Campaign:NHNE/Worlds/Sapphire

Sapphire is the main planet of the Coalfire Sub-System of the New Earth System

Astrography

see: New Earth System for astrographical context

Sapphire is a planet that orbits the star Coalfire at 0.13 AU. It take 27 days to do so. It is tidelocked to Coalfire, but there is some precession causing the twilight zone to be relatively broad.

Planetology

Summary

Sapphire A664677-A N Ag,Ga,Ni,Ri,Tz

Starport

Sapphire has a Class A Starport, an excellent quality installation which includes all the expected amenities including refined fuel for starships, brokerage services for passengers and cargo, and a variety of ship provisions. There is a shipyard capable of doing annual maintenance, overhauls and other kinds of repair, and construction of both starships and non-starships. Most ports of this classification have both a Highport and a Downport.

Size

Sapphire has a diameter of 9800km.

It is tidelocked to Coalfire.

Time

Sapphire uses Fleet Time

Atmosphere

The slow addition of Hydrogen (expelled from Coalfire during its periodic flares) to the atmosphere makes the dynamics of the planet's atmosphere of great academic interest. This Hydrogen is rapidly converted to water, but this then affects the oxygen and carbon cycles. Modelling is still in its infancy.

The solar flares also affect the atmosphere, not only with spectacular light-shows but by causing notable peaks in insolation. The incidence of storms two days after a flare is much higher than theoretical meteorological models predict.

Hydrosphere

44% of the surface of Sapphire is covered in water. These oceans, however, divide the world into two separate continents (East and West) that have separate evolutionary histories.

Population

The population of Sapphire is 6,000,000.

Government

Two governments are recognised by the New Earth Council:

• West Sapphire
• East Sapphire

Law

The two legal systems on Sapphire differ significantly and the level assigned to the planet as a whole is that within the spaceport bounds.

The law of West Sapphire is primarily cultural and is centred about the right interaction of people in society: and is notorious for treating infringements of the law harshly.

The law of East Sapphire is designed to preserve the ecosystem of East Sapphire and places responsibility of individuals to meet the "needs of the ecology" above individual rights.

Biology & Ecology

Native Biology

The existence of a land, sea and air fauna on Sapphire was not expected. It would appear that life on Sapphire started about 200 million years before that on New Earth or Poseidon. This difference is driving many academic papers. Land based life appears to have evolved with little direct interaction between East and West Sapphire.

Visitors to Sapphire are advised to get a full set of inoculations before arrival otherwise the early days of their stay will be severely uncomfortable as their bodies adjust.

The most famous of the lifeforms are the "8-Legged Hoovers" of East Sapphire and those are heavily protected.

Transplanted Biology

The East Sapphire Government has sought to limit the introduction of Terran life-forms onto that continent. Thus the changes seen in the ecology in the east have been less damaging.

Bioengineering

The extensive use of bio-engineering in West Sapphire - often to undo the excesses of the prior bio-engineered introduction - have led to an complex mix of species from various domains on that continent.

Introduction of non-Native species to East Sapphire will see, at best, a limitation of freedom for many years as you are assigned to a mandatory work-gang or, at worst, execution.

Economy

Sapphire's economy is one that includes Media Services (on a system-wide basis); Agriculture and Tourism. The world produces food in a cycle that is very different to that of the other inhabited worlds - and thus it fills in the off-seasons.

Sapphire has a GWP of approximately 60 Billion Cr per annum.

Culture

Skerries Theatre is one of the more innovative and influential theatre groups in the New Earth System.

History

First Settled in 89