Europan Chronicles

[Pariah]

Planet: Europa, AKA Jupiter II, one of the icy moons of Jupiter.

Age/Year: 2707 CE, 507 standard years since colonization.

Climate: Sub zero year round.  The 'humans' live in interconnected warrens and burrows under the ice.  No atmosphere, and above ground, where the land isn't in use as roads (only a few main roads) there are photocells (solar panels) and cyrothermal energy stations (they pump something that is a liquid at surface down tubes to watery 'mantle' to boil/steam and come up, much like geothermal energy.)

Under the ice, down 80-90 miles, there is a watery mantel above the core.  In the dark, salty waters below there are quite a few interesting critters floating around close to the core, where the pressure is a bit stronger than the pressure at the bottom of our oceans. (due to the fact that they would never have been subjected to light, ever, these critters live near geothermal type vents from the core.  They might have developed senses like the shark's ampullaes of Lorenza)

The People: I envision them as being a race like the people of Winter in the Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin.  Or at least, not many visible distinctions between male/female, thin noses that help warm up the air, slow actioned (they like to think about what could happen before they do stuff), vaguely Confucian/Taoist in philosophy.  They shorter, and thinner, than humans of Here/Now, tall for them being 5'6" (due to the fact they spend most of their life in tunnels), less well fed (fat becomes a sign of prestige), they have less children on average (2 per family common, 3 a little less so, almost never only have 1, same with 4+ [The only reason why this would happen would be pairs of twins]).  They are very white, not translucent like the Nekron, and have black hair.

There are 3 major cities on the planet, with towns acting as waystations between them, so everyone lives in either the cities, power stations (for 3 months, then 3 months off), or in the waystations along the roads.

Then there are the Ferals, tribal people that live on the surface.  Over the years people that are sentenced to death are exiled instead of killed.  This is an effective death sentence.  The Ferals survive by using the rebreathers that they, their parents, or other exiles were given.  They also use electrosis on some of their water to make more O2 also.

[Pariah]

Some conversations that will get formalized later.

[Roack] 8:23 pm: I like the people already
[Pariah] 8:23 pm: I think I got some of the info on the ice and stuff wrong...
[Pariah] 8:23 pm: dam
[Roack] 8:23 pm: How'd they get there? abandoned human colony?
[Roack] 8:24 pm: oh well, it's fiction, you can do whatever you want to Europa (and yes, I know it's an actual moon, but
you can still change it to suit your needs)
[Pariah] 8:24 pm: That's what I'm thinking
[Pariah] 8:24 pm: war happens, and eventually the terrans forgot about the coonies
[Roack] 8:25 pm: I like it
[Pariah] 8:25 pm: colonies^
[Roack] 8:25 pm: I look forward to more
[Pariah] 8:25 pm: yeah, but I'm trying to keep it quasi-realistic
[Roack] 8:26 pm: well chagning a few statistics about the ice is still realistic
[Pariah] 8:26 pm: one thing I read said 100 mi of ice, andother that I just read said 25 mi of ice is theorized
[Roack] 8:27 pm: besides, it could have changed over time
[Pariah] 8:27 pm: yeah, but one of them makes it ALOT easier on the colonists
[Roack] 8:27 pm: And I don't believe we know much about any of Jupiter's moons
[Pariah] 8:27 pm: ...
[Pariah] 8:27 pm: No we don't
[Pariah] 8:27 pm: It's just what astronamers are theorizing
[Roack] 8:27 pm: so you can fill in all you want
[Pariah] 8:28 pm: I know
[Pariah] 8:28 pm: just trying to be OCD
[Roack] 8:29 pm: heh
[Pariah] 8:31 pm: Okay, it's in polar lock with Jupiter.
[Pariah] 8:31 pm: tidal, not polar
[Pariah] 8:31 pm: means that it always shows it's good face to it's planet
[Roack] 8:33 pm: Like Luna to Earth
[Pariah] 8:33 pm: yup
[Pariah] 8:33 pm: they have silicon under the ocean, so instead of carbon based native life they have Si
[Pariah] 8:34 pm: and under that they have a nickel/iron core
[Roack] 8:35 pm: Awesomesauce
[Pariah] 8:35 pm: WOOWHOOO!!!!!
[Pariah] 8:35 pm: It has, tenous amounts, O2 in the atmosphere
[Pariah] 8:35 pm: or so says hubble
[Roack] 8:36 pm: So it might be able to support human life if we introduce carbon/Nitrogen?
[Pariah] 8:36 pm: enough oxy to fill a dozen superdomes
[Pariah] 8:36 pm: no, not enought gravity to hold the gases
[Pariah] 8:38 pm: the tribals still need their rebreathers.
[Roack] 8:38 pm: Ahh
[Roack] 8:39 pm: But if you had some way to induce gravity... maybe Terraforming was in progress when it was
abandoned?
[Pariah] 8:40 pm: If you had some way to induce enough gravity, and went through the massive amounts of energy that
would be required to make o2 and nitro frm the water...
[Pariah] 8:40 pm: but, there might be abandoned terraforming stations in the middle of nowhere
[Pariah] 8:41 pm: that stopped when the required shipments stopped coming from earth
[Pariah] 8:41 pm: possible homes of the triblas?
----
break involving me naming crossbows, swords as outside weapons and swords/shotguns as inside weapons for the tunnels
----
[CaptainPenguin] 8:54 pm: Europa?
[The Citadel]: Roack has left at 8:54 pm
[CaptainPenguin] 8:54 pm: Go on?
[Pariah] 8:54 pm: like the icy moon of Jupiter
[CaptainPenguin] 8:54 pm: Ah, I see.
[The Citadel]: Roack has entered at 8:54 pm
[CaptainPenguin] 8:54 pm: And what is your idea?
[Roack] 8:54 pm: Dangit, timed out
[CaptainPenguin] 8:54 pm: Welcome back, Ro.
[Roack] 8:55 pm: Hey Captain
[Pariah] 8:55 pm: http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,3048.msg40615.html#new
CaptainPenguin is listening to "Watch Out," by Atmosphere
[CaptainPenguin] 8:55 pm: You should both go out and go to your local record store, and go to the hip-hop section and get
CDs by MF Doom and Atmosphere.
[CaptainPenguin] 8:55 pm: NOW
[Pariah] 8:56 pm: Sure boss, whad eva' you say
[CaptainPenguin] 8:56 pm: DO IT
[Roack] 8:56 pm: I'm broke as hell!
[CaptainPenguin] 8:57 pm: Steal 'em, then
[Roack] 8:57 pm: butm when I have money, sure
[CaptainPenguin] 8:57 pm: Or even better get, DangerDoom, collaboration between MF Doom and Danger Mouse
[The Citadel]: Murometz has entered at 8:57 pm
[CaptainPenguin] 8:57 pm: Ooh, you name-dropped the Nekron, Par.     
[CaptainPenguin] 8:57 pm: Hey, Mur
[Pariah] 8:58 pm: Hey Mur
[Roack] 8:58 pm: Hello Muro
[Pariah] 8:58 pm: well, these guys are human, basically, and they do wee sun ocassionally
[CaptainPenguin] 8:58 pm: How?
[CaptainPenguin] 8:58 pm: Europa is frozen.
[CaptainPenguin] 8:58 pm: And has no atmosphere.
[Murometz] 8:58 pm: sup guys
[CaptainPenguin] 8:58 pm: I don't understand how the Ferals survive on the surface
[Pariah] 8:58 pm: colonists, did I not put that down?
[Pariah] 8:59 pm: living in tunnels
[CaptainPenguin] 8:59 pm: Yeah, got that part
[CaptainPenguin] 8:59 pm: But typically, tunnels don't have suns in them
[Pariah] 8:59 pm: no, but these guys have eyes, and the tunnels have lights
[Roack] 8:59 pm: Not much, you Mur?
[Roack] 9:00 pm: what about vitamin D, though?
[Pariah] 9:00 pm: eyes=pointless...
[CaptainPenguin] 9:00 pm: Okay, but how about the Ferals. I said nothing about eyes.
[Pariah] 9:01 pm: I was thinking that if they had eyes they'd need light
[Murometz] 9:01 pm: just finished reading pretty cool!!! now I need to sit back and catch up on chat     
[Roack] 9:01 pm: But like I said, what about Vitamin D? How do they get it?
[Pariah] 9:02 pm: the Ferals are exiles, they are kicked outta the city and given a rebreather type thing, a stove, and some
heavy clothes
[Pariah] 9:02 pm: you can get vit d through your food I'm pretty sure
[CaptainPenguin] 9:02 pm: Yeah, you can
[Roack] 9:03 pm: Yes, but generally you need another source
[CaptainPenguin] 9:03 pm: Mmmmmdear
[CaptainPenguin] 9:03 pm: Sorry, kids, but I have to go for now
[Roack] 9:03 pm: Do the have that weird lighting that's supposed to mimic the sun?
[Roack] 9:03 pm: Dangit, See you CP
[CaptainPenguin] 9:03 pm: Sorry
[Murometz] 9:03 pm: not sure if I missed something, but how do these Ferals survive?
[CaptainPenguin] 9:03 pm: Bye
[Murometz] 9:03 pm: see ya Cap
[Pariah] 9:03 pm: I'm sure at some point NASA, or whoever started the colonization saw to the need of vitimins and gen
engineered algae and crap with extra vits
[CaptainPenguin] 9:04 pm: That's exactly what I'm asking about the Ferals... How do they survive on the surface, when
Europa has no atmosphere and is frozen to a very deep depth?
[Roack] 9:04 pm: Well that works
[CaptainPenguin] 9:04 pm: Anyway, bye
[The Citadel]: CaptainPenguin has left at 9:04 pm
[Murometz] 9:04 pm: its cold P!!!
[Pariah] 9:04 pm: electroalysis
[Murometz] 9:04 pm: how do they live?
[Murometz] 9:04 pm: oh
[Pariah] 9:04 pm: split the h2o
[Pariah] 9:05 pm: leach electricity off of the settled power grids
[Murometz] 9:05 pm: sounds good...but hmmmm. ITS COLD!!
[Murometz] 9:05 pm: oh ok getting better
[Pariah] 9:06 pm: 2 o2 + h2 + H2O and heat
[Murometz] 9:06 pm: ahhh chemistry
[Pariah] 9:06 pm: if you're gonna be very primitive and get heat like that
[Murometz] 9:06 pm: I'm back in class
[Pariah] 9:06 pm: otherwise, you ever figure out how an elctric stove heats up?
[Pariah] 9:07 pm: resistance heaters (space heaters)
[Pariah] 9:07 pm: you also have the classic, "let's huddle around each other and hope we live"

[Pariah]

On Europa:
Discovered by: Galileo Galilei, 1610
Distance from the Sun: 780,000,000 km
Distance from Jupiter: 671,000 km
Radius: 1570 km
Mass: 4.8x1022 kg
Density: 3010 kg/m3
Surface Composition: Water Ice
Major atmospheric constituent: Oxygen

The colonies, and all 'surface' installations, are roughly 20 m under the top of the ice, at their highest.  This is due to the massive amount of radiation coming off of Jupiter, equivalent say to standing next to an active nuclear generator.  Just ten minutes of sunbathing will provide you with a lethal dose of radiation.  This is why the colonies are all under the ice, and why there is no life on the surface.

The seas beneath are little better, being highly acidic.  This is due to the large amount of sulfur vents that dot the sea bed.  Over the years this has lead to the water containing large amounts of sulfuric acid, and possessing a pH in the range of 2.5.  This means that while the enclaves down here might be warmer, getting as hot as 10 C before body heat is added.  The floating towns here have been here since the original colonists settled, the manufacture of new ones is nigh impossible with the materials present on Europa, and the plants to make them with are non-existent.

The ice is, in most places, 2.5-3 miles thick, however in some places it drops to a mile, with vents of water reaching up to the surface, while in others it can go to 4 miles.  The ocean beneath is deep, going down a good 8 miles, however, because the gravity is so much less than that of Terra, the pressure is little greater than at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

The cities are warrens of interconnected bubbles, with extended families often sharing a 'home.'  The temperatures inside the houses can get to as high as 10 C (50 F), just from body heat, and so they aren't natural walls, instead they are made of glass; the silicates needed to make this are obtained from the sea floor.  The tunnels connecting the bubbles are an entirely different matter however.  Private and lightly used lanes usually have natural walls and ceilings, but the ground will have sand or ground up glass to provide a solid grip.  The more public, and commonly traveled, tunnels often have a stronger aluminum grate as their base, and some may have glass walls if they are extremely commonly traveled.

There are also the transport tunnels, used to transport people and goods between different towns/cities.  They use maglev trains, and it is off of these tunnels that the Ferals live.  The Ferals will carve smaller tunnels off of these transport tunnels, and most of the transport tunnels have walkways carved into their sides to allow the Ferals to go from place to place.  Inside these transport tunnels there is little atmosphere, and it is almost the same temperature as the surface.