61 Cygni
A Rastafarian city on Zion. Many different cultures both African and Caribbean in origin managed to exist together peacefully, something their ancestors on Earth found very difficult.
61 Cygni is a binary system of two K type dwarfs stars 11.4 light years from Earth. The first probe to enter the system in 2081 was partly funded by large number of African and Caribbean nations who felt that the “North” (Europe, America, and East Asia) would have a monopoly in interstellar colonisation and they would be left behind.
Many nations that took part in 61 Cygni project had been hard hit
by the continuing environmental stress that was plaguing Earth and were still
suffering the after-effects of centuries of warfare, imperialism and crippling
debt left over from the late industrial/early information ages.
A renaissance of sorts was born throughout the African and African
descended world as many nations were determined not be left behind again in
another technological and economic boom that was taking hold of Earth.
The probe revealed a pleasant
if not rather high gravity world orbiting 61 Cygni A which was named Zion (much
to the displeasure of the Christian members of the project)
Due to interplanetary law at
the time the first group to land a craft on any major world in a star system
had first claim on its resources and planets. Unfortunately most of the
projects’ funds had been spent on building a fast enough drive and up to date
communication systems, the one lander craft on board suffered from cutbacks as
money was diverted from the extra-solar projects to rehousing refugees from
flooding and drought and rebuilding infrastructure devastated by horrendous
weather.
The craft missed Zion completely and disappeared into deepest
space. In a desperate bid to lay claim to the world (it was known that a
consortium of Latin American nations had their eyes on 61 Cygni) the probe ship
was crash landed on Zion’s northern most continent and buried itself in a
tundra-swamp largely intact (but irradiated the surrounding land as it used its
plasma shields on re-entry)
Plans to colonise the world where seen as mere pipe dreams for
twenty years until the advent of nano-technology
led to the development of orbital towers. Suddenly Africa and the Caribbean
found their geographical location to their advantage and as the great towers
raised from Trinidad and the Congo the newly formed Afro-Caribbean Federation
found themselves back in the new Space Race.
The Mandela, blasted off from Clark Rock above the Congo in
2113 towards 61 Cygni carrying 20,000 hopefuls anxious to tame a new world and
find their fortune. Again corners were cut on the vessel, more people were
crammed in at the expense of an advance fleet of probes that would investigate
any unpleasant effects Zion would have on humans and so give the following
colonists a chance to prepare.
Luckily the planet had quite a benign environment, mostly
sub-tropical savannah and flat, fertile temperate zones. The only major
problems where the quite high gravity (1.5g) and a thoroughly unpleasant
creature that laid its eggs in peoples throats while they were asleep which
after a month of gestation would have burst out and slowly devoured the still
twitching corpse of the victim.
That would have been the horrible fate of the first few who were
infected were it not for a persistent cough that plagued the victims before the
grisly birth of the creatures that tipped off the sufferers to their impending
fate and the quick thinking and skill of the colony’s medical staff.
Never the less the demonslug
(as it was called) suffered the misfortune of having a thoroughly repugnant
(but entirely natural) lifestyle and being vaguely reminisant of vicious
space-creatures from 20th cinema and was soon brought to near
extinction by subsequent waves of colonists.
Another controversial but far
more pleasant indigenous life form of Zion is the narcotic plant of the Trinity
Flower, so named for its three-bulb design. Its properties where discovered by
accident when a field of these flowers went up in flames as colonists of the
settlement of Njangaville were clearing the area for a coffee plantation (seen
as a high priority for future civilisation to develop on the world!)
Realising what a discovery they had the townspeople started an
underground trade in the processed seeds of the Trinity to the other
settlements as not only it alleviate the dull muscle ache the early colonists
had thanks to the gravity of the world but created a feeling of euphoria and
love for others that made Zion into a very peaceful and welcoming planet to
outsiders.
Early worries of creating a world of drug addicts where quelled
when genetists
announced the development of a new strain of Trinity that had no chemically
addictive qualities and combined with a sensible attitude towards taking the
drug that was ingrained into Zionese culture the danger of a lotus-eating
populace sitting around all day while all their hard work decayed around them
was avoided.
By 2200AD Zion has a flourishing culture, faithful to its African
and Caribbean roots but also not afraid to embrace technology (thanks mainly to
the high proportion of transhumanists in the early colonies) Zion cities
developed with an organic feel, skyscrapers where built in earthy tones and
with smooth lines rather than the harsher sharp edges of more Western and East
Asian architecture (compare a city like
Njangaville with New Washington in the Asterion System
or Ghung Show Po in Epsilon
Indi.
Wherever possible natural light and ventilation is used in Zion
buildings and city districts are commonly built around a central square or park
to create a sense of community. Most Zionese spend the late afternoons and
evenings in the Trinity bars and cafes around these squares and throwback to
the times before the Zionese acclimatised the gravity and working days where
short.
With the advent of warp
travel 61 Cygni entered the interstellar arena with a cautious attitude to
outsystem mega-corps. Never really wanting to big a big player on the Galactic
markets 61 Cygni mainly traded in tourism, luxury items and its native biota.
Trade in the Trinity Flower was banned in the more conservative systems despite
assurances that it had no ill effects; the attitudes to narcotics from the 20th
and 21st centuries still had some influence over the minds of some.
Though the days of disreputable drug dealers passing off all manor of poisons
and using violence to secure their turf where largely gone some, Sigma
Draconis for example, banned trade in Trinity for 70 years, its citizens
still harbouring memories of the terror raged by the drug barons of Latin
America during the industrial/early information ages.
Today 61 Cygni is one of the classic Core systems rich in culture
and history. Its industry mainly veers towards the biotechnological
such as the bio-engineered city of New Lagos and the experimental habitats
around the impressive gas giant Kenya (61 Cygni B II)
Mary Evans, a key figure in the placement of an orbital tower in her native Trinidad admires the sunset of 61 Cygni A c.2150AD
Local celebrities include Mary Evans, a determined woman born in
2071AD who was instrumental in the development of the Afro-Caribbean space
program and was the commander of the first colony vessel to 61 Cygni. Her drive
was legendary and not even the gravity of Zion was said to slow here down, it
was even rumoured that she managed to live on only 3 hours sleep per night as
she sped around the planet in the early days helping each settlement and
project.
She went into stasis in 2289AD leaving wishes to be revived only
if 61 Cygni was under some great threat or something wonderful happened that
would make her even more proud to be a Zionese. Becoming a kind of spiritual
mother figure to the colony (the “blessed Mary” joke the Zionese) she was uploaded
to a mainframe in 2469AD and watches over 61 Cygni to this day offering her
opinion on every thing from whether the impressive beasts of the African
Savannah should be introduced to Zion to 61 Cygni’s involvement in the Zarquon
War (taking issue with the Zarquon’s
racist attitudes to some species she voiced support for the progressives)
