Revision as of 02:58, 13 February 2025

Lore: Epsilon Eridani System

The System of Epsilon Eridani

Overview

A relatively young system, thought to have formed between 400 and 800 million years ago, ε Eridani is the 13th nearest star system to Sol, located 3.2 parsecs from it. It is a single-star system, home to several distinct debris rings still lingering from it's formation, as well as a limited number of terrestrial planets and several gas giants. The notable bodies of the system in order of increasing semi-major axis are:

Ran - Star

Baldr - Terrestrial Planet
Albion - Terrestrial Planet
Hodr - Terrestrial Planet

Inner Asteroid Belt - Astronomical Feature

Aegir - Gas Giant
Forseti - Gast Giant

Outer Asteroid Belt - Astronomical Feature

Thunor - Gas Giant
Heimdallr - Gas Giant

Comet Belt - Astronomical Feature

Ran

The single star at the center of the Epsilon Eridani system, Ran is a bright and young star which generates stronger UV and solar winds compared to larger and older Sol. It belongs to the spectral class K2V. The name "Ran" derives from the Old Norse "Rán" (lit.: theft, robbery), a goddess which personified the sea. Generally thought to embody it's dangerous and unfavorable aspects, she was sometimes depicted as killing seafarers by dragging them into the depths with a fishing net. The star's low orbits are largely unoccupied save for solar power collection infrastructure, as well as space weather monitoring and scientific probes.

Baldr

A small and airless terrestrial world, orbiting roughly 0.34 AU from Ran, Baldr is tidally locked in a 2:5 resonance, it's astronomical day is rather long at ~32 days compared to it's ~81 day orbit, leading to a solar day ~54 days long. The extreme thermal environment at the planet's surface, coupled to the proximity to the star and it's powerful stellar winds, leave Baldr ironically overshadowed by the system's plentiful debris rings in the mining sector. The planet holds no permanent population, however it has been previously visited by manned expeditions and been the object of scientific study for nearly as long as the system has been colonized. The planet is named after the Norse god of light, owing to it's proximity to the star, whose death is prophesized to be a harbinger of the end of the world.

Albion

Albion is the only Earth-like planet in the Epsilon Eridani system. Detection of it's earth-like characteristics, most notable of which were the presence of water vapor and oxygen in it's atmosphere, were the very reason the system became one of the first targets Humanity set out to colonize.

Surface Conditions

The planet orbits at roughly 0.71 AU from Ran, weighing 1.3 Earth Masses and with a radius of 1.1 Earth Radii, well as a similar, if marginally richer in oxygen atmosphere. The solar day on Albion is 33 hours and 8 minutes long. Surface temperatures reach as low as -101°C at the poles and as high as 26°C during summer at the equator, although average temperatures in most inhabited areas hover somewhere around 0°C over the course of the year. When it was first colonized, Albion already harbored it's own alien biosphere, although it was primitive compared to Terran life. Oxygen producing bacteria and small land vegetation and fungi were all that were present on land. While an analogue to the Eukaryotic cell had seemingly evolved, the handful of multicellular animal organisms within the planet's cold oceans were only beginning to develop. How such life had developed in so short a timeframe when compared to Terra was both highly unexpected to it's first settlers and still a topic of scientific discussion, although current leading theories are that relatively advanced microbes and possibly even eukaryotic life may have been seeded through panspermia after the planet had cooled from it's formation. Regardless of how it arose, the planet's native life was unfortunately ill-equipped to compete with the Terran specimens brought by the colonization effort, and a significant part of that early life was lost before any attempts at study and preservation could be made. Most of pre-human Eridanian life today exists only within controlled study environments and purpose-made space stations which attempt to emulate the planet's early biosphere. On the surface itself, most of the planet's flora and fauna have been replaced by descendants of the imported Terran examples and gene-edited additions which were considered necessary to stabilize the biosphere during the change, although a handful of the most adaptable of native land and sea life managed to persist into the current day, and were considered best left as they were. The planet's equator harbors a climate not too unlike temperate regions of Terra, although the further away from it one travels it quickly becomes more tundra-like and eventually arctic, with large continental glaciers dominating the planet's higher latitudes completely.

Colonization

While most early colonies did not stray far from the more habitable equator, present-day arcologies on Albion will sometimes stretch into the more desolate high latitudes when needed. Population densities are, in general, low and concentrated around a few major metropolises near the equator. The planet is the capital of the Eridani Alliance, headquartered in Morveren, one of the planet's largest cities, built along the coast of the Galdrygean Ocean, within the region where the first colonists had once landed their shuttles. It's sparser regions, meanwhile, include smaller clusters of towns, cities and standalone arcologies, and are unique within the Epsilon Eridani system given the world's singular status as a habitable, breathable natural environment. One of the reasons for this lack of centralization, which has carried to the Alliance's governing of it's interstellar territories, is the relative heterogeneity of initial settlement. Unlike many of the colonies that arose in the super-luminal age the Eridani awoke to, theirs was a colonization effort of a single, self-contained trip, one with enough numbers to establish many concurrent settlements on the surface, many of which have persisted into the current day.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=Lore: Epsilon Eridani System=
+='''Lore: Epsilon Eridani System'''=
-==The System of Epsilon Eridani==
+=The System of Epsilon Eridani=
-===Overview===
+==Overview==
 A relatively young system, thought to have formed between 400 and 800 million years ago, ε Eridani is the 13th nearest star system to Sol, located 3.2 parsecs from it.
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 * '''Comet Belt''' - Astronomical Feature
-===Ran===
+==Ran==
 The single star at the center of the Epsilon Eridani system, Ran is a bright and young star which generates stronger UV and solar winds compared to larger and older Sol. It belongs to the spectral class K2V.
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 The star's low orbits are largely unoccupied save for solar power collection infrastructure, as well as space weather monitoring and scientific probes.
-===Baldr===
+==Baldr==
 A small and airless terrestrial world, orbiting roughly 0.34 AU from Ran, Baldr is tidally locked in a 2:5 resonance, it's astronomical day is rather long at ~32 days compared to it's ~81 day orbit, leading to a solar day ~54 days long.
@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 The planet is named after the Norse god of light, owing to it's proximity to the star, whose death is prophesized to be a harbinger of the end of the world.
-===Albion===
+==Albion==
 Albion is the only Earth-like planet in the Epsilon Eridani system. Detection of it's earth-like characteristics, most notable of which were the presence of water vapor and oxygen in it's atmosphere, were the very reason the system became one of the first targets Humanity set out to colonize.
-====Surface Conditions====
+===Surface Conditions===
 The planet orbits at roughly 0.71 AU from Ran, weighing 1.3 Earth Masses and with a radius of 1.1 Earth Radii, well as a similar, if marginally richer in oxygen atmosphere. The solar day on Albion is 33 hours and 8 minutes long. Surface temperatures reach as low as -101°C at the poles and as high as 26°C during summer at the equator, although average temperatures in most inhabited areas hover somewhere around 0°C over the course of the year.
@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 The planet's equator harbors a climate not too unlike temperate regions of Terra, although the further away from it one travels it quickly becomes more tundra-like and eventually arctic, with large continental glaciers dominating the planet's higher latitudes completely.
-====Colonization====
+===Colonization===
 While most early colonies did not stray far from the more habitable equator, present-day arcologies on Albion will sometimes stretch into the more desolate high latitudes when needed. Population densities are, in general, low and concentrated around a few major metropolises near the equator.
@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 Unlike many of the colonies that arose in the super-luminal age the Eridani awoke to, theirs was a colonization effort of a single, self-contained trip, one with enough numbers to establish many concurrent settlements on the surface, many of which have persisted into the current day.
-====Notable Locations====
+===Notable Locations===
-=====Morveren=====
+====Morveren====
-==Modern Day==
-The capital of the modern day Eridani Alliance is centered on the planet Albion in the Epsilon Eridani system itself, named after the colony ship that first brought the initial settlers to their new homeworld. The governing body of the initial organization of colonists would find clusters of stars in which large numbers of habitable planets exist, with large swaths of space between them not previously exploited in the last century by the rest of humanity. In time, the area of space administered and claimed by the Alliance would reach from a few tens of lightyears from Terra out to the limits of human space on the "eastern" and "southern" borders of Confederation space, facing the galactic core to the east and the Vikaran Combine to the south across the divide separating the Orion and Perseus arms of the galaxy. With the hands-off approach of their central government in most cases, this has led to several independent worlds within their sphere of influence that have stayed free of the Orion Confederation or have joined in their own right, leading to a complicated economic relationship with the EA.
-==Ethos & Culture==
-A strange mix of modern Terran culture and ancient traditions hailing back to the historic cultures that spawned them, the citizens of the Eridani Alliance live much like the rest of the members of the Orion Confederation. Initially expanding outwards in rapid fits and starts as FTL technology was brought to the forefront and put into production in the rapidly established shipyards, the worlds of the Alliance suffer from a contradiction that has led to the 'clusters' of systems that have been settled: Scarcity of large scale industrial efforts. Because of the late establishment of the state as it did its best to manage the swarms of humanity swarming out as the Diaspora moved into the then-Frontier, the government of the formative Alliance had to concentrate its efforts on what it *needed* to support its citizens. This has led to a much more hands-off approach when it comes to regulating and ordering its citizens, in turn leading to the myriad of distinct yet related cultures that have sprung up all over the sector as the decades and centuries march onward.
-==Governmental Structure==
-Much like the cultures that coalesced to leave Terra for parts unknown, the government of the Eridani Alliance resembles a parliamentary bicameral house, with an upper house formed of appointed by the governments of important industrial and cultural worlds, and a lower house representing individual provinces based on population size. This has led to a somewhat slow-to-react, indecisive legislative body; offset by the fact that, in most matters, each province handles internal matters by itself, with only defense, taxation, and judicial coming under the jurisdiction of the highest level of government.
-==Military Organization==
-The Eridani Alliance has organized its military forces and other security services, along the lines of the culture that spawned them, with a heavy influence from that of the old United Kingdom of Terra. Considering the frontier that they are facing towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy, they guard humanity's 'east flank' in addition to the forces they and other members of the Confederation contribute to the JSDF.
-The military is organized into three branches, as the responsibility of handing planet-based issued has fallen to the naval infantry forces.
-===Alliance Navy===
-* The pride of the Eridani Alliance, the Alliance Navy is the backbone of their contribution to the JSDF and the sword and shield brought to bear against hostile incursions to the worlds they are charged with defending.
-* Quick, aggressive flotillas of destroyers and frigates exercise constantly, always seeming on the move and crewed with sailors for whom 'tenacity' is their creed. Patrolling between the void between the dense clusters of worlds inside the alliance, cruisers patrol the trade routes to keep the way clear for trade and communications traffic, spending months or years on their patrols with many frequent calls at spaceports allowing the myriad of different types of humans that crew the vessels a time of shore leave.
-* Numerous carriers, smaller than those of Terra, Mars, or the TSC, operate in pairs or trios conducting flight operations and training exercises in the outer reaches of Alliance systems, honing the skills of their crews and building confidence in their systems, their battlegroups acting as both screens and support for the attached small craft, providing command and control and more powerful electronic support than t.
-* Finally, the heart of iron (Yes, I'm referring to Hearts of Oak Fol) at its core, the squadrons of squat, dense battleships and the long battlecruisers heavy with sublight engines that support and screen these monsters of naval combat put out into the black rarely, but when they do, the enemies of the Alliance are shortly to know the fury they have called down upon themselves.
-===Alliance Corps of Marines===
-* Spawning from veterans of the Final War who served in the Royal Marines and other similar services of the regions constituting the original colonists, the Alliance Marines constitute the entirety of the land-based forces that the Eridani Alliance can bring to the JSDF or to invaders of their territory (aside from local militia forces). Given the spread out nature of worlds and garrisons within the Alliance, a traditional "army" never formed in the early days of the Alliance in 2350. Based in small garrisons along important trade routes and aboard the ships of the Alliance Navy, the Alliance Marines operate as boarders, ship defenders, and station assault crews using speed and violence of action as their trademark tactical approach to solving the equation of violence when called upon. On the ground, they use light vehicles and cavalry tactics to keep opposing forces off-balance, always seeking to keep the initiative in combat engagements.
-===Alliance Aerospace Forces===
-* An outgrowth of colontists that had served in the UK's Royal Air Force and other similar services, the Alliance Aerospace Forces form the backbone of most Alliance world's first response to external threats. Innovative designs hailing from the technical design houses of Martinique, New Sheffield, Eindhoven and others give the relatively small, professional corps of pilots and service crews consistently excellent strike and space superiority fighters that can be brought to bear from orbital space stations and platforms, or from the deck of the Alliance Navy's large numbers of armored carriers.
-==Notable Stances Towards Corporations:==
-The Eridani Alliance has the most acceptance of the operations of these corporations within their own borders, even if they do place a premium on those that chose to base themselves out on the Frontier or in other areas of the Confederation to operate.
-==Influence:==
-==OOC notes for players:==
-(most of this I need to sort through aaaaa)
-"Don't feel like you have to larp the model citizen of a given modern-day european country. In fact, don't. Of course everyone will have a certain background that'll affect their worldview, their religious beliefs, their manner of speech, etc. and in general Epsilon-Eridanians still have some appreciation for Terran culture's influence, but how much that is the case is a matter of individual basis and a lot has changed in 500 years."
-This is why I've mostly referred to ε-Eri as it's own thing, since their identity is about how these influences can both persist while also changing over time into something familiar but different.
-In this case "Terran culture" refers to colonization-era and prior, not modern as was mentioned previously.
-"Eridani Common has a very distinct accent to Standard Sol Common, as well as an uncountable number of differences. It's in a superficial way similar to the difference between British English and American English, yet the Eridanians have loaned words from many languages absent to Standard Sol Common, ditched a few that it used to have, and missed out on two centuries of the language's evolution, while having gone as far as to revive the occasional Middle or Old English word back into their lexicons. How much of this your character reflects varies. A more cosmopolitan sort might only have a hint of an accent, while someone less inclined might be genuinely difficult to understand to a tourist from Sol."
-I do find it a misnomer that the overall language is called Sol Common, but it's a misnomer that makes sense historically IC so it's not a bad thing. While they would've "caught up" with ''some'' of Modern Sol Common, I don't imagine the languages would ever homogenise back into a single thing.
-The Old English mention is a bit on the "funni" side, but if there is a single place in the universe that ''could'' happen, it would probably be there. Mostly this is just for flavor and "why do they speak SOL common".
-(partial language understanding would be the dream obviously but that's out of my hands)
-Last note, cont. from the "Germany & France" note:
-"Similarly, characters with particularly underrepresented backgrounds such as the scandinavians might well be more prevalent elsewhere, and need not be from Epsilon Eridani, as the bulk of it's colonists were from the Sol colonies that succeeded Great Britain after the Last Great War."
-Just clarification. Ideally demographic scope would be fairly delineated after some vague yet plausible post-war group of states rather than a pure grab-bag of European culture.
-That said these notes are for ε-Eri the system, so it might be a little more flexible in the rest of the Alliance, particularly recent additions or incorporations.