BY LETTER
Benes System (HD 17925), The
Galactography > Regions of Space > Inner Sphere
Galactography > Systems and Worlds > Systems & Worlds A - B
Galactography > Systems and Worlds > Systems & Worlds A - B
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Six of the worlds in the Benes system | |
Benes (HD 17925) System - Data Panel | |
| System | Distance from Sol: 33.79 ly (epoch J2000) Population: 34 billion AI Overseer: Hii'i'swi'tok (S3 transapient) Allegiance: independent, with close ties to both Rana and the Terran Federation. Transportation: Well developed Lightways and Beamrider Network infrastructure, no wormhole access |
|---|---|
| Star | Names: EP Eridani, GJ 117, HD 17925, HR 857, Benes Physical characteristics: - Mass: 0.899 x Sol - Radius: 0.795 x Sol - Luminosity: 0.409 x Sol (bolometric) - Temperature: 5,178 Kelvin - Spectral type: K1V (variable star, due to sunspot activity) - Age: 100 million years Planetary System The star and its planets were named after prominent Sundering era Jovian artists, mainly those who lived on Ganymede and Callisto. 1. Karanwa: SulfolianTerrestrial LapiYdratian AquaCytherean Semi-major axis = 0.214 AU, Orbital period = 38.90 days, Mass = 4.764 x Earth, Radius = 1.584 x Earth 2. Famda: NeoMacroBiotic AcidianNeptunian Semi-major axis = 0.301 AU, Orbital period = 64.89 days, Mass = 12.46 x Earth, Radius = 3.113 x Earth 3. Kandejrad: NeoMesoBiotic AcidianTerrestrial LapiYdratian AquaCytherean Semi-major axis = 0.421 AU, Orbital period = 107.3 days, Mass = 3.114 x Earth, Radius = 1.397 x Earth 4. Hanajri: NeoMacroBiotic HydroTerrestrial CereYdratian AquaAbyssal Semi-major axis = 0.550 AU, Orbital period = 160.3 days, Mass = 6.517 x Earth, Radius = 1.863 x Earth 5. Atjen: NeoMacroBiotic HydroNeptunian Semi-major axis = 0.721 AU, Orbital period = 240.6 days, Mass = 11.15 x Earth, Radius = 2.982 x Earth 6. Alkengbi: MethoNeptunian Semi-major axis = 12.803 AU, Orbital period = 49.28 years, Mass = 17.78 x Earth, Radius = 4.500 x Earth 7. Padsaro: NeoMacroBiotic CryoAzuriNeptunian Semi-major axis = 16.320 AU, Orbital period = 70.93 years, Mass = 20.29 x Earth, Radius = 4.728 x Earth - Circumstellar Debris Belt: Radius: 17.9 AU |
Benes was surveyed by the Lagrange Defenders, who then sold sections of the system to various groups. All of the polities within the Benes system were regulated by an overseeing entity known as the Benes Council. Originally, the Benes Council mostly existed to mediate conflicts between factions, but over time it evolved into a system-spanning federal government. In 1749 AT, the Council elected to join the Eridanus League, giving them access to a wealth of information that resulted in both local renaissances and rashes of ideological conflicts, although the Council successfully prevented these conflicts from escalating and causing widespread damage. In the attempt to gain political advantages, Benes quickly established extensive ties with its economically important neighbor Rana, the bonds that would persist even after the economic instability that plagued Rana in the 19th century.
The system joined the Taurus Nexus at the first opportunity, taking advantage of the wormhole link between Makintairas and Rana that was first opened in 2657. Anticipating the influx of new information to stir up societal problems, the Council also requested a transapient AIviser from Rana. The S1 transapient, known as Hii'i'swi'tok, migrated to Padsaro's depths. For the first few millennia, the transapient was reclusive, only interacting with the rest of the system as needed, but e would begin to play a more active role during the Central Alliance era.
According to the ex-Taurus Nexan folktale Kibfrey and Gorg, members of the Natural Order of the Taurus Nexus were exiled to this system. The fact that this story was fictional was well known among the inhabitants of Benes. However, the system did receive an influx of ex-Natural Order members (this was likely what the folktale was created to explain in the first place) who, during the Age of Separate Empires, eventually developed into the unique if short-lived Benes Nat Ord Dionys culture.
In 6492 AT the news of the emergence of the baroque Vore Abergist culture reached Benes. Over the next few hundred years, the mysterious culture grew into a sizable trading faction, trading exotic products from their designed gas giant ecologies for clarketech information tools. Although there was virtually no trade between the Vore Abergists and the inhabitants of Benes, the latter of which lacked clarketech devices, the aesthetics of this culture influenced many Benes artists, who began to decorate their habitats with an art style that can be regarded as an adaptation of the Benes patterns to fit the Abergist styles. Echoes of this art style can be seen in some of the older habitats to this day.
In 7521, the system was visited by the Inner Sphere Development Alliance, a Terran Federation-backed initiative. Much of the system, while not opposed to the ideology of the empire, nevertheless politely rejected the invitation to join the Terran Federation in favor of remaining independent. However, the general public's opinion of that empire improved, and the system was happy to seek closer ties with the empire.
In the Current Era, the Benes system has strong ties with both Rana and the Terran Federation, but remains independent. Internally, it is split into 531 different polities that continue to be governed by the Benes Council, which by now has little in common with the original iteration of the organization. The majority of the embodied sophonts in Benes today live in hundreds of orbital bands spread all across the system, where most traditional centrifuge habitats had been replaced by microgravity habitats tailored to the preferences of the space-adapted morphs that have become popular in Benes since the 6300s. Others made their home on the moons of the planets, where access to space is easy. The skies of the planets are inhabited by polities of bubblehabs and their residents, most of which are among the more conservative of the bunch.
One of the more interesting cultures in Current Era Benes is the Yrakstrakk culture, centered at Alkengbi, where each individual always occupies two bodies, one on the planet and another in orbit around the same planet.
Related Articles
Appears in Topics
Development Notes
Text by Updated by The Astronomer
from an original articlke by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 08 October 2001.
from an original articlke by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 08 October 2001.
