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| the premise |
| the pitch, the basic idea behind the artemis project |
| **Read me first! I really don't feel like writing all of this information into the plot lines.** |
| Nearly a century ago, in the year 2267, the SS Pheonix landed on the planet now known as Niana Prime. The commander of the small craft gave the planet it's name, a Talian word meaning 'familiar'. The planet was deemed ideal for human settlement; the air was breathable, the enviroment was mildly dry but habitable. The three crew members vowed to return someday to their cherished discovery. |
| The Discovery of Niana Prime |
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| Niana Prime, c. 2267 |
| The Terran Government thought less highly of the planet. While the sur-rounding space was unclaimed, Niana was still too far from Terra to protect any settlement there. And the surrounding space shared borders with potentially hostile neighbors. Niana Prime also was the only planet in the system that could be settled without building an artificial enviro-ment. The Powers That Be reclassified the area as uninhabitable and rejected the commander's request for a state sponsored emigration. Niana was unlikely to be reconsidered for settlement for at least another 50 years. With Terra's first contact with alien races came the tremendous Cultural Revolution that the galaxy had just begun. The humanoid nations of the era would be engrossed in this revolution for the next century changing their religions, morality, and lifestyle. This revolution was first incarnat-ed on Terra with the Drifterism (or Pan Mya Te) movement. However, as eager as the Drifters were to catch the next flight to Taya (the center of the cultural upheaval), Taya was not as eager to have them and enfor-ced it's strict immigration laws. The Drifters started seeking their own capital. |
| Niana was perfect. While still technically a Terran territory, Taya had taken responsiblity for it's protection in exchange for Terra openning the area for Tayan settlements (although no significant settlements were established). Starting in 2270, an entirely privatized settlement of Niana began. There were |
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| only two requirements to settle in Niana's capital (and it's only city) Fredericksburg: one, the money to pay for your ticket; and two, the identification to prove you had officially converted to i'Pan Mya, or another Talian religion. |
| Fredericksburg, c. 2279 |
| Nian First Wave |
| Nian New Wave |
| By the turn of the century, the Drifterism movement in Terran space began to lose steam. While the Cultural Revolution only continued to grow and flourish on Taya, Niana fizzled out as the capital of cultural growth. As a last desperate attempt to bring new blood to the quickly dissolving Fredericksburg, the conversion requirement was dropped. This had little affect on the planet's population until the Terran gover-nment, in response to this change in policy and the demand for more colonies (due to the population swell and the economic demand), spon-sered the building of a number of stations in the Niana system and sur-rounding systems. So now it's 2358 and the SS Artemis is due to launch soon, so what's the big deal about this ship? Let's start with the current feelings toward New-Wavers: It's not as big of a deal as it was some 50 years ago. New-Waver is no longer considered a synonym for carpet-bagger and the violence and bad feelings have settled down. About 5.96% of the population can legit-imately state to be descended for a First-Waver, while 35% inaccurately claim to be (Ral Tsano is among the 35%). First-Wavers are something of a fashion trend. People wear Tayan clothing, learn the language, dabble in the religion as adolescents then grow out of the rebellious stage and realize how much work and time it requires to commit to it. But real First-Wavers are an extreme minority. This culture is represented by a handful family names (including Avery). Although the cultures and people have integrated, the remaining religious conflict and communal grudge has manifested itself in the current occupational resistance. So what happens when a population is raised to act Tayan, under a Tayan government and suddenly Terra decides that Niana is big enough to warrent their attention? People begin to draw parallels to past Terran Revolutions (at least those that got fives on their AP US History Tests.) Hence, the Artemis Project, an attempt to gradually introduce a Terran influence. And that just about brings us up to the pilot (first episode). |
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| Hunter Avery, (left) a descendent of First-Wavers; Jon Maxwell, (right) a descendent of New-Wavers. |
| Niana's population swelled, the peace and love decreased. The First Wavers quickly became the minority and thus vocal, whiney, and unhappy. Most the New-Wavers were actually Drifter friendly, if not subscribing to the Drifter school of the thought, but few were converts. This lead to most of today's controversies. |
| The Current Situation |
| But why is Niana all of a sudden so important? Because the super power alien nations of Tal A'me and Tal E'r'n got bored and are gearing to blow each other (and anyone else in the way) up. Niana would act as the gateway to the rest of the surrounding space. |
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