World Name: St. Andre

Reports From the Front

by William H. Keith, jr.

The following entry is an excerpt from The Navigator's Guide to the InnerSphere, the 32-volume compendium of explored worlds published by ComStar Press Interstellar, Terra. St. Andre was first printed in Volume 5, The Mirach Reach, and is reproduced here by permission of the publisher.

STELLAR DATA
Catalogue #NSC C 1-219-002
Star: St. Andre
Type:G6 V;
Mass:.917 Sol;
Luminosity:.62 Sol;
Radius: .909sol

SYSTEM DATA
Planetary System: four major bodies, 1 asteroid belt

PLANETARY DATA
Planet
Mean Orbital Radius:. 79 a.u.
Orbital Eccentricity: .013
Period: 272.9 days
Mass: 1.4 Earth
Equatorial Diameter: 15,371 km ( .86 Earth)
Mean Planetary Density: 4.4 g/CM3 (.8 Earth)
Mean Surface Gravity .96 G
Escape Velocity: 12.27 kps
Rotational Period: 23h 46m 23.4s
Axial Inclination: 24 deg. 15' 34"
Satellites: 3

    1 major moon at 36 radii; 2 planetoids

Atmosphere. 76% N2; 23% O2; ; 1% other
Atmospheric pressure: 1.2 atm; .276 ppO2
Temperature Range: 15 deg. C. (equator/summer) to -75 deg. C. (poles/winter)
Mean Distance to JumpPoint: 5.15 a. u.
Average travel time: 4-5 days
Planetary Population: 2.1 billion (est. 3025)

Planetary Notes

The sun of St. Andre is slightly cooler and dimmer than Earth's sun, the climate of its one habitable world somewhat cooler than that of Terra. Except for the equatorial regions, most of the planet is locked in the grip of an ice age, with fully 25% of the surface covered by ice caps. Unlike Earth, which has experienced repeated episodes of extensive glaciation during the past few hundreds of thousands of years, St. Andre will never experience a wholesale thawing. In fact, as its sun quietly grows dimmer over the next few billion years, the world will sink deeper and deeper into its ice-bound lethargy until, eventually, all life perishes and the atmosphere itself freezes solid.

This icy climax to the planet's history will not occur for at least four billion years however, and in the meantime, St. Andre is, by almost any standards, a pleasant enough place to live. Most equatorial regions experience yearly snowfall, but summers are pleasant, and warm ocean currents serve to keep even northerly latitudes habitable. The only truly inhospitable areas of the planet are at the poles, where temperatures during the long winter night can reach -70 deg. C.

St. Andre, some 120 light years from Earth, was discovered by Terran explorers in 2203. It was not immediately colonized on a large scale, though a small private commercial settlement at Jerome maintained a modest spaceport and saw to the harvesting and exporting of Andrean Ironwood from the subtropical forests along the equatorial belt. The retreat of the Alliance during the years after 2236 threw the St. Andrean settlement on its own resources. With its population bolstered by colonists from the neighboring world of Hunan, it became selfsufficient by 2280, though both population growth and industrial development remained slow.

St. Andre's population was still less than 500 million in 2579 when the world was identified by Ian Cameron and Terrence Liao as a strategic site for one of the early Star League military bases. Industrial growth was rapid after this, with a large percentage of the planet's gross domestic product hinging on the supply and maintenance of several Star League facilities scattered across its habitable surface.

This age of prosperity ended, however, with the unprecedented brutality of the First Succession War. St. Andre, with its militarily-oriented industrial facilities, its ship yards, its 'Mech factories, received special attention from several of the competing would-be First Lords. The surface of the world today is dotted with the scorched and charred ruins of cities obliterated during repeated raids and invasions.

By the end of the Second Succession War in 2863, scant industry remained on St. Andre. Those factories which survived were geared more to the necessities of survival than to those of war. St. Andre had, after all, a harsh climate, and a certain level of technology was necessary simply to preserve human life on the planet. The old Star League facilities had been obliterated... some by repeated 'Mech attacks and firestorms and bombings, many by the radioactive hells unleashed by both strategic and tactical nuclear strikes.

There were endless rumors of "lostech" sites, places where half-magical, high-tech treasures of the Star League had been gathered safe from hostile marauders, and for many years St. Andre attracted treasure hunters and speculators from across the Inner Sphere. In the end, all of the rumors proved to be unfounded, the results of wishful thinking and the knowledge that the Star League had, indeed, maintained an extensive and elaborate presence on this world.

In late 3027, one aspect of the rumor, at least, was proved true, when Capellan scientists unearthed clues to a buried cache on the larger of St. Andre's two northern hemisphere continents. Little is known of the site's nature, since the finds have been kept under close security by the Liao excavators. It is strongly suspected that a large number of intact GOL-1 H Goliaths, first introduced by Brigadier during the Star League era, were recovered from an underground storage bunker under the surface of the Ivaar Plains. Certainly, there is no other way to explain the fact of the 'Mech unit known as Cochraine's Goliaths containing so many of the previously almost non-existent assault BattleMech.

What other secrets were uncovered at the frozen lvaar site? The answer to that lies with the Davion officers now controlling the site after the recent battle for the excavation site. Davion Intelligence is not likely to provide much information on the question any time soon. Even more tantalizing: how many more wait to be uncovered?

That is a question which may never be answered.

News from the Front

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