The team takes a commercial shuttle down to the planet's surface whilst the Fortune is being re-fitted.
The shuttle passes over the oceanic storms of Ssumssha to land in starport near the capital city, Vin Vinaa, composed of gleaming pearlescent spires and domes like a collection of giant shells washed up on shore.
The downport is much like the Abbai space-station; clean, bright, quiet. If Croft were here he would find the whole experience repressively wholesome, except for the hint of excitement in the main atrium, where a large area has been sealed off by temporary hoarding that doesn't quite hide the fact that a large amount of damage has recently been caused, possibly by an explosion.
Two male abbai approach you, dressed in beige skin-tight fatigues, like a wetsuit with pockets. They seem affable.
"Are you hear to see Dr. Susar?" asks one of them. "My name is Teika and this is Virto. We're here to take you to Burisa City."
OOC: Information given below is a summary of the kind of data that Maupassant gave you (ignore any of the more obviously game-related bits, I've just cut-and-pasted from the rules, the Galactic Guide and the League Handbook). The Abbai homeworld is referred to both as "Abba", which also refers to the system as a whole, and "Ssumssha". The two terms are interchangeable, similar in style and sense to "Terra" and "Earth", or better "Mother Earth". I tend to use "Ssumssha" to avoid images of 70s Swedish pop groups, but then there's a lot of "S"s to keep track of!
[sblock=System Info]
Abba System
Star: G1 V; Planets: 4 Terrestrial (1 Hab, 1 Hot ,2 Cold), 2 Gas (Cold), 3 Icy (Cold); Features: Asteroid Belt (Dense), Oort Cloud; Jump Gates: 1; Ownership: Abbai Matriarchy; Threat Level: Very Low; Security Level: Very High
Abba II (Ssumssha)
Zone: Habitable; Size: Medium (9,549 miles); Grav: 1.0g; Moons: 1 (4,500 miles); Atmo: Standard (1.0) Breathable; Geology: Rugged; Volcanism: Very Active; Hydro: Wet (90%); Continents: Island Chains; Climate: 80F/18K; Bio Density: Standard; Bio Complexity: Native Intelligence; Pop: 3.3 billion; Tech: Advanced; Cities: Burisa (125 million), Tiumaa (110 million); Gov: Abbai Matriarchy (P6, D2, C7, S9); Orbital Pop: 200,000, Colonies: 3 Major/6 Minor, Bases: 4 Military, 10 Monitor, 2 Scientific, 1 Trade
Planet: Ssumssha (Abba II)
Climate: Temperate to Cool, Warmer near Equator
Weather Average: Mild 50%, Light Storms (Rain) 25%, Light Storms (Mixed) 5%, Severe Storms (Mixed) 20%
Technical Level: Advanced, laser technology, hyperspace capable, medical engineering
Native Sentient Race(s): Abbai
Dominant Government: Ruling Council with titular head; Marti and the Natar. The Natar is the mainly symbolic head of the ruling council, the Marti, who govern planetary affairs. The Marti are represented at a local level by representatives called Onshai. The Pataar are an elite peacekeeping force that serve to protect domestic security. Abbai lawkeepers are typically armed with weaponry designed to disarm or stun rather than kill.
Notable Cities: Burisa, Tiumaa, Ditalaa, Ventrish, Vin Vinaa (capital), City of the Marti (government centre)
Population: 3.3 billion (95% of population is urban, 5% live in rural or isolated communities)
Cultural Information: Population of the planet is almost entirely centralised into the cities of the planet. The ‘rural’ Abbai are mostly isolated colonies that, for ideological or traditional reasons, have not desired unification with the five city-states of Abba.
Planetary Notes: Travel on Abba is virtually all via amphibious transport. Abba’s atmosphere is too unstable for effective flight and land travel is impossible except to move from point to point on any given island. The storms of Abba can be extremely violent; the five cities of Abba are built in naturally occurring electromagnetic ‘eyes’ that abate all but the worst of the planet’s inclement weather. Abba’s extreme northern and southern regions are prone to high levels of tectonic activity and have not been significantly explored or settled. While the Abbai have expanded out to other colonies and made contact with many races that have welcomed them onto their worlds, Abba (Ssumssha) is and always will be their home. While it is a violent world with what often seems like an active temper, its rages have produced one of the most peaceful and community oriented races in the known galaxy. The Abbai are very fond of their world, regarding it with great affection. To the Abbai, Ssumssha is the fire that gave rise to their culture, their lives and their destiny. When the Abbai found Utriel, a world very similar to their own but with a vastly more clement atmosphere and a much more stable tectonic structure, surprisingly few of them wished to leave Abba to settle its teeming oceans and fertile islands. Instead, the majority of the Abbai remained on their homeworld, preferring the familiar violence of the planet they affectionately call the ‘nata nuraai’, the ‘mother of the universe’.
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[sblock=Race Info]
A peaceful semi-aquatic race, the Abbai are the social glue that holds the League of Non-Aligned Worlds together. Abbai found outside their home system are usually traders or pilgrims seeking either friendly contact with other races or enlightenment as to the nature of what community means to them.
Personality: Any given Abbai is a calmly rational and caring individual with a great deal of apprehension about interacting with any other race, but enough curiosity and compassion to do so anyway. In conversation, an Abbai tends to be gregarious and interesting, as willing to listen as they are to talk. An offended Abbai responds with silence and distance; they are never hostile unless forcefully provoked and will generally .fight a defensive retreat rather than push an offensive even if they have an advantage over their opponent.
Physical Description: Male and female Abbai look very similar, with only a slight swelling of the chest and a narrowing of the hips and limbs revealing the latter. Both have similar colouring – shades of pink to red with mottling on the limbs and throat – and both genders display a similar crest running laterally down the centre line of the skull. This is more pronounced in the male of the species, but both genders have a striking crest and display great dexterity in manipulating it to express emotion or communicate intent during conversation.
Relations: The Abbai have an interesting duality of purpose when establishing relations with other races. They .firmly believe that theirs is the dominant species in the galaxy, yet they freely accept that other races are part of the galactic community and embrace them as siblings of a sort. While few Abbai would ever really consider a non-Abbai as a true equal, they maintain cordial and even helpful relations in the hope of maintaining the ‘family’ that is all sentience.
Abbai Systems: The Abbai have a homeworld, Abba, and one outlying system, Utriel. Utriel is very important to the Abbai in that is it a major colony world and the source of many of their hard materials for maintaining their space .eet and other technologies. The Abbai had a second colony world, Tirolus, but all star charts mark that as a dead system and the Abbai have severed all contact and travel there. The reasons for this quarantine are unknown, but it is an infraction of League law to enter the Tirolus system, one punishable by blockade, seizure and imprisonment by Abbai forces.
Abbai Beliefs: The Abbai believe that all sentient life exists in a complex family – an intricate and carefully balanced ‘community’. Most of their lives are spent trying to .find their place in this community, respecting the lives of others and their right to do the same. Abbai characters are likely to be very spiritual in this regard but do not hold to any specifi.c theistic tradition. Honraati is a revered figure who codified the Abbai beliefs in the three Ways – Peace, Harmony and Understanding.
Language: The Abbai speak two tongues, Abbath and Burai. The former is an eloquent language that handles all forms of conversation and can impart great meaning on a variety of topics. Abbath is used for virtually every part of communication between the Abbai. Burai is a more limited language with utility only for simple tasks and instructions. Burai is very important to the Abbai in their home environment because of its unique feature; it uses a special tone and pitch that carries for great distances underwater. As a semi-aquatic race, the Abbai rely on Burai to communicate when they are beneath the waves. Even with the advent of portable communication devices capable of waterproof operation, most Abbai still learn the Burai language for use in emergencies.
Starfarers: The Abbai are not often found outside their home systems except on trade voyages, pilgrimages or diplomatic missions. They are not wanderers by nature and prefer to remain with their families behind the comfort of their planetary defensive barriers. When they do travel, they prefer their own ships, all of which sport impressive defensive armour and armaments. An Abbai on a commercial transport built by any other race is likely to remain nervous and tense through the entire voyage.
Abbai Names: For such graceful creatures, the sounds of Abbai names seem a little incongruous and harsh. This is because Abbai names are given underwater during a ceremony shortly after birth. The harsher sounds resonate better through the waves, making them sound entirely different than when spoken on the surface. Abbai do not general use a family name, as each one is thought of as a separate and unique individual. Abbai names rarely repeat within a given generation; subtle differences in tone and in.ection make each name slightly different even when spelling duplication occurs. The Abbai rarely use titles, preferring to save these for the military and government. Abbai citizens are part of one big world-spanning family and they are content to keep things that way.
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