Cabina

Cabina is part of the Benilli system in Hex #0509. It is the homeworld of the Church of Humanity Repentant.

Summary
Homeworld of the Church of Humanity Repentant and shared with the local indigenous Cah-Binn aliens. Cabina is a temperate world that tends to experience colder weather than most other temperate planets. It is covered by large oceans and small continents. A warmer, more tropical climate band surrounds the equator, and is home to most of the planet's life. The biosphere on the remainder of the planet's surface has been degraded by millennia of dawning and receding ice ages. Orbital bombardment from Imperial fleets in ages past has left large swathes of the biosphere completely barren.

Roughly a third of the human population lives in the capital city of Lux Gravare, the rest are dispersed between numerous scattered towns, settlements, temples, monasteries, hermitages, and so on. Religious sites, whether large temple complexes or tiny shrines, can be found everywhere: from the haziest jungles to the deepest ice caverns.

The Cah-Binn aliens are partly nomadic, and their population is divided into family communities nested inside metal jurts/lodges that bear familial markings shaped by the family elder. The largest and more known of these communities are close to the city of Lux Gravare where they trade with humanity.

Each family dome is separated individually by at least a 20-kilometer distance between it and the next family dwelling. The occupied ground around the dome is then "churned" by the Cah-Bin family on a rotational basis.

Geography and Climate
Cabina's surface is dominated by ice and water. Roughly three fifths of the planet's surface area is either water or ice, with the remaining fifth of dry land being dispersed between a dozen or so small continents. Most of the northern and southern hemisphere has a cold climate, from tundra's to glaciers to fully arctic climates at the poles. However, around the equator runs a wide band of a temperate-to-tropical climate. Cabina's climate history is defined by a continual cycle of ice ages, each lasting from hundreds to thousands of years, during which the equatorial band shrinks or grows respectively. Currently, the band covers somewhere between a fifth to a third of the planet's total surface, dependent on how it is measured.

Many areas of Cabina's habitable surface are still scarred with craters, marking the (geologically) recent imperial orbital bombardments.

Biosphere
Most of what remains of Cabina's biosphere is confined to the warmer equatorial band and the inhabited areas. The biosphere in the colder areas had already been degraded by millennia of dawning and receding ice ages when orbital bombardment by imperial fleets destroyed most of the fragile ecosystems that had managed to adapt to the planet's oscillating climate. Over the past two centuries, the Church of Humanity Repentant and the Cah-Binn have been making efforts, independently and jointly, to restore flora and fauna to the planet. As a result most inhabited areas are surrounded by large areas of flourishing plant and animal life. Outside of those, however, the planet is dominated by large swathes of completely barren and all but lifeless desolation.

The Varrjac
These small amphibian beings live in the coldest parts of Cabina. Since they are cold-blooded they spend their whole lives close to the warm pools of geysers. They are frog-like in size and stature but there are thin skin membranes between their forearms and torsos that they use as flippers for propulsion in water. Varrjac are omnivores, surviving mostly on the small shrubs that grow in these parts and microfauna that lives in the warm pools.

When it is time for Varrjac to lay their eggs, they retreat into these pools. Due to the warm water, the eggs do not have to be incubated by the parents. But because of the flourishing fauna in the volcanic puddles, the egg’s shells have to be extremely robust. After about 2 weeks of incubation, the babies are ready to hatch. Most of them however are not strong enough to pierce the shell, only managing to break out their forearms. Instinctively, they use their flippers to pull themselves towards the pool’s center. There they wait until the force of the geyser’s next eruption breaks their shells and propels them out of the water and into the air. Here their flippers double as wings, on which they sail to the next puddle, where they find a mate and spend the rest of their lives.

Early History
Cabina is the homeworld of the Cah-Binn aliens. Before humanity's arrival in the sector, the Cah-Binn had settled a handful of worlds surrounding Cabina. Humanity destroyed these settlements, and the final treaty the Cah-Binn were forced to sign forbade them from settling anywhere outside of the Benilli system.

After the Scream, the Cah-Binn believed that the original treaty had become null and void, and the ground of Cabina shook as it birthed several Cah-Bin space ships that began exploring the sectors surrounding Cabina which began to engage in trade with the humans of these sectors. The empire did consider this a breach of the original treaty.

The trade was profitable to all involved, and so nothing was done beyond lodging a formal protest and using the issue to rile up anti-alien sentiment whenever it was politically convenient to some imperial faction or the other.

This lasted until the reign of the Blood Eagle. The Cah-Binn were an obvious target, and it wasn't long before the Aquilan Emperox declared war.

The Cah-Binn ships were shot down, and their colony outposts on Shan, Argiast, Hallger and Benkmann III were overrun, but at significant cost: the Cah-Binn defences proved more than the humans had initially bargained for. As a result, the imperial military forewent a ground invasion of Cabina, instead bombarding it from orbit for months on end. When the Cah-Binn at last communicated their unconditional surrender, it was little more than a formality. The bombardment had left too little of either the Cah-Binn civilization, or the planet's biosphere, remaining for them to have any means to resist or deny whatever humanity wanted to impose. For a brief period, an imperial garrison was stationed on Cabina, but it was recalled soon after the Blood Eagle's death in 2955.

The Founding of the Church of Humanity Repentant
When the founders of the Church of Humanity Repentant were looking for a home, Cabina soon became an obvious choice. Though understandably wary at first, the Cah-Binn begrudgingly accepted these 'repentant' humans' presence, and helped some of the first settlers survive the planet's cold and devastated climate. Though the devastation visited upon them by humanity was, and still remains, fresh in the Cah-Binn's cultural memory, over time many have come to like and trust their human neighbors. Helping build this trust was that part of the Church's offer of reconciliation was a promise: if anyone ever seeks to bombard the Cah-Binn again, they'll have to bombard millions of human shields along with them.

Today, the human population vastly outnumbers that of the Cah-Binn, and the two species largely live in separate communities. But relations between the communities are good, in particular when it comes to joint projects to restore parts of Cabina's biosphere to its original luster.

Lux Gravare
Lux Gravare is the capital city of Cabina. It is located in the temperate band that surrounds Cabina's equator. It is by far the largest city on Cabina, making up roughly one third of the planet's human population.

Notable locations in or near Lux Gravare are:
 * The Cabina Capitol: The buildings housing the planetary government, including the governor's residence.
 * The House of Concord: The building housing the meeting rooms and offices of the Concord, the main governing body of the Church of Humanity Repentant.
 * Lux Gravare Stadium: The official stadium of the Cabina Fever Psiball team.
 * Repentance Hospital: A Medical Facility. It is run by the Church, while receiving ample government subsidies. The medical staff is dedicated to treating all who seek their aid. It is one of only a handful of places in the sector where Doctor's may specialize in the treatment of alien patients. Up till the recent troubles, Repentant Hospital also maintained a large number of staff and facilities for the treatment of synthetics. This was officially abolished during the War Against the Artificials, but some rumors say it was never abolished, merely taken off the books and that it continues to be run out of closed or secret sections of the hospital. Church leaders have publicly condemned the spreading of such rumors.

Gadalfo
Gadalfo is known as the industrial capital of Cabina. It is the third largest city on the planet and the most cohabited with the Cah-Binn. The industry of Godalfo is primarily steel and mineral production harvested from the nearby mountain range known as the Zabrann Mountains. The city stands just south of the temperate band of Cabina and experiences particularly harsh winters. Its location would not normally be considered hospitable enough for human settlement if not for how lucrative the mountain ranges nearby are in terms of wealth of mineral deposits.

Gadalfo was the locale of first contact with the Cah-Binn This event would later be referred to as the "Gadalfo Incident". The settlers unknowingly built the city adjacent to a particularly significant cultural location and feeding ground of the Cah-Binn. The Cah-Binn name for the canyon that Gadalfo borders is most closely expressed in English phonetics as "checkh-val-shivt" and roughly translates to "The Boneyard". "The Boneyard" is a mass grave of dead and fossilized fauna and alien remains that has remained somewhat preserved. However the canyon is also one of the most mineral rich locations discovered on Cabina and as such was a major point of contention regarding early diplomatic relations between human settlers and the Cah-Binn.

Alyssa's Seclusium
A small cave where Alyssa the Humble, a widely revered Church leader, spent the final years of her life. There is a small stone hut, a grave, and little else.

Government
The government of Cabina is legally secular and democratic, with an elected planetary governor. However, because the human colony was founded by members of the Church of Humanity Repentant, and to this day over 90% of its population are Church members, the government is deeply intertwined with the Church. The rights of sentient beings is enshrined in constitutional law, and many Church sects and religious organisations have either tacit or open support from the planetary and local governments in their activities.

However, because of the diverse nature of the Church, this theocratic structure has not led to any form of inquisition or state-sanctioned censorship. Beyond constitutionally enshrining the rights afforded by the three tenets, and ample government funding for non-human outreach and aid programs, Church ideology is no more influential in the daily governance of Cabina than it would be on a non-Church world.

The incumbent planetary governor of Cabina is Governor Mourne Kushrenade.

Psiball
Various populated areas on Cabina maintain their own local Psiball teams, and the best players get selected for the official team representing the Church of Humanity Repentant: The Cabina Fever.

Friendly Foe
Some hostile alien race or malevolent cabal has a branch or sect on this world that is actually quite friendly toward outsiders. For whatever internal reason, they are willing to negotiate and deal honestly with strangers, and appear to lack the worst impulses of their fellows.

Enemies:

 * Driven hater of all their kind
 * Internal malcontent bent on creature conflict
 * Secret master who seeks to lure trust

Friends:

 * Well-meaning bug-eyed monster
 * Principled eugenics cultist
 * Suspicious investigator

Complications:

 * The group actually is as harmless an benevolent as they seem
 * The group offers a vital service at the cost of moral compromise
 * The group still feels bonds of affiliation with their hostile brethren

Things:

 * Forbidden xenotech
 * Eugenic biotech template
 * Evidence to convince others of their kind they are right

Places:

 * Repurposed maltech laboratory
 * Alien conclave building
 * Widely-feared starship interior

Theocracy
The planet is ruled by the priesthood of the predominant religion or ideology. The rest of the locals may or may not be terribly pious, but the clergy have the necessary military strength, popular support or control of resources to maintain their rule. Alternative faiths or incompatible ideologies are likely to be both illegal and socially unacceptable.

Enemies:

 * Decadent priest-ruler
 * Zealous inquisitor
 * Relentless proselytizer
 * True believer

Friends:

 * Heretic
 * Offworld theologian
 * Atheistic merchant
 * Desperate commoner

Complications:

 * The theocracy actually works well
 * The theocracy is decadent and hated by the common folk
 * The theocracy is divided into mutually hostile sects
 * The theocracy is led by aliens

Things:

 * Precious holy text
 * Martyr's bones
 * Secret church records
 * Ancient church treasures

Places:

 * Glorious temple
 * Austere monastery
 * Academy for ideological indoctrination
 * Decadent pleasure-cathedral

Johnstown Mine Project
Occupation: Miserable gas-miner slaves or serfs

Situation: They need vital supplies

Littleton 9
Occupation: Trigger-happy scavengers

Situation: Meddling with strange tech