Difference between revisions of "Whence"
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The Free People's Commonwealth of Whence is one of the more unusual among the 333 planets. | The Free People's Commonwealth of Whence is one of the more unusual among the 333 planets. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Most people referring to Whence think only of Whence Island, on which the Commonwealth is based. | ||
| + | There are also two island chains, <address>[/Southern Continent] and the [/Spine].</address> | ||
==Economy== | ==Economy== | ||
| Line 10: | Line 13: | ||
==External Trade== | ==External Trade== | ||
| − | Trade with the outside world is usually negotiated by station chiefs. These people live on the [[ | + | Trade with the outside world is usually negotiated by station chiefs. These people live on the [[line station]]s and trade with offworld visitors in a more conventional manner. As the chiefs receive crops from the villages free (as any other villager can), and provide imported appliances on the same terms, those living on the surface don't even need to understand the concept of money. |
| + | |||
| + | Whence's Line station undergoes a significant level of trade even when [[temple ship]] visits are quite rare, as an [[accelerative discontinuity]] provides travel to the more populous trade centre of [[Magellan]]. | ||
===Main Imports=== | ===Main Imports=== | ||
| Line 23: | Line 28: | ||
==Geography== | ==Geography== | ||
| − | The majority of Whence's surface is covered with freshwater oceans. The sea is | + | The majority of Whence's surface is covered with freshwater oceans. Apart from Whence Island, there is also a research post on the <address>[/Spine], and an independent civilisation on the [/Southern Continent]</address>. |
| + | |||
| + | The island is what most people mean when they refer to Whence. However, like many other geographic terms on this planet, 'Island' means something quite different from what you might normally expect. The island is approximately 840 miles across at its widest point, although dramatic tidal patterns make it difficult to determine where the sea ends and the island begins. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Physical Geography== | ||
| + | The island's surface is a series of parallel ridges and ditches, much like the patterns left on a sand beach by the retreating tide. In some areas the channels carry water, and the ground is swamplike. Where the ground is higher, the ground dries out in all but the highest tides, and provides a solid surface which is easier to build on. The size of the lines also varies between regions, being anything from a few inches on the real beaches up to a yard in some places. There are also a few un-lined areas which are either known as deserts (flat expanses of rock, including some areas where the thick earth was transformed to ceramic by the [[vapour pile]] engines of early settlement ships), or forests (where organic processes have changed the shap of the ground). | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Settlements== | ||
| + | The main political unit on Whence is the village. A village is loosely defined as any collection of buildings, connected to other villages by a road. It is always the presence of a road which defines boundaries - a pair of houses on its own constitutes a village, and so does a sprawling multi-level metropolis like [[Whence/Kreig|Kreig]], with a population of more than 3 million. | ||
| + | |||
| + | For the most part, homes are built on top of poles some distance from the ground. At the time of the early settlements, it was believed that flattening the ridges and ditches over any great area could divert the rivers and tidal flows in unpredictable ways, and was therefore best avoided. By now, this method of construction has become a tradition even in areas where the ground is high enough not to be flooded in the highest tides. A house or shop is usually surrounded by a walkway on every level to allow exterior maintenance, with ladders which can be dropped to the ground. On the lowest level of a building (and the highest for buildings of more than 3 storeys, as well as certain others designated by the village leaders), these walkways are known as 'right paths' along which anyone has the right to walk. Right paths are usually close enough to step between even where they aren't joined, negating the need to descend to ground level within a village. As every path is maintained by the owner of the building, there is no need for publically-owned roads except connecting one village to another. | ||
| − | == | + | ==Maps== |
| − | + | Maps on Whence Island are just plain weird. A map of a village will usually represent each building as a square (regardless of its actual shape), and use arcs between them to indicate junctions between rights paths. Roads are marked with a name, and a series of faint parallel lines across them to indicate their direction relative to the ridges of the ground as they leave the city. | |
| − | The | + | A regional map, on the other hand, is even more abstract. The ground ridges are always horizontal, and are never shown. This means that the map is distorted in regions where the ground beneath isn't level. Distance on the map represents the difficulty of travelling a route, rather than any indication of ground distance. In order to make the roads connect at sensible places, roads which are shorter on the map than they should be (such as a direct route across high ground, where going via another village would be faster) are highlighted in red. Between any two villages, there is always at least one non-red route. Between villages, roads are drawn as straight lines. |
| − | {{planet|class=2}} | + | {{planet|class=2|settled=2441|code=WWW}} |
Latest revision as of 09:52, 22 March 2009
The Free People's Commonwealth of Whence is one of the more unusual among the 333 planets.
Most people referring to Whence think only of Whence Island, on which the Commonwealth is based. There are also two island chains, <address>[/Southern Continent] and the [/Spine].</address>
Contents
Economy
The local government has passed a series of bylaws which mean currency is virtually unused on the planet's surface.
Within a village, the farmers usually provide their crops to anyone who wants them. Once a villager is seen to have understood this principle, they can expect to get everything they need without paying.
A barter sytem is used between villages who have a surplus of different produce. However, neighbouring villages often adopt an informal system of supplying whatever the other is short of. Once the members of a village generally believe the other village's leaders to be good and honest it is common to not track what goods they have been given, an expansion of the local gift-trade system.
External Trade
Trade with the outside world is usually negotiated by station chiefs. These people live on the line stations and trade with offworld visitors in a more conventional manner. As the chiefs receive crops from the villages free (as any other villager can), and provide imported appliances on the same terms, those living on the surface don't even need to understand the concept of money.
Whence's Line station undergoes a significant level of trade even when temple ship visits are quite rare, as an accelerative discontinuity provides travel to the more populous trade centre of Magellan.
Main Imports
- Manufactured goods
- Metals
- Meat and Game
Main Exports
- Herbal extracts
- Rare spices
- Fish and fish oil
Geography
The majority of Whence's surface is covered with freshwater oceans. Apart from Whence Island, there is also a research post on the <address>[/Spine], and an independent civilisation on the [/Southern Continent]</address>.
The island is what most people mean when they refer to Whence. However, like many other geographic terms on this planet, 'Island' means something quite different from what you might normally expect. The island is approximately 840 miles across at its widest point, although dramatic tidal patterns make it difficult to determine where the sea ends and the island begins.
Physical Geography
The island's surface is a series of parallel ridges and ditches, much like the patterns left on a sand beach by the retreating tide. In some areas the channels carry water, and the ground is swamplike. Where the ground is higher, the ground dries out in all but the highest tides, and provides a solid surface which is easier to build on. The size of the lines also varies between regions, being anything from a few inches on the real beaches up to a yard in some places. There are also a few un-lined areas which are either known as deserts (flat expanses of rock, including some areas where the thick earth was transformed to ceramic by the vapour pile engines of early settlement ships), or forests (where organic processes have changed the shap of the ground).
Settlements
The main political unit on Whence is the village. A village is loosely defined as any collection of buildings, connected to other villages by a road. It is always the presence of a road which defines boundaries - a pair of houses on its own constitutes a village, and so does a sprawling multi-level metropolis like Kreig, with a population of more than 3 million.
For the most part, homes are built on top of poles some distance from the ground. At the time of the early settlements, it was believed that flattening the ridges and ditches over any great area could divert the rivers and tidal flows in unpredictable ways, and was therefore best avoided. By now, this method of construction has become a tradition even in areas where the ground is high enough not to be flooded in the highest tides. A house or shop is usually surrounded by a walkway on every level to allow exterior maintenance, with ladders which can be dropped to the ground. On the lowest level of a building (and the highest for buildings of more than 3 storeys, as well as certain others designated by the village leaders), these walkways are known as 'right paths' along which anyone has the right to walk. Right paths are usually close enough to step between even where they aren't joined, negating the need to descend to ground level within a village. As every path is maintained by the owner of the building, there is no need for publically-owned roads except connecting one village to another.
Maps
Maps on Whence Island are just plain weird. A map of a village will usually represent each building as a square (regardless of its actual shape), and use arcs between them to indicate junctions between rights paths. Roads are marked with a name, and a series of faint parallel lines across them to indicate their direction relative to the ridges of the ground as they leave the city.
A regional map, on the other hand, is even more abstract. The ground ridges are always horizontal, and are never shown. This means that the map is distorted in regions where the ground beneath isn't level. Distance on the map represents the difficulty of travelling a route, rather than any indication of ground distance. In order to make the roads connect at sensible places, roads which are shorter on the map than they should be (such as a direct route across high ground, where going via another village would be faster) are highlighted in red. Between any two villages, there is always at least one non-red route. Between villages, roads are drawn as straight lines.
Subpages
<subpages format="ul" redlink="yes" redirects="external" />
Timetable code: WWW
