Concordat of Habitable Exoplanets
This powerful organisation’s central function is to limit conflict by controlling Da Silva traffic between star systems. (Between habitats around one star, travel is mostly slower than light, and locally controlled). It strictly controls mahabhavium, which is essential for Da Silva drives. Drives are licenced, can be nulled via the Concordat-controlled grid.
Since simquakes can cut off a planet from contact with other solar systems for a locally-experienced century, planetary governments must be robust in case of isolation, with local enforcement of locally accepted laws. This requires considerable local autonomy, and (in combination with differences in history and environment) variability.
Human travel is largely unregulated between Core worlds, though tracked. Citizens of Associate worlds need to pass toleration and flexibility tests to travel to Core worlds, and more severe ones to travel to other Associate worlds, whose folk are less cosmopolitan. Fringe-worlders are more limited still.
The most visible privilege of Starfolk status is freedom to go anywhere. The Valkyrie team are still probationary Starfolk, while on Qish, but ‘probationary’ is sometimes dropped for courtesy or brevity.
This system is one of travel control by the Concordat, not a visa system managed by individual governments.
The Concordat discourages interstellar censorship, because it builds up stresses and potential culturequakes, but is not dogmatic about this.
Concordat Timeline
Histories of one planet tend to use that planet’s solar year as the dominant time unit, though a planet without axial tilt is without annual seasons and (like the Balinese on Old Earth’s equator) their people find other cycles more interesting.
Histories involving multiple planets still use standardised forms of Old Earth’s solar year, or of multiples of a second (originally 1/(24×60×60) of an Old Earth solar day). Attempts to take the basic unit of time as the fundamental oscillation period of the mahabhavium nucleus have not won wide acceptance.
Old Earth still labels years according to the CE (Common Era) system, originating from the AD (Anno Domini) scheme which attempted to begin with a religious figure’s conception or birth, which (if he existed) occurred between 3 and 8 years before 1CE.
The Concordat uses “GE”. Arguments about whether the G represents Gagarin (whose 1961CE orbital flight defines its zero date), or Galactic, have been settled by the rule that it stands for GE. Even on Old Earth this ceased to cause confusion after the General Electric company founded in 1892CE (a Year 0 promoted by some corporate technophiles) was acquired by Google in 2048CE. The Concordat-centric timeline below follows the GE system.
Dates here are modifications of those in The Living Labyrinth and Rock Star, after historical revision.
Histories involving multiple planets still use standardised forms of Old Earth’s solar year, or of multiples of a second (originally 1/(24×60×60) of an Old Earth solar day). Attempts to take the basic unit of time as the fundamental oscillation period of the mahabhavium nucleus have not won wide acceptance.
Old Earth still labels years according to the CE (Common Era) system, originating from the AD (Anno Domini) scheme which attempted to begin with a religious figure’s conception or birth, which (if he existed) occurred between 3 and 8 years before 1CE.
The Concordat uses “GE”. Arguments about whether the G represents Gagarin (whose 1961CE orbital flight defines its zero date), or Galactic, have been settled by the rule that it stands for GE. Even on Old Earth this ceased to cause confusion after the General Electric company founded in 1892CE (a Year 0 promoted by some corporate technophiles) was acquired by Google in 2048CE. The Concordat-centric timeline below follows the GE system.
Dates here are modifications of those in The Living Labyrinth and Rock Star, after historical revision.
element-DATE GE EVENT OR PROCESS
0 Yuri Gagarin flight
65-- Climate change becomes dramatic, environmental disasters on the rise.
76 Stability of superheavy element-126 theoretical certainty.
106 Jayakatwang Loon’s equations for the karmabhumi field.
122 Loon awarded Nobel prize. Quade Kylie discovers symmetries, predicting FTL, etc.
126 Kylie proposes use of element-126 to test his theory.
131 Synthesis of three atoms of ‘unbihexium’ at the Lhasatron.
132 Placeholder name ‘unbihexium’ replaced by mahabhavium.
135 Predicted karmabhumi resonance properties confirmed. Matter transmission and freewave pass test.
136 Invention of Da Silva drive, necessity of mahabhavium confirmed.
138 Remote detection of substantial quantity of mahabhavium in gas clouds of Pulsar 7731FQ in the constellation Leo (Karoubi's Star)
400 light years from Earth.
145— Vast ‘To the Stars!’ effort to create 1.2gm of mahabhavium for interstellar flight, promoted as unifying theme for Earth's people.
Heavy environmental costs.
145 Planning for Star Pyramid begins.
164 Construction of Star Pyramid begins.
198 Federico Berrios's disastrous test flight in Tyger.
208 Star Pyramid begins journey to Karoubi’s Star.
226 Wolf 359 flyby at 99.97% c.
307 Regulus flyby at 99.99% c. Bussard on standby; boosts every few years.
435 Bussard switched off. Coasting starts.
460 Turnover, 282 years into voyage.
495 Braking Point: coasting ends, antimatter deceleration starts.
611 Star Pyramid arrives at Karoubi’s Star after 403 years Earth time; 98 SP time.
611 Projected return by Da Silva and instantaneous arrival at Earth.
611 Star Pyramid crew decides Earth cannot be trusted with mahabhavium. Decides not to return — yet.
611— Early days of the Starfolk.
617 Starfolk begin colonisation — not of planets, but of asteroid belts.
671 First habitable-seeming planet reached: colonisation a disaster.
678— Starfolk establish toehold on several planets: bases are not colonies but later a few develop into them.
682 Starfolk organise as the Concordat of Habitable Exoplanets. Concordat's governmental structure
reflects the k-weather limits to centralisation.
683 Establishment of the first-generation global galactic grid.
685 Concordat builds first Colony Vessels, recruits colonists mostly from Old Earth population.
686 Lalande Colony Vessel landing.
687 Tau Ceti Colony Vessel landing.
688 Lalande Colony disaster.
689 Groombridge 34 Colony Vessel landing.
689 Tau Ceti Colony disaster.
690 Groombridge 34 Colony disaster.
690-694 Colonisation policy reassessment.
695 '100-year Sink or Swim’ rule established
700 Second Colony Vessel to Lalande (now New Earth)
707 Hidden monitors report New Earth success, but colonists detect monitors.
‘Sink or Swim’ policy confirmed, strengthened to ‘absolute hands off, with no monitors’.
710— Diaspora — colonisation of Fallow, Hildesheim, Balnibarbi, V’vv, Smole, Monday, Tempest, Nyny, Squamish, Hippolyta, and others.
715 Colony Vessel Magog launched, crashes on Qish, simultaneously lands in the Nuh Wisp.
725 Vega Uprising
999 Wave of CVs ends, as Old Earth becomes ever more hostile to Concordat and to space in general.
Some eco-regeneration makes fewer ready to risk ‘sink or swim’, or to accept lifetime separation from kin.
1020— Concordat exploration continues, leads to in-contact settlements using Concordat stock with social memory
of the hardships and triumphs of their own colonies.
Colonisations like Inferno, a Concordat ‘core world’ from the start.
1210— Centauri bubble cities grow from Concordat mahabhavium-mining bases on an airless dwarf planet
orbiting half a light year from Beta Centauri: around this vital resource, Concordat maintains very tight control.
New Earth becomes Core World
1263 Revolt of Centauri bubble cities quashed by threat of air supply denial:
new Concordat policy declares there will never be more than a disciplined Concordat base
in the same solar system as a significant mahabhavium resource.
1270-- Extensive development of the Concordat.
Sporadic discoveries of alien life — all rudimentary and non-cellular.
1480 First discovery of complex alien life: silicoid flakes in the interpolar belt of the tidally resonant vulcano-trojan Alkalurops Ic.
1487— Series of discoveries of alien lifeforms, each radically different from the others and from all terrestrial lifeforms,
in a variety of non-terrestrial environments. Nothing more complex than a beetle.
1738 Discovery of first planet with an HOC ecosystem. All organisms are exoskeletal plasms that reproduce
by template budding. No separate hereditary code: genotype = phenotype.
1757 — Increasingly complex alien organisms discovered, culminating in the deathstalker horde of Likely Prospect.
1883 System of galactic citizenship training and tests established.
1916. First intelligent aliens discovered: the photosynthetic carpets of the Proetus-Acrisius double planet system
with a woven herd-history.
1924 Discovery of Gamut.
1929 Fionora Wylde publishes Running the Gamut.
1987 Discovery of Rock Star: long, cautious investigation begins.
1993 Maiden voyage of Valkyrie, third of the caltrop-design Da Silva vessels
1998 Final voyage of Valkyrie
2007 Metamaterial theory of syntei confirmed. Construction of first synthei (synthetic syntei) by empirical biomimetic techniques.
2040 Marco Bianchi and Marco Bianchi discover Bianchi identities, creating theoretic foundations of syntelics.
2042 First successful interplanetary synthelic transmission of experimental probe.
2074 Elinora Wittinghame discovers metafibrial stabilisation, making it possible to fabricate
macrosynthei capable of transporting starships.
0 Yuri Gagarin flight
65-- Climate change becomes dramatic, environmental disasters on the rise.
76 Stability of superheavy element-126 theoretical certainty.
106 Jayakatwang Loon’s equations for the karmabhumi field.
122 Loon awarded Nobel prize. Quade Kylie discovers symmetries, predicting FTL, etc.
126 Kylie proposes use of element-126 to test his theory.
131 Synthesis of three atoms of ‘unbihexium’ at the Lhasatron.
132 Placeholder name ‘unbihexium’ replaced by mahabhavium.
135 Predicted karmabhumi resonance properties confirmed. Matter transmission and freewave pass test.
136 Invention of Da Silva drive, necessity of mahabhavium confirmed.
138 Remote detection of substantial quantity of mahabhavium in gas clouds of Pulsar 7731FQ in the constellation Leo (Karoubi's Star)
400 light years from Earth.
145— Vast ‘To the Stars!’ effort to create 1.2gm of mahabhavium for interstellar flight, promoted as unifying theme for Earth's people.
Heavy environmental costs.
145 Planning for Star Pyramid begins.
164 Construction of Star Pyramid begins.
198 Federico Berrios's disastrous test flight in Tyger.
208 Star Pyramid begins journey to Karoubi’s Star.
226 Wolf 359 flyby at 99.97% c.
307 Regulus flyby at 99.99% c. Bussard on standby; boosts every few years.
435 Bussard switched off. Coasting starts.
460 Turnover, 282 years into voyage.
495 Braking Point: coasting ends, antimatter deceleration starts.
611 Star Pyramid arrives at Karoubi’s Star after 403 years Earth time; 98 SP time.
611 Projected return by Da Silva and instantaneous arrival at Earth.
611 Star Pyramid crew decides Earth cannot be trusted with mahabhavium. Decides not to return — yet.
611— Early days of the Starfolk.
617 Starfolk begin colonisation — not of planets, but of asteroid belts.
671 First habitable-seeming planet reached: colonisation a disaster.
678— Starfolk establish toehold on several planets: bases are not colonies but later a few develop into them.
682 Starfolk organise as the Concordat of Habitable Exoplanets. Concordat's governmental structure
reflects the k-weather limits to centralisation.
683 Establishment of the first-generation global galactic grid.
685 Concordat builds first Colony Vessels, recruits colonists mostly from Old Earth population.
686 Lalande Colony Vessel landing.
687 Tau Ceti Colony Vessel landing.
688 Lalande Colony disaster.
689 Groombridge 34 Colony Vessel landing.
689 Tau Ceti Colony disaster.
690 Groombridge 34 Colony disaster.
690-694 Colonisation policy reassessment.
695 '100-year Sink or Swim’ rule established
700 Second Colony Vessel to Lalande (now New Earth)
707 Hidden monitors report New Earth success, but colonists detect monitors.
‘Sink or Swim’ policy confirmed, strengthened to ‘absolute hands off, with no monitors’.
710— Diaspora — colonisation of Fallow, Hildesheim, Balnibarbi, V’vv, Smole, Monday, Tempest, Nyny, Squamish, Hippolyta, and others.
715 Colony Vessel Magog launched, crashes on Qish, simultaneously lands in the Nuh Wisp.
725 Vega Uprising
999 Wave of CVs ends, as Old Earth becomes ever more hostile to Concordat and to space in general.
Some eco-regeneration makes fewer ready to risk ‘sink or swim’, or to accept lifetime separation from kin.
1020— Concordat exploration continues, leads to in-contact settlements using Concordat stock with social memory
of the hardships and triumphs of their own colonies.
Colonisations like Inferno, a Concordat ‘core world’ from the start.
1210— Centauri bubble cities grow from Concordat mahabhavium-mining bases on an airless dwarf planet
orbiting half a light year from Beta Centauri: around this vital resource, Concordat maintains very tight control.
New Earth becomes Core World
1263 Revolt of Centauri bubble cities quashed by threat of air supply denial:
new Concordat policy declares there will never be more than a disciplined Concordat base
in the same solar system as a significant mahabhavium resource.
1270-- Extensive development of the Concordat.
Sporadic discoveries of alien life — all rudimentary and non-cellular.
1480 First discovery of complex alien life: silicoid flakes in the interpolar belt of the tidally resonant vulcano-trojan Alkalurops Ic.
1487— Series of discoveries of alien lifeforms, each radically different from the others and from all terrestrial lifeforms,
in a variety of non-terrestrial environments. Nothing more complex than a beetle.
1738 Discovery of first planet with an HOC ecosystem. All organisms are exoskeletal plasms that reproduce
by template budding. No separate hereditary code: genotype = phenotype.
1757 — Increasingly complex alien organisms discovered, culminating in the deathstalker horde of Likely Prospect.
1883 System of galactic citizenship training and tests established.
1916. First intelligent aliens discovered: the photosynthetic carpets of the Proetus-Acrisius double planet system
with a woven herd-history.
1924 Discovery of Gamut.
1929 Fionora Wylde publishes Running the Gamut.
1987 Discovery of Rock Star: long, cautious investigation begins.
1993 Maiden voyage of Valkyrie, third of the caltrop-design Da Silva vessels
1998 Final voyage of Valkyrie
2007 Metamaterial theory of syntei confirmed. Construction of first synthei (synthetic syntei) by empirical biomimetic techniques.
2040 Marco Bianchi and Marco Bianchi discover Bianchi identities, creating theoretic foundations of syntelics.
2042 First successful interplanetary synthelic transmission of experimental probe.
2074 Elinora Wittinghame discovers metafibrial stabilisation, making it possible to fabricate
macrosynthei capable of transporting starships.
