Minkowski
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Summary
- Concept: Drone-shagging religious spacenoid engineers.
- Faction: League
Astrography
Druj
A red giant. Attracts drones.
Mara
The fearsome black hole at the heart of the system is named Mara. Its attendant accretion disc sheds light comparable to the sun, along with a much larger quantity of high-energy radiation. The blazing disc, perpendicular jets and twinkling posthuman satellites were noted as one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Human Sphere' in the travel text of the same name.
Posthuman Structures
Many rings of elaborate diamondoid objects encircle the black hole and its jets. They are believed to be scientific instruments. One houses a research station that studies the structures and Mara itself, but many of the others are being dismantled for useful components that find their way into everything from FTL drives to lightweight shielded spacesuits.
Yama
Yama is a large rocky planet massing nine Earths. It has an excess of high-mass elements and is a prime source of fissile material. Rrobotic mining operations dot the surface.
Yami
Yami is a small watery planet massing one-third Earth. Microbial life is present, along with remains of more complex forms.
Naraka
Naraka masses a mere 0.05 Jupiters and contains a high proportion of water vapour. It is orbited by the helium-mining colony Oneill.
Heaven's Stair
Minkowski's primary asteroid belt, also known as 'Changcheng' or simply 'the Belt' lies between Naraka and Xibalba. The majority of the Minkowskan population lives here, in the major colony complexes Gagarin and Tereshkova.
Xibalba
Xibalba masses 2 Jupiters and contains a high proportion of methane.
Diyu
Diyu masses 0.5 Jupiters and is almost exclusively hydrogen and helium based. It is orbited by the helium-mining colony Einstein.
Biology
Minkowskans are very much changed from their original form, having rewritten their DNA to match their new environment.
Physiology
Minkowskans at first glance are short, slim humans, being engineered for small stature and to deposit little fat. Their only particularly obvious alteration is their hand-like feet.
Feet aside, the most radical changes to Minkowskan physiology are invisible. Their musculature is optimised for twitch rather than sustained force, and their skeleton is designed along similar lines, with significant cartilage and limited calcium. The circulatory system is likewise rebiased to compensate for the lack of gravity. Minkowskans never suffer from space adaption syndrome, being naturally adapted to zero-gravity from birth, however they are vulnerable to their own array of issues on planets and gravitated structures.
Minkowskan skin ranges in tone from pale brown to pitch black. Mechanically, it is thick and reduced in elasticity to prevent bloat under vacuum. It is resistant to high-energy radiation and can rapidly switch between glossy reflective and matte radiative modes to optimise heat control in space. Furthermore when exposed to vacuum their skin wrinkles into tiny ridges and folds to maximise radiation area. The price paid for this density and complexity of machinery is reduced sensation - over much of the skin, Minkowskan nerve sensitivity is reduced from the baseline norm. It also impedes hearing slightly due to thickness of the eardrum. In compensation, Minkowskans have enhanced visual acuity and incredible ability to operate in extremes of light, aided by a tapetum lucidum and a secondary eyelid that protects against vacuum and intense light. They also possess a superhuman sense of smell to help police air quality, and a highly-advanced kinaesthetic sense.
Said vacuum adaptions are of course useless without the ability to survive the lack of air. For this reasons Minkowskans have engineered the ability to 'shut down' their lungs, preventing transport across the alveolar membranes and halting the loss of blood oxygen normal lungs suffer when exposed to vacuum. Their blood itself is extensively redesigned with many times the oxygen capacity of baselines, and the ability to exchange oxygen with a special gland below the liver which stores it chemically. With these enhancements a well-prepared Minkowskan can survive in vacuum for half an hour or more before suffering from significant medical problems.
Outside of space, in temperature-controlled, zero-gravity environments, hair and sweat cause more problems than they solve. Minkowskans posess neither, and typically lose excess heat by the somewhat less elegant method of panting.
The most fundamental, but also most invisible change to Minkowskan physiology is the alterations to the human genetic system. Minkowskan DNA is multiply-redundant and the replication systems contain extensive error checking. These modifications have made Minkowskans all but immune to the deleterious effect of the radiation that soaks their system, at the cost of slowed growth - wounds take longer to heal, and gestation and aging proceed at approximately 3/4 the baseline rate.
Psychology
Minkowskans think differently. They would say better.
Some Minkowskan intelligence structures are significantly enlarged and changed from the baseline. Apart from superior kinaesthetic sense and orientation, Minkowskan mechanical and spatial reasoning is dramatically improved and also broadened - the Minkowskan brain can comprehend and analyse inhuman distances and geometries with (relative) ease. However such optimisation has its drawbacks - while never suffering from agora- or claustrophobia, many Minkowskans find two-dimensional environments psychologically oppressive.
Continuous life in a hostile environment, where single mistakes could injure dozens or hundreds, has given rise to the half-natural half-nurtured ability to rapidly internalise routines and precautions. Minkowskans are inherently conscientious and conservative, and it is this ability as much as their spatial intellect that has given them their engineering tradition and made their society so resistant to outside influences. The obvious downside is however in effect - Minkowskans are xenophobic, intolerant, and often overly hostile to new ideas.
More controversially for some observers, the neural structures that give rise to spirituality have also been enhanced. It is almost unheard of to find an atheist Minkowskan - those who do leave the Cavorite faith join another religion.
Minkowskans Abroad
Minkowskans experiencing protracted gravity can suffer an array of medical issues, including muscle fatigue, skeletal deformation, unreliable balance and cardiovascular problems. Due to obstruction from the religious establishment and a lack of the enormous research infrastructure of the Core, progress on developing easy countermeasures to these problems has been slow.
Beyond the physiological issues are the psychological issues of never learning to deal with pervasive gravity. Many Minkowskans never learn to walk, although it is mandatory for members of the military. More important to many Minkowskans is the spiritual aspect, that compels them to undertake frequent rituals to cleanse and shield their soul while exposed to the influence of the Adversary.
Popular ways to make stays in gravity more enjoyable include light exoskeletons, mobile furniture, and swimming.
Template
40 points + Radical Morphological Change. 100% of population (x4), transgene TL 24 (-6). 16-point universal template.
Primaries
- +1 intelligence (7)
- Main Effect: Electronics
- Lesser Effect: Ship Control
- Common Infrastructure Effect: +10% Population Wealth Output per level
- Elite Infrastructure Effect: -5% to research and development costs per level
Secondaries
- +1 ingroup socialisation (3)
- Elite Infrastructure Effect: +1 additional Support generated per quarter
Tertiaries
- +4 zero-gravity specialisation (Radical Morphological Change) (1.5)
- +2 vacuum resistance (3)
- +1 radiation resistance (1.5)
Sociology
Economy
Primary Industry
Mining, whaling.
Secondary Industry
Hydroponics, shipbuilding, heavy propulsion & weaponry, advanced materials, electronics, nanotechnology, medical supplies & equipment, drone byproducts.
Tertiary Industry
Medical services.
Quaternary Industry
Research & development.
Culture
Airctopuses and xenophobia.
Language
As a strongly multinational colony, English was the natural choice for Minkowski. The government embraced this, and Minkowskan children - natural or artificial - were educated in a modified version of the Standard English form devised in the 2030s for international education. This was however done with the understanding that language is mutable, and over time the form, both taught and used, has been modified by the cultures the colonists derived from and live in.
Food
Complex bitesize chunks, vat meat and hydroponics.
Clothing
Skintight spacesuits.
Religion
Gravity is the destructive influence of the Adversary, only by abandoning it can our souls ascend to Heaven.
Heterodox Sects
The Etheric Tendency of the Eschatonic Church is not a sect of Cavorism, but it does bear some similarities.
Art and Literature
Politics
History
Timeline
Early History
- 2068: Dr. Evan Cavor flees Earth on the eve of the retroviral decision, taking his followers with him.
- 2070: The Cavor Longshot arrives in the system immediately christened Minkowski. The stations around Mara are active, and declared off-limits.
- 2071: Confirmed feral drone sighting by asteroid surveyors. The worker is described as 'curious and friendly', and is assumed to be of posthuman origin.
- 2072: Further study is called off when an observation craft is attacked and eaten by the drones it was shadowing.
- 2074: Drones attack the Minkowskan colony, but are beaten off with improvised weapons stockpiled for the eventuality.
- 2076: After further attacks, work begins to change the Minkowskan home asteroid orbit.
- 2082: Posthuman machinery around Mara goes silent. An expedition returns with several interesting artefacts.
- 2084: The new orbit is established away from the asteroid belt.
- 2087: Large-scale 'component mining' of posthuman machinery begins.
Recontact
- 2092: Stargazer recontact. Cavor declares a closed society.
- 2095: Cavor completes the homo caelum genetic template.
- 2096: Dr. Paolo publishes a complete theory of drone biology.
- 2110: Cavor opens Minkowski to foreign contact and adopts a policy of rapid development.
- 2116: Attempts to clear Heaven's Stair of drones begin.
- 2130: Basic elements of mechanocyte control language cracked.
- 2131: Dr. Paolo publishes his second theory of drone biology, consistent with the discoveries at Eridanus.
- 2142: Eridanus-strain drones arrive in-system and hybridise with the drone colonies.
- 2144: Counter-drone successes rolled back significantly by hybrid warriors.
- 2148: Drones driven out and mostly obliterated with Core support.
- 2150: Minkowski suffers economic problems due to spiralling public debt, leading to civil unrest at the 80th anniversary of the founding.
The Breakdown
- 2152: The breakdown begins. Minkowski suffers economic collapse due to loss of trade and overseas investment. Tensions rise between reformist and loyalist factions. The death of Cavor in a freak accident sparks a civil war.
- 2153: Civil war concludes in favour of the new generation. Rigel Chandrasekhar is installed as Aphelion and reorganises the state into its modern form.
- 2157: Attempts to repair jumpdrives proceed no further than hotwired in-system oneshots, dismissed as useless by a frustrated government.
- 2161: Word of invasions reaches
- 2163: Decennial celebration of Chandrasekhar's accession marred by news of invasion from Finnegan's Folly. In his address, Chandrasekhar issues a call to arms and a declaration of war. Desperate freighter militarisation and construction of 'landing barges' with hotwired drives begins.
- 2164: League formally established amid numerous inspirational speeches.
- 2167: Faced with the prospect of a long war against implacable foes, Minkowski initiates the Ten-Year Plan.
- 2171: The activity of the Ten-Year Plan disturbs the now hybridised drones. The defence is bloody, but the large number of drone corpses (and desperate need for an advantage) spurs the intensive study of 'xenotechnology'.
- 2173: Plasma cannons enter mass production. Plans, examples and experts are dispersed throughout the League worlds to create a collaborative research effort.
- 2177: Ten-year plan completed.
- 2180: Solomon Armistice signed.
Modernity
- 2188: Minkowskan observers return from the Zodiac War. Alarmed by the display of power of ZOCU, thus far dismissed as soft and undeveloped by the League, Chandrasekar approves a new policy of rapid development and intensive drone study.
History Paths
- Longshot (+100 fabbers)
- Dominantly Transgene (+40 transgene)
- No Suitable World (-ground doctrine, +fleet doctrine)
- Au Naturel (+100 PIP, +15 SP, -250 dust)
- Adapt (+radical morphological change)
- Military Action (+2500 military)
- Feral Drone Attack (+2500 military)
- Artefact Find (+100 dust)
- Useful Finds (+100 CIP)
- Isolated (+30 SP, +100 PIP)
- Revolution (+2500 military, +morale, +doctrines, -60 pop)
- Single Party Governance (+100 PIP, +100 wealth, +60 pop)
- Make My Own Bloc (+100 PIP, +logistics)
- Be Interventionist (+2500 military, +logistics)
- Regional Port (+100 dust, +200 PIP, +2 shipbuilding, -ground application)
- High-Tech Bullshit (+3 global tech, +200 applications, +200 dust)
- Skunkworks (++secrecy, +75 applications, 20% secrets, +0% secret project cost)
- Found Religion (+morale, -100 wealth)
SP expenditure
- 10 SP: +60 population
- 10 SP: +120 PIP
- 4 SP: +4 shipbuilding, +2 electronics
Totals
- 360 Population
- 500 Wealth
- 1220 PIP
- 600 CIP
- 100 Fabricators
- 650 Delta Dust
- 35,000 Military
- 40 transgene + Radical Morphological Change
- ++morale
- +doctrines
- ++logistics
- +2 shipbuilding
- -ground application
- +3 Global Tech Index
- +275 applications
- ++secrecy
- 20% secrets
- +0% secret project cost
- 45 SP + ????
Tech Indices
- Global Tech Index: 15
- Shipbuilding 22 (+7)
- Ground 23 (+8)
- Electrochemical 28 (+13)
- Materials 18 (+3)
- Electronics 17 (+2)
- Mass Production 23 (+8)
- Transgenics 24 (+9)
- Xenotech 63 (+48)
- Basic Theotech 20 (+5)
- Collarize 33 (+18)