Difference between revisions of "Alternates:GC-Places"

Latest revision as of 16:34, 4 March 2013

There are many important and interesting places off-Earth. These are a few of them.

Cislunar

Greenwood is physically much like the version in mainline Fenspace. Socially, it has a much larger population - enough that it qualifies for statehood. After the 2020 census, the Cislunar State^[1] gets congressional representation and Greenwood City becomes the state capital.

Stella Via is a Bernal Sphere, much larger than mainline's Stellvia station. It is part of the Cislunar State of the United States of America.

L3

Grover's Corners

The cabal behind the Grover's Corners started out much as they did in the mainline, launching from West Virginia and giving the US defense establishment a bit of a cardiac problem. Instead of hauling the entire farmstead up though, this time it was a bit more prosaic but just as ambitious haul of a couple big hydroponics modules. People have to eat after all, and somebody ought to be the local greengrocer.

Again much like mainline, the appeal of fresh veggies gave Team GC a lot of trading power in the early years (before the corporations start taking over), enough so that they managed to trade in the original town modules for a nice big Cole sphere habitat, something in the 1200m range.

Most Cole habitats are spun for gravity, which works nicely but only gives you a narrow strip along the spin equator that has a properly "pull."^[2] Team GC, once they've got the bubble, decided to go for broke. They either invested in or invented (which one is still a secret) in darksci environmental technology, with the intent of making not just the interior, but the exterior of the new Grover's Corners habitable. Artificial gravity for both sides, exotic forcefield technology for a nice thick atmosphere surrounding the outside, plus plenty of dirt, water, plants and animals...

By July 2039, the whole asteroidforming project had almost wiped out Grover's Corners available capital - but having a 100% legit Wonder of the System sitting pretty at the Earth-Luna L3 point was totally worth it. Most of the people on "The Corners" live on the outside of the bubble Little Prince-style (the view's nicer) while the actual work of the habitat - the agricultural work - happens on the inside (the climate's easier to manage).

Mars

Venus

The Outer System

Uranus / Oberon

Uranus is a pretty dark world in the visual spectrum; the planet only receives 1/400th the amount of sunlight as Earth, and that’s not a whole hell of a lot. To make matters worse, Uranus’s extreme axial tilt means that entire hemispheres will spend decades cut off from even that much sunlight during the average trip around the sun. In short, there’s not a lot of light unless you bring your own.

Which is what the Fen explorers did.

After the discovery of the Oberon Gate, the Fen built two facilities on the moon. The first naturally was an enclosure designed to support gate operations, anchored around the long, deep box canyon in which the gate was first found. The second was Stratford-upon-Oberon, a settlement which was intended to support the gate facility, sited twenty kilometers down the canyon and up on the edge of the cliff for security’s sake.

Stratford is built out of a combination of large domes and spindly freestanding towers connected by walkways. It’s earned the nickname “Lantern City” because the permanent settlers in a fit of quirkiness have largely embraced the darkness of the Uranian system. Only a few areas in Stratford have full Earthlike illumination, mostly agricultural domes as well as a few small park zones for psychological reasons. Everywhere else, the city is lit by small individual streetlights, building lights, neon signs etc. In the dim light of the sun, the effect shrouds Stratford in a twilit haze.

The city of Stratford-upon-Oberon has roughly 40,000 permanent residents, with as many as 150,000 transient residents at any one time. Most business involves the gate, of course, but helium mining is also a major industry (Uranus’s atmosphere being far less turbulent that Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune) as well as scientific studies of the Uranian system itself. City defenses are under Convention Security jurisdiction, and have a “shoot first, sift the debris for answers” policy regarding unauthorized approaches towards the gate exclusion zone.

Elsewhere

Grand Central

Warm Martian world roughly 550 light years from Sol, notable for having a gate address database of roughly 125,000 separate addresses. The major point of gatecrashing activity in Fenspace. (Oberon)

Tellus Secundus

An exact duplicate of the planet Earth orbiting a similar G2 star an uncertain number of light years away from Sol. The gate itself is on the duplicate's copy of Luna. Secundus apparently underwent a severe asteroid bombardment in the 1870s local time resulting in global climate shifts. The planet is still under investigation. (Grand Central)

Strangelove

A post-apocalyptic Gaian world where the residents nuked themselves into oblivion roughly 2,500 - 3,000 years ago, taking most of the biosphere with them. Important due to the discovery of the Great What, otherwise of marginal value. (Grand Central)

New Cornwall

Mercurian rockball in orbit around a mostly-dead white dwarf star. The Convention set up metals mining facilities to support Solward industries. (Oberon)

Nevermore

Gaian world with extensive ruins of an alien civilization dating roughly 65,000 years BP. (Oberon)

Hyboria

Gaian world in orbit around Delta Pavonis, extensive glaciation but quite pleasant at the tropical latitudes. Best known as the closest gate location to Sol and the largest Fen colony in the Weave. (Oberon)

Fiddler's Green

Gaian world in orbit around Zeta 1 Reticuli. The gate only connects to Oberon and Hyboria, creating the Local Triangle. (Oberon)

Shanxi

Martian world with a small preserved Strangelovian outpost near the gate. Originally thought to be non-human in origin. (Strangelove / Oberon)

Polyphemus

Gate emplaced on an asteroid (Brinker's Rock) in semi-synchronous orbit around a Jovian world roughly 3 Jupiter masses in size. (Grand Central)

New Grantville

A proto-Venusian world in orbit around a brown dwarf. The thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere traps just enough heat to make the place somewhat livable. (Grand Central)

Bronson Alpha / Bronson Beta

Twin Gaian worlds that orbit a common point roughly 100 km above their surfaces. Tidal forces make each planet into an egg shape, as well as sharing a common atmosphere. (Grand Central)

Dylath-Leen

A post-Gaian world around a blue-white giant, home to some of the oldest alien ruins known (~7,500,000 BP). (Grand Central)

Notes

1. ↑ Which really needs a better name
2. ↑ Yes, we know it's centripedal force, not gravity. You know what we mean.