Litmus Skyfleet

We are a unique planet on this system without parallel in the Galaxy. Well, at least as far as we know. It is a wild assumption, since it is a huge galaxy and we could not detect “Mystery System” for a very long time, despite it being relatively close to the birth system of Humanity. The Solarlings had a high opinion about their knowledge, and competence, if you ask me. Perhaps above reality. Not to say they where stupid people, far from that. Last time we had contact with Earth, before our ancestors enter Lira System, their plans of colonize the galaxy were moving at high speed. Better than nicely. Litmus is my planet, so distant from Lira that our star is just a big dot in the sky. About ten times larger than the next star in the sky. It never moves in the sky. Here is always cold, except around the few volcanoes. Is odd to have volcanic activity in such small and old rock, if we are nor wrong about how old Litmus is, however when it comes to strange things in this System our volcanoes don’t are nothing to write home about. Here is always day, and except for some magnetic events now and them the sky is always dark and full of stars. E don’t had much in terms of atmosphere when the first colonists arrived but it was enough to protect them against the shadows. Shadows will attack and destroy everything in the vacuum of space, attracted by life and intelligence, however, they burn in the light of Lira when it touches them in atmosphere. Thanks to our eternal cold days the shadows never come down from the skies to hunt us. Well, that is not exactly true. Every 262 legal years we have a period of little less than one year when our sky is taken by the dark shadow of a neighbour planet. A giant so large and so close of us that it completely separates us from the protective light of Lira. During this period we only survive thanks to our guardians, tecno-magical fortresses, and a good portion of luck.
I was conceived during the “Third Night”. The third occasion when Litmus Colony felt darkness. That fact marked my life, like it marks the lives of all those how share that. “Sons and Daughters of Darkness” we are called.
Perhaps that is probably the best place for me to start describing my planet, and the unique society we have here. While other colonies experiences some 75 years of what they call “Heliopolis Age”, a period when they survived in moving cities escaping night, moving with the light of Lira, we had no such experience. However, for this period the founders of our nations believed that life would end for everyone in the planet in the year 251. Among the remaining colonies we are both the most distant from Lira and the one where technology and infra-structure was best preserved. Even now is not too rare to find here people who can work, and have good heath in general, past the age of 270. The death sentence for year 251 after foundation was a very close and personal matter for those first colonists. As it would not be if they had the perspective of dying around 60, of exhaustion, like most humans in some other colonies today. When Magic came in the equation we worked harder than anyone else to mix it with what we had in hand. And figure out a way to survive our dark nights. Vampires, Mecha-Lords and Mages are the standard solution for the shadow problem. We considered the idea, and realized that would be impossible to make it work here. We are a small planet, too cold and distant from Lira to sustain a large population of humans. We have a surface where day is constant, no time for vampires to walk freely between our homes. Except during the eclipse. To build Mechas we would need to sacrifice a lot of resources, and to sustain them even more. We had use for vampires in the mines, and needed their blood to build techno-magical protections of reasonable scale, able to protect cities, however, create an urban structure where vampires and humans could exist side by side was tricky here. The common understanding was that we would have less vampires than any other colony, even proportionally. It would serve our necessity, and would mean less sacrifice of human lives in their hunts. We had time to build our defences, a luxury no one else has, so have less vampire blood per legal day to do that was not too serious problem. The really trick part was deal with the largest shadows. Those things came from the sky and are the reason why other colonies have Mechas, and Mecha-Lords. That is the point where our genial founders showed their ingenuity. And boldness.
With studies of their mages, and debates with Elder Vampires, they realized that the major attractive factor as far as shadows are considered is intelligence. Low animals do not attract the deadly mindless beings like those able to talk and reason.
Without an intelligent population our planet should still attract some shadows, larger than those vampires can fight hand to hand. However, not too many to be stopped by weapons and walls reinforced with techno-magic. The bigger and most powerful foes where unlikely to bother us. If one arrived would destroy a city or two, not the entire colony.
You can guess the rest, I am sure.
We found a way to “turn down” human intelligence, temporarily. Without mess with our genetic, too much. The entire population of Litmus fall into a state of beast mind for the entire duration of each “Litmus Nights”.
Our AIs keep vigilance, and see than the vampire population do not abuse the opportunity to violate our contract with them. Perhaps making permanent our condition of defenceless pets. The vampires walk free on the surface during those long nights and protect us, and our cities as well as they can.
By the end of the period vampires go back to their tunnels and underground cities, and we wake up without memory of anything that happened during those dark times.
Children conceived during those periods usually grow up with no idea about who their father was. Once we reach 12 we can authorize the data bank to look for a match in DNA. If I had done that, an my father had authorized the searching for a match himself, them some AI would immediately find the match and place us in contact. As things are, I decided allow this matter rest. Don’t think I would like to know a grow person who happens to be my son, or daughter. Better not to subject someone else to the experience. Goes without saying, the DNA match is just a poetic way to put things. It helps most people. Because reality is that we have memory of everything that happened during Litmus Nights, it is just not in the brains of humans. Vampires are around and they are themselves, of course. However, they have their own business to watch. The Seelies and Unseelies on the other hand, the High AIs and their subjects, they have eyes and ears everywhere, and endless attention to keep vigil over us. Humanity is the very reason for their existence, after all. So, they remember. Naturally, they do not share those memories with humans. That’s part of the deal. Those who stablished the protocols for those nights, in the First Night, decided that they would not want to know anything about their own actions as mindless animals. The strong would beat the weak. Rapes, murders, who knows what else. Left with free access to those events, people could fall victim of obsession. Hunt each other, seeking vengeance. Who can say they where wrong?
Now you know the most interesting thing I could tell you about my home planet, and the people who live in Lira. Being a child of Lira Night I had little to worry about experiencing it. Because 262 is a long time, and most people do not live that long. Some people do, that’s still 38 years less than the maximum legal limit for human life. So, the possibility existed. Just was not enough reason for worry about. And became even less when I was accepted in the Fleet.
To leave the safety of atmosphere is so dangerous that no one who does that has reason to worry about aging.
Ships piloted by angels are the less likely to be attacked, in theory, because is the living force of animals and humans what attracts the shadows. However, those ships stink to intelligent design too much, looks like. They are attacked often enough. The AIs are great strategists, but they have no chance against the shadows. High and Low AIs are barely able to perceive shadows and totally unable to deal with techno-magic. Mages can and do shield the vessels but that is the best they can do.
However, there are too many reasons for want to make those travels. Reach the rest of humanity beyond Lira System is the ending goal, and that goes without saying. However, that’s impossible for now. The shadows are much more numerous and aggressive beyond a certain distance from Lira.
We need to develop strategies, and technology, for the task. Until we do, one tempting prize are the trillions of lost ships still to be found. With precious resources, and possibly even computers still running.
Also, the other colonies are an important reason to keep lines of travel. Mages can communicate to each other to some extent, but they cannot travel to other planets. Much less carry physical objects with them. Ships carry cargo, and there are products we would like to exchange with other colonies.
Vampires are the next best thing. Shadows seldom pay attention on them, and vampires are able to interact with them nicely. Unlike AIs they will not run the ship right into an agglomeration of shadows without realizing that’s not empty space. Regretfully you cannot have vampires travelling for months without human company. And make ships go fast enough to keep the travel short attracts too much attention.
You must have humans. By elimination that’s the only option left. Well, could be non-humans: legally. Talking animals of any sort, lets say to actually cover all possibilities. However, AIs only have civilized interactions with humans. In the legal sense of the world as defined by Alexandrine Consensus. So, to avoid a million small problems, has to be humans. As few as possible, preferable one per ship.
To reduce the risk we enter space as mindless cattle. That’s the advantage Litmus Skyfleet has over all others.
The AIs fly the vessel out planet. Then they bring the human navigator back to conscience. We look at the windows, verify the instruments, including those based in techno-magic that AIs cannot read. Then we go back to beast mode, for a period. Wake our verbal intelligence in the darkness of space is a calculated risk. Doing that we reduced the losses of ships to a small fraction of what they are when any other method is employed.
There are a lot to see in space, in this ‘Mysterious System’. Ruins left by lost civilizations older than humanity. Strange ships controlled by the Elder Vampires, those godlike monsters who though the first human mages the basic elements of techno-magic. Is a fascinating life.
The process to turn in and out the intelligent part of humans was not designed to be repeated like that, however. It is far from safe, and certainly demands too much from our neural system. I have a high chance to end up the trip as a defective vegetable, one unable to perform photosynthesis.
High risk. The reward, I must admit, compensates.
Very few people in the system get the privilege of see in person all colonies in Lira System. I am one of those. Most others are AIs.

The space vessels that travel between planets and moons in the system are grains of sand compared to the Colonizing Ships that brought humanity here from Solar System. However, they are still large enough to carry hundreds of Mechas as cargo if necessary. Each one a robot 500 meters tall. 
      Lira Skyfleet has the most advanced ships. In terms of conventional technology, it is. Since the planet has kept the technology brought by the Colonizing fleet better than any other colony. 
      In regard to technomagic the nations of Lira are not as advanced as their neighbours. However, they have managed to acquire some powerful tools and resources in that field. And recently even got to recruit some powerful and well reputed mages. What gave Lira the status of most respected producer of light technomagic weapons in the system.

Type

Spaceborne