A Survey of Gamma Pavonis

[rfmcdpei]

The below system outline and history comes from some postings I made at the 2300noncanon list. It was an interesting exercise in creating a backwater planetary system with a marginal garden world. My thanks to the commenters who helped me flesh out the system.

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1. System History

The Gamma Pavonis system coalesced an estimated 9 100 thousand million years ago, centered around its sun. With a mass eight-tenths that of Sol, a spectral classification of F7 V (on the main sequence of stellar evolution), and a luminosity one-half greater than that of Sol, the physical characteristics of Gamma Pavonis at first appears to be an anomaly, with a luminosity much greater than its mass would seem indicate. However, like Beta Hydri and 82 Eridani, Gamma Pavonis is an old disk star, formed early in the galaxy's history at a time when elements heavier than helium were relatively rare. Gamma Pavonis' low stellar metallicity ensured that the star would consume its hydrogen fuel more quickly and hence more intensely than stars of comparable mass (for example, Tau Ceti). Gamma Pavonis' stellar metallicity, only one-fifth that of Sol, has ensured that the star will experience a considerably shorter lifespan than other, metal-rich, stars its mass; it is expected to go off the main sequence of stellar evolution and become a red giant somewhat like Arcturus in the French Arm.

One consequence of Gamma Pavonis' low metallicity was the failure of Gamma Pavonis' protoplanetary disk to coalesce into more than six planets. Gamma Pavonis I, a world roughly one-quarter larger than Earth but with a density 20% lower, formed close to Gamma Pavonis, in a circular orbit just 0.3 astronomical units away from its primary. At an early stage in the system's history, Gamma Pavonis I was tidally locked with its primary, so one hemisphere permanently faced the star while another hemisphere permanently faced away. Gamma Pavonis IV and V, located in the outer Gamma Pavonis planetary system, quickly evolved into ice giants like Uranus and Neptune in Sol system, while Gamma Pavonis II (separated from Gamma Pavonis I by a sparse asteroid belt) evolved into small planetoid similar to Ceres. None of these worlds had moons of significant size, although Gamma Pavonis IV and V did capture asteroidal and cometary objects within their gravity wells. The nascent planetary system experienced a period of heavy bombardment by cometary and asteroidal objects between 8 300 and 7 900 million years ago, but following this period of heavy bombardment little evolved in most of the planetary system.

Events at Gamma Pavonis III and IV, however, proved more eventful. Manchurian and Japanese studies suggest that unlike the Earth-Moon binary planetary system, where the Moon formed as a result of a Mars-size protoplanetary object's collision with Earth, Gamma Pavonis III and IV formed quiescently enough in the same orbit, each condensing into planetary bodies roughly 8 800 million years ago. Sharing a common orbit 1.69 AU from their primary, with a year of 2.456 Earth years and an orbital eccentricity of 0.02, the two worlds quickly became tidally locked: At its closest, Gamma Pavonis IV was barely 50 thousand kilometres away from the heavier Gamma Pavonis III.

Gamma Pavonis III is 10% denser than Earth, masses 0.15 Earths, is 6600 kilometres in diameter, has a surface gravity of 0.56 Earth, and possesses an escape velocity 54% of Earth's. With an axial tilt of 2 degrees, anchored by the presence of nearby Gamma Pavonis IV, seasonal variation is marginal. III's day is 32h14minutes long, the same as IV's orbital period; one hemisphere of III, the sublunar, always faces IV. Gamma Pavonis IV is smaller and lighter, with only 2.7% of Earth's mass, a surface gravity of 0.274 g, a density of 0.9 Earth, and diameter of 4017 kilometres, orbiting 59 400 kilometers away from II. II and III are shadowed two by two asteroidal bodies, one a carbonaceous chrondite, one a dense nickel-iron body, one located in the Lagrange point ahead of III/IV and the other behind the binary planet.

II. Gamma Pavonis III History

Within the first thousand million years of Gamma Pavonis III's existence, life developed. Japanese drillings on their Northern Continent base suggest that life on Gamma Pavonis III evolved much like life on Earth, with unicellular organisms developing first, eventually colonizing the oceans. Unfortunately for Gamma Pavonis II's biosphere, its homeworld's extreme distance from the considerably dimmer young Gamma Pavonis contributed to the onset of a deep and irreversible planetary ice age no later than 7 700 thousand million years ago. As the planet's surface froze, life retreated to the oceans; as the oceans began freezing, life retreated to geological hot spots on the ocean floor, to volcanic vents, and deeper into the planet's crust.

The low mass of Gamma Pavonis III, worse, contributed to the world's rapid cooling, so that many of the oceanic hot spots began to freeze beginning some 4 000 million years ago as the planet became geologically dead. The failure of scientific exploration to reveal preserved traces of life between 4 000 million and 300 million years ago reflects life's extreme scarcity on Gamma Pavonis III for most of the world's history, trapped in scattered marginal ecologies. Infall of simple organic compounds onto the world's ice-covered surface produced some brief and localized heating, but in general the world remained cold and barren.

300 million years ago, as Gamma Pavonis' energy output grew, Gamma Pavonis III and IV were brought within the system's life zone (the outer boundary of the life zone now lies 1.71 astronomical units from Gamma Pavonis). As the world began to warm and the oceans melt, life began to emerge into a more hospitable environment. As the world's ice melted, it released the organics fallen onto the world's surface over the previous thousands of millions of years, introducing the starved organisms to a bonanza of easily-digestible nutrients. Speciation appears to have proceeded quite rapidly, as the remnant unicellular species from Gamma Pavonis III's early history began to occupy new niches as soon as they became available. The high radiation influx from Gamma Pavonis, rich in ultraviolet light, acted to encourage mutation and speciation. At present, despite its thin carbon dioxide-dominated atmosphere and low temperatures, Gamma Pavonis III is more hospitable to life than at any point since the onset of its ice age.

Unfortunately, life on Gamma Pavonis III is doomed. The star Gamma Pavonis is expected to leave the main sequence and become a red giant star within the next 200 million years, increasing vastly in luminosity and size, consuming Gamma Pavonis I. Long before this, though, the increasing luminosity of Gamma Pavonis will cause the runaway greenhouse heating of Gamma Pavonis III, eventually boiling off all of the world's volatiles into space and exterminating all life.

 

[rfmcdpei]

III. Gamma Pavonis III Environment

Gamma Pavonis III is a world that is tectonically dead, with a magnetic field only 0.4% as strong as Earth's. As a result of III's weak magnetic field and the high flux of ultraviolet radiation from Gamma Pavonis, III's surface is irradiated by high-energy photons and charged particles; III's thin atmosphere only partially shields the surface. As a result, most indigenous life inhabits either the world's ocean, the ice caps, or subsurface areas in the planet's tundra.

Absent the greenhouse effect produced by microorganism-produced methane, the planet would have a mean global temperate of 217 degrees Kelvin, or -57 degrees Celsius; the atmospheric methane raises the temperature further by some 20 degrees. III's atmosphere is 30% as dense as Earth's and 87% carbon dioxide by composition. This relatively dense atmosphere allows the world to retain a considerable amount of heat, allowing the equatorial area a climate roughly equivalent to that of Earth's Arctic regions.

The world's topography is low-lying and eroded, owing to thousands of millions of years of erosion by planetary wind and asteroid impacts. Large mountains of the Olympus Mons type are located on the Equatorial continent, remnants of III's epoch of tectonic activity, but all volcanic activity is inactive. The planet's high density is reflected in a greater-than-expected concentration of relatively heavy elements, including uranium, in mineable concentrations on III's surface. Although the world is divided into three major continental areas (Northern, Equatorial, Western) and multiple continental plates, the absence of any notable tectonic activity and the coverage of 45% of III's surface by ice sheets makes these divisions functionally irrelevant.

Were Gamma Pavonis III's ice sheets, including the glaciers on land, to melt completely, there would be enough water to cover just over half of the world's surface. As things stand, most of the world's water ocean is located at the equator, surrounding the equatorial continent. In a narrow band along the equator, stretching to 10 degrees North and South, the ocean is free of solid ice, though only rarely in the century of occasional human observation.

Although surveys have detected native life throughout Gamma Pavonis III's revivified surface, life is most ubiquitous in the waters and shores of the equatorial area. III's native life is Earth-compatible, but so far none of its species have progressed beyond unicellular levels of development. Researchers studying III's life have found that they are extremophile, capable of tolerating extreme cold, radiation, and pressure for prolonged periods. To date, only a few of III's biological organisms have been catalogued and gene-typed. The ongoing dispersion of Earth-derived microorganisms into the wider planetary environment is of great concern to scientists; the real possibility exists of more advanced Earth organisms pushing native organisms out of the planetary environment. Only the location of the two bases in the sterile tundras of the Northern Continent has presented a more rapid spread.

IV. History of Human Encounters

In the historical era, Gamma Pavonis has been accessible from the Chinese Arm via the metal-poor orange dwarf L49 19. 12.4 light years from Syuhlahm (Zeta Tucanae) and 12.6 light years from Daikoku (Beta Hydri), Gamma Pavonis is located off the Arm's spur extending from Delta Pavonis coreward towards 82 Eridani. The system's location ensured that it would be surveyed in the first decade of the 23rd century--in 2204--as part of the wave of Japanese and Manchurian system surveys in this region. The Japanese had hoped that like the similar Beta Hydri, Gamma Pavonis would host a garden world suitable for colonization. Instead, they found the pre-garden world of III.

Both the Japanese and the Manchurians decided that maintaining a permanent presence in the Gamma Pavonis system was not cost-effective. Instead, each power decided to build small self-sufficient outposts (Japan in 2221-2223 and Manchuria in 2222-2224, both on the Northern Continent) to serve as temporary bases for science missions, mothballed when no longer in use. From the 2220s through the 2240s, unmanned science satellites in the III/IV system charted the twin worlds, while occasional scientific research expeditions staffed the Japanese and Manchurian outposts. Biologists from both First Tier powers were interested in examining the extremophile qualities of III's microorganisms, with an eye towards commercial exploitation in biotechnology or even terraforming. Some mining also occurred, but mainly for local use; at that time early in the Chinese Arm's development, it was judged uneconomic to export minerals from III.

Following a period of inactivity, the Japanese Northern Continent base was reactivated in the 2250s and 2260s following the discovery of Eber ruins on Heidelsheimat (Rho Eridani) and the establishment of first contact with the Eber civilization of Komoran (82 Eridani). It was speculated that before the wars which destroyed their interstellar civilization, Ebers may have visited the system. Occasional Japanese explorer missions examined the surfaces of Gamma Pavonis III and IV, but found no sign of an Eber presence. This was confirmed by a Manchurian followup survey in 2293-4, based from Manchuria's station on the Equatorial Continent, which went on to survey in detailed the remainder of the planetary system.

For most of the past half-century, Gamma Pavonis has been vacant of legitimate human presence, while the system's isolated astrographic location discouraged significant settlement. Although Gamma Pavonis' segment of the Chinese Arm has not experienced the upsurge of piracy that has affected much of the rest of the Chinese Arm, there have been enough hijackings and pirate attacks to cause significant concern. It has been suspected by police and military authorities that some pirates made use of the vacant Japanese and Manchurian outposts on III to repair and refuel, making use of the lack of active surveillance and the relative hospitability of the world, though this has not been publically confirmed.

Beginning in the 2290s, however, human interest in the Gamma Pavonis system increased sharply, as the Republic of Pilipinas--a member state of Confederation Japan, and the most prosperous and developed of the Filipino states--leased the vacant Japanese base in 2291 and announced plans to establish a full-fledged colony. So far, Magsaysay has acquired a permanent population of 9 300 people, primarily scientists, miners, and their dependents, supported from the much larger Japanese colony of Daikoku (Beta Hydri). Pilipinas' long-term plans are to establish a self-sustaining colony with a population numbering in the low tens of thousands by 2320, with an economy supported by mineral exports and by scientific research (into III's biological organisms, the III/IV binary pair, and Gamma Pavonis itself). The Empire of Japan supports Pilipinas' aspirations, not least because it allows for an expansion of Confederation Japan's interstellar influence without expenditures by the Empire itself. Although the Pilipinas press has made suggestions about terraforming III, it's generally accepted that the costs would be prohibitive and the results would be a very marginal world. As things stand, Magsaysay is a major net expenditure for the Pilipinas government, with rumour afoot that the government plans to cut support.

As well, in 2318 a consortium of Korean chaebol acquired a lease on Manchuria's Equatorial Continent outpost. Public statements by the Korean Pavonis Consortium suggest that they are interested in establishing a mining complex similar to that operated by Korea on Lachesis, second moon of Proxima Centauri's gas giant Moiroi, establishing another Korean presence on the Chinese Arm after Haifeng. The Consortium's work on III's surface to date has concentrated on the construction of space facilities, including a fuel-cracking station and an orbital catapult. In 2319-2320, modules for an orbital interface and science station were transported from Han Shan (Delta Pavonis) and assembled in orbit. The station has received higher-than-expected traffic, a consequence of the Consortium's charging very low rates for fuel as part of a long-term plan to attract traffic to Gamma Pavonis.

 

[Duke Pellinor]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is just the sort of information that would go well in the 2320ad wiki. My vision is that the wiki would consist mainly of non-canon fan material to complement the official publications and fill in the gaps.

 

[rfmcdpei]

V. Adventure seeds

* Both the Filipinas' colony and the new Korean outposts are fragile operations desperate for skilled labour of all kinds, from grunts to skilled technicians. What skills to PCs have to offer?

* Pilipinas and Korea are the countries with presences in the Gamma Pavonis system, but everyone knows that these presences exist only because their Japanese and Manchurian patrons let them have them. Interactions on the ground between Pilipinas and Korea have actually been fairly good, fostered by the sharing of a hostile environment. Will this last as their parent governments become more invested?

* Gamma Pavonis doesn't exist in a vacuum. Through L49 19 Gamma Pavonis connects directly to the peaceful Japanese-Arabian world of Daikoko (Beta Hydri) and to the tensely world of Syuhlahm divded between Cantonese (and their Vietnamese subordinates) and Manchurians (with their Japanese and FPK associates). Further away, on Heidelsheimat (Rho Eridani) the world is divided three ways between the Texan colony, the Incan colony, and a heavily armed and Tier 3 Republic of Heidelsheimat. Will the conflicts of these space spread to Gamma Pavonis?

* No one said that Gamma Pavonis would be a Philipinas-Korea concern. Other countries might like to get involved, like a UAR that might want to apply the terraforming lessons that it got with Manchuria on Syun, or a Canton that might like to keep a watch on the Manchurian and Japanese proxies. Perhaps the Manchurians and Japanese themselves would like to place their own colonies in Gamma Pavonis space. Who knows? Certainly there would be enough scouting, spying, and colonization to keep people busy.

* The survey missions thought that there were no Eber ruins in the Gamma Pavonis system, but are they sure? Gamma Pavonis was theoretically in the range of their stardrive, and surveys aside, there has only been a sustained human presence in part of the Northern Continent and very little exploration of the other bodies of the system--the moons of V and VI aren't even named. Did they miss something?

* Although Gamma Pavonis III is a marginal world, in fact it's in a better position than Sol system's Mars in that it has large amounts of water and an established biosphere. The only thing preventing the beginnings of some kind of terraforming is the interdict placed on the contamination of the world with Earth-based life. If, as a NPC character representing a shadowy faction within Magsaysay (or the Korean complex, or the UAR agent) suggests, someone was to take a cargo of rich with Earth microbes and disperse it across the landmasses and seas of the world, the subsequent obliteration of the native biosphere would certainly remove that interdict.

* A lab scientist in one of the outposts approaches one of the NPCs to ask the group for protection. Most of the people know that s/he is a smart scientist who specializes in the study of III's radiation-resistant microrganisms with possible practical use. The next day, the dead body of the scientist is found. Who killed him? Was it relates to the research? And what was the research about.

 

[G. Fieendish]

Re:this thread
Given that Gamma Pavonis III has extremophile based life, what would happen a non human lifeform/species, say the Pentapod's, became intrested in the commercial possibilities of said life, being used as part of a new product...?

 

[Peter Schutze]

>high flux of ultraviolet radiation from Gamma Pavonis
>Earth microbes and disperse it across the landmasses and seas of the world, the subsequent obliteration of the native biosphere
>has extremophile based life

I'm guessing the earth microbes are going to be obliterated unless they are 'terraforming' bugs like those suggested for Venus

then again this suggests that there wouldnt be much clash or crossover in ecosystems until the atmos density / temp change which shouldnt be hard to minimise
>world's ocean, the ice caps, or subsurface areas in the planet's tundra.

 

[Anders]

Extremophile life also poses an interesting hazard. Imagine a pavonian microorganism that can survive in cold, harsh, low pressure environments. It might easily hitch-hike with a human ship to another world where it then happily blooms in the pleasant climate of the polar regions. Due to its protective coat of protective exotic polyphenols that poisons local organisms it spreads unchecked...

 

[rfmcdpei]

Extremophile life also poses an interesting hazard. Imagine a pavonian microorganism that can survive in cold, harsh, low pressure environments. It might easily hitch-hike with a human ship to another world where it then happily blooms in the pleasant climate of the polar regions. Due to its protective coat of protective exotic polyphenols that poisons local organisms it spreads unchecked...

There must be any number of ecological catastrophes, minor and major, precipitated on different human-contacted worlds by this sort of thing.