Theta Corionis Hiveworld

Let us review the UWP and see what is possible.

28,43,48 - K-V - A76AAAC-D Hi Wa 412 Im 88D

Stellar Coordinates: 28 (x) 43 (y) 48 (z)
Star Type: (K-V) Orange Dwarf (main sequence star)
Starport: (A) Class – Tech Level 10
Planetary Diameter: (7) Medium (min) 10,400 km (max) 11,999 km
Atmosphere: (6) Standard (min pressure) 0.71 atm (max pressure) 1.49 atm
Hydrographics: (A) Water World
Population: (A) High (tens of billions) 10,000,000,000 – 99,999,999,999
Law Level: (A) Extreme (weapon possession prohibited)
Government: (C) Totalitarian Oligarchy

Planetary Tech Level: (D) Average Stellar (holo/data storage)
Bases: None
Trade Codes: (Hi) High Population (Wa) Water World

Population Multiplier: 4
Planetoid Belts: 1
Gas Giants: 2

Allegiance: Imperial

Life Value: (8) Proto-Sentient Life
Resource Value: (8) Moderate
Exports: (D) Industrial Crystals

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The planet is categorized as a water world. The above information is generated based on an Imperial survey of the planet. that said, what they categorize as water would probably correspond to what humans normally consider water (H20). This is not to say that other liquids or substances could not be suspended in or be stratified between layers of water with different salinity or tempature.



The planet is listed as having proto-sentient life. A silicon or crystal based life form is indeed plausible. I know what you are reffering to for a liquid going to a solid from a kinetic impact,but I can't think of the term off the top of my head...there is another possiblity though.

What if the proto-sentient species takes the form of a Electrorheological Fluid. This is a class of liquid which stiffens into a semi-solid when subjected to a electric field. Electorheological Fluids are most commonly colloidal solutions. The stiffening effect that occurs under an electric field is also reversible.

Definitions:

Colloid - a substance that consists of particles dispersed throughout another substance which are too small for resolution with an ordinary light microscope but are incapable of passing through a semipermeable membrane.

Colloidal Suspension - a mixture consisting of a colloid together with the medium in which it is dispersed (ex. smoke)

Under the electric field, electrorheological fluids form fibrous structures which are parallel to the applied field. The city probably has cables or grounds itself in some other fashion against lightning strikes. A city on a water world being the highest structure would probably suffer from lightning strikes.

This electrical charge being dispersed into the sea could have originally casued the particles to grow. Perhaps they also retain a charge or create a low charge from the sea water. This need not be seperate a group of seperate entities, but could instead be one intity that is currently growing nder the city.



The entity may welll gain sustinance from the cities waste products...it all depends on what the "biology" of the creature winds up being. As to growing food onthe moons...I can't reply to that until I've seen more about the system.

[/quote]Posted by: Dazo
So what type of government/society might I expect to have, you mention the Mezzan, but they didn't fare to well, would my world really want to be or be seen to have associated with them[/quote]

The government type listed is Totalitarian Oligarchy. An oligarchy is a government by the few or elite. You may be looking at a government run by or atleast headed by an elite aristocracy. It could also be run by an elite group of business men who not only control the production of the crystals, but the city itself.

Everyone who lives in the city would be an employee of the company. Their lives are pretty much run by the company. You may want to do some research into old mill towns and mine towns, where the only real industry in the town is the mill or mine. the company also usually owns the deed to everyones house and shop, because they also own the bank. This will give you a better idea of totalitarian oligarchies.

The world does not have to be a Mezzan world directly. They could have been a client world. They may have traded in crystals with the Mezaan for technology or money. The company may have switched sides and joined with the Imperium (leaving the Mezzan high and dry).

I know this treachery might make the culture seem untrustworthy, but it makes perfect business sense. Alot of things that major corporations do seem can seem inhuman if not down right criminal. Many companies try to be good corporate citizens, but in the end, all decisions are still weighed against the companies bottom line or what isin the best interest of the stock holders.

A client world which severed ties with the Mezzan at the outset of war with the Imperium is probably best. this could be one of the worlds that Alpharius coaxed into betraying the Mezzan. Perhaps he offered them a much more lucrative market for their good. Why deal with a small pocket empire when you could sell to the entire Imperium.

To quote a famous phrase, "It's not personal, it's just business".

Actually it has more to do with boyancy. An oil slick floats on the surface of the water, because it is lighter than the water. Other substances that are denser than water would have a natural tendancy to sink, however the salinity and temperature of the water changes can affect its density.

Colder salty water is more dense than fresh water or even warm salt water. This difference in densities is one reason why a person swimming in the ocean is more boyant than one swimming in a pool or freshwater lake.

In there simplest form as a colloidal suspension, the creatures probably float on the surface, but as it begins to form and solidify its density would change and it would sink. This might cause it to sink into cloder water where the electrical reactions with the salt water at the surface might slow down perhaps causing it to become inert or reverse and begin to break down again.

This process may have continued till such time as the pylons of the city were layed. The pylons provided a a structure for the creature(s) to grow on...It may be an interesting though if the crystal that grow under the city are being harvested to generate the holographi crystals that are one of the major indutries of the city.

They are allowing this life form to grow in order to harvest it. Just some possibilities. I'm in and out of meeting at work all day, so I'll have to give the life cycle of such a creature more thought.



This could still be the case. The electrical charge might cause its "synapses" to grow which have led to an increase in its cognative abilities, but even simple creatures such as amoebas react to being poked and prodded.

Like a person myight flinch away, the normal reaction to the creature is to solidify or harden so that the impact does not continue further into its surface. Once the presure is removed, the surface would return to normal.

I also had in mind the properties of a certain plastic, not sure what its called but when you apply pressure the structure of it alters and it changes colour, like rainbow ripples, it seemed like a cool idea at the time.



It is possible, the problem comes down to how spread out the collodial solutuion is spread. Also the issue of differning density would play into this. As the creature grows, its density would increase. If it was in shallow enough waters, this may continue to build up and creat a form of scilicon (crystal) island.

They could also perhaps be similar to ice bergs. As their boyancy changes, there could be a small portion that sticks above the water, with a vast network of filaments that extend below...we'll have to work on this idea a little more.



I created a similar system of power generation or atleast storage for an Island keep once. The lightning rods fed directly into large capacitors built under the island. This large static discharge was then converted into electrical energy. Of course, the island was situated in an area called the sea of storms, which experienced severe weather and for a good precentage of the year.

How often were you intending the city to be assaled by storms? If it does not happen on a regular interval, such a storage system would not really be worth the cost of construction and if the city comes under the threat of storms that often, why did they choose that location in the first place?

For irregular occurances, a lightning disipation system is probably more likely....of course it all depends on how you define the storms and why the city was built here.



I definitely agree that the form created by lightning strikes would differ greatly from one that developes under constant low level current. I don't see the electrical impulses so much as blood. It would be more like the nutriens required by the cells in order to survive and grow.

It could be that the colloid suspended in the fluid are minute crystals which when a current is applied begin to grow within the liquid. Their waste product could perhaps be heat. which is dumped into the ocean surrounding the city.

Have you ever seen the little hand warmers that before they are activated are maliable and liquid, but when activated begin to harden and give off heat. The checmical reaction within the hand warmer turns the coloidal fluid within to a solid the byproduct of this process is heat energy...

The crystals might be a hive mind...not in the same manner as the Tyranid...it may actually be better to think of it as a gestalt being. With this "silicon entity" each crystal by itself has no intelligence or actual life. It is as they grow together and interact with each other that a "mind" and life emergess.



My thoughts are that the company may reproduce the natural effect...taking the naturally occuring collodial fluid and growing it in the labs, so that they can create crystals in the specific forms that they require. They may also remove pices from the crystal growing under the city. One reason for this is to manage its growth so that it does not overtake the city, but to also use a seed in the crystal growing process.

If the can reproduce the chemical composition of the fluid, they need only a pice of crystal to begin the growing process...again controlling the manner in which the crystal developes. As for the mats created by lightning strikes, these might be fodder for smuggling operations or for free contractors to sell back to the company.

They of course might not produce as high a grade of crystals as could be obtained in laboratory conditions, but the company might be willing to purchase them in order to prevent competition on the regular or black markets. I see it as being cheeper to offer a good price for individuals to bring these crystals in rather than trying to keep a watchful gaze over the entire planets surface in order to prevent smuggling.



I don't see the company as being evil per se. They don't have to oppress their workers. Totalitarian need not conjure up images of an evil overlord. It could be as you say based around a model of Victorian society. This would be a class based system.

Social policy was governed as much by rules as by social mores and values. To be a member of a certain class was to know where you stood in society. One associated with memebers of their class and did not date or marry below or above their station. This leads to a stratified society, but not necessarily an evil one.

Since we are talking about a corporate enviroment, it could be a stratification between workers and management. within these to groups it the classes could be broken down further. Workers classes could be broken down by skilled and technical positions vs unskilled labor. They could also be broken down by the type of work. This division may even extend to where they live within the city...similar workers grouped together, etc.

Management similarly could be broken down by their level within the company a memeber of the board of directors would not generally associate with a low level manager in the production facility.



The 1 billion population on orbital cities seems rather high...unless i'm missinterpreting and this is suppose to represent the planets moons. Otherwise it looks very promissing. BTW what are the odd burial rites and utensils used on the planet?

Correct....there could also be differences based off of the currents as well. I'm still working on the production of an electrical charge from salt water. This and lightning would have been the original methods used by the creatures to grow (before settlement by humans).



I don't have a problem with this and it may be what gives rise to the crystal islands (ice bergs)....actually come to think of it, the crystal might fill a niche in the oceans similar to what coral does in our own oceans.

the crystals grow in filaments that extend, this might mean that there are open spaces throughout the internal areas of the "crystal islands" They could serve as habitats for fish and other creatures.

As we discussed earlier, the waste heat given off by the crystals would help to raise the water temperature in their general vacinity. On the suface, this is not as important as in the depths of the ocean. I think that the crystals will fit into the ecology of this world well.



It may also help to explain why the Imperium has not problem with harvesting them for industrail crystal production. It may be that the crystals are actually sentient entities, but the Imperium just doesn't have the ability to recognize or evaluate their sentience.

It could also be that the company has not pushed for a new evaluation of the creatures. If they were found to be sentient, they may no longer be allowed to exploit them for production. The Imperium might also consider exterminating them...we all know how the Imperium feels about xeno races.



The Raw (naturally occuring) crystals are quite can fetch a high price. Minging operatons would be one of the major businesses occuring in the city. Minig of raw crystals however does not always meet the necessary quotas are do not always fall into the specific wavelength required.

In order to produce a crystal that meets the narrow tollerances required for certain applications, it is necessary to artificially grow the crystals. Such applications may include holographic data storage. Thin sheets of crystal could be used to store data as a series of light images.

For such a demanding application, the crystals would need to be free of flaws and be made into milimeter thin sheets. They may even look like the CDs of today or be known as data wafers. The amount of information that could be stored on such a crystal would be enormous.

The raw crystals would serve well in the standard lasgun, in holo projectors or a host of other applications. Whith regards to the lasguns, I don't see the actual weapons being produced on planet. The crystals are transported offworld for final fabrication somewhere else.



I see there only being one speceis of crystal creature, but within that species, there would be several "breeds". The difference between breeds would be based off of the chemical composition of the fluid in which the colloid is suspended. Rubies, Emeralds and Sapphires are similar, it is only the chemicals in their composition that cause the differences in color.



Good image. This could be part of their life cycle. It is almost like a tree scattering its seeds in the wind...except instead of on the wind, the "young" crystaline creatures are cast upon the tides in hopes of finding a suitable place to take root on the sea floor.



Crystals that can carry a huge charge. They may not be a source of power generation in and of themselves, but they would serve as a way to carry the power.

Actually, that gives me an idea...which will require Kage's approval...but what about power cables that start out as flexible tubing filled with the colloidal fluid. once the cables are in place, a current is passed through them, which cuases the crystals to form within the conduit, thus solidifiing the power grid. Of course if that doesn't get approved, it could always take the place of fiber optic cable.



Low grade in terms of not being up to the specifications of the industrially grown crystals, but still sufficient to be used as the focussing crystals of a lasgun or for other applications. With all of the differening colors, they could also be sold as jewelry, which might prove to be another profitable market (not so much on planet, but elsewhere in the Sector)

The storage crystals were intended for use in cogitators...having them develope an intelligence within the cogitator would in deed open interesting possibilites. Did you have any thoughts on how this might occur?

Would being used in cogitators not be similar to being mindwiped and being given a knew identity. Also does the imperium use electricity to power its computers or light. The crystal responds to electricty by growing so that would mess it up quite badly if it was in a computer, would it not


It also provides a possible conflict, there could be those in the know who object to this, kinda like animal rights or would that be silicon rights. They may have found a way to comunicate with it, perhaps using psykers as translation medium?


When the crystals are large enough they tend to grow by themselves, but yes power input is still needed, but only for growth. They might use the sun as a power source as well as the salt water, like plants use chlorophil(sp?) they could use selenium which is what they make photoelectric cells with.


It might, but if all its been doing the past billion years is floating around in warm seas, how much useful information it might impart would be open to debate.


As do I but of course your more than welcome to your ideas aswell, the more the merrier

So my solar cell idea is out, oh well.

You asked about its effect on marine life some where, i'm thinking there isn't any, that the oceans are to toxic or overloaded with the crystal that other life forms got crowded out. Incidently would it help if the water was acidic rather than alkaline, and im only talking citric acid strenth not battery acid. Both are used in generating electricity aren't they but which one would be better.

I also think the crystal would migrate up the pillars of the city and get into places they shouldn't so people would be employed to scrape them of. I wonder, might the crystal be edible, like salt or sugar, granulated crystals, might also be used as a spice. Though they would have to be processed I wouldn't fancy eating anything thet was scraped of the sewage outlets

What if the crystalisation around the city was not so much natural/accidental but a diliberate action, like an attack, the cryatsal forms and hardens around an object it considers, on some level, to be a threat or even food.

No your quite right, i'll stick with what we origionally discussed.


I lovwe that idea its so visual, we could declare this world one of the wonders of the sector


Yeah I agree, though if the pylons were an alloy of one of the platinum group metals, we might avoid the idea of corrosion altogether, Iridium may be a good candidate.


Yep I like those ideas, but would it be to much of a stretch to say the lifeforms inhabiting the ocean were inedible of even poisonous to humans


Ok, I agree with you, these are not inert crystals like salt is, it might end up with people dying as the crystal started to grow in their bodies, a slow and terrible way to go


Thats is basically what I had in mind so I totally agree.

Can you give me some idea of when this world would have been founded, are we agreeing it was very early on, long before the imperium showed up.