Primary:
Shirpann,
spectral class F8V, ICN S4K0103F8V. Mass 1.14 standard. Stellar diameter 1.18
standard. Luminosity 2.13 standard.
Planetary
System: Eight
major bodies. One Inhabited world (Coventry, V). Four gas giants In system.
V
Coventry: Mean
orbital radius, 212.43 million kilometers (1.42 AU). Period, 578.86 days ... no
satellites ... Diameter, 9,110 kilometers. Density, 0.98. Mass, 0.244 standard.
Mean surface gravity, 0.61 G. Rotation period: 29 hours, 47 minutes, 18 seconds.
Axial inclination, 25°7'9.8" Albedo, .35 ... Surface atmospheric pressure,
1.2atm; composition, standard oxygen-nitrogen mix, breathable without artificial
assistance. Hydrographic percentage, 57%; composition, liquid water and
water-ice. Mean surface temperature, -2°C.
Remarks:
Coventry
is an exile world established by the Confederacy
of Duncinae
in the neighboring Ea
subsector. Political dissidents and other criminals are frequently offered the
choice between trial and punishment or voluntary exile to Coventry. This has
proven a useful method of humanely dealing with undesirables and has worked
quite well since the system began some 350 years ago.
Coventry is a fairly hospitable world. Though the star is somewhat more
energetic than a yellow G2 like Sol, the world's atmosphere screens out
most of the excess UV and other potentially harmful radiation. The world's
climate is fairly good, though seasonal variations are extreme because of the
significant degree of axial tilt. All in all, though, the world is not harsh
and exile is not a particularly serious punishment.
Coventry is, however, rather strictly interdicted; the Confederacy maintains a
listening post and two small warships (10,000-ton destroyers) in the system at
all times, based on one of the moons of the innermost gas giant. Traffic can
refuel in the system by skimming one of the gas giants, but visits to Coventry
itself are forbidden.
Security has been tightened considerably (with an increased outpost staff and a building program to add a small fighter and small craft launch facility at the moon) since the exile of Admiral Thomas Birnham to Coventry.
Rumor has it that the popular rebel leader is the focus of several different
rescue plots. The increased security is an attempt to keep any of these from
bearing fruit. Naval assignments to the Coventry station are carefully screened
for political reliability and thus far there has been no trouble.
Little is known of conditions on Coventry, but it is believed that the world is
ruled by a fairly tightly controlled oligarchy. Lacking industry, the exiles
have little in the way of technology, save for periodic luxuries delivered by
the Confederacy government to ease the exiles' burdens.