Mondome (world)

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Mondome/Rho (Gakghang 3104)
Classic Era (1116)	A9689C7-E Starport A Excellent: Starship Construction, Overhaul, Refined fuel Size 9 Large (14,400 km, 1.03g - 1.33g) Atmosphere 6 Standard Hydrographics 8 Wet World 80% Population 9 High (2 billion) Government C Charismatic Oligarchy Law 7 Moderate Law (no firearms) Tech Level E High Stellar (anti-grav cities)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	F7 V
Planetoid Belts	0
Gas Giants	1

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Mondome is a high-population, pre-rich world with a billion or more sophonts in population size.

• It lacks adequate resources to expand its economy to a rich status.
• Its economy and population are rapidly growing and living conditions are expected to quickly rise barring outside forces.
• This world contains an archaeological site with suspected high-tech remnants of the now-vanished Ancients precursor race.
• This is a "high technology" world with technology achievements at, near, or above the standard for Charted Space.
• This world-system has a Naval Base, usually associated with military starships, which may be located on or off-world.
• This world has an exploration base, which is similar to an Imperial Scout base, capable of handling explorer personnel and exploratory starships.
• Mondome is effectively the capital of the Rho Cluster, though the worlds of the Rho Cluster claim to only be in a loose alliance.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Mondome is named for the massive flattened monadium dome covering almost two fifths of the planet's surface. It is the only solid part of the planet's surface, aside from the small downports built out from the six clusters of airlock-like openings several meters above sea level.

The first scouts to survey the world knew of monadium, and discovery of such a massive Ancient site caused elation at first. The airlocks were recognized as such, with simple-to-operate manual lugs next to them. Some were sized for humans (with controls a bit lower than ideal, though it has been noted to be a perfect compromise between human and Droyne if the Ancients were Droyne-sized and shared the planet with human-sized creatures, or vice versa), some quite a bit larger (easily able to fit starships up to 200 tons, and some larger ships with streamlined or enlongated hulls). This excitement faded once the scouts entered and found it completely empty. Comparisons were made to a titanic warehouse, devoid of anything to store. As usual, nothing could chip or scratch the monadium, rendering it essentially inert.

"Inert" was debated as a world name once preparations for expeditions further inside discovered active nuclear dampers: no fission or fusion plant would work inside the dome. (Nor, it was subsequently discovered, would nuclear weapons, or certain kinds of energy weapons such as PGMPs and FGMPs - not that they are allowed inside the dome anyway.) Indeed, any radioactive substance brought inside had its radioactivity suppressed down to a minimum level. (The level seems to change by material and circumstance: for instance, living organic material is allowed a higher threshold than bulk inorganic material. This effect does not cure existing radiation damage, but does prevent further damage if someone poisoned with an active source is brought inside - which was theorized for a while, but not proven until an emergency at one of the downports hundreds of years after first colonization.) It has also been shown to block psionic effects: a telepath outside the dome can not read minds inside and vice versa, though a telepath inside can read other minds inside.

Radio and electrical induction are also blocked, which causes problems for settlement, as almost all convenient means of generating power will not work within the dome. As with most airlocks, it is not possible to have both doors to any one airlock open at the same time (without putting a hole in the airlock, which is not possible for monadium). The solution Mondome's eventual colonists adopted is a large bank of solar panels mounted atop the dome, charging massive banks of heavy-duty power cells that are frequently rotated through the airlocks. Closer to sea level, large "tapaphone" grids (which tap the dome in a predetermined location and listen for taps from the other side) handle data exchange.

The planet's native gravity is 1.3G. Artificial gravity plating has been installed to maintain 1G inside the dome - on the ceiling, to counteract the portion of planetary gravity in excess of 1G. To avoid problems with variable gravity, this system has been installed with a low maximum power (too low to completely counteract planetary gravity) and centralized power settings (one per "neighborhood" - see World Government, below - so any possible adjustment would have to affect thousands of square kilometers at once). There are countless petitions to fine-tune gravity even so, and a very few cases of neighborhoods getting enough political power together to accomplish this, resulting in portions having gravity from 0.9G to 1.1G (though rarely for more than a few months before political backlash caused a reset to 1G).

Mondome has a solitary primary star.

Mondome
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	F7 V	Main Sequence (Dwarf)		1.21	6180 - 6280	1.94872
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0123	0.1158	1.29 - 2.24	1.23	12.3
	Orbit #	*	0	4	3	7
	Remarks		None

System Data

No information yet available.

System Importance (Ix)

No information yet available.

Mainworld Data

This is a colony of the Rho Cluster.

Mainworld Size (S)

Mondome is a Big World between 13,600km and 15,200km in diameter. The world has a standard gravity between 1G and 1.3G. The horizon will appear about 5.4km away. Vessels with only 1G of thrust should avoid landing on this world.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)

Mondome has a pressure of 0.71 to 1.49 atmospheres. A Standard Atmosphere does not require survival gear and will likely be easy for most sophonts to breathe.

• Air within the dome is extensively filtered and scrubbed by systems installed post-colonization. The dome is airtight, and would eventually suffocate those within without such measures. Conditions inside the dome are thus essentially like any human-run space station in good maintenance.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)

Mondome has 75-85% of its surface covered by liquid water with a few large continents and extensive islands. Wilderness refueling is possible.

Mainworld Geography & Topography

Mondome would be 100% covered by water if not for the monadium dome covering 21% of the world's surface, just under 139 million square kilometers. Underwater explorations have shown that massive monadium struts are the only thing keeping the dome itself above sea level. The dome does not reach Mondome's poles, and is centered on the equator.

Mainworld Map

No information yet available.

Native Lifeforms

No information yet available.

History & Background (Dossier)

When the Empress Wave was inbound, colonists gambled on their dome to save them - and won. Communications with the world outside were cut for the expected duration of the Wave; in particular, the tapaphones were pulled out of place to prevent any possible transmission (which was seen as paranoid - the Wave was not known to travel acoustically - but excusable given the devastation the Wave had been observed to cause). Food and water were stockpiled (backed up by what food production and water recycling was available within the dome), as it was known the Wave could affect plants as well, and colonists decided against taking chances the Wave might poison water (though there was no evidence it did). Careful provisions had to be set up to fully automate power cell cycling with the outside cells, sending preprogrammed drones to observe the situation, and if nominal swap spent power cells for recharged ones then bring the recharged cells inside, all on a predetermined schedule that required no communication while the outer airlock door was open. The Empress Wave proved unable to breach the dome, and any part of it that entered an open airlock apparently dissipated completely when both sides of the airlock were shut, meaning no measurable amount leaked inside.

Measuring the Empress Wave was another story. With no organic components, the drones that went outside only perceived the Wave as a fog of blue sparkles (thought to possibly be false-light interactions with the particular visual sensors they were equipped with), intense at first then subsiding. Human volunteers were not permitted outside until a week after the sparkles had gone away entirely; by that point, no effects were observed and the Wave was judged to have entirely passed. If the colonists had any idea beforehand how much subsequent demand there would be for such recordings of the Wave, they would have instrumented their drones better; as it was, they were focused on survival, so these recordings have yielded little useful information that was not otherwise known.

World Starport (Sp)

Mondome 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.

• Most interstellar traffic stops at the lone highport. Only smaller ships (generally: 200 tons or less, up to 500 tons if streamlined or enlongated) can fit through the dome's largest airlocks.
• There are six downports built out from the dome's airlock clusters. These have no artificial gravity plating, and are at the planet's full 1.3G.
• Any ship traveling beyond the highport is required to have maneuver drives capable of at least 2G. Any ship with maneuver drives only capable of 1G entering the atmosphere will crash (accelerating at a minimum of 0.3G all the way down), and will be blown up in upper atmosphere to limit the impact to any downport. The few crews who have attempted this (mostly suspected of being cut-rate attempted smugglers) are officially listed as having committed "assisted suicide".

World Population (P)

Mondome has a population of 1,000,000,000 sophonts (billions).

• High Population Worlds like this tend to have huge consumer markets.

World Demographics

Humaniti, population 95%

Other (primarily Vargr), population 5%

World Government (G)

Mondome is governed by a Charismatic Oligarchy, like a charismatic dictatorship in that a larger group has asserted their right to rule. The group will likely have better rules of succession than a single dictator and may last longer, or may transition to a non-charismatic dictatorship.

• Officially a representative democracy, but training in how to be an effective leader and how to run political campaigns that work, as well as access to certain proven tools useful for said campaigns, have been restricted to an elite several for generations (a pattern the IISS has seen elsewhere, effectively resulting in a Charismatic Oligarchy). Generally, people seeking to join the group must master leadership before political campaigning is taught, in order to ensure that confidence of the citizens is maintained. Almost all government scandals (resulting in deposed officials) in living memory have resulted in failures in that process (which have generally encouraged those who remained in office to follow it), or from those who figured out campaigning without knowing leadership (and either were not discovered in time, or thought they needed no lessons in how to manage after getting into office, especially from the old guard).
• The dome is divided into neighborhoods (with, inspired by tales of far-away Yaskoyloyt, one "neighborhood" representing the highport, the entire planetary surface away from the dome, and the rest of the system; each downport is incorporated into its adjacent neighborhood) which elect their own government, and a central authority for system-wide (mostly just dome-wide) issues. Practically nobody is elected to the central authority without first proving themselves at neighborhood level first.

World Law Level (L)

Mondome has a moderate law level with laws covering many areas of government and interaction. These laws are simple enough that most people can act as their own advocate, though for serious issues a professional is recommended. Law enforcement officials will be present, but not in great numbers. All firearms, and anything more destructive, are typically regulated or prohibited.

• Bladed weapons and stunners are allowed, earning (in the IISS's opinion) a law level of 7. Sonic stunner weapons are typical and common. A black market exists for heavier weapons, in particular for conversion kits that can boost a sonic stunner beyond legal limits, and then quickly be removed when the police come looking. This has resulted in a patchwork of laws, varying by region of dome (generally stricter toward the center), about weapons apparently designed to be upgraded.

World Technology Level (TL)

Mondome possesses a Technology Level of TL–14 or TL-E in Hexadecimal Notation.

• Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Early meson communicators.
• Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Miniature super-batteries, early collectors, and advanced fusion plants.
• Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
  • Land, Water & Air: Personal G-Tubes and advanced gravcraft.
  • Space: Advanced interplanetary spacecraft (System Craft).
  • FTL: Jump Drive-5.

World Military

No information yet available.

World Economy (Ex)

No information yet available.

Trade Data

Between the sustained high technology level and the "tapaphone"s, Mondome is an exporter of sonar, geophones, and similar acoustic technology. Sonic weaponry, while illegal if capable of much more than stunning, is frequently available on the black market and a consistent favorite of organized crime, as it works within the dome (so long as it does not have a nuclear power source). Other water worlds in the Rho Cluster are the main customers.

Urbanization

Essentially all habitation is under the dome.

World Infrastructure

No information yet available.

World Culture (Cx)

No information yet available.

World Language/s

As the capital of the Rho Cluster, Anglic is the official language.

Historical Data

No information yet available.

World Timeline

No information yet available.

UWP Listing

No information yet available.

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, Marc Miller, John Harshman. Zhodani (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), TBD. (sector named but no further data)
• James Holden, Joe D. Fugate Sr., Terrance McInnes. Vilani & Vargr (Digest Group Publications, 1990), TBD. (dot map provided)
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Adrian Tymes
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science