Capella IV
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Capella IV (Kohath in the native language) is the fourth planet of the Capella system, located between Earth and the Klingon Empire and the only inhabited world there. It is home of the Capellans, a physically powerful humanoid race that live in Ten Tribes. The planet is mountainous, with broad sweeping plains and grasslands in between the ranges. Its landmasses are connected by long, narrow isthmuses that span great oceans. It is known for its large amounts of rare topaline (which is vital to the life-support systems of Federation colonies) and fearsome Capellan power-cats.
A world of brutal extremes, both in climate and inhabitants, Capella IV is a testament to how much a civilization can change when Federation take hold. The Federation made contact with the Capellans in the early 2250s and followed that up with both a mining survey and medical expedition a couple of years later. In 2267, Capt. Kirk was sent to the planet to secure mining rights and succeeded in beating out the Klingon competition. (The Original Series: "Friday's Child") By the 24 the century, there are even Capellans in Starfleet.
A mere 42 lightyears from Earth, Capella is actually a close pair of Type G III yellow giants (Capella A and B) orbiting each other at only 0.73 AU. In addition to its 11 planets, Capella has two more companion stars, both small red dwarves (Capella C and D) orbiting at extreme distances (11,000 AU). Capella is in the Alpha Quadrant; the Klingon missions here were among the closest approaches Klingon forces ever made to the Federation core worlds.
Climate
Orbiting two yellow giants, Capella IV receives a lot of solar radiation, which raises the temperature even in the relatively mild northern hill country. Capella IV's seas have a chronic red algal bloom that also contributes to high planetary heat, since the tiny plants prevent truly efficient water circulation on the world. This also leads to Capella IV's generally dry, arid climate. Even coastal lowlands will often be nothing more than scrub beaches rather than jungles or estuarial forests.
Geography
Capella IV has three major seas. The largest, Ashira, straddles the equator. The smallest sea, Gesher, lies far from the other two in the center of a large, hard-baked desert. Most of Capella's population lives around Ashira and Zanr in the somewhat less arid coastal piedmonts; between the two seas in the north is a long range of relatively well-watered hills and eroded mountains, the Vako Highlands. Here, the Ten Tribes of Capella's semi-nomadic warrior aristocracy live and war with each other, occasionally extending their power out over the seacoasts and their towns.
Civilization
The thin agricultural margins on Capella IV create a culture of scarcity; most of the coastal and farming settlements remain xenophobic and hostile to outsiders. They may have good reason for this attitude, given their normal status as raiding targets for or tributary subjects of the Ten Tribes. The Ten Tribes must maintain very strict warrior codes to be able to keep control of the Ashira and Zanr piedmonts, which outnumber the Ten Tribes by a population factor of 20 to 1. Capellan warriors use the kligat, a kind of edged boomerang, as their primary ranged weapon; few Capellan trees make particularly good bows. Within the Ten Tribes, strength and warrior's skills are valued above all else; the Capellans are taller and stronger than humans on the average, and the Vako tribesmen are taller and stronger still (thanks to a higher protein diet from nomadic herding). For example, Capellans traditionally reject medical treatment; only the strong should survive, they think. Keeping a weak, sickly, or wounded warrior alive robs the tribe not only of the injured party, but also of whoever must care for him. Fortunately, the Capellans can ignore a prodigious amount of pain.
Additionally, an intricate web of traditions surround pregnancies and marriage; in order to ensure clear transmission of tribal inheritance, any man who touches another man's wife must be challenged and fought to the death. Should a tribal leader die, his wife must also die if pregnant, to avoid succession fights that might splinter the tribe. The need for tribal unity causes Capellan tribesmen to react like pack animals; any challenge or show of force is considered a declaration of open enmity and vendetta to be crushed with immediate force. In general, Capellan tribesmen consider combat far more important (and, they claim in epic poetry) more pleasant than love. This, unfortunately for the Federation, means the average Capellan sees more to admire in the Klingons than in even Starfleet's finest officers. Only the given word of their Teer's regent keeps them from reopening talks with the Klingon Empire.
Not all Capellan traditions are as disquieting to Federation sensibilities: Capellan tribesmen are scrupulously honest, and never betray their given word. The immensely discriminating (and sensitive) Capellan sense of smell means that Capellans keep very clean; it also allows them to create very beautiful art blending color, design, and perfume using Capella IV's gorgeous desert flowers as the medium. Capellans also have a strong hospitality tradition and they revile those who betray or injure guests.
History
The sole source of Capellan history before the planet's discovery in 2188 by the U.S.S. Argonaut is the epic poetry of the Ten Tribes. According to the Lay of the Mountaintops, the gods placed the Capellans (led by ten sons of gods) on the tops of the mountains thousands of years ago. Those who went downhill, to the seacoasts, deserted the gods and the ways of sacred warfare and were punished by sickness and blight. The mountain dwellers fought among themselves until the great warrior Teer unified them into the confederation of the Ten Tribes; ever since, the leader of the Ten Tribes has been known as the "Teer" of "High Teer."
Federation anthropologists are unsure what to make of this tradition; one school of thought believes that the Preservers or Sargon's people seeded the Capellans on their planet, like many other species were. The primitive algae in the seas has few evolutionary relatives among the land plants and animals. The question would have remained academic, and Capella under the general quarantine applied to primitive worlds, until two nearly simultaneous events: the discovery of Capella IV's rich topaline mines, and the beginning of Klingon infiltration of the planet.
In 2259, the U.S.S. Constitution remapped and resurveyed Capella IV using new spectrographic and geological sensors. Capella IV turned out to have rich, easily-accessible veins of topaline, a rare mineral vital for colony life-support systems. The Klingon Empire, which was expanding its own colonial presence then, sent agents to Capella IV to infiltrate the planet and secure the topaline mining rights. Klingon operatives worked to sow discontent among the Ten Tribes in hopes of providing assistance to a pliable native ruler who would invite them onto the planet as "advisors" and, eventually, occupiers of a crucially strategic star less than 50 lightyears from Earth. In 2267, the Klingons' ally Maab killed the High Teer Akaar, but timely intervention by Captain Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise allowed Akaar's infant son, Leonard James Akaar, to become Teer with his mother Eleen as regent. She signed a mining rights agreement with the Federation, which effectively ended the Klingons' chances of taking over Capella. However, repeated Klingon attempts to subvert Eleen's regency or kill the young Teer kept Capella boiling until the Khitomer Accords and High Teer Leonard James Akaar's coming-of-age in 2293.
Places of Interest
In its early heyday, Capella IV had little to offer the casual visitor - a misstep among the tribesmen is a sure invitation to a one-sided fight, and the planet hosts only unassuming scrub without any sort of civilized features or archaeological treasures. It's not until after the incident with the Enterprise that the planet became worth visiting. With the advent of the Teer Leonard James Akaar, the Capellan tribes were forced to show respect to the Federation. While this forces an uneasy set of pullbacks in relations with the Klingons, many of the Capellans keep ties with their "warrior brethren." By the 24th century, Capella IV holds Federation outposts and the beginnings of technological improvements; crewmembers might visit the cultural embassy on Capella IV, and also visit the Klingon equivalent of the same. While the Klingons never managed to exploit Capella's mineral wealth, by the time they became allies of the Federation, they managed to arrange for a permanent base on the world. This provides no end of cultural exchange, as Federation and Klingon citizens learn to get along (and fight!) aside the warlike, yet forward-looking, Capellans.
Reference(s)
- Burns, Eric, Kenneth A. Hite & Doug Sun. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 7: Worlds, Decipher, 2005. ISBN: 1582369097.