Report no. 3, Why Space, Early History:3.0 - As with all life forms throughout the universe, life, including Intelligent life, evolves at its own rate and in its own way. Please understand the Ghoti's sun is slightly larger than is Earth's sun, Ghoti orbits a little further from it's sun than does Earth, Ghoti's day is somewhat shorter than Earths and Ghoti divides it's day into 20 hours rather than 24 as on Earth. We actually call our years orbits rather than years. In this report the term years and orbits will be used interchangeably to mean the same thing. As near as science and archeology can determine, the solar system formed and Ghoti completed 1,000,000± orbits of it's star before any life-form fossils appeared. It took another 875,000,000± orbits and several extractions for humanoid life to evolve and develop a written language. The first written history was recorded in the Scrolls of Stromet. The records show that the Sciences began to develop only 4,000± years later as our ancestors searched for meaning of existence. It was King Obcredon IX of the Isle of Stromet who established the Library of Knowledge, began collecting, and gave the name to the historical, religious, and science documents called the Scrolls of Stromet.
3.1 - The lay of the land:The planet Ghoti is 15,174 kilometers (9,429 miles) in diameter and is divided into two continents, Obnoc and Amurlang, separated by two oceans, Obnoc and Grand Ocean. The smaller of the two continents is Obnoc, just over 8,500,000 Sq. Kilometers in area., roughly 3,000 kilometers north to south and 2,800 kilometers east to west. Obnoc is situated north of the equator and extends across the north pole. A large glacier covers the north pole region to nearly 15 degrees southward where many fresh water rivers flow outward to the mountain range in the South. The continent is rather mountainous on it's southern third but none of the mountains are taller than 5,000 meters. As a natural barrier, the rivers from the north end in numerous interconnected lakes that feed a large westward flowing river along the base of the mountains. To the south of Obnoc is the South Sea. A scattering of islands, some as large as 100,000±Sq. Km. but mostly the are rocks that form a shipping hazard at best. The nations of Obnoc claim all rights to these islands and their possession has lead to many a bloody conflict among the claimants. Obnoc is the "manufacturing" continent but does provide some mining and a small amount of agriculture. To the west of Obnoc is the Obnoc Ocean. About ±5,000 Km. wide, the Ocean of Obnoc is home to a string of islands from near the central coast of Obnoc southwest across the Ocean to the south-central coast of Amurlang. The entire string of islands crosses the ocean with not more than 60 kilometers between any of them, many within sight of one another. The largest of the islands at ±200,000 sq. kilometers and most important is the Isle of Stromet. It is 60 kilometers west of Obnoc. Stromet is 287 kilometers east to west at its widest and 720 kilometers north to south with the southern tip curving back slightly toward Amurlang. When Pyphty I crowned himself Emperor of all of Ghoti, he chose the Isle of Stromet as his seat of government and all of his political/religious/military tentacles radiate from this island. There are not islands of importance in the Ocean of Obnoc south of the equator. Amurlang is quite large, covering close to 77,900,000 sq kilometers, approximately 7,800 kilometers north to south and 10,000 kilometers east to west and is centered along the equator. A major mountain range runs along the western side and the east about half way along the south side. At the north end of the mountain range is a lesser range o mountain that angle diagonally to the southeast where is is joined by a northeasterly range that goes to the far corner of the continent. The north plains are colder and drier than the central valley that extends from the west mountains to the eastern most side of the continent and slopes steadily in that directions. The central valley receives steady rain on its western end and a major river flows east and is used to irrigate the entire valley. The valley is the bread basket for the entire planet with more than enough food produced. The north plains are primarily grass lands and support large herds of large herbivorous animals that when added to the fish of the oceans are the meat source for the whole plant. Amurlang is the agriculture and main mining continent, that is, most of the raw materials come from this land. The Grand Ocean, ±10,100 kilometers across from the Southern Sea to the eastern shore of Amurlang. The Sea below Amurlang is generally considered to be a part of the Grand Ocean, too. It is frequently stormy open water but does have a few volcanic islands along its several tectonic plates and hot spots. The islands support on a few people and animals. 3.2 - The great war, Pyphty I becomes Emperor:more 3.2.1 - The great extinction caused by the great volcano eruption:Approximately only 50,000 Ghotians survive in isolated areas in the foothills of the mountains of Obnoc south of the lakes. They are forced development a cooperative society to survive the volcanic winter that followed the great floods of the errption's tsuanmi. The remainder of the population was along the sea coasts and the few that survived the floods had no food nor shelter from the ice that followed. The volcanic winter lasted over 10 orbits and with much of the sun energy block, very littleplant life remained to feed man or beast. more 3.2.2 - Ghonians go forth and multiply, separate into large families, and families migrate to find new lands and resources. Nations are developed:more It was written that King Obcredon IX, in the year 875,128,213 since creation, first conceived of the idea and ordered the collection or copying and cataloging of all written records available anywhere on the Planet Ghoti. He sent out his scribes to all corners and ordered them to write all verbal records and to either copy or obtain any and all tablets, books, letters, or anything that is written. He order that a great stone hall be built on the Isle of Stromet for storing the material and that the most knowledgeable of all his scribes and learned people catalog these writings onto scrolls for storage. Then he order that a second great stone hall be built, to be used by the scribes and learned people to study copies of the scrolls and to teach all the people of the content of the scrolls. Using the knowledge obtained from the scrolls, the King revised his government and wrote a Constitution for his government, establishing a Senate to make laws, a Court to interpret the laws, and giving the King and dynasty the power to enforce the laws. The King was the a sort of a chairman of the Board of the Senate and could suggest laws and rules of conduct but the Senate actually created the laws and rules. However, the Senate members were nominated by the King, the courts seconded the nominations and the people approved the nominations by a majority vote. The Senate was elected for life and in turn the Senate appointed the Court members for life. There was no limit set for either the Senate or Court membership but tradition kept the number to a reasonable level until King Pyphty I made himself Emperor of all of Ghoti. This method of government prevailed through the dynasty until Stromet was conquered by Pyphty after 11 generations of Kings, when King Obcredon XX fled to the Mountains of Amurlang. Wars are fought between rival nations until one large empire of Obnoc is created. King Pyphty I, then a prince, was sent by his father, King Ratnog of Pyphtyton Minor, to study at the University of Stromet. As was the custom, all peoples of all lands of Ghoti were welcomed to use the University's facilities as space was available. The rulers and children of the rulers were given first priority, however. It was in this climate that the future King Pyphty come to the University. He was a spoiled and quite quarrelsome and often fought with his fellow princes, even princesses, and his teachers. This one student was the scourge of the University and after completing seven of the ten orbits for a degree, became the only student ever expelled form the University. This angered both him and his mother, both vowed revenge. 3.2.4 - The final epic struggle that nearly ends life on Ghoti:Pyphty was the first and only son of King Ratnog's second wife. The King's first two sons and his first wife had mysteriously died before they could attend the University. As he was now the crown prince, Pyphty and his mother conspired to use the knowledge and the copies of military weapons obtained from the Library of Knowledge to build an army in secret. When the king learned of this, he tried to put a stop to it, but he was old and weak. Shortly after discovering the plot and bout nine orbits following Pyphty's expulsion from the University, King Ratnog past away and Pyphty assumed the throne of Pyphtyton Minor. 3.3 - Peace, Prosperity, Pollution and the threat of Extinction:Shortly after taking the throne, Pyphty laid claim to his neighboring kingdoms and in turn each new neighboring kingdom until he ruled all of his namesake, the entire continent of Pyphty. He then laid claim to the Isle of Stromet proceeded to begin an aerial bombardment of the capitol city. Taking flight with all of the scrolls they could carry, the scholars, scientists, priest, and many government officials fled the Island to hide in the Mountains of Amurlang. Here, the free peoples of the Planet began to build the weapons and armies to fight back. With such a late start, the most that could be done was to fight a guerrilla type war. In time, to protect their families, a group of scientists learned to build a fleet of space ships to escape into space and away from the tyranny. The guerrilla war was still being waged when our ancestors left Ghoti to colonize space. Thus begin our journey though space some ±4 million earth years ago. 3.4 - The Colonization of Space:Each colony had to be self sufficient, providing for its own food, water, a breathable atmosphere, medical care, fuel, tools, maintenance, and government. A starter kit was provided including a complete electronic copy of the Library of Knowledge and three shuttles/tugs to allow for mining of planets, comets and asteroids. This was made possible by the use of a D+3He linear (magnetic mirror) fusion rocket that is being developed on earth for NASA today. Not only does this schema provide the thrust for mobility but provides much the electrical power for the space station and the shuttles. In addition, several fission type reactors were located a safe distance from the space station as back-up power stations. These were establish in such a way as to allow removal of all atomic wastes into open space. After all, stellar space is a very dangerous and radio-active place where the stars themselves dump their waste products. The stellar space is what we mine for those materials needed to expand and maintain the space station and it is from the stellar wastes that the earth, solar system and all planets, comets, and asteroids are made. It is where we obtain the fuels for our fusion and fission reactors. It is also where we get the shielding from the radiation that fills all of space. It seems that hydrogen is the best of all radiation protection and it is the most plentiful of all the fuels in the Universe, comprising well of 90% of all matter. God sure knew what He was doing when he set off the big bang. 3.5 - This concludes Report No. 3:Subsequent reports will discuss the engineering, design, equipment, and materials used in space colonization and exploration. The reports will also cover the exchange of information and discoveries of the many established colonies. Back to the Reports Preface |