Benzar
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An advanced world, with an unusual atmosphere and signs of planetwide ecological tampering, Benzar is the home of an interesting — and quite alien — species. Benzar is the fourth world of twelve orbiting a yellow-orange star. It technically lies within the Beta Quadrant, close to the Klingon border. Its proximity to Relva VII, a Federation planet with a significant Starfleet presence, has kept it out of Klingon hands during the Empire’s more expansionistic phases. Benzar was officially logged as Securis IV during its initial survey by the U.S.S. Yorktown before contact was established with the Benzites.
Climate
Although Class M, Benzar has a thicker atmosphere than most oxygen-bearing worlds, with an especially high concentration of gaseous ammonia. This atmosphere is also humid, and large parts of Benzar are under cloud cover and within fog for extended periods. Rainstorms are common, including monsoon seasons for significant parts of the year over most of the planet. The planet also has higher-than-standard gravity and air pressure. Benzites rely on the high humidity and unusual trace elements in Benzar’s air, leading Benzites on other worlds to wear a breather apparatus. Benzites without an atmosphere processor slowly asphyxiate and die—up until 2372, when advancements in their medical technology make such respirators obsolete.
Geography
Benzar has eighteen small continents spread along its surface, including twelve in its northern hemisphere (though one of these is a polar continent and uninhabited) and the remaining six in the southern hemisphere. However, the oceans of Benzar cover nearly 80% of the planet’s surface, so the continents resemble country-sized islands more than anything else. The oceans are officially divided into eighteen seas, which correspond with the continents and the sixteen major geostructures of the Benzite people. Their oceans, while possessed of significant mineral content matching the unusual elements of Benzite air, are fresh water. Visitors can purify the water of Benzite’s oceans with little difficulty.
Contrary to rumor and popular belief, the Benzites are not truly amphibious, and cannot breathe water. However, they are very close to their seas, owing to their need for moist conditions and the scarcity of livable land space on Benzar’s surface. This has led to significant undersea development by the Benzites. Of all the undersea cities of Benzar, the most exquisite and elaborate is Methot, a city in the sea of Mantoss, with a population of close to six and a half million Benzites of the Mantoss geostructure. It is rivaled only by the above-ground city of Bepsot, built along eighty miles of the Bepsot River on the continent of Belross, with over six million Benzites of the Belross geostructure living within it.
Perhaps most interesting to an outsider — though shunned by most Benzites — is the Chandock continent, deep in the southern hemisphere and considerably far away from any other continent. Like Tatock — the frozen continent and sea along Benzar’s north pole — Chandock has no geostructure of Benzites. However, Chandock is certainly populated. Chandock possess one of the few mountain ranges on Benzar, with peaks close to four thousand meters above sea level, set as a ring surrounding the continent. Between the peaks is a high plateau with the largest non-ocean lake on Benzar. Surrounding this lake and extending under its surface is a hodge-podge of shantytowns, industrial plants and mining operations. The lake is Galmut Chi Panzor — literally translating as “the lake of great regret.”
Civilization
The Benzites are clearly a descendant species, engineered by some predecessor race that didn’t survive on Benzar. While the nature and motive of the prior race remains unclear, the Benzites inherited the wealth of that race’s knowledge — in the form of ready-made technology, tools, entire crystalline city-structures and specially-built genetic resequencing chambers. In a sense, the Benzites awakened to sapience with all of the tools necessary to jump-start an industrial society, and the genetically-imprinted desire to work toward perfection with those tools. While this led to massive warfare between various groups who all vied for supremacy, it also meant leaps and bounds in medical technology (from deconstructing the genetic resequencing chambers) and in engineering (from maintenance of the crystalline geostructures).
Where many races in the Galaxy form clans, the Benzites organize into geostructures. Each geostructure organizes around the principles of species, sea and land — the specific Benzite geostructure, the continent they come from and the sea that surrounds that continent are all seen as a single entity. When a Benzite says he is from the Wipvoss geostructure, he means that he, his people, his homeland and the waters that connect them are all Wipvoss equally.
The divisions into geostructure are more than social. Each Benzite in a geostructure looks identical to all the other Benzites in that geostructure. Offworlders have considerable trouble telling different Benzites apart, though Benzites have no difficulty with this at all. The differences between geostructures are mostly in the shape of a Benzite’s head and nose slit.
Benzite spirituality centers on confidence. A Benzite truly believes that his geostructure is the finest geostructure on Benzar, and that Benzar is the ideal world of the galaxy. While other worlds may command greater political power, none compare to the brilliance of Benzar. Far from being hubris, this confidence is a responsibility to every Benzite. They cannot afford to fail — to do so would bring shame on themselves and their geostructure. When a decision must be made, a Benzite must examine all sides of that decision, thoroughly analyzing the problem, before announcing his decision as the only possible course of action. Consensus must be found by rigorously debating all possible options until the best one is identified. Even promotion in Benzite organizations works this way — when a position becomes available, all those Benzites who would be appropriate for that position meet, and between them decide who the appropriate recipient is. Should they fail to decide upon one, none of them receive the position.
Benzite technology grows out of their relationship with their land and their sea. This naturally has led to various underwater communities, pressure domes and other structures. Undersea shipping is a very robust industry on Benzar, with almost all watercraft consisting of submersibles. These design decisions have been reflected in their starships, which resemble the long, sleek submersibles of their world. A good percentage of their ships can actually make water landings on worlds, and operate underwater. Conversely, the space exploration is of particular interest to the Mantoss, Jepkoss and Vilmoss geostructures, and Benzite ships typically hail from these domes.
Perhaps the most tragic element of Benzite society are the residents of Galmut Chi Panzor. Those who live on or under the lake of great regret are either outcasts or the descendents of outcasts from Benzite society. They are outcast for bringing great shame upon their geostructures — not for simple mistakes or incorrect judgment, but either showing terrible indecision at a time when confidence was needed most, or breaking the laws of Benzar. These outcasts provide a valuable surface, mining the tremendous resources of Chandock’s mountains and plains, but are terribly uncomfortable in the high elevation and lower air pressure of Chandock’s plateau. They are not mistreated — the geostructures provide them with all they need — but they are denied the sea and their own geostructure, and bear this humiliation with tragic despair.
The 24th century world government of Benzar meets in a satellite orbiting their world in a transpolar orbit. There, representatives from each geostructure gather and take up issues of concern to Benzar as a whole. They debate, analyze, find consensus on each issue and announce their decisions to Benzar with complete confidence.
History
The first inhabitants of Benzar were presumably a precursor species; the Benzites have many examples of amazing technology left behind to show that they were created or engineered by a species that either did not survive or did not stay on Benzar. With their species’ signature diligence, the Benzites took up these tools — and made many of the mistakes common to young species. Warfare and industrial overgrowth both threatened Benzar in its infancy. Rival geostructures fought to prove their superiority to one another, while Benzite science and industrial projects often outstripped their capacity to assess long-term damage; fired to perform works of incredible engineering, the Benzites often engaged in technologies that they only later learned had severe consequences — ranging from biological toxins to excessive environmental damage. It wasn’t until the 23rd century that the Benzites finally worked out a peaceable solution to their world’s conflicts and reached an information age from which they could explore outward.
Benzar made first contact with the Federation early on, encountering the U.S.S. Yorktown in 2360. Thanks to their location near Federation space, the Benzites enjoyed a certain amount of security that allowed them to consider their options with regard to interstellar politics, and it wasn’t until 2369 that they sought and achieved Federation membership. Even this process was fraught with debate. The Benzites felt a natural sense of smug superiority, both by their status as a “chosen people” (clearly, some higher race had engineered them, as evidenced by their Birthing Chambers) and due to their pursuit of perfection. The Federation felt wary about a society that had fully integrated genetic resequencing.
Of course, with their penchant for examining every aspect of a conundrum, the Benzites decided to “feel out” the Federation before making a commitment. In 2365 exchange officer Mendon served aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D; that stint was educational for both sides, as Mendon’s ingrained training to seek out all aspects of a problem and solution endangered the ship when it was assaulted by a spaceborne microbe that degraded the hull. Mendon, conversely, came away with an appreciation for the Human approach to teamwork — with each individual contributing a part of the solution so that the team had a composite answer. Combined with the experiences of Mordock, a Benzite who petitioned to enter Starfleet academy in 2364 (and succeeded), these meetings gave the Benzites enough information to decide on a course of mutual allegiance with the Federation.
Ultimately both sides managed to settle these differences; the Federation considers Benzite genetic tinkering a cultural predilection, and protects that level of diversity. The Benzites, meanwhile, recognize the Federation as a collection of the best and brightest minds working collectively to achieve goals that no single species could accomplish individually.
Places of Interest
The most comfortable place on Benzar for most oxygen breathers is Galmut Chi Panzor, as its altitude lowers the air pressure somewhat, and its humidity is lower than the rest of the planet. Visitors can see the beautiful underwater dwellings, the environmentally conscious industrial development, or the mines.
Archeologists and scientists find Benzar fascinating because of the Forebearer ruins. While the most well-known of these are the Birthing Chambers (which, technically, aren’t ruins), the Benzites typically remain close-mouthed about their species’ patrons. Benzites still inhabit all of the geostructures left behind or built over the intervening years, but every once in a while a survey team comes back with some new device or a map of a site where Forebearer technology rests. The Federation officially does nothing to encourage this research out of deference to Benzite cultural beliefs, but also does not inhibit researchers who wish to travel to the planet. Getting the necessary permits to explore the Benzites’ past, of course, means dealing with the planetary government, and is another matter entirely.
Reference(s)
- Burns, Eric, Kenneth A. Hite & Doug Sun. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 7: Worlds, Decipher, 2005. ISBN: 1582369097.