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Oquendo

Three terraformed Mars-like worlds

Oquendo
Image from Steve Bowers
Yumika, Angelika and Alexis before terraforming started; Yumika is a warm Arean world, while the others are significantly cooler.

Oquendo System

StarYTS 298-2456
Mass: 0.9 sol
Luminosity: 0.6 sol
Region: Outer Volumes, Camelopardalis sector
Distance from Sol: 4642 LY
Planets3 Terraformed Mars-like worlds.

Yumika: 6400 km diameter; orbiting at 0.8 AU
Mass: 5.918e23 kilograms (0.099 Earth mass)
Surface gravity: 3.856 meters per second squared (0.393 g)
Bulk density: 4311.71 kilograms per cubic meter (0.78181 as dense as Earth)
Albedo: 0.250 (Bond)
Mean equilibrium temperature: 263.382 Kelvin (approx 9C; warmer than Earth)

Angelina: 7000 km diameter; orbiting at 1.6 AU
Mass: 6.473e23 kilograms (0.108 Earth mass)
Surface gravity: 3.526 meters per second squared (0.360 g)
Bulk density: 3604.237 kilograms per cubic meter (0.65313 as dense as Earth)
Albedo: 0.330 (Bond)
Mean equilibrium temperature: 181.061 Kelvin (approx -73C; colder than Earth)

Alexis: 6700 km diameter; orbiting at 2.9 AU
Mass: 6.194e23 kilograms (0.104 Earth mass)
Surface gravity: 3.684 meters per second squared (0.376 g)
Bulk density: 3933.5 kilograms per cubic meter (0.71324 as dense as Earth)
Albedo: 0.430 (Bond)
Mean equilibrium temperature: 129.162 Kelvin (-125C; colder than Earth)
AllegianceNon-aligned

Overview

The Oquendo system was first settled in 8550 AT by an intrepid group of Solar Dominion Low-Gravity Tweaks who wanted to set off on their own to explore the outer volumes and expand their influence among the stars. In addition to expansion into further regions of space, the group also wanted to focus on expanding their consciousness through mental phase space. This group, who named themselves the Armentisans, subscribed to the philosophy of cyberborgism, by which roughly half of their mentalities were in meatspace, while the other half would be running in virch universes, effectively ensuring that they would always have 'a foot in both worlds.' The goal of the Armentisans is to continue to expand their presence in the virch worlds as well as the larger physical Universe, using the Oquendo system as a home system.

When they arrived at the system, the group settled on the three Mars sized worlds which were barren and lifeless at first. The group would eventually set out to terraform the worlds, starting with the innermost world, Yumika. Terraformation of all three worlds was completed by 9800 AT. These worlds were named after the three daughters of Hyram Felderbruk, the tweak who originally proposed the idea to travel and expand.

Today, the sophonts of each planet are clustered together by generalized personality type and temperament. The reason or this is because Armentisans believe that people of similar attitude and temperament work better when they are surrounded by those who are most like them. As a result, each planet has its own unique 'character' and culture, with sophist often being born on one world, and then migrating to the one they feel the most affinity with when they get older. Although outsiders have made the claim that memetic engineering by higher Powers are at work here, the Armentisans themselves vehemently counter that there is little evidence to this, and the makeup of each world is simply the result of like minded individuals congregating together without the personality conflicts that often plague other habs and systems as a result of having wildly different personalities in such close quarters.

Yumika after terraforming
Image from Steve Bowers
After terraforming, Yumika has become a populous world, but still has a relatively moderate population density

Yumika

The first planet colonized, this world is now an ecumenopolis, containing approximately 34 billion sophonts. Around 85% of sophist are cyberborged low gravity tweaks, but the remainder consists of many sapient sybernetic neogen organisms which the Armentisans have created as a result of experimentation and desire for novel organisms. Many of these species are native only to Yumika. Yumikans tend to be highly social and extroverted, and relish the opportunity to live close to one another in high densities. Yumikan virtual experiences likewise tend to be highly social, and tend to explore the effects of social group evolution over higher dimensions and wildly different physical and mental spaces.

Angelina

Angelina is the largest planet in terms of diameter and land area, but the gravity is roughly equal to the other worlds. Despite the larger size, the planet is sparsely populated, with only 25 million sophonts, and is reserved mostly for the more quiet, introverted reflective Armentisans who value solitude and introspection. Due to this, Angelinans tend to spend somewhat more time in personalized virtual areas than sophonts on the other two planets, preferring to explore the near infinite possibilities of personal virch experiences. Although representatives of this world play a big role in systemwide affairs when called upon, the ambassadors and high officials usually don't prefer much interaction and can't wait to return to the peaceful reflective lives back home.

Alexis

Alexis, despite being the outermost and most remote planet in the system, plays a huge role in the overall future development of the burgeoning Armentisan civilization. Most people on this world are strategic thinkers and planners, with many of their goals centered around the continued expansion and development of the Armentisans. The planet has around 1.6 billion, with around 95% being low gravity tweaks, and another 3% being a heavily modified, modular cyborged sub-clade reminiscent of Clade Cyborn. This sub clade came about as a result of early Armentisans wanting to push the limits of design space in both the physical and mental arenas. These members are among the oldest and most trusted members of the culture. Their average intelligence is around S: .9, but are capable of limited transparent abilities when their minds are working together. It is these members who are the greatest strategists and minds, and when representatives of the three worlds meet, many oftentimes end up deferring to this groups superior reasoning.

 
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Development Notes
Text by Omega Tyrant
Radtech 497
Initially published on 29 March 2017.

 
 
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