Parkworld

Overview

Parkworld is a non-autonomous member world of the Emissariate of Bolusca. This status means it is entirely under Emissariate jurisdiction and does not have its own planetary goverment structure.

Planetary Characteristics

Parkworld is a class B world, 15 parsecs rimward of Bolusca. Its primary is a main sequence G8 star, spectrally almost identical to Bolusca's primary. There are several other planets in the system, but none are inhabited.

Parkworld's gravity, atmosphere, climate range, and other characteristics important to life, are almost identical to those found on Bolusca (which is why the world has the rare class B designation).

Native flora and fauna is very diverse, and there are plentiful food sources compatible with Boluscan metabolism. There are few large predators, and those that do exist have been confined to specific areas, where they cannot pose a threat to Boluscan colonists. There is no native sentient life.

History

Parkworld was one of the first worlds surveyed by the early Boluscan explorers, and the most completely Boluscan-like of the first wave of discoveries. Compared with the heavily populated, industrialised, and polluted Bolusca of the time, it appeared like a paradise, and was widely reported as such to a Boluscan population hungry for news of interstellar discoveries. There were many voices calling for mass colonisation to begin as soon as practically possible.

The Meg of the time, however, had other thoughts. And as the Meg had supreme authority in the early Boluscan empire, it was his plan that was adopted. The plan was: preserve the planet as it was, an untouched wilderness, and limit colonisation to the tiny numbers that were compatible with this approach.

What this meant in practice was that the Meg built a "summer palace" on Parkworld, and the only colonists were his hand-picked household staff and elite guard batallions.

As cycles passed, it became prudent for successive Megs to allow other colonists access to the world. This invariably meant the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful members of society to whom the Megs owed favours.

With the fall of the old empire and the rise of the democratic Emissariate, the question of Parkworld became very problematic. The world had been carved up into more than two dozen vast estates that had been passed down through the generations of their founding families, and this didn't sit well with the general population of the Emissariate, for whom a life on the fabled paradise planet suddenly seemed to be an attainable dream. On the other side of the question were a cabal of very powerful Boluscans determined to keep their privileged positions and their share of paradise. Following excessive lobbying and careful media control, the status quo of Parkworld as the private playground of the ultra-rich was preserved.

The current permanent population of Parkworld is typically less than 20,000, though the number fluctuates greatly as few of the estate owners make it their permanent residence. The population is almost entirely Boluscan, with minority Emissariate species barely represented.

Infrastructure

There is a small orbital port facility with a disproportionatly strong military presence (four system gunboats, and typically one or more jump-capable fleet units also present when the Meg is in residence). Most of the estate owners keep private yachts in orbit.

Access to Parkworld is strictly controlled. Incoming freight must be unloaded at the port, where privately owned shuttles transfer it to the relevant estate.

There are approximately 30 private estates, mostly separated by distances of hundreds or even thousands of kilometres. Each estate has its own shuttle port, and it is assumed that most have teleport facilities. All will have private security forces of some description, with the exception of the Meg's summer palace, which is protected by Fleet marines. The palace, and probably most of the other estates, can be protected from attack by force-field domes.