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The Jupiter system |
Like the Belt, the Jupiter system, with its myriad of moons, its trojans, and its orbitals, is quite populous. It is often visited by tourists, mainly ancestry-interested tweaks looking for the history of the Gengineering Republic and the Genetekker Culture. From various tours to outer system sights such as Okeanos (a major pilgrimage for Hwii dolphins), the remnants of the GeneTEK habitats (popular among the Genen) and other classic places, the Jupiter system is a place of endless fascination.
Most of the population is found on the surface of or in orbit around the great moons. All four of the Galilean moons are tidally locked to Jupiter. Ganymede, Callisto and Europa were all icy bodies, so the original colonies were heavily dependent on mining Io and the rocky outer moons for resources. Apart from the Europa experiment, none of the original settlements survived the nanoswarms. The Jupiter system was recolonised and played an important part in the early Federation.
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Jupiter - Data Panel
(Jovian Class) - Sol V (Solsys)  Government: Solar Organisation protectorate Sapients: none known Industries: none (Natural Park) Planetology: The largest and most massive planet in the Sol System, Jupiter was a major source of most of the helium-3 burned in the early interplanetary and First Federation ships. The gas was collected by robotic mines that floated beneath the roiling banks of clouds. The planet is now a Natural Park, all mining is prohibited, and visitors can view the magnificent cloudscapes in the knowledge that they will always be there. Io - Data Panel
 Government: Solar Organisation direct administration territory Industries: scientific research, tourism, extreme sports, simmimersion, waldoing, Sapients: currently no permanent presence on the surface. About 250,000 scientists, artisans, and tourism workers in the four orbitals. Species: nearbaseline superior, cyborg, vec, baseline, and ai in equal proportions. Planetology: This moon, a body larger than Luna, is the only Ionian subtype in Sol System, and the holotype for this class of world in general. Volcanoes, lava-flows and lakes of bright orange molten sulphur dominate the surface of Io. There are extensive regions frosted with sulphur dioxide snow. History and comments: A few of the old automated mines and research centres are carefully preserved as historical exhibits. Io's orbit lies within Jupiter's radiation belts, making it inimical to unshielded life, and it is a popular center for extreme sports. Much of the moon's energy is supplied by the Io flux tube. Europa - Data Panel
Government: European Nation (autonomous world affiliated with the Solar Organisation) Industries: Biocrafts, traditional biotech, finance, tourism, extreme sports, simmimersion, waldoing, totalrecall Sapients: about 6 million Europeans (Europanthropus aquaticus) under the surface. On the surface about 500,000 sentients, mostly vecs, ais, and expert agents, along with a few heavily modified Europeans (Europanthropus semiterrestralis) and a small number of subus and superiors. In the orbitals about 20 million vecs, ais, expert agents, three species of Europeans (Europanthropus aquaticus, E. semiterrestralis, and E. spatialis) several species of provolves (including a small number of Loligo sapiens who seem have an affection for their place of origin, they are accompanied by their Bitenic AI companions), and various clades of superiors and cyborgs. Planetology: Europa, the third largest of the four Galilean moons, is slightly smaller than Luna. Its surface is a very smooth ice sheet, as thick as 100km in places, marked by bright or dark linea and low, scalloped ridges. On the nearside Jupiter dominates the sky, appearing to have a diameter 24 times that of Luna as seen from Earth. History and comments: Once believed to be a habitable home for life, Europa excited great interest during the Information and early Interplanetary Age. The predicted inner ocean was found to exist under the massive ice sheets, but turned out to be quite lifeless. A famous hoax perpetrated in 2352 by White Fraction geneticists actually caused a media sensation until the real cause of the Europan organisms was uncovered. In the late 25th century Jovian Genetics & Adaptation began the process of tweaking organisms, including humanoids, to live in the Europan seas. Shortly after, the nanoswarms destroyed the terran habitats on the surface, but the geneered life survived and flourished in isolation, until being discovered some centuries later by the new Federation. The history of Europa then became the history of the relationship between the Europans (or Europeans) and the Federation "BeyondWorlders" as they were called by the Europan tweaks, Eventually a multicultural interface developed on the surface, chiefly sociologists, biologists, and traders. Europa was accepted into the Federation as a member world with full planetary ownership. Nowadays the Europan oceans (which were never able to support a high population) are populated by only a small number of Europans; most of the population is on the surface, with a number of clades given freehold. However, the intense radiation of Jupiter requires massive shielding, and even the surface has never been populous. Ganymede - Data Panel
Government: Several independent tweak nations on the surface; the orbital habitats have various affiliations Industries: Sapients:On the surface about 0.5 billion sentients, mostly heavily tweaked subus, superiors, specialised dormbots, and a few ais. In the orbitals about 0.1 billion vecs, ais, superiors subus, and cyborgs. Planetology: The largest of the Galilean moons, Ganymede is a world larger than the planet Mercury. The icy surface was divided into dark regions mingled with younger brighter areas scoured by grooves and furrows with kilometer-high sides. History: Ganymede was the original capital of the Jovian League, and in the late Interplanetary age the most populous of the Galilean moons. Most of the settlements were and still are underground and heavily shielded from the Jovian radiation field. The moon has a number of tweak nation states. All the tweaks are highly modified, and they tend to take a rather dim view of off-worlders. Callisto - Data Panel
Government: Republic of Callisto, administered from Callisto City Industries: tourism, virches, totalrecalls, finance, cultural and historical research, simmimersion, sex-trade and erotechnics, legal, grey-market, and black market nano Sapients:On the surface about 2.5 billion sentients, including superiors, dormbots, animants, cyborgs, ais, copies, subus, and a few baselines, provolves, rianths, and aliens. In the orbitals a further 1 billion of the same. Planetology:This world, the second largest of the Galileans, is also the most heavily cratered in Sol System, marked everywhere by shallow impact basins. The dirty ice of the crust is pocked by myriads of craters, the largest of which are the huge ringed basins of Valhalla and Asgard, now heavily urbanised. Callisto is far enough from Jupiter that shielding from the intense radiation the planet produces is not necessary; the only one of the Jovian moons thus fortunate. History and comments: During the First Federation era many the Callistan towns were predominantly Han Chinese, often heavily genetekkerised. The original settlers are long gone, and the major arcologies and habitats on the surface now are given to a flourishing tourist trade, entertainment, the arts, virchistorical tours and Totalrecalls, and, in some areas, a rather flourishing red light industry. This is the most densely populated of the Jovian moons (surface population two and a half billion, and the one most open to tourism) |
