Blue Home
Blue Home lies in the system of Iota Persei which is a G type star about 35 light years from Earth.
Colonised by humanity at the start of the Great Push that followed the signing of the Emigrants' Charter, the foundation of the first settlement at Ynis took place in 2318. The system went on to became one of the founding members of the Solar Group in 2350.
The cover illustration is of sunrise over the Giant's Staircase, a popular beauty spot close to the spaceport at Ynis.
Geography
Blue Home is very similar to Earth in mass, temperature and chemical composition with a somewhat higher ratio of ocean to land. There are four major continents, two each in the northern and southern hemispheres.
In the southern hemisphere the smallest continent of First Fall has the greatest population of human settlers, mainly concentrated around the cities of Ynis and Klerm. The larger continent of Tilthif is closer to the equator with valuable farmland and the major port of Hessing which provides a shipping route to Jintell on First Fall.
In the northern hemisphere, the two continents are called Wendrick and Leramol, the former having a mild temperate climate whilst the latter includes the polar region and is ice bound in the north. Both of these continents are only sparsely settled by humans.
Fauna & Flora
On the continent of Tilthif, a savannah type ecosystem is dominated by kippa grass, a tall golden yellow grain bearing native species which is farmed by human settlers. Periodically the Blue Home firemen initiate controlled burning operations to allow for the growth of other crops in areas which would otherwise be overrun by kippa grass. These small scale burning exercises are also designed to incinerate dead wood which can otherwise build up and lead to more dangerous natural conflagrations in future years. The firemen are usually careful not to let their fires burn out of control, restricting their scope to small areas around the coast but accidents have been known to happen.
Natural Resources
In the western plateau lands of First Fall, a low growing shrub with pale purple leaves covers the moorland. The plant is called Wellkyle and its soft fruit is a valuable ingredient in Blue Home cooking. The crop is farmed from wild expanses, with parcels of land allocated to farming families by the central government. The farmers do not plant the crop but they have learned to aid the Wellkyle in its growth and reproduction with a special kind of balloon support vehicle which can skim over the rough surfaces and tend to the plants. They use this both to assist in pollination and then later to harvest the berries.
Here we see one of the pollinators, about to cross the moorlands. A mat of thin sticky tendrils below will brush the Wellkyle flowers and spread the pollen. At harvest time, a different undercarriage is used to strip the berries without damanging the plants.
Wellkyle Pollinator by DMFW
History
Blue Home was the second planet to be opened up by humanity after emergence (and a little later than Green Home). Surveying in the system began in 2276 but colonists were only granted permission to build permanent settlements in 2318. This period of more than forty years, allowed biologists and ecologists to assess the threats that native species might possess to earth based life and visa versa, although even this length of time could hardly be enough to be certain, and in reality colonisation has always been a risky ethical and environmental gamble, no matter how long an assessment period lasts.
Science communicators such as Lyra Antelle were hugely popular on Earth. She kept video diaries of her travels crossing the alien seas of Blue Home in her one person survey craft whilst cataloging and analysing the native life.
Blue Home was the planet where the Void Church was first established in 2280 by Anders Frost and Li Jing Lin of the first survey group from Earth (this event actually took place before the first civilian human colonists arrived, which happened in 2318).
Although Blue Home would always be historically important for those who worship in the Void Church, the Agarite Theological Centre on Green Home, which was build by missionaries from Blue Home in 2330, fairly quickly became the centre of the new faith.
The famous Alltowers Library is a well known scholastic institution which rivals the Faculty of United S'arys. It is situated on a dedicated campus a short distance from Klerm and first opened in 2423.
Lyra Antelle by DMFW
Blue Home - Survey Scout Ship by DMFW
Anders Frost by DMFW
Li Jing Lin by DMFW
Maps
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Blue Home
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Planet
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Owning Organization
Inhabiting Species
Blue Home - Alltowers Library by DMFW
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