Gander

Gander is the most populous planet in the Perseus Sector of the Perseus Quadrant. It is an affiliate of the Free Worlds Alliance.

Geography

There are two large continental land-masses on Gander, New Labrador and Circumference. For administrative purposes are organized into eight Major Regions.

• Greenland (Circumference)
• Mainland (Circumference)
• Sealand (Circumference)
• Redland (Circumference)
• Northlands (New Labrador)
• Southlands (New Labrador)
• Eastlands (New Labrador)
• Westlands (New Labrador)

Dry land and ice covers 40.2% of the planet’s surface. There are three major oceans. The climate ranges from temperate to arctic with a complete absence of tropical zones. As a result, residents of Gander often travel to the subtropical regions of Longueil when the long winters become too much to bear.

Compared to the Solar Standard, Gander’s rotation period is 31.8 hours and its orbital cycle is 392 local days.

Population

As of Solar Year 7380, 2,400,000,000 people lived on Gander, about.

The planet is divided into 36 states and territories, each of which governs autonomously. These governments offer varying degrees of freedom and opportunities for participation to their populations.

The largest city on the planet is Hammersmith, New Labrador, with a population of 12,000,000 in the city and surrounding suburbs.

Gander’s economy is largely open, although some sectors of the economy are regulated in certain of the states and territories.

The Gander System

The Gander System is designated 68 047 Perseus. It is a trinary system consisting of a G3 class sun and two K-type suns which orbit the primary sun at distances too great to exert significant gravitational influence on Gander's orbit or contribute significantly to Gander’s climate. They are visible in the night sky as bright stars and are called simply K1 and K2 by the inhabitants.

Two gas giants in the outer system, Norquay and Birkenhead are in close orbital proximity and pass as close as 13,000 kilometers to each other every 157 Longueuil years, during which time they are briefly connected by a turbulent atmospheric chain. This interaction has given rise to simple microbial life-forms that live in the outer atmosphere of both planets. The moons of these gas giants are rich in Thorium, which is harvested for fuel. Rare metals are also extracted from these moons and from larger asteroids which are relatively abundant in the outer system. The atmosphere of Birkenhead is rich in hydrogen and helium isotopes, which have been harvested for spaceship fuel for hundreds of years.

There are three small, uninhabitable planets on orbits interior to Longueil, consisting of the double planets Arethusa and Haiduk which swing around a common gravitational vertex, and Black Forge, the planet closest to 28 047 Vulpecula’s primary sun.

History and Culture

Colonial History

According to planetary history and some fragmentary records, Gander was surveyed for colonization sometime between Solar Year 3880 and 3900. The first non-automated survey ship, the Gander, explored, mapped, and named the colony during a follow-up expedition in the solar year 4020.

The presence of two habitable worlds in the Gander-Longuiel system made it a prime settlement opportunity for the combines of the Old Commonwealth. A Consortium called Harper, Deshanias and Leblanc based on Atlas Colony won the rights to colonize both worlds at auction and rapidly built up settlements there with the intention of dominating commerce in the newly colonized Outer Perseus sector. Owing to their relatively early colonization and the investment made in them by their sponsors, Gander and its sister colony Longueil were two of the most advanced colonies in the sector when the Old Commonwealth collapsed in the 55th Solar Century.

Post Colonial History

As with most worlds in the Perseus Quadrant, Gander and Longueil went into a period of decline. The proximity of the two worlds limited the extent of their decline, although interplanertary travel was limited for some time.

Current Civlization

Gander’s level of technological development qualifies it as an ‘Advanced World’ according to the sort of people who find it necessary to label things like that. There is global transportation and communication infrastructure. Artificial Intelligence was developed natively and is used for operation of advanced functions like communications, power grids, and financial management. Gander had a limited spacefaring capability at the time of re-discovery (Solar Year 7680 by the Pathfinder Ship Ark Royal) which meant it had ships capable of reaching its outer system at sub-light speeds. These were launched from a space facility on the largest of its five moons.

Gander is located in the same star system as the planet Longueuil, occupying the next orbit out, and both planets were colonized by the same expedition. They share a common cultural ancestry, and are similar in climate and geography. They retain a strong cultural affinity for each other, despite Gander belonging to the Free Worlds Affiliation and Loungueil being a member of the New Commonwealth. Although some have speculated that this was just the way of the Gander-Longuieil system to hedge its bets.

New Commonwealth Controversy

Because The New Commonwealth has debated waiving the requirement that member worlds possess ‘a unified planetary governmental body empowered to enter into diplomatic and political treaties on behalf of the planet as a whole’ in order to accommodate Gander’s entrance into the Commonwealth. Bountiful and Republic routinely veto such overtures. Gander would enter the New Commonwealth as a Major World and so would dilute their political influence. Bodicea, which is actively seeking to become a major world, also routinely objects to waiving the rule for Gander.

Gander has shown no interest in joining the New Commonwealth even if the requirement is waived.