RICE Paper #AWP-00205: Antra

Date: Fri, 08 Sep 1995 16:22:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
Subject: RICE Paper #AWP-00205: Antra


Antre (Antra: Deneb/1808)
A53789C-E S Cp  701  RE M0V M3V
g=0.623 Day=19:26:42.00 Year (Imperial) 46d 17:13:23.10 (Local) 57d 15:52:12.34
atmos=0.2312, controlled weather (special)           TNE weather +1
Temp= +29 (5/lat +44 to -6)  (Season +27 to -45, 8 deg lat)
daily temp range = (+8 noon, -78 midnight)
Ores, Radioactives; Nonmetals; Recordings, Artforms, Software, Documents
Conservative/Indifferent, Unaggressive/Concilatory, Harmonious/Xenoplobic
Legal: C-9CHIB                                  Tech: EE-EEGEE-EEEE-FG-G

NOTE: due to the Worldroof - built as a major scientific experiment, and an 
implicit example of Imperial power to the Vargr, by order of Emperess 
Porfiria in 271, and finally completed in 883 - and extensive weather 
control (possibly the best in the Galaxy)

      - atmos should be changed to 1.000: thus, the air is breathable
      - TNE Weather changed to +8 (almost always crystal-clear weather, 
        sometimes overcast)
      - daily temperature range = -10 noon, -20 midnight
        (Lowering the base temp to 19 degrees, but decreasing the 
        severity of the nighttime from -78 to -20) 

Antra, it's worldroof one of the Seven Wonders of the Imperium, is a must 
for any tourist of Deneb Sector.  Despite the long, tedious and invading 
antiViral procedures, Antra still is a busy port of call, for it's 
artworks and tourism sites, it's vast radioactive mines - the 
largest in 25 parsecs - and it's political connections.  Still, caution 
is called for when among the xenophobic Antrans, and the beautiful towers 
that support the famed Worldroof is supported by some nasty foundations... 

Index: 
   THE ANTIVIRAL RUNDAROUND
   THE WORLDROOF
   ARRIVING ON ANTRA
   FESTIVAL
   ATTITUDE TO VISITORS
   IMMIGRANTS
   RELIGION
   "WE OURSELVES"
 
THE ANTIVIRUS RUNAROUND

Situated on the very edge of the Regency/Virus border, the incoming 
traveller can expect Trin-level paranoia. And just as well: if for any 
reason Virus enters the system, the 700 million people of Antra are as 
dead as Dulinor.

Any ship filing a direct flight plan to Antra is immediately pointed to 
the nearest Regency Quarrentine Office.  In cooperation with the  Antran 
government, the RQS keeps a set of specific travel routes and jump 
routines controlling movement within the Antran system, which vary from 
time to time.  The computer module of flight routine for the specific time 
that the traders intend to be in the system is directly plugged into the 
various computer systems of the ship by RQS personnnel, and an RQS  
officer is posted to the ship for the week's trip.

Before leaving for Antra, the ship is carefully checked out by an RQS 
team, taking a day per 100 tons displacement.  Everyone is given a 
complete physical examination: noone with artifical inorganic 
enhansements is permitted to continue on the voyage, on pain of death.

When they first arrive from jump the ship follows it's pre-computated flight 
plan to a preselected position and vector in space.  The RQS officer on 
board must radio for a RQS cutter to meet them, using a special one-time 
code that only the RQS officer on board knows.
  
NOTE: Antra is within 100 diameters of it's primary star: the ship leaves 
jump space between 155 and 355 light-seconds from Antra, depending on 
orbitl mechanics, the skill of the pilot, etc.  With the pre-computed 
jump co-ordinates, the ship always leaves jump exactly opposite of Antra's 
position, 355 light-seconds away on the other side of the star.

Ships that do not conform to the specific flight plan must immediately 
kill their velosity, and come to a dead halt.  The people on board must 
put on their space suits and cross over to the RQS cutter.  The ship is 
impounded, and usually considered forfeited to the Antran government if 
free of Virus.  If the ship is found to be infected, the crew have their 
personalities reconstructed.

Ships that don't come to a stop, for whatever reason, are destroyed. 

The cutter boards the ship and an RQS team carefully looks it over for Virus.
Since this is a lighter team that the previous base-check, it only takes 
a few hours before the ship is underway again, to a nearby (usually under 
20 light-seconds) RQS space station.

The RQS station - basically an underarmed naval base, designed to take 
on a flotilla of 100 ships of up to 1000 disp tons each - AGAIN 
checks out the ship for Virus.  After about half a day - regardless of 
the size of the ship, the local crew is large, good, well equipped, and fast 
enough to process it in under 12 hours - the ship, without it's escort 
but still with it's babysitting RQS officer onboard, finally heads for Antra.

Your ship will be halted and inspected 10 light seconds from Antra, not 
by a RQS cutter by a 1000-6000 ton SDB.   

THE WORLDROOF

As you finally approach Antra (at 1G, as per regulations), bathed under the 
dull red light of it's star, you start to notice that it seems to be 
largely encased by glass. And when you arrive at the Highport - attached to 
Antra by a 50 km elevator - the vast Worldroof of Antra is revealed in 
all it's glory.  It covering over 80% of Antra, composed by a mosaic of 
hexagonal "glass" cells suspended in the air by 1,774  2km high 'tower 
groups'.  Each 'tower group' is composed of seven towers: six towers  
supports the roof, generates power (via both capturing a small percent of 
the star's radiated energy and the 200-300 km winds), and provides the 
best weather control in the Regency (or for that matter, in the 
preCollapse Imperium).

The seventh tower is either an industrial or residential centre.  
Industrial centres were built with 5,000 inhabitants, residental centres 
- basically tower cities, in a style familiar on high-tech worlds - holds 
up to 500,000 people.

No ship ever lands on Antra: the high-atmosphere winds are both fast and 
fickle, continually shifting to equalize the tempertature between the 
dark and light sides of Antra.  Also, it's a security measure by the 
Antrans to again insure that Virus doesn't get in. Thus, all transport 
is via the Highport elevator.

(REFEREE: Why doesn't the atmosphere flow out of the 20% of the world not 
covered by the Worldroof?  Ask the British Interplanetary Society: 
they're the ones who came up with this crazy idea!  The 'high-winds' 
part is a natural consequence of equalizing the temperatures, and 
moderating the nighttime low to the extent that the Antran want to: it 
should be doable given TL E tech.)

ARRIVING ON ANTRA

All people, articles and cargo is completely checked out by local antiVirus 
teams on the Highport, taking another day. (This includes medical 
examinations: no people with ANY artifical inorganic enhansements is 
permitted insystem.  If caught in this stage of the game, they will be 
killed.)  Another quickie 'make sure' check is made before leaving the 
elevator, and a final antiViral team awaits to greet the players just as 
they step off the 30 minute journey on the massive elevator, for another 
full check of everyone and everything.

(An entire RICE paper can be written on security procedures within the 
Regency, from the ultra-lax standards in the Seven Sisters to the 
short-and-vicious procedures of Trin, from the short and effective 
procedures of Vincennes to long, bureaucratic and paranoaic restrictions 
for Antra.)

FESTIVAL

The first thing everyone does after arrival is look up at the immense 
hexagonal grid over them. Throughout most of the year, you'll only see a 
crystal clear, cloudless sky, faintly outlined with hundreds of hexagons.
In the nighttime, the outlines glow faintly red: but that is all.

But, if you arrived during the two-week Blazing Lights 
Festival, you'd see some fantastic pattern of lights and graphics in the 
sky, surpassing anything you may have seen in a VR tube.  These Festivals 
have become more and more ornate since the Collapse, now including 
sound's and wind patterns specifically created for the artist, generated 
by the weather control system (imagine immense, organ-like sounds 
emminating from the roof and the winds: absolutely overwhelming).

Of course, tickets for Antra tends to skyrocket as the Festival nears: 
not offically, of course, but the cost in bribes and favours can get 
very severe.  Regardless of the offically fixed passenger prices (rumour 
has it that, even in the Wilds, they haven't changed a bit!), you only 
see the best and the wealthiest arrive on Antra in time for the Festival.

Festival serves not only as the premiere social event of the subsector, 
but as one of five or six events of sector-wide reputation, and thus a 
location where Things Happen and media attention is guarenteed.  Archduke 
Norris, for example, formally announced the engagement of his daughter 
on Antra.

ATTITUDE TO VISITORS

Despite the waves of visitors to Antra, despite their standing as a 
subsector capital, and despite their A-class port, Antrans are intensely 
xenophobic.  They detest foreginers who don't fit into their ways, or 
don't understand their arts.  Usually, this loathing is displayed by 
rudeness or by mocking the ignorance of visitors.  The more upper-class 
folk will tend to prefer to use a biting wit, or cruel puns.  The lower 
class Antrans prefer a more direct approach: never giving a visitor the 
benefit of the doubt, shouting down any attempt to offer an opinion, or 
a light beating if a visitor gets too uppity.  Visitors being raped and 
killed in certain neighbourhoods after dark is not unknown.

But vying head to head with this xenophobia is a great fear and respect 
for large organizations.  The Antrans are very aware of how close they 
are to joining a thousand dead worlds, and how badly they need the 
protection of the Regency government.  Thus, often they deny their 
unwarrented actions, or say that it's just a joke, or otherwise try to 
soothe the waters.  Their comedies often revolve on how to make a fool of 
visitors, how to hurt them savagely, and yet have the visitors still love you.

Traders should be cautious here: some friction is inevitable, and many 
routine liasion tasks need to be increased one difficulty level.  Always 
be aware that much of the hostility that Antrans feel towards you is 
simply cultural, and can be handled with finesse - or even turned into an 
advantage - if you know what you are doing.  

Also be aware that they do not so much want to kill you has to humiliate 
you, to wound your pride without being hurt in return.  Some traders are 
good enough, and have enough leverage, that they can fight head-to-head 
with the Antrans.  Most - including almost all free traders, who are 
always a cargo-load away from disaster - simply have to take it, in order 
to get that cargo you need.

Sorry: the law level of this world does not allow you to carry any weapons 
off the ship - although at least they don't impound them off-ship.

IMMIGRANTS

Of course, not all starship traffic is related to the Festival.  After 
Virus was halted at Catacomb and Deneb, (and several small, sharp battles 
were fought right here) Antra found itself not only having to rebuid from 
Vargr pillaging and stupid stunts (more than one Vargr corsair met it's 
end on the Worldroof, weakening it's integrity), but also having to 
rewire everything to meet anti-Viral spec's.  Also, Antra made very heavy 
use of robots: without them, Antra simply couldn't meet the demands that 
rebuilding made.

In the end, Antra - which prides itself on tight population control - had 
to allow massive immigration to provide a workforce.  The population rose 
from 500 million to 700 million, almost all from immigration from nearby 
Uakari (Antra: Deneb/1710 C5349AA-7).  These immigrants are loathed by 
native Antrans, and considered low-brow, low-tech thugs.   They are not 
permitted to bring any family, and workers who get pregnant are given the 
choice of leaving or having an abortion: if they stay, a one-time 
contraceptive is administered to insure sterility, with an antedote given 
when the working women leave.

Despite the fact that they are paid ten times the amount they would earn 
back home, unrest festers in the shantytowns of Antra, kept near the 
industrial towers and far from the tower cities where Antrans live.  
The immigrants hate the veiled (or, often, completly open) contempt and 
hatred that are held in by the xenophobic Antrans, who believe that 
they are doing the Uakari an unmerited, and unthanked, favour.

The immigrants - refered to as "visiting workers" by upper-class Antrans, 
"thugees" by lower-class Antrans, and "toilers" by themselves - are hired 
on one, five, or ten-year workterms, with a continous flow of about 2 
million people either entering or leaving Antra (keeping over 40,000 
subsidized liners employed).  The immigrant workforce has been in decline 
for the last 20 years, and now make up 170 million people: native born 
Antrans and non-computerized machinery have been slowly spqeezing them 
out, and the immigrant workforce is predicted to be all gone in 20 years.

RELIGION

When the first survey ship's arrived from Corridor, there were a series 
of egnamic, artifical lines and curves on the earth.  Etched out in black 
stone, and often half a mile wide, they can be seen from low orbit.
They do definitely make out patterns, but no one has ever managed to 
successfuly translate them.

No one knows who made these lines, or can even guess how old they are, 
but the Black Lines are a major factor in the many local beliefs.  The 
largest local religions insists that the lines were made from an ancient 
civilization, trying to tell Antran - who, of all the people of the 
universe, have alone been blessed with the Lines - the secrets of the 
universe.  

Equally dominant in Antran philosophy is evolution, but as a doctrine 
rather than a scientific theory.  This doctrine - never formally 
organized, it has no offical name, but commonly called the Promethians - 
most believe that humaniti, even postCollapse humaniti, is marching on to a 
higher goal, continually evolving themselves to spread their genes and 
power throughout the Universe.  

The Black Liners believe that other human civilizations have 
transended this universe millions of years ago, and that current 
humaniti (including the Zhos, Vilani, and Solomani) are simply walking 
on a well-trod path.  While they certainly don't believe in the God of 
the Solomani monotheists, they do believe that there is a guiding Spirit 
of Humaniti over all, and that a glorious unity of souls await's us 
after death.

The Promethians, in contrast, does not care for such a soft-headed 
concept as a sweet afterlife, ruled over by kindly spirits, and would 
laugh out loud in contempt at the concept of a stern and conquering Judge, 
weighting the lives of men in the balance.  They do, however, believe 
that we can gain a kind of immortality, not by some impossible 
resurrection, but by doing great and astounding deeds, by 
inspired leadership, by securing a great insight into the nature of 
things that will leave the universe a better place than before.

Both religions are often in contention with each other ("Supersitious 
fables!" vs. "Connect, man! Connect!").  

Both gag at the sight of other religions, esp. Christians ("I 
can't believe that ignorant people like you exist in this day and age!", 
"Onward walks the spiritually blind, refusing in their narrowmindedness 
to open their Third Eye, and see the significance of the Lines!")

"WE OURSELVES"

The Antrans area highly extroverted, social, and fanciful people.  Of the 
"Imperial" race (standard Solomani/Vilani parentage), they are only 
ho-hum physically, without the supernatural elegance and perfect 
physique that bioengineering grants most citizens of high-tech worlds.  

They take no particular pride in their status as subsector capital, but 
do take pride in their artistic endeavors.  Their buildings, while not 
particularly 'artistic', do radiate a certain grace, a certain 
lightness.  Their most famed artist's are sometimes quiet, sometimes 
loud, but approach their work with a disiplined hand.  Even third-rate 
artists from Antra are highly valued elsewhere: their command of the 
repitore of Imperial culture is unmatched elsewhere, their intense 
understanding and respect of their audience (even as they recoil at their 
alieness) is known to all.

There are several rituals and notable variations on Antra that should be 
noted by the casual traveller.  
  * Greeting: when two friends meet, they give the standard greeting 
      "Howdo?", then they both circle a point halfway between them in 
      silence. After two revolutions, they clap hands and hug affectionately.
  * Children: Antrans love their children immensely, and enjoy showing 
      them the world they live in.  They happily haul their children to 
      work, to play, to shop, to visit lovers, even to see (and laugh at) 
      visitors.  
    What they *won't* allow is for some filthy stranger to touch their 
      children.  Expect serious verbal abuse if you dare do so. 
  * Life: Antra has no native lifeforms, and the locals have chosen to 
      introduce nothing but plants and insects: but (after a chechup) the 
      Antrans will allow animals on the world, as long as they are T-linked.
      (T-links come in two parts: one part goes on the owner's body, and 
      the other around the animal's neck.  If the animal leaves a certain 
      distance from the owner, it soffers pain: if it crosses another 
      threshhold, it dies.) 
  * Clothing: Antrans have a sharp sense of what look's good: often 
      their taste runs to simple and elegant, but many like large and loud.  
      Either way, their clothing is comfortable, loose-fitting and of good 
      quality.  They don't go for effect-clothing, but there is a current 
      fad for biolumenescent contact lenses (bright yellow, or Denebian red 
      eyes, is the most desired.) 
  * Food: While the Antrans have good taste everywhere else, they don't 
      cut it when it comes to the belley.  Then, they simply want it hot, 
      spicy, and in He-man servings.  Everything else is just a frill.
  * Literacy: Antrans, like most TL C+ societies, are functionally 
      post-literate.  However, old-fashioned bookreading is a growing fad 
      among the elite, and the fad is starting to show up in popular culture.

Regular life is much the same as on other high-tech worlds, with the 
cycle of conception (by whatever means), genetic therapy, birth, infant 
training, carrer selection, child-specific VR education, work, sex, 
ageing, and death.  Marriages are rare (even for a high-tech world), but 
more people choose to raise children than on the typical High Stellar world.
Antrans also place a higher value on "high-brow" culture and sophistication 
rather than focus on simple 'stupid-foreginer' entertainment like some 
mindless talk show or sitcoms.

The Immigrants, isolated in their shantytowns, live a different life.  
Imagine a vast, dirty-grey tent city, connected by a 
chain of fabric tunnels.  Gangs of shadowy figures, huddled together, 
march from the asture factory towers to their ragged tents, to hide from 
the bitter -20 C cold.  Inside, in a city without children, live the 
hard-bitten men who do the work meant for machines.  Someone will die 
on the job tomorrow when their safety lines finally snap (Antrans don't 
waste grav belts on 'trash': men are far cheaper than grav belts to 
replace), or when their poorly maintained equipment is tested once too 
often. 

However, more deaths occur outside of the factories than inside.  With 
only the most superficial medical care,  a large portion of the workers 
are slowly dying (or going mad, or losing their vision) due to the 
noxious fumes of their work. (Remember, the robots that did the jobs 
before them didn't have to worry about breathing, or heat stroke, or the 
pounding noise destroying their eardrums).  Moreover, the largely male 
workers get into endless fights, with handmade guns or knives.  Women 
workers are sometimes left alone, but often are forced to take on a lover 
for protection, or simply for some companionship in their hard life.   

(Note: In many areas, the tent cities are pressurized, connected by a 
maze of fabric tunnels.  Well, they are supposed to be presurized: the 
poor-quality tents they were given is not built to take the damage the 
workers often inflict on it.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvin Plummer
"Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for."
                               - Strephon, 179-1126

Reply to: alvin.plummer@SHERIDANC.ON.CA
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