Copernicus

 

Copernicus is a habitable planet just slightly larger than Earth in the Proxima Centauri system named after Nicholas Copernicus. It is in an elliptical orbit skipping out of the habitable zone briefly on its 15 (standard earth) day orbit of its red dwarf star.  It’s an old planet that isn’t tidally locked.  It is slowly spinning into the star.  In about 250,000,000 years it will fall into Proxima Centauri.   For the foreseeable future it has a 20 hour day and about 30% surface water.  Between the spinning of the planet and the tidal pull due to elliptical orbit the core spins fast, the magnetic field is very strong.  It protects against the occasional flare thrown out by Proxima Centauri.  This flare cycle is about 442 standard earth days.  When this happens the sky erupts in a wild display of color day or night.  Radio transmissions are not usually possible off planet even without a fare.  During a flare there are no radio transmissions at all.  The gravity of the world is 1.05 G

There is life on this planet but it is only remotely plentiful in large bodies of water. There is one or two man sized predators left.  In fact only 25,000 species of plant or animals life has been found.  This jumps to only 500,000 if you ad microbial life forms.  Land life forms on Copernicus are very alien.  They basically doesn’t interact with Terran life.  Each gains little sustenance from the other unless you are familiar with the planetary biology.  The soil, however, with a kick start of Earth developed bacteria turns the fertile lands useful for Earth crops.  There are large state agricultural combines and cooperatives for private farmers.  Sea life is closer in biology to Terran life forms.  Fish here are plentiful and nutritious to humans.  The planet is soon food sufficient.  Large parts of the planet are bone dry especially is the North Polar Region which has a primeval ice cap.  This is overall a dying world.

The planet is under United Nations jurisdiction and has eight colonies of East European Nations. There are UN Peacekeepers on this world and each colony has a colonial militia comprising 1% of the colony’s population.

Currently Copernicus has a population of 28,000,000

  1. Poles – 8,200,000
  2. Ukrainians – 6,200,000
  3. Romanians – 5,000,000
  4. Czechs – 2,300,000
  5. Belarusians – 2,000,000
  6. Bulgarians – 1,600,000
  7. Slovakians – 1,200,000
  8. Moldovans – 1,000,000
  9. All other ethnicities – 500,000

 

World Map Grid is 35 hexes at equator. With a circumference of 42,000 kilometers each hex is 1200 kilometers in width.  With only 30% surface water there will be only 150 hexes of water or 7.5 per map triangle.

Capital District of Innis:

The capital of Copernicus is named after the Scotsman, Robert Innes, who discovered the star of Proxima Centauri in 1915 while at the Union Observatory which he help found in South Africa. The City of Innes rests at the confluence of two major rivers and the largest ocean on the planet.  Here the Polish, Slovakian, Czech and Romanian colonies meet.  The Czech and Romanian colonies have no direct access to the sea, but the two major rivers serve as two of its borders and are navigable to well into the colony.  The total population of Innis proper is 1.5 million.  This makes it the second largest single city of Copernicus after Walesa, the Polish Colonial capital.

Ethnicity of Innis:

  1. Poles – 300,000
  2. Romanian – 350,000
  3. Czechs – 200,000
  4. Ukrainians– 140,000
  5. Slovakians– 100,000
  6. White Russians – 100,000
  7. Bulgarians – 70,000
  8. Moldova – 40,000
  9. Others – 200,000

However, the four huge satellite cities around Innis make it the largest urban – metro area. The four satellite colonial cities are*

1 – The City of Hevelius* is named after Johannes Hevelius, a Polish astronomer (28 January 1611 – 28 January 1687). As an astronomer he gained a reputation as “the founder of lunar topography” and described ten new constellations, five of which are still recognized by astronomers. This city has a population of 400,000

2 – The City of Donici* is named after Nicolae Donici (1874 in Chişinău, currently the Republic of Moldova – 1956 in Nice, France). He was a Romanian astronomer born in Bessarabia born into an old family of Romanian nobles from Bessarabia in the Petricani region of Chişinău. His main scientific interest was the Sun and its eclipses, planetary astronomy, zodiacal light. The Astronomical observatory in Dubăsarii Vechi (Bessarabia), directed by Nicolae Donici enjoyed a number of astronomers from everywhere. Donici was a member of the International Union for Solar research, of the International Astronomical Union (since its first Congress in 1922), of the Romanian Academy (since 1922). The asteroid 9494 Donici is named after him. It has a population of 300,000

3 – The City of Perek* is named after Luboš Perek is a Czech astronomer, born in 1919 and died in 2020. He is most renowned for his Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae with Luboš Kohoutek in 1967. He also worked or works on the distribution of mass in the galaxy, high-velocity stars, planetary nebulae, definition of outer space, geostationary orbit, space debris, and management of outer space. He published 44 papers on stellar dynamics and planetary nebulae and 80 papers and articles on the geostationary orbit, definition of outer space, space debris, and protection of space environment. The city has a population of 200,000.

4 – The City of Štefánik* was named after Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880-1919), an astronomer, art-connoisseur, general, politician and diplomat. Štefánik became one of the founders of Czechoslovakia. It has a population of 100,000.

So, Greater Innes has a population of 2.5 million people or about 9% of the planetary population. This is the largest urban area on the Copernicus and the most technologically advanced.

 

Belarus Colony:

Minski is the capital of this colony, but it isn’t the most populous city.  That belongs to Zhodzina, the current industrial center.  Half the population lives in small towns, fishing and farming centers.  After World War III, ethnic Belarussians came here to avoid domination of the Russians living in their country on Earth.

The most populous cities are:

  1. Zhodzina – 350,000 (50,000)
  2. Minski – 250,000 (1%)
  3. Brest – 150,000 (1%)
  4. Hrodna – 120,000 (1%)
  5. Horki – 70,000 (1%)
  6. Lida – 60,000 (1%)
  7. Slutsk – 50,000 (1%)

 

Bulgarian Colony:

The capital and largest city of the Bulgarian colony is Borisgrad and is named after Czar Boris III who was assassinated by Adolf Hitler.

The most populous cities are:

  1. Borisgrad – 300,000 (30,000)
  2. Varna – 200,000 (1%)
  3. Burgas – 130,000 (1%)
  4. Ruse – 100,000 (1%)
  5. Vidin – 70,000 (1%)
  6. Plevin – 50,000 (1%)
  7. Lom – 50,000 (1%)

 

Czech Colony:

The capital of the colony and its largest city is Hradčany. The Czech colony is one of the most advanced on the planet.  They have a strong agricultural sector and a major electronics industry.  The educational system is first rate.  This colony has some of the most arable land and a river system that speeds transport throughout.

The most populous cities of this colony are:

  1. Hradčany – 400,000 (1%)
  2. Ostrava – 250,000 (1%)
  3. Perek* – 200,000 (1%)
  4. Brno – 150,000 (1%)
  5. Plzeň – 100,000 (1%)
  6. Pardubice – 80,000 (1%)
  7. Zlín – 70,000 (1%)
  8. Kladno – 60,000 (1%)
  9. Most – 60,000 (1%)
  10. Jihlava – 50,000 (1%)
  11. Olomouc –50,000 (1%)
  12. Liberec – 50,000 (1%)

 

Moldovan Colony:

The capital and largest city of the colony is Stefanopolis.

The most populous cities are:

  1. Stefanopolis – 250,000 (1%)
  2. New Chișinău – 150,000 (1%)
  3. Bălți – 100,000 (1%)
  4. Soroco (large Romani population) – 40,000 (1%)

 

Polish Colony:

Walesa is the capital of the Polish Colony.  It is the largest city on the planet 1.6 million people (200,000 are foreigners).  It was Poland that really pushed for the NCE nations to be granted this planet after the war.  Much of the European part of the war was fought on their soil.  Many came here to build a new life and lead a new world.  The UN’s control of this world rankles many Poles.  The leadership of this colony feels that they have be shortchanged with the Czechs and the Romanians getting much of the industry and best land.  The leader of this group is Senator Czcibor Lucjan, a retired Polish Lt. General from the Third World War.

The most populous cities are:

  1. Walesa – 1.6 million (200,000)
  2. Lubin – 500,000 (1%)
  3. Hevelious* – 400,000 (1%)
  4. Krakow – 350,000 (1%)
  5. Gydansk – 300,000 (1%)
  6. Gydnia – 200,000 (1%)
  7. Kielce – 180,000 (1%)
  8. Legnica – 120,000 (1%)
  9. Sczcecin – 90,000 (1%)
  10. Wroclaw – 80,000 (1%)
  11. Toruń – 70,000 (1%)
  12. Bialystok – 60,000 (1%)
  13. Plock – 60,000 (1%)
  14. Opole – 50,000 (1%)
  15. Pila – 50,000 (1%)
  16. Tczew – 50,000 (1%)

 

Romanian Colony:

Mikalest is the capital of the Romanian Colony and the largest city with 1.2 million people (100,000 are foreigners).  This colony is slightly different in government than the others.  As Romania is a constitutional monarchy, Prince Constantine, third son of King Nicholas I, serves as Prince Regent.  His highness is a figurehead, but is extremely popular due to his wartime heroism in the Third World War.

The most populous cities are:

  1. Mikalest – 1.2 million (100,000)
  2. Constanta – 600,000 (1%)
  3. Ploiesti – 500,000 (100,000)
  4. Donici* – 300,000 (1%)
  5. Brasov – 250,000 (50,000)
  6. Iași – 130,000 (1%)
  7. Arad – 120,000 (1%)
  8. Galați – 100,000 (1%)
  9. Craiova – 80,000 (1%)
  10. Tulcea – 70,000 (2000)
  11. Deva – 60,000 (1%)
  12. Sibiu – 50,000 (1%)
  13. Slatina – 50,000 (1%)

 

Slovakian Colony:

The capital of the colony is its largest city, Bratislava.  This is primarily an agrarian colony.  They do have an industrial base, but it merely supports the colony’s attempt at becoming a major food producer.

The most populous cities of this colony are:

  1. Bratislava – 220,000 (1%)
  2. Košice – 120,000 (1%)
  3. Prešov – 110,000 (1%)
  4. Štefánik* – 100,000 (1%)
  5. Nitra – 50,000 (1%)

 

Ukrainian Colony:

The capital of this colony, New Kiev, is the third largest city of Copernicus.  This sprawling colony is divided between a west coast and an east coast.  Nikopol, the largest city in their east is the largest non-capital city on the planet.  In fact it is larger than five of the other colonial capitals on the planet.

Although none of the war was fought on Ukrainian soil, many ethnic Ukrainians emigrated to Copernicus due to the political and diplomatic pressure from Russia for a large eastern Slavic union.  Along with Belarus they finally agreed to join such a political and economic union in exchange for an agreement that no ethnic Russians (in large numbers) would coming to Copernicus.

The most populous cities in this colony are:

  1. New Kiev – 1.4 million (200,000)
  2. Nikopol – 700,000 (1%)
  3. New Odessa – 350,000 (1%)
  4. Kirovohrad – 300,000 (1%)
  5. Cherkasy – 200,000 (1%)
  6. Kerch – 80,000 (10,000)
  7. Lutsk – 60,000 (1%)
  8. Kharkiv – 60,000 (1%)
  9. Poltava – 50,000 (1%)
  10. Lviv – 50,000 (1%)
  11. Sumy – 50,000 (1%)

Krystyna Ocean is named after the Pole, Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz, the first woman to solo circumnavigate Earth’s oceans between 1976 and 1978.

Brusilov Sea is named after Georgy Lvovich Brusilov, who attempted to find a Northern Sea Route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.