Ficant (world)

Ficant/Vilis (Spinward Marches 1417)
Classic Era (1116)	E567353-5 Starport E Frontier - no facilities Size 5 Medium (8,000 km, 0.40g - 0.57g) Atmosphere 6 Standard Hydrographics 7 Wet World 70% Population 3 Low (9 thousand) Government 5 Feudal Technocracy Law 3 Low Law (no automatic weapons) Tech Level 5 Industrial (mass production)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	M0 V M1 V
Planetoid Belts	1
Gas Giants	0

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Ficant System
Vilis/Spinward Marches 1417
Position	Distance	Name	UWP
Primary		Netali	M0 V
1	0.17 AU	Netali I
2	0.38 AU	Netali II
3	0.57 AU	Ficant	C567353-5
4	1.15 AU	Netali IV
5	1.95 AU	Netali V
6	3.35 AU	Planetoid Belt

Ficant System
Vilis/Spinward Marches 1417
Position	Distance	Name	UWP
Primary		Netali Bis	M1 V
1	0.15 AU	Bis I
2	0.31 AU	Bis II
3	0.64 AU	Bis III
4	0.97 AU	Bis IV
5	1.35 AU	Bis V
6	1.85 AU	Bis VI
7	3.34 AU	Bis VII

Ficant is a low-population world with a population of less than 10,000 sophonts in size.

• This world has yet to take off economically or otherwise and the population remains low for reasons largely unknown.
• It is a member of the Third Imperium in the Vilis Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector in the Domain of Deneb.
• This is a temperate world, with a climate of pleasant, average temperatures, considered to be an ideal or near-ideal environment by many different sophont species.
• This is a "low technology" world with technology competencies well below technology standards for Charted Space.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Ficant is a binary star system.

• Both are red main sequence stars.

Binary Solar System

Ficant Binary Star System

Netali
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	M0 V	Main Sequence		0.57	3770 - 3850	0.13982
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0055	0.031	0.39 - 0.74	0.55	5.5
	Orbit #	*	*	2	1	6
	Remarks		Young star: it is only 2 billion years old.
Netali Bis
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	M1 V	Main Sequence		0.5	3620 - 3660	0.08839
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0047	0.0247	0.31 - 0.59	0.47	4.7
	Orbit #	*	*	1	1	6
	Remarks		Approximately 18.0 AU from the primary.

System Data

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

• The mainworld, the third world orbiting the system's primary star.
• x11 secondary rocky worlds. Four orbit the primary star, seven orbit the secondary star.
• x1 planetoid belt.

Mainworld Data

Ficant is an unremarkable Imperial world near the Sword Worlds border. It orbits Netali, an ordinary red main sequence star at a distance of approximately 0.57 AU.

Ficant is a member of a young system, and its relative youth has prevented the mainworld from becoming fully tidally locked to its star. However, it is expected that it will become tidally locked within the next 500 million years, at which point its atmosphere's volatiles will freeze out on the night side and the planet will die. Despite this, the world has evolved a thriving ecosystem with a wide range of primitive flora and fauna (very roughly equivalent to Terra's Carboniferous period) and is of considerable interest to biologists.

Mainworld Size (S)

Ficant is a Meso World between 7,200km and 8,800km in diameter. The world has a standard gravity between 0.4G and 0.57G. The horizon will appear about 4km away.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)

Ficant 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.

• It experiences low to moderate temperatures.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)

Ficant has 65-75% of its surface covered by liquid water. It has significant large liquid bodies. Wilderness refueling is possible.

Mainworld Geography and Topography

No centrally held map of the world exists within AAB Library Data records.

Ficant is a small world with oceans covering 69% of its surface. Despite its cool climate it does not posses extensive polar ice caps as none of its five continents are located in the polar regions, thus preventing their formation. This lack of ice caps has contributed to keeping its overall albedo low and results in a climate far warmer than would normally be expected. One curious fact is its surprisingly high atmospheric pressure given its small size, but like much on the world, this has not yet been investigated and no plausible explanation has been advanced.

(Blank map, predominantly watery world.)

Native Lifeforms

Ficant's indigenous life has only developed to a primitive state. As might be expected, life on Ficant originated in the seas and they now posses a rich variety of life forms. However, the "invasion" of the land has only just begun and Ficant has few native land animals other than invertebrates. Much of the planet's landmass is covered by massive bogs and swamps of tree sized spore propagating plants (similar to terrestrial club-mosses, ferns and horsetails). Forests of primitive seeding trees dominate the remainder. It is expected that the world's combination of low gravity and high atmospheric pressure will lead to the evolution of a wide variety of aerial life, but as yet only a few species have taken to the air (mostly invertebrates). This combination of low gravity and high pressure has also lead to the evolution of a number of triphibian creatures.

Ficant's swamps and bogs teem with life. The wetlands are covered in a thick layer of rich decaying organic material and support a vast array of creatures; ranging from tiny invertebrates to massive amphibians such as the Arngalds. This dense organic soup also produces a number of valuable chemical compounds and provides the planet's sole source of off-world income. Much of the world remains unexplored and only a tiny hand-full of Ficant's creatures have yet been classified.

Despite the scarcity of large land animals, Ficant's has a diverse range of amphibian creatures, some of which grow to quite respectable size. Many of these amphibians are aggressive carnivores and travel through these areas can be quite hazardous. The largest thus far discovered is the Svensson's Arngald. This creature can grow up to 18 meters in length and mass over 300 kilograms and has no hesitation in attacking humans.

In addition to its native flora and fauna, several species of off-world plants and animals have been introduced (either deliberately or by accident). These off-world species have thrived on Ficant and indeed are replacing many native species around the areas of human settlement. Recently Ficant's Governing Council introduced strict control on the importation of off-world life forms in an attempt to protect the native ecosystem.

History & Background (Dossier)

Despite being almost a garden world, Ficant has never been targeted for significant colonization. Human settlement on Ficant is limited to the lush equatorial coastal swamps. Here warm ocean currents combine with the equatorial climate to produce a pleasant Earth like environment. The biological basis of Ficant's life is extremely similar to that of Terra and all human dietary needs can be met from the local ecosystem.

Human colonization has been limited to one of the smaller continents straddling the equator. The first human settlers are thought to have arrived around 450. It is not known for certain where these settlers came from, as this was not an organized colonization effort, but it is believed that they originated from the Sword Worlds. This disorganised settlement continued for the next 150 years and by 600 the population had grown to around 1,000.

It was during the First Frontier War that the world first came to official notice. At this time a substantial proportion of the population was of Sword Worlds descent and Imperial forces came to regard it as a potential security threat. In 596. Grand Admiral Plankwell ordered Ficant's annexation. With its incorporation into the Imperium an official colonisation program was envisaged and in 602 1,500 Imperial colonists arrived. It was intended that these were to be just the first wave of an intensive colonization program, but with the outbreak of the Civil War this program was abandoned and no further official colonization was to ever take place. From this point onwards, Ficant lapsed back into obscurity. Despite this official apathy, Ficant's population has continued to grow slowly and according to the census of 1116, it has a population of 9,250.

World Starport (St)

Ficant 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)

Ficant has a population of 9,000 sophonts (thousands).

• This is a Low Population World and the population would be too low to sustain itself without a little outside assistance. This may represent the home base of a sizable but mostly transient population such as the base of a major starship expedition, the last generation of a dying colony, the first generation of a new colony, or a large outpost that will probably evolve into a colony if not stopped.

Urbanization

The largest settlement on Ficant is Atterdag, location of the world's E class starport. Atterdag is quiet agricultural town of some 2,400 inhabitants. Located here is the entirety of the world's limited manufacturing capacity, which consists of a few light-engineering workshops. Atterdag's economy is based around servicing the needs of the planet's widely spread population. It is also the seat of the Ficant Governing Council, providing Ficant with administrative services and handling offworld contacts.

The majority of the population lives in back country homesteads and makes their living extracting valuable organic material from Ficant's coastal swamps. The usual homestead consists of a single family of two to three adults with a similar number of children. Usually four or five homesteads will be clustered in the same general area and they will share harvesting grounds and pool resources to increase their efficiency.

Linguistic Topography

The following languages are most commonly heard:

• Anglic, one of the two official languages of the Imperium.
• Vilani, one of the two official languages of the Imperium.

World Technology Level (T)

Ficant 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.

World Government (G)

Ficant is governed by a Feudal Technocracy. Society divides itself based on the technical requirements of the society. Each of these functions are granted as a fief to an individual or group. Leadership of these fiefs determines the head of the government.

World Law (L)

Ficant has a low law level. There are few laws, covering only important areas. There may be few or no law enforcement officers, the expectation is citizens will bring law breakers to the attention of the Judicial system. Legal proceedings will be fast, with few people involved. For interactions outside of the framework of the laws, cultural norms dominate. Machine guns, other automatic weapons, portable energy weapons, and other military weapons, body pistols, explosives, and poison gas are typically regulated or prohibited.

Imperial Landed Nobility

Ficant, as a member world of the Third Imperium has a member of the Imperial Nobility overseeing the world.

• It holds the estate of an Imperial knight.

Trade Data

• Importance: -3 (very unimportant)

World Economy

• Resources: 5 (scarce)
• Labor: 2 (hundreds)
• Infrastructure: 0 (non-existent)
• Efficiency: -5 (extremely poor)

Most of Ficant's inhabitants make their living by harvesting the rich organics found in the equatorial swamps.

World Culture

• Heterogenity: 1 (monolithic)
• Acceptance: 1 (extremely xenophobic)
• Strangeness: 2 (typical)
• Symbols: 2 (very concrete)

The people of Ficant are generally conservative and honest. Having little contact with offworld culture they appear to most uninformed travellers as either quaint or hopelessly insular, caring little for technological advancement or personal aggrandizement. This opinion is mistaken. Most natives see the advantages of high tech tools, but the world's restricted industrial base severely limits their usefulness. Many Ficant natives travel offworld to attend higher education and the world has a strong tradition of military service (approximately 35% of the world's population has served a term or two in the Imperial armed forces). However, most of the population are content with their lives and find the faster pace of Imperial culture unsettling and consequently prefer to remain at home.

World Timeline

Major events that have affected this world and the wider region that it lies within:

• The Year 0: the Third Imperium is founded.
• 300-420: the Imperial First Survey charts the system.
• 589-604: First Frontier War.
• 604-622: the Civil War.
• 615-620: Second Frontier War.
• 624: the Express Boat Network is established.
• 979-986: Third Frontier War.
• 995-1065: the Imperial Second Survey charts the system.
• 1065: the Second Survey is published. Information about the system becomes widely available.
• 1082-1084: Fourth Frontier War, also known as the False War.
• 1107-1110: Fifth Frontier War.

Later Historical Eras

Era: Milieu 1248

Ficant has, like many other worlds in the quadrant, been overrun by Zhodani refugees, but its government has withstood the influx. Unlike Iazhipl where a Zhodani social model is used, Ficant instead uses a Regency social model. While there are still some communities that continue to use the traditional Zhodani model, most of the former refugees have successfully integrated into Ficant society.

---

IISS GURPS Astrographics Survey

1417 Ficant (Imperial)

Starport: Class I.

Diameter: 5,222 miles (8,400 km).
Atmosphere: Standard oxygen-nitrogen.
Hydrographics: 69%.
Climate: Cool.
Population: 9,250.
Government: Technocracy.
Control Level: 1.
Tech Level: 6.
World Trade Number: 2.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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.

• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 14-15.
• 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), 40-41. (UWP only)
• Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 66.
• Mark Gellis. "Ficant", JTAS Online (June 16, 2009)
• Mike West. The Spinward States (Avenger Enterprises, 2008), 100.
• Martin Dougherty. The Spinward Marches (Mongoose Publishing, 2008), .
• Martin Dougherty. Behind the Claw (Mongoose Publishing, 2019), 61-66. (UWP only)
• Andrea Vallance - Ficant Landgrab