Brownsville

Brownsville
Brownsville 3151.svg
System Information
X:Y Coordinates6.466 : -29.788[e]
Spectral classK3V[1]
Recharge time194 hours[1]
Recharge station(s)Zenith (until 2850), Nadir (until 2850), None (after 2850)[1]
Planet(s)5[1]

The Brownsville system was home to at least one formerly habitable world or construct and as of 3151 was located within the Capellan Confederation.[2]

System Description[edit]

Brownsville is located near the Capolla and Outreach systems and was within two jumps of Terra.[3] Before the colony collapsed in 2850 the system hosted recharging stations at both the zenith and nadir points.[1]

System History[edit]

The Brownsville system was settled in the early twenty-fourth century.[1] The inhabitants supported Stefan Amaris during the Amaris Coup and but weathered the Civil War reasonably well and briefly held some degree of independence until the Capellan Confederation annexed Brownsville during the First Succession War, incorporating the system into the Tikonov Commonality.[4][5] The colony suffered a brutal nuclear planetary bombardment at the hands of the Free Worlds League in the First Succession War, from which it never recovered. Brownsville vanished from maps during the Third Succession War after the system had been depopulated.[6][7][8]

Political Affiliation[edit]


Brownsville II[edit]

Brownsville II
Brownsville Orbital View.jpg
Astrophysical
System positionSecond[1]
Jump Point distance4.62 days[1]
MoonsRings, and several shepherd moonlets[1]
Geophysical
Surface gravity0.90[1]
Atmospheric pressureStandard (Breathable, before 2811),
Standard (Tainted, after 2811)[1]
Equatorial temperature22°C (Arid, before 2811),
50°C (Arid, 3150)[1]
Surface water75%[1]
Highest native lifeNone[1]
Landmasses7 (California, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Indiana)[38]
History and Culture
ColonizedEarly 2300s[1]
Population573,000,000 (2780),
25,000,000 (2850),
None (after 2860)[1]
Government and Infrastructure
CapitalDallas[1]
HPG ClassA (before 2850)
B (after 2850)
None (3150)[1]

Brownsville is the second planet in the system. During the Star League era the planet was a key manufacturer of atmospheric processors and water filters.

Planetary History[edit]

Early History[edit]

The colonization of Brownsville was a direct result of the formation of the Terran Hegemony. In the early twenty-fourth century Terra was home to a number of groups drawn along ethnic or nationalist lines who remained loyal to member states that had existed prior to the Terran Alliance's colonization programs. The Hegemony government took steps to both break up those groups and encourage loyalty to the new Hegemony by rewarding them with new worlds to colonize, like Brownsville and New Dallas. Brownsville hadn't been colonized during the earlier waves of expansion because it wasn't quite habitable for humans; that was a situation that could be quickly rectified thanks to Hegemony terraforming efforts, which took the water-rich world and spent several decades adding oxygen to the atmosphere and creating ecosystems. These terraforming efforts began in 2315, and when the first colonists arrived a few decades later, Brownsville seemed like an ideal colonization prospect; the climate was temperate, with good rainfall, thriving grasslands and young forests. The colonists stocked fish in the lakes, and used the terraforming techniques developed for Venus to create artificial soil ideal for the modified crops they brought with them. These early colonists were from North America, and their numbers quickly grew as they were joined by their families and millions of additional people from North America who arrived throughout the 2350s.[1]

The various continents on Brownsville were named for regions of pre-Hegemony North America, and the continents of Indiana and Iowa attracted the greatest number of settlers, being temperate in climate in comparison to Texas, a dry continent notable for its fjords, and California, a tropical equatorial region. In contrast with many other worlds, the population of Brownsville settled largely in the interior of the continents, avoiding the coastlines, because of the remarkable ugliness of the oceans and beaches. Prior to being terraformed, Brownsville had an anoxic environment, which had led to the oceans and seas being filled with vast quantities of dissolved metals; when first discovered, the oceans had actually been a brilliant green color, as a result of the nickel compounds present in the water. The terraforming of Brownsville turned the oceans an ugly-red brown color, as the adjusted atmosphere began oxidizing iron. Many of the beaches found around Brownsville became dominated by blood-colored mud.[1]

Brownsville was established as republic, using a conventional Terran Hegemony planetary constitution that set long terms for elected officials, and a highly professional bureaucracy was put in place. Faced with the metal-rich oceans constantly extracting oxygen from the atmosphere, the population settled for establishing the bare minimum of atmospheric processing needed to maintain a stable oxygen level, as the oceans weren't seen as a major problem when the use of filters could satisfy the needs of the population.[1]

Age of War[edit]

Brownsville was largely untouched by the conflicts of the Age of War; the planet was raided twice during this era, once by the Capellan Confederation and once by the Federated Suns, but neither raid inflicted much damage. More people were killed during clashes between sports fans who battled each other on the streets during the twenty-fifth century in a period that became known as the "Hooligan Years" than as a result of conflicts during this era. Sports-related violence became one of the most notable traits of the Brownsville population; while levels of violent crime on Brownsville were lower than the Hegemony average, the various baseball and hockey teams from Brownsville were infamous for their bad sportsmanship. This was a trait that continued throughout the Age of War and the later Star League era, with acts such as the use of illegal cybernetics, match-fixing, excessive violence, widespread use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs and even attempts to have to have members of opposing teams assassinated leading to both baseball and hockey teams being banned from Terran Hegemony (and Star League) sports leagues for a grand total of twenty-two years between 2371 and 2765.[1]

Star League Era[edit]

Brownsville became a wealthy world, but one lacking in distinction compared to other Hegemony worlds. The inexpensive water filters manufactured on Brownsville as a result of the needs of the local terraforming system were soon key to many other worlds across human space, something that the general population didn't realize—to the population of Brownsville, water filters were of little consequence to the overall economy.[1]

Brownsville's banks were intertwined with industries such as tourism that stretched across the Star League, and as a result the economic recession that occurred in the mid-twenty-eighth century hit Brownsville hard. The rise to power of Richard Cameron as First Lord caused economic and political chaos across the Star League, and when Stefan Amaris hinted at the need for a change in ruling dynasties for the Star League, both the leadership and business communities on Brownsville proved to be receptive audiences.[1]

Operation APOTHEOSIS[edit]

The Rim Worlds Republic troops deployed to Brownsville as part of Amaris' preparations for his coup were generally the descendants of Hegemony citizens, and the Brownsville planetary militia worked under their guidance in laying the groundwork for neutralizing the Star League Defense Force garrison. The launch of Operation APOTHEOSIS was far less bloody than on other worlds; the militia had changed locks and passwords, and much of the SLDF garrison had been kept occupied by an "Armed Forces Day" hosted by the planetary baseball league. After a day of watching sports fixtures with ample supplies of food and alcohol, many of the SLDF personnel had no idea that a coup was taking place until their chartered transport was diverted to deposit them in prison camps. Over the next month just thirty SLDF personnel would be killed on Brownsville, the majority of them as a result of attempts to escape from the prisons they were trapped in.[1]

With the SLDF garrison out of the way, a media campaign was rolled out across Brownsville, arguing in favor of Amaris' appointment as Emperor of the Amaris Empire. This campaign was successful, and the population embraced the Hegemony's new Director-General amidst a cloud of euphoria at the removal of Richard Cameron, who was regarded as incompetent.[1]

Star League Civil War[edit]

Within a year, the jubilation at Stefan Amaris' ascension to the throne had faded from the minds of the local population, replaced with concern over both the knowledge that none of the Great Houses had acknowledged Amaris as Emperor, and the news that Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky was leading the SLDF in an open rebellion against the Emperor. Reporting appeared suggesting that tactics put in place to punish the Great Houses, such as financial sanctions, were actually only serving to irritate the Houses and harm the Hegemony economy.[1]

Amaris offered contracts to companies on Brownsville to replace those that had been in place with companies within the various Great Houses who had opted to support the SLDF, and this provided a useful stimulus to Brownsville's economy. With the prospect of open warfare within Hegemony space actively looming, Brownsville began to mobilize for war, with military factories contributing directly to the Amaris Empire's war efforts. When the SLDF moved from occupying the Rim Worlds Republic to launch Operation CHIEFTAIN, the Brownsville militia deployed on the front lines against the SLDF, alongside the other Patriot regiments raised by the Amaris Empire.[1]

The relative unimportance of Brownsville to both Amaris and Kerensky led to it largely being ignored by both factions in the war, until early 2775. Amaris designated Brownsville as one of the worlds that was to be subject to a scorched earth policy at the hands of the AEAF garrison, who were then to retreat to more important worlds. While Amaris' intention was to diver resources away from the SLDF offensive by forcing Kerensky to engage in large-scale relief operations,[16] Brownsville actually suffered less damage than most of the other worlds targeted by the scorched-earth tactics used. This was down to the fact that the nuclear charges put in place to destroy Brownsville's useful military factories were placed by Brownsville volunteers among the Empire forces, and they arranged to have the installations evacuated beforehand. Amaris' instructions that the SLDF was to find nothing of use on Brownsville was observed[1]—while half of LXIV Corps were deployed from the Eighteenth Army to relief efforts on Brownsville,[39] they found little war matériel to support the ongoing SLDF campaign.[1] Other SLDF forces including Admiral Marina Akkayev-Cameron's Fourth Fleet and General Reed Challen's Twenty-fourth Army Group mustered in the Brownsville system for the assault on New Home, the first planetary assault by the SLDF to be launched in 2775 and a key battle in the overall campaign to liberate Terra.[17]

While the population of Brownsville didn't suffer the same level of immediate harm and deprivation as the other scorched worlds, Brownsville was still left with substantial problems. All of Brownsville's industrial facilities were co-located with transportation hubs, a decision that made eminent sense; the destruction of these industrial facilities also destroyed the transportation hubs—causing large-scale transport to immediately come to a halt planetwide. The nuclear devices were clean fusion devices, with no fallout and only short-lived neutron-activated isotopes in the ground nearby, but the wrecked industrial facilities released vast quantities of chemicals into the environment, rendering vast tracks of agricultural land useless from the resulting pollution and contamination. The agricultural industry on Indiana produced bumper harvests, but the food couldn't be distributed because of the shattered transport infrastructure.[1]

Brownsville's government was a product of the Amaris Empire; deeply autocratic, the government had suspended elections to extend the tenure of pro-Amaris officials. With no elections, the government was free to make hardnosed decisions, and it promptly did so. The largest, most easily-aided groups on Brownsville were marked for relief efforts, while other districts were left unaided. The government pressed political dissidents into service as a labor force, using them to establish temporary ports on the coasts to allow food to begin moving, with thousands of the workers dying as a result. The government wasn't solely responsible for relief efforts, however; in acts of heroism, hundreds of volunteers installed new equipment for handling cargo and laid stretches of temporary railway lines in blast areas which were still radioactive, helping to create the rudiments of an infrastructure system to replace what had been lost.[1]

By 2776, the supply of food across Brownsville had stabilized, and the government had shifted its focus to rebuilding elements of Brownsville's industrial base needed to support the population, and then to meet their technological requirements. When Amaris' regime fell, Brownsville was one of the few restored Terran Hegemony worlds not to imprison or lynch the authority figures left from the pro-Amaris government, possibly due to the government's brutal effectiveness in rebuilding. Where other worlds ultimately suffered the loss of millions of lives as a result of the war, the death toll on Brownsville ws several hundred thousand—a significant, but demonstrably smaller figure.[1]

With attention focused inward, the population of Brownsville was caught completely unawares by the Exodus. The Brownsville government blamed the steady collapse of the Hegemony on Kerensky, and gathered what reserves it had to buy military equipment. The Brownsville militia was already larger than average, as a result of being deployed to put down local insurrection, and the addition of SLDF equipment resulted in a competent defense force capable of rebuffing attempts at predation from other states. The governments of both the Capellan Confederation and Free Worlds League made approaches to the Brownsville government, only to be rebuffed. The local government was more interested in forming alliances with other Hegemony worlds, but each attempt they made was rebuffed by worlds who distrusted Brownsville both for its population support of Stefan Amaris and for retaining the Empire-era government figures.[1]

First Succession War[edit]

The first attempt to annex Brownsville by force came at the hands of the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces; the CCAF declared that it had landed in support of a small group of rebels who represented the "legitimate interests" of the population, and were swiftly routed by the much more experienced militia troops. The Brownsville government arranged for the heads of the pro-Capellan rebel leaders to be sent to the CCAF forces, carefully packed in boxes of salt, at which point the CCAF troops withdrew from Brownsville, at least temporarily.[1]

In 2789 the Confederation made a second attempt to conquer Brownsville, this time with substantially greater forces and a more obvious attempt at diplomacy. The Capellans offered Brownsville membership of the Confederation on generous terms, as well as an offer of protection against both the Federated Suns and Free Worlds League. To reinforce the offer, Soyal-class cruisers from the Capellan Navy used mass drivers to destroy several moonlets within Brownsville's rings—the targeted moonlets each containing naval weapon batteries from the Star League era. For the next twenty years, Brownsville was able to largely avoid the open conflict of the First Succession War; the population was kept busy and distracted by a series of four-year reconstruction plans launched by the government, which were generally successful, and while both the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League launched probing raids on Brownsville, the world seemed a poor prospect for conquest given its largely impoverished state.[1]

Ironically, Brownsville's downfall was a result of industries on the planet recovering enough to produce advanced water filtration technology again. The First Succession War had degenerated to the point that water filter factories had become strategic assets in a universe where total war was the default mindset on the part of the Successor States. In 2811, the Free Worlds League attempted to conquer Brownsville; the CCAF was largely focused on the Federated Suns, but the Brownsville militia managed to defeat the invading forces. In line with the tactics of the day, the Free Worlds League Military launched a nuclear bombardment on Brownsville as it retreated to deny the assets it had fought for to anyone else. The attacks were devastating, as the FWLM dropped nuclear weapons on major cities that had no time to launch any kind of evacuation. The initial nuclear attacks killed both the government and a hundred million people. The loss of life was compounded because of a lack of effective leadership with the planetary rulers dead, and by 2813 the death toll had reached a quarter of a billion as a result of starvation, disease, exposure and the effects of radiation fallout. It took another ten years for the nuclear winter caused by the bombardment to pass, by which time many millions more were dead.[1]

The Confederation had little aid to give to Brownsville in the face of all the setbacks suffered during the First Succession War. The planetary atmosphere processors had been destroyed during the bombardment, and birthrates dropped sharply across the planet as conditions on Brownsville grew steadily worse, with the planetary population dropping steadily. By 2850, the oxygen levels in the atmosphere had dropped enough that animal life could barely survive on Brownsville and the population was reliant on respirators. As the levels of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere steadily climbed, the average temperature went up, destabilizing planetary weather systems further. Many people attempted to escape to other systems, but JumpShips were in short supply; in 2862, ComStar made a show of evacuating the few thousand refugees living near its HPG station, and declared Brownsville dead, striking it from maps and dismantling the station. The population of Brownsville wasn't truly extinct—estimates at the time suggested there were still a few million survivors living in small enclaves dotted across the planet. Brownsville's atmosphere reverted to its original atmosphere, and the human population died off.[1]

Geography[edit]

Planetary Map of Brownsville

Brownsville has seven major continents, which the colonists named California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Texas. In addition to the major continents, there were also substantial islands such as Alcatraz, Rhode Island, San Campella, and Santa Amelia. The major seas and oceans were named Ladybarbee, Okeerie, Rathwawa, Tippetahoe, and Tohosalton; the Santa Fe Strait separates the continents of California and Florida, while the Wabash Straits divided Illinois from Indiana. Several of the continents had notable bays, including the San Pedro and Santa Monica Bays on California's coast, Chester Bay on Ohio's coast, Baffin and Nueces Bays on the Texas coast and the Pensacola Bay on Iowa's coast. Notable mountain ranges on Brownsville included the Miami Mountains on Florida, and the Yokehandle mountain range that stretched along the northern edge of Iowa.[38]

Planetary Locations[edit]

  • California (continent)
  • Bakersfield: a notable city of more than 50 million people[38]
  • Berkeley: a notable city of more than 50 million people[38]
  • San Jose: a notable city of more than 50 million people with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • Florida (continent)
  • Pensacola: a notable city of less than one million people, located near the Everglades region[38]
  • Tallahassee: a notable city of less than one million people, located near the eastern end of the Yokehandle mountain range[38]
  • Tampa: a city of more than 50 million people with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • Illinois (continent)
  • Geneva: a notable city of less than one million people[38]
  • Peoria: a city of more than 50 million people with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • Rockford: a city of more than 50 million people, located close to Brownsville's primary water filtration center[38]
  • Indiana (continent)
  • Evansville: a notable city of less than one million people[38]
  • Indianapolis: a city of more than 50 million people with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • Iowa (continent)
  • Daytona: a notable city of less than one million people, located near the western end of the Yokehandle mountain range[38]
  • Devonport: a notable city of more than 50 million people[38]
  • Dubuque: a city of more than 50 million people with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • Sarasota: a notable city of less than one million people[38]
  • West Palm: a notable city of less than one million people[38]
  • Ohio (continent)
  • Bucyrus: a notable city of less than one million people[38]
  • Cleveland: a notable city of more than 50 million people with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • Dayton: a notable city of more than 50 million people[38]
  • Texas (continent)
  • Amarillo: a notable city of more than 50 million people[38]
  • Dallas: the planetary capital city with a nearby DropPort[38]
  • San Antonio: a notable city of less than one million people[38]

Local Fauna[edit]

Image gallery[edit]

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 84 systems (84 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Outreach 10.8 Capolla 11.7 Epsilon Eridani 14.6 Carver 15.0
Terra Firma 16.5 New Home 17.1 Bryant 17.9 Keid 19.9
Chisholm 21.8 Procyon 22.0 Hechnar 23.6 Sirius 23.7
Hsien 24.6 Hall 25.0 Epsilon Indi 26.8 Nanking 27.3
New Stevens 28.5 Caph 29.9 Mandal 30.3 Sol 30.5
Bex 30.5 Rigil Kentarus 33.6 Acamar 34.2 Sheratan 35.4
Graham 35.7 Zurich 36.0 Wasat 36.2 Tall Trees 37.4
Tau Ceti 37.9 Fomalhaut 38.0 Saiph 38.3 Woodstock 38.4
Northwind 38.6 Aldebaran 39.2 Tabit 39.6 Xi Ursae Majoris 39.7
Pollux 40.6 Fletcher 40.8 Talitha 40.9 Van Diemen 41.1
Menkalinan 41.3 Arboris 42.6 New Canton 43.2 Altair 43.6
Genoa 44.3 Killbourn 44.4 Oliver 44.5 Ingress 44.6
Devil's Rock 45.1 Dieron 45.1 Saffel 45.8 Berenson 46.0
Lockdale 46.8 Kawich 47.3 Cynthiana 47.7 Thorin 48.2
Zavijava 48.3 Castor 48.7 Belluevue 50.5 Small World 50.6
Nopah 50.8 Chara 50.8 Ruchbah 51.4 Bhaktapur 52.0
Azha 52.0 Denebola 52.5 Yorii 53.0 Bharat 53.8
Lipton 54.2 Zion 54.2 Blue Sava 54.3 Asta 55.4
Kristiandsund 56.0 Muphrid 56.3 Slocum 56.4 Nirasaki 56.5
Errai 56.8 Quentin 57.8 Styx 58.6 Rocky 59.2
Irian 59.3 Basalt 59.7 Zosma 59.9 Hamal 60.0

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 Touring the Stars: Brownsville, p. 4
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Bibliography[edit]