Con Chou

Continuing on with the world description posts I decided to do Con Chou.

Con Chou

Though not the world on which most of the action takes place in 'The Return of a Nagus', nor the capital planet of the Dynasty Con Chou is a far reaching threat on the edge of many character's minds.

Con Chou is a mining world that has provided so much of the raw materials for the Dynasty for so long that it has become synonymous with its greatest industry.  The Con Chou Mines is a honey comb world, riddled with tunnels and caverns created during the course of the hunt for both valuable and rarer minerals.  As such it is rapidly becoming a very unstable world with cave-ins, sink holes and seismic activity increasing every year.

As such, laws have been passed so that no digging, either on the surface, or below ground, is permitted within a twenty mile radius of habitation.  Not that there is much in the way of habitation on the Con Chou.  Those that make their fortunes there, retire to one of the agriculture or pleasure worlds.  As such there is very little in the way of habitation building on the surface of Con Chou, with the Governors Palace being the largest structure.

An hour spent on the surface of Con Chou reveals rapidly why those that can, leave as soon as they are able to.  Centuries of heavy industry has left the atmosphere thick and the smell catches at the back of the throat with every breath.  If there was a sea, it has long since dried away, or been drained for use in the mines.  Everything edible consumed upon Con Chou is imported by Omega Class Freight Space Ships and when new supplies are order they are ordered by the ton.

There is a side trade that flourishes upon Con Chou, which while legal, also crosses the boundaries into the illegal.

Machinery is experience and difficult to replace.  As such slavery is the preferred method of extracting the ores that the Dynasty so desperately wants.  While there are laws dictating that the slaves are to be purchased from among the criminal elements of other planets and to safe guard the standard that the slaves are kept in, the Inspectors that are meant to double check that the regulations are being followed aren't that careful to follow through on their jobs.  There is also the possibility for a 'donation' to be made to guarantee a favourable report.

The question of supply is even murkier, with records never actually quite adding up with the number of slaves purchased from other world and the actual number present.  Many a space pirate captain knows exactly where he can unload his cargo of 'guests' for a rich price.

Most of the life that inhabits the Con Chou Mines is made up of the slaves and the Overseers at both guard them and make sure that the productivity of the Mines are up to quota.  Though the slaves can out number the Overseers by as much as ten to one, rebellion is virtually unknown.  There is the occasional slave that runs mad or a few that break lines and try to navigate the labyrinth of the mines to find a way back to the surface.  The Overseers don't usually bother chasing the runners far, the mines themselves will either lead them into the arms of another out post or they die in the dark.  The ones that go mad are put down with brutal efficiency.  All Overseers carry a side arm and an electro-whip.  Electro-whips are cruelly effective weapons, utilising an electric shock to reinforce the pain of the whipping.  The shock can range from a mild sting to a burn that can vaporise flesh.

The one time in its history that the Con Chou Mines can under scrutiny was when it was the first open campaign of Narkre Victor and marked the start of the Dark Wars.  Narkre's campaign was brutally swift and terrifying in its efficiency.

When they left, they left behind the dead, those that had surrendered and mounds of raw ore.  All of the processed ore, all of the stockpiled food and every piece of usable equipment.  What they couldn't take they burnt.

The other thing Narkre's force took on mass was the slaves.  By the time the Imperial forces arrived there wasn't a single slave left on Con Chou and the fact that it was Narkre Victor's campaign there that revealed the conditions that the slaves were kept in is something that trouble the Rosinante to this day.  Whether the slaves were later used as a meat shield or were willing fighters in Narkre Victor's army has never been decided.

Under Emperor Morgan, the Con Chou Mines have reverted to form but whether there are many years left in the ore beds remains to be seen.  That is assuming that the world doesn't implode under its own weight first.