction thought experiment. Largely we’ve focused on other modifications – bodies and abilities – and left something this basic alone. I’d like to remind you and future players of this part of the tradition, of experiments such as le Guin’s “Left Hand of Darkness,” Brin’s “Glory Seasons,” and Scott’s confusing “Shadow Man.” If one of the NPS makers wants to do real creative work, I’ll swap this one out. Otherwise Gethen is a direct butchery of le Guin’s “Left Hand of Darkness” and her short story “Coming of age in Karhide.” ++ Gethen – Empty Quarter Gethen historians trace their origins back to Home in a union between dissident philosophers interested in how reality effects identity and the Language Group, a section of the WorldGov Communications Ministry dedicated to providing unambiguous communication between Home and the colonies and among the rapidly growing number of cultures at Home. Naturally, both groups became fascinated by the nature and effects of gender. Using Communication resources, the Language Group recruited people for several colonization ventures implementing some of the philosopher’s ideas and sent the expeditions out towards several presumably hospitable systems. Gethen is the only known success of these ventures. The people of Gethen are essentially hermaprodies. The majority of the time they are sexually neutral. But every month they enter a sexually active period during which they become either male or female and are fertile in either mode. This has led to some of the linguistic simplifications that their founders presumably desired. The planet is heavily glaciated with a narrow habitable zone and the people, perhaps as a result, are generally practical. Families are usually large extended affairs. Honor is considered extremely serious. They have a marginal space presence and little interest in travel to or communication with the outside world. The few expeditions there have been politely rebuffed and the Gethen express no interest in trade. Given their distance from most space going systems, people have left them alone. ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
