Minkowski
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Astrography
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.
Yami
Yami is a small icy planet massing one-third Earth.
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 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
Variations
Minkowski was founded by a rich blend of American, Chinese, European and Indian pioneers, but recontact, the Magnate wars and relentless social engineering has absorbed those cultures into a single Minkowskan identity.
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.
Popular approaches include light exoskeletons, mobile furniture, and swimming.
Sociology
Economy
Shipyards, mining.
Culture
Airctopi and xenophobia.
Food
Meatball trees.
Clothing
Skintight spacesuits.
Religion
Gravity is the destructive influence of the Adversary, only by abandoning it can our souls ascend to Heaven.
Heterodox Sects
Art and Literature
Politics
History
Timeline
2066: Departed Earth
2068: Arrival in Minkowski system
2074: Expeditions to necklaces authorised
2075: Homo sapiens caelum developed
2084: First necklace derivatives developed
2090: Homo caelum developed
2111: Homo caelum secundus crisis
2125: Contact reestablished
2133: Civil war begins
2134: Civil war ends
2135: Liberals take power
214X: Breakdown begins
Provisional History Path:
X: Found Religion
(+morale, -wealth)
The followers of Minkowski Transcendentalism, AKA 'Cavorites' or 'Spacer Cultists', believed in a new religion that preached the corrupt nature of gravity.
A1: Longshot Mission
(+fabbers)
They vanished from Earth history in the 2060s.
A2: Transgene
(++transgene)
They were a motley crew of space-bound dreamers, true believers, and the poor or displaced, carrying a blend of expertise, faith and willing labour into the unknown with a mission to master it.
A3: No Suitable World
They washed up in the system they christened Minkowski. There wasn't much there beyond rocks and gas and gateways to hell. The former suited, the latter did not.
A4: Adapt
(radical morphological change)
In accordance with their beliefs they adapted to their environment, carefully testing each alteration as they went but eventually arriving at the slim, hairless homo caelum.
B1: Artifact Find
(+dust)
The Minkowskans, as they were now called, were not the first inhabitants of the system. The posthumans had been there before, and left uncountable unusual structures pointing into the black hole.
B4: Useful Finds
(+CIP)
Bitter about being dumped next to such a ghastly thing, the Minkowskans set upon the telescopes hungrily as soon as safe methods were developed. Components are now used for all kinds of applications, from sensor arrays to spacesuit shielding.
C1: Crisis Situation
(+stockpiles)
Once contact was reestablished, the xenophobic religious establishment clashed with the more open elements of society over foreign investment into Minkowski's command economy.
C2: Shoot it Repeatedly
(+military)
A 'compromise' was brokered, that was actually mostly a win for the liberals as it sharply curtailed the power of the clergy and opened Minkowski to foreign investment. Nevertheless, conditions improved.
D1: Broken-down
(+PIP)
Minkowski's new economy, based on selling resources and manufacturing to the prosperous Core, did not survive the collapse of FTL travel.
D3: Become Energy Independent
(+helium, +dust)
.
E1: Make My Own Bloc
(+ground tech, +defensive tech, +tech, -shipbuilding)
K1: Be Interventionist
(+military, +logistics)
K2: Regional Port
(+dust, +PIP, +CIP, +shipbuilding, -ground tech)
K3: Salvation Armada
(+++military, +logistics)
Totals
radical morphological change
++transhuman
+fabbers
++PIP
++CIP
+++dust
+helium
+stockpiles
+++military
++morale
++++tech
+weapons tech
+ship tech
+hangarize
+RP
+fleet doctrines
+ZOCU relations
-debt
-wealth
-shipbuilding
-Treaty of Sirius