Setting Information
Korit – The settlement of the planet of Korit began almost two thousand years ago, and was among the first serious attempts at terraforming. Strictly speaking, it was habitable in its original state, but not to any known intelligent species. It was a largely frozen world across the vast majority of its surface, with temperatures too low to be survivable outside of environment-controlled habitats or suits. The planet itself was geologically active, however. Deep-sea vents could be found under the frozen surface of its oceans, as well as numerous geothermal springs on the surface. Extremophile lifeforms could thrive in such regions, though the world was otherwise a frozen wasteland. Atmospheric oxygen was present at a concentration which was not breathable, but close enough that modifying the atmosphere was considered feasible, long-term.
Following a proposed plan by an organization of well-respected Tekeri planetary scientists, the initial terraforming efforts were picked up in partnership with a Tekeri mining company. The planet was rich with easily-accessible mineral wealth, and the mining operations could both fuel and fund the terraforming process, as the first step to make the world more livable was to raise its average temperature. As such, the first settlers largely worked the mining operation, living in artificial habitats. The mining technology used was designed to maximize carbon dioxide output to begin raising the proportions of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. The operation proved especially profitable, and so over decades was able to expand significantly across the planet’s surface. Part of the profits funded facilities which could emit more efficient greenhouse gasses, and accelerate the slow warming of the planet.
Korit was at the far fringes of Tekeri territory and was still far from livable, but the rapidly-growing demand for labor still attracted those willing to live on the frontier. A significant portion of these laborers ended up being war refugees from a conflict that had sprung up between the Tekeri and one of their neighbors. It was, for the company, a boon that further accelerated their operations...for a time. The war went sour for the Tekeri, and the supply of cheap, petroleum-based fuels they had been importing was interrupted. Korit itself was never attacked, but many of the markets they shipped to ended up blockaded. The operation did not cease, but its profitability diminished considerably. By the time the war came to its end, the company was close to insolvent. Ordinarily, the end of the war might have allowed them to recover by resuming operations, but the Tekeri had taken enough losses in the war that they were no longer able to provide any measure of security or other support for the colony. With no governments support, the company had little choice but to pull out of the endeavor.
Unfortunately for the colonists, the company also did not have the means to evacuate the many, many workers that now inhabited a still-unlivable world, and it was but one crisis of many the Tekeri government was being forced to contend with. Many of those with the means left to return to civilization, but many, many more were trapped. Well-founded panic spread that the colonists would be overrun by pirates and other outlaws, conquered by the very enemy the Tekeri had fought, or perish as their habitats eventually failed. However, none of those catastrophes came to pass. In the absence of the company, the de facto leader of the colony, Administrator Setia, began to make deals of her own. A savvy negotiator herself, she managed to bargain with the pirates who would have looted their facilities to instead provide protection, and she cut a deal with a Human world for fuel to be able to resume their mining operations. Her deal locked them into trading exclusively with a single Human world at what was, for them, a rather mediocre price for seventy years, and the lion’s share of those already-diminished profits had to go to paying off the outlaws for protection, but it allowed their mines to once again open. It allowed their colony to avert disaster, and to keep pushing on. The colonists restructured their administration into a proper government, and Setia was elected as their first governor in a landslide.
For a lifetime, the colony was barely scraping by, though that also meant they attracted little attention from outside forces, even if they were essentially funding piracy on the fringes of society for decades. Over time, however, they were able to steadily re-open mines that had been shut down during the war. They were locked into low sale prices for what they produced, but their infrastructure could recover. Eventually, the contracts the pirates were offered for defense became more profitable and less risky than piracy, so what were once outlaws transitioned into a defense force. When their exclusivity contract ended and they could once again trade with different worlds at market price, their growth returned to pre-war rates.
Without the support of the Tekeri government, Korit had to see to its own immigration. To grow its labor force, they offered citizenship to any who could come work. No background checks, no questions asked, and any who came could be essentially guaranteed employment. The world became a haven for the desperate, for criminals on the run, and for the persecuted. They cared little for the species or cultures from which they immigrated, only that they did not cause enough trouble to harm business. With such loose restriction and regulation, and being so far out in the frontier, the culture of those who came to inhabit the planet eventually shifted to fiercely value independence.
For the planet itself, centuries after centuries of continuous effort did finally end up achieving the desired result. Greenhouse gasses were like a blanket over the formerly frozen world, raising its average temperatures enough to become habitable, then finally comfortable for its inhabitants. It was once the frozen oceans had melted that the next phase of terraforming could truly begin. Although no longer under Tekeri control, the organizations that now claimed the world still had a strong incentive to follow through on the original plans. Genetically-engineered phytoplankton species were seeded into the planet’s oceans to maximize oxygen production. At the same time, many types of plant life and other organisms were introduced wherever they would grow. In most places, that was moss-like plants and lichen, while around settlements, they created and fertilized topsoil artificially to be able to grow more complex plant life. The atmosphere was still not naturally breathable to most, but the planet was rapidly becoming greener and greener. Environment suits were no longer needed to walk on the surface, and since an efficient breathing apparatus could extract and concentrate enough oxygen from the atmosphere that oxygen tanks were not required, settlements no longer needed to be entirely hermetically sealed.
Present day, Korit’s biosphere is fully-habitable. Its flora and fauna was sourced a number of worlds, and the selection was tailored to be ideal to exist alongside civilization. Given the world’s origins, it is little surprise that so much political power is now held by what most of the galaxy would consider to be a criminal enterprise. The planet is not “lawless”, per ce, but it is as close as one can be without complete anarchy. There is little to no regulation on most forms of business, which has made it a useful place for foreign governments to unofficially sponsor business or research that would not be publicly accepted on their own worlds. Korit is a planet known to be a beautiful tourist destination with idyllic resorts in hand-crafted natural environments, which masks rampant crime and exploitation by corporate entities. All the while, the independent streak of its natives is still strong to this day.
Intelligent Species:
Korit – The settlement of the planet of Korit began almost two thousand years ago, and was among the first serious attempts at terraforming. Strictly speaking, it was habitable in its original state, but not to any known intelligent species. It was a largely frozen world across the vast majority of its surface, with temperatures too low to be survivable outside of environment-controlled habitats or suits. The planet itself was geologically active, however. Deep-sea vents could be found under the frozen surface of its oceans, as well as numerous geothermal springs on the surface. Extremophile lifeforms could thrive in such regions, though the world was otherwise a frozen wasteland. Atmospheric oxygen was present at a concentration which was not breathable, but close enough that modifying the atmosphere was considered feasible, long-term.
Following a proposed plan by an organization of well-respected Tekeri planetary scientists, the initial terraforming efforts were picked up in partnership with a Tekeri mining company. The planet was rich with easily-accessible mineral wealth, and the mining operations could both fuel and fund the terraforming process, as the first step to make the world more livable was to raise its average temperature. As such, the first settlers largely worked the mining operation, living in artificial habitats. The mining technology used was designed to maximize carbon dioxide output to begin raising the proportions of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. The operation proved especially profitable, and so over decades was able to expand significantly across the planet’s surface. Part of the profits funded facilities which could emit more efficient greenhouse gasses, and accelerate the slow warming of the planet.
Korit was at the far fringes of Tekeri territory and was still far from livable, but the rapidly-growing demand for labor still attracted those willing to live on the frontier. A significant portion of these laborers ended up being war refugees from a conflict that had sprung up between the Tekeri and one of their neighbors. It was, for the company, a boon that further accelerated their operations...for a time. The war went sour for the Tekeri, and the supply of cheap, petroleum-based fuels they had been importing was interrupted. Korit itself was never attacked, but many of the markets they shipped to ended up blockaded. The operation did not cease, but its profitability diminished considerably. By the time the war came to its end, the company was close to insolvent. Ordinarily, the end of the war might have allowed them to recover by resuming operations, but the Tekeri had taken enough losses in the war that they were no longer able to provide any measure of security or other support for the colony. With no governments support, the company had little choice but to pull out of the endeavor.
Unfortunately for the colonists, the company also did not have the means to evacuate the many, many workers that now inhabited a still-unlivable world, and it was but one crisis of many the Tekeri government was being forced to contend with. Many of those with the means left to return to civilization, but many, many more were trapped. Well-founded panic spread that the colonists would be overrun by pirates and other outlaws, conquered by the very enemy the Tekeri had fought, or perish as their habitats eventually failed. However, none of those catastrophes came to pass. In the absence of the company, the de facto leader of the colony, Administrator Setia, began to make deals of her own. A savvy negotiator herself, she managed to bargain with the pirates who would have looted their facilities to instead provide protection, and she cut a deal with a Human world for fuel to be able to resume their mining operations. Her deal locked them into trading exclusively with a single Human world at what was, for them, a rather mediocre price for seventy years, and the lion’s share of those already-diminished profits had to go to paying off the outlaws for protection, but it allowed their mines to once again open. It allowed their colony to avert disaster, and to keep pushing on. The colonists restructured their administration into a proper government, and Setia was elected as their first governor in a landslide.
For a lifetime, the colony was barely scraping by, though that also meant they attracted little attention from outside forces, even if they were essentially funding piracy on the fringes of society for decades. Over time, however, they were able to steadily re-open mines that had been shut down during the war. They were locked into low sale prices for what they produced, but their infrastructure could recover. Eventually, the contracts the pirates were offered for defense became more profitable and less risky than piracy, so what were once outlaws transitioned into a defense force. When their exclusivity contract ended and they could once again trade with different worlds at market price, their growth returned to pre-war rates.
Without the support of the Tekeri government, Korit had to see to its own immigration. To grow its labor force, they offered citizenship to any who could come work. No background checks, no questions asked, and any who came could be essentially guaranteed employment. The world became a haven for the desperate, for criminals on the run, and for the persecuted. They cared little for the species or cultures from which they immigrated, only that they did not cause enough trouble to harm business. With such loose restriction and regulation, and being so far out in the frontier, the culture of those who came to inhabit the planet eventually shifted to fiercely value independence.
For the planet itself, centuries after centuries of continuous effort did finally end up achieving the desired result. Greenhouse gasses were like a blanket over the formerly frozen world, raising its average temperatures enough to become habitable, then finally comfortable for its inhabitants. It was once the frozen oceans had melted that the next phase of terraforming could truly begin. Although no longer under Tekeri control, the organizations that now claimed the world still had a strong incentive to follow through on the original plans. Genetically-engineered phytoplankton species were seeded into the planet’s oceans to maximize oxygen production. At the same time, many types of plant life and other organisms were introduced wherever they would grow. In most places, that was moss-like plants and lichen, while around settlements, they created and fertilized topsoil artificially to be able to grow more complex plant life. The atmosphere was still not naturally breathable to most, but the planet was rapidly becoming greener and greener. Environment suits were no longer needed to walk on the surface, and since an efficient breathing apparatus could extract and concentrate enough oxygen from the atmosphere that oxygen tanks were not required, settlements no longer needed to be entirely hermetically sealed.
Present day, Korit’s biosphere is fully-habitable. Its flora and fauna was sourced a number of worlds, and the selection was tailored to be ideal to exist alongside civilization. Given the world’s origins, it is little surprise that so much political power is now held by what most of the galaxy would consider to be a criminal enterprise. The planet is not “lawless”, per ce, but it is as close as one can be without complete anarchy. There is little to no regulation on most forms of business, which has made it a useful place for foreign governments to unofficially sponsor business or research that would not be publicly accepted on their own worlds. Korit is a planet known to be a beautiful tourist destination with idyllic resorts in hand-crafted natural environments, which masks rampant crime and exploitation by corporate entities. All the while, the independent streak of its natives is still strong to this day.
Intelligent Species:
