Faraway
Role: Agriculture, Mining
Circumference: 22,060 miles
Population: 300,000
Orbital Path: Fourth
Rotational Period (days): 1.08
Orbital Period (days): 341
Primary Function: Agriculture, Mining
Retention Index: 3
In the beginning, Faraway was a colony of friendly, curious, adventuresome people, who thought of the history of their new world as a great mystery to be explored. As time passed, however, and their world became more and more isolated, so too did the colonists. Today, visitors to Faraway describe the colonists, citizen and civilian alike, as hostile or even xenophobic.
History
The most exciting time in the history of Faraway happened before humanity even arrived at the planet. According to the best evidence gathered by Federation scientists, the planet was hit with an asteroid approximately 21 miles wide travelling at 31,000 miles per hour sometime around the year 1650. It impacted on dry land with more force than half SICON’s Fleet could muster, creating such a cataclysm that every form of life on the planet was destroyed.
The planet was far from uninhabited when this happened. Not long after commencing its first large-scale investigation on Faraway, the Federation learned that there had been intelligent life on the planet before the apocalypse when the scientists began to discover evidence of cities, concurrent with a civilisation in the early stages of the Industrial Age.
Since those first discoveries, a number of well-preserved bodies have been found in the thick, caked volcanic dust everywhere on the surface of the world. The civilisation native to Faraway was reptilian, using a long, snakeline tail for locomotion and equipped with four arms, each with two fingers and an opposable thumb. In honour of the star’s name, and in recognition of the race’s reptilian derivation, they were named the Draconians.
For nearly 20 years after the colony’s founding in 2278, Faraway was in the news constantly, as Federation scientists discovered more and more information about the race that evolved, lived and died there. Slowly, the novelty of it wore off and, though there are still scientific expeditions launched to Faraway, they have grown fewer and fewer over the years and the population of the Federation as a whole has long since ceased to care about the Draconians.
Close to the galactic core and with nothing whatsoever past it to defend, Faraway is rarely visited by the Fleet. When ships do come to Faraway now, it is usually only a cargo ship or two, there to haul away the valuable produce the world generates for distribution to other colonies. The appearance of a warship in Sigma Draconis system is rare indeed and they are usually only there long enough to do a quick and perfunctory security sweep before departing for another six to eight months.
That is swiftly beginning to change. Though it is certainly not the kind of thing that is reported on FedNet, ships belonging to the Black Cross and the Civilian Militia have been seen in the region and SICON suspects they have been using Fleet’s lax patrolling schedule in order to slip in to Faraway and resupply. Consequently, Fleet has been ordered to step up its patrols dramatically.
Laws and Government
Local matters on Faraway are decided by a group of five Consuls, who preside from the Federal Building in the planet’s capital city. The city’s official name is Sigma City but it is known locally as Longago, a play by colonists on the name of their world.
Law enforcement on Faraway is notoriously lax, another factor in SICON’s suspicion that the colonists are collaborating with groups like the Black Cross and the Civilian Militia.
Economy
The history of Faraway has been entirely peaceful, a situation that lends itself well to the kinds of industry the planet supports. Corporate investment in the planet is rather low; instead, the colonists have taken to forming large collectives of farmers and miners, working to maximise output through sharing equipment and supplies.
In its earliest days, Faraway supported a booming tourist business, as people from throughout the Federation came to see the ruins left behind by the Draconians. The interest was impressive enough that Sigma City was even able to support a small university, Sigma University. The university remains today but its enrolment has been down consistently for the last five years and it may have to close its doors soon.
Points Of interest
There are a number of points of interest on Faraway for the curious traveller. During Sigma City’s days as a tourism boomtown in the colony’s early years, a large number of hotels and entertainment venues were constructed. Most of these are still in operation today but the tiny trickle of tourism the planet receives now is not nearly enough to keep them at capacity and a thrifty traveller can usually find a good deal anywhere in the city.
The ruins of the Draconians are the most popular sightseeing destination on Faraway and there are a number of them open to the public, as well as a museum in Sigma City dedicated to the fi rst intelligent inhabitants of the planet. Lastly, there is the Hole Lake, the wide and abysmally deep body of water filling the crater left by the asteroid that wiped out the Draconians.
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