RANGER'S BLOG

Ranger

Where does Firefly Traveller take place (continued)?
Tuesday, February 3, 2004

I thought I was ready to move on to the next stage of the project, but I realized that there were still some things rattling around that need to be tied down before I did.

So, we have travel times and distances and we have a star catalog to work with. Now we have to set up the actual planets. Firefly has a distinct Core-Periphery geography. The star catalog gives us a range of possible sizes for the core between 20 and 30 light years in diameter from Earth-that-was. Outside this close cluster of stars are the ‘rim’. Firefly doesn’t refer to any star names that we are familiar with, but they don’t really mention any star names at all, they refer to planets. So, there’s no contradiction in saying that Firefly takes place in near Earth space (of course there is no proof it does, at least not yet).

We have the star locations, and if you have an old Universe or Traveller 2300/2300 AD map, you even can see it graphically. What we don’t have are planets and moons around these stars. This is where the Traveller part of the project makes things really easy. Traveller has all kinds of rules for populating star systems. In fact, you don’t even need to roll the dice yourself any more. This site: http://www.downport.com/wbd/HEAVEN_&_EARTH.htm has the whole thing automated and it’s freeware! You can generate individual worlds or entire star systems in just a couple of minutes.

Now we can begin exploring… But what exactly is humanity looking for? At this point we have to make some assumptions about technology and terraforming to figure out what a really good star system looks like.

The first assumption is that you can terraform. That’s important because it means you don’t need to find earth like planets, but something that can be turned into earth like planets. Traveller doesn’t have artificial gravity at the planetary level, but Firefly does (Serenity), so that means size isn’t that important issue as long as the planet isn’t too big. Terraforming can also create an atmosphere where one doesn’t exist or is not like Earth’s (Serenity). We also know that even in 2500 terraforming is dangerous (as the teaser from Shindig makes clear). Another thing that is necessary, but not mentioned in Firefly, is a magnetic field to shield the planet from stellar radiation. So, if a planet doesn’t have a magnetic field, you have to induce one.

So, here are my assumptions about terraforming in Firefly. It involves mining deep into the planetary crust near both poles (that’s the dangerous part) to:

1) induce a magnetic field (if you don’t have one)

2) enhance gravity up to 1G (equal to Earth’s gravity).

You also need water (since it’s necessary for human life). So, what you really want is an ‘ice-ball’, that is planet with a lot of water, but in solid state (so you can mine through it at the poles and not have to worry about your projects flooding). Closer to Earth size is better (less gravity to induce). Once the magnetic field and gravity are in place, you can induce an atmosphere to warm up the planet and melt the ice into water. Seed with plants and animals, and you’ve got a livable world.

Next, we start exploring near Earth space and building the future history… (unless I see some more holes that need to be filled).

Thanks for joining me for the ride.

COMMENTS

Sunday, February 15, 2004 11:06 AM

GRAVITYDRIVE


"Seed with plants and animals, and you’ve got a livable world"

Nobody appreciates megagalactic engineering more than I, but don't forget...this is "Firefly".
I initially had a lot of trouble reconciling horses and cattlemen with spaceships and Gravity Drives (clue! clue!) but a little exercise in rationalizing led me to this neat observation:

Stuff undertaken by human beings can be expensive and immediate, or cheap and deferred. The second is usually safer and the way that smart money goes. I agree that terraforming in the 'Firefly' universe is possible given their gravity technology, and that it's more likely they choose asteroid/planetoids as their basis.

Secondly, missing elements (most likely water in the form of ice meteors) can be diverted impact on the target surface....hopefully prior to the installation of your graviton-polarity generators!

This leads to the third phase of terraforming, which is actually the period that 'Firefly' takes place:
Humans colonizing. What better tool do the terraformers have but living, prolific,
excreting lifeforms and the various living things they watch over, as they ready them for market? I think that this ties in with the rarity of fresh produce and it's use as almost the basis of the frontier economy. One day, when the appropriate level of bounty has been reached, the economic elites will come in and build their cities and resorts while displacing the original inhabitants...further out.

Wednesday, February 4, 2004 10:16 AM

BROWNCOATCAT


The question that always gets me is why is the rest of the Solar System never mentioned. Why are the capitals of the Alliance located on Londinium and Cenon, not Mars and one of the Jovian Moons.


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