Key to the entries in "Forty Exotic Worlds"

They aren’t. “Neurotechnical rehabilitation” is widely used at high DL (amounting to mindwipe at moderate DL). Some colonies use it only for heinous crimes, some only for serious felonies, some only for felonies, some only for felonies and misdemeanours; Todos Santos uses it for infractions. But I plan to note its use rather than its non-use, mostly because it will seem exotic to players.

One difficulty here is that I intend a great deal of variation from world to world. Laws against indecency and blasphemy will be common, as will cruel and unusual punishments, mandated observances, strange incest laws (for and against), bans of certain drugs and recreations, strict restrictions on weapons and vehicles, restrictions of choice of sex partners and bans of sexual practices, strange court procedures, grotesque penalties.

It seems to me that there is no way to adopt a reference plane that would simplify and shorten the the world descriptions, so there is no advantage (and a danger of confusion) in adopting one that would require an involved description.

I have a new draft of the “Legal quirks” entry, for your delectation:

Legal quirks

The world’s laws, law enforcement bodies, courts, and punishments are noted here. The notes may be amplified in the running text.

For brevity (and not because these customs are standard) no mention will be made of laws against harming, endangering, or threatening a person or public interest, or against stealing or damaging property; nor of the existence of uniformed police keeping order and separate detectives investigating crimes; nor of trials conducted by a magistrate or a panel of judges following an investigative procedure; nor of fines for minor offences and terms incarceration for greater crimes. It will be noted if sporting weapons are banned or if carry in public is allowed.

With this addition, I can live with it. I just was bothered by the seeming suggestion that the future would be just like the present . . .

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Thank you. It is of great value to me to be told that I am giving such a suggestion when I don’t mean to.

How’s this?

“One exception is that “theocratic” describes any state ruled by a theory that officials get to interpret but that they dare not blame for its failures—even if the theory is ostensibly not a religious doctrine.”

Or this:

“One exception: “theocratic” qualifies a state of which the rulers get their legitimacy from being the interpreters of an official doctrine that they must adhere to and cannot blame for any failures it causes—even if that theory is not a religious doctrine.”

Some minor revisions:

“One exception: “theocratic” describes a state whose rulers get their legitimacy from being the interpreters of an official doctrine that they cannot blame for any failures it causes—even if that theory is not a religious doctrine.”

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Righto. I’ve made a few little changes. For example, I have noted Earth’s value for several of the data. Down to 2,168 words even with the additions.

I’m starting to worry that uninhabitable land area ought to be excluded when calculating the population density, which means it’s time that I went on to something else.

I could add perhaps 300 words to this if there were some need to.


About the Entries

Each of the descriptions that follow starts with a column of data in a standard format, and follows it with several columns of running text.

The main section of the running text particularises the geography, society, economy, and government indicated by the tabbed data, roughly in that order. Most worlds have some peculiarity that will not fit into or allow a strict structure to the text descriptions. These work their way in where they fit. The second section is headed “Attractions”, and describes a handful of remarkable or well-known places on the world that might interest visitors or reveal something about the locals. The third section gives an example of the typical content of popular media in the main culture, indicating the social concerns in the stories that the culture tells itself. Finally, there is a paragraph on the scale and nature of Imperial activities on the world.

Key to the tabbed data

Star

An identifier for the star that the world orbits — one of its common names if it has any, otherwise a Bayer-Flamsteed designation, or a catalogue number. That’s followed by the star’s spectral class, the star’s distance from Sol in light-years, and its approximate direction (the constellation that it appears in seen from Earth). Finally, in parentheses, the administrative sector that it is in Flat Black.

Planet

The ordinal number of the inhabited planet, counting outwards from the star it orbits, as a Roman numeral. For an inhabited moon the ordinal number of the planet that it orbits followed by a letter (“a”, “b”, “c” etc.) indicating its ordinal position in the planet’s system of moons.

Diameter

The mean diameter of the inhabited world, in kilometres and as a proportion of the mean diameter of Earth, D♁.

Gravity

The acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the world, in SI units (m/s²) and as a proportion of Earth’s surface gravity, g♁.

Day

The duration in hours of the world’s apparent day, i.e. from noon to noon according to the apparent motion of the sun. For a tidally locked world, “not applicable” is listed.

Year

The period of the world’s orbit around its sun, or, for inhabited moon, the period of the orbit of the planet that it orbits. The figure is given in local days (or in hours if the local day is undefined) and as a proportion of Earth’s year a♁.

Atmosphere

The first figure is the total barometric pressure at mean sea level (or other datum elevation), and the second is the partial pressure of oxygen. Both are given in bar, i.e. as a proportion of Earth’s barometric pressure. 1 bar is approximately 101 kPa.

Humans need at least about 0.1 bar of oxygen in the air they breathe, and suffer toxic effects when breathing more than about 0.4 bar. Earth’s air contains 0.21 bar of oxygen.

Atmospheric scale height

The increase in altitude that reduces the barometric pressure by a factor of 1/e (i.e. to 37%). It determines the altitude limits of breathable air and aerodynamic flight. Earth’s atmosphere scale height is 8.5 kilometres.

Oceans

The percentage of the world’s surface that is covered by water, including oceans and lakes that are frozen over or frozen through, but not ice sheets. Earth is 71% covered by water.

Tides

The range (not amplitude) of the equilibrium tide in deep water at the equator, total for all tidal components, in metres. This is a theoretical figure that gets modified by local resonance effects, which are large. It should be treated as an indicator of tidal forcing. The figure for Earth is about 1.78 m.

Climate

The average surface temperature of the world, in Celsius. The figure for Earth is 15°C. Note that the temperature in the tropics (or at the subsolar point of a tide-locked planet) is warmer (15°C warmer, on Earth) and that the polar regions (or the night side of a tide-locked planet) are colder (by 20°C or more, on Earth). Human settlement is practically confined to areas with annual average temperature in the range 0–30°C.

In the description in parentheses, “very cold” describes a planet with isolated regions of unfrozen territory near the equator. “Cold”: a belt all round the equator is free from ice. “Cool”: there are large polar ice-sheets. “Temperate”: there are small ice-sheets at the poles. “Mild”: there are habitable temperatures from pole to pole. “Warm”: a band around the equator averages above 30°C. “Hot”: a wide band of low latitudes is too hot for human settlement. “Very hot”: only the polar regions have average annual temperatures below 30°C.

Illumination

The brightness of full sunshine on the world, in the visible band, as a proportion of the value for Earth. Low light limits the effectiveness of photosynthesis and hence the productivity of ecosystems and agriculture. High figures suggest a need for sunglasses and shady hats, but the human visual system is so good at accommodating to low light that people would not notice low values: no inhabited world his sunlight as dim as in TV studio lighting.

Colour correction in the human visual system is so aggressive that no-one would notice even the redness of the sunlight of an M-type sun or the blueness of an A-type sun. They are not so red as a “warm white” nor so blue as a “cool white” fluorescent light.

Spaceport

In the spaceport code, the number indicates the total volume of traffic at the planet’s spaceport or spaceports, on a logarithmic scale. A scale 0 spaceport handles less than one cargo container per 24 hours. Scale 1 indicates at least one but less than ten cargo containers per 24 hours, and so on. A scale 4 spaceport handles thousands of containers per 24 hours, a scale 5 port, myriads.

The letter N indicates that there are no service facilities for orbital lighters. Landing craft may be stored in orbit and fuelled and serviced by crew of the starships that use them, or starships must carry their own lighters. That makes orbital launch and landing expensive. G indicates that there are service and fuelling facilities for lighters on the ground, and that lighters in steady use, based on the world, rendezvous with ships in orbit. O indicates the presence of an orbital port facility where passengers and cargos can be assembled for quick loading, unloading, embarkation, and disembarkation. T indicates some sort of infrastructure for non-rocket launch to orbit, such as a rotorvator or launch loop, allowing very cheap freight.

Escape speed

The delta-vee required for a rocket to climb from the surface and escape the world’s gravity, in kilometres per second, disregarding planetary rotation, air drag, steering losses, wastefully low thrust, etc. Earth’s escape speed is 11.1 km/s. The minimum orbital speed is 0.707 times escape speed.

Low orbit

The first value is the altitude above sea level or reference ground height of the lowest practical circular orbit (that in which a satellite will not face excessive air resistance), in kilometres. The second is the period of such an orbit, and thus the shortest possible period of an observation satellite or spaceship making rendezvous with orbital lighters.

Low Earth orbit has minimum altitude 150 kilometres, period 89 minutes.

Population

The human and parahuman population of the world. Worlds in Flat Black seldom have significant populations of AI robots or sapient aliens.

Density

The average density of population in inhabitants per square kilometre of land surface. Land surface that is not arable is included, for a very hot, hot, cold, or very cold climate a low figure can represent a moderate or high density of population in a small inhabited area, balanced by enormous tracts of uninhabitable ice-sheet or torrid tropical waste. Earth’s population density in 2020 was 52.6/km².

The following line gives a brief description of the settlement structure.

Households

A brief description of the groups of people that typically occupy a dwelling together. Where there are several distinct modes a few may be listed, but the focus will be on the lives of working-age adults. There are sometimes elaborate differences according to occupation and stage of life; these are treated in the running text.

Social units

A brief description of the groups of people that typically socialise together other than in their workplaces and homes. There are usually details that require treatment in the running text.

Social quirks

A list of the peculiarities of the cultural mainstream of the world, in somewhat telegraphic phrases that indicate highlights of the running text.

Values

The accomplishments and goals that the society admires people for achieving and (at least tacitly) approves of their pursuing. Locals are inclined to approve or at least condone acts done in pursuit of their society’s values.

Taboos

The acts or motives for which the society scorns people and of which it members tend to be ashamed. Locals act desperately to conceal any taboo acts or impulses that they do or feel, and attribute taboo acts and motives to their enemies.

Economy

The colony’s mode of production and means of allocation of goods and services; what type of economy it has.

Development level

No world in Flat Black is truly low tech, but economic development varies a lot. The DL of a world indicates how specialised its workers and equipment are, the methods of production in general use, and how sophisticated its products are. Highly developed worlds are usually wealthy, under-developed ones poor.

The scale runs from 0 (indicating that households are autarkic) to 8.5, and is logarithmic. Each +1 DL requires ten times as many specialised workers and ten times as many consumers to support the degree of specialisation involved. DL 8 or higher usually requires access to interstellar trade.

The methods of production in general use are indicated in parentheses.

Inequality

An informal, qualitative description of economic inequality in the colony.

Currency

The principal unit of the local currency. Sub-units are not described.

The “PPP” figure is the purchasing power of a unit of currency: its value when purchasing local services, perishable goods, non-movable property, and bulky goods with low value for their mass. PPP is given in standard value units. One SVU is the price of a prepared meal at a cheap eatery: say, a Big Mac, regular fries, sundae, and regular orange juice at McDonalds.

The “exchange” figure is the value of a currency unit in Imperial crowns, used for purchasing imports and tradable goods. ₢ 1 has a purchasing power of SVU 1 in Imperial orbital habitats, but is much more valuable in under-developed economies.

Government

The actual form of government on the world, disregarding such pretences as a dictatorship’s insistence that it be described as a democratic republic. The terms used are sometimes obscure, but they are standard. One exception: “theocratic” describes a state whose rulers get their legitimacy from being the interpreters of an official doctrine that they cannot blame for any problems it causes—even if that theory is not a religious doctrine.

Many worlds are divided into multiple states, and it is usually impractical to list each separately. The general situation will be briefly described.

Head of state

The official title of the head of state in the colony. Where there are several or many colonies with separate governments, but one title is widely used by the heads of several states, that may be given, or alternatives may be listed.

Some entries have a note in parentheses, which may briefly qualify the nature or powers of the office when the title gives an unclear or misleading impression. These notes are not part of the title, and sometimes indicate a fact that is not officially acknowledged.

Chief executive

Where the head of state is a figurehead, or has only formal or ceremonial functions, or where a confederacy or amphictyony has no central state to be legal head of, this entry indicates what person or group has effective control of the government or co-ordinates the co-operation of governments.

Legal quirks

The world’s laws, law enforcement bodies, courts, and punishments are noted here. The notes may be amplified in the running text.

For brevity (and not because these features are standard) no mention will be made of laws against harming, endangering, or threatening a person or public interest, or against stealing or damaging property; nor of the existence of uniformed police keeping order and separate detectives investigating crimes; nor of trials conducted by a magistrate or a panel of judges following an investigative procedure; nor of fines for minor offences and terms of incarceration for greater crimes. It will be noted if sporting weapons are banned or if carry in public is allowed.

Capital

The name of the colony’s official capital, if any. Where actual administration is conducted at some place other than the ceremonial capital, or remotely from scattered offices, that is noted in parentheses.

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“has”

Looking good!

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Just one substantive question that I’ve been wondering about: You say that sapient aliens are rare in the Flat Black setting. Does that mean some worlds have sapient aliens? Are they low-tech native populations, or visitors from more distant interstellar domains, or what?

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Some sort of ‘urbanization’ or ‘perceived population density’ descriptor is probably more useful to get across how the world feels to visit.

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I’m not sure if I agree with that. Even here on Earth, which has a rather high population density, you might land in Cairo or Manila, but you might also land in the English countryside, or in Wyoming, for a very different feel. The “feel” of the world could vary radically from place to place, even excluding the uninhabitable areas.

And whatever the overall population density, the spaceport will typically be in a place with a high population, for straightforward economic reasons.

I have abandoned the use of ForeSight spaceport codes, reckoning that the format of that line in the word descriptions gives me room for an intelligible description. I have replaced the text above with the following:

Spaceport

A world’s spaceports are rated by their combined volume of traffic, on a logarithmic scale. Scale 0 spaceports handle less than one cargo container per 24 hours. Scale 1 indicates at least one but less than ten cargo containers per 24 hours, and so on. Scale 4 spaceports handle thousands of containers per 24 hours, scale 5 ports, myriads.

No facilities means that orbital lighters cannot be fuelled or serviced on the world, though there might be regular landing places. Lighters may be stored in orbit and fuelled and serviced by the crew of visiting spaceships, or ships must carry their own. That makes orbital launch and landing expensive. Ground facilities indicates at least one spaceport with a permanent fleet of lighters that carry passengers and cargo to ships in orbit. Orbital facilities indicates the presence of terminal in orbit where passengers and cargos can be assembled for quick loading, unloading, embarkation, and disembarkation. Elevators indicates some sort of infrastructure for non-rocket launch, such as rotorvators or a launch loop.

I’m inclined to agree. There is still an ambiguity between a planet where the populace is spread widely but sparsely over the arable patches of land (at one extreme) and one where it occupies a circumscribed zone with room to expand beyond the frontier (at the other). And of course it is an error to take an average population density as a uniform population density: any planet might have equivalents of the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Darling Basin within its nominally populated area. Nevertheless a figure excluding the the uninhabitable latitudes gives more useful information about the settled areas that PCs may visit and travel through.

It’s just that estimating the bounds and areas of the habitable zones will be a chore.

Might it work better to give proportions of the population that live in rural and urban areas?

I’m happy enough with the entry on settlement structure. Can’t fit everything.

Fair enough.

I suppose what one really wants, at a Doylist level, is the clichéd idea of what the place is like. Planet A sets its media in the three-dimensional urban jungle, while planet B’s shows are all about how you survive to crawl 300 miles with a broken leg to get help from your nearest neighbour.

My aesthetic, at least, would be to avoid having “ice moons” and “swamp planets” and that sort of thing. Planets should have diversity. A setting where a planet can be summed up as supporting just one type of scenario is a setting I’d rather not use.

Yes, point taken. But I think that’s for the fuller textual description; in the short entry, one probably wants the way the majority of people live.

While the biomes in Flat Black are diverse across planets, I think part of the setting assumptions is culturally most planets are actually pretty homogeneous for both Doylist AND Watsonian reasons. Settlement patterns are influenced by both of course, which makes the whole thing harder.

On reflection, describing entire planets without a folder of maps (terrain, vegetation, climate, population, economic use, etc. etc.) is going to be sharply limited.

Is now

Social units

A brief description of the groups in which people socialise, the structures through which they take part in society. There are usually details that require treatment in the running text.