RICE Paper #AWP-00314: Borlund

Date: Sun, 01 Oct 1995 14:44:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
Subject: RICE Paper #AWP-00314: Borlund


Borlund (Lamas:Deneb/1406)
E454BAA-9   S  Hi              201  Re K8 V M9 V
g=.478 day=33:45:00.4 year(Imp)=296d 5:53:31.7 (local) 210d 15:55:23.9
atmos-.442, natural weather
temp=+8 (5/lat +33 to -17) (season +23 to -39, 8 deg lat)
daily temp range= +10 noon, -34 midnight
[Life] Agricultural, Crystals; Agroproducts, Non-Metals
Conservative/Indifferent, Unagressive/Neutral, Monolithic/Xenophobic
Legal=A-88BAA                        Tech=99-98897-9992-98-B

****************

ASTROGRAPHIC NOTES: 

Borlund is in orbit 1 around the primary star Crotiv.  That half-dead 
star, Idanoll, is in orbit 5.  Borlund does have a trivial satilite 
barely worthy of being called a moon (Symot: YS00000-0), about 115,200 
km from Borlund.

Because of the placement of Idanoll, there is a real, black Night for 
only half the year.  For other half of the year, there is this dim red 
glow instead, brighter than Earth's moon, but nowhere near Sol, or 
Crotiv.  The shadows and other light-effects of these two star can be 
quite pretty.

****************

INTRODUCTION:

Borlund is on the edge of the coreward border of the Regency, and 
directly faces Virus.  However, RQS security at the recently established 
RQS base is only 'average': no Virus ship has crossed the boundary in 
over 20 years, and the subsector is rather on the low-tech, 
low-importance side.  Indeed, considering the low esteem that Borlund is 
held througout Deneb, some people feel that it would be no great loss if 
security on Borlund slipped up one day: others say that the 
Borlundlanders wouldn't even notice if Virus DID take over...
 
As you arrive at Founder's Harbour, you are rather shocked by the 
extemely small port, the only one on Borlund.  It's barely enough to hold 
5000 disp of ship's (This, in a world of 200 billion people!)  

As you look around, you note that just about everyone resembles everyone 
else: not clones, but almost.  Also, just about everyone seems to be a 
cripple of some kind or another: some suffer from mental handicappes, 
others from physical ones, and still others suffer some hideous 
combination of both.  

[REFEREE: For people and startravellers who probably have *never* 
          seen a handicapped person in their entire lives, Borlund is 
          extremely repulsive and alien.  Most traders absolutely will not 
          visit Borlund, for this reason as well as the very thin abount of 
          trade available.

          When generating Borlundlanders, remember to deduct 3 points of 
          every attribute, to model the effects of extensive inbreeding.]

Everyone seems to avoid you, except a very few "Customs" personnel: they 
treat you more like Aliens from Outer Space, but seem a lot more smarter 
and intact than their brothers - even if they insist on wearing bulky TL 9 
space suits, complete with oxygen backpack and bubble helmet, tinted 
coal black.

Almost all traders to Borlund are chartered by the Borlund government, 
carring specific freight: speculating on cargo is vigourously discouraged 
on Borlund, as the government wished to discourage as many visitors and 
traders from coming to Borlund as possible.  The visitor's - when they 
can resist gawking at the natives, who will be openly gawking at them - 
will have a very difficult time finding room and board.  They will also 
have severe communication problems: the Bourlundlanders have developed 
their own language over the centuries [Called "Words", it only contains 300 
words], which has no relation with Anglic at all.  Still, it's possible 
that they may come across someone whose handicapped only in the body, 
not the mind. Such people speak a convoluted, difficult-to-decipher form 
of Old Anglic.

There is very little for the adventure to do in this overcrowded 
asylum: the world is dirt poor, and - after a while - the 
entertainment/shock value of so many handicapped folk wears off.  There 
is precious little to be traded: Borlund's entire industrial product is 
used simply to maintain the current standard of living.  Moreover, the 
starport is on an island, hundreds of kilometers from the mainland: the 
only connection is by zepplin transit.

For the sociologist, however, there are interesting - if subtle - jewels 
to discover about Borlund.  Most obviously, how can such a group of 
the blind, the insane, and the lame keep a TL 9 society going?  What 
disaster happened that shaped Borlund to what it is today?

*********************

APPEARANCE:

The Borlundlander's dress actually most closely resembles that worn by 
ancient Greek actors.  The men prefer sandals, long to mid-thigh togas (in 
white or a cream colour), with simple bronze masks over their faces 
(with maybe a few bumps and lines).  The women, in contrast, prefer 
wooden masks with metal highlights, and two-piece, brightly coloured 
tunic/dress outfits.  The upper-class women also wear long white gloves 
and a cloak/hood combo. These masks are never taken off in public, or 
before strangers.

The more senior members of the Cult of the Bird dress rather 
differently.  They prefer feathered dress - imitating some mythical Bird 
of Paridise, or perhaps something more simple like a Raven.  The more 
noticeable aspect of them is their biomasks.  Imported from Starn (Inar: 
Deneb/1417 B000996-F), 11 parsecs away, these masks cover the entire 
head, and can easily display emotions, lifelike reaction, etc. since they 
*are* alive.  While their manufactors recommend that they be removed one 
day out of five, the Borlundlanders prefer to leave it on, permitting ti 
to bond inseperatably to their head.

Remembering that most Borlundlanders are suffering from some genetic 
malady or other, canes and wheelchairs are quite popular, ranging from 
simple metal versions to ornate, powered ones.  Everyone is quite 
dependent on designated 'helpers', usually people with only mild (or, 
very rarely, no) handicapps.  These helpers are usually known by the Red 
Cross symbol they wear on apron's.  

The Customs personnel met at Founder's Harbour are among the most elite 
available to Borlund, with a minimum UPP attribute rating of 5 (Rather than 
the average of 3).  Dressed in 60's style shiny space suits, they are 
rather better equipped than that: their suit has an armour rating of 1, 
and all carry a pistol in their hoster (easily assessible, but hidden 
from casual view).  Outside of duty, they dress noemally, but keep their 
bubble helmets on.

**********************

XENOPHOBIA

While Borlundlanders are xenophobes, they're not very agressive about 
it.  They prefer to avoid strangers when possible, and many refuse to 
talk to them.  Violence might occur if the strangers are precieved as 
threats, with unprediticable results.

[REFEREE: Because many Borlundlanders are incapable of complex thought 
          doesn't mean noone can outwit foreginers: punish travellers who 
          act in a consistently stupid fashion.  Some Borlundlanders can 
          think quite well, thank you: and even the dumb ones 
          will eventually learn how to hit back, if given time... ]

***********************

INDISPENSIBLE TOOLS

Borlundlander society is able to function thanks to a number of tools 
that they have siezed on.  Almost all managers, supervisiors and other 
important personnel carry small computers (AI or Expert Systems), either 
wrist sized or 'tricoder' sized. These well-written programs provide much 
needed support and guidance in operating equipment, complex calculations, etc. 

Also, Borlund is probably the only world where robots are still in common 
use (although biogennered monkeys and other 'organic robots' are slowly
replacing them).  True, almost all of these robots are at TL 9, and thus 
expensive and slow.  Still, without them, much of Borlundland society 
would be simply impossible.

*********************

RELIGION

In Ancient Times (See note), the major religion was a form of Ancestor 
Worship of the original Founders, especially the people whom the 
population is cloned after.  However, from about 830 the Cult of the 
Bird - one of the Servani Cults - grew roots on Borlund: by the Rebellon 
Period, the Cult had become the dominant religion on Borlund.

Unfortunately, the Cult - despite it's off-world origions - is quite 
xenophobic.  Moreover, it's love of power, bizzare doctrines, mysticisim, 
and basic cruelty has definitely hindered any cultural or technological 
renaissance of Borlund.  Especially awful is their cosmology: their very 
bizzare theories about space travel, the Imperium/Regency, and spaceships 
has set back local knowledge of the heavens to the level of mere astrology.
They're endless droning and recitations of supposedly magical words is 
quite annoying when in their company. (The phase "Wise and Cruel was the 
Bird.  Wise and Cruel are the Sons of the Bird." is instantly 
recognizable across the Regency) 

The Cult may loathe and dread off-worlders (called Demons by them), but 
they love starships, and anything else that can fly for that matter.  
Thus their continual demand for Bird biomasks - despite the exorborant 
prices.  They will also pay serious prices for anything with wings and 
feathers.

This love of flight - and more than a little of the Cult's ignorance and 
supersitions - also influences the upper classes (well "Upper Classes" 
is a relative term: they're generally not the despised "inbred, moronic, 
chucklehead cripples" that most Denebi would call them, but they wouldn't  
have gotten past an entry-level position in most societies, either).
The most wealthy individuals of Borlund generally travel to some 
high-tech world to have their legs amputated, and replaced with a 
grav unit.   Almost everyone dreams of buying a Zepplin, the most common 
form of long-distance transit on Borlund.  Even hot-air ballons are more 
valued than the (extremely sturdy) cars that are available.

[REFEREE: 'Ancient Times'. For Borlund, this is pre-Doom, dated at 757.  The 
Borlund dating system starts from 758 (the first year, post-Doom): 1200 is 
PD 547 (Post-Doom 547)]

*********************

HISTORY

The Founders - who arrived here from Corridor in 151 - were originally a 
well financed group of several thousand colonists, led by about 30 wealthy 
men.  As they grew old - and the rapidly growing colony needed more 
manpower than either immigration or normal population growth could 
provide - these folk chose to solve the problem by generating hundreds of 
male and female clones of themselves offworld, and shipping 
them over to Borlund (solving both the manpower shortage and satisifying 
their infinite egos).

By the 230's, over 80% of the resident population of 80,000 people were 
clones of the 30 colony leaders. As the non-clones swiftly fell in social 
status and wealth, the Truechildren - the clone's name for themselves - 
grew to dominate the economy and culture, of only of Borlund, but of the 
entire subsector. (Borlund was named the subsector capital in 302: the 
subsector was also renamed Borlund at the same time)

At the system's height - at about 700...

(UWP at the time: 
Borlund       Borlund:Deneb/1406  B454999-C   N Hi Cp     101  Im K8V M9V)

..Borlund was the dominant financial centre for Pretoria, Borlund and 
Antra subsectors.  Borlund was also noted for it's famed "Table Towns" 
(actually looking closer to mushrooms, to this scout's eyes).  Basically, 
a Table Town was a 500m diameter plate suspended on a squat, 100m 
diameter base.  On the plate you could put a small town, a landing field, 
or most any reasonably-sized building.  The ruins of these Table Towns can 
still be seen, quietly disintergrating as the locals no longer have the 
tech to maintain them.

Borlund's proudest achievement was in protecting it's ecosphere: it's easy 
mixture of high civilization and African-veldt feel was unique in the 
subsector, and one of the ways that made Deneb Sector *Deneb*.  Now even 
that's gone: the immense increase of the population, couples with bouts 
of large-scale starvation during the late 700s finished the old plains 
forever.

Borlund started to fall apart at 721, when the upper clases started to 
take wives and sired children by normal means, rather than by clone 
tanks or by implanting cloned eggs.  The regular folk, quite envious of 
this upper-class privelege, insisted that they should be allowed to have 
"Traditional" children too.  The upper classes, supported by the 
government, said no: to have normal children between such 
closely-related parents took careful, very expensive, DNA level therapy and 
the government couldn't afford to provide this service to the entire 
population.  Moreover, they didn't want to pay either the financial or 
social costs such a widespread change would cause (from at least 
temporary surge in unemployment to changing a host of laws to the need 
to import lots of very expensive equipment from the other side of the Claw.)

Class acrimony and strife became rampant.  In protest, many started to 
illegally remove their contraceptive implants, and bear large numbers of 
children in defiance of widely despised laws.  Large numbers of the more 
well-to-do middle class learned to view their government as unjust 
and oppressive, and left, taking their skills and money with them.  Still 
others shouted about "Reproductive rights",a nd began a series of 
confrontations with the governemnt, eventually growing more and more violent.

The end came suddenly, when in 757 a ship's boat from the  S.S. Bride of the 
Stars - charted by covert terrorists - crashed into Desomi City, 
detonating the 20MT nuclear warhead in it's hold.  With the capital gone, 
the government collapsed, replaced by a pro-birth revolutionary council.  
The population soared as everyone imitrated the large families of the 
elite.  Since so many were clones - and thus too closely related to have 
genetically normal kids - the population soon became dominated by physically 
and mentally handicapped people.

Borlund's economy - and the economy of the entire subsector - soon 
started to sink like a stone, as the cost of caring for/adjusting to 
these people grew expotentially.  The situation became so bad that the 
Sector Duke petitioned - and recieved - a massive amount of Imperial Aid 
in the early 800s to deal with "the Borlund Problem".  The Imperium soon 
had to struggle against mass chaos, starvation, and sudden epidemics.  
The Imperium managed to restore some sense of order by the 820s, and even 
brought back the Tech level to 11.  

[NOTE: Because of Borlund's lack of genetic diversity, the system had always 
been probe to epidemics, but the chaotic situation made things a good 
deal worse.]

When the new Sector Duchess ascended to office in 828, however, one of 
her first acts was to cut Imperial involvement in the Borlund Sinkhole.
She further signalled the Imperial abandonment of Borlund by shifting 
both the subsector capital and the subsector name to Lamas. 

Borlund simply could not afford to maintain a TL B standing: a major 
depression fell on the world as soon as the last Imperial Relief 
Freighter left, and the patched together coalition the Imperials left to 
rule the world quickly collapsed in savage infighting.  After the Weeping 
War ground on for a decade (providing some of the most shocking war 
footage in Deneb Sector history), decisive battles were won by the 
Brandon fraction, and they finally secured overall supremacy in 839.

The Brandoni were basically a cultural group who managed to create a 
working alliance between it's physically and it's mentally handicapped 
fractions, successfuly using each group's strengths to cover the other's 
weakness.  To their lasting credit, they managed to intergrate AI, expert 
systems and old, abused robots to rebuild some sembelance of a real 
civilization.  As a culture, they eventually faded away, but they're 
achievements remain the basis of current Borlund civilization.

However, from about the Fourth Frontier War period to now, the 
Borlundlanders have turned away from contact from the outer world, which 
is quite hostile to them.  Borlund endures, but does not grow.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvin Plummer