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Post by Thaddeus on Jul 5, 2014 9:23:46 GMT -5
Planet Name: Amita Mai
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Habitable: Yes (oxygen based atmosphere)
System: Amita Mai system (B7 on the map, nearest planet on the map is Drongar)
Star: Bou (Yellow Giant)
Planets (in order of closest to furthest from star):
Yuo (terrestrial planetoid, no atmosphere, no satellites, inhospitable)
Amita Mai (terrestrial planet, oxygen based atmosphere, no satellites, hospitable)
Tur (Ice Giant, hydrogen and helium atmosphere, 26 satellites, inhospitable).
Terrain Overview:
One of two terrestrial planets in the 3 planet Amita Mai system, Amita Mai has the the highest density, the highest surface gravity, the strongest magnetic field, and the fastest rotation. Like most telluric oblate spheroid planets it bulges slightly along its equator as a result of its rotation, similarly its two poles are home to a polar climate meanwhile the closer to the equator the more tropical the climate becomes.
Over 80% of Amita Mai's surface is water, which at its deepest stretches 15,637km (9716mi) below sea level. There is just one continent, the entire landmass forming the single largest tectonic plate of the planet. Because of this the land of Amita Mai is very geologically stable, earthquakes and volcanic features very rare on the landscape - though they do occur out at sea, causing on occasion great tidal waves.
The solitary continent, named by the Gossam Catoblepas, has varied climates with the most widely spread being oceanic climate - even along the planet's equator the oceanic climate is more common, with true tropics only found inland from Amita Mai's sea. The oceanic climate of Amita Mai is marked by warm summers and cool winters (neither in the extreme), with a relatively narrow annual temperature range. The clime lacks a dry season, with precipitation being more evenly dispersed throughout the year.
Large mountain ranges are not found upon Catoblepas, another result of it being one single continent. Indeed the highest mountain on the continent stands at just 154m (505ft) above the surrounding plains.
To reduce a description of the planet to a single sentence then: Barring the polar ice caps and tundras, and the small tropical jungles at the centre of the solitary continent Amita Mai is quite idyllic and hospitable to life, with both the sea and the land teeming with abundance.
Notable Geographic Features:
Mount Min - Catoblepas' only "mountain" which most would call a hill if they were being generous, more appropriately a grass knoll. Given the relative undulating mass that the rest of Catoblepas presents, combined with the unfathomable flatness and depth of the sea, however Mount Min somehow manages to seem important despite its smallness.
The Ziri, and Sien Straits - Not true straits as Catoblepas remains unbroken, however these two areas of the continent are marked by very narrow spits of land linking the larger plains and by great lakes and ingresses by the sea. The Sien strait being closer to the equator has lovely golden beaches and is a popular holiday destination for the Gossam colonists. The Ziri strait meanwhile is close to the northern pole of the planet and so is colder than most of Catoblepas. However it is also home to amazingly rich mineral deposits, making it one of the most industrialised regions of the planet.
The Fel Jungle - The largest of Amita Mai's few tropical jungles, it is home to some of the few truly dangerous species of fauna and flora found on the planet. Consequently it remains largely untouched.
The Sea - There being only one sea on Amita Mai, and it covering 80% of the planet's surface, it seemed pointless to the Gossam colonists to name it.
Capital City:
Couriver - Situated close to the equator of the planet, and on a peninsula (referred to as the hand) which has two "fingers" stretching out into the sea Couriver is the site of the crash of the tumbledriver spaceship which brought the Gossam to the planet over 23,000 years ago.
The two fingers of the peninsula, as well as the "palm", provide geographic shape to the socio-economic zones of the city. The palm is home to the oldest part of Couriver, and consequently houses many of its wealthiest and most affluent citizens. The palm also is home to upmarket and hightech commercial zones. The finger called 'long finger' was the first site of the expansion of the city, and also the first time that the settlement was called Couriver. It is comfortably middle-class, with some industry still occurring on long finger, but for the most part this area of the city is a place of business and habitation. Short finger was expanded onto during a great population boom of the city roughly 10,000 years ago. It remains a great place of industry, as well as poverty and crime. It is also the site of the very new and modern spaceport of the city, giving hope for a revitalisation of the short finger.
There remain ruins of the once great wall that surrounded Couriver, constructed when the city went to war with the colonies it had founded. However these ruins are now found closer to the old districts of the city, quite near the heart of Couriver. The city itself has expanded rapidly, and without much planning. Consequently roads and streets take odd and unusual routes, often doubling back on themselves.
The heart of Couriver though, situated on the shore between the two fingers and where they join the palm, is the great Boulai. The Boulai is a great theatre carved down into the ground, the sea held back by a great transparisteel wall (actually the viewport off the bridge of the ship which had crashed on Amita Mai), the seats carved into the earth itself. It is austere and impressive, capable of seating over 10,000 citizens all of whom would find their eyes and ears directed downward to the speaking platform. There anyone could rise and debate any matter of politics, once it was here that all politics occurred, and indeed it is still where the truly great matters are first moved - there was a saying, "that it wasn't a law unless it was proposed and passed in the Boulai." However with the advent of modern technology allowing instantaneous communication across the planet Amita Mai's politics, and Couriver's moved into the digital realm.
This move into modernity also is seen in other landmarks, such as the spaceport and the holonet hub. The spaceport stands in stark contrast to the rest of the city, it having been partially funded by the Republic & Gossams from Castell which consequently means its architecture is not local. The rest of the buildings having a grey-iron, and deep red earthen tone as a result of the local materials; while the spaceport is cold steel and white. Similarly sticking out like a sore thumb is Amita Mai's new holonet hub, the building sharing the same origin and construction as the spaceport.
Major cities:
Thur - Situated far to the north on the Ziri strait this city was first came to prominence during the industrial age of Amita Mai, and continues its role as the great powerhouse of industry to this day. It has a high population density due to small amounts of land, and also the original limitation of power supply.
Iii - Sited at the foot of Mount Min this city serves as a central hub for the great farmlands that sprawl out from it. Despite, or perhaps because of its agrarian nature the city has produced some of Amita Mai's greatest philosophers and poets.
Cho - Founded very early on during Amita Mai's inhabited history this city now covers the entire island it occupies. It is possible to see the lights of Couriver on the horizon from Cho, indeed there was once a great pyre used to signal warnings. The site of a protracted siege during antiquity Cho now proudly continues its martial heritage being the location of the military and intelligence academies.
Por - Once competed with Couriver for preeminence, however this was centuries ago, and its revolt now consigned to history. It now serves primarily as a layover point between Couriver and Thur, this strategic position would have given it power had the importance of Thur come a thousand years earlier.
Rov - Founded in the Sien straits this city is the capital of glitz and glamour on Amita Mai - also supposedly of organised crime. Neon and luminous buildings gleam over miles of beaches, here come the poor and the rich to enjoy the most beautiful parts of Amita Mai.
Xiri - Not far from the Fel jungle Xiri was founded by dissidents from Couriver. The closeness of Amita Mai's most infamous and inhospitable jungle made it grow slowly. Now though it is a healthy size, and unusually well planned for a city on Amita Mai - a result of the slow development and the need to defend against the jungle. It is most notable for being the location of some of the planet's most theoretical (and perhaps unethical) science laboratories and companies.
Sentient species:
Native: Gossam (technically not native to the planet, however having inhabited the planet for over 23,000 years, during which time they had lost contact with all outside civilisation the Gossam of Amita Mai regard this planet as their home).
Immigrated: Small numbers of Humans, Near-Humans, and Duros.
Non-Sentient species of note:
Amita Mai Bee
The Amita Mai Bee is roughly the same size as a horse, though it is completely stingless. Like most other species of bee it lives in a hive, with a caste system, and collects nectar from the varied plants of Amita Mai. Relatively docile, even for a bee, due to its lack of a natural predator. The honey of the Amita Mai Bee is exceptional, it looks to become the planet's primary export, not only for its taste and texture (described by connoisseurs as divine); but the antibiotic nature of the honey is above and beyond other honeys, opportunities for medicinal applications are already being considered. Historically the bee was also used as a mount. Some scientists have speculated that had the Gossam's ship not crashed on the planet that this species may have eventually evolved sentience.
History:
The inhabited history of Amita Mai begins just over 23,000 years ago when a Gossam Courivers' (an organisation of Gossam explorers) ship powered by one of the very first Tumble hyperdrives in a blind jump crashed on an unexplored planet. Out of the 2,000 crew members (these antique ships required significantly higher crew numbers due to a lack of automation from droids and technology generally) only 218 perished in the crash. The relative exactitude of this number is the result of genetic studies that show despite a population at present of nearly 307 million all Gossams alive descended from a very small genetic pool - this discovery was the final nail in the coffin of the few deniers left after Republic contact, individuals that asserted that Gossams originated on Amita Mai.
The captain of the vessel, Amita Mai, survived the crash and was an unusually resourceful and pragmatic Gossam. Scouts were sent out to look for any signs of life, as those who stayed behind began to build shelter in the wreck. Within two weeks all the scouts had reported in, all declaring no sign of sentient life. Over the coming months occasionally scouts were sent further out into the vast plains, but all reported the same, and so eventually the endeavour was abandoned. Still leaving among the wreck the Gossam survivors began to try repair the ship's long distance communicator - a message would still take centuries to reach Castell, but centuries was better than never.
While returning home seemed still very real to the survivors they did not move from the wreck, and beyond what was necessary did very little with the veritable paradise they had landed on. It did not take long for Amita Mai to realise that the communicator would never be repaired, but she could not persuade the others to stop working on the project for nearly a year. Finally after a year the reality of their shipwreck status hit home, several Gossam committed suicide but the vast majority just sunk into despair.
Amita Mai went about the crew and steeled their nerves, and told them that while they may never go home that in time they could make this planet their home. Sitting and slowly fading away to nothing out of melodrama is not something any species can indulge in en masse for long, and so with a sigh they set to work.
The ship was pulled apart, everything useful was used to build a new settlement on top of the crash site, fishing traps were constructed, local grains were discovered and farmed, a small creek was diverted into a dam for drinking water. No walls were built, in the entire year they had been on the planet so far the Gossam had not seen any predatory species. Perhaps the most important feature to note during this early period of Amita Mai's history was communal housing. In deference to limited resources the individualistic desire of the Gossams had to be given up, and perhaps here in lies the divergence of the Gossam of Amita Mai from the Gossam known to the Republic.
Decades past, and eventually at the grand old age 82 Amita Mai passed away. She was buried amid great tears, and the planet gained its name - the funeral oration continued to be passed as a myth of a God, 'She who raised us up, clothed us, kept us safe, and steered us through the mists of despair now goes to the earth of the planet which shall be forever hers: Amita Mai.' Centuries passed on, and slowly inch by inch fact became myth, and the Gossams came to know only Amita Mai - the wider galaxy lost to them, sunk into the earth just as had wrecked and ruined ship.
After 3 centuries the Gossam of Amita Mai had devolved to a state of antiquity, and their population now stood at over 6000. The settlement resembled most primitive settlements, though there was a distinct absence of many houses as they still preferred communal living; so instead one found 'houses' that were three stories and centred around a main courtyard, housing 72 families. It was around this time that while digging a well the Gossam unearthed the mighty transparisteel window from the wrecked ship. Having discovered it while undertaking a communal activity the elders of the settlement said it was sign that they must always govern and work together. Some writing was still legible, miraculously they thought, written in Gossam; it said simply Couriver. Taking the gift of Amita Mai as the name for their settlement, and with this development it seemed civilisation began to boom.
As if the discovery of the ancient explorers vessel had unknowingly engendered the same sense of endeavour the Gossam of Amita Mai began to send out expeditions by sea and land. More centuries passed, art and philosophy flourished, population boomed and more and more of the planet was known to them. Eventually it was decided that a colony of 1,000 would be sent to the island of Cho not far from Couriver, the very first colonial enterprise of the city.
It was not the last, by the time the population of Couriver had reached 160,000, there were over 18 colonies and all of them had populations in the thousands. The ships and land caravans of Couriver traveled far and wide bringing in goods and ideas to the city. What had been mud was now marble, dirt paths lined with cobblestone, the Window of Amita Mai (the transparisteel window) was sunk into the earth holding back the sea - The Boulai had come into being. Though in this time it was not a centre of democracy, but rather where the elders met and debated.
While Couriver experienced a great boom because of its colonies, those selfsame colonies began to feel like little more than nursemaids to an toddler - ever demanding, and never thankful. Citizens of the colonies lost their rights as citizens of Couriver, and the colonial Elder Councils were in truth ceremonial - the citizens and the Elder Council of Couriver held all the power.
When Couriver proposed establishing a colony close to the dangerous Fel Jungle the prospective colonists demanded greater say; citing the increased danger of the settlement of the region. Naturally the Elder Council refused to devolve any of its powers. The first civil disorder on the planet began as soon as the Elder Council had announced its decision from the Boulai. The colonists set fire to the city, looting and attacking percieved loyalists. Eventually the militia rounded up the 200 unhappy citizens, and sentenced them to death.
The death sentence of Couriver was always carried out by drowning, the Sea was seen as Amita Mai's vindictive and vengeful aspect. It was quite a spectacle, the death sentence was rare and usually there was only a victim, not victims. So the whole city watched the 200 souls chained to rocks and thrown into the sea. For the centuries that followed stability and peace reigned, and the Elder Council ruled reasonably well. Some members more so, others less so, as is the nature of things.
The Amita Mai Bee became a symbol of martial prowess, with the military elites of Couriver riding them with much grace. Despite its large size, and communal nature, so long as it was returned to the hive to rest the bee was a good mount. This development was concurrent with the evolution of the society into a feudal one, the families whose members had served on the Elder Council for centuries owned the majority of the land and controlled all the means of production. The oppression of the colonies was never greater than at this time.
However the colonies had also never been so powerful. One colony Por now rivaled Couriver in size, wealth, art, and martial power. It took decades but Por slowly won over nearly half of the 109 colonies of Couriver. They declared their independence and launched a bloody campaign to win it. Taking Couriver by surprise the League of Por started their campaign by beginning a siege of Cho - Couriver's closest and most loyal colony.
The war would ultimately last for 52 years, and claim nearly 2 million lives, 20% of Amita Mai's roughly 10 million population. For the entire 52 years Cho remained under siege, despite many attempts to both lift and conclude the siege by both sides. The population of Cho went from 500,000 to just 2,000. The war was concluded not by a strategy executed by either side, but by a popular uprising in Couriver which overthrew the Elder Council. The new government of Couriver sent an emissary to the League of Por saying they wished to negotiate an end to the war.
The result was astounding, confederal direct democracy. Each colony granted self-government, so long as the government remained directly in the hands of the people, within the confederation. The Confederation of Amita Mai, as it was called, had a Council of Leaders. This council consisted of proportional number of representatives from each colony, and was responsible for matters of defence only.
The dramatic shift in government weakened the feudal landholders, and within a decade feudalism was a thing of the past. The Confederacy, and direct democracy, were still shaky and over the coming centuries there were many trials and tribulations. It came close to collapse several times, with attempts at restoring the Elder Council and even attempts to install a theocracy under the Faith of Amita Mai. But slowly and surely it groped forwards, and with it came industrialisation. This brought new prosperity to cities still struggling from the war centuries later, and again population exploded.
Private enterprise was a thing unknown, all business was conducted by the city government itself. But as industrialisation meant the need to go further for resources, and also simply a wider variety of industries many cities struggled. Here then the Confederacy of Amita Mai stepped in, it marked the first assertion of centralised and unitary power in the now 8 centuries old confederacy.
Slowly over the coming decades the Council of Leaders and the Confederacy itself assumed more and more powers. Electricity, transport, education, and more began to fall under their purview. Eventually while digging the first metro for Couriver the old ship was unearthed. In an instant the whole civilisation of the planet was shaken. Every city called emergency assemblies, the Council of Leaders met in an emergency session. The Council presented the confederacy with a solution, if there was life on other planets, if they were from somewhere else, then it stood to reason that they could be at risk. The Confederacy must be replaced, a single unitary government must be established. There seemed to be no other solution.
So after 856 years of existence the Confederacy of Amita Mai was replaced by the State of Amita Mai. The Council of Leaders became now simply the Council, though it remained proportional and its members were still elected. The wrecked ship was dug up completely and moved piece by piece to Xiri for study. Eventually calm returned after the initial shock wore off, and no space ships came crashing down upon them.
The technology of the Courivers ship propelled the civilisation of Amita Mai into a new golden age. Clean energy, rapid transport, and telephonic communication. Within 50 years they had launched their first object into space, 5 years later a bee had successfully survived a space flight, 10 years after that a Gossam. Technology began to leap forward, microprocessors, a global communication network, and slowly the communal and democratic tendancy of the Gossams on Amita Mai reasserted itself.
Citing nearly a century and a half of peace since the discovery, combined with many unpopular decisions, and now the ability to instantaneously communicate with anyone anywhere on the globe as the sign that the State of Amita Mai was no longer necessary. That the grand experiment which had been born out of war could now be resumed, that democracy once more must return. Protests across the planet, whole cities declaring their support, and so once more the political wheel turned.
After just 154 years the State of Amita Mai and its Council was dissolved. In its place the Grand Boulai of the People of Amita Mai. A digital direct democracy. Where constantly matters were voted on, laws debated online and in the Great Boulai of Couriver. The explosion of art, philosophy, poetry, welfare, and education that followed the return of the government to the people was unequaled.
Four more centuries after the establishment of the Grand Boulai of the People and the civilisation of Amita Mai had established space stations in orbit around their own planet, and every planet in the system. Surface colonies on some of the moons of Tur were even under way. The limits of their solar system no longer look set to confine them, they had reversed engineered the Tumble hyperdrive engine. But before they could test the prototype strangers landed not far from Couriver. The Republic had received their message, 23,000 years after it had been sent.
What followed was a harrowing few years of negotiation. The Gossam of the Republic trying to claim the planet as a legitimate colony of theirs, while the Gossam of Amita Mai roundly rejecting such a notion. The Senate was mired in indecision as competing interest groups toyed with various senators.
As war began to break out between the Republic and the Sith Empire, and its erstwhile Mandalorian allies, the Senate established an outreach program to the Grand Boulai. Fearing that they might be subsumed by the other powers, or even join their fellow Gossam in openly joining the Empire. As a direct result of this program a great space port in Couriver was built, and the whole planet linked into the holonet.
Despite this the Grand Boulai of the People of Amita Mai remains undecided about joining the Republic, the great demagogues of the planet argue for and against it. Meanwhile the armed forces build themselves up. For the first time the people are experiencing the genuine fear and uncertainty that the galactic stage can bring to a civilisation.
