Another writeup that could be of interest. In my campaign this system is just recently opened, and might turn into a colony later (unless my Provolution player wipes it out with a retroviral attack first
I'm interested in hearing what you think it might develop into.
Porrima system
(CNN, London) The British Government today announced the foundation of a new outpost, Warkington’s Drift, on a newly surveyed garden world in the Gamma Virginis system. This represents a return to the pre-war agenda of the British Space Service.
The system was secretly surveyed by Simpson Apex Ltd (a Wellon exploration corporation) in collaboration with the British Space Service. So far the Wolf Cluster has been a great disappointment, despite the early high hopes inflated by the Klaxun at DM+17 2611 and the habitability of Freiland. None of the surveyed systems have contained any habitable worlds or relevant finds. An initial positive Simpson Apex survey of the system last year was suppressed until a proper manned expedition could visit and confirm the presence of a habitable planet.
The planet, named Carmentia, masses 1.43 earth masses, with a surface gravity 15% larger than Earth. The day is a little above 19 hours and the axial tilt is a low 6 degrees. 50% of the surface is covered with oceans, with a sizeable fraction of water locked in large icecaps.
“We think the ecology of Carmentia will prove a fascinating subject of study over the next decades” says Sir Roderick Wright-Molina, head of the British Space Survey. “The grand seasons caused by the eccentric orbit of the suns are likely more severe than on any other garden world in explored space. They are expected to involve very significant climate alterations and ecological shifts – we suspect that the icecaps are incredibly dynamic and move over the span of decades rather than millennia.
Carmentia appears to lack significant tectonic activity, which has contributed to the relatively low carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, the small oceans and the perhaps suprising coolness of the surface. Much of the surface is covered with praries, shallow seas and swamps. However, there are numerous forests and what appears to be jungles: the planet promises to be just as rich in biological surprises as Earth.”
The decision to set up a research station on Carmentia (named after Sir Edward Warkington’s famous camp on New Highland) may or may not be the first step in a colony venture. Experts at the Colonization Policy Foundation, a Wellon think tank, warned that any serious colonization would require Freihafen to expand its infrastructure to handle passing ships and likely also require construction of an outpost at one of the intermediary systems.
In the meantime, the IEX and University of Wellon have expressed interest in a biological survey. For the first years Warkington’s Drift will likely survey the local ecology and resources, in order to provide the UK (and ESA) with a sound basis to make a decision on. Simpson Apex will likely use the outpost for further exploration of the fingers of the Wolf Cluster, giving it an advantage over competitors like Trilon and Tarr Interplanetary Excursions.
Gamma Virginis
Gamma Virginis is called Porrima or Arich. It is a binary star with a highly eccentric 171 year period orbit. Both A and B are F0 blue-white stars, hotter than the sun. Normally separated by about 40 AU, at perihelion they are less than 4 AU from each other.
Name Orbit (AU) Diameter (km) Density (earths)
A Evander 0.7 7,000 .6 Desert
Egeria 1.02 8,000 .5 Desert
Carmentia 2.14 14,000 1.1 Garden
B Antevorta 0.4 11,000 1.1 Hothouse
Postvorta 1.6 6,000 1.1 Desert
The B system holds little of interest, a typical hothouse named Antevorta and a desert world named Postvorta.
The innermost two worlds of the A system are two very light desert worlds, possibly escaped moons of a lost gas giant or Moon-like remnants of the mantle of some protoplanet that once collided with another protoplanet.
Carmentia
Carmentia is the system’s only habitable world. It masses 1.43 earth masses, producing a noticeable 1.15 G gravity. It lacks moon. The axial tilt is a mild 6 degrees, making seasons minor at present. The day is 19.06 hours long.
The orbit is locked in a resonance with the two stars, which stabilizes its orbit and obliquity somewhat. It is believed that it was originally a hothouse or ocean world that got much of its atmosphere and hydrosphere stripped by UV radiation from the stars until it could develop into a garden world. However, given the current loss of hydrogen and weak tectonics the planet may not be able to sustain a biosphere in a few hundreds of million years.
Carmentia is covered with mainly shallow oceans (50% of the surface) and large plains. There are also swamplands, prairies, forests as well as some extensive deserts. No real counterparts to Earth’s tropical rainforests or boreal conifer forest band exist. Weather is relatively stable, with the warm seas casting off regular mini-hurricanes that sweep the lowlands before dissipating with heavy rains in the uplands.
The grand seasons cause significant temperature variations. During the hot season temperatures rise by more than ten degrees, the ice caps melt and many of the swamps and praries bloom – plants make use of the double sunlight and increased moisture. The seas expand noticeably and change ecologically as the salinity shifts.
As B withdraws a period of cool and rainy weather begins. The icecaps begin to grow again, slowly recovering until next warm season. The lowlands dry out and become less productive, the forests slowly expand and the seas shrink, leaving huge swamplands.
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