Systems: En Haddeh

(ABN/En Haddeh/Sports) The turbofoil racing community is in shock after the death of Adira Madal during qualifying for the En Haddeh Open Ocean 6000 this morning. The three-time champion's turbofoil struck a refueling drone at almost 500 kph, killing her instantly. The incident is likely to give a boost to proponents of proposed regulations requiring ejection capsules in professional racing 'foils, a move hotly opposed by some racers and die-hard fans, who argue that the necessary weight and space compromises will kill the spirit of the sport. "Piloting a watercraft at high subsonic velocities is necessarily a high risk activity," said fellow racer Jacan Hada. "Adira knew that."

En Haddeh
T2 E2 R1
Floating cities
Life's a beach
Interstellar diplomats

Systems: Marah

(ABN/Marah/Politics) The Maran Citizens' Council has unanimously elected First Citizen Rachal Lem to a seventh term in office, the official newsnet Theoria reported this morning. Ms. Lem, who has led the Citizens' Republic for the past 27 years, issued an acceptance speech thanking the people of Marah for trusting her leadership and announced several new initiatives, including enhanced incentives for migrants to the Wander system and a 2.5% increase in discretionary ration coupons for all public employees during the next year.

Marah
T2 E-1 R-1
Stripped to the bone
Workers' paradise?
Papers, please

Systems: Horesh

(ABN/Horesh/Religion) Dozens were killed and hundreds arrested when two sects officially banned by the government clashed in the Horeshi pilgrimage site of New Punon last night. The Technosopholist and Sovereign Body of Redemption movements have long been at odds with each other and mainline Redemptionalism over the proper role of technology in society--Technosopholists believe that the Prophetic Walker advocated the use of cybernetic implants, while Sovereign Bodiers claim that a strict reading of the Record reveals that any labor-saving machinery should be forbidden. The two groups engaged in a theological debate with rocks and homemade explosives in the streets of the village, but put aside their differences and attacked security forces when they arrived on the scene, forcing the deployment of microwave weapons to quell the disturbance.


Horesh
T0 E1 R1
Breadbasket of the cluster
Religious zealots
Leased out the system

A temperate planet in the second orbit of a yellow-white star, Horesh has long been known for agriculture. The fertile soil of the supercontinent Horesh Prime's coastal plains supports massive farms whose yields are unrivaled in the cluster.

In the days of New Canaan, the agricultural industry was monopolized by corporate farms worked by emigrants largely drawn from the poorer districts of Far Canaan. After the Severance, the corporate managers maintained control by becoming harshly repressive, setting themselves up as nearly feudal overlords. They emphasized the production of cash crops and exotic foodstuffs that could still turn a profit on the cluster's dwindling commercial starlift capacity, and Horesh ironically became a world of hunger.


In 37 AS, however, a man named Orem began walking. He walked for 10 years, covering the entire circumference of Horesh Prime while preaching the inherent equality of all men. By the time he finished, he was the figurehead of a divinely-inspired rebellion. Orem, by now known as the Prophetic Walker and his journey the Walk of Redemption, either translated into Heaven or died of exhaustion (depending on who you listen to) in 48 AS, but his followers continued to battle the managerial government with some success. The war was long and bloody, but in 55 AS the Citizen's Republic of Marah, who allegedly had been supplying the rebels with weaponry for some time, directly intervened. The Citizens' Peace Force Orbital Brigade occupied the capital and installed a new government headed by leaders of the revolt.

The newly-established Democratic State of the Walk of Redemption, perhaps embarassingly for the aggressively secular Marans, organized itself along theocratic lines, but was officially approved by the Citizen's Republic when it redistributed and communalized the planet's farmlands. Since then, the two systems have been formal allies, with Marah by far the senior partner.

Today, the Redemptionist government maintains control over the rich coastal plains, but has little presence in the vast deserts, jungles and high plateaus of the interior. These wilderness areas are a refuge for criminals both religious and secular, from dissident sects to smugglers.

The current population is approximately 20 million, with the vast majority living in villages and small towns. There are a few major cities, though, including the capital of Equality (formerly Ohalo, pop. 800,000). In addition, the Citizen's Republic of Marah holds a perpetual lease on the equatorial island of Pinna, which it uses as a spaceport and subsidized resort area.

Horesh has two main exports--exotic food items and Redemptionist missionaries. The former are well-received throughout the cluster, the latter less so. Marah controls most of Horesh's trade, and sells the Redemptionists agricultural equipment and a variety of technological luxuries (some of which are proscribed by the religious authorities, but secretly enjoyed by the same nonetheless).

The system's third planet, the subjovian Horeb, also has economic value. Horeb's atmosphere contains enormous reserves of He3, and its relatively low escape velocity and proximity to the system's star make harvesting and exporting it extremely attractive. Marah maintains a base orbiting Horeb to service dronescoops and tankers.

The Army of Redemption, the military of Horesh, is well-equipped for internal security, but lacks a space presence. However, Marah bases a destroyer regiment in the system, as well as an infantry division tasked with guarding the Pinna Spaceport. Unauthorized (i.e., non-Maran) vessels slipping into the system can expect to be intercepted and inspected.

Ship Preview

Clockwise: Kerithi Space Superiority Vessel, Maran Missile Destroyer,
Tamaran Asteroid Ship, Haddese Patrol Frigate

The Canaan Cluster: Basic Story

A century ago, the cluster was in a Golden Age (not the first, if you believe the legends). Far Canaan and its six colonies enjoyed unequaled peace and prosperity thanks to incredible technology and an enlightened democratic government. Or at least that's what everybody's grandparents say.

Then one day Far Canaan disappeared. POOF. Nothing came out of the slip points to the system, nothing went in--the slip points were still there, as far as anyone could tell, but they just didn't work anymore. They call it The Severance now.

The colonies panicked. There were riots, mass suicides, you name it. The remaining systems of the cluster were thrown back onto their own resources. Some handled it better than others.

It took two generations for the secrets of the slipdrive to be rediscovered and interstellar communication and communication and trade to reach a measurable fraction of their pre-Severance levels. Unfortunately, communication and trade brought tension, then war.

Things are changing now. The secrets of the glories of the past are being unlocked, and the new powers of the cluster are scrambling to become the center of a renaissance and control the destiny of this little pocket of humanity.

The Canaan Cluster: Introduction

When I stumbled across Diaspora a couple of weeks ago, I was impressed, especially with the cluster and ship/equipment creation systems. I immediately started designing, first ships, then a couple of bare bones clusters. Eventually I decided that if I was going to be really inspired while designing, I had to create a fully fleshed out universe.

The Canaan Cluster was born out of that decision. While it's still very much a work in progress, I'll be organizing my thoughts and notes here as they come--probably in more detail than other clusters I've seen, and probably in more detail than really recommended for Diaspora. But I like details.

After fooling around with Nutty Clusters for a while, I got a basic cluster set-up that I liked. My only real criteria were multiple T2+ systems, but nothing at T4 (I don't think I'm ready for that). Here's the cluster map:

The Canaan Cluster

And here are the systems:

Horesh
T0 E1 R1
Breadbasket of the cluster
Religious zealots
Leased out the system

Marah
T2 E-1 R-1
Stripped to the bone
Workers' paradise?
Papers, please

En Haddeh
T2 E2 R1
Floating cities
Life's a beach
Interstellar diplomats

Kerith
T3 E-2 R1
Chlorine atmosphere
Corporate caste system
High tech is the best tech

Tamar
T1 E-3 R1
Endless asteroid belts
Fiercely independent
Pirate haven

Divon
T-2 E-1 R-1
Nuked from orbit
Who runs Bartertown?
Nothing but gray skies

Wander
T-3 E0 R2
Smart sapphires
Bronze Age octopi
The new frontier

Why the Canaan Cluster? Well, coming up with names is always the hardest part of writing for me, so I rummaged through a pile of dictionaries and picked out the biblical one. So most of the systems have biblical names (originally all of them did, but I wanted an exception). "Canaan Cluster" flowed naturally from that, and beat out the earlier working title of "Exodus Cluster" for the simple reason that it's alliterative.