Albus

Albus sits slightly further from its sun than Earth, but the intense star more than makes up for it, making sure that Albus's temperatures remain in much the same range as Earth's. As the reason for this system's colonization, Albus has a lot to live up to and in many ways it has, but few success stories are without failures and ruined people left in its wake. The rush to colonize Albus ruined many lives, as people blew through fortunes to get to the massive world.

There they found a world that looked so much like Earth of old that it almost hurt, which only sped up the steady flow interested in the planet. As colonists poured into the system they set to work, and terraforming efforts have been underway since day one with Hughes-Holtz leading the way.

The rush of colonists strained resources and forced development of Ifus and Savin. All-too-quickly Albus was left resource strained and underfunded. Today the scars from this shift remain, and have given rise to the Brinks, social unrest, and no small bit of finger pointing as people search for someone to blame for the planets unmet potential, now wasted. Yet not everything is bleak, Hughes-Holtz still works to complete its charge begun so many years ago, while industry takes hold and begins to grow. It shouldn't be long, unless more failures follow, before Albus is one of the most frequented destinations in colonized space. Its size is both a blessing and a curse as everyone works to groom into what they know it can be.

History

The Rush

Even as the Slipstream Burners were cooling colonists were at work. Albus shone in the distance, ripe with potential. The first gene-born of the system were a motley mix, no specialization on this world - it was nothing but Earth all over again, on a grander scale.

Something happened here that hasn't happened on this scale to any planet or colonization effort since, people dreamed. Not normally a bad thing, but this time people dreamed of things far too grand for any infantile system. With Barella being only the third new system colonized, expectations were high, with no thought that there would be anything to stop the steady progress of man. And in a sense the colonists were correct, Humans had hit their stride by this point and knew how to work - but sometimes they lost control of their own wills and forgot to plan accordingly.

Hughes-Holtz representatives were along the first to enter the system with the colonists. They set to work quickly, dropping several engines onto the planets surface to thicken its weak atmosphere and help melt the polar ice caps. In short order, a world was habitable by man, true unaltered humans.This simple fact lifted the hopes of many, often to heights that were unattainable. Trying to recreate what none had been alive to see in its true glory, visions collided and quickly progress halted on all fronts.

Few people could agree on the correct path for the world, on how it should develop and be developed. Worse, as everyone squabbled for their own piece the rest of the system had time to grow.

An Opened Vault

In the cold poles of Earth over one thousand years ago a vault was opened by forward thinking individuals. Inside they placed a catalog of all of the life on the planet that they could find. Stored inside were genetic sequences for animals, seeds for plants, and detailed digitized information on all the life that would soon be snuffed out by man's progress.

After colonization ramped up, and terraforming began, the vault's contents, long-since removed from their physical location on Earth and propagated throughout the whole of colonized space, were applied to Albus. Within the next few decades the world changed. Where it had once been an empty world with so much potential - now it turned green. Even from space the expanses of blue and green were marvelous to behold. Vacationers still gasp when they first see the site, in stark contrast to the putrid colors left on Earth's surface.

Government

Structure Committee

The Structure Committee is a loose governing body that has existed on Albus since the days when the first colonists were exploring the empty world. Describing the Committee as a loose body is a generous statement, as membership and standing as Chief Interest seems to shift on a constant basis.

This constantly reformed entity is assured to get little done, and has consistently done so for years on end. Different projects and directives set forth by the Chief Interest have given rise to the Brinks across the world. Yet getting the Committee to agree that they were the cause for the rifts that stripe the planet would take just as long as getting them to agree on anything else - so no one tries.

Culture

The people of Albus are a confusing group to be around. Living on a world where neither the weather the next day, nor if the land you stand upon will still exist half a year later few can blame them for being capricious. Entering into agreements with Albus business people is a trying affair. A prudent traveler can expect for all typical time-tables to expire.

Be ready to meet someone who you won't understand, will, and won't all again.

Notable Figures

Hughes-Holtz

The company, or HH, that has been here since the beginning. No one knows how much longer it will take to groom the planet into what people have envisioned for so long, but one thing is certain: HH doesn't mind the business. The company has more engineers on staff on Albus than at any single place in all of colonized space. These engineers work around the clock to lobby the Structure Committee for additional funding and leeway to refine their terraforming engines. It has been said by critics of HH that Albus is more of a guinea pig than a true project, and that the company is at fault for its stagnation. Its hard to say which is the truth.

Points of Interest

The Brinks

Despite its years of use terraforming is not an exact science. Slumping funding, and constant shifts in focus for the world have left Albus scarred on many fronts as conversion projects butt heads. The Brinks are the edges of these projects. Here visions clash and engine technologies not meant to converge give rise to warped lands where life either flourishes or ceases to exist.

From space its hard to explain, looking down the planet's surface is checkered, a patchwork of overlapping dreams. Large swaths of land are Earth-like, vibrant and full of life reclaimed in the use of Vault stores. Opposite those are equally large swathes of deadlands, filled with sweeping salt-flats and acidic smoke that blow in hot winds across the fertile lands that stand nearby, engineers working constantly at the brink to hold everything in check.

These constant battlegrounds between humanity and a planet they've tried to morph are the perfect playground for intrepid minds who are looking for the ultimate solution, or for those trying to capitalize on a new weapon.

Rangelands

Albus is a massive rocky world, one of the largest ever found. This size, depsite the waste of the Brinks, has left huge swaths of land wholly undeveloped. Wild and teeming with falsely placed animal life Albus's vast Rangelands are undeveloped regions where no one lays claim to the land, its resources, or how they are used.

This is an interesting situation, considering how contentious people are for the governance of the land. Yet their focus on how to better design a world to their liking leaves the field open for interested parties to reap the constantly growing benefits of these rangelands. Some have tried to bring the issue up to the Structure Committee and failed, no one having an interest in the land before it is considered "Complete."

As many see it these pristine and wondrous wilds are little more than side-effects left over from years of mis-guided terraforming work.