Eshaar (world)

Eshaar/Taemerlyk (Far Frontiers 1826)
Milieu 0	E6C4839-3 Starport E Frontier - no facilities Size 6 Medium (9,600 km, 0.60g - 0.81g) Atmosphere C Exotic (insidious) Hydrographics 4 Wet World 40% Population 8 Moderate (100 million) Government 3 Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy Law 9 High Law (no weapons out of home) Tech Level 3 Pre-Industrial (basic science)
Classic Era (1116)	E6B4838-8 Starport E Frontier - no facilities Size 6 Medium (9,600 km, 0.60g - 0.81g) Atmosphere B Exotic (corrosive) Hydrographics 4 Wet World 40% Population 8 Moderate (100 million) Government 3 Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy Law 8 High Law (controlled blades) Tech Level 8 Pre-Stellar (superconductors)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	K0 V
Planetoid Belts	2
Gas Giants	1

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Eshaar is a moderate population fluid world with over a hundred million, but not yet a billion sophonts.

• A fluid world has an oceanic geography consisting of heavily contaminated water or a substance such as ammonia, methane, hydrocarbons, or other exotic liquid.
• It is a Non-Aligned world dominated by indigenous Sophonts located in the Taemerlyk Subsector of Far Frontiers Sector.

• It is an Inferno World, with a climate of extremely high temperatures.
• It is the homeworld of the Eshaar Ashah.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Stellar Data

Eshaar has a solitary primary star.

• It is an orange main sequence.

Eshaar has a solitary primary star.

Eshaar
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	K0 V	Main Sequence (Dwarf)		0.88	5170 - 5270	0.63928
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0076	0.0663	0.78 - 1.4	0.76	7.6
	Orbit #	*	*	3	2	6
	Remarks		None

System Data

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

• The mainworld.
• x1 secondary rocky world.
• x2 planetoid belts.
• x1 gas giant.

Mainworld Data

Eshaar is a translation of the name given to the planet by its inhabitants.

• By human standards, it is a hostile world, with a deadly, corrosive atmosphere. The mean surface temperature is around 150°C.
• Both liquid sulfur and sulfuric acid serve as a surface fluid in an environment where water exists only as vapor, and where all other oxygen is locked up in sulfur, carbon, and mineral oxides.

Eshaar orbits within the inner system.

• It receives very high levels of stellar energy.

It is the second of the five worlds within the system.

• It has a mean orbital radius of 0.67 AU and orbits its star once every 0.56 standard years.
• It has a rotational period of 18.7 standard hours.

Mainworld Size (S)

Eshaar is a Meso World between 8,800km and 10,400km in diameter. The world has a standard gravity between 0.6G and 0.8G. The horizon will appear about 4.4km away.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)

Eshaar has a Corrosive Atmosphere and possesses a concentrated gas mix or unusual temperature which requires the use of a Hostile Environment Suit or Vacc Suit. TL–9 or more advanced survival gear is required to settle this world.

• Mean Surface Pressures: highland regions 1.550 atm, lowland regions 3.000 atm.
• Composition: 83% carbon dioxide (CO₂), 9% nitrogen (N₂), 4% sulfur dioxide SO₂, 2% carbon monoxide (CO), 2% other gaseous oxides and nitrogen compounds.
• Cloud composition (liquid droplets in atmospheric suspension): 46% water vapor (H₂0), 40% sulfur vapor (S), 10% sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), 2% nitric acid (HNO₃), and 2% hydrogen fluoride (HF). Exact percentages vary depending on local conditions.

The world experiences very high temperatures.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)

Eshaar has 35-45% of its surface covered by a fluid other than water. Wilderness refueling is not possible. Water for the inhabitants needs to be imported and extensively recycled. These worlds may be Hell Worlds.

• This surface fluid may be ammonia, methane, hydrocarbons, or other exotic liquids depending on the local temperature and environment.

Mainworld Geography & Topography

The planetary surface is rough and forbidding; erosion has divided the land surface into two zones – highland regions, composed of sedimentary rock sliced by acid-carved canyons and gorges; and the vast and rugged lowlands, where all sedimentary rock has been eroded away and carried off to the sea.

Understandably, erosion proceeds at a rapid rate on Eshaar. Planetographic theory suggests that Eshaar's single ocean, until recently two separate bodies of fluid but now joined by a rapidly widening channel, slowly migrates against the planet's spin. It collects the outflow and debris of millions of rivers and leaves behind new land, where acid erosion begins anew. The planetary surface has been rebuilt behind the circling ocean perhaps five times in the last thousand centuries.

Chemical mixtures condense and solidify in the colder polar regions, covering the surface in thick layers of crystals and sludge.

(A simple map of Eshaar)

Native Lifeforms: Eshaaran Biology

Despite the poisonous conditions on Eshaar, there is life in enormous variety and diversity.

• Native life forms are silicone-based, with a chemosynthetic metabolism that draws energy from the chemistry of their environment.

The crystalline formations that pass for plants on Eshaar take liquid sulfur and gaseous water from the environment and manufacture sulfuric acid.

• Animals use sulfuric acid in sustained electro-chemical reactions with various metals (generally zinc or copper) within their bodies and give off as metabolic by-products liquid sulfur and steam.
• Many life forms, both plant and animal, metabolize the atmosphere directly; most share in the water-sulfur-sulfuric acid cycle.
• Eshaaran life forms have been referred to as "living storage batteries."

Eshaar Ashah

Specific lifeforms include:

• A filter-feeder living in sulfur rivers; when it feeds, it creates powerful currents
• Common crystalline "plants" known by the Imperial name of Glitterslice
• Vast swarms of tiny animals known to the Imperials as Fire Gnats

Native Sophont

Eshaar is the homeworld of the Eshaar Ashah, a native sophont species.

The Eshaar Ashah believe that their entire planet is itself a single living being, with themselves the planet’s nervous system, the way the planet could know itself and be aware. They believe that Eshaar “calls” them by showing signs of erosion in their cave-like homes; this “call” compels the entire community to move elsewhere in a great migration. Each city’s Sha Ev, the native ruling body, is largely selected by the “favors” bestowed upon individuals or ancestors by the planet; this council makes important decisions by seeing revelations of Eshaar’s “will.”

History & Background (Dossier)

Native resources are desired by both the Third Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate, and as a result both powers maintain diplomatic missions on Eshaar. Fears that open displays of hostility would offend native sensibilities have forced them into an uneasy truce.

World Starport

Eshaar 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)

Eshaar has a population of 100,000,000 sophonts (hundreds of millions).

• The population entirely consists of Eshaar Ashah.

Urbanization

Cave-city settlements are known to the natives as efisah. Roads – actually fairly smooth tracks worn by native carts – connect the efisahs and permit some degree of inter-city communication. The cities are not interdependent, however; each is self-contained.

Linguistic Topography

Two orifices, located on each side of the Eshaar Ashah thorax, are used to vent steam as a metabolic by-product: modulated release of steam produces the hissing, whistling Eshaaran language.

World Technology Level

Eshaar possesses a Technology Level of TL–8.

• Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Fiber optics, improved telephones, and satellite communication and data networks.
• Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Improved geothermal and improved batteries.
• Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
  • Land: Advanced automobiles.
  • Water: Triphibians and early artificial gills.
  • Air: Improved helicopters and hypersonic jets.
  • Space: Space shuttles, early space stations, and improved interplanetary spacecraft (System Craft).

World Government

Eshaar is governed by Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy. A small group provides the leadership and important positions in the government.

Specifically, membership in the Sha Ev, or "Chosen", depends on some dramatic blessing or sign "bestowed" by Eshaar, such as the finding of a sulfuric acid spring or a deposit of metal ore vital to native biology.

• Local Sha Evs often fragment into argumentative factions called vifs, but violence is unknown. Each Sha Ev has authority over a city and the immediate neighborhood. They cooperate, but are not technically united.

World Law (L)

Eshaar 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.

Adult Eshaar Ashah who accidentally violate cultural taboos (deliberate acts seem to be literally unthinkable) must renew their communion with Eshaar by undergoing the Eshaarsha Sheeaar wilderness survival ordeal. The decision to do so is entirely voluntary; the individuals are observed to be distraught until they can "make their peace" with Eshaar. Imperial Diplomatic Corps policy on Eshaar has been to observe all local laws and customs, including volunteering to face Eshaarsha Sheeaar when caught in taboo violations.

Trade Data

• Importance: -2 (very unimportant)

It has been estimated that lubricants made from native hydrosilicones will increase the efficiency of high-temperature engines by approximately 12%.

Native chemistry also creates a silicone-based plastic that shows remarkable resistance to heat and acid, and would be very valuable to offworlders.

World Economy

• Resources: C (very abundant)
• Labor: 7 (tens of millions)
• Infrastructure: 6 (limited)
• Efficiency: -2 (fair)

World Culture

The world lies within the Zhodani Shadow, a region strongly influenced by the society and culture of the Zhodani Consulate.

• Heterogenity: 8 (discordant)
• Acceptance: 6 (aloof)
• Strangeness: 5 (distinct)
• Symbols: 8 (somewhat abstract)

World Timeline

• 300-420: the First Survey charts the system.
• 995-1065: the Second Survey charts the system.
• 1065: the Second Survey is published.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

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.

• J. Andrew Keith, William H. Keith Jr. Classic Traveller Ordeal by Eshaar, (FASA, 1981), various pages.
• Dale L. Kemper. The Far Frontiers, Ares Magazine, Special Issue 2, (SPI, 1984), page 35. (Taemerlyk Subsector)
• J. Andrew Keith, Marc Miller, John Harshman. Classic Traveller Zhodani, (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), inside front cover. (the Zhodani; sector named and subsector depicted but no further data)
• Dale L. Kemper. The Far Frontiers, Traveller Chronicle 3, (Sword of the Knight Publications, 1994), page 4. (Taemerlyk Subsector)
• James Kundert. Far Frontiers, Traveller Chronicle 7, (Sword of the Knight Publications, 1994), pages 44-48. (sector background and timeline)
• David L. Pulver. GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 1, (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), Pages 5-63. (the Zhodani)
• Don McKinney. Mongoose Traveller: Zhodani, (Mongoose Traveller, 2011), 188 pages. (the Zhodani)
• External Link: RPG Geek, Atlas of the Third Imperium: Far Frontiers Sector, Art Gorski, 2012. (consolidated astrographic references, online resource)