BARD PAPER: OPAL8691 | Home | Traveller | BARD | OPAL |
BARD PAPER: OPAL8691 | Home | Traveller | BARD | OPAL |
Shiiku is the fifth moon of the gas giant Meshidi. It is the only habitable body in its system, which isn't saying much. The world is a sunbaked desert, and radiation storms from Meshidi sometimes leak through the thin atmosphere. And its elliptical orbit brings it close to a disintegrating moon closer in, breaking off debris that pummels the world. Why anyone chose to inhabit this world has been lost to history, literally as a previous regime destroyed the original colony records in a fit of exorcistical violence about three hundred years ago.
Shiiku has few resources, and its people subsist on cave grown fungus and water extracted traps from the fogbanks that collect in the cool early morning air. The lives of the local citizenry have always been wretched, as they have enjoyed an unending sucession of oppressive and sometimes incompetent leadership. The local tech level is limited by the impoverished economy, and the government and its security forces get first pick of imported goods, giving the public hand me downs and secondhand machinery and vehicles. Civilian movement was heavily regulated and supervised, and offworld movement was usually prohibited.
In 1162 the population revolted against the ruling strongman and his unpopular rule, and millions fled the world in the bloody aftermath. Fearful of losing power, the government has slowly begun to loosen its grip, though the lack of jobs and general dissatisfaction make this a risky venture at best. The RISS base commander has stepped in as a mediator, and is attempting to bring in outside commercial groups to invest in and employ the local population. The lack of viable resources and the uneducated population will likely make liberalisation and mainstreaming of this world a long and drawn out process even if enough offworld interest is generated.