Pi Piscis Austrini
An orbital tower rises above
the salt flats of the Drag strip Desert on Praxis
The close binary pair of F0 type dwarfs 93 l.y. from Sol were colonised in 2311 by the crew of the Ayn Rand IV a warpship belonging to the powerful mega-corp Praxis and was originally sent to claim Alnair for the Praxian interests.
Unfortunately for them they were beaten to it by Lana Duchamp and the Lennon and McCartney and finding the new constitution there worryingly anarchist and unprofitable decided to flee to Pi Piscis instead. Later it was revealed that Praxis wanted an “accident” to befall the Lennon and McCartney (and such a device was in the inventory) but the crew of the Ayn Rand decided against it, the GE Twin Suns of Roule was in the outer belt, and nobody at the time felt like trying the patience and beliefs of a group of intellects whose motives were at best dimly understood. Besides, few on board the Ayn Rand felt like murder after months of solitary travel between tens of light years.
So Pi Piscis Austrini was colonised and quickly grew to quite a sizable economy (though not as great as Alnair!) The world of Praxis (Pi Piscis 6) was quickly terraformed and a mixture of Terran and Blee biota were implanted on the surface and quickly took.
Life on Praxis and its related settlements throughout the system gradually moved away from the parent company’s wishes, rents for newcomers to the world dropped along with the profits sent back and those back at Praxis HQ noticed a worrying swing in attitudes towards Alnair.
Following a recession in the Sol System in which Praxis HQ near Bern on Earth lost nearly all of its interests in Sol the remaining capital was used to build a quite substantial colonial fleet of warpships and moved everything (including the cryogenically preserved bodies of the original Board) to its errant investment of Pi Piscis.
Those on Praxis (the world) feared a crackdown similar to Beta Comae and other colonies that had dared upset their investors. The authorities called on Alnair for help who happily obliged with whatever resources it could spare (as well as troublesome radicals who were itching for a fight) as the fleet approached.
When it did everyone was expecting a net offensive or a physical strike but as the old mega-corp took a look round the beautiful world it had help create they relented, cancelled all debts in turn for an opportunity to really kick-start the system.
Links with Alnair become more than just metaphorical when the Wormhole was created connecting the two systems (Pi Piscis being the biggest outsystem investor in the project) Despite having close ties with Alnair it still manages to retain its own identity with a playful rivalry developing whenever a local sport derby takes place!
Pi Picis Austrini now has three viable worlds with the Mars-like world of Gachion terraformed in 2567 and the Venus-type world of Park Green terraformed in 2730 and has a high and diverse population whose current addiction to whatever fad is sweeping the Core makes it one of the most happening if not unoriginal places in Community space.
Also a vast mêlée of planetoids out to 1.5 AU’s from the binary suns provided numerous resources for orbital habitats and rock colonies that provide the industrial might of the system. It allowed the commercial foundation for the flamboyant vogues that fuel the Pi Picis Austrini economy and culture.
The Alnairians view this faddish behaviour as a testing ground for, as the arguably self-proclaimed connoisseurs of laid-back cool, whatever zeitgeist bubbles up. Pi Piscis is the proving ground for the latest philosophical trend, spool genre, body fashion or hedonistic vogue-drama to sweep this area of space.
Those burnt out by the sometimes self-destructive need to keep up with the daily change in fashion and trend often find themselves going on permanent sabbatical on Irreverence in the Phi Gruis system or selling out completely and getting a proper job in one of the co-operative mega-corps that claim an address in this system
