Efate, shipbuilding capital of the Marches

Publisher: Mongoose “They so want to be the capital it hurts.”
Imperial Navy Admiral Dudley Pline
 
Efate is an industrial world with a tainted atmosphere. The system has a population over one billion. This world contains an archaeological site with artifacts suspected to be from the now-vanished Ancients. This is a high technology world with available technology over the standards for Charted Space. This is a temperate world, with a climate of average temperatures. It is a member of Third Imperium in the Regina Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector and in the Domain of Deneb. Efate, as a member world of the Third Imperium, holds the estate of an Imperial knight and the feifdoms of a count and a minor duke. All three are members of the Imperial Nobility charged with overseeing the world.
This world has a nearby Imperial Naval Base, capable of handling warships.
This world has a nearby Imperial Way Station.
 
General vibe
Efate is a coldish world; temperatures seldom rise above ten degrees Celsius but also very rarely drop below minus fifteen. The shallow seas remain covered in a layer of ice for most of the year as there is very little seasonal variation. The atmosphere is thin and tainted by too much carbon dioxide and requires artificial breathing apparatus unless you have had the genetic modifications of the locals. The light from its sun provides a weak orange tint to everything and the most common day on Efate is the overcast morning leading to snow or rain during the afternoon. Efates cities are extremely high tech and modern including artificial climate control and weather modification so it is pretty much the same temperate and climate as Regina in the major population centres.
 
Efate was settled around the same time as Regina and has seen itself as a contender for the sub sector capital in the past. This has led to a slight inferiority complex and competitive rivalry towards Regina however Efatians are very quick to adopt the latest styles and fashions from the capital plus are massive consumers of Reginian media.
Efates main industries are high tech manufacturing and the construction of starships most of which tacks place in orbit or on one of the less habitable rocks that make up the seven other planets in the system. The Imperial Navy has its fleet headquarters for the 214th fleet located in the system and there is an extensive Scout Waystation in orbit attached to the Highport. The Navy also maintains a ground station and Marine Training Facility, all these facilities have given Efate Startown a reputation as a bit of a liberty port.
 
Travelling around Efate is by the hyper speed Rapid Transit, a maglev system with multiple tracks for passengers and cargo that can reach speeds of up to six hundred kilometres per hour. In the cities and rural areas driverless vehicles rented by the hour in both grav and wheeled form (its illegal for most people to use self-driving vehicles) or when travelling on the plains; rollers. Rollers are large six, eight or ten wheeled fully self-contained amphibious habitats that the locals use to explore the huge expanse of the plains or steppes. Efatians revel in the frontier life and enjoy “getting back to basics” in a roller, even though most rollers are equipped with all the modern high-tech luxuries, the fact they are trundling across the wilderness in one gives the feel of frontier life and freedom.
 
Points of interest
An Ancient site of some significance has been excavated on Efate leading to the interdiction of a large area of the planet. It is rumoured that the site contains the remains of a ship building facility and is yielding a large amount of shield technology. Locals who lived in the area many years ago talk of vast caverns full of half-finished starships.
The Tanglewood forests are large tracts of vegetation seldom higher than around two meters which resemble brambles or blackberry bushes and are almost impossible to traverse. They contain complete ecosystems and represent most of the planet’s biodiversity. Some locals have setup communities deep in the Tanglewood and farm various plants for pharmaceuticals.
Efate Bison are six legged massive herbivores who range the vast plains. A full-grown male Efison can way up to two tons and stand nearly three meters tall. The common theory is that they were genetically engineered buy the Ancients but possibly not as livestock dur to their high intelligence. Efison live in large herds and are extremely aggressive. Locals tend to harvest the pelts off dead Efison but large-scale farming has never been attempted due to the difficulty of handling the beasts.
General Shipyards maintains a ground-based facility for jump drive design and manufacturing as well as orbital drydocks. The Efate surface facility was situated to take advantage of the large lanthanum deposits essential in the construction of jump coils. General manufactures a wide variety of coils for both its own new ships and the refurbishment of old coils. The Efate facility manufactures around ten percent of all coils up to sixty thousand tons in the Spinward Marches
The urban areas are hi tech oases with each of the large cities holding twenty to thirty million people sprawled over thousands of square kilometres. These areas are climate and weather controlled to a large extent and mirror conditions found on Regina. Industry is largely automated and either in orbit or on large estates outside of the urban sprawl.
The government of Efate is by the Committee of Notables who manage the day to day running of the planet. A notable is voted onto the committee by the existing members when a space appears and is usually earned by business acumen, military achievement, family lineage and a whole lot of politicking. Each notable has a portfolio such as environment or defence and the whole group is led by the Notable in Chief, a rotating position that changes every ten local years by majority vote.
The public service on Efate is generally efficient and runs the planet usually despite the Notables. High ranked public servants wield vast amounts of power and can be excellent allies but even worse enemies. The appointed mayors of the major cities are also very powerful, and the position is usually seen as a steppingstone onto the Committee of Notables.
The law level on Efate is effectively zero as the government is not in charge of policing its citizens. The job of ensuring everyone doesn’t kill each other is delegated to the companies that employ the majority of the population and monitoring of activity is constant and given the tech level extremely effective. Any transgressions are dealt with immediately by a company’s HR department via the extensive use of drones and robotic enforcement. Offworlders come under the jurisdiction of the company they are working for or pay for a private security company enabling them to operate on Efate. These security companies actually act as protection for the traveller and law enforcement. Effectively the Efatians have privatised law enforcement but have turned it into a competitive service industry.
The monitoring of the citizenry does not extend into the wilderness however so outside the urban/rural areas there is little or no law enforcement. This does not mean there is no law just no one there to monitor or enforce. Paying extra can expand your coverage and Efatians will often do this when they go rolling.
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