Caldos II
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One of the oldest terraforming attempts of the Federation, the Caldos II colony replicates a romantic vision of the Scottish highlands. The colonists take great pains to maintain their culture and its unique feel, even foregoing useful modern technologies to do so.
Caldos II is the second planet in the Caldos system. Caldos itself is a yellow giant (Type G9 II) with a highly variable solar flare and sunspot cycle; Caldos II has an anomalous magnetic field and climatic variation as a result. Caldos II is the only Class M planet in the system; before terraforming it was on the barely tolerable side of Class M. The other seven planets in the Caldos system are the usual mixed bag of Class H, J, and K.
The Caldos system has no asteroid belt to speak of, although meteor showers are numerous on Caldos II. The system's Oort cloud is of above-average size. Caldos has three moons; the largest (Campbell) is about a fifth the size of Luna. They orbit rapidly and relatively close to Caldos II.
Environment
Before terraforming, Caldos II had a violent climate driven by a turbulent atmosphere and irregular peaks of solar radiation. It was cold, stormy, and generally unpleasant all year; Caldos II's tropics suffered from horribly powerful hurricanes, and everywhere else was too cold to settle. The core of the planet seethed with volcanic and tectonic activity as well.
Captain Dierdre Rennie of the U.S.S. Townsend used what was at that time an innovative method to solve these problems when she commanded the Starfleet terraforming mission establishing the Caldos colony in 2271. The Townsend laid down a barrage of photon torpedoes and timed phaser blasts to pierce the planetary crust and create powerful artificial geysers in the middle temperate zones of the planet's northern hemisphere. These geysers bleed off the excess tectonic stresses on the north continental plate, leaving an area of geological stability tens of thousands of kilometers square for safe settlement. They also provide a solid bank of warming updraft air to counteract the cold fronts sweeping down from the planet's poles. Although the warm and cold air meeting create a never-ending storm front along the temperate-arctic boundary, an ingenious electrostatic weather-control matrix diffuses the energy of these storms and redistributes it to even out low-pressure and high-pressure zones elsewhere on the planet.
In 2271, fusion plants were still too expensive to build a fusion substation for each weather matrix grid point. The matrix draws power, therefore, from both the geysers and from orbital microwave conversion satellites. The satellites absorb Caldos' plentiful solar energy, convery it to microwaves, and beam the microwaves to the substations. The grid has multiple redundancies, but, like any complex system, requires periodic maintenance to avoid disastrous reverse-feedback loops.
With the weather-control matrix in operation, however, the climate of the Caldos colony stabilizes into a moist, cool range reminiscent of Earth's Scottish Highlands. Storms (mostly thunderstorms and blizzards) can be restricted to the winter season, although rain and fog can blow in at any time.
Locations
Caldos colony restricts its human settlements to the tectonically safe zone in the northern hemisphere on the continent of Caledonia. The largest such settlement, New Glasgow, serves as the colonial capital. Most offworlders seldom go anywhere else: The main technical interface grids lie here, as do the kitschy tourist trap shops and quaint old inns. Everywhere else, the colonists take great pains to keep their planet unattractive to all but the most driven romantics. Isolated castles, windswept moors, houses built of stone with only rudimentary computer facilities, rustic farming technology more suited to the 19th century than the 24th, herds of sheep, and scattered fields of oats greet the visitor wherever else in the colony he travels. Such travel almost always involves horseback riding: Transporter booths are for use only in the most urgent emergencies on pain of banishment from the colony.
Traditionally, every major building on Caldos II must use a stone from a building in Scotland as its cornerstone; the inconvenience of importing proper cornerstones keeps new building to a minimum. As a result, extended families live in large manor houses, each generation taking separate wing. Some of the local lairds live in painstakingly reconstructed castles based on (or, in some cases, imported stone by stone from) those in Scotland's Highlands.
Robot and teleoperated mines produce most of Caldos II's raw materials, and those can be found anywhere on the planetary surface, including undersea - except, of course, within eyeshot of a colonial settlement. The colony's technology (power generators, supplemental food replicators, the weather-control grid substations) stays hidden from colonists and offworlders alike. Only the lairds have the power to approve replicator use, transporters, or similarly modern equipment. Most homes on the colony keep a store of medicines and concentrated replicated food in case of emergency.
History
Starfleet decided to use Caldos II as one of the sites in its experimental terraforming program of the 2270s. Captain Rennie and the Townsend completed the terraforming quickly and efficiently, although since Caldos II was deliberately chosen for its unfriendly climate (to make the test more difficult, and therefore more meaningful), finding settlers for the new worlds was not easy.
The Federation eventually subsidized the relocation costs of a group calling itself the Pre-Connerite Jacobeans, who had vocally protested the rapid development of Scotland on Earth. Captain Rennie's personal log, which compared the new Caldosian climate to Scotland's Highlands, was a powerful recruiting tool for the Jacobeans. Eventually, thirteen "clans" of the Jacobeans emigrated to Caldos II and set about establishing a properly premodern Scottish cultural and governmental system there.
Although over the next century clan conflict occasionally interfered with the planet's peace (especially during the celebrated MacLeod-Bannerman feud of the 2310s), the low population density and the natural power-balancing tendencies of human feudal organizations have prevented any serious crises from emerging. The gravest threat to Caldos colony came in 2370 when a series of failures in the weather-control matrix forced the governor to all for Federation assistance. While the Enterprise-D worked to restore power and stability to the Caldos II grid, its crew became entangled in the family history of the Howard clan. Eventually, the role of Ronin, an anaphasic lifeform, in perpetuating some Howard clan traditions emerged after he endangered the weather-control grid in a desperate attempt to survive.
Caldos Colony
Caldos Colony is populated almost entirely by humans. Scottish romantic tradition has only a limited appeal to other species, although Andorian tourists outnumber all other alien species put together and a few Andorians have even applied for immigration permits. Most immigrants, however, are humans from other planets looking for an "authentic Earth tradition" to which they can belong. Rigellians, Altairians, and humans from planets besides Earth find Caldos II endlessly fascinating. Nobody can immigrate to Caldos colony without gaining the patronage of one of Caldos' clans and being adopted by a native Caldosian. This rigorous requirement and the rough living conditions on the colony ensure that only the genuinely determined and interested settle there long enough to influence the culture.
These immigrants keep the Caldosian romantic culture fresh while leaving it reasonably stable. The determination of the lairds to keep Caldos II firmly out of the 24th century mainstream has managed to convince any Caldosian at all interested in technology or science to emigrate. Offworld contractors (mostly Centaurans who enjoy Caldosian poetry, art, and drama) handle the maintenance of the colony's technological infrastructure.
Caldos colony has a Federation governor, usually chosen by the UFP Colonial Office from a pool of interested applicants. The Federation tries very hard to keep from interfering in Caldosian affairs, and selects human governors with a strong sympathy to Caldosian culture. The governor's powers are fairly limited under Caldosian law.
Real power rests with the thirteen lairds, the heads of the founding families, or clans, of Caldos colony. The term "laird" is used only in the abstract. The Howard laird, for example, is known as "the Howard" or "the Howard of Howard," not as "the laird of Howard." Some clans (such as the Bannerman and MacGregor clans) select their lairds in assemblies, while others (like the Campbell and Howard clans) allow the current laird to choose his successor from among his immediate relatives. In still others (especially the MacLeod and Rowan clans), the lairdship passes automatically to the oldest child upon the death of the current laird. The laird owes his clan service and patronage, just as his clan owes him (or her) fealty and respect. Lairds sponsor artistic and athletic contests (such as epic poetry slams and caber tossing); keep technological influence to a minimum while using it responsibly to keep the clan safe from hunger, disease or emergency; and serve as the model of Caldosian traditional behavior.
All adult Caldosians gather to elect a chief laird (called "the Caldos") from among the lairds. The Caldos determines the allocation of energy, plans for famine or other disaster, represents the colony to the governor, and handles any other planetary affairs. The Caldos serves for life, unless illness or malfeasance causes the other lairds to remove him from office; this has never happened, although clan politics have caused motions for impeachment to be brought against each of the Caldos at one time of another. The clan whose laird serves as the Caldos gains great prestige.
The Caldos system and colony are of almost zero strategic importance. However, the Caldos colony's neglect of space and technology (such as system surveys) and the extreme variability of Caldos' solar activity means that the Caldos system might be an excellent place for ships to escape detection for some time. What an infiltrator could gain from hiding in the Caldos system, besides refuge, is unknown.
The turbulent clan politics of Caldos II can erupt in feuds and melodramatic events at any time. Dueling (with gunpowder pistols or with broadswords), both technically illegal and entirely common on Caldos II, can lead to revenge-taking, fights at high noon on the moor between groups of young colonists, and other exciting escalations. A culture set up to value drama and romance over pragmatism, when combined with Caldos II's artificially limited resources, can create many flashpoints which might not otherwise exist.
The other potential source of conflict on Caldos colony lies between the colonists and offworlders. Although most of the technical contractors are more than willing to leave the locals alone and stick to their work, some engineers select assignments on Caldos II because of an interest in Caldosian culture. It is hardly unknown for a Centauran tech, especially, to find himself involved in a passionate love story and clan feud after what seemed like an innocuous Friday night date. Other times, of course, offworld-Caldosian romance leads to marriage and adoption into a Caldos colony clan. Sometimes, the couple leaves Caldos II for a future among the stars.
Economy
Caldos colony enjoys most of its fame among devotees of holodrama, romantic novels and poetry, and similar arts. Caldosian actors and actresses are in high demand on worlds with a tradition of live theater. Caldosian holodramas and interactive holoprograms, although usually programmed on out-of-date equipment, fascinate a large segment of Federation society. Few ships venture forth on long voyages without several Caldosian bodice-and-broadsword dramas loaded into the holodeck.
This interest helps Caldos colony recruit the engineers and technical personnel needed to maintain the colony's aging scientific and technical equipment, especially the power stations, emergency transporters and replicators, and holorecorders. Since Caldos colony remains a Federation terraforming experiment, Starfleet engineers retain some responsibility for the weather-control grid. The repairs carried out by the Enterprise-D crew in 2370 should keep the colony safe for a few decades at least, although with Caldos' widely anomalous solar flare pattern, the system might be overloaded and break down before then.
Famous Inhabitant(s)
Eugenia Bannerman has a following of millions of devoted readers and viewers across the Federation for her plays, novels, and holoprograms. Other Caldosian artists, dancers, and actors have smaller, though no less devout, fan bases. Outside the arts, no Caldosian has much of a reputation offworld. Dr. Beverly Crusher, the chief medical officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D spent much of her adolescence on Caldos II.
Fauna
Caldos colony has deer, pronghorn sheep, and wolves imported from Earth, along with similar cold-weather mountain species. Caldos II holds numerous species of birds, including many songbirds and game birds. Some of Caldos II's avian population descends from Centauran varieties. Caldos II had no native plant or animal life more advanced than lichen before the terraforming of 2271; its ecosystem mirrors those of Earth's Scottish Highlands and the Andorian Blue Taiga region completely.
Since 2370, the Caldosians have known of anaphasic lifeforms, immaterial beings which require corporeal hosts to survive and maintain molecular cohesion. The Howard family women served as hosts for the only confirmed anaphasic lifeform on Caldos II, a being known as Ronin, until Beverly Crusher destroyed him to protect her fellow officers. However, romantic Caldosians and Starfleet scientists theorize that numerous anaphasic lifeforms may have traveled to Caldos II with their human hosts. Certainly, the highly traditional and romantic Caldosian culture seems tailor-made to support such beings. The discovery of Ronin has led to an upsurge in "ghost" sightings: If the wildest estimates are all accurate, nearly every house on Caldos has its own anaphasic lifeform. (TNG: "Subrosa")
Reference(s)
- Cambias, James, et al. Planets of the UFP: A Guide to Federation Worlds, Last Unicorn Games, 1999. ISBN: 0671040065.