Primary: Binary System. Major - Valajhada, spectral class K5V. ICN S4F0408K5V. Mass, .62 standard. Stellar diameter, .67 standard. Luminosity, .15 standard. Companion - Valherda, spectral class M7V. ICN S4F0408M7V. Mass .09 standard. Stellar diameter, .008 standard. Luminosity, .04 standard. Orbital radius, 4 AU.
Planetary System:
Two
major bodies. One inhabited world (Rejhappur, II). No gas giants in system. One planetoid belt
in system.
II
Rejhappur: Mean
orbital radius, 62.83 million kilometers (.42 AU). Period 126.26 days. One
satellite (Krashlamar). Diameter, 9790 kilometers. Density, .99 standard. Mass,
.44 standard. Mean surface gravity, .73G. Rotation period, 18 hours, 46 minutes,
29.6 seconds. Axial inclination, 5°17'9.5". Albedo, 0.10. Surface atmospheric
pressure, .55 atm. Composition, standard oxygen-nitrogen mix, breathable without
artificial assistance. Hydrographic percentage, 3.3%; composition, water and
frozen water-ice. Mean surface temperature, 22.6°C.
Remarks:
The
development of the Principality of
Caledon's mercantile interests in the period of 800-875 sparked considerable
efforts towards exploration and expansion in all directions. As trade routes
opened into the Ea and Hryaroaa
subsectors (and particularly as trade with various corporations in the Aslan
Hierate first began to open up), it became obvious to the Caledonian
government that new lines of interstellar communication to spinward and
rimward
were required. The establishment of the Principality enclave on Dunmarrow
(Reavers' Deep 0921) in 833 intensified this need.
In 846, the tiny class D starport on Krashlamar, Rejhappur's moon - a facility
which had primarily been used as a base of operations for asteroid miners and
the like - was upgraded (to Class C and expanded, becoming the primary packet
link between the Principality and various trade links such as Rhys
(Reavers' Deep 1019), Brighton
(Reavers' Deep 1020) and Dunmarrow. The Scotian
Deep Trading Company won the charter to develop and operate the port, with a
supporting government subsidy from the Principality. As their involvement in the
Rejhappur system became larger, the company began serious survey work on
Rejhappur itself. An expedition brought back samples of jaihe,
both in its natural form and as the processed ingredient for a popular hot
beverage, jaiheblek, which was made by the Happrhani
who occasionally harvested the wild plant. Sensing profits, the company followed
these surveys up with active trade.
Jaiheblek (which was better known as jaihe off-planet) caught on, and the
Scotian Deep Trading Company soon realized the value of their new discovery. By
874, an early trading post had been established at the town of Kaludnawi; James
Dunbar, the first factor at the post, signed a series of trade agreements with
several local communities to ensure good relations between the offworlders and
the Happrhani, who continued to cultivate jaihe as they always had. Under Dunbar
and his successors, the Company's presence on Rejhappur became thoroughly
established, and the world developed into a major source of profit.
During the Dynastic Crisis of 1024,
when the Principality government was nearly toppled by civil war, the Scotian
Deep Trading Company gained considerable influence in court as a result of
timely assistance to the Campbell Faction. This assistance ultimately won an
even stronger charter for the Company on Rejhappur, and a Barony for Robert
Armstrong, one of the Company's more prominent officers. Lord Armstrong used the
influence thus gained to increase the Company's power on Rejhappur.
Under Armstrong's administration as Director-General on Rejhappur, Company
plantations began to replace Happrhani farms as the primary source of jaihe for
offworld trade, Plantations were efficient, producing 20 times the amount of
jaihe that a comparable amount of land farmed the old way ever could.
Large-scale irrigation, modern farming procedures, and centralized direction all
played an important part in making the plantation system a successful one.
The Happrhani benefited from the new system as well. The plantations offered
excellent employment for good wages, and the influx of high-tech equipment meant
that industry, technology, and knowledge all could follow.
Unfortunately, the plantations brought problems as well as progress. The
Happrhani were gaining in education and skills, but as they did so, they
realized that they would inevitably remain subordinate to offworld employers.
The growing offworld population looked down on the locals as ignorant, backward,
uncivilized nobodies, who owed everything to their starfaring benefactors.
Disdain for native cultural and religious traditions led to some
friction, though it would never have amounted to anything if this had been the
only trouble.
The real problem was not with the Happrhani settlements, or around certain areas
of the steppes which never dried out entirely. As the jaihe plantations became
more numerous, the offworld administration began to bar nomad movement from more
and more areas; a visit from a nomad community for several weeks or months could
badly disrupt the production of the plantations. At first the nomads accepted
this; when they began to complain, and attempted
to ignore the restrictions, the Company resorted to violence. A small mercenary
force defeated a coalition of steppe nomads 10 times its size at the Battle of
Simbula in 1059, ensuring the safety of the offworld settlements. Following the
battle, several regiments of Happrhani troops were raised and trained as
"luvhakka" (support) forces. Officered by offworlders, the luvhakka
units were excellent troops, and were used for an increasing number of routine
duties - which allowed the Company to cut back on expenditures for large
mercenary forces. A few offworld units remained, mostly to secure Kaludnawi,
Dunbar Shuttleport, and a few other crucial locations.
After the Battle of Simbula, Company expansion continued unchecked. The Happijhom
were increasingly excluded from the fertile regions, although they were strongly
encouraged to give up their nomadic life in exchange for steady employment on
the plantations. Few did this. Instead, the nomads adjusted, as they always had
to natural forces too strong to fight, and resolved to survive in the steppes.
In 1098, the company made the last of a series of blunders which finally brought
native relations on Rejhappur to the breaking point. In that year, ground was
broken at Nahawaijohm, a new settlement. This town, built around an area of semi-permanent
fertile ground, was the first Company town established in the steppes. As the
irrigation channels, the wells and pumping stations, and all the other
characteristic elements of plantation oriented life were built around Nahawaijohm,
the steppes seemed to catch fire with a spirit of hatred for the offworlders. Nahawaijohm
was burnt to the ground four times before the settlement was actually completed
in 1103; only by moving a sizable contingent of mercenaries and luvhakkas to the
site was the work completed.
By 1105, the cumulative errors of four successive Company administrators on
Rejhappur had probably already made disaster inevitable. But the arrival in that
year of Sir Percival Jameison as the new Director-General on Rejhappur was the
final straw. Jameison, an arrogant and stubborn man, was determined to
"bring the damned Haps to heel," regardless of the cost. Believing
himself to be a brilliant administrator and amateur strategist (he was wrong on
both counts), Jameison set out to replace the economic conquest of Dunbar and
the slow land gains of more recent years with outright military conquest of all
the unpacified tribes. In so doing, he signed his own death warrant.
The exact motivations which prompted the general uprising of the Happrhani -
hitherto perfectly content under Company rule - will never be entirely known.
Certainly a portion of the cause was religious in nature; an increasing number
of Happrhani were beginning to believe the steppe dwellers who accused the
offworlders of conjuring water out of thin air through some unclean magic to
fill the irrigation ditches; in fact, the water was just pumped up from
underground sources, but even sophisticated Happrhani had not fully adjusted to
the concepts of advanced technology and science. Other factors no doubt included
resentment at the contempt of offworld overlords, dismay at fighting a war with
their steppe dwelling brethren, and many other incidental motives. Sir Percival
must take the blame, however, for actually fanning the flames.
In 1108, while on a tour of the plantations at Pajnawi, Jameison was confronted
by an angry mob protesting the expeditionary force which had been dispatched to
compel the steppe-dwellers of the Kaludjakir to surrender through a merciless
campaign of scorched earth and harassment. The protest unnerved Jameison, and he
made a serious miscalculation - he ordered out the garrison to disperse the mob.
The garrison, however, was a luvhakka regiment; rather than fire on their own
people, as their officers ordered, the troops mutinied. Their officers were the
first to die, but within 56 hours every offworlder in Pajnawi, including Sir
Percival and his entire staff, was dead . . . and the news was spreading like
wildfire. Other luvhakka units mutinied as they heard the news, though a few
stayed loyal. The citizenry supported the luvhakka mutinies, and there were
repetitions of the Pajnawi Massacre in several communities. In other areas,
offworlders took refuge in hastily-fortified strongpoints and waited, hoping
desperately for a relief force.
Relief was difficult to organize. The few regiments of mercenaries and loyal luvhakka available were spread thin, and there was no chance of organizing anything serious in the way of offplanet rescue in less than several weeks. The Rejhappur Revolt of 1108 was and is a plain example of the dangers confronting offworld administrators on a potentially hostile world . . . and is currently a major concern to the Principality of Caledon.
This revolt, and the subsequent governmental takeover by the Principality
of Caledon, eventually led to the downfall of the Company.
It is expected that government forces will be able to withdraw now that Caledon
Ventures (the new owner of the planet) is mobilizing colonial troops to
garrison the planet and reopen export of jaihe.
Society:
Social
organization and cultural features vary widely among the various groups on
Rejhappur. Conditions and attitudes in the Company-ruled areas, for instance,
are quite different from those prevalent among any of the steppe nomad tribes;
various nomad groups are themselves highly individual in character. Each group
has many unique or unusual aspects which serve to distinguish one culture from
another; space considerations make it impossible to analyze all of them in
detail.
Some important aspects, however, can be examined. In the days before the
outbreak of open rebellion, the Company regions were noteworthy chiefly for the
existence of a sharply defined class distinction between the offworld minority
and the native-born majority. The offworlders formed a rigidly aloof upper
class, snobbish, arrogant, and rarely interested in native ways. Cheap native
labor gave rise to impressive households staffed with servants; offworld
military units usually had as many as two or three servants per squad of private
soldiers, with officers attended by native help in even higher proportions. It
was this general air of haughty superiority which proved the undoing of the
offworlders when the rebellion broke out.
Under the offworld aegis, technology and industry did flow into Rejhappur. The
planetary tech level of "10" represents this influx; industrial
complexes at Kaludnawi and Venanbodar were beginning to give Rejhappur the
ability to turn out various manufactured goods of tech 9 and 10 standards. These
industries were highly dependent upon offworld specialists and technicians, and
the Rebellion has brought most production to a standstill.
Religion:
Religious
beliefs among the natives of Rejhappur are many and varied. Since the outbreak
of hostilities on the world, however, a few specific nomad sects have gained a
great deal of influence and respect, and have contributed significantly to the
solidarity of the native resistance.
The basis of these sects lies in a fear and distrust of ancient "Sky
Gods" (believed by some xeno-anthropologists to be dim echoes of the
Ancients remembered through traditions and mythology). Open waters have long
been associated with sickness and death (thanks to the unhealthy climate around
the dead seas); it is easy to see how the nomads reached the conclusion that the
offworlders, with their irrigation ditches and pumping stations, were indulging
in an unholy magic. Some natives now believe the offworlders to be evil sky
gods, while others merely feel that they are violating the natural order of
things by establishing open-water irrigation. In both cases, the nomad creed is
clear - the offworlders must be stopped. Their fanaticism is turning what was
originally a terrible company blunder into a full-fledged holy war.
The
religious rules of conduct which control life among the natives of Rejhappur are
generally similar. They stress cooperation over competition, and support an
ethical code which makes a virtue out of honor, courage, and dedication to the
good of family, people, and race. Though barbaric, the nomad tribes of Rejhappur
can be counted upon to obey their codes strictly. They will not kill in cold
blood, only in fair fight or in tests of justice in which the condemned have a
chance to vindicate themselves. These redeeming aspects of Rejhappuran belief
help to emphasize the true magnitude of miscalculation which has led to the
current outbreak of hostilities among these people.
Languages:
The
Happrhani, with their settled communities, evolved several distinctive oral and
written languages a long time ago. The Happrhani tongues, in fact, have become
common languages used by nomads as well as Happrhani in their dealings with one
another, although individual tribes employ their own mutually incomprehensible
dialects among themselves. Since the coming of offworlders, the Happrhani tongue
from the fertile regions around Dunbar Shuttleport has gradually developed into
a lingua franca used by the company in all its dealings with locals.
Many Happrhani, especially those employed in the military or on plantations, speak Caledonian Galanglic. Few offworlders have taken the trouble to learn local languages, though some terms and words have been adopted as slang. The company does have memclips available at Dunbar Shuttleport for the major Happrhani tongues, but has little or no data available on the various nomad languages.
More details on Rejhappur are covered in the Far Traveller #2.