BD +60°124 — Colonial Office system brief
Abstract
- F6 V star 60.56 light-years from Sol
- One habitable planet: BD +60°124 V ("Margulis")
- Two large airless moons ("Dorion", "Jennifer")
- Tidally locked to the inner moon
- Days 13.23 standard days long
- 14.4 billion population
- Advanced technology.
History
Sigma Boötis was scouted by a SHEP probe in AD 2123, which reported a habitable world to Earth in AD 2183. Settlement rights were bought by the Symbiosis Society, a secular utopist movement whose doctrine involved a society "in keeping with social anthropology". The Symbiosis Society proved enduring enough to maintain settlement rights and a steady stream of migrants with steadily improving technology. A total of 281,694 people migrated to Esbouvier over 202 years.
The first ship arrived in 2246 and the last in 60 PDT. Population reached 100,000 in 2332 and 1 million in 2411. When the last migrants and news of the destruction of Earth arrived in AD 2446 the population was 2,211,000 and growing healthily, and there was a viable industrial base producing solid-state electronics and energy from fission.
Margulis recovered very well from the cessation of migration and imports. There were no major social or political disruptions, and the colony remained intact politically.
Eichberger Spaceways ships came to Esbouvier in 354 PDT, where they discovered a thriving society of 777 million people and its own orbital industries.
Margulis became well-known for combining a very attractive environment and ample room with plentiful resources and an economy capable of producing high-tech comforts. It attracted exiles and opportunists, including a contingent of unscrupulous social engineers from Todos Santos. These insinuated themselves into local power elites and took over the elected government, establishing themselves as an aristocratic clique. Nativist opposition, repressed, developed into an insurgency. Civil war raged from 414 to 459, to the great harm of the economy and the people. It ended with a nativist government in charge. Todos Santos psephologists, social engineers, and so forth were massacred in a purge, also most other Santorinos, many other immigrants, and many of their descendants.
The people of Margulis developed an intense hostility to foreigners, which the government expressed in hostility to the Eichberger Foundation and restrictions on trade through the Formation Wars, even though it had lost nothing by the suppression of "pirate" shipping.
Margulis was represented at the Lunar Conference and was an original signatory of the Treaty of Luna. Its position was and remains firmly in favour of colonies' rights and opposed to democratic tendencies.
Economy
Margulis has an advanced but not innovating economy which does valuable business providing components and materials to an Eichberger Foundation shipyard in orbit around the planet. The degree of competition within the economy is diminishing owing to government policies ostensibly aimed at improving economies of scale, and owing to increases in official bribe-taking. Labour and capital productivity declining, slowly but sensibly.
Most important natural resources and physical capital are owned collectively by clans (of women) and lodges (of men).
Government
Margulis is governed by a bureaucratic hierarchy in which the advancement of qualified subordinates is determined by lot. This is supervised by a randomly-selected assembly of which the chief power is to refuse proposed laws, taxes, and disbursements. The general intransigence of the assembly limits the power of the bureaucracy to grow and meddle.
Imperial relations
Margulis is deeply involved in direct trade with the Empire, supplying spaceship components to an Imperial shipyard in its system. The working relationships between government officials and the Colonial Office, and between Margulian businesses and the Eichberger Foundation are good, but the Senator from Margulis votes with the Colonies' Rights faction and against the Responsible Government faction.
Planetology
Class of primary |
F6 V |
Orbital radius |
1.7 AU |
Diameter |
12 630 km |
Relative density |
1.0 |
Surface gravity |
0.99 g |
Atmosphere |
density
opacity
composition |
[7] normal
[7] average
Earthlike |
Mean temperature |
24 C |
Daily temp. variation |
±36 C |
Ocean cover |
60% |
Incident radiation |
benign |
Habitability index |
1 (paradise) |
Year length |
1.98 standard years
54.6 local days |
Day length |
317.5 hours |
Indigenous life |
primitive |
Sociology
Settlement date |
2246 AD |
Population density |
71.8 p/km2 |
Total population |
1.44 * 109 |
Tech levels |
hard tech
soft tech |
GURPS TL 10 (standard)
GURPS TL 10 (delayed) |
Form of government |
slef-serving bureaucracy |
Settlement structure |
megaplexes |
Law enforcement |
8/10 |
Legal system
- jadversarial system
- juries randomly selected from trained and qualified jurors
- mindwipe for murder, rape, treason, and criminal insanity
- handguns are widely available
- air vehicles are strictly licensed and controlled
Social features:
- strange family structure: women live in lineal "matriclans", men live in adoptive "lodges"
- strange sexual ritual
- marked sex-role differentiation
- clothing indicates clan/lodge affiliations and social mood
- extensive cosmetic body modification is common
- great store is set by physical beauty, which people dress to display
- formal hospitality
- low tolerance for foreign customs
Situation
Prosperous, threatened by corruption and deteriorating regulatory regimes.
Assets
- high economic development
- abundant minerals
- excess carrying capacity
- lucrative business supplying Imperial shipbuilding.
Problems
- official and business corruption
- inefficient bureaucracy
- incipient economic decline
- high-density anomie
- conflict over restrictive sex-roles
Imperial presence
- Class 6 orbital facility spaceport: Chennai
- Major orbital shipyards
- Residential habitats
- Major Residence with a battalion of marines
- 3 battleships, 2 cruiser squadrons, 2 squadrons of orbital defence monitors
- Numerous operatives Naval Intelligence
- Commercial agents of the Eichberger Foundation
Attitude
xenophobic and irritable
Notes
- Polar regions are warm and equable, equatorial zone suffers week-long nights and days.
- Moons "Dorion" and "Jennifer": Dorion is geostationary.
- Clans (women) own real estate, mining, and agriculture. Lodges (men) own maritime resources, commerce….
Cautions
- Treat guests with ceremonious generosity: inhospitable conduct gives grave offence.
- Respect hospitality: misbehaviour by guests gives profound offence.
- Men should visit women's quarters only for sex; women should never visit men's quarters.