The Confederation Handbook (10 page)

Michael and the infant Maurice were excommunicated, and banished to
Tranquillity (Michael’s wife, Princess Ginevra, did not
accompany him to Tranquillity but went into exile on Avon, supported
financially by the Saldana family until she died in 2487), and the
habitat was granted to them as a dukedom in perpetuity. In 2440,
Michael declared independence from the Kulu Kingdom, and no attempt
was made by Lukas to reclaim it (possibly a situation planned for by
Michael, since it would have been politically difficult for the King
of Kulu to reclaim a bitek construct, not to mention one owned by his
elder brother). So Michael became known as the Lord of Ruin, a title
Maurice assumed on his father’s death in 2513.

Cut off from the virtually
bottomless funding of the Kulu Corporation and the Royal Treasury,
and alone in a star system with no terracompatible planet, and with
only eight industrial stations, financial expediency became paramount
(certainly in the early years), and the original research project
into the Laymil and their suicide was considerably downgraded.
However, Michael went on to establish Tranquillity as an important
trading station, a blackhawk base, outsystem banking center, and tax
haven (see Economy,
page 133
), so
that foreign currency earnings were maintained, which he could then
continue to spend on the research to which he had devoted his life.

The Lords of
Ruin

Michael 2440–2513

Maurice 2513–2601

Ione 2601–

Ione was gestated in 2593,
in a womb-analogue organ similar to those used by voidhawks. Maurice
is known to have had several other children (conceived naturally),
all of whom left home to become Edenists. Maurice wanted to avoid the
situation where several rival candidates would be eligible to control
Tranquillity. But the modified affinity gene he carried (and passed
on to all his children) is also capable of the Edenist general
affinity.

Economy

Michael’s triumph in
making Tranquillity financially viable is a feat almost equal to that
of his celebrated forebear, Richard, which is a fact not overlooked
by historians specializing in the Saldana family.

After the declaration of
independence in 2440, Tranquillity’s population numbered
17,000, consisting of Michael’s personal retainers (who had
remained loyal), the xenoc research staff (only 20 percent remained
after the declaration, the rest going back to Kulu), the cloudscoop
crew, and a skeleton crew manning the industrial stations, plus a few
Royal Navy officers responsible for the strategic-defense platforms
(most of whom had been blacklisted anyway). Turning such a motley
collection of resources and people into a successful mini-nation was
by any standards nothing short of miraculous.

With no outstanding debts on the cloudscoop, Michael offered He3at a
price 10 percent lower than the Edenists, turning Tranquillity into
an important port for starships in that sector of the Confederation.
He wrote a simplified version of the original Kulu constitution,
which was enforced by the habitat consciousness. Such an
Adamist-Edenist culture combination proved popular, especially with
the relaxed banking laws Michael included in his constitution, and so
immigration began. Low taxes and a guaranteed crime-free environment,
as well as the notoriety of Michael himself, helped attract the
wealthy to Tranquillity. The habitat soon began to prosper as a
trading and finance center. Finally he offered Tranquillity as a base
for blackhawk mating flights, an action which turned the habitat into
the premier blackhawk port in the Confederation, eventually
supplanting Valisk. Several prominent astronautics companies have
established industrial stations to support the starships calling at
Tranquillity, and most of the multistellar corporations have offices
inside the habitat.

The Habitat

Tranquillity follows the
structure, general layout, and internal functions of Edenist
habitats; however, at 65km long, and 17km wide, it is the largest so
far germinated in Confederation territory. It orbits 590,000km above
Mirchusko, outside the Ruin Ring, and has the usual band of
starscrapers around the center, 500m long. The cavern climate is
sub-tropical, and there is a circumfluous saltwater reservoir at one
end, 8km wide and 300m deep, with several islands. The central cavern
vegetation is a mixture of many different kinds introduced from
terracompatible planets across the Confederation.

There are two
voidhawk/blackhawk docking ledges on the endcap, with radii of 2.5km
and 5km respectively. The non-rotational spaceport is a disc 4km in
diameter, supported by an axis spindle 3km long; it is powered by
fusion generators, and does not receive electricity from the habitat
induction cables. The maw endcap is orientated to galactic south
(corresponding with Mirchusko’s magnetic field). The population
in 2610 is 3,100,000.

Tranquillity was designed to support 5,000,000 people, so while there
is no need yet for a second habitat above Mirchusko, one will
eventually have to be germinated if its population continues to
expand at the current rate. Since it will have to be funded by the
Lord of Ruin, this notion gives credibility to the considerable
speculation of a new Saldana dynasty arising there.

Habitat
Consciousness

This is the principal
difference between Tranquillity and an Edenist habitat. While able to
communicate with Edenists using affinity, the consciousness is
answerable only to the Lord of Ruin himself. There is no multiplicity
since, on dying, the Lords of Ruin choose not to transfer their
memories into the neural strata, nor will the personality accept the
memories of dying Edenists (though it will store them for retrieval
by voidhawks should an Edenist die while resident). It is a singleton
mentality.

As with Edenist habitats,
the personality provides the civil administration and financial
service, and in these respects is incorruptible. However, as the
inhabitants are not Edenists, a physical security construct has been
included in the habitat servitor genealogy. The personality, in
conjunction with the Lord of Ruin, is reasonably tolerant of wayward
human behavior, but comes down hard on major transgressions. The
habitat contains a great number of rich immigrés essential to
the economy, and their peace of mind is paramount.

The
Tranquillity Sergeants

The sergeants act as a police force for the habitat personality,
enforcing the law. They are not individually sentient, but are
controlled by the habitat personality, and their brains are forms of
bitek processor circuitry enabling them to perform simple functions
such as patrolling and observing without constant supervision. They
are also responsive to the Lord of Ruin, who can use his or her
affinity to direct them, but they do not receive affinity commands
from Edenists.

Sergeants are humanoid bitek
constructs, 2m tall with a reddish-brown exoskeleton, their joints
covered by segmented rings allowing limbs full articulation. Their
heads have a sculpted appearance, with the eyes concealed within a
deep horizontal gash for protection. There is a mouth with a hinged
jaw, but no teeth; the nose is a simple oval inlet hole between the
mouth and eye gash; each ear is a hole at the center of a petal
pattern on either side of the head. Their hands have five fingers and
a thumb, enabling them to use any equipment designed for humans.
Their feet have no toes, however. They have the ability to talk,
though individual units simply relay whatever the habitat personality
itself wishes to say, normally informing wrongdoers of which law they
have broken, why they are being arrested, etc.

Sergeants digest a special
protein paste exuded by the habitat food-synthesis organs. They have
no sexual traits, and their eggs are produced inside an ovary organ
within Tranquillity’s servitor facility. The hatchery is
contained in caverns in the southern endcap and, after they hatch
out, sergeants take fifteen months to reach full size, living for
approximately fifty years.

All sergeants are armed with nervejam sticks; projectile or beam
weapons are only issued in times of emergency. Their size and
threatening appearance are often enough in themselves to quell any
disturbances in pubs and clubs.

Tranquillity
Defense

When Michael took control of
Tranquillity, the Royal Kulu Navy left behind seven strategic-defense
platforms, capable of providing close-range cover around the habitat.
The cloudscoop anchor asteroid was protected by its own beam weapons.

Since then the Lords of Ruin
have extensively upgraded the SD platform network as the starship
traffic requirements have expanded. Manufacturing and service
contracts are awarded to astroengineering companies which have local
stations, and Tranquillity is now self-sufficient in its defense
requirements. A 100,000km emergence exclusion zone is in force around
the habitat. Like Edenist habitats, Tranquillity is linked into the
defense net via bitek processors, and runs it without human
intervention (with the exception of the Lord of Ruin). Maintenance is
performed by locally based companies.

The habitat personality also
monitors the Ruin Ring to ensure that starships are not engaged in
illegal scavenging operations. If one is found, then either a
blackhawk will be contracted to intercept, or if the starship jumps
outsystem before interception, a Confederation regional law violation
alert will be issued, empowering national governments and navy
vessels to apprehend the offending ship, with no statute of
limitations.

Blackhawks are usually hired by Tranquillity should any naval-type
action be required (specifically anti-piracy), and a store of combat
wasps is maintained for this purpose. The simple presence of so many
blackhawks in the star system should be deterrence enough to Adamist
starship pirates. The blackhawk captains do show a certain loyalty to
the Lord of Ruin for opening Tranquillity as a base for mating
flights. And, of course, Tranquillity supplies the blackhawks with
the nutrient fluid they digest.

The ring is actually fairly
small in cosmological terms. The main section is a band 3km thick and
70km broad, which orbits 580,000km above Mirchusko. Small particles
extend some 100km either side of the main band, tapering away from
the center. The ring is shepherded by Erinus, orbiting at 583,000km,
which is largely responsible for its stability.

Ring particles are made up
entirely from the debris of the Laymil habitats, which includes shell
sections, soil, ice crystals, petrified vegetation, mummified animal
and Laymil bodies, artifacts, etc. All of the larger particles are
extremely fragile due to vacuum evaporation. Certainly animal or
Laymil bodies cannot be touched without extreme care, and finding an
intact corpse is very rare. It is estimated that this gradual decay
process will abrade all these particles down to sand and dust within
another 3,000 years.

The Laymil

Substantial remains have
been recovered, and a comprehensive picture of Laymil physiology has
been built up. They were a three-gender race, with two males and one
female (two sperm carriers, one egg carrier), but there was some
distinction between the two males. They were trisymmetric, standing
approximately 1.75m high, with three legs, three arms, and three
sensor “heads.â€

Avon is a terracompatible
planet ninety-three light-years from Earth. An ethnic Canadian world,
it was discovered in 2147, and opened for emigration in 2151.

The Avon star system has
five solid planets, and two gas giants, and there is a single
asteroid belt. The star is a G2 type.

There are five solid
planets.

The asteroid belt orbits
between 305m and 470m km from the star.

There are two gas giants.

Physical
Data

Avon has one moon, Nepeta,
3,000km in diameter, with an orbital altitude of 437,000km. It has a
thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, and the surface is lightly cratered.

Avon’s gravity is 0.97
standard. There are eight continents, covering a third of the
surface. Rotation takes 23 hours 32 minutes. The year is 350 days
long, with a leap year every three years. The capital is Regina, with
a population of 8,000,000. The planetary population is 834,000,000.

History

Avon has progressed along almost standard lines. Its first century
saw the dumping of 73,000,000 people there by Earth’s
Govcentral. The economy was essentially agricultural throughout this
time, and it wasn’t until 2230 that real industrial development
began.

The constitution is standard
for a democratic republic. It provides for a Parliament on each
continent, and an overall planetary Parliament with a president. Avon
does not have a state religion. There is an independent judiciary.

In 2271 Avon hosted a summit
for the planetary heads of state, called in response to the
increasing use of antimatter as a weapon, and has served as home to
the Confederation Assembly ever since. There are over 1,500,000
accredited diplomats and their staff, providing a substantial boost
to the local economy. As well as the Assembly compound, the
Confederation Navy has its main headquarters in Trafalgar, orbiting
110,000km above the planet. This asteroid was moved into position by
the Avon government, and handed over in its entirety to the
Confederation. Avon corporate orbital industry stations provide the
systems to maintain the asteroid, and Avon companies performed the
civil engineering work needed to produce the caverns.