Talos - SM1436 - District 268

Talos         1436 E333532-9    Ni Po              820

UWP:	E433532-9	Location:	Spinward Marches/1436	System:	Talos
Starport:	E	Frontier facility, no fuel, no repair
Planetary Size:	4	Medium 6,400 km
Atmosphere:	3	Very Thin Requires Respirator
Hydrosphere:	3	30 percent surface area covered by oceans
Population:	5	Moderate Population 800,000
Government:	3	Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy
Law Level:	2	Low Law Portable Energy Weapons Prohibited
Tech Level:	9	Early Stellar (fusion power)
Base(s):		None
Zone:		Green: Unrestricted
# of Planetoid Belts:	2		# of Gas Giants:	0

Talos, is a world with an insular culture that while technically capable of star flight, choose to not engage in any off planet activities, not even space flight.  The inhabitants (Talosians) are of a genetically distinct version of Humans, differing from Solomani, Vilai, Zhodani, and even Darrians.  The culture went through a regression, and spent an unknown amount of time at TL1.  They have their own mythology about their origin and place in the universe, and it is based on the idea of divine intervention, and other ethnocentric views.  Talosians do not share any biology with the native lifeforms of their planet, however, and their actual world of origin is unknown.  This is half of an enigma surrounding the system referred to as "The Mystery of Talos" - the other half is described below.

The cold tundra-like landscape of the Smokey Plains

The world is quite cold.  It is the third of three chasing moons, all following the same orbital path, around a large world, Hasiman.  Curiously, Hasiman is also the name for the home of the devil, in the chief Talosian religion, which is simply known as "the way".  Talos, along with Candor and Timber, are the names for the three "first sons of god" and have been given the eternal task of making sure the devil does not escape from Hasiman.

The population of the world is divided up into thirteen different population centers, referred to each as a Beydom.  The native population of Talos is very, very similar to Humans, but (as noted above) with particular distinctions at the genetic level (extremely minimal DNA difference from "standard" humanity).  They are curiously inter-fertile with the other strains of Humanity, but they would never, culturally, seek out such a union.  In appearance, they differ only in having developed slight different face structure, with larger eyes.  Internal organs are very nearly the same, with slight variations in intestinal flora.

The political situation between the 13 Beydoms varies enough that there are occasional conflicts, some resulting in military action.  Because of this, each Beydom maintains their own household guard.  Apart from that, in the tradition of "the way" there is the concept of becoming an adult - which involves some spirit quest and a rite of passage ordeal, often in the wilderness, and often mimicking a hero's journey.  These usually culminate in combat against one of the many dangerous large predators of the planet. The ordeal is made more difficult by the challenging planetary conditions - cold, sparse food, very thin atmosphere (which Talosians can breathe unaided, but it does tire one out quickly).

Most structures of the Talosians are very large, sprawling affairs, with multiple buildings connected.  They have adapted somewhat to life with the local atmosphere, not requiring respirators (unlike off-worlders), but it is still quite cold.  Their buildings are not only warmed, but the air is treated with a variety of different aromatic humidification techniques - to make it slightly heavier, and have different mood-based smells.

Surface map of Talos - each hex is 128km

The Thirteen Beydoms of Talos
A. Jirka of the North
B. Eltarn
C. Dele
D. Andoo of the South
E. City of Opals
F. Sirsy
G. Vern
H. Arkwell
J. Bovisar (Capitol City, home of the Beylar Bey) - Opulence Field spaceport
K. Therdic
L. Kallic   
M. Auris  
N.  Night

The City of Opals is a cursed city, and none from other Beydoms may mention its name.  Each of the cities, as well as being capitol to a Beydom by the same name, is also home to a spaceport.  Robot piloted anti-grav vehicles typically fly routes between the Beydoms.

The three Beydoms that ring the Sea of Fire - Therdic, Kallic and Auris - are often referred to as the Rebel Three, or the Outsiders.  They are often in contention with the Beylar Bey whenever the Council of Brothers is called. (The Council of Brothers is a sort of league of nations, the closest thing to a unified planetary government)

The local tech level has enabled Talosian society to adapt to an economy of artificial (domed) agriculture on a very, very large scale.  Almost all the local required food is grown in domed agri-centers, tended to by robots.  Talosian robotics, while not as advanced as other worlds or cultures, is found everywhere in their society where manual labor is required.  Talosian workers typically do not do "work", they supervise robots that do the work.

The only sorts of manual labor not done by robots, are personal care services - grooms, butlers, dressing servants, cooks - these jobs are all done by various castes of Talosians.  It is an employment relationship referred to as "caste-work", but one where a lower caste Talosian will become attached to a family of higher caste Talosians, and work for them for life, eventually marrying another caste-worker.  Caste-work is promoted by "the way" for members of the poorer castes, as service is seen as the purifying path to reincarnate at a higher caste.  The Beys and Beylar Bey are all of the highest Caste, known as being "one with the way".  Many caste-workers are quite well compensated, but would never think of leaving their position.  There is the high caste, a tradesman's caste, a laborer's caste, and the lower caste.  In addition, there is also a warrior caste, which is seen as temporary path in life, and one which must not be followed for too long, lest it keep one from reincarnating properly.

Caste-workers (of the lower caste), like all other levels of Talosian society, benefit from the ownership and reliance on robots for manual tasks and labor.  Manufacturing beyond what is needed to maintain the economy is of no interest to the Talosians.  They have enjoyed their current way of life for centuries, and wish to continue doing so.

The robots of Talos are in no way anthropomorphic, but rather utilitarian designs, usually of squat round or square bodies, with arms and attachments suited to the labor they are designed for.  It is a violation of "the way" for a machine to purposefully imitate a man or woman, and because of that, Talosian robots do not speak.  They understand speech (as much as they can at TL9) but do not respond in speech.  A Talosian might consider an anthropomorphic (or humaniform) robot to be a sort of blasphemy against "the way".  Those few Talosians that leave the planet, and interact with interstellar society might find this distasteful, but accept that other peoples do not share their views.

Overall, the Talosians have a very peaceful society.  Their culture, based on hero journeys and deeds of adventure, is guided by "the way" to be a life placing one in opposition to one's environment.  So the hero journeys are out in the wilderness, against the climate and wild beasts - not in warrior combat against other Talosians.  In spite of a relatively low law level - it would never occur to a Talosian to tell someone that they could not carry a weapon, or do a certain deed - their culture is one based on mutual respect for person and property.  When necessary, local law enforcement are armed and armored at a TL9 level.  Talos is a non-industrial, poor world - and the local population is quite happy with their way of life.

System Details
Primary - Zes/Alti 1436
Golden Harm - Orbit One - Inner Zone - Size 11 Radiation World
Otter's Belt - Orbit Two - Inner Zone - Asteroid Belt
Swan's Belt - Orbit Three - Habitable Zone - Asteroid Belt
Hasiman - Orbit Four - Habitable Zone - Size 15 Big World - Three chasing moons (Candor, Timber, Talos)
Red Wing - Orbit Five - Outer Zone - Size 1 Worldlet
White Tail - Orbit Five - Outer Zone - Size 4 Ice World

The various Beydoms of Talos are each ruled by a Bey, which come together in a "Council of Brothers", at the capitol city of Bovisar.  The Beylar Bey, first amongst the brothers, is currently an individual called Ramashan the Lion.  He dwells at, and resides over the Council of Brothers, from the "Palace of Lions", 10 kilometers north of the outskirts of Bovisar.  It is located at the edge of the World's End Glacier, which is slowly moving south and melting into the eastern reaches of the North Dragon Sea.

Palace of Lions, at the edge of the World's End Glacier

The Mystery of Talos

The second half of the Mystery of Talos is the mysterious starship that has, throughout recorded history, appeared in the Talos system from time to time, and aggressively destroyed any and all that come to visit.  It was there in Pre-Imperial times (although older records from various interstellar governments - the Sword Worlders, Darrians, and Sindalians - have all gone through periods where such records would be lost), but disappeared by the year 151.  Then, centuries later, it re-appeared in the year 708, and only disappeared again that year when it was visited by armed ships.  300 years later, in the year 1008, the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service officially lifted the Amber Zone warning about the system.  That has been just over a hundred years ago, and the mysterious ship may, at any time, return.  See the following article for further details on the Talosian Mystery.

From the Imperial Encyclopedia:

Talos is a world shrouded in mystery. Neither the shipwrecked Rule of Man Solomani who colonized Noctocol (three parsects away) around -2000, nor the Sindalian Empire mining colony established on Collace (two parsecs away) in the -1400s recorded anything unusual about Talos before they lost jump capability. All early Darrian records concerning Talos were lost during the Maghiz, so the earliest documented account of the system that we have dates from a Sword Worlds survey expedition that visited Talos in -147. The scouts found evidence of sophont habitation in the form of highly-distorted, undecipherable radio signals. However, no further details could be learned because a massive (50,000 tons) bronze-colored spacecraft of highly unconventional design that was in orbit around the planet moved to intercept and fired warning shots every time the survey ship attempted to approach. It was also evidently jamming all transmissions to and from the planet.

There is a break in Sword Worlds records caused by the aftermath of the War of the First Rebellion, but Darrian archives indicate that the mysterious vessel was still standing sentry over Talos in Imperial year zero (0). However, by the time that the first Imperial scouts visited Talos in 151, the strange spacecraft had disappeared. The planet proved to be inhabited by what at first seemed to be a mostly unremarkable human population of about 250,000 that was living at Tech Level 7.

The Talosians were entirely ignorant of the fact that a huge, alien craft had once orbited their world, and knew very little of their own history. There had evidently been a centuries-long period of severe technological and scientific regression (to TL-1) during which the facts about how, when and why the planet was settled had become lost in the mists of history. Talosian mythology is vague and includes many elements (such as divine intervention) that are patently absurd. It is also contradictory, particularly insofar as mythical accounts of the planet’s settlement incorporate both the themes of banishment for misdeeds (mirroring the Garden of Eden myth on ancient Terra) and of finding blessed refuge at the end of a perilous flight from monstrous enemies.

The Sword Worlders had speculated that Talos was a Darrian colony that had become isolated after the Maghiz, but the Darrians themselves rejected this theory because the mysterious spacecraft bore no resemblance to any known Darrian design. When contact was finally made with the inhabitants, they were found to be genetically distinct from Darrians, Solomani, Vilani and Zhodani alike, and spoke a language that appeared to be entirely unique and unrelated to any other known human tongue. This has prompted most experts to theorize that the Talosians are the last survivors of an unknown spacefaring culture that had arisen somewhere in the Trojan Reaches and disappeared before the era of the Sindalin Empire (-2074 through -1441).

The ‘Mystery of Talos’ was of interest only to historians and linguists until 708, when the mysterious vessel inexplicably reappeared, and resumed its former habits of intercepting all ships that attempted to approach the planet. It took nearly 100 standard days for the Imperial bureaucracy to make up its collective mind to intervene in a system beyond its borders, but when an Imperial Navy task force finally arrived at Talos, the intruder immediately disappeared. Imperial and Sword Worlds vessels were both present, but could not follow the craft as it moved off under extremely high acceleration (10-12G). Since no jump signature was detected and an intense search of the inner system revealed nothing, it was concluded that the intruder had fled to the unsearchable vastness of the system’s Oort Cloud. There have been dozens of reported encounters with the strange vessel in the remote, sunless reaches of the Talos System over the past four centuries, but none of these has ever been confirmed.

The most widely accepted theory is that the intruder is an automated vessel that continues to mindlessly follow its ancient and inscrutable programming. The most fascinating and perplexing question, of course, is whether the craft was protecting the Talosians or imprisoning them on the planet, but other riddles abound. Whatever its purpose, why did the intruder disappear and then return five standard centuries later? Its flight from the Imperial Navy task force in 708 seems logical enough, but why has the intruder never returned to the inner system in the four centuries since? Last but not least, who or what built the vessel in the first place? Popular speculation on this last question inevitably points to the Ancients, whose homeworld has been tentatively placed in the neighboring Five Sisters subsector, but most reputable scholars reject this notion because human inhabitation of Talos is at most 2,500 standard years old.

Although the rest of known space is endlessly fascinated by the ‘Mystery of Talos’ the Talosians themselves are not. Their society is extremely conservative, isolationist and politely, but firmly, disinterested in offworld affairs. Only a handful of Talosians speak Galanglic or any other ‘foreign’ language, and offworld visitors are rare and generally treated with courteous disdain. Anthropologists and sociologists have speculated that these the traits can somehow be traced back to the founding of Talos, but cannot agree on the reasons behind them.

Although they are technologically capable of interstellar travel, the Talosians have not even bothered to develop an in-system spacefaring capability beyond that necessary to send communications satellites into orbit. And, despite the fact that Talos sits at a strategic junction where the Collace and Glisten arms of the J-1 Spinward Main intersect, no proper starport has ever been built and interstellar trade is minimal. This does not, however, prevent the Talosian government from making a hefty profit by charging visiting spacecraft exorbitant fees for refueling in the planet’s oceans (the system has no gas giant).

Talos is governed by a council of hereditary oligarchs who rule a collection of small city-states scattered around the shores of the planet’s oceans -- each of which generally has its own E-class landing facility. Governmental institutions are minimal and neither provide many services to the inhabitants nor impose any significant restrictions on their economic, political and social freedoms. Although the climate is cold (average temperatures hover just above freezing) and the atmosphere very thin, the Talosians have created a sustainable society based on hydroponic agriculture, and small-scale industrial workshops and resource-extraction enterprises. Despite the low Law Level and easy availability of weapons, crime is rare and Talosian society has been at peace with itself for half a millennium.

Off World Facilities

Communications Outpost - Radiance Station - In orbit around Talos.  Providing communications between the downport (Opulence Field) and any off-worlder trade.  There is a regular duty staff of 30 Talosians manning the station.  Occasionaly, off-worlders will be found here, working with them.

Science/Research Lab - Paas Laboratory - Biology research station on the surface of Candor.  There is a lab ship in orbit, funded by Collace University, and a rotating crew of six biologists work on the prefab lab on the planetary surface, observing the curious arthropods of Candor.  There is almost no vegetable bio-mass on Candor, but an incredible amount of animal biomass, almost all of it exoskeletal invertebrates, ranging from the near-microscopic, up to the gargantuan.  Leading the team is Dr. Kren Jaxom.  Her assistant is a Vargr, Prime Scholar Arrug Hush Mak.  The rest of the team is human.

Power Generation Facility - Cygnus Power Station - A massive array of solar cells have been discovered covering most of the surface of the largest asteroid in the Swan Belt (nicknamed Cygnus, but properly Swan-8914).  The surface of the arrays have a smal microculture of nonobots living on them, keeping them clean by cleansing dust and debris off the surface.  Neither the collector plates nor the nanobots have been able to be identified, and lack any indication as to their age or source of manufacture.  Further inquiry has not been made, yet.  Sub-surface structures have been recorded by the Imperial Scout Service, but not explored.