Campaign: Creda
This the Creda sub-section of the Campaign section. In this sub-section are:
+++creda main+++
<<<the planet creda: a brief history>>>
+++player background+++
+++gm only: plot overview+++
A ROUGH GUIDE TO CREDA by Mikolas Voghts, 001.M42
Kindly use this table to navigate the contents of the document.
Originally settled in M21, Creda (KRAY-duh) is a prosperous factory world and prime planet of the Creda system in Ultima Segmentum. Located near Valhalla, its factories produce vital equipment for many nearby worlds. Amongst Creda's exports are chemical processors and robotics sent to the forge world Milobay Secundus, thermal rods for Valhalla, mining equipment for the Gagraphon asteroid belt, farming machinery and pesticides for Creda II and Nil Gravis, and as well as ammunition and equipment for its own Planetary Defence Force.
Biologically speaking Creda is a fairly unremarkable planet - at least as regards its dry land. Approximately 80% covered by water, its three major land masses - Terra at the planet's northern magnetic pole, home to the majority of the population, and Secundus and Silvum on opposite sides of its equator - are home to a variety of ecosystems, climates and terrain. Gravity is 0.96G, and the atmospheric conditions are well within the limits for comfortable human habitation. It takes Creda Prime 20 hours to revolve on its axis; one orbit of the system's sun (called 'Solcreda') consists of 630 Credan days, which in Earth terms is 525 days.
Creda has a contemporary level of technology (alpha-2 class).
REF .VIS.LOG. CREDA / 7987e The reader has my aplogies for the crudity of the map provided; our cartographical equipment was malfunctioning.
Of the three continents, only two - Terra and Silvum - are inhabited or industrialised to any great degree. Although designated a factory world Creda is also a centre of commerce; most of the heavy industry is confined to Silvum and the factories there are robotic, attended by skeleton teams of servitors. Terra is home to Creda's human population as well as its military, whilst Secundus is nearly uninhabited.
Terra
Named after Earth by grateful space-bound colonists, Terra consists mainly of grassland and woodland, and is by all accounts a pleasant place to live. Most of the year round about 80% of each day is daylight. There are some sprawling ranch-farms as well as a few fishing towns but Terra's main industry is commerce, organising the sale and transport of the many goods produced in Silvum. As a result most of its citizens live in one of its six large cities (Corvus, Auria, Lathe, Errant, Sanguinia and Greenfield) of which the planetary prime city, Corvus, is the most important, housing the planet's largest starport.
The cities tend to be divided into three separate and distinct areas - the civilian and commercial area, usually the largest; industrial zones, home to light industry catering mostly for recent and luxurious products not manufactured on Silvum; and the slave ghettos, home to the underclass who work the factories, kept in line by frequently spaced precincts of special enforcement troops. Good roads run through the civilian and industrial areas with transport provided by ground vehicles but the slave ghettos have no roads, with buildings scattered wherever they will fit, and so can be confusing labyrinths to those not used to them.
The civilian areas consist mostly of three and four storey buildings, sometimes rising to as high as fifteen or sixteen, even thirty or so storeys in the case of central office blocks. The style of the architecture is standard Imperial gothic, although it is of a notable quality and generally attractive appearance.
The factories are unremarkable, being typical of many Imperial worlds, while the slave ghettos tend to be made up mainly of one- or two-storey buildings, often in disrepair but of a higher standard than many Imperial underclasses can expect. The slaves on Creda seem to be a hereditary working class rather than slaves as such; although technically not free, they do not display the level of mutation or civil unrest present on many other worlds with similar systems (with the exception of the occasional half-hearted revolt).
All six cities are broadly similar but notable features include a large upper class area in Corvus, the strong PDF presence near to Sanguinia, the docks of Lathe, and the Ecclesiarchal Palace in Auria. Lathe and Corvus also have efficient monorail public transport systems.
The second Credan continent to be settled millennia ago, albeit only with a single research station dedicated to the study of its large and often ferocious biological features, is a wilderness still. As a result there is little there to interest humans except scientists and the occasional tourist.
I myself viewed the continent from the shuttle as we arrived and it was a majestic spectacle, such as is sadly all too rare in our most holy Imperium. I can only hope that it remains unspoilt for the enjoyment of future generations.
The contrast between Terra and Silvum could not be more pronounced. Nominally its capital is the 'city' of Ventura, but the expansion of the factories of Silvum has long since blurred any boundaries between Ventura and the rest of the continent. Originally named for its vast forests, almost all of Silvum is now covered by iron and steel - roboticially operated factories, attended only by servitors.
For the last few millennia (for some reason no one seemed to have an exact figure) the only human contact with Silvum has been had by the land-train drivers who pick up the goods from Silvum's totally automated factories and ship them by sea to Terra for trade and export.
Most citizens of Terra I spoke too seemed reluctant to talk about the place, viewing it with the kind of superstition one normally might reserve for a haunted house or graveyard. I have spoken with several of these land-train drivers, who form a vast organisation called the Transport Union, and they confirm that Silvum is indeed an eerie place, with many dark, derelict factories and sudden noises; but apparently one gets used to it. Personally however I had no wish to discover whether this was the case, so I respectfully declined an offer to accompany one of the Union's drivers and see for myself.
A relatively large island chain located about halfway between Terra and Silvum, the Guilliman Islands are now the site of Creda's main planetary defences. It houses multiple defence laser and torpedo sites, as well as PDF bases and airfields. One city, the islands' capital of Brauhye, is located there and is home to the PDF troopers and their families as well as a stop-off point for Transport Union drivers travelling to and from Silvum.
The first of Creda's landmasses to be settled in an unknown year in M21 was Terra, at the site of what is now the city of Greenfield. The first factories were built on Silvum later in the same century, but not before the research station at Novus had been built to study the large wildlife there. Aside from a few easily-quelled slave revolts on Terra (the most recent of which took place twenty-one years ago in 981.M41) Creda has had a relatively peaceful history, its proximity to Valhalla diverting all but tattered fleets that have easily succumbed to the planetary defences and PDF.
From what I can ascertain from scant local records, Silvum's factories were originally staffed by hordes of human workers, but when the nearby forge world Milobay Secundus was founded (552.M34, ref. Forge Worlds of Ultima Segmentum by Magos Aprophan) Servitors and robotics became far more widely available on Creda and within a few hundred years the human workforce had been entirely replaced. The last few humans there were apparently construction workers, those who were responsible for the building of new factories.
A famous (or, rather, infamous) legend on Terra tells of the incomplete Final Factory of Silvum; that the last ever factory to be built, on the last remaining area of bare ground on Silvum, was never finished because of an accident that crushed the last four workers just as the final steel sheet was being positioned. The tale goes that the spirit of every man who ever worked on Silvum will roam the land forever, chained to the mortal world until the masterpiece of machinery that is the continent of Silvum - their lives' work - is finally completed, and they can rest. An evocative piece that rather neatly sums up the popularly-held attitude towards Silvum on Terra.
Government
Creda is ruled over by a single Imperial Planetary Governor, currently a moral but arguably lax man named Ignatius Kelomon. Some power is devolved to the Dukes, or Duchesses, of the six cities of Terra; the Dukedoms are hereditary with the exception of Auria, whose Duke is always the Cardinal of Creda (the planet's Ecclesiarchal leader).
These six and the Planetary Governor sit on a council that forms Creda's legislative body. On any issue the Dukes have one vote each and the Governor three; a civil majority rules in all circumstances and the Governor therefore needs the support of two Dukes to clear a decision. Or at least in theory; in reality the Dukes rarely vote against the Governor, since in the eyes of the Imperium at least the power of the Governor is total, and the semi-democratic arrangement is technically voluntary.
Many people oppose the hereditary system in principle but few care enough to act on it, as Creda's standard of living is high and the Dukes are usually well-liked. Of the Dukes those of Corvus and Auria hold the most influence; Corvus because of its place as planetary capital and large starport, and Auria because its Duke is the Cardinal of the world. Never on record has a vote gone against a motion that both Dukes supported, even on the rare occasions that the Governor has opposed them.
The generally devout populace see the church as a helpful organisation rather than a distant and fearful one as on some worlds; it has the unflinching support of its flock. Local preachers are respected individuals and rallies by a city's Pontifex Urba are common and popular. Pilgrimages are often made to the Ecclesiarchal Palace by the people of Creda.
Historically the Cardinals of Creda have been well respected and taken their duties seriously, partly thanks to the fact that as the Dukes of the city of Auria they have frequent and direct contact with Imperial authority through the Planetary Governor. In all religious respects Creda is as near a model planet as exists within the Imperium.
The most powerful non-government force on Creda is the Transport Union, the only organisation of its type on the world. Formed in 911.M36, it ensures that its members are extremely well compensated for their trips to Silvum. It has several million members, the majority of whom do nothing do nothing other than make bi-monthly trips to pick up goods in Silvum, but even on this sparse work the Union members are generally extremely well off. It is seen as something of an elite organisation by the population of Creda and its members form a kind of vast semi-nobility, inhabiting upper class areas in Terra's cities.
Because it is solely responsible for Silvum's produce the Union wields massive power, but although it could theoretically blackmail the Council into any decision it wished, it usually restrains itself because it ultimately relies on the success of the planetary economy as much as everyone else. Even so the Union is still viewed with suspicion by the trade corporations of Creda, who tend to suspect that the ghost stories about Silvum are invention designed to extort money and power for the Union (although rarely are they willing to travel to Silvum to test this theory, and even if they were no one but the Union now knows the layout of the factories). This situation is not improved by the exclusivity and perceived arrogance of the Transport Union.
Close behind the Transport Union in influence is the Ecclesiarchy, whose influence over the people sometimes acts as a check on the Union's power. The Union maintains something of an air of mystique, which the church traditionally sees at its own prerogative; therefore there is some friction between the organisations, and until the Union is seen to become more accessible this is unlikely to change.
CONCLUSION
Creda seems in all respects to be a lovely world, worth a visit if only for the natural splendour of the continent of Secundus. The facilites for visitors in Terra are superb, and more than compensate for the slightly uncomfortable feeling that seems to seep in whenever the continent of Silvum is mentioned. I myself would consider retiring there were it not for one thing: Creda's use of slaves. Despite their above average conditions, the concept of slavery somehow sits uneasily with a world so pleasant in other respects. All the same, I cannot let this bar me from recommending the world to any galactic traveller.
