ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE: VERANIS (Dyaxor A V) in 2123...

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

Whatever it was that motivated the Thak-Tarak to create a ruby massing over sixty thousand metric tons, it clearly was only half-completed. The entire location has the unmistakable 'look' of a half-finished construction site. It is as if the Thakarians changed their mind in the midst of whatever the project was, and just left the immense disk of artificial ruby sitting in place.

None of the Thakarians or Thakarian-descended Humans remaining on Veranis after the Terrestrian takeover have any idea what the site was meant to be. The people who did know are either deceased, or have long since departed from Veranis, by 2124. A very few of the oldest local Veranisians, mostly living on the other islands of the Archipelago, can remember when the site was under construction. These people were children at the time, and they never knew anything about the why of it all, though they can remember when the Thakarian construction teams suddenly departed the site, leaving it half-done. These people are elderly in 2124, but some living memory of the incident still remains.

While ruby, as such, has little monetary value on Earth or Thakaria, the same is not true of Veranis. Rubies and sapphires (the same basic substance, with different impurities giving different colors) are very, very valuable among most of the cultures of Veranis, including the relatively advanced states of the Northern Continent. The immense mass of high-quality ruby on the island of Nyyshtris remains in place, however, in spite of the theoretical value it would have if it could be removed.

Under the former Thak-Tarak regime, the ruling powers refused to permit anyone to remove anything from Nyyshtris. They would permit visitors, for whatever reason, but not attempts to remove any of the locally valuable ruby material. Their Terrestrian successors have other concerns, but the ruby remains in place even so.

The disk of ruby is surrounded by a thin, but immensely strong, layer of transparent silicate plastic. To remove any of the corundum beneath, one would have to break through this layer, which would require heavy tools or other equipment, or significant paranormal abilities. Trying to crack through with hand tools is simply not practical (though a sequential combination of the right acids and bases might dissolve it away, this would present enormous practical issues).

While visiting the island is allowed, moving heavy equipment in would attract attention, and many people have a vested interest in the artificial ruby mine remaining unmined. For the Terrestrians, it is a desire to avoid further economic disruptions (in a Veranisian economy that is already undergoing tumultuous convulsions). Owners of ruby mines and stockpiles have no desire to see the value of their property undercut. On top of that, those wise enough to remember that there is no guarantee the Thak-Tarak will not eventually regain control of Veranis would rather not earn bad will from that direction.

In practice, of course, even if someone could find a practical way to remove large amounts of the corundum, cut it into gems, and bring it to market, the only result would be to destroy the market. The immense artificial ruby masses in the tens of thousands of tons. More gems could be carved from it than have been mined in all the history of Veranis. Gaining access to the 'treasure' would result in rubies going from precious stones on Veranis to cheap pebbles, not much if any more valuable than they are on Earth or Thakaria.

Still, there are plenty of economically naive people in the Archipelago who know about the site, and dream empty dreams about it.

The Three Power Commission is very interested in the site, not because of the 'value' of the vast ruby disk, but because their intelligence staff would very much like to know just what the Thak-Tarak Thakarians thought they were doing on Nyyshtris. Just what was under construction there? Why did the Thakarians begin the project, and why did they stop? While synthesizing corundum is neither difficult nor expensive for interstellar technology, creating a sixty thousand ton mass of the material in one place is still a major project.

The site is certainly visually striking. When the warm white-golden rays of Dyaxor A fall across the translucent mass of crystal, it blazes with a red fire that is visible for many kilometers across the waters (the site is near the shore of the island). Pictures and holographs of the disk are popular all over Veranis. Even if nobody knows why it exists, it is definitely beautiful.

Nobody seriously believes, though, that the strange structure was created out of aesthetic motivations. The Commission intelligence officers are always trying to find out more, but nobody on Veranis seems to have the requisite information.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

The waters of the Southeastern Archipelago are among the most biologically productive on Veranis. Continental shelf is often richly diverse and productive, being shallow enough for solar energy to penetrate to the bottom, but with plentiful nutrients flowing in from the land and a variety of different niches and environments. The Archipelago is a classic exemplar. Some of the richest fishing waters on Veranis are here, as are mussels and various arthropods, and more than one harvestable, edible sea plant besides the drug-plant for larsh.

These waters are also home to a species of cetacean that is scientifically fascinating to biologists from Earth. In fact, several interesting cetacean species are to be found in the oceans of Veranis, including one, found in the bays and rivers of the Southlands, that appears to be in the process of readapting to land life.

The Archipelagan Dolphin (which is the common colloquial name used by Terrestrians for this particular species) is purely oceanic, and in fact is semi-pelagic, thriving most of the time in the sunlight shallows of the Eastern Archipelago, but known to dive deep into the abyssal waters to the east and south when hunting for food.

The Archipelagan Dolphin is larger than most Terrestrian dolphins, but is definitely of the Family Delphinidae. Genetic analysis indicates that their closest Terrestrian kin are the orcas, but the Archipelagan Dolphin does not much resemble the orca. They are not quite as large, averaging about 4.8 meters in length in adult male specimens, though lengths in exces of five meters are known. Females are actually about the same length as the males, or only slightly less, but are somewhat less massive and muscular. Their coloration (in both sexes) runs toward shades of gray.

The general behavior pattern of the Archpelagan Dolphin is to 'live' and rest and play and interact socially with their conspecifics in the shallow warm waters of the Archipelago. For hunting purposes, though, they are known both to dive deep in the open ocean, preying on various deep-water animals, and also to come inland through rivers and to prey on fish and small animals in the fresh water environment as well.

The Archipelagan Dolphin shows a remarkable tolerance for differing salt levels. They appear to be able to tolerate fresh water almost indefinitely, though they definitely prefer the salty waters of the ocean. In common with their Terrestrian kin, the Archipelagan Dolphin has a well-developed biosonar faculty. In fact, Terrestrian biologists have determined that their natural sonar is substantially more sensitive and developed than their Earthside kin.

(This knowledge helped conceal the greater strangeness of this species for some time.)

The Archipelagan Dolphin is normally found only in the Southeastern Archipelago of the North Continent, or in the deep waters to the east and south of that area. For whatever reason, they have not expanded into what would appear to be suitable environments elsewhere on Veranis, and Archipelagan Dolphins forcibly moved will immediately swim back toward the Archipelago, even if released halfway around the planet. They seem able to function elsewhere with little difficulty, and most of these 'removed' individuals have been observed to eventually return safely to their home waters.

The lifespan of the Archipelagan Dolphin is substantially greater than that of their Terrestrian kin. Natives of the Archipelago report that these dolphins can easily live a century or more, and individuals have been observed to live much longer. The locals have a number of legends about these creatures, such as that they cannot be trapped or held in captivity.

This last is not entirely true, but it is true that they have a tendency to escape from what should be inescapable containment. This too was a clue to their true strangeness.

The thing that makes the Archipelagan Dolphin most unusual is that they are an example of something rare in the natural world: a naturally psionically-active animal species.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

For details about the Archipelagan Dolphin see here: Archipelagan Dolphins.

The Archipelagan Dolphin is found throughout the waters of the Southeastern Archipelago. Relations between the humanoids of the region and the Dolphins have varied considerably from place to place and time to time. Some fishermen detest the Dolphins as competitors for the catch (and effective ones at that), and at times this has been violent. Some pods of Archipelagan Dolphins have become quite adept at removing fish from nets and other fishing methods.

In other parts of the Archipelago, Vertarans and Dolphins have formed working partnerships, with some pods actively herding fish into the nets, in exchange for a share of the catch (and sometimes other tasty tidbits, many Archipelagan Dolphins are very fond of red meat).

In general, though the locals of the islands and the Dolphins have coexisted reasonably well for many thousands of Terrestrian years.

When the Thakarians conquered Veranis, they showed little interest in the Archipelagan Dolphins at first. It was some decades after their initial arrival that a Thakarian scientist realized that these animals had a wild, untrained psionic potential.

Shortly thereafter, Thak-Tarak military personnel began a regular harvest of the creatures. Though the Archipelagan Dolphins had a reputation of being almost impossible to capture, that was when using native Veranisian techniques. [1]

The Thakarians had little difficulty capturing and holding the creatures, taking them alive by the hundreds over the course of several decades. So effective and thorough was the long-term Thakarian capture operation that it significantly reduced the total population in the wild.

Terrestrian naturalists estimate that over a forty (Terrestrian) year period, the Thak-Tarak regime probably captured and removed well over half of the total population of the species. They were mostly taken alive and then removed from Veranis entirely, taken to unknown destinations for unknown purposes.

No Thakarian-descended Human on Veranis knows where the creatures were taken, or for what purpose, or at least, if someone does they do not admit to the knowledge. This is yet another subject the Three Power Commission intelligence staff would like to find more information about.

The removal operations were continuing right up until the Terrestrians took control of Veranis, in approximately 2105. The rate of removal had slowed, if only because there were fewer specimens left in the wild to take, and the remaining wild Dolphins were the precisely those best at evading detection and capture.

Still, Terrestrian naturalists estimate that had this continued, the entire species might have been effectively removed from Veranis, with so few left in the wild as to take the population below the level of reproductive viability, perhaps in no more than another Terrestrian decade or two.

Still, the removal operation was interrupted, and since 2105, the wild population has begun a significant recovery. The species has a relatively modest reproductive rate, being highly k-selected, and Terrestrian naturalists estimate that it might require centuries for the population to completely recover to pre-harvesting levels. They have made a good start, however.

Older locals in the Archipelago, who can remember the time before the Thak-Tarak began to remove the creatures, report that the Dolphins are much 'wilder' now, and far more shy of humanoids in general. The former 'partnerships' to be found here and there in the Archipelago are, for now, a thing of the past.

MORE LATER.


[1] About TL5 just before the arrival of the Thakarians.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

The Southeastern Archipelago covers an enormous area, with many islands, islets, skerries, and the like separated by a wide expanse of flooded continental shelf. As one goes northward, the average depth of the ocean gets ever more shallow, though there are certain deep locations. This is partly because the 'cool spot' in the mantle that led to the flooding of a vast stretch of coastal lowland is in the southern reaches of the Archipelago, and partly because the entire tectonic plate that includes the North Continent is overriding oceanic crust all along the northern edge of the plate.

As the ocean crust subducts, it drives up the land along the northern coasts, producing an ongoing mountain-building episode. Young, steep and rugged mountains are rising all along the northern coast of the North Continent, and even the oceanic crust to the west and east of the North Continent proper is being somewhat uplifted on the southern side of the subduction zone.

As one goes north across the Archipelago, eventually one reaches a continuous stretch of dry land extending from the northeastern corner of the North Continent. The Northeastern Peninsula, as the Terrestrians usually call it, is about one thousand kilometers long along a (roughly) east-west line, and about four hundred kilometers across north-south (roughly). The rising mountain range that spans the North Continent continues along the peninsula, and extends out past it in a last chain of islands.

The Peninsula has a narrow lower region of dry land to the north of the primary mountain range, but region rises in turn to a line of large volcanic cones. This region is relatively young land, formerly a chain of 'island arc' volcanoes recently welded onto the advancing North Continent. Many of these volcanoes are either dormant or still active, and major eruptions have occurred in this chain even in the century or so since the Terrestrians arrived.

(These northern volcanoes could be compared geologically to the Aleutians, or the Cascades, though both comparisons are approximate.)

The North Continent, as a whole, is mostly contained with the Veranisian North Temperate zone, but the mountains of the north coast, and especially the region of the Northeastern Peninsula, brush and sometimes cross the Veranisian Arctic Circle. Some of the highest peaks of the northern mountains are even snowcapped through much or all of the year, a rarity on modern Veranis.

That said, it should be remembered that Veranis was in a 'glacial period' only a few tens of thousands of Terrestrial years ago. Though today only a handful of the highest peaks retain year-round snow, at once time significant (though never anywhere close to as large as those of Earth or Yvarix) glaciers were to be found in these mountains, and ice-related geological features are common throughout the mountain chain.

Veranis has an axial tilt comparable to that of Earth, and thus seasons. Still, the temperature range of the planet is more even than that of Earth. The largest single reason for this is that both poles are covered by the global ocean, and the distribution of land masses is such that ocean currents can easily transport heat around the globe. Away from the highest peaks, even the northern mountain range is usually relatively warm, by Terrestrial standards, even in local winter. The north coast rarely sees winter temperatures below fifty degrees Fahrenheit, save for the higher peaks.

The north magnetic pole of Veranis is currently to be found about five hundred kilometers to the north of the Northeastern Peninsula. Like the magnetic poles of Earth, the magnetic poles of Veranis move around, but they seem to do so more slowly on average. The north magnetic pole has held its approximate current location for Terrestrial centuries, and seems to move no more than a few meters per year on average.

(Also unlike Earth, the geographically north magnetic pole is actually the north magnetic pole, that is, it attracts the southern pole of a magnetic compass.)

The close proximity of the magnetic pole, combined with the heavy outpouring of charged particles from Dyaxor A (which is a spectral class F star, after all) means that the lands around the Northeastern Peninsula routinely experience spectacular auroral displays. The blazing aurorae borealis above the snowcapped volcanic peaks of the Peninsula are among the most popular decorative images on Veranis, and drive a tourist trade in the otherwise inhospitable northern ranges. Even the southern regions of the Peninsula are routinely lit by the aurora (as are the more northern islands of the Archipelago).

While the northern region of the Peninsula are mountainous, the southern side of the Northeast Peninsula is for the most part merely hilly, and the soil is often very fertile. These lands are also well watered at some times of the year, making the southern lands agriculturally viable.

In particular, a wide variety of grapes and some other fruits are routinely grown in this region. These are not, for the most part, exactly the grapes and fruits of Earth, though many are closely akin, they have evolved and adapted to the Veranisian environment. The grapes grown here are adapted to long summer days and mild-to-hot summer temperatures, likewise the apples and pears and other fruits popularly grown here. Some of the crops raised here would seem strange to Terrestrians, having evolved far from their Earthly ancestors over many kiloyears or megayears.

Still, the grapes are enough like their Terrestrian cousins that a very profitable wine industry thrives in the southern reaches of the Northeastern Peninsula. Along with several hundred varieties of grape wine, the region is also known for apple wines and various native berry wines.

Most of the general types of wine familiar to Terrestrians are to be found here, that is, red wines and white wines and so forth, many types of both. One local product is a peculiar blend, a wine made from the blended juices of specific varieties of local red grapes, apples, and pears, and fermented using a specific technique and slowly aged. The result is a purple-reddish sweet wine, with a unique flavor and very strong. It is one of the most expensive wines on Veranis, being slow and difficult to produce (and the producers of the best of it are very proprietary about their techniques), and requiring specific fruits from specific soils and climates.

So popular is this particular wine that it has actually been exported to Earth and Thakaria, though only wealthy connoisseurs can afford the enormous cost associated with interstellar shipping of an already-expensive luxury wine.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

The Northeast Peninsula is a wine-producing region, as mentioned, but there are other grape-growing regions on Veranis. Another fruit grown on the southern side of the Peninsula is rarely seen elsewhere, though. An Anglicization of the native name for this fruit would be 'reshyk'. The closest English translation of the term reshyk would be something close to 'lavafruit'.

In appearance, a wild reshyk fruit is globular, with a thin layer of 'fuzz', and a ripe reshyk is usually red. The wild fruit is rarely much bigger than a grape, growing on a tree that is usually about two meters tall and usually grows in the midst of other types of trees in forest. The local Veranisians, though, have bred literally hundreds of domesticated cultivars from these wild fruits.

A domestic reshyk fruit is usually about eight centimeters in diameter, and is usually smooth-rind and globular. The ripe fruits can be red, blue, orange, yellow, or sometimes off-white, depending on the cultivar. Farmers experiment regularly with hybridization of the various strains, seeking to 'fine tune' the flavors, textures, and aromas.

Genetically, the closest Terrestrian relatives of the reshyk are the peach and the cherry, and Terrestrian naturalists have classified reshyk in the Rosaceae. The most recent common ancestor with the Terrestrial strains is in the deep past, however, at least five to seven megayears ago.

The name 'lavafruit' has a double source. Partly, it is because the plant favors volcanic soils. In modern times, the volcanic activity is focused on the north coast of the Peninsula, but there was extensive volcanism in earlier times on the southern side, some megayears earlier, and there are large areas of volcanically influenced soil on the southern side.

The other reason is the flavor.

The wild reshyk evolved a defense against having the fruit eaten before the seeds were ready. A natural bitterant was incorporated into the newly grown fruit, and then after the bitterant the fruit was suffused with capsaicin. The reshyk plant evolved the ability to generate capsaicin in a case of parallel evolution, it is not closely related to the peppers. As the seeds reached maturity, the ripe fruit would become extremely sweet, to draw animals to eat the fruit and thus spread the seeds.

There is a brief gap just before full ripeness when the flavor of capsaicin and the sweetness of fruit sugars can be tasted together, and this spicy fire is the other source of the name 'lavafruit'.

The capsaicin 'bite' in the wild fruit is intense before ripeness approaches, but fades as the seeds mature, and becomes mild just before full ripeness. A fully, completely ripe wild reshyk has no capsaicin at all, and is quite sweet.

Most of the domesticated reshyk strains attempt to widen the time window when the sweetness and the heat can be tasted together, and different strains also vary the intensity of the heat and the sweetness and the other flavors of the fruit. While the fully ripe fruit is quite edible, and many people enjoy its flavor, it is not all that different from other fruits. Terrestrians sampling the full-ripe fruits tend to compare them to very sweet pears.

The near-ripe-state fruits, though, still have a sharp capsaicin bite, and tend to have a more complex flavor profile along with the heat. The intensity of the heat during the peak time window varies from mild to nearly unbearable, and the texture of the fruits vary from extremely juicy to quite solid. Some cultivars are bred for their juice, others are bred to focus on specific flavors. Some cultivars are bred to create fruits that travel well, but this is difficult because the fruits tend to spoil quickly if picked, and efforts to breed more travel-friendly fruit also tend to make blander fruit.

All reshyk are extremely bitter when the fruit first emerges. They are not poisonous, but few people will willingly consume a reshyk in that stage. When the fruit reaches full size, the bitterness gives way to intense capsaicin heat, even the cultivars that become milder later on have intense heat in this stage. Again, the fruits in this stage are not poisonous, and in fact are nutritious, but few people or animals can stand to eat them.

(Most strains of reshyk in this phase have Scoville ratings above 75,000 in this stage of their development, even those that become very mild later.)

As the fruit nears ripeness, the sugar content grows and the capsaicin in gradually neutralized. Most of the cultivars in their prime phase have Scoville ratings from about 1000 to as much as 15,000, but most run toward the lower end of the range, and as they finish ripening the heat falls off quickly.

It is in this stage that the fruit becomes a valuable luxury product. The most expensive cultivars produce fruit that can command prices equaling the weight of the fruit in gold in the cities of Veranis. Some cultivars produce a hot, sweet juice that can be sold 'as is' or used as the basis for various alcoholic drinks. The precise flavors vary from strain to strain, and aficionados are often passionate about particular strains of the fruit.

The reshyk tree is picky about the soil, temperature, and moisture conditions it thrives within, and it is also slow growing, usually needing three to four Veranisian years to begin setting fruit. Generally the fruit first begins to grow in the early springtime, and it needs most of the long (almost twice the Terrestrian) growing season to reach the stage where the heat and the sweetness reach the balance that makes the fruit so valuable. Altogether it usually needs between eight and eleven Terrestrial months for the fruit to approach a harvestable state, and this stage lasts a short time (weeks at most). The fruit does not age well, which makes reshyk a very seasonal delicacy.

Attempts have been made to create reshyk orchards elsewhere on Veranis, but the conditions within which the tree can thrive are difficult to find away from the Peninsula. A few successful orchards have been created here and there, but only on a very limited scale. The tree is highly adapted to the specific combination of conditions common on the Peninsula.

The large majority of Vertarans find reshyk fruit in its near-ripe stage delicious. Vertarans, as a species, evolved to be slightly more frugivorous than Humans, but many Humans also enjoy the combination of fruity sweetness and capsaicin heat in the fruit. In Humans, though, it tends to be a food that one either really, strongly likes or really, strongly does not.

A few attempts have been made to plant reshyk trees on Earth, but as of 2024, none have been fully successful. The trees will usually grow, if one can find a site with the necessary soil, climate and so forth, but the combination of the short seasons and other specific conditions of Earth have so far defeated all attempts to produce viable fruit.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

Politically, the southern side of the Peninsula is theoretically a single state, populated primarily by the green-eyed racial strain of Vertarans, and linguistically and culturally akin to the peoples of Catakatia and Galantakatia. An Anglicization of the local name of this polity would be something like 'Kythakatia', with the emphasis on the first syllable.

On paper, this state is a hereditary monarchy not unlike its sister states to the southwest, but in practice the authority of the monarch (called a Jarth) is mostly nominal in 2124. Even before the Thakarians conquered Veranis, the real political power in Kythakatia had been passing from the royal family to an organization of major agricultural potentates and the businessmen who serviced their industry.

The Thak-Tarak found it more convenient to deal directly with this agricultural guild, which over the course of a century of Thakarian rule reinforced the de facto power of the guild. By ~2105, the guild was for most practical purposes the real government of Kythakatia, with the Jarth reduced to a ceremonial figurehead. Under the Terrestrian regime that ousted the Thak-Tarak, this state of affairs has mostly continued, but in 2124 the guild is seeing their political and cultural power beginning to erode.

This is less because of any specific policy of the Three Powers, than it is because of the technological changes transforming life across Veranis, and especially in the Northlands. The guild is a centuries-old organization, originally founded to give the large landholders in the Peninsula more voice in the councils of the state. Its power derived from the fact that its members either owned huge swaths of the best, most profitable land in the Peninsula, or controlled trade networks and supply chains that served them. Between the two groups, the guild also was the largest employer in Kythakatia.

In 2124, however, technological changes are disrupting this arrangement. Ancient trade networks are being rearranged almost overnight, new agricultural techniques are rendering many of the services the guild once provided irrelevant, and faster and cheaper transport is providing new customers for the larger farmers, making them less invested in the guild.

In the meantime, new industries and new sources of employment are forcing the guild to compete for labor in a way they never needed to deal with over the previous centuries. Even allowing for the need for specialized training ans skills to do the new jobs, many common men and women are finding new and profitable employment in these jobs, or providing services to those who are doing the new work. Wages are rising, even as margins are narrowing, for the guild organization as a whole.

If the monarchy was in the hands of someone as capable as Sahandar III, this would probably permit the Jarth to reclaim much of the authority his ancestors ceded to the guild. The current Jarth, however, is somewhat lazy and more or less contented with the status quo.

Instead of the old monarchy reviving, new centers of power are emerging in the cities around the new industries. The guild still holds the greatest share of political power in Kythakatia, but new rivals are eroding this hold. What form the government of Kythakatia will take as time passes remains to be seen.

Territorially, Kythakatia traditionally claimed the entire Northeastern Peninsula, but in actual practice, the authority of the state was mostly confined to the southern lowlands. The Kythakatians claim the mountainous northern half, but have rarely ever tried to do much with the region. Under the Thakarians, most of those northern claims were allowed to lapse, in fact if not technically in name. For the most part, the Thak-Tarak controlled the northern half of the Peninsula directly de facto, and the Terrestrians now do the same.

On the northern half of the Peninsula, there is a lowland gap between the primary northern mountain range, and the chain of huge volcanoes that line the northern coast of the Peninsula. This is a geologically young region, produced when a 'back arc basin' emerged between the Peninsula and what was originally a chain of volcanic islands emerging off the northern coast. Later, the back-arc collapsed, and sediment filled the ocean trough, even as the renewed northward motion of the Peninsula caught up to the islands, welding them onto the main mass of the land.

What population is to be found in this region of the Peninsula mostly lives in th is lowland area. Several small towns are to be found in this long valley, and unlike the population to the south, there is a substantial subpopulation of the blue-eyed racial strain to be found here, descendants of the earlier inhabitants of the remote region. Traditionally, these small towns and villages lived mostly by hunting and fishing and limited agriculture during the long summer.

In 2124, tourism has been added to the mix, as the huge volcanoes to the north, and the lovely auroral displays, have become popular draws.

There is also a newly-constructed scientific research center to be found in the largest town in the valley, staffed by a mixture of Terrestrian geologists and newly-minted Catakatian geologists trained by the Royal Technical Institute. Their primarily mission is the study of the volcanic activity and underlying geology of the region.

This town is the metropolis of the lowland valley, with a year-round population of about six thousand people. Other than some of the science staff in the research center, almost all of the population is Vertaran. This town is also possessed of one of the only good harbors on the north side of the Peninsula.

Directly to the south likes the largest single volcano of the chain. About twenty kilometers from the town, it rises majestically to a height of over six kilometers. So tall is this giant that even on Veranis, it remains snow-capped throughout the year. It is also one of most 'picturesque' of the volcanoes, with a relatively symmetrical cone.

Though snow endures on the high peaks, the lands below are relatively mild. Veranis is warm enough overall that even here, at the arctic circle, temperatures are rarely worse than chilly even in winter, and in fact are quite mild (by Terrestrian standards) in the summer.

The next volcano in the chain to the east is only about four kilometers tall, and it lies about seventy kilometers away. Between the two peaks lies a bay, which reaches well into the lowlands behind the volcanoes, and partly explains the population of the largest town. Good harbors are few and far between on the north coast of the Northern Continent, and especially on the Peninsula. This harbor permits a modest ocean fishing industry to thrive here.

The giant peak to the south is actually regularly active, but a quirk of the local land has directed most of that activity to the north, along the ocean-facing side. Only rarely does eruptive activity affect land to the south. Even so, the geologists are acutely aware that mountain could, at any given time, devastate the entire region, if a major eruption blasted southward. It has certainly happened repeatedly over geological time.

The harbor is valuable because it permits a fishing industry to exist, and it makes it easier for ships carrying passengers and supplies to come in from the south. It would be more valuable still, given the rarity of good harbors on the north coast, except that there is little land to the north and little economic activity that would use such harbors.

To the north of the Northlands, open ocean stretches out across the north polar region, and beyond it into the vast open seas of the Farside of Veranis.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

Veranis is so arranged, geographically, that almost all the major land is on one hemisphere of the planet. All five of the major continents occupy one hemisphere, which Terrestrians tend to call Landside. The other hemisphere is mostly open ocean, broken only by scattered chains of hot spot islands, and two (somewhat) larger microcontinents. Terrestrians tend to refer to this hemisphere as either Farside or Oceanside.

Such island-chains are relatively more common on Veranis than Earth, in part because Veranis is younger than Earth. The Dyaxor star system formed about two and a quarter gigayears ago, as opposed to the Sol System, which dates back four and half gigayears. This means that it still has a higher concentration of radioactives than Earth, and its 'iron catastrophe' during planetary formation is more recent. Thus the interior of the planet is relatively hotter than Earth, and Veranis has modestly more volcanic activity.

Still, these hot spot generated chains are scattered and small, in an ocean larger than the Pacific.

Recall that one of the two microcontinents on Farside is Garith, the prison-island described upthread. The other is a relatively less clement land mass, slightly smaller than Great Britain. Garith is located in the northern part of the tropic zone, and is in fact a relatively welcoming place, in terms of climate and soil and moisture. The other island is larger than Garith, but far less pleasant.

This Britain-sized island is called something close to Garshax by the Catakatians, and the Terrestrians accepted the name for their own use.

In the deep geological past, Garith and Garshax were a single microcontinent, but they rifted apart millions of years ago, and plate motion has carried Garshax northward until it lies just south of the arctic circle. The Northern Continent is opposite Garshax on the far side of the pole, but they are separated by thousands of kilometers of open polar ocean. Geologists project that plate motions will eventually weld Garshax onto the North Continent, millions of years in the future, at which time the Northlands will be a polar continent.

Prior to the arrival of the Thakarians, Garith had a small local population already in place, which the Tharkarians forcibly removed. Garshax, on the other hand, was home to no more than a tiny handful of hermits. It was too remote to be useful to the seafaring powers of the North Continent, and had little to offer potential settlers. The climate is poor, the arable soil limited, and much of what useful ore once existed was mined out millennia earlier either by the Lakegrandian civilization or the ancient Vertaran one.

The Thakarians likewise had little use for Garshax.

The Terrestrians, however, have found a use for this remote, essentially uninhabited land mass. In 2124, Garshax is the primary surface military and operations base for the Three Powers on Veranis.

Geographically, Garshax is a roughly triangular land mass, approximately six hundred kilometers on each of three sides, give or take. A long side faces approximately north, and this is the direction of continental motion. Thus the northern side of the island is hilly or mountainous, and in some cases the mountains are high and steep. As with the northern ranges of the Northlands, there are some peaks here that maintain a snow cap throughout the year.

The southern half of the island is a mix of modest rocky hills and some few valleys and lowlands with arable soil. A single relatively large plain exists in the southeastern side of the island, and it is here that most of the population of the island is to be found in 2124.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

The plain in question is roughly circular, or slightly an oval, a little longer east-west. Surrounded by rocky hills, the plain is about one hundred kilometers across, and geologists believe it represents a sunken chunk of crust, with sediments washing in from the surrounding hills making an arable and mostly level plain. To the southeast, the plain touches the sea, through a gap in the hills. The altitude of the hills varies from about two hundred to three hundred meters, and the hills themselves are rocky, with thin surface soil and a granite core surrounded by metamorphic and folded sedimentary rock.

This plain one of the few relatively fertile spots on the rocky, rough island. If the island was slightly further south, so as to receive more rain, this plain might have been forested, and appears to have actually been forested in the relatively recent geological past. In 2124, and throughout known Veranisian history, it has been mostly an expanse of grassland and scrub brush.

In 2125, the Three Powers have divided the plain into three sectors, one for the USA, one for Argentina, and one for Australia, and constructed a common military base near the center, where the sections meet. The base itself is several kilometers across, and likewise divided into three segments, each with its own commanding officer and organization, but sharing resources.

Along with the base proper, there are what amount to three 'towns', one in each sector, which serve in part to house base personnel, and in part to provide temporary accomdations to astronauts whose ships are being serviced or repaired in the spaceyards at Starplex Veranis.

These 'towns' have populations varying with the presence of space crews and other personnel at a given time. The largest is in the American Sector, with a population that rarely dips below ten thousand. The equivalents in the Argentine and Australian Sectors have minimums around five to seven thousand. All three sometimes see temporary population booms when many ships are present at Starplex Veranis.

In some ways, calling these communities 'towns' is a misnomer, because they have no municipal governments or other such institutions, they are purely military facilities. Instead of mayors, they have administrators appointed by the Base Commandants, MPs provide safety and enforce laws and regulations,
and all services are run by the respective militaries or contracted out by those militaries.

Each 'town' has all the accoutrements one would expect, hospitals, MP stations, schools, fire stations, transport systems and entertainment facilities of various sorts, including small but comfortable sports stadium in the American Sector (this is often used by people from the other communities as well). The school system is a hybrid, and it is possible for a student to go all the way to a baccalaureate degree if they stay long enough. Each town has it own school system, run by the respective military administrations, and a small college/university serves all three 'towns' we well. (The actual campus is in the Australian Sector.)

These towns do have substantial civilian populations, however, mostly made up of the families of Base personnel, or people contracted to work for the Base, as well as their families. The 'mood' of these settlements is fairly sedate and 'family friendly' for that reason.

(Which is not to say that less reputable entertainments and 'providers' of such can not be found, just that they are not out in the open.)

While the 'towns' are not technically democracies or republics, and are not formal municipalities, the civilian permanent residents do elect representatives to work with the military administration and advocate for the civilian residents, and most of the time these are not lightly ignored. The base is in a remote location on a foreign world, and morale, both military and civilian, matters.

On the southeastern side of the valley, the hills have a gap several kilometers wide, through which the ocean has flooded in and created a modest bay. The entire plain actually slopes toward this side, though only modestly, and all drainage runs to the southeast. Several small streams cut across the plain and flow into the sea though the gap in the hills.

A substantial 'wet' naval facility exists on this coast as well. This is the primary home dock of what military submarines the Three Powers maintain on Veranis. Beyond the gap in the hills, the ocean washes against modest cliff faces to the north and south of the gap, and military engineers have dug out flooded chambers in the cliff faces to house the submarines.

Surface vessels also dock here on the bay, mostly contracted ships bringing in supplies and other things from the mainland. Some of this is moved in by air, but even in 2125, shipping bulk cargo by sea is substantially cheaper and easier than moving it by air. The dock facilities are among the few places on the island of Garshax where one regularly encounters substantial numbers of Vertarans.

Garshax is the only land mass on Veranis where Humans are in the majority over Vertarans. In fact, over ninety percent of the populace of the island is Terrestrian Human. The enormous majority of those, in turn, are either Americans, Argentines, or Australians. There are a small percentage of Terrestrians from other nations, for various reasons, but they make up less than five percent of the Human population.

So exceptional are Vertarans, and non-Terrestrial Humans, on Garshax, that it is entirely possible for a serviceperson, or a civilian, to spend years here and never once even meet a Veranisian native. While this is not the usual way of things, it does happen.

There are two main reasons for this situation. For one thing, Garshax is remote, and was little inhabited by the locals either before the Thakarian Conquest, or during the years of Thak-Tarak rule. While archaeologists have found plentiful evidence of habitation and use from the period before the interplanetary wars six thousand Terran years earlier, Garshax appears to have been all but ignored in the centuries since.

Thus, when the Terrestrians chose it as the site of their main base, there were few people already present. That was party of why it became that main base in the first place.

Once the base was established, security regulations meant that few people could arrive without specific business. The island is controlled by the Three Power Commission directly, and visitors are only permitted if they have specific reasons and business there. This policy applies both the native Vertarans and the Thakarian-descended Humans of Veranis.

(For that matter, Terrestrian Humans need permission and specific reasons to visit it as well, if they are non-military and not associated with military personnel.)

The hills around the plain are dotted with anti-aircraft weaponry, and anti-space weaponry as well. Powerful laser arrays and missile batteries are ready to use, with underground support facilities cut into the rocky hills as well. The base, its supporting 'towns', and all the facilities in the hills around as well have their own power sources, water recycling systems, and stockpiled food supplies as well.

The working assumptions of the staff officers are based on maintaining a one-year cushion of supplies, equipment, spare parts, etc. That is, ideally the entire complex should be capable of withstanding at least a one-Terran-year isolated siege. Whether the plans and supplies set up for this would actually suffice, nobody can say for sure, because they have yet to be tested in 2125.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

The commanding officer of the American Sector at Joint Base Garshax in 2125 is Brigadier General James Edgar Dane (U.S. Army). General Dane is the highest rank American military officer on Veranis, and he holds limited supervisory authority over all American Army personnel stationed on Veranis. On a day-to-day basis he is the commanding officer of the American Sector of Joint Base Garshax (GBG).

JAMES EDGAR DANE (Brigadier General, United States Army)

Age (in 2125): 56 Terrestrian years
Height: 6'1"
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Appearance: Average

IQ: 12
DX: 10
ST: 11
HT: 10/12 (12 with biotechnic bonus)

ADVANTAGES:
Ally (Ex-brother in law, sometimes, less powerful, +5, current wife, almost all the time, less powerful, +5)
Charisma [1]
Common Sense
Empathy
Favors (various, many sources, 10 points worth)
Strong Will [1]

DISADVANTAGES:
Code of Honor (Military)
Duty (Army, almost all the time, not usually dangerous)
Enemy (Ex wife, occasional, less powerful, -5 level)
Intolerance (Thak-Tarak leadership) at -5
Migraines (occasional, -5 level)
Odious Personal Habit (sarcastic) at -5 level
Stubbornness
Truthfulness

QUIRKS:
1. Intolerance (U.S. Navy Space personnel)
2. Frustrated by wait for promotion to Major General
3. Sensitive about 'staff vs. line' perceptions
4. Worries that Thakarians will invade to recapture Veranis, unsure of future
5. Claustrophobic at -1 level

SKILLS:

Accounting 12
Administration 14
Area Knowledge:
Chicago 12
Earth 11
Joint Base Garshax 14
Veranis 10
Dancing 11
Detect Lies 10
Diplomacy 11
Fast Talk 10
First Aid (TL10) 12
Guns (TL10) 10
History (Earth 10)
Languages:
English (literate, native)
Spanish (Argentine dialect, literate) 12
Thakarian (spoken 10, semi-literate 8)
Leadership 12
Logistics 13
Unarmed Combat 8
Riding (tharjak) 10
Savoir-faire (military) 14
Swimming 10
Writing 16



Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, James Dane joined the United States Army at the age of 21, and served in combat more than once in his early 20s, in several hot spots around Earth. Dane received a commission at 28, and not long thereafter became one of the first Army officers to receive posting outside the Solar System. In 2120, he received his first star and was posted to the new position of commander of the American portion of Joint Base Garshax on the planet Veranis.

Though Dane is neither a coward nor a pacifist, most of his best talents are better expressed in an office rather than on the battlefield. He is a skilled administrator, a competent logistics man, a good negotiator, and he knows that his skills run that way.

As commander of JBG, Dane has had to learn diplomatic skills as well. A combination of learned skill, and his natural talent for empathy, makes Dane very, very good at spotting lies, as well, an ability that has served him well in his current assignment. He is a good enough accountant to often spot 'irregularities' in budget and finance reports, and while he by no means a 'face man', he has some ability at fast talk, especially in administrative and bureaucratic matters.

Dane is slightly sensitive about the fact that he less of a warrior than an administrator and logistics officer. It is not that he feels inferior, so much as that he suspects that the front-line fighters see him that way. On the other hand, he knows well that without his sort of work, the warriors can do little.

Dane comes from a lower-middle-class background, and in his late twenties he married a woman named Sarah Thompson, who came from a higher-social-status background. They had three children together, but the marriage itself did not work out, and they parted on more than somewhat bad terms. Since then, his ex-wife has been troublesome to him. To make life harder for Dane, his ex-wife is part of the American diplomatic service and is stationed on Veranis, and he and she often must interact. She herself has enough political and military connections to sometimes make real problems for Dane.

Ironically, in light of that, one of Dane's closest friends is his ex-wife's brother Simon, who currently lives on Veranis as well. Simon Thompson is the manager of a high-class hotel in Cataka City, and sometimes helps Dane when his sister finds ways to make problems for her ex-husband.

General Dane was somewhat soured on romantic relationships by the collapse of his first marriage (which involved infidelity on the part of his ex-wife), but in 2118 he met a woman named Karla Landers, and began a new relationship. Dane was somewhat hesitant, both because of his previous experience and because Landers was several years his junior, but in 2120 they married. In 2122, Karla Dane gave birth to their first child.

So far, the second marriage has been a source of considerable happiness for Dane, but it has also made trouble with his ex-wife, who does not approve.

Fortunately, Dane retains good relations with his children from the first marriage, and he is rather proud that his oldest son has begun a promising career in the Army himself, though he is currently stationed on Earth. His other two children from his first marriage are civilians, but have begun successful lives for themselves on Earth.

Early in his Army career, Dane picked up the traditional rivalry with the U.S. Navy, and this occasionally shows through in a quirk-level hostility (though mostly a good natured one). In spite of this, he has a good working relationship with the Naval commandant of Starplex Veranis, who he considers a good friend (though one would not know it when the recordings of the Army/Navy game arrive at Veranis).

Dane has also developed a quirk level intolerance of Thak-Tarak officials, and this one is not good-natured. During his time on Veranis, Dane has seen examples of some of how they ruled Veranis, and the brutality left an impression. This is worsened by a growing fear on the part of Dane that the Terrestrian position on Veranis is dangerously exposed. One of his fears is a Thak-Tarak move to recapture the planet, which is not sure would not succeed.

This fear is not paralyzing, but it has grown strong enough that Dane has actually suggested that his wife take their young son and return to Earth. So far, Karla has refused. General Dane has begun quietly making 'just in case' plans to see that his new family can be evacuated swiftly if it proves necessary.

Dane lives with his wife and child in a house in the civilian 'town' in the America Sector. Security is low-key, but definitely present. Joint Base Garshax is one of the safest places on Veranis for Terrestrians, but Dane is taking no chances with his wife and son.

Dane is a good officer and a competent leader (if not a natural warrior), but he does have a stubborn streak that sometimes causes him problems, and a tendency toward sarcasm that has at times been a liability.

In very recent years, Dane has begun to suffer from occasional, but intense, migraine-type headaches. The doctors have yet to identify the source, but they are often triggered by stress. So far, they have been relatively infrequent, but when they do come they are intense enough to be debilitating. They can be offset with drugs, but Dane and his physicians are concerned because they do not know the cause.

MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

One of the reasons for the tension between General Dane and his ex-wife is the fact that she often likes to remind him that he owes his position and rank to her family. Which is mostly false. The family of his ex-wife is modestly well-connected, but General Dane achieved his success in the Army primarily on the back of his own competence, and he knows it.

As said, the claim is mostly false. What makes it sting is that it does contain just a small seed of truth. He had been married to Sarah Thompson for about a year when he received his officer commission, and his first appointment was partly achieved by his father-in-law 'pulling a few strings'. He was fully competent in his new position, and the chain of promotions that followed came largely from his own abilities. Indeed, after the marriage went sour, the family connections among his in-laws were more often a hindrance to promotion and position rather than an asset.

Still, the knowledge that he achieved his initial commission partly through the connections of his in-laws (he was fully competent to hold both commission and appointment) makes the taunts of his ex-wife bite more than they otherwise would do.

As the CO of Joint Base Garshax (American), General Dane must maintain a working relationship with the civilian Three Power Commission that governs (sort of) Veranis in the name of the Three Powers (America, Argentina and Australia). That said, though, the Commission has no direct authority over the Three Power military forces on Veranis other than those units specifically seconded to the Commission. Even those units answer to the command staff at the bases at Garshax ultimately, the authority of the Commission being a grant from the military hierarchy.

Of the American forces, the Army and the Marines have the most personnel permanently stationed on the surface of Veranis. The Marines provide security for most Terrestrian official facilities on Veranis, and a division of the U.S. Army provides surface-forces support to the Thranne.

There are a small number of 'wet' American Naval personnel on Veranis, mostly submariners (as are most 'wet' front-line Naval personnel on Earth in 2125, for that matter). There are, naturally, substantially more spatial Navy personnel present in the Dyaxor System, but the majority of them are stationed more or less permanently aboard Starplex Veranis, visiting Veranis primarily for shore leave purposes.

All these military forces have their own chains of command and leaders, and General Dane regularly faces the challenge of making them work together efficiently. That in turn is just a part of the challenge of coordinating with the various Argentine and Australian military units present on Veranis. In his role as seniormost of the Three Powers military officers on Veranis, General Dane makes as much use of his diplomatic skills as he does his formal authority.

As noted, each of the Three Powers has its own command hierarchy on Veranis. General Dane does hold a nominal authority as the current senior commander. In an emergency, he could (in theory) issue orders to the Argentine and Australian commanders, at least until messages to and from Earth could transit. In practice, except in extreme emergency situations, it is more a matter of 'give and take' among the senior officers.

Though Joint Base Garshax is the headquarters site for all these different forces, the majority of them are stationed elsewhere on Veranis. It would serve little purpose to have a division of American infantry and support soldiers available if they were on the remote island of Garshax and could not deploy quickly if needed. Instead, the infantry division and its attached supporting personnel are stationed here and there in bases across the planet, but especially the North and South Continents.

General Dane is conflicted about the wisdom of this arrangement, though it has proven effective in practice. His concern is that the relatively small 'advance bases' could rapidly be overwhelmed if suddenly beset by major forces, and that the soldiers are too far apart, spread out across an entire planet, to reinforce each other quickly at need.

The counter-argument is simply the question: how else can it be? With a very finite number of soldiers, and an entire world to police, or assist in policing, what else can be done? The infantrymen could be gathered in one place, but then how could they bring force to bear far from their location in time to matter?

Also, there is the question of what major forces would suddenly besiege the relatively small advance bases. None of the native states of Veranis field truly large modern militaries. Catakatia comes closest, and their forces are far from ready to do such a thing, even if Sahandar the Third wished to do so.

The 'international' army the Terrestrians inherited from the Thak-Tarak is larger in absolute numbers than the Eleventh Division U.S. Infantry assigned to Veranis, but would be little match for them in battle. Further, this force is itself spread out in small groups across Veranis, and has been under Terrestrian command for nearly two decades. Almost all of its senior officers are Terrestrians, and its middle ranks, though made up of Thakarian-descended Humans, are all native-born Veranisians.

Before the Thakarians themselves could even attempt to beset the ground forces on Veranis, they would first have to overcome the space defenses and land their own armies. A surprise ground attack from the Thakarians seems like a fanciful notion, at least in the short term, in 2125.

Still General Dane worries. He commands a relatively small force charged with policing a vast, if relatively sparsely populated, planet. They are far from home, with finite resources and personnel. Help from Earth would require months to arrive, as a message to Earth would need weeks to arrive, and then whatever help was dispatched would need more weeks to reach Veranis.

Though he can not put his finger on precisely what worries him, General Dane is troubled by more than just an ordinary anxiety. He is increasingly sure that there is something he has overlooked, something everyone has missed but should have seen, that represents Danger. He can not express, even to himself, what it is that troubles him, however. As he has rather sarcastically observed to some others, if he knew what was worrying him he would be able to either deal with it or stop worrying about it because it turned out to be nothing important.

MORE LATER.