Botany Bay (RD 1734) (world)
| Botany Bay/Drinsaar (Reaver's Deep 1734) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classic Era (1116) | E643569-4
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| See also | UWP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary | K5 V M0 V | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Planetoid Belts | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gas Giants | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Botany Bay is a poor, nonindustrial world.
- As a nonindustrial world, it requires extensive imports of outside technology to maintain a modern, star-faring society. The need to import most manufactured and high technology goods drives the price of these goods up in the open market.
- This world has few prospects for economic development.
- This dangerous world is designated an Amber Zone with an environment, laws, customs, life forms, or other conditions make it dangerous to visitors.
- It is a Non-Aligned world dominated by human sophonts located in the Drinsaar Subsector of Reaver's Deep Sector.
- It is controlled from Gralyn (Reaver's Deep 1735).
Description (Astrography & Planetology)
Botany Bay is a colony of Gralyn (Reaver's Deep 1735) and a member of the Gralyn Union.
- This system is part of the Drinsaar Loop.
Binary Solar System
Botany Bay Binary Star System Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol) Botany Bay K5 V
Primary Main Sequence 0.7 4300 - 4440 0.28697 Unit Diameter Min Distance Hab Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit AU 0.0033 0.0444 0.56 - 1.01 0.33 3.3 Orbit # * * 2 1 5 Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol) Botany Bay M0 V
Secondary Main Sequence 0.57 3770 - 3850 0.13982 Unit Diameter Min Distance Hab Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit AU 0.0027 0.031 0.39 - 0.74 0.27 2.7 Orbit # * * 2 0 5
History & Background (Dossier)
Although frequently visited as a refuelling point, the Botany Bay system was not colonised until well into the era of the Third Imperium. During the Aslan Border Wars it served as an impromptu supply base and refuelling station for the Imperials -- there was never any permanent settlement, just a succession of temporary bases over a period of 200 years. No base was in place for more than 10 years before it was moved, demolished or destroyed and for much of the time there was no habitation at all. After the Peace of Ftahalr and under the terms of that treaty, the base was finally removed. The system remained uninhabited for over a century.
In 492 a Solomani megacorporation called Aphelion Enterprises established a research base on Botany Bay. Aphelion Enterprises was based on Terra, but operated largely in the Spinward areas of what would become the Solomani Confederation -- in particular Magyar Sector. Aphelion Enterprises had interests ranging from genetic engineering to transportation to mining. It was the mining subdivision which initiated the activity on Botany Bay; a recent survey had indicated that there might be significant, commercial-grade quantities of Lanthanum on the planet. Further investigation revealed that this was the case, and so a small mining operation was established. The mine proved to be a flop, however, as the lanthanum quickly ran out, long before the initial set-up costs had been covered. Aphelion Enterprises continued to run the mine at a loss for tax purposes, but cut the staff back to a bare minimum.
This was the situation until 588 when Terra finally joined the Third Imperium, bringing with it large tracts of Magyar Sector. Aphelion Enterprises found much of its activities falling under Imperial law, and in particular the Imperial regulations on genetic experimentation -- especially with sophonts -- were considered far too restrictive by the corporation's executives. The solution was to find a world which was outside the Imperium and likely to be so for some considerable time. Botany Bay was settled on, and became a major research establishment.
Aphelion Enterprises flourished during the next couple of hundred years, even through the turmoil of the Imperial Civil War, largely through its transport division acting as a large-scale interface line between the Imperium and the surrounding worlds in the Solomani Sphere. The gradual expansion of the Imperium and the declaration of the Solomani Autonomous Region in 704 caused somewhat of a loss in profitability of the interface trade, and a corresponding slide in the fortunes of Aphelion. Aphelion started to move its trade coreward to cover the Starlane and Daibei Sector, but deterioration of relations between the fledgling Solomani Confederation and the Imperium, leading to the outbreak of the Solomani Rim War in 988, were too much. Aphelion Enterprises found its markets destroyed by the conflict and soon after was declared bankrupt, despite a massive sale of assets.
Most of the management of Botany Bay were recalled to Terra with the bankruptcy, along with some of the more senior scientists. The remaining inhabitants were effectively stranded, but for most Botany Bay was their home. When it became obvious that the remaining management were not sympathetic to the concerns of the people, there was a quiet coup by a coalition of workers and younger scientists. That was not the end of the difficulties, however. The coup effectively ended what little help the world was receiving from Aphelion, effectively disrupting the supply of most manufactured items. The level of technology swiftly fell with more and more effort required to keep the mines operating and the people fed. After a few years, it was apparent that Botany Bay was not viable at a tech level that its inhabitants would have liked. Without outside assistance it was clear that Botany Bay would soon collapse into a pre-industrial culture.
The government of Botany Bay appealed to Gralyn, which was their major customer for ore, for help. At first the Gralynites were loath to do so, for fear of antagonising either the Imperials or the Solomani. Eventually the similarities between the early history of Gralyn and the events unfolding on Botany Bay were enough to convince the bureaucrats of Gralyn that supporting Botany Bay would save much misery. The eventual system agreed upon was that Botany Bay would become part of the Gralyn Assemblage, with seats on the Assemblage, but with its government effectively run by the Assemblage as a whole. With the assistance of Gralyn, the slide of Botany Bay into barbarism was halted.
Botany Bay prospered under the guidance of the Gralyn Assemblage and swelled from a population of several thousand at independence to around 200,000 just before the start of the Imperium's Final War.
References
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- Jim Cunningham, John Harshman, J. Andrew Keith, Marc W. Miller, Gordon Sheridan. Atlas of the Imperium (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), 27. (dot map)
- James Holden, Joe D. Fugate Sr., Terrance McInnes. Vilani & Vargr (Digest Group Publications, 1990), 11. (dot map)
- Peter G. Celella, James Holden. Solomani & Aslan (Digest Group Publications, 1991), 11, 50. (dot map)
- Paul Sanders, J. Andrew Keith. Reaver's Deep Sector Sourcebook (Cargonaut Press, 1998), 40.
- Kevin Knight. "The Gralyn Union." Traveller Chronicle 06 (1994): 25.
- Candles against the Night, Keven R. Pittsinger
- ↑ "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com