Posted:2012-10-17 20:20:20
spectrum-dispatch
This Galactic Guide originally appeared in Jump Point 5.1.
After centuries of cold war and tense diplomacy with the Xi’an empire, there are few places where interspecies relations have thawed more than in the Yā’mon system. This former no man’s land has, in recent times, transformed into a symbol of cooperation and new hope for all who desire lasting peace between our species.
Humanity’s first view of the system came from Teesa Morrison’s flight footage as she traversed the Baker-Yā’mon jump point in 2531. What started as an exuberant accounting of her initial findings of a main sequence class F star, anchoring four planets, turned into sheer panic when she ran into a Xi’an military unit escorting a mining team to the belt. Familiar with the Xi’an from the press coverage of the Pallas incident the year prior, Morrison and her crew fled immediately. The Xi’an military ships followed closely behind, but did not open fire. Morrison later remarked that she believed the Xi’an were tracking them to try to learn where the Human ship had come from. While her crew debated the risk of giving away the location of a Human jump to potential enemies, in the end they decided to return to Baker to report their encounter as soon as possible.
Within a day of receiving the report, a Naval fleet moved into position to guard the jump point, but it was another fifteen days before the first Xi’an scout emerged into Human space. It is likely that war would have broken out then and there if not for the presence of numerous members of the press who had come to cover the situation after Morrison’s footage leaked to the news orgs. With the entire UPE watching, the Navy favored caution, and the Xi’an ship was allowed to leave.
Over the next several years, there were several cautious expeditions into the system from Baker. While there were still occasional run-ins with the Xi’an, it was clear that they had no permanent settlements in the system and it was surmised that they had only recently discovered it themselves. Due to the seemingly plentiful bounty of unclaimed resources, a few daring individuals and corporations rushed to begin mining the belt, but the prospect of civilians flying freely alongside alien ships was deemed a disaster waiting to happen.
In 2542, UPE Navy General Armistead Perry proposed that all Xi’an-connected systems be placed under Navy control to provide a buffer to protect the rest of the UPE if and when their alien neighbors decided to attack. After much deliberation, the Tribunal approved the plan and the Perry Line was born. The system Morrison had discovered was renamed Hadur to bring it in line with the military’s gods of war designations for border systems (following the pattern started with Horus’s name). Corporations who had begun investing in the system were incensed and a drawn-out legal battle for reparations would plague the UPE until Ivar Messer took power and dismissed the suit.
A Fresh Start
For the century and a half that followed, all traffic in Hadur comprised a melange of military patrols, spy satellites, scan drones and mine layers as both sides sought to defend their respective empires along the Perry Line. Even though tensions continued to grow over the years as the Messers used xenophobic-fueled fear as a means of control, war never came. Finally in 2789, Senator Akari was able to strike a peace treaty with the ruler of the Xi’an, Emperor Kr.ē.
In the negotiations that followed after the Messer Regime’s eventual collapse, it was decided that the Perry Line systems would be evenly divided. Control of Hadur (then renmaed Yā’mon) was slated to be given to the Xi’an and on July 5th, 2793, the pact was signed, making that designation official.
Though peace had been declared, many believed that both sides viewed the truce as tenuous at best. As such, the Xi’an slated Yā’mon as a prison system where lawbreakers were forced to work hard labor in mines until their debts to society were paid. Yā’mon was not unique in this. Similar strategies were seen in all the Xi’an transitional systems: Indra housed a major shipping hub, Pallas was used for research, and Virtus was given to a crime syndicate. If war ever actually occurred, all four would suffer only minimal Xi’an casualties.
Then in 2942, in a surprise announcement after decades of the system seeing only minimal Human trade and traffic, ArcCorp revealed that they had procured a contract with the Xi’an government to assist in the terraforming of Yā’mon II and Yā’mon III. In the agreement, ArcCorp would be responsible for providing resources to the massive project, while the Xi’an would be overseeing operations of the technically complicated process. The decision has caused some to wonder why the Xi’an are relying on Human resources for the project instead of bringing in supplies from Ayr’Ka or Pallas. Though there has yet been no official answer, in the years since striking the deal, millions of tons of raw materials have been delivered through Baker, along with a significant and growing Human workforce. It is also not yet clear what usage for which the Xi’an will designate the worlds, as per their custom once the terraforming is complete. The rumor is that it will be a factory system, since ArcCorp has experience with that owing to their own planet being modeled on the Xi’an style.
The last few years have marked a boom time for Yā’mon. A myriad of stations have been built as a steady stream of transport ships enter and exit the system every day. From the recent large investment in infrastructure, to the expansive contract with ArcCorp, to even the introduction of a Human division in the famed Xi’an Koa e Ko’ia endurance race being held in Yā’mon, it seems that Emperor Kr.ē and his people are more and more looking at Humanity as a true ally.
Kuā’li (Yā’mon I)
A complex on the dark side of this tidally locked, rocky planet was rumored to house a max security labor camp, where the permanent night was said to have a placating effect on Xi’an interred here. It is believed that many of these prisoners have now been drafted to assist in some of the more dangerous tasks needed for the terraforming process.
Yethlūl y.ath’o (Yā’mon II) & Yethlūl s.yen’o (Yā’mon III)
Both terrestrial planets are currently undergoing terraforming through a joint effort by the Xi’an government and ArcCorp. While there is still some time before the planets will be habitable, there has been significant progress and just recently, the burgeoning atmosphere of Yā’mon III was flooded by a violet hued gas giving it a memorable appearance. The project has been deemed by those in the terraforming industry as an extremely complicated venture, and many financial analysts surmise that this close relationship with the Xi’an will give ArcCorp an advantage in the field for years to come.
Like other former Perry Line systems, an interesting blend of cultures has begun to develop on the stations in planetary orbit, where Human and Xi’an have started heavily interacting. Many race enthusiasts are expected to make the journey out to the main ArcCorp station above Yā’mon II to watch the upcoming Koa e Ko’ia as the pilots will be flying a difficult course that includes the tumultuous still-forming atmosphere.
Yā’mon Belt Alpha
Mined by forced labor for decades, it has recently begun to be mined in commercial quantities as more and more resources are needed for the ongoing terraforming projects.
Yām’ping (Yā’mon IV)
Since this most distant planet has few resources, it was set aside by the Xi’an to house many of the vice stations that offer services and distractions to the workforce here.
TRAVEL WARNING
Since there is heavy Human traffic in the system, it is important for visitors to remember that Xi’an law governs Yā’mon. Minor infractions in UEE space, like tagging with graffiti, can often carry a heavier punishment here. Make sure to familiarize yourself before making the jump, to avoid awkward misunderstandings.
HEARD IN THE WIND
“We cannot expect to keep our homes safe if we leave the front door wide open. We must secure and protect the border or we shall wake up to find that the Xi’an have already made themselves welcome.”
– Navy General Armistead Perry, Address to UPE Tribunal, 2542
“Though many people of our Empire may feel that the resources in Yā’mon should be claimed by us rather than given to the Xi’an, I contend that if they ever wish for Humanity to find a peaceful way to exist in this universe they should promptly begin to get over it.”
– Ambassador Coen, private comm to Imperator Toi, 2792