JUMP TO... THE BASICS | FRĂśHJAHR, THE PRECURSORS | EARLY COLONIZATION | LEGAL STATUS | THE SECOND WAVE | THE ADVENT OF THE RING | MORE COMING
THE BASICS
Humankind has traveled far from its origin point on planet Earth– so far that to many Earth is the stuff of myth rather than historical fact. Powered by spacefaring technology that makes settling new solar systems more a question of determination than prohibitive expense, the initial colonization of the moon X-3475J2, later called Nirvana, was just one part of a colonization rush that spanned galaxies.
Nirvana’s planet, P-3475J2, seemed a much more ideal place to create a colony on initial scans. The planet had an oxygen-rich atmosphere, Earth-like gravity, almost double the surface area, and an apparently flourishing biosphere. But humanity had tried to lay claim to apparent paradise planets before and saw a trap before it was sprung. Nearly every planet on which life of any kind already exists is protected by technology humanity first encountered after venturing out of the Milky Way, the remnants of a precursor civilization predicting a destructive landgrab, and, while absent, felt in the technologies they left behind to prevent it.
FRĂśHJAHR, THE PRECURSORS
Initially called Precursors or Stewards, the people known as the Frühjahr seem to predate humanity in the galaxies we’ve explored by millenia, but left the region for unknown reasons. Ancient alien technology might have been a boon to humanity, but the amount of it weaponized against us acted as a deterrent both from colonizing worlds it watched over and studying it very closely. The majority of scholarship on Frühjahr civilization, culture, and technology has come out of Nirvana due to its atypical interactions between the humans there and their imperfectly terraformed moon. The word Frühjahr itself is only known due to a find by an exploration team from Nirvana, who brought back a document theorized to be a notice of warning to trespassers, referred to as the Nürvel Slate in academic circles.
The other major Frühjahr artifact widely known for being on Nirvana is an entity called “The Observer.” This entity made itself known between the First and Second Waves of colonization, but is speculated to have been watching progress on the development of the colony from the first moment a human set foot on the moon. Due to its lack of apparent hostility compared to similar documented units on other worlds, the Observer has become a valued community member on Nirvana, and treated as something akin to a mascot. This is frequently disquieting for visitors who have seen its kind obliterate trespassers elsewhere.
EARLY COLONIZATION
FrĂĽhjahr presence on X-3475J2 would normally have precluded terraforming of the moon. However, while the first teams scouting it for settlement were highly trained, their instruments did not penetrate to the core of the moon where the primary FrĂĽhjar defense platform is theorized to be. They found a lush planet which was too good to be true, and a moon that was barren but a prime candidate for early TORT-15 mobile terraforming machines in close proximity, from which study of the planet could be conducted.
These specialist teams would be Nirvana’s first settlers, a group of approximately 450 scientists, engineers, terraforming technicians, and their families. They purchased, or were provided by sponsors, standard hexagonal colony platforms with atmospheric domes for use while the TORT-15s seeded the moon with magnetic field generators, atmospheric dispersal orbiters, and microbe-rich soil. These platforms were grouped into three initial settlements: Sukarno, Samin, and Sakai. Sakai would unfortunately be destroyed in the First Regenesis Incident (see also “Advent of the Ring”), and Samin would be registered as Garvock-2 for unknown reasons later in the colony’s life. It is not believed that a Garvock-1 colony existed previously.
Early signs of malfunction in the TORT-15 terraformers included anomalous weather systems, miscolored “standard” flora species such as Cynodon dactylon and Trifolium repens, and unusual biome density. In particular, an area near Garvock-2 was seeded with Miyawaki-density rainforest flora species which did not proceed in development as predicted. Rather than competing with each other for nutrients and light, each plant grew at an accelerated rate simultaneously, resulting in a near-impassable area of jungle approximately 345,000km2. Other “hyperbiomes” identified on Nirvana include the TORT-15-U4 “wine marsh” which was overrun with 236 distinct species of grape including multiple novel genetic splices, and the TORT-15-U11 superdeep inland sea (estimated to be at least 2,310km deep).
The excavation of TORT-15-U11 to create its sea was what instigated a complex legal situation for the young colony of Nirvana and its settlers. Maintenance teams attempting to troubleshoot the unit detected Frühjahr alloys and energy signatures as TORT-15-U11’s probes scanned deeper. Despite no apparent presence of Frühjahr settlement prohibitive technologies on the moon’s surface, it appeared there was an artificial core entirely composed of such technology at its center which the terraforming platforms had somehow managed not to disturb despite their malfunction.
LEGAL STATUS
By the time of the discovery that Nirvana’s core was with partially or entirely Frühjahr technology, the three first settlements of Nirvana were established, the moon was 67% terraformed, and every legally registered settler had a legal right to occupation or equivalent compensation under the Galactic Colonization Charter. A lack of colony-wide ownership made seeking compensation infeasible.
A case to settle the matter of whether the colony should be resettled or Nirvana grandfathered into Charter purview due to exceptional circumstances was filed, with an initial determination that until a final decision could be reached, the extant settlers would be allowed to continue developing Nirvana. It was understood that if FrĂĽhjahr defenses were inadvertently activated by this work, any lives or property lost as a result were to be written off.
This had a side effect of making virtually all development and equipment associated with the colony uninsurable. As a result, all national, corporate, and academic scholars arranged to end sponsorship of their on-site assets. Many teams and their families were left with only the resources on Nirvana and no guaranteed way to leave. The populations of all three initial settlements were also too low to be sustainable. This was not to remain the case, however; off-world press coverage had captured the attention of a specific type of would-be settler.
THE SECOND WAVE
In contrast to the highly professional and educated early colonists on Nirvana, the next wave of arrivals largely took advantage of the colony’s uncertain legal situation and lack of investment to put down stakes on a verdant colony without the discrimination they might have faced in applying to other colonization efforts. Far from unskilled, many of Nirvana’s “Second Wave” were people without formal documentation, refugees, ex-convicts barred from normal employment, families without the money for standard colony enrollment, and people who opposed corporate employment for any number of reasons.
What these new settlers lacked in funds or formal training they made up for in practical skills and sheer numbers. Many pooled funds to have new settlement platforms dropped, or negotiated the purchase of excess platforms from existing settlements that couldn’t effectively maintain them. As the terraforming process closed in on 85% complete, some forewent platforms entirely, and were some of the first to begin harvesting supplies from the strange environment for development. While there was an initial culture clash between the First and Second Waves of settlers, necessity often forced them into cooperation.