Belshane
Overview
The Belshane system hosts a very small family of planets, only two brown dwarfs. There is a large asteroid belt, believed to be a debris belt from the collision of two planetoids early in the history of this star system. Belshane is a moon of the inner brown dwarf.
Stellar Data
The primary of the Belshane system (known locally as Sul) is a red dwarf with the spectra M5. It is a very small star, only about 18%25 the diameter of Old Terra’s primary. It’s closest neighbor with a habitable system is NovyaSiberia. The primary is known for some powerful solar storms that operate on a nineteen standard year cycle and can make travel within 1au of it very dangerous during these times.
Planets
- Kito A brown dwarf that orbits at around 0.1au from the primary. It is about nine times the size of Jupiter, and hosts a family of some eighteen moons, three of which are large enough to hold dense atmospheres. Only one, Belshane, has an atmosphere capable of supporting Earth life. Kito’s powerful magnetic field protects the moons from the primary’s regular radiation storms.
- Yassa A brown dwarf that orbits at 11au in a highly eccentric orbit. It is most likely a captured body, and has a small collection of largely icy moons and captured comets.
The Moon of Belshane
- Gravity: Good
- Habitat: Poor
- Colony: Great
- Resources: Superb
Belshane is slightly smaller than Old Terra, but its higher density gives it a gravity slightly higher. It is rich in metal ores, but, as habitable planets go, it is at the low end. Despite its proximity to the star and to the brown dwarf primary Kito, it is a cold world, with polar ice caps that cover some 26%25 of its surface. Most of its oceans are shallow, and the complex gravitational situation of a brown dwarf, nearby star and several large moons make those oceans unpredictable and dangerous.
The ecoystem, while carbon-based, is not edible without substantial chemical alteration. The atmosphere is breathable, but unpleasant for offworlders, who say it has a slightly metallic tang.
History
Early Colonization
Belshane was originally explored during the First Expanse, and was given the name New Queensland. The rich mineral resources of the planet and its marginal habitability lead to the founding of several mining outposts and a single penal colony. Most of these were abandoned at the beginning of the First Decline, but the penal colonists were left behind. Within a few generations the descendants of these criminals had reverted to a savage state.
The Belshae
Some time during this period, a group of colonists calling themselves the Belshae (from which the modern name Belshane comes from) travelling by slowboat arrived from a neighboring star system. Apparently the local star had gone through a period of intense and lethal solar activity. Technologically advanced, they attempted to help the small indigenous population, which they called the Shanthians. The Shanthians, by and large, refused and fled further into the inland regions of the continents, which were much less hospitable. Despite a century of disunity early in the colonization, the Belshae eventually united under the a monarchy.
Despite the planet’s marginal environment, the Belshae’s technical abilities and austere, disciplined culture allowed them to thrive. They rediscovered long lost chemical processes that allowed them eat native plants and animals. They also maintained orbital facilities, and explored the star system, and even send out slowboats to the few close neighbors with habitable planets.
The Return of FTL Travel
The first FTL vessels arrived, they were largely hoping to find a mineral-rich world. Instead they found a thriving civilization of nearly eight hundred million people, possessing advanced space travel technology. The Belshae, however, realized that the universe had changed substantially, and did their best to catch up with this new age of interstellar travel, managing within a few decades to build their own vessels capable of travelling the Soup.
Foolishly, the Belshae went to war against NovyaSiberia. and the ensuing Novya Siberia-Belshane War was a disaster. The Belshae, who had fought furiously against the emerging Macropedia/TerranRepublic were now forced into it.
The Imperium Era
During the Imperium Era, Belshane suffered some upheaval. The old monarchy was abolished, and while the descendants of the old kings were permitted to hold the tital Grand Prince [-(see Macropedia/RanksAndTitlesOfTheEmpire)-], political power was divided between a local elected congress and the Imperium. The Shanthians, now Imperium citizens, were granted full political rights, as well as vast tracts of their lands, which, while not terribly hospitable, were now mineral rich, making the Shanthian tribes quite wealthy.
With the failure of the Emperors, Belshane began constructing its own fleet and, while it did nominally recognize the authority of the Premieres, and later Macropedia/FemaronFelard, is clearly moving towards carving out its own empire. It is building a large fleet of ships, and the memory of its defeat so long ago by NovyaSiberia spurs the Belshae on to veangance and the construction of their own empire.