LOCATION -3, 5 POPULATION 56 million POLICING Good, but deep space piracy exists EQUIPMENT Basic equipment only JOINED 3241

ASTRONOMICAL INFORMATION

  Olgrea is a complex, quintuple system. In fact, it's almost a sextuple system with the planet Olgrea A,B2 being considered a failed star (the brown dwarf substellar object emits a significant amount of radiation and glows dimly). Olgrea A and B are both type M red stars, while Olgrea C, D and E are type M flare stars. Olgrea A and B orbit each other, with C and D orbiting each other in an orbit around A and B. Olgrea E orbits the A and B group. All the stars in this system are on their main sequence, fusing hydrogen to helium.

  The planets orbiting Olgrea E are where the population lives. The majority of the population lives on the terraformed world, New Gotham. A difficult world to terraform, this task was taken out by the Olgrean government starting in 3158.

HISTORY AND NOTABLE FEATURES

  Planets in this system were found to be relatively rich in useful minerals, so it wasn't long after the system was fully explored that the mining corporations arrived. Useful minerals have started to become mined out in the 500 years since the system was populated, and the system's economy has now become largely agriculturally based.

  The terraformation of New Gotham, formerly known as Olgrea E2, was an interesting and difficult proposition. Olgrea E is a fairly obnoxious flare star, and its planets were thought thoroughly unsuitable for terraformation due to the large quantities of hard radiation emitted by Olgrea E. However, the Olgrean government with aid from the Independent Science Council (which later became the Alliance Science Council), pioneered a new terraforming technique which allows planets such as New Gotham to be successfully populated. Firstly, a buckminsterfullerine structure was erected around the equator of the planet, with support pillars rising from the surface to the geostationary orbital position. Vast shields were erected, blocking out the harmful radiation from the star. Once this was in place, terraformation began, with all the plants having a special gene to emit small amounts of a radex gas in the correct proportions to absorb the unwanted radiation before it reached the surface. Once life was established on the planet and sufficient quantities of the gas were in the atmosphere, the shield structure was removed.

  Development was slow, and the flare star still is an issue to the human inhabitants. During particularly bad periods of solar activity, the inhabitants need to take shelter or use a very strong sunblock lotion to prevent damage. Research still continues into the accurate prediction of flare activity to allow the residents of planets orbiting flare stars more advance warning of flare activity.

  The successful terraformation saved this system. Mining was becoming less profitable with all the high value minerals such as precious metals and gemstones becoming scarce. The terraformation has allowed the system to become a prosperous agricultural community, supplying the food needs of many surrounding industrial systems.

CUSTOMS INFORMATION

  The Olgrean Customs Service is moderately strict, and traders are advised that several classes of goods are deemed illegal by the Government of Olgrea. The current list of embargoed products are:

• Narcotics
• Animal Skins
• Live Animals
• Slaves
• Battle Weapons
• Nerve Gas
• Radioactives