Baldur is a primordial world, with little free oxygen in the
atmosphere and vast chains of volcanoes spew ash and poisonous gases into
the air. It is only through human ingeniuity that life is sustained. The Baduri
lived in vast underwater cities, on man made islands, and above it all in
orbital habitats. The Collapse threatened all of these. The Virus crashed
the orbital habitats into the sea, threatened to open the airlocks on the
subsurface cities, and tried to capsize the floating islands. It was only
through relentless effort, and great technical skill, that all life on the
planet was saved from destruction. The Balduri know that life hangs by a
thread, and the only thing between the RC and screaming chaos is the will
to survive.
Baldur's government, though classed as a Feudal Technocracy, could be better
classed as just a Technocracy. The Council of Science runs all of Baldur's
resources vital to Baldur's development. A democratically elected assembly
runs non-essential aspects of planetary life, such as tourism, Law
Enforcement, etc. The assembly can also raise points to be discussed by the
Council of Science.
Many of L'Steich's Corporations survive in some form on Baldur. The largest
is the Hellenic Trade and Transport Corporation, which controls a large
slice of Baldur's merchant fleet. Ships include 2x 20,000 ton colony vessels
some Tukera Freighters, Frontier Transports, Bulk Carriers, and many Liners,
Subsidized Merchants, and Far Traders. Many ships were rated for J-3 and J-2
as it is impossible to make the Journey from L'Steich to it's former colonies
of Bestor and Baldur in a J-1 vessel (unless you want to arrive with little
maneuvering juice).
Baldur has access to a large number of vessels due to the fact that both it
and L'Steich had time to prepare for the onset of the virus. Many on L'Steich
evacuated to it's lower tech colony world when it became obvious that L'Steich
couldn't survive. Many evacuation ships didn't arrive, many that did limped
into orbit, some could be brought up to operating standards and are used by
Baldur today. Those that couldn't sit in the Mothball fleet, just above
Geostationary orbit - most gutted by the Proctors for equipment to keep
Baldur alive through the collapse.
Their Starport is impressive. Though only C-Class, it had to handle the
colonists who arrived in droves from L'Steich every year, and service the
vessels they came on. Half-Starport, half-colony, it's accomodations were
huge, designed to accomodate 100,000 people, and originally built at TL-9, it
was sufficiently primitive enough to survive the collapse.
RC politics. Though Centrist, and a close ally of Oriflamme, the Baldur
goverment is becoming increasingly estranged from Oriflamme. They suspect
their Technarchs are bypassing the Auction, and denying them the equipment
their planet needs to survive and prosper. They are also angry at the way
Oriflamme is treating their Colony on Poyzen as a dumping ground for
Oriflammen malcontents. Deep down they despise the Technarchs, the Council of
Science runs Baldur in order to survive, unlike their Oriflammen counterparts
who enrich themselves at their planet's expense.
If the Council can get evidence of Oriflamme breaching the Auction, they
intend to use it as a lever to get Oriflamme to support the upgrading of their
starport to B-class, as they fear a loss in Auction trade when Oriflamme's
port reaches A-class and Nike Nimbus's port reaches B-class. They hope their
colony on Poyzen will be sucessful, and that trade down through L'Steich to
Poyzen will eventually make it economic to re-develop their homeworld, which
they consider Baldur territory, along with Bestor.
