Virgo-Erigone, and Virgo Prime architecture and culture.

Discuss the details surrounding the station's lore and how things work in the universe. What is Redspace? Why does Phoron kill you? Why does Nanotrasen have a station where people eat each other? Are there any neat colonies or factions worth mentioning? Pitch your ideas and get feedback!
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Virgo-Erigone, and Virgo Prime architecture and culture.

Postby Aces » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:23 pm

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With me and my obsession of the Middle East, I've used a lot of Arabic and Persian influences when creating my vision of Virgo Prime.

Think of Mos Eisley on Tatooine from Star Wars. A variety of sentient creatures, none native to the lands, all living together on an arid temperate world. Although unlike Tatooine, Virgo Prime does have some shallow oceans. Not much can live in them due to high salinity and almost no oxygen producing algae. None native, anyway. The planet was terraformed only recently by Nanotrasen when they set up operation in the sector.

The star is located among the Virgo constellation, but is a dim star not visible by the naked eye from Earth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Virgo I haven't decided if it's one of these or if it's a star yet to be discovered today.

Since the star is within the patch of sky the Virgo constellation is in, Virgo-Erigone was the name given to the star when it was first colonized by Nanotrasen in 2553. In Greek mythology, Erigone was the daughter of Icarius of Athens. Icarius was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog Maera, found his body. Erigone hanged herself over her father's grave. Dionysus was angry and punished Athens by making all of the city's maidens commit suicide in the same way. Erigone was placed in the stars as the constellation Virgo. The system is most commonly referred to as 'Virgo' though by its inhabitants, due to it being a more familiar word than Erigone. So, Virgo just stuck. However the official name is Virgo-Erigone.

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Terraforming of Virgo-Erigone Prime lasted until July of 2557 before it was habitable without need for internals, and terraforming is still ongoing to this day with massive terraforming facilities that pump a mix of greenhouse and breathable gasses into the atmosphere by extracting it from the ground or by means of nuclear fusion which also doubles as a power source for the planet's settlements. Again though, everyone just calls it Virgo Prime. It is the 4th planet from the star. The first and largest settlement, An-Nur, was named after the Ayat an-Nur (Arabic: "the Sign of Light" or the Verse of Light) which is the 35th verse of the 24th sura of the Qur'an, Sura an-Nur. The verse is renowned for its remarkable beauty and imagery, and perhaps more than any other verse lends itself to mystical or esoteric readings of the Qur'an. "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp—the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star—lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it. Light upon light. Allah guides to His Light whomever He wishes. Allah draws parables for mankind, and Allah has knowledge of all things." The name was chosen by a Nanotrasen entrepreneur of Arabic descent from Earth, who chose the name and the reference behind it for its mentions of a glittering star and glass for An-Nur's proximity to an ocean which, with its clear shallow waters, shines the star like a mirror. Also referenced is the oil which 'almost lights up, thought fire should not touch it', which references the perfect conditions created by a red dwarf for making solid phorite possible to mine in the system. Ironically, this chapter of the Qur'an also has a lot to say about not cheating on your spouse, and this entrepreneur was later forced to resign after a scandal in 2556 in which he allegedly had inappropriate relations with a female Tajaran intern, unbeknownst to his wife. The incident ruined his reputation as a family man.

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The station orbits a yet unnamed planet that scientists refer to as a 'Phoron Giant'. It is the 3rd planet from the star and is dubbed plainly Virgo-Erigone 3. The planet's composition is almost entirely gaseous phoron. Due to alien artifacts discovered in the fragments of asteroids around the world, it is believed that there may have once been an ancient civilization in the star system that endured a great cataclysm which destroyed the planet entirely, leaving little remains. It probably existed as a binary planet system, or perhaps a moon with what is today Virgo Prime. Whatever it was, it blew up. The rings around Virgo Prime today are evidence of that, and so are the scattered fragments of asteroids around the system. No one really knows how or why, but these scattered remains exist throughout the star system, and it just so happens that this Phoron Giant captured a few chunks from their orbit around the star, which we now mine phoron off of. These remains have been confirmed to be well beyond the age of human civilization, and it is wondered if some may possibly even be older than Earth its self. However very little study has been done into the field of xenoarcheology because Nanotrasen's purpose in the system is only to mine phoron. Xenoarcheology is considered little more than a hobby by NT's management.

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Then there's this Venus-like planet. Completely uninhabitable. Totally covered in deserts. Thick atmosphere, but barren of life. At least it isn't drenched in acid rain and lava like Venus though. It was deemed impractical to terraform and is referred to only as Virgo-Erigone 2.

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Also Virgo-Erigone 1. Tidally locked with the star. It's half frozen, half blistering. Also totally impractical to put a space station in orbit without frying everyone. Probably has tons of phoronbut no one can get to it safely.

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Oh right I almost forgot. Virgo-Erigone 5. We don't go there anymore. The atmosphere is relatively toxic and the only known inhabitants are synthetics. All phoron mined in Virgo-Erigone ends up on Virgo-Erigone 5, where it is refined into a gaseous state and used for rocket fuel or sold abroad. The Syndicate used to have some bases here. Maybe they still do. Still, living there for over a month, breathing the raw atmosphere, would give you phoron poisoning and kill you.

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An-Nur Spaceport (from within)
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An-Nur Spaceport (from afar)
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