Iskander
Role: Breadbasket for several colonies
Circumference: 29,600 miles
Population: 2,125,000
Orbital Path: Third
Rotational Period (days): 1.53
Orbital Period (days): 370
Primary Function: Agriculture, colony world
Retention Index: 3
The people of Iskander are, for the most part, a relaxed and comfortable population. Life on Iskander moves at a slower pace than it does in the rest of the Federation (except possibly Shoreridge III). Due to the vast amount of arable land on the surface, there are few concentrations of population and most people on Iskander enjoy a simple, rural life.
Iskanders are characterised by a soft-spoken but stubborn demeanor. They are a tremendously patient people who rarely show any strong emotion. However, once they are roused, they can be an implacable and surprisingly dangerous enemy due to their strength (a result of living on a planet with a gravitational fi eld approximately 20% stronger than Earth’s). This quality makes Iskanders valuable recruits for Federal Service, particularly the Mobile Infantry.
The population of Iskander is about 80 percent citizen, the highest percentage of citizens in any population in the Federation. Attracted by Iskander’s relaxed and comfortable lifestyle, many citizens come to Iskander after retiring from Federal Service, seeking a new adventure without the danger of serving in the military.
Chilly relations between the citizens and civilians of Iskander have been a recurrent theme on the planet throughout its history. Most often, this is instigated by the civilians, who object to what they perceive as favouritism toward the citizens of the planet on the part of the governor or even the UCF itself, in awarding everything from labour contracts to land allocations. Usually, these misunderstandings are quickly resolved.
History
When the SICON mission to scout Proxima, the first such task for the newly constituted military arm of the United Citizens’ Federation, arrived at the system, it came ready for war. Three of SICON’s newest battleships, the Alamo, the Lexington and the Jutland, each bristling with nuclear tipped missiles and prototype beam weapons, stood guard over the corvette Virgil as it mapped the system. In the end, all this preparation was unnecessary; no mysterious alien vessel loomed out of the stars, no beams of ripping energy surged up from the surface of any of the six planets.
Though the SICON excursion discovered no evidence of any potential enemies, it did discover one tremendous jewel in its survey of the Proxima system – the planet now known as Iskander. Named for Rahnje Iskander, the captain of the Virgil, it was obvious almost immediately that this planet should be the UCF’s next target for colonisation. Though it is significantly larger than Earth, with a day that lasts half again as long, it was as close to Earth as any planet the UCF had yet discovered. It already supported a dense and thriving ecosystem in an environment that was well within human tolerance, indicating it would be an excellent candidate for an agricultural colony. The SICON survey group dutifully finished its mission of cataloguing every planet in the system, all the while knowing full well they had already found the one world of importance. Their mission complete, they returned to the Sol system with news of their discovery.
Obviously, when presented with the data on Iskander, the UCF concurred the planet was an ideal location for another stellar colony. After qualified successes on Hesperus and Hod, the Federation had finally found its way through some of the more common difficulties in establishing stellar colonies and the government believed it could create a new colony on Iskander without any of the problems that had plagued its first attempts in the Alpha Centauri system. With a few minor exceptions, this was true. In 2254, the first colonists arrived on their new home world of Iskander.
At first, the lives of the colonists were difficult. They were charged with creating and sustaining an agricultural world, a world that could be used to feed other, future colonies of the UCF. Though the planet was dominated with vast tracts of fertile soil, that fertile soil was home to a native ecosystem that stubbornly resisted attempts to uproot it and replace it with invader plants. For the better part of 20 years, with intermittent help from the Federation, the colonists were able to beat back the existing ecosystem and establish their own farmland.
After two decades of human habitation, Iskander was a world transformed. The planet’s native ecosystem was reduced to small islands in the seas and a few large plots of otherwise undesirable land set aside as nature preserves. Finally, humanity could truly say it was in possession of the planet.
As the troubles with the existing ecosystem receded, the flow of colonists to Iskander increased, and the planet settled down into a pleasant, tranquil and wholly unexciting way of life. This way of life proved exceptionally attractive to many colonists and the Federation Colonisation Commission had less trouble fi nding citizens and civilians to populate the world. Iskander was especially attractive to citizens, who, after earning their franchise, were anxious for a peaceful life of tranquility and rewarding work.
The peace of Iskander has been broken several times over the course of the planet’s life as a Federation colony, not by alien invasion or other menace from outside but by conflict between the populations of citizens and civilians. This never spilled over into violence but Iskander’s capital city of Virgil’s Point has seen several demonstrations by the civilian population against perceived injustices.
The most recent disturbance in the peace and serenity of Iskander came some 20 years ago, when a computer virus disabled all civilian-owned cargo haulers on the planet for several weeks until a team of troopers and engineers arrived to correct the problem.
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