Sigma Iotia II

File:Sigmaiotiaii.jpg Sigma Iotia II Astronomical Location Quadrant Beta Physical Characteristic Classification M Surface Gravity 0.9g Rotational Period 19 hours Moons One Additional Information Affiliation Federation Native Race(s) Iotian Population 900 million Iotians

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Sigma Iotia II is the second planet of the Sigma Iotia system, located in the Beta Quadrant. It is home to the Iotians, a similarly Human species with some minor internal differences. Sigma Iotia is a Type K V main-sequence orange star 100 lightyears from Canopus. Near, though not inside, both the Klingon and Romulan Neutral Zones, only sheer chance let the Iotians' first contact be with the relatively benign U.S.S. Horizon. During the 24th century, Sigma Iotia established itself as the center of a fairly good-sized smuggling network with significant contacts with the Orion Syndicate at the outer, spinward edges. The Transtator Revolution and its consequences shook out during the late 23rd century, although individual Iotian mobs occasionally make trouble even into the 24th century and beyond.

In 2168 (before the Prime Directive was established), the USS Horizon (NCC-176) visited the planet, leaving behind several texts and manuals on how to make radio sets. This contaminated the inhabitants development lineage. But a book called Chicago Mobs of the Twenties would cause for more damage. The Iotians considered it a manual to the perfect society, and adopted the book's details into every aspect of their culture. The Horizon was lost shortly after leaving the planet, leaving behind only ancient radio calls for help.

One hundred years later, the U.S.S. Enterprise was ordered to investigate some of those distress calls. What they found was the entire planet mimicking Prohibition-era Chicago. The crew felt obliged to correct the contamination, but had limited results.

During the mid-24th Century, the Federation had covertly slipped in cultural specialists and sociologists in further efforts to correct the problem.

Climate

An essentially Earth-like Class-M world, Iotia has slightly more extreme weather thanks to a higher radiation output from its star, a faster rotation period (the Iotian day is 19 hours long, although the Iotians divide it into 24 hours now), and the somewhat smaller oceans (which increase wet-dry air contrast). Most of the planet is temperate, although very tectonically active. Few Iotian cities survive even one or two centuries without suffering at least one major earthquake or fire; some Starfleet anthropologists theorize that this relatively high disaster regime may have been the evolutionary pressure that drove the Iotians' strong imitative faculties. Others claim that the Iotian brain-eye system processes "pack" information differently from humans, pointing out the extreme ease with which trends spread across the planet. Still other scholars believe the so-called "Iotian imitative ability" is nothing more than the severe cultural shock caused by a sloppy first contact.

Geography & History

Iotia has four major continents and two minor ice-capped ones at the poles. Before the arrival of the Horizon in 2168, the natives of the second-largest temperate-zone continent, Ekal, had reached their industrial revolution and set about conquering the other three; only Landek (the smaller southern-hemisphere continent) successfully resisted. Clans in Ekal soon warred over the spoils from Egaph (the largest temperate-zone continent) and Uil (a resource-rich tropical continent) and had managed to balkanize the government of all three continents. Landek was preparing a war of conquest itself when the Federation arrived. The Horizon's first contact team consulted various political science texts to understand the complex and fluid system in Ekal, and found the closest parallel in Earth gang warfare. Unfortunately, the Horizon left a research copy of Chicago Mobs of the Twenties (first published in New York City in 1992) behind after forcing the Iotians into a truce.

The various clans competed to build the more advanced tools and weapons, and soon Iotia was once again on the verge of global warfare. However, following the pattern the Iotians derived from "The Book," they decided to build a common capital along a major clan boundary in southern Ekal. There they would fight things out in the ritualized fashion of Chicago mobsters rather than in devastating world conflict. This agreement lasted for fifty or so years, until by the 2260s, the world was once more on the brink of war when Bela Oxmyx made his bid for global power using the resources of northern Ekal and Egaph. Jojo Krako of Landek (and his "boys" in southern Ekal) fought him off and the U.S.S. Enterprise arrived in 2268 just as both sides drew breath for the next confrontation. Like Captain Kenzie of the Horizon before him, Captain Kirk enforced a truce through superior firepower. He also attempted to use Iotian pack mentality and imitative behavior to forge a planetary union centered on himself and the Federation. Unfortunately, the Federation's later diplomatic teams were not up to the task of maintaining Kirk's negotiating position, to say nothing of collecting the Federation's 33% "cut" of planetary production. During the Klingon crises of the late 2280s and early 2290s, the annual "visit from upstairs" ceased.

Starfleet's job was made still harder by the accidental loss of a Federation communicator during the Enterprise mission. The Iotians disassembled it and discovered the secret of the translator, a key element in all Federation technology. Fortunately, Iotian materials science was not up to exploiting the discovery at first, although the Iotian global communications, computer, and encryption systems made gigantic leaps forward. Ivor Nyris, the inheritor of Oxmyx' position as planetary boss, kept his "north side" ahead of the technological curve and threw the former "Fed cut" into space science and reasearch. By 2311, the Iotians had primitive ion drive systems and took advantage of the Romulan retreat into isolation to move into the power vacuum. Iotians picked up warp engines from Romulan wrecks, and began exploring and exploiting less-developed worlds. Although a few of the most die-hard, aggressive Iotians assemble gangs and try to move in on primitive planets as bosses, the standard Iotian operation involves smuggling (especially bootlegging Romulan ale into the Federation) and taking over organized crime rackets on other planets, since the Iotians know they are far from the top dogs in the Galaxy. So far. Over the last few decades, the Iotian Outfit has encountered the Ferengi, the Orion Syndicate, and the Andorian Vola Vrinia (known colloquially as the "Andorian mafia"); Iotia has hosted at least one interstellar gang summit. Starfleet Intelligence is torn between fears that the quadrant is about to erupt in gang warfare, and desire to "turn" the Iotian Outfit (which still loudly proclaims its pro-Federation patriotism to all and sundry) and exploit the Iotians' many underground contacts within Romulan space.

Places of Interest

The planetary capital, Chicago, is a close (though not exact) replica of the Earth city of Chicago circa 1928. It sits on an ocean, not a lake, and its river is much wider than Earth's Chicago River, but its buildings and streets are as accurate as Iotian devotion can make them. Those Iotians who have visited Chicago on Earth almost always pronounce themselves disappointed, although Iotian smugglers and forgers do excellent business in genuine Chicago manhole covers, building cornices, and so on. Against all odds, Iotia's artificial capital has actually succeeded in (more or less) unifying the planet, especially since every major Iotian clan has one or more wards in the city as its turf.