Lave (lore)

Makandal's picture of Lave

This article is basically Selezen the lore-meister's rejig of Lave based on Classic Elite & Frontier. For Oolite's Lave see Sector1/Lave.

Overview

Lave is the administrative home of the Galactic Co-operative of Worlds, and is located in the galactic south-west of Galaxy 1.

It is the central planet of an unusual collection of systems. These systems, collectively known as the Old Worlds, are comprised of a single star and planet, and all planets are at the correct orbit and have the necessary characteristics to support carbon-based life.

Lave also has a curious Oort Cloud like object in orbit around it known as Lave's Moon.

Note: this is not canon for Oolite - and the various planet-adding ambient oxp's ignore this, bunging in planets everywhere with gay abandon!

History

Lave was first colonised by the Galactic Federation in the twenty-third century.

Around 2500, Lave and the other Old World colonies seceded from the Galactic Federation, forming a separate body christened the Far Colonies Alliance. This action created uproar within the Federation, and many sanctions were placed on this new alliance.

In 2696, the Far Colonies Alliance became the Galactic-Co-operatice of Worlds, and with the passing of that charter, Lave became the centre of one of the largest galactic organisations in existence. Having long been the administrative centre for the alliance, the increased responsibility gave Lave and it's population a position in history.

A massive training centre was built on the grounds of the new GalCop administration complex, and Lave became the only world where people could train to become pilots in the service of the organisation.

In 2752, Lave became the first world to obtain the new Coriolis design space station. This station, imaginitively christened Lave Station One, became the hub for system activity. It now houses the GalCop orbital administration complex, an office for Cowell & MgRath Shipyards and a staging point for academy graduates to begin thier flight career. Lave now has a total of six stations in orbit.

Socio-political Outline

Lave's government is classed as a Dictatorship according to the Data on Planets service provided by GalCop. When this was first announced the planet's governor, Premier Akkady Gerant, adopted the unofficial title of 'The Tyrant' as a tongue-in-cheek comment on the status his government had acquired in the galactic community. The label has stuck since then.

Although classed as a dictatorship, the government is more accurately classed as a socialist republic, with power of veto being retained by the Premier. In this, the premier does have the power to overturn decisions made by the cabinet, but this power is only used rarely and only when it is deemed necessary. The people have a voice on Lave, and it has been used in the past to devastating effect.

In 2645, Premier Torsvald was ousted from office following a decree to demolish the surface road network to focus on the growing popularity of aircars. This decree was made against the vote of the government using the power of veto. The vast majority of commuters who still used the road network voiced thier displeasure on this and called for no confidence in Torsvald. They were successful and Torsvald lost the confidence of his government in the process. He was voted out of office by the councillors following this event.

Lave's people are probably the most diverse in the scope of GalCop's domain. The population size tends to remain static, as immigration is tightly controlled, but the constant influx of students to the flight academy and to the highly praised Lave University means that there are always a high number of offworlders around compared to other worlds. Many of them do decide to stay for work and other reasons, but then the exodus of many people to work offworld does balance the numbers out.

Lavians are generally a contented and peaceful people, although there are some radical groups. The most vociferous of them are the conservationists, who are passionate in thier defence of the natural resources of Lave. The strip forestation that was the end of the natural forests in the 28th century is a source of much protest and there are many violent conflicts originating from this group who are zealous in thier need to prevent the same happening to any other resources.

A colony of felinoid refugees occupies the smallest of Lave's continents. They originally made thier home on Lave during the unrest of the 25th century, when Federal persecution was forcing their race from its homeworld. A small fraction of the world's population sought asylum within GalCop following the Federation's sterlising of the world. This colony generally keeps itself to itself and has not spread from the island continent, although they engage in tourism across the planet.

Lave, Queen Isabell & H(I)MSN

Her/His Majesty's Space Navy is a traditional term harking back to the days of the Old Worlds Alliance, where members of what had once been Earth's royal family set up a government on Lave and became self-styled Kings and Queens. With the formation of the Space Navy following the Thargoid threat, it was the royal famiy who funded and approved the Navy, becoming the patrons of the organisation. By this time, however, they were no longer rulers of Lave, having turned the rule of the world over to an autocratic government.

A monarch is still in residence on Lave, and has governmental rule over one continent of the world. She retains control of the Space Navy in a purely patronising way (as in she is the PATRON of the Navy, not that she patronises it) but has no direct control over the way it is run.

For the record, the current monarch is Queen Isabell, and she is over 90 years old. Her 67 year old son is much chagrined at her obstinate refusal to die, and is seeing his chances at taking the throne fade away with his health. He already has had most of his internal organs replaced in order to remain fit and healthy and eligible to take over the throne.

Editor's note: This is Selezen's work from 2006, based on weaving Oolite's lore into that of Frontier (see Lore). HMSN has since become HIMSN and now has a more complex lore, and its own oxp.

Geography & Ecosystem

Lave's ecosystem is very similar to that of Earth, which is the very factor that resulted in it's colonisation in the early days of galactic exploration. The continents are sizeable, and the water coverage is higher than that of Earth.

The major landmasses are all connected with the exception of the island continent that the felinoid community calls home. This means that it is possible to walk around the majority of the world.

Flora and fauna are abundant, and many indigenous crops are edible and form the root of Lave's agricultural exports.

Animal and insect life is prodigious, although there are very few large mammals native to Lave. The most famous animal life is the Lavian tree grub, but its future looks bleak given the continued lack of forestation on the planet. Cloned trees and shrubbery have proven inadequate in boosting the numbers of these creatures, and the only surviving examples are in captivity where breeding is managed by biologists from all over the galaxy. Despite this, however, the birth rate is in decline and scientists say that this giant of insect life will probably be extinct by the end of the century.

Frontier's Gazetteer

The Gazetteer was a small booklet supplied with the Frontier: Elite II game.

Lave

The trading centre for this region of unusual systems. Through some unexplained quirk of nature all systems have just one inhabited world orbiting a single star. These systems are often known as "The Old Worlds" as they were amongst the first to be settled, despite their lack of gas giants. They were also renowned for their lawlessness as only the corporate states in the region had any police force to speak about.

"Lave is most famous for its vast rain forests and the Lavian tree grub" as the main planet used to be described on the now outdated Data on Systems publication from the Elite Federation of Pilots. Much of the rain forest has now been cut down by irresponsible locals, wishing to raise cattle, and the famous tree grub is on the verge of extinction in its natural habitat. Unfortunately it is very sensitive to its environment, and all attempts to breed them in captivity have so far failed. The ecological demonstrations (made up almost entirely by off-worlders) here are almost continuous; so much so that many come here regularly on their vacations in order to protest. Indeed, ironically the dictator Dr. Walden once referred to the protesters on a vid interview as "Our thriving tourist industry" and also said "The system's economy depends on them so much so that we cannot afford to stop cutting down the forests!".

Entry written by David Braben

Fiction

• Birthplace of Kim Stenson

Links

• Sector1/Lave has trade details, trade routes etc. Also descriptions of the various OXPs which affect it (Academy, monument, Lave Moon etc).
• Lave (Rough Guide) has a rather more juicy description of the system, from a more purist perspective.
• The discussion on Famous Planets Overhaul is also of relevance
• Lave OXP gives the system the detail described in the novels The Dark Wheel & Status Quo.
• FPO Lave Famous Planets Overhaul - Lave gives Lave a similar appearance to that in The Dark Wheel using the new Oolite version 1.90 graphics.
• Lave's Moon