Chaine
E46469E-4
Frontier installation
4000 miles diameter
Standard atmosphere
40% hydro
over a million inhabitants (60/40 human/Aslan)
impersonal bureaucracy
law level 14
Tech level 4 (local production roughly equivalent to 19th Century Earth’s advanced nations)
Human and Aslan
In old times the Aslan of Chaine lived as slaves to the humans--except some ‘ferals’ living in the wild scrub forest and badlands. The Imperium ordered the abolition of slavery on Chaine generations ago, when word of recontact with Chaine finally reached the sector duke. And Chaine’s gov’t moved to comply with what passes for swiftness on Chaine: the slaves were all freed within thirty years, after the search for antiquated manumission forms, dozens of interdepartmental squabbles, and seven failed committees on abolition.
The Chaine gov’t had spent a huge amount of money on paper, ink, and overtime for clerks. It did the sensible thing and billed the Aslan. No Imperial representative has yet bothered reading through the two-hundred-and fifty-three volume summary report of the Eighth Abolition Committee, much less the actual records warehoused in the Grand Depository in Dulsur, the planetary capital.
Trade
The only regular visitors to Chaine’s ‘starport’—a massive slab of exposed rock—arrive during the harvest season. The vessels drop off a variety of off-world products, mostly finished goods, and fill cargo containers with bundles of the resinous pajiit cane grown on Chaine’s plantations.
Local officials expect all forms to be filled out in quintuplicate and every checked, cross-checked, inspected, and validated at a corresponding five levels of authority. All this looks impressive, but accomplishes little. Damaged or dangerous items frequently pass inspection, sometimes because bored inspectors dash through their tasks and other times working slowly as they chat and chew pajiit cane without really paying attention to the cargoes. Obvious weapons do get noticed and blocked, barring corruption. Chaine has become a dumping ground for defective and subpar goods from higher TL worlds all over the subsector.
Buying goods in the star-town market requires a receipt, bill of sale, and tax form. Per item. And in triplicate.
Contracting or services requires even more forms.
Because lawful commerce requires a lot of paperwork, the locals have developed many dodges around the bureaucracy. Violations of the commerce regulations carry heavy fines, but the time taken to process cases can run so long that the prosecutors lose interest and witnesses’ memories grow dim.
Agriculture and country life
Much of the non-mountainous portion of Chaine’s main continent lies in the southern subtropical belt. Many hardscrabble wheat and meat-melon farms line the underground canals bringing waters down from elevated aquifers; the smallholders of Chaine mostly live on these plots.
Down along the tropical southern coast in the fertile bottomland and coastal marshes, grand houses rise over sprawling fields of candy-pink and mint-green stippled pajiit cane.
Most of the planters owe big debts to foreign merchants and startown factors.
The planters all hold commissions in the constabulary or militia; this allows them to carry locally-made blade weapons and firearms ‘on patrol.’ Long ago, the planter’s son who revised the weapons codes penciled in a footnote which later copyists fixed in print: ‘on patrol’ for a constable or militia officer means any day in which he moves at least one total kilometer looking for violations of the law or hazards to the public safety.
Pajiit cane acts as stimulant for humans. It’s delicious, surprisingly nutritious, and habit forming.
The Wilds
Feral Aslan hunt in the back country.
E46469E-4
Frontier installation
4000 miles diameter
Standard atmosphere
40% hydro
over a million inhabitants (60/40 human/Aslan)
impersonal bureaucracy
law level 14
Tech level 4 (local production roughly equivalent to 19th Century Earth’s advanced nations)
Human and Aslan
In old times the Aslan of Chaine lived as slaves to the humans--except some ‘ferals’ living in the wild scrub forest and badlands. The Imperium ordered the abolition of slavery on Chaine generations ago, when word of recontact with Chaine finally reached the sector duke. And Chaine’s gov’t moved to comply with what passes for swiftness on Chaine: the slaves were all freed within thirty years, after the search for antiquated manumission forms, dozens of interdepartmental squabbles, and seven failed committees on abolition.
The Chaine gov’t had spent a huge amount of money on paper, ink, and overtime for clerks. It did the sensible thing and billed the Aslan. No Imperial representative has yet bothered reading through the two-hundred-and fifty-three volume summary report of the Eighth Abolition Committee, much less the actual records warehoused in the Grand Depository in Dulsur, the planetary capital.
Trade
The only regular visitors to Chaine’s ‘starport’—a massive slab of exposed rock—arrive during the harvest season. The vessels drop off a variety of off-world products, mostly finished goods, and fill cargo containers with bundles of the resinous pajiit cane grown on Chaine’s plantations.
Local officials expect all forms to be filled out in quintuplicate and every checked, cross-checked, inspected, and validated at a corresponding five levels of authority. All this looks impressive, but accomplishes little. Damaged or dangerous items frequently pass inspection, sometimes because bored inspectors dash through their tasks and other times working slowly as they chat and chew pajiit cane without really paying attention to the cargoes. Obvious weapons do get noticed and blocked, barring corruption. Chaine has become a dumping ground for defective and subpar goods from higher TL worlds all over the subsector.
Buying goods in the star-town market requires a receipt, bill of sale, and tax form. Per item. And in triplicate.
Contracting or services requires even more forms.
Because lawful commerce requires a lot of paperwork, the locals have developed many dodges around the bureaucracy. Violations of the commerce regulations carry heavy fines, but the time taken to process cases can run so long that the prosecutors lose interest and witnesses’ memories grow dim.
Agriculture and country life
Much of the non-mountainous portion of Chaine’s main continent lies in the southern subtropical belt. Many hardscrabble wheat and meat-melon farms line the underground canals bringing waters down from elevated aquifers; the smallholders of Chaine mostly live on these plots.
Down along the tropical southern coast in the fertile bottomland and coastal marshes, grand houses rise over sprawling fields of candy-pink and mint-green stippled pajiit cane.
Most of the planters owe big debts to foreign merchants and startown factors.
The planters all hold commissions in the constabulary or militia; this allows them to carry locally-made blade weapons and firearms ‘on patrol.’ Long ago, the planter’s son who revised the weapons codes penciled in a footnote which later copyists fixed in print: ‘on patrol’ for a constable or militia officer means any day in which he moves at least one total kilometer looking for violations of the law or hazards to the public safety.
Pajiit cane acts as stimulant for humans. It’s delicious, surprisingly nutritious, and habit forming.
The Wilds
Feral Aslan hunt in the back country.
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