New Cambria
Established with an independent constitution by citizens of the Republic from Gall V, S'arys and Carillon IV in 2610 (45 FR), New Cambria was one of the earliest of the second generation worlds to be colonised by humans. Second generation worlds have only an indirect line of descent to Earth.
New Cambria orbits within the habitable zone of Idris (a type G3 sun) at a mean distance of 0.9 AU with Pendragon (an M type red dwarf star) also orbiting Idris at a mean distance of 12 AU. This binary system sits relatively high above the galactic plane and rimward of Earth's sun. It is remote from both the major worlds of the Solar Group and the core worlds of the Republic, lying close to the very edge of the Bubble.
One local New Cambrian year is a little more than ten Earth months and the day is around twenty five hours. For more formal matters, New Cambrians use the republican dating system (FR) which established a new year zero when the Republic was founded.
Geography
New Cambria is a small world, consisting in the main of a single large ocean in which are embedded a number of islands of varying size but none large enough to be dignified with the title of continent. The climate and gravity are favourable to human life but the relative lack of open land meant that the system was not a primary target for colonisation in the early days of the Great Push.
The capital of New Cambria is the city of New Swansea on the largest landmass of Gwynedd which is a short distance from the island of Zan.
Other important planetary locations include the Azure Isles, a tropical archipelago consisting of some thirty seven islands with a capital at St. Peters, the Ash Islands, a volcanic region in the southern ocean, and Friel, aka the Cap, a roughly circular landmass covering the north pole of the planet.
In the northern ocean, are the twin islands known as Calgary's Tears whilst the large but isolated island of Gwent, known for its sheep and mine works sits in the southern ocean in the opposite hemisphere to the Ash Islands.
Ecosystem
New Cambria has a rich native ecology based on a DNA and RNA model like Earth, but rarely amongst known biological systems it uses a palate of mirrored enantiomers which work together but react incorrectly or not at all with the standard forms.
The introduction of Earth based biology, which is customary wherever humanity settles, has here caused an unusual and parallel non-interacting ecosystem to develop. Superficially, the native and introduced organisms are not competing because they cannot obtain sustenance by eating one another. But at bottom there is still competition for water, light and air and this drives a pathological death struggle at all levels which operates rather differently from the usual pattern, where accomodation and adaption normally favours native species and limits the harm of imported organisms.
It might have been expected that New Cambria's own life forms would have had a huge natural advantage conferred by their existing advanced stake in the planet. However, oddly, this seems not to be the case and it is speculated that there is some deep benefit, poorly understood but somehow conferred by the chiral forms used on Earth and in almost all other DNA and RNA based biologies.
It is thought likely that at some point in the distant future, all native New Cambrian life will be driven to extinction but this will be a long drawn out process.
Fauna & Flora
Notable native life forms of interest to naturalists, include the sky sailors, a giant aggregate animal, rather like a macroscopic slime mold which is capable of trapping hydrogen to aid floating and flying. They migrate south from the Cap in the northern hemisphere Autumn. Sky sailors are preyed upon during this migration by harpies, colossol pterosaur like creatures, native to Calgary's Tears that roost in flocks and possess a cunning and vicious hunting intelligence, at least the equal of an Earthly wolf pack.
History
New Cambria had a reputation for lawlessness and internal conflict almost from the moment of its foundation. Criminal elements amongst the founders, saw the world as a place to escape the strictures of their home worlds and some of these carried their grudges against one another to a more open and less well controlled society where they could wage war with impunity. In the early days, mercenary units fought with rabid idealists and organised crime gangs for control. Amongst the more important factions were the Old Assembly, the Kingdom of the Umgumms, the Knights of the Gold Order, the Chanters, the Blood Gang, the Masters of the Old Song, the Tribute of Gall and many other smaller groups.
The infamous New Cambrian troubles lasted for more than four hundred years and did not really abate until the beginning of the third millenium after the collapse of the Republic when settled government finally prevailed.
In 331 FR (2911 CE) the Old Assembly which had at least notionally governed from New Swansea for most of the planet's human history was overthrown by an invasion of Gwynedd and the Capital Region led from the The Azure Isles under the banner of the Army of the Friends of New Cambria. The AFNC took control of most of the major towns but were unable to subdue the second city in the north. Dragon City became a stronghold of what remained of the forces of the Old Assembly for many years.
The image at the head of the page shows the symbolic gateway to Dragon City, built in an archaic style to resemble a Welsh castle from Earth.
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