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worldS
geography
Ligon II’s total landmass is slightly smaller than
average for a thriving Class M world. It has six continents,
all of them about the same size as Earth’s
Australia, and all of them separated by the planet’s
oceans. Smaller islands dot the oceans, and many of
these are inhabited.
Early Federation surveys of Ligon II revealed the
existence of a microbe, amidia floris, that lives in large
colonies in subtropical bogs and swamps, and which
secretes an anti-toxin against the parasite that causes
Anchilles fever. This makes the planet important to the
Federation, as very few cures for that deadly disease
exist. Federation scientists are much interested in conducting
more detailed surveys of Ligon II’s native flora
and fauna to see what curative properties they may
have, but most Ligonian authorities have been reluctant
to open themselves to more contact with outsiders.
civilizatioN
Publicly, Ligonians seem agreeable and eager to
please. Their social code places a strong emphasis on
politeness, as expressed through social rituals, and
honor as measured by how others judge you according
to generally accepted codes of conduct. Deceit,
disloyalty, failure, personal rejection and criminal
behavior are all considered shameful. In practice,
however, this veneer conceals the fact that Ligonians
are quite capable of devious intrigues against each
other. Similarly, Ligonians treat those who visit them
from off world with considerable grace, but privately,
they regard foreigners with deep suspicion and usually
consider them culturally inferior.
Illustration by Blake Beasley
958 021 -
Federation sociologists often describe Ligonian
society as matriarchal because only females have the
right to own property, while males are relegated to
stewardship of their possessions. But it is really more
complex than that. Property owners place great trust
in their husbands, seeing as how they function as
operational managers of all of their assets. They are, in
effect, business partners, although the wife is always
the titular boss. And while Ligonian society permits
polygamy, just as many males as females take multiple
spouses, so the institution hardly functions as a way for
one sex to control the other.
Ligon II has no world government, only regional
and local lords whose rule by right of their wealth, the
extent of their landholdings and the military power
they command.
The Ligonians’ level of technology remains well
behind that of the Federation, and this has always
been a subject of anxiety and contention among their
leaders. The Federation, in keeping with its Prime
Directive, refuses to insist that the Ligonians open
themselves to innovation, but clearly any lord who
makes use of post-industrial production techniques
or equips his followers with energy weapons could
leapfrog ahead of his rivals in wealth and influence.
In practice, however, any lord who attempts to do
so is destroyed by his rivals before he can get too far
ahead of them. The prevailing winds on Ligon II blow
in a conservative direction, and the majority opinion
among the ruling elite remains that their traditional
ways are best, and that they have no need of “contamination”
from foreign worlds.
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