THE BLACK PLAINS OF ELYSIUM IX

 

Another short one -- I'm a bit out of it this week.

THE BLACK PLAINS OF ELYSIUM IX

POPULATION:  ~233,000,000

CENTRAL AUTHORITY:  No -- inter-polity relations governed by self-regulatory organizations and standard Core dispute resolution contracts.

SURFACE GRAVITY:  .87g

ATMOSPHERE:  Breathable (abnormally high levels of CO2, Ar, SO2and He)

MAJOR SETTLEMENTS:  Torre, Ganzir, Inanna's Necklace, Circled Wagons, Shot in The Dark

IMPORTS:  Luxury goods, bioproducts, medical devices, etc.

Elysium is a shell world.  While its surface is a scorched and airless wasteland, the vast fields of self-replicating solar arrays on the planet's surface drew immediate human interest.  When geology studies revealed (implausibly) that the entire planet was hollow, researchers and colonists poured in, leading to several very bloody corporate wars and the planet's ultimate independence.

A kilometer below the crust, explorers discovered that the entire planet was hollowed out and supported by uncountable millions of massive stone pillars.  Each of these pillars emits a warm red light and a life-giving mist of water vapor; each one is an oasis of deep black vegetation and the unlit space between the pillars is a lifeless desert, the home of skittering apex predators preying on migratory animals moving between the pillars of light. 

Little evidence remains of the race that hollowed out the planet beyond their maintenance robots, but evidence suggests they accomplished this remarkable feat with technology less advanced than the current human state of the art over the course of hundreds of years, ejecting the tailings with colossal mass driver arrays to some unknown end.  The maintenance robots don't bother anybody but will vigorously defend themselves if attacked (and will attack anyone attempting to cause major structural damage -- definitely don't carry things that a dumb robot might mistake for a nuke).

The interior planet is not well charted (and is inherently difficult to chart) and rumors of a partially-excavated lower level persist despite little seismographic evidence.  Humanity is concentrated in several large settlements around the equator.  Luckily, the native wildlife is fully edible -- with a little selective breeding the first settlers developed native food crops and livestock with little trouble.  

It is easy to hide in the Black Plains and many people hiding from some one make a new life underground.  The Excavators didn't leave behind any interesting or dangerous technologies (and the ability to cooperate on a single megaproject for hundreds of years suggests that they were a rather boring and prosocial species).  However, the Excavators' cultural artifacts still fetch a high price with museums and private collectors.  There are also rumors that other intelligent species (or their atavistic ancestors) colonized the world before humanity.  There is no evidence to support this theory but it is also very difficult to disprove.  One cannot exactly carry out a satellite survey. 

The world also has a mature manufacturing and services sector as well as a healthy tourist economy (big game hunters love the apex predators) and occupies a reasonably attractive spot on the hyperspace lanes.  It is now the home of several medium-sized megacorps many of which focus on agriculture, shipping, and defense.