Difference between revisions of "Binges (world)"
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[[Category: Lanthanum]] | [[Category: Lanthanum]] | ||
[[Category: Lanthanum worlds]] | [[Category: Lanthanum worlds]] | ||
| + | [[Category: Shipyard]] | ||
| + | [[Category: Shipyard worlds]] | ||
{{LE|Era: Milieu 1116|Glisten Arm worlds|GT|Mining worlds|Spinward Main worlds|T5 Second Survey worlds}} | {{LE|Era: Milieu 1116|Glisten Arm worlds|GT|Mining worlds|Spinward Main worlds|T5 Second Survey worlds}} | ||
{{LEN}} | {{LEN}} | ||
Revision as of 16:51, 29 December 2015
| Binges/District 268 (Spinward Marches 1635) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classic Era (1116) | A500231-A
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| See also | UWP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary | M0 V | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Planetoid Belts | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gas Giants | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Binges is a low-population vacuum world, with a population of less than 10,000 sophonts in population size, warranting hazardous environment precautions.
- Life in a vacuum requires great discipline. After all, it only takes one forgotten seal on a vacuum suit to spell death. Those who survive tend to be very methodically-minded and attentive to small detail.
- It is a Non-Aligned world dominated by human sophonts located in the District 268 Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector.
Description (Planetology)
No information yet available.
Non-canon: Binges is a dull, airless, waterless rock of a planet whose only redeeming feature are its mineral deposits, though none of these is sufficiently rich to warrant large-scale exploitation. This latter fact was not widely known at first, so when the public initially became aware that the planet had unusually diverse mineral resources -- including both lanthanum and Zuchai Crystals -- in the early 800s, there was widespread expectation of a mining bonanza in the system.
History & Background (Dossier)
A low-population vacuum world located in the District 268 Subsector of the Spinward Marches. Binges is a non-aligned system.
Alternate History
Non-canon: The good news about Binges’s mineral riches was spread by Mysalynko Ko'ril, a famous speculator from Glisten who had claimed the planet after bankrolling an independent survey of the system. A consortium of investors from Glisten joined him in establishing the XTRACT Corporation to exploit Binges’ mineral bounty. Lacking expertise in the mining business, their ‘business model’ involved selling off mineral exploitation rights to the planetary surface to outsiders. XTRACT would guarantee its long-term profitability by constructing a B-class starport on Binges and taking a ‘cut’ of the profit from every kilogram of ore shipped off-planet. In 812, the company secured a huge loan from the Glisten First Bank to finance the starport project, and XTRACT’s share prices rocketed to dizzying heights.
Starport construction commenced in 814 and was completed in 818. In the interim, a comprehensive geological survey reported a series of rich mineral deposits, and divided them up into specific tracts that went up for auction in 819. Both long-established mining companies and newly-created wildcat firms competed enthusiastically for Binges’ riches, paying sums that totaled in the tens of billions of credits. Mining operations commenced the following year and began yielding large quantities of ore in 821. Only then was it discovered that practically all of the deposits were far less productive than XTRACT had advertised.
Angry inquiries at XTRACT’s corporate offices revealed that Mysalynko and several other directors had departed on extended vacations some time before and their whereabouts were unknown. Worse yet, examination of XTRACT’s corporate accounts revealed that it had offered the starport as collateral to secure loans from several Sword Worlds banks that were closely linked with major figures in the Trilateral Alliance government. All in all, total losses in the XTRACT fraud have been estimated in excess of 50 billion credits. And, although all his cohorts were eventually rounded up, Mysalynko was never caught, and only a small fraction of the money was ever recovered.
Decades of complex legal wrangling ensued as thousands of claimants sought to recover at least some of the value of their loans and investments. The Trilateral Alliance government was incensed at the swindle, and claimed ownership of the starport as compensation for its citizens' losses. The Imperial authorities were reluctant to back the Glisten First Bank’s superior claim because at that time they were trying to court the Sword Worlds regime with a policy of détente. The dispute therefore could not be resolved until after the Trilateral Alliance collapsed in 848. In 850, the Glisten First Bank repossessed the starport, and in later years claimed ownership of the entire planet, which was empty now that the smaller mining firms had gone bankrupt and the larger ones had abandoned their useless claims.
The bank soon found that its property was virtually worthless. There was no mineral ore for the starport to export, and no trade routes for it to serve because Binges sits in a shallow J-1 cul-de-sac that terminates just one parsec away at low-tech Pagaton (which was mired in poverty due to its worsening ice age). A small caretaking staff was maintained at Binges, but the starport became increasingly decrepit and was downgraded to a C-class facility in 863. After many fruitless efforts to find a buyer, Glisten First Bank finally terminated its maintenance contract in 875 and allowed the facility to fall into ruin.
In 1053, Binges was purchased from the Glisten First Bank by Nirkuazh’t, a firm incorporated on Collace whose stock is wholly-owned by several Droyne oytrip and kroyloss. Nirkuazh’t immediately began refurbishing Binges Starport and upgrading it to an A-class facility including a shipyard capable of producing starships of up to 1,000 tons. Most of the workers were Droyne, and even today, they account for roughly two-thirds of Binges’ total sophont population of about 700.
The starport opened in 1057, and began building a line of J-1 free traders, merchants and belters which exhibit the fine attention to detail, the somewhat cramped interiors, and the obsession with keeping down operating costs that are characteristic of Droyne design philosophy. They also follow Droyne aesthetic conventions, with glossy, smoothly-flowing ‘liquid’ exterior lines unbroken by angled joints or sharp protrusions. These ships are preferred by Droyne traders operating along the Spinward Main in the rimward portion of the Spinward Marches, and have developed a small but loyal following among spacers of other races who have come to appreciate their high production quality.
Nirkuazh’t established a planetary ‘government’ on Binges in 1058 so that it would have clear legal authority to deal with disputes and criminal activity involving visitors from off-planet. Citizenship is restricted to the company’s shareholders, who remain an exclusive group because Nirkauzh’t’s stock is not publicly traded. The regime is the same kind of self-perpetuating oligarchy always found in Droyne communities, with the Leader caste exercising unquestioned authority over the members of other castes. Law enforcement is minimal because Droyne instinctively conform to group behavior without requiring negative incentives to do so.
Many free traders are registered at Binges because its extra-Imperial status, low taxes, and minimal safety regulations make the planet highly attractive as a ‘flag of convenience’ -- especially for slightly disreputable operators. The planetary government receives a modest, but steady stream of revenue from ship registration fees and associated taxes.
The only source of fuel is an ice core-drilling operation on an otherwise uninhabited planet in the 7th orbit. The outer belt is a source of reasonably rich mineral wealth, although its extreme distance make an in-system jump a time-saver. There is no official source of fuel in the belt, though grey market resellers will offer refined fuel for Cr 1,500/dT, or unrefined for Cr1,200/dT. The steady belter traffic to and from this outer belt has further supported this backwater starport.
References & Contributors (Sources)
- ↑ "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com