Hendar 0908 D'Arlee Quadrant

Circling an F3 V star in a small system of 2 planets and two planetoid belts, Hendar is a small, non-industrial world at the fringe of the system.  Its UWP of C151200-5 shows we have:

• Class C port. Somewhat surprising for the low tech, low population world. The League must have a port here for a reason. Looking at the J6 map, other than being almost dead-center of the League there does not appear to be a tactical reason I can think of off the the bat
• it is a tiny world, only 900 miles/1440 km in diameter. And with its low tech, grav plates are not sustainable outside the League-maintained port. Gravity is about 0.13 normal gravity. This has implications for people outside the port in terms of health. Though with a population of 300, perhaps they are all living at the port.
• It surprisingly has a thin atmosphere. No equipment is actually needed to breath. And it is in the Goldilocks zone, where the temperatures range from not-quite survivable to easy living.
• With water oceans covering perhaps 7% of the world, the port will be located near that for the fuel systems.
• Using the World Builders stuff built into the Heaven and Earth software, we see that the technology range is generally 5 to 6. Here's a handy chart of TLs to see what sort of thing is available. Basically, plastics are starting to become available, gasoline and the electric grid are there. Think 50s or so for the most part. 
• With a population of 300, and usually I place the port population as a different group of people, what are these people doing? Can a population of 300 actually maintain that level of technology?
• Interestingly, there is no government and no law level outside the port. Our 300 people are essentially anarchists, living outside any system.

Yes, random world generation can produce many interesting worlds and systems. 

The "Hippies of Hendar" are known throughout the League as a bunch of throw-back hippies. Yet they rely on the port and the traffic it has to help maintain their technologies. They live mostly off the grid, an easy task as the grid only covers the starport. They import their solar panels and filtration systems, but the rest they actually manage by themselves. In fact, Nathan Hillback is known for his forging prowess. His knives are sold throughout the League as best in class for handmade knives. In fact, his knives are often used in the Space Patrol for special commendations. There is also a native plant that gives a mild, euphoric response to most humans when smoked. While the Aslan are almost fatally allergic to it, Vargr merely sneeze and have no other response.

7% water can still give some pretty large water areas. Fractal Terrains allows me to adjust the world diameter and the hydrosphere. This is one that came up and I liked it. Then added some clouds and mapped to a sphere with the 35% incline it has. Then I need to drop that into a system map because, well, that's what I like to do even if no one else ever will use it. Or even see it outside this blog most likely (yeah, I don't subscribe to the MOAR principle [Map Only As Needed])

Now to figure out where the port will live, and the commune or two of hippies. It also sets up some interesting trade good ideas that may not be from the books. After all, what is the use of custom worlds if you don't have custom trade goods? 

Looking through some of the results from Heaven & Earth, it is interesting that the only trade good it came up with was paper currency. Which also can explain why there IS a starport here. There is a certain deciduous tree that grows only on Hendar. The port, being an official League port, also contains the pulp mill and processing plants to generate the paper currency used in lieu of Imperial credits. While most of the systems do accept both, there is a surcharge on the credit, so most people use the fiat currency. The paper used can't be counterfeited without the paper from Hendar. 

I'll have to modify the class C port to have a high security area, off limits to pretty much anyone who does not work there. It also raises a question: if you are transporting 8 tons (8x14 = 120 cubic meters!) of paper currency (and assuming a good chunk is actually secured containers) that is valued at Cr52,000 for transport but is actually worth trillions of credits most likely, what do you do? It just does not seem that random merchant will be allowed to buy and transport that cargo. But there it is. 

Hendar of course has other products. Going by the Mongoose rules there are always some basic cargoes based on the world type that are always available. With a population of 300, I'm going to nerf that and instead come up with some custom cargos. Very small (1-6 tons max) as this is a small population.

Available lots:

• 1 ton custom knives, Cr75,000 base price. Each knife comes with a custom sheath and a certificate signed by Nathan. They are each enclosed in a hand-crafted wooden box, made from those same trees that the paper currency is made from. Each sells for Cr1000 to Cr6000 on the open market, and there are 500 knives per ton (figuring a case of 0.5x0.2x0.2 meters = 0.02 meters. Theoretically 700 could fit but I am adding some packaging to keep the cases safe, and 500 is an easier number to deal with. And honestly, not sure how long it would take 1 guy to make 500 knives, but if he was working close to full time and had a more assembly line approach, I assume he could get a few done. I'll have to ask my friendly knife maker as he would actually know).
• 1d6 tons of herbs, Cr60,000/ton. The good stuff. Possibly illegal on some worlds. Cargo code 2326793-02167515-[915 984 8Y]-(2) on each of the containers. Each is somewhat less than a full ton, and there are up to 10 of them available. 

Other than that, this small, non-industrial world really needs to import more than it can generally export. It is really only by the currency creation part of the port that Hendar is even visited by ships. 

This also gives us a reason for one of the passengers, maybe both: currency inspectors. Making sure that all the i's are dotted and t's crossed. Yes, I think I'll go with that. My next solo story will expand on that and give some of the history in sutu I think. 

And a chance to break out 101 Cargos and create the cargo code for that plant as mentioned above. One of these I'll go back and write a code generator for this. Probably a command line version so in theory it should be able to run on a Mac as well as Windows.

This goes in the format abcdefg-hijklmno-[p]-(q) for a really long code. Going through that list, we get:

• a = container type. We'll go with a type 2, enclosed and secured. 2
• b = container size. These don't always seem to match a nice even tonnage. A type 3 is 3x3x1 meter and we'll go with that flat cargo, so that they can be stacked. This is also about .64 tons for internal storage we'll say 0.6dTons. 3 
• c = container mass. The codes are not really fine-tuned as some of the ranges are considerable. For our purposes, a 2 (10-100kg) will work: this does not have to be an impressively sturdy container. 2
• d = atmospheric range, or the maximum the container can have during transit. It maps to the UWP atmosphere code basically, so we'll go with 6 for dense. 6
• e = temperature range, the recommended temp. As we've a relatively flimsy container, going with 7 for 20 degrees C.7
• f = humidity range. Coming from a planet with 7% liquid water, I imagine the humidity there is low. This is a straight 1= 10%, 2=20%, etc thing. Having no real idea, I'll go with 90% humidity is the max, else some sort of rot may occur. 9
• g = gravity range, or maximum gravity for the external container. Where 0 = 0G, 1 = 1G, etc. Being somewhat flimsy, it can probably get to 3 Gs before compression may have some adverse effects. 3
• h = cargo type. There are codes for solid, liquid, etc. Not sure where plants go, though C = live flora. Is it still alive? Going with no, and I guess 0 = solid is closest? 0
• i = number of items. How much is each 3x3x1 container broken into smaller packages? Going with a 1x1x1m internal container we have 9, which is code 2
• j = mass of each item in (i) above. 1 = 1-10kg so that works: 1
• k = atmospheric range for the actual cargo. Same as for the container, or 6
• l = temperature max for actual cargo, and again we'll stick with the same range or 7
• m = humidity range. A bit lower than the container holding the containers. I'll say 5 for 50% or bad things may happen to our happy herbs 5
• n = gravity range for the cargo, The plants themselves don't do well if compressed, so we'll leave this as 1 as they are coming from a planet with 0.1Gs 1
• o = em range. There are codes for ranges it should not be exposed to, or required. Gong with X-Rays will mess up the internal structures. 5
• p = hazard codes. While Aslan are deadly allergic to this, no one else is. Technically this makes this a biohazard. 915 = allergic reactions for Vargr, 984 = may cause death for Aslan. Also, it is flammable so we also have 8Y for flammable above 100C. [915 984 8Y] 
• q is special handling, and with our flimsy external container made on a light G world, a 2 indicates don't stack heavier things on top.

Resulting cargo code: 2326793-02167515-[915 984 8Y]-(2).  Hopefully Malik will look at those hazard codes, as well as the handling codes, when loading this cargo if they get it