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Achird A+B
Galactography > Regions of Space > Inner Sphere
Galactography > Systems and Worlds > Systems & Worlds A - B
Galactography > Systems and Worlds > Systems & Worlds A - B
Double star near Sol; Eta Cassiopeiae | |
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| The three planets of the Achird system: Diwali, a cold terrestrial, Navaratri, a temperate Arean world, and Jitiya, a warm Mercury-analog world | |
Data Panel Achird A+B, Eta Cassiopeiae | |
| Primary Star | Achird A, Durga |
|---|---|
| Type | G0 V |
| Mass | 1.026 x Sol |
| Luminosity | 1.23 x Sol |
| Secondary star | Achird B, Dandiya |
|---|---|
| Type | K7 V |
| Mass | 0.5487 x Sol |
| Luminosity | 0.08 x Sol |
| B | 70.55 AU mean distance |
| Periapsis | 35 AU (Closest approach) |
| Distance from Sol | 19.32 ly (epoch 2000) |
| Constellation | Cassiopeia |
Planets of Durga, Achird A | |
| Diwali | Type Cold terrestrial Radius 4331 km Mass 0.289 xEarth Surface gravity 0.63 gees Orbital period 3.17 standard years SemiMajorAxis 2.1763 AU |
|---|---|
| Navaratri | Period 1.59 standard years SemiMajorAxis 1.37 AU Radius 3366 km Mass 0.11 x Earth Surface Gravity 0.4 gees |
| Jitiya | Period 0.5283 standard years SemiMajorAxis 0.659 AU Radius 2789 km Surface Gravity 0.38 gees |
Planets of Dandiya, Achird b | |
| Tamili | Period 2.4 standard years SemiMajorAxis 0.32 AU Radius 2083 km Surface Gravity 0.29 gees |
|---|---|
| Mattancheri | Period 0.55 standard years SemiMajorAxis 0.55 AU Radius 1593 km km Surface Gravity 0.15 gees |
History
Achird is a double star which was 19.32 ly from Sol when the planetary system was mapped in the Solsys Golden Age. Despite the presence of a Sunlike star, the five small planets of this system were not seen as particularly promising candidates for colonisation, and no probe or manned craft had yet been launched when the Technocalypse occurred. The first significant mission was in the early years of the Federation Era, when the starship Dyaushpitr departed Solsys in 943 AT. This vessel was controlled by the S:1 entity 2Surya, a copy of the transapient Surya which had successfully defended its near-Sol habitat against incursions from the Martian Trojan habitats. When the Dyaushpitr was launched, the Solsys S:2 entity known as GAIA allowed Surya to utilise an independent array of boostbeam projectors, indicating that She was now prepared to give the various factions in Solsys greater freedoms than before.The Dyaushpitr used an extensive magsail to accelerate and a comparably large magbrake to slow down. As well as 2Surya's mind, this craft carried maintenance robots, and a large store of inactive bots and vecs, including several hundred Synthetic Parents (often known as Parental Vecs) which would (in theory) use artificial wombs to gestate and raise a population of human children at the destination. The Parental Vec strategy, using humanoid robots as surrogate parents for the young humans, was used at several Federation Colonies with mixed results. Each Parental Vec was constructed with a new, artificial personality, generated before launch in the Surya habitat in a way that emphasised qualities likely to be useful in the new colony.
On arrival, the Dyaushpitr went into orbit around Diwali, the largest of the scattering of small planets in this system. Landing parties established a number of small ground stations where vecs and non-sentient robots worked to extract resources and fabricate infrastructure. The larger star was given the name Durga, while the smaller star became Dandiya.
Because Diwali was cold and nearly airless, the Parentals decided to wait until a suitable environment could be built for them; as non-biological sophonts, the Parentals did not need food, air or water, although they required energy and other resources for self-repair and maintenance. A new vec could be assembled relatively quickly inside a specialised fabricator known as a genetron; newly built Parentals were adult-sized and equipped with a complement of skills and abilities, but like most new vecs they need a short virtual childhood, and a period of habituation to their new minds, bodies and abilities.
Since they did not need a pressurised environment, the population of Parentals on Diwali (and on the other small worlds in this system) increased in number relatively quickly, accompanied by a wide range of non-sentient robot assistants with wide-ranging designs and capabilities. The first pressurised habitat for human children was constructed nearly fifty years after the first landing, and the population of human bionts remained much smaller than the vec population.
In the 1300s the Federation sent a number of expeditions to Achird A+B, and when the expeditions left for other destinations a number of human bionts from Diwali and Navaratri went with them. On the other hand some of the expedition members remained in the system, increasing the diversity of the population, and this trend increased as contact with the rest of the Federation improved over time. Despite this, humanoid vecs continued to be the largest cohort in the Achird system.
Although the Parental Vec strategy did not work exactly as expected in the Achird system, it suffered an even more significant failure in the Beta Cassiopeia system (Caph); this system, in the same constellation as Achird but 35 lightyears further from Sol, suffered a severe population explosion and subsequent decimation following a major stellar incident.
Vacuum Towns
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| A vacuum town on the surface of Jitiya; the architecture recalls the long lost architecture of the Indian subcontinent on Old Earth, and the vecs and vacuum-adapted clades who live there often dress in fashions that recall that ancient culture. Interspersed between the houses and temples are various kinds of vacuum-adapted flora | |
In 2501, the Solar Dominion sent a mission fleet to this system, and established a colony on the largely undeveloped world Mattancheri; the Dominion and the Diwali vecs became sympathetic partners in this system, and each absorbed elements of the other's culture. Most of the biont human population migrated to live on Mattancheri, which was soon covered in a worldhouse roof. Despite this separation, humans and humanoid Parental vecs got along very well, and many habitats on Diwali and elsewhere incorporated pressurised environments suitable for Terragen bionts of all kinds, including nearbaseline humans and even a small population of baselines.
The emergence of the Expiationism faith on Diwali in the 3500s caused a distinct cultural separation between Durga and Dandiya. Expiationism places an emphasis on the payment of karmic debt to sophonts lower in the toposophic ladder, while Solarism emphasises personal development and a positive outlook. They both result in spiritual and toposophic advancement in the long run, but one faith looks downwards towards where they have been, while the other looks upwards towards where they are going. Nevertheless a culture of tolerance predominated in both systems.
During the late Integration Period, the Dandiya system (Achird B) declared its full alignment with the Solar Dominion, even though a significant number of vecs of all kinds still inhabited the system.
The Durga Incident
During the Version War, the Durga system remained neutral, and the Dandiya system was loyal to the Dominion. In 4501, the Metasoft Version Tree sent a small task force to Durga (Achird A), perhaps assuming that the vecs there could be persuaded to follow the Version Tree and their ontology. However, 2Surya rejected their proposals, and encircled the Metasoft fleet with gunships of its own. Since 2Surya had recently ascended to the Second Toposophic, it easily outmanoeuvred the S:1 commander of the task force. In accordance with the then-current conventions, the Metasoft Fleet was permitted to leave the Achird A system as soon as all Solar Dominion-registered vessels and allies had moved out of range; this ensured that both the Metasoft vessels and their potential opponents would have safe passage.This action, while ostensibly neutral, could have been interpreted by the Version Tree as aggressive, but the Solar Dominion quickly acted to increase their military presence in the Durga system, making a Metasoft response untenable. The Achird A+B system saw no further conflict during the Version War.
During the ComEmp period (and later), the Solar Dominion and Metasoft have largely settled their differences, and since that time Version Tree and Silicon Generation vecs and a range of aioids and bionts of all types with many different origins have migrated into the system. Jitiya has become a shellworld, with much of its core removed and utilised to construct megastructures such as Bishop Rings and McKendree cylinders. However, the outermost layer of Jitiya, and the surface of Navarati, is still home to a significant number of vacuum towns and vac-adapted clades and morphotypes.
Generation of artificial Minds in the Achird system
Since the Dyaushpitr was launched with a population of newly constructed Parental Vecs with fully-adult minds on board, it has been the norm for new vec individuals in the Achird system to be created as mature, competent individuals with no true immature stage equivalent to biont infancy, childhood or adolescence. A new vec mind is constructed from a range of psychological characteristics and useful skillsets, often chosen by other members of the local community (with advice and assistance of specialised aivisers skilled in the generation of new minds). The new individual is often confused and uncertain at first, but receives assistance and guidance from a number of specialised aioid tutors and mentors, who help them to co-ordinate the various disparate aspects of their mentality. The new mind is created with a set of memories concerning the history of their habitat and culture, as well as extensive data about the rest of the Terragen Sphere, including an ability to access much of the Encyclopedia Galactica. Thanks to this specialised aioid tutelage, this large quantity of information can be acquired in a readily useable form (in most cases).Occasionally, this personality generation process breaks down and a dysfunctional individual is the result; however this sort of occurrence is relatively rare and can usually be easily rectified using various forms of sophisticated psychotechnology. On even rarer occasions, a non-neurotypical mind may be created that is intrinsically useful for certain specialised purposes, or is so unusual that the local transaps become interested. Sometimes a dysfunctional vec will merge with a local transapient directly, so that the transap can thoroughly understand what caused the failure. Later, the insights gained are assimilated into useful experience for the improvement of the state-of-art mind generation methods. Eventually, such dysfunctional individuals may become mentally healthy modosophonts and demerge from the transapient mind, and usually voluntarily chose to rejoin society in this system or elsewhere.
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Habitats on the surface of Diwali often include pressurised segments and and microenvironments to accommodate biont visitors and permanent residents who need an atmosphere of some kind. The Achird system is famous for its hospitality and includes many hotels and recreation areas. | |
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Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
additional material by Rakuen07, MiyuwiAuthor
Initially published on 31 July 2002.
Article rewritten 2026 by Steve Bowers to remove the previous giant planet, now known to be an error.
additional material by Rakuen07, MiyuwiAuthor
Initially published on 31 July 2002.
Article rewritten 2026 by Steve Bowers to remove the previous giant planet, now known to be an error.
Additional Information
Vactown image utilises a free model made by sam-30 under CC attribution; more details here:
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/traditional-indian-saree-model-528f28ebdf214c7d9278b7bdd16292ca
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/traditional-indian-saree-model-528f28ebdf214c7d9278b7bdd16292ca
