Mer (world)

Mer/Caledon (Reaver's Deep 2414)
Classic Era (1116)	C79A520-8 Starport C Routine: No Construction, Major Repair, Unrefined fuel Size 7 Medium (11,200 km, 0.70g - 0.94g) Atmosphere 9 Dense (tainted) Hydrographics A Water World 100% Population 5 Moderate (400 thousand) Government 2 Participating Democracy Law 0 No Law Tech Level 8 Pre-Stellar (superconductors)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	G2 V M9 V
Planetoid Belts	2
Gas Giants	4

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Mer is a nonindustrial water world, which has 90% or more of its surface covered in an ocean of water.

• The inhabitants of this world live on the roughly 10% of exposed land mass, in underwater colonies, on city ships, or similar arrangements.
• 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.
• It is a member of the Third Imperium in the Caledon Subsector of Reaver's Deep Sector in the Domain of Ilelish.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

The water world of Mer is a large planet which is practically without land.

• Several very small islands have been discovered, but these are little more than small rocks dotting the otherwise unbroken expanse of a world-girdling ocean.
• This system is part of the Gerim Trace.

Binary Solar System

Mer Binary Star System

Star Name	Hierarchy	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temp (K)	Luminosity (Sol)
Daybright G2 V	Primary	Main Sequence		1	5720 - 5770	1
	Unit	Diameter	Min Distance	Hab Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0047	0.0829	0.95 - 1.68	0.47	4.7
	Orbit #	*	*	4	1	6
Star Name	Hierarchy	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temp (K)	Luminosity (Sol)
Night Glimmer M9 V	Secondary	Main Sequence		0.079	2350 - 2380	0.00014
	Unit	Diameter	Min Distance	Hab Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0005	0.001	0.01 - 0.03	0.05	0.5
	Orbit #	*	*	*	*	1

System Data

Planetary System: Ten major bodies.

• One inhabited world (Mer, III).
• Four gas giants in system.
• Two planetoid belts in system.

Mainworld Data

• Mean orbital radius: 101.73 million kilometers (0.68 AU).
• Period: 191.5 days.
• One satellite.
• Diameter: 11565 kilometers.
• Density: 0.96.
• Mass: 0.643 standard.
• Mean surface gravity: 0.84 G.
• Rotation period: 22 hours, 50 minutes, 8 seconds.
• Axial inclination: 4°49'48.4".
• Albedo: 0.52.
• Surface atmospheric pressure: 2.2 atm. Composition, oxygen-nitrogen mix with oxygen imbalance. Respirator masks required to breathe atmosphere.
• Hydrographic percentage: nearly 100%; composition, water and frozen water-ice.
• Mean surface temperature: 30°C.

Native Lifeform : Lanceshark

Early visitors discovered vast migratory schools of small aquatic omnivore/eaters, known as Lancesharks. The behavior of lanceshark schools made it most economical for fishing communities to follow schools on their travels; hence, the great raft communities of Mer.

Point of Interest: City Ships of Mer

Settlement on Mer has taken an unusual form: floating cities.

In general, a raft community is a large, powered, town-sized ship which can hold several hundred people. Communities follow specific schools on their migrations, trawling for Lancesharks as they go. Raft communities support more than just fishermen; they are complete towns sailing the high seas.

History & Background (Dossier)

Mer was once a part of the Kolan Hegemony when that polity was at its height.

World Starport (St)

Mer has a Class C Starport, an average quality installation which includes amenities including unrefined fuel for starships, some brokerage services for passengers and cargo, and a variety of ship provisions. There is a shipyard capable of doing maintenance and other kinds of repair. Ports of this classification generally have only a downport, unless this is a trade port or system with an hostile environment mainworld.

Government

The raft communities generally cooperate in a loose planetary government; they form a sort of participatory democracy in which "ship's officers" of each community have a franchise, and a direct vote by radio in all matters concerning the planet as a whole. One of the larger islands holds the starport, and other islands hold repair facilities for raft communities damaged by storms or by encounters with the humans' main competition for lanceshark schools, the large, stupid, but dangerous gulperwhales.

World Culture

In addition to natural hazards, there are occasional problems of human origin. The fishing culture of Mer is clannish and prone to disputes; vendettas are common, not only between individuals, but between whole communities. Incidents of piracy or vandalism against raft communities are reported, usually prompted by some long-standing grudge between communities. From time to time, too, outsiders have been know to attack rafts, pillage the community, and then attempt to lay the blame on a vendetta situation.

References

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 Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• 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), 22.