Eminiar VII
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Eminiar VII is the seventh of twelve planets orbiting a red dwarf in Cluster NGC 321. Cluster NGC 321 abuts a pocket of Tholian space, and the Federation saw great strategic importance in establishing a treaty port near to the mysterious Tholians in 2267. During the 17th Century, the Eminians colonized another Class M planet in the system, called Vendikar. Sometime soon after, a dispute between homeworld and colony set off a war that lasted for five hundred years before Capt. James Kirk and Ambassador Fox negotiated an end to it in 2267. This war was fought almost entirely with computers. The civilization was advanced, having had space flight for several hundred years, but it had elected not to venture off of the homeworld.
Every world and culture is different and unique, and one of the guiding principles of Vulcan is “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.” The Federation’s Prime Directive is, ultimately, an injunction to preserve the cultures of the galaxy, free from the influence of more advanced civilizations. But sometimes, the price of preserving a culture becomes too great. On Eminiar VII, this price was steep indeed, and for hundreds of years it was paid in bloody full.
During the war, any vessel found orbiting the planet was considered fair game, as the U.S.S. Valiant found out in 2217.
Once peace was initiated, the system thrived. Eminar VII became a popular tourist spot and was noted for its schools of architecture.
Climate
Eminiar VII’s advanced technology is most apparent in their planet’s near perfect climate. Eminian cultural imperatives dictate that every possible aspect of the planet’s environment should be controlled and predicted, lest their culture become endangered by natural disaster. The incredibly sophisticated computer technology, designed to mathematically predict the chaotic system of Eminiar VII’s weather and make the necessary adjustments to keep the climate beautiful and controlled was later turned to the gruesome task of predicting, analyzing and interpreting the virtual war’s results, along with designating legitimate targets and assessing appropriate damage and casualties. This climate control technology later became a significant trading point between Eminiar VII and the Federation, with the resort planet of Risa becoming the most notable recipient as an upgrade. Most days the sky is a beautiful, cloudless blue.
Geography
Eminiar VII’s surface has been remade into the orderly image envisioned by her inhabitants. Mountains have been laid low, and valleys raised where the cities of the Eminians needed. This became even more important after the war with Vendikar entered its virtual phase — the losses in each attack were sometimes staggering, and Eminiar VII needed the agricultural and infrastructural systems in place to absorb these losses and replace them in the next generation.
Civilization
Eminiar VII is a beautiful world, populated by humanoids, with a peaceful culture devoted to art, science, philosophy and literature. Crime is nearly unknown. The shadow of war has made the Eminians disciplined and duty-minded, with almost no sense of civic disorder. The guiding principle behind Eminiar VII’s society is “people die, but our society lives on.”
The need for preserving the planetary population in the wake of attacks that sometimes killed millions of Eminians, a very coherent, orderly plan of eugenics and arranged marriages and procreation evolved, with the sophisticated analytical computer systems tracking the variables. This has led to a habit for natives of Eminiar VII to have a given name and a generational designation — for example, the leader of the High Council of Eminiar VII in 2267 was Anan 7. The name and number were assigned at his birth by the computer systems, which also arranged his marriage and the birth of his daughter at appropriate times. This system also allowed the computers to constantly track the population of Eminiar VII and their movements — a necessary component to assigning casualties in Vendikaran attacks.
Culturally, the Eminiarians are stoic. Even during the war, Eminiarians typically reported to the disintegration chambers employed to make virtual casualties real.
History
The Eminiarian culture is old and well established. Back in the days that Europeans were colonizing America in sailing ships, Eminiar VII was sending its first warp capable ships into the other star systems of Cluster NGC 321 and establishing colonies on other worlds. Had things been different, the Eminians may have become a dominant power in their sector or even in the quadrant.
However, their first major colony, established on the planet Vendikar in 1630, broke away from Eminiar VII’s control in 1702. The Eminians quickly devoted their infrastructure to war, and the Vendikarans began arming themselves to defend their planet. The two worlds began launching horrifyingly destructive attacks against one another. The war swiftly became a holy one, with neither side being willing to back down. As the years turned into decades, what was policy became firm cultural imperative. The battle would only end, it seemed, with the total destruction of Eminiar VII, Vendikar, or both.
In 1751, it became apparent that the war between Eminiar VII and Vendikar would eventually result in the complete elimination of their shared culture. This was a horrifying enough possibility to drive the two planets to the peace table for the first time in decades. However, passions were still very high, and peace seemed impossible to the delegations. Eminiar VII would only accept Vendikar’s surrender and return to Eminiar VII’s rule, and Vendikar would only accept complete independence and self-rule. Finally, in desperation, a radical new solution was proposed: Virtual war.
The war would have to continue, until one side or the other won. However, by taking the sophisticated computer systems of both worlds and interconnecting them via subspace link, the war could be pursued without actual damage to the worlds. Rules of combat were developed and arranged, software was written, and a strict code of battle was agreed to. To ensure that both sides would abide by the war terms, the computer systems would constantly monitor compliance. Failure to abide by these terms would cause an automatic escalation to total, real war.
However, there had to be a cost to this battle. A cost to make the artificially created war real in terms of consequence. The two sides came to a painful, but — to their minds — necessary conclusion. Though the battles would be simulated, the casualties would be real. Even as simulated arsenals and resources were depleted or destroyed in the mathematical core of the computer, so too the humanoid resources of both would have to die.
Over many years, the two planets acclimated to their never ending, simulated war. Though millions of people on both worlds were disintegrated in special chambers designed for that purpose, the culture and society they lived in endured. The damage from the earlier, “barbaric” phase of the war was gradually erased, and development was able to continue. Of course, exploration was curtailed — the battlefields could not be allowed to expand, and neither world could be allowed to let its population escape — and visitors from other worlds were warned off. It was decided by treaty that the computers could designate even alien ships and visitors as legitimate targets, just like they would be in a physical war. This was the fate of the Federation Starship Valiant, in the year 2217. After entering orbit around Eminiar VII, the Valiant was designated a casualty by the computers. With great regret, the Eminians destroyed the ship and all aboard.
When the U.S.S. Enterprise entered orbit around Eminiar VII in 2267, to deliver Ambassador Robert Fox and negotiate for treaty port rights, they too were declared legitimate targets by the computer. When Vendikar launched a virtual attack, the Enterprise was declared destroyed. Her captain, James T. Kirk, and the landing party that had made initial contact were forced to go underground to save the Enterprise, ultimately destroying a number of the disintegration chambers and preventing the Eminians from abiding by their treaty with Vendikar. To ensure that the treaty would fall, Captain Kirk destroyed the subspace link between the two worlds, which would lead to an automatic escalation of hostilities. In the centuries of cool, unending death without destruction, the passions that once fueled the war had faded, leaving two cultures that were deathly afraid of battle facing the destruction of their cultures.
This gave them the impetus to negotiate, once and for all. Ambassador Fox remained on Eminiar VII, acting as a mediator between the two worlds, and the 500 years of virtual war between Eminiar VII and Vendikar finally came to an end.
Places of Interest
The central computer cluster on Emininar VII is one of the most advanced facilities of its type in known space. The Eminians have mastered a very esoteric branch of cybernetics and mathematics, and are experts in developing computer models of chaotic mathematical system.
Reference(s)
- Burns, Eric, Kenneth A. Hite & Doug Sun. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 7: Worlds, Decipher, 2005. ISBN: 1582369097.