Chaosheo (world)

E87A788-5

Starport	E	Frontier - no facilities
Size	8	Large (12,800 km, 0.80g - 1.08g)
Atmosphere	7	Standard (tainted)
Hydrographics	A	Water World 100%
Population	7	Moderate (60 million)
Government	8	Civil Service Bureaucracy
Law	8	High Law (controlled blades)
Tech Level	5	Industrial (mass production)

Era: New Era

Chaosheo is a moderate population, preindustrial water world.

Its surface is 90% or more covered in an ocean of water.
The inhabitants of this world live on the roughly 10% of exposed land mass, in underwater colonies, on city ships, or similar arrangements.
As a preindustrial world, this planet cannot yet manufacture enough high-technology resources to support a modern, star-faring society. Having to import most manufactured and high tech goods drives the price up for these items at this world. This world is designated an Amber Zone. Caution is advised since the world has an environment, laws, customs, life forms, or other conditions that are not well understood and might be a danger to a visitor. It is a member of Regency of Deneb in the Star Lane Subsector of Deneb Sector.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)[edit]

Stellar Data[edit]

Chaosheo has a solitary primary star.

Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
K8 V	Main Sequence (Dwarf)		0.62	3930 - 3990	0.18766
Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
AU	0.0057	0.0359	0.45 - 0.84	0.57	5.7
Orbit #	*	*	2	2	6
Remarks

System Data[edit]

The worlds of the system have been surveyed. They consist of:

The mainworld.
x2 secondary rocky worlds.
x5 gas giants.
x2 planetoid belts.

Mainworld Data[edit]

Chaosheo is a cold planet with a single moon, on the outer edge of the system's habitable zone. Its average temperature is 11 °C. Its ocean has an average depth of 5,700 meters and its surface gravity is 1.05G. It has a year of 324 standard days; its actual day length is 30 hours.

Mainworld Size (S)[edit]

Chaosheo is a Meso World between 12,000km and 13,500km in diameter. The world has a standard gravity between 0.8G and 1.1G. The horizon will appear about 5.1km away. Vessels with 1G of thrust should check with local starport authorities before attempting to land using emergency power.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)[edit]

Chaosheo has a pressure of 0.71 to 1.49 atmospheres. While a Standard Atmosphere does not require survival gear this atmosphere also contains an unusual taint such as disease, a hazardous gas mix, pollutants, or sulfur compounds which requires the use of a Filter Mask. Some taints may require more protective equipment. TL–3 or more advanced survival gear is required to settle this world.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)[edit]

Chaosheo has 95-100% of its surface covered by liquid water with only a few islands and archipelagos. Wilderness refueling is possible. Such worlds are Water Worlds or Ocean Worlds.

Native Lifeforms[edit]

Rather than using stellar energy to fuel photosynthesis, as in typical plant-based ecologies, the Chaosheo ecosystem is based on chemosynthesis: the metabolism and derivation of energy from the chemicals (especially hydrogen sulfide) in the very hot, mineral-rich water that is expelled from the geothermal vents in the seafloor habitat.

Native Sophont (NIL): Shi'awei[edit]

The natives, the Shi'awei, are a race of bulky aquatic sentients who live near geothermal vents in the sea floor. In appearance, they are bulky, bullet-shaped creatures with four evenly spaced arms. The heat given off by the vents supports their life cycle and affords an opportunity for rudimentary metalworking. Thus, the Shi'awei have been able to progress slowly to tech level 1 despite the rigors of their environment.

The Shi'awei are generally considered 'enigmatic'^[2].

History & Background (Dossier)[edit]

The world is notable as the homeworld of the Shi'awei, an aquatic Minor Race that lives near geothermal vents in the sea floor. The Scout Service had initially interdicted the world in 314 to protect the Shi'awei, but after a civilian transport misjumped into the system in 1073, Chaosheo was given its current Amber Zone travel advisory.^[3]

World Starport[edit]

Chaosheo has a Class E Starport, a frontier quality installation with few expected amenities. There is unrefined fuel for starships and a limited variety of ship provisions. There is no shipyard of any kind, but there may be parts and technical support for doing minor services and repair. Ports of this classification generally consist of a downport.

World Population (P)[edit]

Chaosheo has a population of 60,000,000 sophonts (tens of millions).

The population is an estimate.

World Technology Level (T)[edit]

Chaosheo possesses a Technology Level of TL–5.

Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Telephone, radio, and television.
Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Electricity, hydrocarbon internal combustion, and the most fundamental atomic energy.
Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
- Land: Ground cars or automobiles and tracked vehicles.
- Water: Large ships and submersibles with steel hulls.
- Air: Early aircraft including seaplanes and very early unmanned rockets.

Prior to contact, the natives had reached Tl-1.

Current IISS doctrine discourages interstellar contact between the Imperium and sophonts of pre-spaceflight tech levels. In fact, Imperial law forbids unlicensed trade with such primitive populations. However, exceptions to these rules occur, one being the case of Chaosheo, thanks to unintended events in 1073.

World Government (G)[edit]

Chaosheo is governed by a Civil Service Bureaucracy. The leadership of the government takes another form (democracy, dictatorship, oligarchy), but the bureaucracy leadership influences policy. The government leadership may select the bureaucracy leadership, but not its membership. Usually the governmental leadership is divided, or incapable of setting policy, and the bureaucracy provides a stabilizing influence. This ruling bureaucracy may be the full government bureaucractic apparatus or a section with limited jurisdiction but considerable influence, like the military.

World Law (L)[edit]

Chaosheo has a high law level with laws covering many areas of interactions of people, corporations, and the government. A few worlds with this law level may be Amber Zones. Any interaction with the judicial system requires an Advocate trained in the local legal system. Law enforcement is present almost everywhere, either as people or via technology. Legal proceedings can take weeks to months to resolve and involve a dozen or more people. All blade weapons and firearms, and anything more destructive, are typically regulated or prohibited.

Historical Data[edit]

Pre-Contact[edit]

Before 1073 the world was listed as 314-765, and was patrolled regularly by IISS cruisers. At the time of its discovery, Imperial law regarding contact with primitive races had become punitive regarding outside interference. The Shi'awei were barely TL-1 at that time, and had no concept of the universe outside of their world. Their race was one of the first to benefit from these more stringent regulations.

Contact[edit]

The IISS had long been aware of the Shi'awei, but the Scouts judged them unready for contact. In 1073, however, the liner Ishgarlu misjumped insystem from nearby Mora Subsector. A computer failure caused the ship's jump field to malform, and the ship jumped parsecs off course. Its communications were knocked out, preventing a mayday, and the vessel precipitated too close to the world for the Scout cruisers to detect. The ship crashed in a shallow shoal, alerting the curious Shi'awei, who explored the wreck and interacted directly with the survivors. Several days passed before the crew managed to salvage a radio with a range long enough to contact the interdiction patrol. The rescue and recovery of the Ishgarlu and its survivors took several days, further contaminating the world.

The incident sparked a major controversy within the IISS and subsector nobility. A debate raged between senior bureaucrats who resented the Ishgarlu's intrusion, and opportunistic academics and IISS contact specialists who urged a lifting of the world's interdiction. A compromise was worked out in 1075 that opened the world to limited contact, through the auspicies of IISS, and the interdiction was raised to a partial quarantine.
Since 1073, a simple landing facility has been built for incoming starships; Chaosheo's travel code has been upgraded from Red to Amber. Trade with the Shi'awei is limited, but the Scouts have been busy learning more about the biology and sociology of Chaosheo's fascinating inhabitants.

Later History[edit]

The Imperium, and later the Regency, lucked out with the Shi'awei, who are by nature a curious and gregarious race, lacking xenophobia and free of the dogmatic superstitions that contact specialists use to justify the interdiction of developing cultures. Indeed the Shi'awei have adapted so well to offworld contact that it sparked a major controversy in the Imperial bureaucracy in the last few years before the Civil War over the entire validity of the non-interference philosophy.

Commercial contact on Chaosheo is limited to the Crashsite Downport, located, naturally, near the Ishgarlu's old crash site, and a surrounding commercial zone 15 km in diameter. Supervised trade has allowed the aliens to dramatically increase their technological repertoire, and a number of industrial goods are being produced locally. The Shi'awei are very good at abstract thinking, and hands on artisanship, and a small number of their best and brightest have journeyed to Regency universities to be educated in various subjects.

References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

Rob Caswell. "Domain of Deneb: Sector Data." MegaTraveller Journal 3 (1992): 47-58.
Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 60.
Peter Gray - Traveller TNE Mailing List The Stronghold: Star Lane Subsector published 23 August 2001
Mongoose Traveller: Deneb Sector (UWP only)
External Link: Sunbane data

↑ "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com
↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 4.
↑ Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 60.

[1] "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com

[2] Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 4.

[3] Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 60.

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