Rice Papers
RICE Paper DB-0921: Northammon
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Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 14:58:01 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
Subject: RICE Paper DB-0921: Northammon
Northammon (Vincennes: Deneb/0921)
B764767-9 A Ag Ri Tp St Mr 120 RE K5 V G=0.82, Day=35:51:37, Year
= 122d 9:20:19.28 Atmo=1.40, No Weather Control
Temp= +9.72 (6/lat +18 to -42) (day +7.5 to night -17.9) (season +14.4
to -7.0)
Daily temp range 21.4; Orbital Eccentricity Effects: +/- 0.45
Agricultural, Compounds; Agroproducts, Non-metals; Durables;
Recordings, Documents
Conservative/Advancing, Competitive/Militant, Harmonious/Aloof Legal:
7-96255 Tech: 99-99989-DB99-A8-G
Northammon was originally settled in 95 by colonists from Massilia and
Delphi sectors. At first, Northammon seemed to be a cold mountainous
wasteland, an unforgiving environment for hopeful settlers. The
planet's distance from its dim star, Kalighril (Northammon lies one
orbit outside the "habitable zone" of the system) has little
deleterious effect on the planet's meteorological activity. A high
incidence of moderate solar flares and Northammon's high atmospheric
pressure combine to produce a virtual maelstrom of constant
meteorological activity. Swirling coriolises of clouds fill the
northern and southern hemispheres throughout the year. Northammon's
hemispherical regions are snow-covered almost year round with a slight
reprieve during the "warm season." The warm season occurs for a
period of about three weeks at the perigee of Northammon's orbital
eccentricity around Kalighril.
In sharp contrast to the frozen northern and southern hemispheres, the
equatorial region, or "hot belt" as it's known to locals, provides a
warmer, more moderate clime, with its rolling hills and river valleys.
A scarcity of large bodies of water throughout 80 percent of the
planet's 2,000 km-wide tropical zone bolsters the more stable weather
patterns of the region. Six large mountain ranges, skirting the edges
of four of the planet's six tectonic plates, serve as barriers to some
of Northammon's harsher blizzards. The numerous faultlines between
the plates result in a high incidence of seismic activity in the
region.
The first Northammonese colony, which discovered, catalogued and began
to exploit the rich resources of the planet, nearly died out in the
late 100s. Colonial overextension strained several supply lines
through the interstellar region during this period and several
colonies were left to their own devices for decades. The colonial
population of the planet, which had risen to 20,000, fell to under
8,000 people. A scarcity of supplies resulted in an exodus from the
planet to the more stable environments of Isurkun, Achemadon and Kauai
systems. The hardy bunch who remained played a defining role in
establishing the culture of Northammon.
The Northammonese settlers who remained and the trickle of daring
colonists who continued to settle the planet, developed a strong
self-reliance ethic that remains to this day. The Northammonese
welcomed new settlers and continued to settle their world regardless
of the public sentiment against it. Seemingly trying to prove their
detractors wrong, the Northammonese settlers went far and wide
throughout the sphere of their world, establishing farms and ranches
even in the most inclement regions. While 65 percent of the early
Northammonese clung to the tropical zone, thousands of bold souls
plowed into the outback and staked their claims in the northern and
southern plateaus and mountain ranges.
Northammonite Frontier, the planetary colonial development office,
maintained its aggressive colonial recruitment policy all the while.
Throughout the early colonial period of the planet, Northammonite
Frontier colonial recruiters could be found on any world within six
parsecs, actively encouraging people to come and share the wealth of
their rich and undeveloped planet.
Not until the late 300s did colonial efforts on Northammon surpass
their former level, however. In 397, ex-scout and entrepreneur Lewis
Tolliver discovered records of Northammon's rich natural resources at
the Imperial Archives on Vincennes. He registered a claim with
Northammonite Frontier and mounted a massive colonial expedition to
bolster the extant colonies. Before anyone knew it, Northammon was a
virtual boomtown.
Tolliver's expedition, largely composed of detached duty scouts,
quickly performed detailed surveys of the planet's resources. To
their surprise, the planet was rich in vegetative life, with over 600
edible plant species. The Tolliver group and successors quickly
helped to establish agricultural combines to exploit the lush
Northammonese crops. While most of planet species grow in the
temperate tropical region, astoundingly high numbers of crops are
exported from the northern and southern hemispheres. The edible
lichens and fruits of the southern region are known as a delicacy by
people throughout Northammon's interstellar community.
As a side note, Tolliver's expedition is well known for its
importation of Kians from Prilissa/Trin's Veil. Several hundred Kians
were brought to Northammon to be used as cheap transportation by
Tolliver's colonists. Kians continue to be widely used for
transporation in rural areas of the planet and in cities and towns on
the racing circuit. In fact, while Tolliver's agricultural businesses
eventually failed, his Kian breeding facility and Tolliver Grounds, a
Kian racetrack, are his sole remaining legacies on Northammon.
Northammonese Kians are thought to number over 300,000 at the present
date.
Like many of the systems in the Vincennes Cluster, Northammon's
indigenous life for the most part resembles that of Cambrian-era
Terra. Most notable among Northammon's native life forms are the
lichens and shrubs of the northern and southern tundra. Bursting
through the volcanic soil of the mountains and plains, these life
forms have shown uncommon resiliency. For centuries, monastic orders
of Deneb's Church of the Stellar Divinity have lauded the medicinal
properties of several species of Northammonese mountain shrub roots.
Not until the last 200 years, however, have these claims been taken
seriously by the public at large.
By 800, the Northammonese population had grown to over four million
inhabitants. Their cultural emphasis on self-reliance spawned several
government-subsidized programs to independently develop technology on
the planet. To this end, the former representative democracy of the
planet began to import materials for the production of starships,
vehicles and computers. The industrial sector began to grow, but was
mostly restricted to serving the needs of agricultural interests.
As the limited agricultural markets began to tap out for Northammon's
private industries, tension began to grow with the landlords of the
agricultural combines. Nara Tandy, president of Circumspect Inc., a
producer of advanced land and gravitic vehicles, lobbied for rights to
manufacture products for export to other worlds. Most controversial
of her requests was an initiative that would bring in megacorporate
investment, a heretofore unseen occurrence on Northammon.
Agricultural interests onplanet greatly feared the portents of such a
bold move and lobbied hard against it. Fear of overdevelopment,
atmospheric contamination and offworld control by big industry
abounded in agricultural circles.
The combines were able to stave off offworld industrial development
until 962. At this time, various factors contributed to a worldwide
depression that threatened to unhinge the infrastructure of the
planet's economy. Tandy seized her opportunity and managed to corral
a hysterical electorate into believing that now was the time for
offworld investment. Tandy brought in a consortium, led by
representatives of Ling Standard Products and Sternmental Horizons
Venture Capital division, who would revitalize the economy of the
planet.
For a half century, that's exactly what they did. Northammon's
economy grew and as the planet's ability to export technology grew, so
did its ability to export its agricultural products. Agricultural
exports grew to the point that the "Northammon Grown" cargo module
stamp became ubiquitous on every inhabited system within 12 parsecs.
Megacorporate and sectorwide corporate developers flocked to
Northammon to get a piece of the pie. The political strength of the
combines waned during the following years to the point that public
resentment for the megacorporations grew to a fever pitch. The
conflict reached its climax when six anti-megacorporate development
militias (called "terrorists" by the megacorporate-sponsored media)
attacked dozens of industrial installations in a concerted effort to
derail their operations. Corporate security teams and offworld
mercenaries took up arms against the militias, but found it difficult
to fight the guerilla-style militia troops, who knew the nooks and
crannies of Northammon's mountain ranges and valleys.
As the conflict escalated over the following four years, the dependent
local markets sent up a cry to the Imperial Navy to intervene. And
intervene they did. Already fighting the Zhodani and Outworld
Coalition on their spinward front in a series of border wars that
later became known as the Fourth Frontier War, the Imperium did not
want to foster the notion that internecine warfare existed throughout
the Spinward Marches and Deneb. Four peacekeeping divisions of
marines were dispatched to quell the unrest. While skirmishes
continued to occur at more remote locations, for the most part, the
TL-15 armed marines were able to quash the fighting.
In an effort to preserve the peace, the Imperium removed the
corporate-dominated government of Northammon and placed moderate
pro-combine General Paul Javinovich, from the ranks of Northammon's
standing army, as the planetary dictator. The Imperial Marines were
promptly removed and indigenous army divisions took their place.
While the military rule of Javinovich and his successors has kept the
peace, the seething hatred between the agricultural and corporate
interests has never been fully extricated from the planetary
citizenry.
Despite Northammon's problems, the planet remains a major economic
force in the region with its powerful agricultural sector and active
vehicle-building industries. Most worlds in Vincennes, Star Lane and
Inar subsectors actively import delectable Northammonese foods.
Northammonese industry is known to produce some of the most efficient
and dependable farming vehicles in the Regency. R&D divisions are
currently expanding into military and commercial markets as well. The
Circumspect Starhawk enclosed grav cycle is currently making waves in
the civilian gravitic vehicle industry. Achieving early TL-13 in many
areas, Northammon is truly on the cutting edge of vehicular design.
The native population of Northammon are about 95 percent vegetarian.
Because of the planet's lack of non-vegetative life forms and the
intrinsic self-reliance of its people, few meat products from other
worlds were imported during the early colonial years. The diversity
of agricultural life on the planet made it possible to meet the
population's nutritional requirements without the need for imported
foods. This aversion to imported food products became part of the
culture. With few exceptions, the only Northammonese meat eaters on
the planet are the megacorporate employees.
Northammon has only three major cities, Tergin (pop. 2 million),
Gebhardt (pop. 800,000) and the capital, Metro-Javinovich (pop.
350,000). Only Tergin and Metro-Javinovich contain Starport B
facilities. Gebhardt currently maintains a Spaceport F-quality
installation. A small orbital level C facility, Northammon Orbital
Starport (pop. 12,000) serves the needs of transient travellers who
use the system only as a stopover. The planetbound cities are all
located in the tropical region and for the most part serve
megacorporate interests. Most of the combines have offices in the
cities as well, however, that serve as the conduits through which they
conduct interstellar trade. The remainder of the population,
including over 13 million Northammonese, are spread out over the
globe, living and working on the combines and independent ranches.
Small cities and towns are the unofficial rule in the agricultural
regions, with only a few of them surpassing 100,000 in population.
Northammon is one of the few worlds in the Regency that serve the
purpose of harboring refugees from the far-flung Two Thousand Worlds.
When the Rebellion struck and vargr raiders swept through Corridor and
trailing Deneb sector, many visiting traders, diplomats and merchants
were cut off from their homes in trailing and rimward sectors.
Several large communities of k'kree were among these disenfranchised
sentients.
The Beng!xkr and Kr'ukleeri!iir herds, members of the k'kree trading
organization, Rr!krmiixk, were among the larger cohesive groups to be
stranded far from home. While the Beng!xkr and Kr'ukleeri!iir were
spread around the Domain of Deneb conducting trade operations, after
the Rebellion hit, they soon realized they would not be returning home
at any time in the near future. Their trade mission completed, the
wayward k'kree had nowhere to go.
As one of General Javinovich's last acts in office before he died in
1121, he sold the Rr!krmiixk merchants a large tract of undeveloped
land in Northammon's tropical region. Northammon, which fits the
parameters of a k'kree "steppeworld," was an ideal site for the
refugee k'kree to set down their roots. The rather exhorbitant price
paid by the k'kree for their land included the provision that the
k'kree were to be left to their own devices and not bothered by smelly
omnivorous humans.
Many vegetarian Northammonese natives maintain regular contact with
the k'kree, but there is no communal mixing of k'kree and human
populations. The limited trade between humans and k'kree enable the
k'kree to maintain TL-9 for public transportation and other services
in their community and for maintenance of their trader fleet.
The sale of this land to the k'kree was heavily disputed by
megacorporate interests. They were appalled at the unabashed efforts
of the vegetarian combines to use any means possible to make
Northammon a less hospitable environment for the corporations and
their employees. The hostility of the k'kree toward carnivorous races
was an established fact. To combat this move, many corporations
embarked upon aggressive, albeit shortlived, programs to enforce
vegetarian diets among their employees. Suffice it to say that for
the brief life of these programs, the corporations experienced a
considerable turnover rate among their largely offworld work forces.
The initial settlement numbered over 12,000 k'kree, who had emigrated
to Northammon from various locations throughout the Domain. Several
smaller families, realizing they had little hope of ever returning
home to the Two Thousand Worlds, chose to relocate to Northammon as
well, with the blessing of the Beng!xkr and Kr'ukleeri!iir herds.
Northammon became a haven for stranded k'kree.
Upon the discovery by a SuSAG research team in 1145 that some species
of Northammon's equatorial flora had valuable pharmaceutical
properties, the company established a research lab at the fringes of
the k'kree reservation. This was not looked well upon by the reigning
Steppelord, Kurr'eengx, who immediately made a call to arms to his
brethren. In a move that could only be called reactionary, Kurr'eengx
and his troops swept into the Divigee Valley, where SuSAG had
constructed a makeshift headquarters, and promptly massacred the
humans at the facility. SuSAG, known for its paranoia, had two
companies of TL-15 equipped security personnel on-site, but the
surprise attack caught them offguard. The k'kree took heavy losses in
the battle, with some estimates at over 2,500 dead. Nevertheless,
they managed to communicate a dire message to any who would threaten
the sovereignty of their reservation.
SuSAG appealed to the Regency government for reparations, but was
denied. The Northammonese megacorporate sector did not react well to
this development. While the k'kree were looked upon as an oddity for
the first two decades of their stay on Northammon, they were now
looked upon as a threat. Armed militia bands were formed by the
megacorporations, with the intention of settling the region adjacent
to the k'kree reservation and daring the k'kree to challenge human
sovereignty on the planet.
Things began to heat up, with several skirmishes occurring on the
borders of the k'kree settlement. The combine-dominated Northammonese
army refused to intervene on the side of the corporations. Extreme
factions of the Northammonese army began to make a call to arms to
"aid their k'kree brothers against the corporate oppressors." Duke
Norris himself sent two divisions of Regency Marines to keep the
conflict from escalating into civil war. This was the second time
that divisions of marines had been sent to preserve peace on
Northammon.
The divisions were drawn from the marine training camp at Burden, one
of Northammon's two moons. Forming a loose cordon around the k'kree
reservation, the marines have successfully deterred all hostile
actions by the megacorporations against the k'kree. The marine
garrison remains to this day to ensure the safety of the k'kree
settlement.
While the k'kree population has swelled to over 640,000 in the
following 75 years, the k'kree enclave on Northammon makes up less
than four percent of the total planetary population.
The divisiveness between industrialists and agriculturists has
continued into the 1200s. While muted hatred continues to seethe
between the two groups, the presence of not one but two military rule
garrisons keeps the peace. The k'kree are a reluctant ally of the
combines, but are suspicious that they are being played as pawns by
their benefactors. Because of Northammon's importance to the region,
it is vital that this situation doesn't erupt into fullscale war.
Northammon System Details
Orbit Name UPP Remarks
Primary Kalighril K5 V
0 Usher Belt H000166-A As
1 Northammon B764767-9 A Ag Ri Tp St Mr
10 Burden G586667-B Fa Co Nv Sc 45 Galinor Y332568-B
Co Nv Sc
2 Clarion H40036A-B Nv Sc
7 Ivid Y100000-0 Va Ba 30 Danglo YS00000-0
Va Ba
3 Portnoy Y100000-0 Va Ba
4 Glacia G607227-A Va Ic Sc
1 Ring System YR00000-0
7 Icicle Y100000-0 Va Ba 25 Tundra Y300000-0
Va Ba
5 Sanjivva GA75566-B Re Co Nv Sc
50 Herschmann F660365-B Re Nv Sc
6 Yaka YA6A166-A
7 (Empty Orbit)