Gliese 581

Multiplanet system in the Inner Sphere

Gliese 581c
Image from LordOther
Argent, a hot-water-world in this system with a high pressure supercritical water ocean surface

Gliese 581 - Data Panel

StarGliese 581
Distance from Sol20.3 ly
Spectral typeM3V red dwarf
PlanetsGules: 2.2 Earth masses, 0.028 AU orbit, 3.149-day orbital period; Vesperian pyrothalassic.
Vert: 20.6 Earth masses, 0.041 AU orbit, 5.369-day orbital period; Vesperian AzuriNeptunian.
Argent: 7.2 Earth masses, 0.072 AU orbit, 12.914-day orbital period; Vesperian HydroNeptunian
Azure: 20.4 Earth masses, 22.109 AU orbit, 187-year orbital period; CryoNeptunian
Colonised1099AT by the First Federation
Image from Steve Bowers
Vert, a greenish blue AzuriNeptunian world
Gliese 581 was settled in the Early First Federation, in 1187 AT, by the Nirav Assembly. The colonists built a series of domed habs on moons of the local planets, rotating space habitats and microgravity habitats. During the Second Federation Era, the inhabitants of this system began to construct large Gravity Balloons, hollow spheres filled with atmosphere and covered with asteroid rubble.

In the Version War this neutral system was occupied by the Negentropists. The Nirav Assembly suffered deprivation, censorship and loss of freedom of movement and association. Although these restrictions were relatively mild compared to elsewhere, the experience caused lasting trauma for a significant number of people.

Negative Utilitarianism

After the war, a form of nihilistic negative utilitarianism became popular among the Assembly, with some individuals advocating that all forms of sophont existence resulted in suffering, however slight. in 5444 several thousand citizens in the gravity balloon habitat known as Sehgarn III committed suicide simultaneously, an event that was repeated several times over the next few decades. Eventually this left a number of large habitats very thinly populated. Over time these habitats were repopulated by incomers, mostly sophonts who were not impressed by the nihilistic philosophies of their predecessors.

Ritual Combat

Many of the new arrivals were mammalian provolves of various species, who generally occupied rotating shells located inside the gravity balloons. Despite the large scale of many of these shells, by the 7800s many of the habitats were fully occupied. In due course this new population forged a new shared identity, as the Ofako Cohort.

As a consequence of their competitive natures, many of the provolved species established territories on the shells, of various sizes and with a wide range of significance according to species. These territories were often part of the social capital of the individuals and groups concerned.

A number of provolved species, especially deer, antelope and certain carnivores, began to establish ritualised displays of aggression in neutral spaces between their territories, or in designated areas within those areas. By the 9000s, ritualised combats were commonplace among the Cohort and represented a popular form of entertainment. During this time a significant number of human-derived clades began to adopt various forms of ritualised combat as well, sometimes inflicting serious life-threatening damage to one another. Because of sophisticated medical technology, such combat rarely results in actual fatalities. and in most cases the combatants are fully backed up anyway.

In the Current Era human/human combat has become less popular, although ritualised combat among certain clades of provolve in the Cohort is still relatively common.
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Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 06 November 2008.