Lok Mai
Lok Mai (terraformed)
Image from Steve Bowers
Lok Mai has been terraformed using Weather Machine technology and bioengineering. Both of these technologies have become more efficient over time, as new developments have become available. This world has a large number of independent sovereign states (countries) located on its land surface, many of which have cultures that reflect ancient examples from Old Earth.

Gliese 783 - Data Panel

Parent starStar: Chakri (Gliese 783 A)
Mass: 1.293E30 kg (0.65 x Sol)
Radius: 459,162 km (0.66 x Sol)
Luminosity: 0.260 x Sol (bolometric)
Temperature: 5,075 Kelvin
Spectral type: K2.5V
Age: 7.7 billion years
Distance from Sol: 15.145 ly
CompanionRama (Gliese 783 B)
Type red dwarf (M4 V)
Luminosity x Sol
Mass 0.24 x Sol
This star has three small planets in orbit around it, named Hanoi, Malacca, and Davao. All these worlds are smaller than Earth's Moon.
PlanetLok Mai
Orbital characteristics:
- Semi-major axis: 86,318,000 km (0.577 AU)
- Period: 198.6 days (0.544 Julian years)
Physical characteristics:
- Type: EuGaian
- Mass: 3.536E+24 kg
- Radius: 5,416.2 km
- Density: 5,163 kg/m^3
- Gravitational acceleration: 8.045 m/s^2 (0.820 g)
- Rotation period: 134,593 s (37.387 hr)
- Obliquity: 8.7°
- Albedo: 0.227
- Average surface temperature: 285 K
Atmosphere (after terraformation):
- Surface pressure: 102 kPa
- Composition: 79% N2, 20% O2, 1% other
1) Nisakorn (Selenian)
Other planetsThe star GL783 A also has two more small, cool LithicGelidian worlds in orbit around it, Ayutthaya at 2.6 AU and Chiang Mai at 4.1 AU. These worlds are sparsely populated in the Current Era. Ayutthaya has a small moon, Sukhothai

GL 783 is a binary pair of stars in the Inner Sphere, with a high proper motion towards Sol. The two stars are distant enough from each other to allow a small planetary system to be stable around each. Prior to the first Terragen landing on Lok Mai, there was no indigenous life. The surface gravity is 0.82 gees. The planet receives somewhat less insolation than the Earth, and before terraformation the dark side and part of the sunlit side were covered in water ice. The atmosphere was primarily composed of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, with a density of 1.5 bar. Lok Mai has been terraformed using Weather Machine technology and bioengineering. Both of these technologies have become more efficient over time, as new developments have become available.


Chakri was first colonised by a mission from Ross 128b. The colony ship Nanyang departed Sonthaya in 1185 AT and arrived at GL 783 in 1317 AT. The largest planet in the system (a tidally-locked terrestrial world somewhat smaller than Earth) was already being terraformed by an autonomous probe, designed by the Yasamura Artificial Environments Corporation on behalf of the First Federation. The newly arrived colonists, most of whom traced their ancestry back to South-East Asia gave this world the name Lok Mai (a Thai phrase meaning "New Earth").

The terraformation process at Lok Mai was expected to be relatively straightforward, using a combination of genetically-tailored lifeforms and primitive Weather Machine light-management technology. The population in 1350 AT was approximately 35,000 people, but over the next few centuries more settlers arrived from many other Federation worlds, including many nearbaseline humans from Solsys. A significant fraction of these were attracted by the ethos of the new colony, which was dedicated to reducing the dependence of the population on artificial intelligence (with the notable exception of the terraformation tech). This influx dwarfed the original settler population, who formed a temporary emergency government to manage the flow of arrivals and allocate them with land. (Some raised the possibility of simply turning the newcomers away, but they soon realized that that would be impossible due to the sheer number of arrivals).

The Sovereign States

By the 1800s AT, Lok Mai was profoundly changed. A new Lok Mai Confederation government was established in 1706 AT, which dealt with matters regarding relations with other star systems and the continued terraforming and development of Lok Mai. For other matters, the planet was divided up into twenty-one sovereign states.

Throughout the 1800s, the culture of Lok Mai became increasingly conservative, with many people avoiding any technology from later than the 1st century BT. The 1706 constitution of the Lok Mai Confederation explicitly forbade the presence of transapient entities in the GL783 system, as well as mind uploading and brain-computer interfaces. Even the YAEC terraformation AI was strictly monitored and constrained. The restrictions on transapient presence meant that the Federation could not send a FedRep to this system, and it never became a full member for that reason.

Despite the various restrictions on technology, the populace of Lok Mai were generally willing to accept life extension treatments provided that they were fully biological in nature; this made the conservative culture of Lok Mai even more entrenched. By 2100 AT, people over 400 years old who remembered the difficult beginnings of the colony still wielded considerable power, despite some in the younger generations being more willing to embrace technology. In 2679 AT, the Lok Mai Confederation declared itself to be permanently neutral. By this point, Lok Mai had become a cultural backwater due to its refusal to accept technological progress.

Lok Mai in the Current Era

The people of Lok Mai have generally adopted the mindset that their world is the "spiritual home of Humanity", due to its enduring strong cultural links to pre-Expulsion Old Earth civilizations. Many of the sovereign states maintain cultures which resemble idealised versions of countries that once existed on Old Earth, including Canada, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam. Others are entirely new polities which have developed cultures that are at a similar, lo-tech level of development. In particular, the nation of Chipangu has always claimed to be the heir to the oldest Terragen civilization that exists anywhere, with a direct unbroken history stretching back to the 3rd millennium BT; this claim is disputed by many. Lok Mai is also one of the few places to still use the Gregorian calendar of Old Earth— most places have long since either adopted local calendar systems or switched to the Tranquility calendar.

The other five planets in the system are home to small populations of modosophonts who are, in general, more amenable to artificial intelligence and automation, but the general ban on transapients remains in place on these worlds. That the ban is utterly impotent and unenforceable in any way is conveniently ignored by the local population and has so far not been tested by any transapients - who seem to find the whole concept amusing. Many observers note that the nearby star system of DX Cancri is one of the oldest Caretaker systems in the Terragen Sphere, and some surmise that the influence of the Caretaker Gods is evident in the preservation Lok Mai; but no evidence of direct Caretaker protection has ever been found.

For most of its history, Lok Mai has stayed in this remarkably consistent situation, and remains largely a relatively low tech world in the Current Era. Its technological level is generally still similar to that of Old Earth in the 1st century BT and first century AT. Lok Mai is a popular tourist spot for people from across the galaxy, due to its rich cultural history and status as a low-technology world very similar to Old Earth. However tourism is restricted somewhat by the lack of wormhole connections; any tourist wishing to travel here from the nearest Nexus system must be prepared to spend several years in transit. The system has never been connected to the Wormhole Nexus, but has connections to two major Inner Sphere Beamrider routes.
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Development Notes
Text by Four
Updated by Steve Bowers and The Astronomer, 2019
Initially published on 31 August 2000.