Throneworld

Overview

Throneworld is the capital world of the Kingdom of High Illona. It is situated 1800 parsecs from the Boluscan border and 1400 parsecs from the Krai border.

Planetary Characteristics

In Boluscan terms, Throneworld is a class B- planet. It orbits an unremarkable G4 primary at a distance of 1 BU. Its atmosphere is lower in oxygen than Bolusca's, but its climate is very similar. The gravity is 0.8 of Boluscan standard. The surface is 71% ocean, and the world supports a very diverse and mature ecosystem with flora and fauna that is genetically similar to Boluscan lifeforms.

Throneworld has a relatively small population for a mature civilization, slightly under one billion, and consisting almost entirely of native High Illonans. Almost all the population lives in a number of domed megacities, each surrounded by parklands and vast wilderness areas. Though the world has considerable mineral resources, there is no mining and almost no heavy industry.

History

The first records of a civilization on Throneworld (though the world did not gain that name until long after) are dated over 10,000 Boluscan cycles ago, long before an equivalent civilization arose on Bolusca, and approximately concurrent with Atlantean civilization on Earth. Technology advanced more slowly than on Bolusca, and it took 8000 cycles for Throneworld to reach its atomic age. At that time, the planet was politically fractured, and dominated by two military superpowers. Inevitably, the superpowers clashed, and an atomic war ensued.

The devastation was almost total, but a small, enlightened group of scientists, who called themselves High Illonans (referring to a school of ancient philosophy from their history), preserved the planet's flora, fauna, and a small population, in underground shelters. Generations passed underground, until the invention of radiation dampers allowed the population to re-emerge and begin the process of rebuilding the planet's ecosystem.

During the underground sojourn, the scientists' democratic government had changed into rule by hereditary monarchy, which the High Illonans found to be an eminently suitable and logical system for enlightened rule. The monarchy exists in a basically unchanged fashion to this day. The high proportion of scientists in the population also meant that technological progress was rapid while underground, and the emergent population was already on the verge of space travel, the only thing holding them back being a relatively small population, and the need to focus on making their world habitable again.

The population spread rapidly over the surface, however, and took their first tentative interstellar steps 1000 cycles ago. Finding many nearby worlds suitable for life, they began a careful process of colonization, exploitation, and funneling of resources back to their home world, which was now being called Throneworld.

Throneworld is now home to the royal family and the elite of High Illonan society, and is kept in a carefully pristine condition.