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Yangko

Penglaiese heritage world

Yangko
Image from Steve Bowers
Yangko, a Lacustrian world, has numerous small, landlocked lakes and seas.

Star: HD 284842
Type: K0
Luminosity: 1.37 x sol
Distance from Sol: 302 ly
Constellation: Taurus

Planets

1/ Sui-Jen - Warm Superterrestrial, diameter 25990 km, density 1.6 x Earth, gravity 3.2 gees, semimajor axis 0.6 AU, surface temperature 850 K
2/ Yangko - lifeless Lacustrian Gaian world terraformed to Eugaian, diameter 12911km, density 1.018 x Earth, gravity 1.04 gees, semimajor axis 1.2 AU, eccentricity 0.24
3/ Péng - Eujovian diameter 110108 km, semimajor axis 5.2 AU
4/ Kūn - Eujovian diameter 90108 km, semimajor axis 14.7 AU

HD 284842 was originally a G6V yellow dwarf which left the Main Sequence about 600 million years ago. Since that time it has increased its radius from 741700.080 km to 986,585.065 km, while decreasing its effective temperature from 5385K to 4900K; the star's luminosity during this period increased from 0.817 Solar (3.140e+26 Watts) to 1.37 Solar (5.269e+26 Watts). Although hydrogen fusion has ceased in the now inert helium core, it continues in a thin shell surrounding that core.

Over the next 500 million years, the radius will increase to 1,928,420.208 km and the effective temperature will drop to 4038.75K, giving a luminosity of 1.833 Solar (7.050e+26 Watts). About 110 million years after that, the helium in the core will "flash," which will push the star's radius out to 148,340,016.000 km (0.992 AU) and radically change the Yangko system.

This world was settled in 2957 by the nDao, Neo-taoist colonists seeking refuge from the increasingly Hsienist culture of the Penglai Empire, and also from the even more radical Conver Ambi culture that was growing in importance at that time. During the long process of terraforming, the Conver Ambi expanded their sphere of influence into the volume surrounding the Yangko system, but the nDao rejected their diplomatic advances and preserved their own independent culture. Yangko was outside the combat zone during the First Consolidation War, in which the Conver Ambi gained considerable territory without actually becoming combatants. Another faction which gained territory was the Terragen Federation, a conservative empire which looked back to the days of the Federation of Sophonts for inspiration; this conservatism attracted the 'Dao, who became members of that empire in 3509.

Formal membership in the Terragen Federation gave the Yangko system some protection against Conver expansionism; while several of the independent systems in that volume were assimilated by Ambi imperialism, stars which were Federation members were largely left alone. This encouraged several more systems in this region to join the Federation, and several of these (including Yankgo) were in the process of being linked by wormhole to New Earth when the Second Consolidation War broke out in 3713; the linelayer reached Yangko, but was confronted by Geminga Orthodoxy warships at the next system, Albion, and the project was temporarily abandoned.

A Terragen Federation Bureaucrat was installed in the Yangko system on a moon orbiting Péng, apparently to ensure the neutrality of the TF worlds in this volume; when a Metasoft Fleet approached the HD 284842 Oort Cloud, it was forbidden to enter the system, although the Bureaucrat extended a warm welcome to any vec or aioid who might venture into Federation territory in peace. Not all the population of newly-terraformed Yangko were so enthusiastic about this offer; most of them were nearbaseline humans of Penglaiese stock, who had established this colony to get away from the immortalist Hsiens and the cyber-augmented Conver Ambi. But the majority of the population accepted the influx of Metasoft diplomats and traders as a welcome change from the fierce imperialist Ambi. The tide of war swept over the surrounding systems, ending in total defeat for the Conver side.

Under the terms of the peace settlement a large volume of territory was conferred upon the Terragen Federation, even though that empire had only been involved in skirmishes and a few defensive actions. The large and powerful Metasoft Version Tree and Solar Dominion empires apparently preferred to encourage the TF to occupy this region, sandwiched between their own territories, as a kind of buffer state. Like its precursor the First Federation, the Terragen Federation declared that human and ai were to be treated as equals, later extended to all aioids and bionts. This meant that Metasoft vecs were as welcome as the human- and biont- derived pilgrims of the Dominion.

The Anthropist Rebellion and after

During the Integration, the non-human population of Yangko steadily increased, but an underground anthropist movement was building, especially in the low-lying lakeland canton of Donghu. Armed with hi-tech weapons apparently obtained from Backgrounder provocateurs, the anthropist movement gained control of a fifth of the planet's land surface for more than a ten-year before falling apart through internal conflict and the effects of sanctions and economic isolation.The local Bureaucrat declared that this would be the fate of any disruptive forces of this ilk who choose to oppose the fraternal philosophy of the Terragen Federation. A long period of relative peace ensued, during which time the Authenticist philosophy gained increasing influence in this system.

The Terragen Federation was neutral in the Version War, as it had been in earlier interstellar conflicts; by this time Authenticist partisans had encouraged the emergence of a Communist state in the subcontinent of Hebei. This was followed somewhat later by a state-capitalist polity in Mian Yang, the adjacent landmass. Both polities were based on ancient models dating back to Old Earth and the proto-Penglaiese polity of China, and coexisted on this world during most of the ComEmp period, with Mian Yang gradually becoming dominant. Authenticist radicals are believed to have provoked the limited conflict between Hebei and Mian Yang in 6876, which was followed by a thorough review and audit by the Péng Bureaucrat who started a campaign of reorganisation that resulted in increasing Eclecticist influence on this world

N'Dao today

Yangko is today still largely a centre for the Authenticist interpretation of Neo-taoism. Tn this doctrine the universe is a complex, tangled web of influences, checks, balances and conflicts, which can be accepted or opposed acording to one's nature; but the recommended path for a right-thinking sophont is understanding, and harmonious action. The goal of such a way-follower is to perfect this harmonious nature of the universe, without destroying the elements which have gone before. NDao can therefore be both progressive and conservative, fitting in with both the Authenticist and Eclecticist philosophies.

Eclecticist influence on this world has meant that the culture is today far more diverse, with a considerable population of vecs and other aioids, as well as nonhuman bionts and a small xenosophont enclave.

 
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Appears in Topics
Middle Regions/Hinter-regionsSystems & Worlds Y - ZTerragen Federation
 
Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 20 March 2014.

 
 
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