Ottansey

Ottansey is a small planet on the edge of interstellar space. It lies 21.5 kpsc from Terra, 2.7 kpsc from Deletia, 7.0 kpsc from Credix, and 10.5 kpsc from BDA Tr#ska. The planet was colonized in TE 817 (2970 CE) from Credix. Throughout the Interregnum, Ottansey supported a stable population of about 5 million Humans.

Ottansey is also home to a native sapient race of pleiosaur-like creatures called the Halira (singular Halir). The mammalian revolution seems to have skipped Ottansey; the highest native lifeforms are reptiloid. (As is ususally the case, imported Human-related forms have taken over many ecological niches.) Human colonists wiped out the largest land-dwelling reptiloids, and now only smaller forms remain.

The economy of Ottansey is deceptively simple. Halira and starwood provide its base; Deletian and Credixian starships, with an occasional visit from the Tr#skan Trade Union, link the world to the Galaxy. The range of economic activity on Ottansey runs the gamut of Human industry, from mining to transport to food production.

Ottansey's technology is also deceptively simple. A large moon provides tidal power, which is supplemented by a few large fusion reactors purchased from and serviced by offworlders. High-speed maglev trains and powerful hovercraft comprise the long-distance transportation net -- supplemented by a small fleet of (offworld-produced) supersonic jets.

Too poor -- or too clever -- to support a population much over ten million, Ottansey cannot afford complicated planetary politics. Towns -- "boroughs" -- of twenty thousand or so are essentially self-governing, and united into a number of commonwealths loosely organized on continental lines.

Mass communication, including several computer nets, stitches Ottansey together. Except for the Halira-ships or the Dyfers, people tend not to travel far from their native boroughs or to change occupations often. Guided by tradition and placing high value on stability, the sociopolitical system is in a dynamic but strong equilibrium.

The basic sociopolitical unit is the Combine -- a unit of economic derivation. The Lumberer's Combine is by far the most important and influential Combine, with the Fishers Combine in second place. Combines tend to group together into Commonwealths, and the Commonwealths together make up Ottansey.

Human settlements on Ottansey cluster about the rocky coasts of Tumaden and Ladamar, with a high concentration of settlements on the Dakan Islands.

The Halira provide quite a number of useful products: various fats and oils, meat, strong and lovely bone, and fertilizers for the starwood forests.

The Dyfers are a major dissenting force in Ottansey planetary politics. They were founded about 3800 CE as a quasi-religious, semi-environmental movement designed to save the Halira. The Dyfers are headquartered on Sernlan Island, and by 4050 CE their prime task was to swim with the Halira, communicate with them, and try to argue them out of self-starvation and/or beaching in accordance with the Song of Death.

By 4100 CE the Dyfers had taken on terrorist overtones, as they sought to destroy the fishing vessels which preyed upon Halira.

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copyright (c) 2009, Don Sakers

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