Uniqua (world)
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See also | UWP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jump map from Travellermap.com [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Primary | K9 V M9 V | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Worlds | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gas Giants | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Planetoid Belts | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cultural Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Government | Captive government | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Law Level | Extreme | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cultural Extension | 7279 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Army Size (BEs) | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Economic Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology Level | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Economic Extension | 741-1
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Importance Extension | -3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Resource Units | 25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GWP (BCr) | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Trade Number | 2.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Trade Volume (MCr/year) | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Starport Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classification | Class-E | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Port Size | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Building Capacity (Tons) | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Port employees | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Port passengers (annual) | 0 |
Uniqua has a population between 10,000 and 10 million sophonts, lacking the industrial base to be completely self-supporting. The governance of this world is from Garoo (Spinward Marches 0130). It is a Human dominated Non-Aligned world in the Darrian Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector.
Astrography & Planetology
Uniqua is a member of the Spinward Main. It is on the Sisters' Reach.
Binary Solar System
Uniqua Binary Star System Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol) Uniqua K9 V
Primary Main Sequence 0.59 3850 - 3930 0.15775 Unit Diameter Min Distance Hab Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit AU 0.0028 0.0329 0.41 - 0.78 0.28 2.8 Orbit # * * 2 0 5 Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol) Uniqua M9 V
Secondary Main Sequence 0.079 2350 - 2380 0.00014 Unit Diameter Min Distance Hab Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit AU 0.0005 0.001 0.01 - 0.03 0.05 0.5 Orbit # * * * * 1
IISS GURPS Astrographics Survey
0129 Uniqua (Independent)
Starport: Class I.
Diameter: 5,718 miles (9,100 km).
Atmosphere: Very Thin oxygen-nitrogen, tainted with dust.
Hydrographics: 51%.
Climate: Normal.
Population: 210,000.
Government: Military council.
Control Level: 5.
Tech Level: 5.
World Trade Number: 2.
History & Background (Dossier)
Uniqua was a colony world of Garoo (Spinward Marches 0130), settled in 806. It was very unsuccessful, forcing the population to remain in their cavern colony working hydroponic farms to sustain themselves. [2]
New Era History
Uniqua almost sounds like "unique." It is agreed, by many parties along the interface of the Marches and Foreven that the world has been a unique center of controversy, adventurism and political folly. From its inglorious beginnings to the bloody present, the world has been an embarrassment to all parties foolish enough to make it a stepping stone for greater fortunes.
Uniqua was first settled from neighboring Garoo in the aftermath of the Second Frontier War. Why it chose THIS world, and at THIS particular time, or even opted to create a colony in the first place puzzles post-Collapse historians. Garoo had neither the technology, nor the political wherewithal, to sustain a colony. Even with substantial monetary support from the Zhodani Consulate, the colonial government abandoned the world scarcely twenty years after settlement. There was no advanced warning of this abrupt ending of contact, though Garoo had struggled for years to support their colony's survival. The colonial government simply up and left, showing little or no concern for the colonists and their survival.
But instead of abandoning the world, the population literally dug in. The domed cities were gradually dismantled and transported into specially excavated cavern complexes. Building and containment material from the cities, and whatever machinery that could be maintained, were used to construct huge hydroponic gardens within these caverns. Many early cave cities perished or failed before the colonists hit upon workable systems and combinations, controlled pests, and successfully harvested crops and recycled oxygen. A strict recycling ethic was imposed upon the population that lived in these caverns, with violators thrown out above ground without survival equipment as punishment.
Enough income was generated from exports of foodstuffs to Garoo that the colonists were able to afford the purchase of simple to maintain advanced technology such as photovoltaic cells and fuel cell engines. Colonies were linked by an ingenious underground transit system of narrow-gauge railways powered by electricity generated from methane release in the hydroponic gardens. Despite the harshness of life on the world, most of the populace enjoyed a fairly comfortable lifestyle.
The success of their abandoned colony rankled the Garoo government, who derisively referred to the world's hydroponic complexes as "their secret gardens." Despite the import of Uniqua's vitally needed foodstuffs, mutual resentment made relations between the mother world and colony rather chilly. This was rather ironic given both world's emphasis upon communal centered institutions at the expense of the individual.
Resentment boiled over into greed. It is thought that Garoo harbored plans for a military or economic takeover of the world as early as the Third Frontier War, but simply bided its time waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. That moment came in the wake of a system failure in 1038, in one of Uniqua's largest communities. The inhabitants of that city were made refugees, and threatened to invade several neighboring deep cities when they were refused safe haven. Garoo's Ruling Council declared a military emergency, and intervened for the "humanitarian maintenance of order and civil peace." Garooian soldiers quickly crushed the meager resistance, and erected a highly unpopular occupation government.
Uniquans came to quickly resent this oppressive presence. While the quality of the government changed little, as many of its high officials were shrewdly recruited from the previous planetary government, Garoo's policies were tailored towards itself more than the local welfare. Local prices were fixed for those local goods that were exported to Garoo, who also imposed its monopoly upon food and oxygen production. Trade was limited to barter, at exchange rates dictated by the authorities.
As Garoo convinced itself of its power and growing influence in the subsector, its expansionist policies began to attract the ire of its age-old Darrian enemies. Despite the great difficulty of contact with the world, the Confederacy managed to contact local resistance groups just before the Fifth Frontier War, and began to covertly supply them with arms and support equipment. Escalating violence between these guerrillas and the local security forces erupted into full-scale war in the aftermath of the Sworld World Occupation of 1132. Aided by several brigades of Darrian troops dropped on the world, the rebels managed to reclaim about seventy percent of the world before stiffening resistance around the starport stopped their advance. This event precipitated the Bularia Incident and the Garoo War.
Unfortunately the Darrians attempted their own domination and takeover of their allies, which, coupled with their embarrassing withdrawal from Bularia and its neighbors, created further balkanisation as the locals attempted to repel them. Currently the world is divided between the main resistance (45 percent of the world), the Darrian-sponsored Unity Council (30 percent) and the Garoo Colonial Government (25 percent). While the Darrians were ostensibly forced to remove their line forces as part of the 1134 armistice, a number of "colonial" forces remain, armed at TL–12 standards. Regency and Zhodani diplomatic mediation and posturing has slowly eased local tensions, allowing the the removal of the world's post-Collapse Amber Zone in 1189, but there is little chance, given its current disposition, of reunification any time soon.
References & Contributors (Sources)
- Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 8-9.
- Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches Campaign (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), 18-19.
- Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 94-100. (UWP only)
- Rob Caswell. "Domain of Deneb: Sector Data." MegaTraveller Journal 3 (1992): 47-58. (UWP only)
- Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 44. (UWP only)
- Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 46.
- Mike West. The Spinward States (Avenger Enterprises, 2008), 108. (UWP only)
- Martin Dougherty. The Spinward Marches (Mongoose Publishing, 2008), .
- Martin Dougherty. Behind the Claw (Mongoose Publishing, 2019), 80-84,86,88. (UWP only)
- Peter Gray - BARD OPAL 9525
- ↑ "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com
- ↑ Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 46.