OBT Forum

  Strictly speaking this is still waaaay the heck OT from what I want/need to be working on, but I thought you folks might enjoy a look at a world in the Virginia War universe.  I'm considering rolling out an anthology of ficlets called "Little Pieces of War" as a place to put out-takes and other scenes that I can't find a home for just yet, and one (or more) of those ficlets may well be set on Lorkdal.


LORKDAL
Noble Ruler:                      None (Governor Sarah Morales)
Star Type (Recharge Time):        M6V (207 hours)
Position in System:               1st of 7
Time to Jump Point:               2.34 days
Number of Satellites:             2 (Cavendish, Hincapie)
Surface Gravity:                  1.04
Atm. Pressure:                    Standard (Breathable)
Equatorial Temperature:           55°C (Tropical)
Surface Water:                    61 percent
Recharge Station:                 Zenith
HPG Class Type:                   None
Highest Native Life:              Reptilian
Population:                       292,000
Socio-Industrial Levels:
    Agricultural dependence:      D
    Materials dependence:         B
    Industrial output:            C
    Industrial development:       C
    Technological sophistication: D

  Lorkdal should be a paradise, and indeed it is for the local flora and fauna.  Unfortunately, in the equatorial zone where the major settlements are, that native life is so vigorous and flourishing that imported strains – including Terran foodstuffs – that seek to gain a foothold outside of agrodomes are choked out with ruthless efficiency and breathtaking speed.  (The sole apparent exception is the Terran goat, which has taken to the world with a will; indeed, the wild goat population has become the top herbivore in the planetary food-chain, and also the main food-source for the various native predators.  The most notorious of these is the so-called lurkersaur, an amphibious creature broadly equivalent to a Terran alligator that can grow to the size of a small ground-car and is widely known for its surly and territorial disposition.)  The multi-canopy jungle at the main settlement-site at Leighton was so dense it had to be razed with fuel-air explosives before construction could begin in earnest.  Vines and other new growth in the ‘cleared areas’ around the planet’s settlements must be trimmed on a daily basis by Crosscut WorkMechs armed with chainsaws and flamers. (WorkMechs are an absolute necessity for this work, since one of the fastest-growing pieces of indigenous vegetation is a pernicious weed-vine known as ‘bio-wire’, the name coming because it is best described as organic, prehensile, carnivorous razor-wire.  No-one has yet been willing to bet against the much-rumoured possibility that the stuff is also sentient.)  The humid conditions and indigenous fungi devour electronics and corrode metals almost before the eyes of technicians, massively increasing maintenance costs on even the simplest machinery.
  The locals joke that failing a good ice-age, there’s nothing wrong with the environment around Leighton that couldn’t be cured by the investment of five trillion bulls, five million people, or five hundred kilotons.
  All of these factors mean that by the time of the Star League’s fall, the Taurian government had not made a major effort to develop the planet beyond turning it into a forward listening-post on the Concordat’s anti-spinward flank, warding against strikes by the Federated Suns or pirates from the Tortuga Dominions.  With the economic collapse that followed the start of the Succession War, Lorkdal’s settlement was pared back to the minimum necessary to support its status as a military outpost.  Since Anastasia Calderon’s assumption of the Protectorship, this has been slowly reversed, with several Taurian mining companies conducting surveys of the main continent of Contador.  Deposits of strategic minerals such as germanium, lead/silver, copper, and nickel/uranium have been discovered within easy exploitation distance of Leighton’s space-port, and the Taurian Exchequer is offering incentives to people and mining concerns willing to develop these deposits; in response, the last ten years have seen numerous hardy types travel to Lorkdal in search of their fortunes, despite the world’s notorious and lethal eccentricities.
  The system’s primary function remains military, however, and although there is no permanent front-line TDF presence, WarShips and front-line battalions patrol through the system fairly regularly and almost a fifth of the system’s long-term residents are members of the Lorkdal militia or its military or civilian support services.  Apart from planet-side cantonments around Leighton and the mining settlements, the militia maintains a base for aerospace fighters and combat small-craft on Hincapie, as well as operating the zenith jump-point recharge-station (which also serves as a maintenance facility for TDF vessels and a fighter-base in its own right).  Although most of the militia’s equipment is not the best in the Taurian arsenal, the militia’s personnel know they are the tip of the spear, and accordingly they train regularly and energetically.