HistoryEdit
With an 1125-year-long year and 280-year-long seasons, civilization on Rigel IV was at the mercy of its climate, rising and falling on each continent according to the weather.
Some of the earliest settlements were by Orions of the First Orion Empire, who founded the city of Sathura 100,000 years before.
At some point in history, Kaylar slaves and mercenaries were settled on Rigel IV and other worlds of the system, only to return to nomadic tribes once their masters' empires had fallen. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
In the 6th century AD, Kassaba fever destroyed entire populations on Rigel IV. (STreference: Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual)
At some point in the past, a group of Rigellians had left their home planet for political reasons and settled on the neighboring world of Rigel V. (TOSnovel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
The 280-year-long northern summer season began in the mid-21st century, with the Hypuria ice-cap last seen in 2050.
Rigellian fever first appeared in the city of Sathura during the 2120s, and went on to kill 100,000 people before it was stopped.
Together with Rigel II, Rigel IV was settled by Humans from Earth in the late 22nd century (less than 200 years before the mid-2360s), founding the first of the Rigel Colonies. (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation)
These Human colonists built Polar City in the 2180s. The colonies would draw Starfleetinto the Rigel system many times, as would Orion piracy, slavery and smuggling. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
Before joining the United Federation of Planets, the inhabitants of Rigel IV were little more than pirates who were ruled by a consortium of ruling families that had a reputation of luring visitors to their planet or to their resorts on Rigel II where they were infected with Rigelian fever after which they offered the cure for a price. (TOSnovel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
In 2249, the Federation annexed the Human colony on Rigel IV in an effort to combat Orion slave trading (Last Unicorn RPGmodule: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook) and protect Human interests from Orion piracy. They fell under Federation jurisdiction. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
Although the Federation had a moneyless economy, the inhabitants of Rigel IV continued to make use of currency, though the succeeding generations from the old pirate families were expected to have gone legitimate. They were also known to have sent their offspring to the universities of Rigel V and elsewhere in order to stop dealing in bootleg medicines. (TOSnovel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
In 2266, the Redjac entity murdered several women on Rigel IV (TOS episode: "Wolf in the Fold"), with nine women slain in Polar City, before vanishing without a trace in 2267(Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds). The natives of Rigel IV gave it the name "Beratis" (STreference: The Worlds of the Federation). Redjac left for Argelius II, where it committed another murder with a knife from Rigel IV's Argus River region, while possessing Hengist, a man from Rigel IV. (TOS episode: "Wolf in the Fold")
In 2269, Rigel IV's Skol Brewery entered the Valkyrie into the The Great Starship Raceunder Captain Bjorn Faargensen. (TOSnovel: The Great Starship Race)
After being annexed in 2249, the Human colonies of Rigel IV became full Federation members in 2287. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
- The ST reference: Star Charts states that Beta Rigel IV was a member of the United Rigel Colonies, which joined the Federation in 2202. Given Rigel IV's much later Federation membership from Worlds, it seems likely that Rigel IV only joined the United Rigel Colonies in or after 2287.
In 2293, Captain Spock traveled to Rigel IV to attend a meeting with Lanitow Irizal,Director of the Bureau of Interplanetary Affairs, in the city of Pil Stornom. (TOSnovel:The Fire and the Rose)
The 280-year-long northern summer season is expected to have ended circa 2330. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
By the mid-2360s, Rigel IV was a major Federation world. Its ambassador to the UFP wasKenneth Brice. (ST reference: The Worlds of the Federation)
According to the Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi in 2367, a brilliant astronomer living here named a star after her. (TNG episode: "Half a Life")
In mid-2370, Keiko O'Brien attended a week-long conference on hydroponics on Rigel IV. (DS9 episode: "The Wire")
During the Dominion War, a shipment of pergium from the Sappora system and bound for a refinery on Rigel IV was destroyed by the Jem'Hadar. (DS9 episode: "Prodigal Daughter")
Environment & GeographyEdit
Rigel IV's year lasted for 1125 of Earth's years. It also had a strong axial tilt, of up to 32 degrees, leading to severe climate changes through the different seasons, which lasted roughly 280 years each. The northern continents experienced summer from the mid-21st century onwards. Summer generally brought warm, humid weather with heavy rain, while the winter was fairly cold but dry.
- By adding 280 to 2050, this season is likely to have ended circa 2330.
The flora and fauna of Rigel IV were adapted to these conditions. One species of plant was a broad-leafed fern in summer and a thick-leafed succulent in winter.
The planet had a thick atmosphere and pale blue skies, with a warm temperature and 80% hydrosphere. It had four small continents: Altama and Hypuria in the north,Panara on the equator, and Lorisa on the south pole. Altama and Hypuria experienced pleasant conditions in the long summers. Panara, however, suffered a muggy climate and the brunt of the vast ocean's storms, with windstorms and tsunamis, but increasing dry northern winds as the next season set in. Lorisa was wintry tundra around a polar glacier, with storms and squalls from the surrounding sea, increasing as the seasons slowly shifted. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
- Altama
- Ranler Mountains
- Hypuria
- Argus River • Boronal Mountains
- Lorisa
- Prulas Mountains
- Panara
- Alivas Mountains • Mount Tor • Sathuran Mountains • Sathura Bay • Toren Spur
- Oceans
- Brentah Sea • Doravyn Ocean • Dorvavyn Ocean • Sea of Okaara • Sorival Ocean
- The map in Worlds names Altama as Ahuma. It has both Doravyn and Dorvavyn Oceans, possibly in error.
SettlementsEdit
Polar City lay on the northernmost promontory of Hypuria, where an icecap had once rested in 2050. It was a Human colony built in the 2180s, and held 30 million people. It was an arcology, with towers rising 6 kilometers into the sky, and was fed by vast state-of-the-art hydroponic farms, seabed cultivation and replicated food. Integrated replicator and transporter technology kept the city running smoothly. Thus it was the center of Rigel IV's civilization, and a model of urban design and possibility. It hosted numerous conferences for engineers, shipbuilders and a variety of other specialists. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
- The text for Rigel IV in Worlds places Polar City on the northernmost promontory of Hypuria, where once there was an ice cap that disappeared in 2050 (the beginning of summer). The map however places it on the ice-covered continent of Lorisa, on the south pole. The name suggests the latter location, the description the former. However, there is no north-facing promontory shown on Hypuria; there is one on Lorisa, but Polar City is not marked here. The text is assumed to be the correct version due to regular mapping errors in this book.
Lying on the equator on the continent of Panara, the Orion city of Sathura remained inhabited throughout Rigel IV's 1125-year-long year, and had a population of 50 million. A deep bay and thick scarp sheltered the city from the worst of Panara's ocean storms, but it suffered under a muggy climate and industrial pollution, which couldn't be removed by the dry northern winds. Apparently founded during the First Orion Empire, 100,000 years before, it was a blend of different architectural styles and technologies dating back to that time. Magnificent and ugly structures sat side-by-side, with grand sculptures and soaring Third Orion Empire arabesque causeways alongside labyrinthine tunnels and general squalor. It was known for crime, poverty and pollution, with all varieties of criminal activity and debauchery,
Rigel IV
Under the protection of U.S.S. Defiant
Rigel IV, also known as Beta Rigel IV and Zamiar, was the class M fourth planet of theRigel system, in the Beta Quadrant. (ST reference: Star Charts, Decipher RPGmodule:Worlds)
It had one moon (ST references: The Worlds of the Federation, Star Charts), namedRendar. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
Contents
[show]Government & PoliticsEdit
Rigel IV was a member of the United Rigel Colonies, which was a member of the United Federation of Planets (ST reference: Star Charts), as well as the home of the civilian government known as the Aggregation of Rigellian Systems. (TOSnovel: Dreadnought!)
Rigel IV was home to four distinct cultures—Federation, Orion, vulcanoid Rigelian, andKaylar—with a fragmented, feuding planetary government. They ranged from advanced materialistic and urban cultures to primitive tribalism.
The Rigel Colonies (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation), theHuman colonies of Rigel IV, were originally independently founded, but were brought under Federation jurisdiction in 2249, and eventually became full Federation members in2287. The Orions of Rigel IV were nominally under the rule of the Vazak of Zamiar, a provincial governor who ruled as a hereditary monarch. However, in practice they did whatever they pleased. Many Humans also claimed allegiance to the Vazak, preferring the looser Orion society than that of the Federation. The Rigelians meanwhile had an interlocking aristocracy centered around land tenure and environmental preservation. Finally, the Kaylar lived as primitive, nomadic tribes in the wilderness, and played little part in planetary politics.
The Rigelians and the Humans often protested to the Orions that their refineries and mills on Panara were polluting the world. The Orions were unconcerned, as the winter would likely wipe clean the whole world in a few centuries anyway. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
The people of the Argus River region once came into conflict with the planetary government. Peace was concluded, and a significant legal precedent arose from the occasion, stating: "All beings may not be created equal yet shall be given equal opportunity and treatment under the law.". (TOS movie: The Voyage Home)
InhabitantsEdit
Rigel IV was inhabited by settlers of various races and states, at one time with 1 billion Humans, 2.5 billion Orions, 1.5 billion Rigelians, 200 million Kaylar, 200 million Andoriansand 600 million of miscellaneous other starfaring species. Human habitation was centered around Polar City on Hypuria, though many chose to become "subjects" of the Orion Vazak, seeking a looser society than under the Federation. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
From c. 2270 to c. 2365, its population, when combined with that of Rigel II, was over 8 billion. (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation)
Orion migrants from Rigel VII settled the continent of Panara, based around the city ofSathura, as well as the coasts of the continents of Hypuria and Altama. The Rigelians primary dwelt on Altama, while the Kaylar dwelled in Lorisa and Hypuria, especially in the hinterlands of the Argus River hill region. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
Rigel IV was noted for the Humanoid inhabitants of the planet who had a vulcanoidinternal anatomy with their heart rates, blood types and immunohistochemistry being similar to those of the Vulcan race, to the point that only an expert was capable of telling them apart from a medscan. (TOSnovel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
Rigel IV was noteworthy for the deadly Rigelian fever. (TOSnovel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
The disease first appeared in the Orion city of Sathura during the 2120s, and went on to kill 100,000 people before it was stopped. It would continue to reappear on Rigel IV every few generations, and sometimes reached starships in orbit via crew who visited the world. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
CultureEdit
Rigel IV had a comfortable culture in which one could while away an afternoon in an outdoor café, eating, drinking, talking, and romancing. (TOSnovel: Sanctuary)
HistoryEdit
With an 1125-year-long year and 280-year-long seasons, civilization on Rigel IV was at the mercy of its climate, rising and falling on each continent according to the weather.
Some of the earliest settlements were by Orions of the First Orion Empire, who founded the city of Sathura 100,000 years before.
At some point in history, Kaylar slaves and mercenaries were settled on Rigel IV and other worlds of the system, only to return to nomadic tribes once their masters' empires had fallen. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
In the 6th century AD, Kassaba fever destroyed entire populations on Rigel IV. (STreference: Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual)
At some point in the past, a group of Rigellians had left their home planet for political reasons and settled on the neighboring world of Rigel V. (TOSnovel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
The 280-year-long northern summer season began in the mid-21st century, with the Hypuria ice-cap last seen in 2050.
Rigellian fever first appeared in the city of Sathura during the 2120s, and went on to kill 100,000 people before it was stopped.
Together with Rigel II, Rigel IV was settled by Humans from Earth in the late 22nd century (less than 200 years before the mid-2360s), founding the first of the Rigel Colonies. (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation)
These Human colonists built Polar City in the 2180s. The colonies would draw Starfleetinto the Rigel system many times, as would Orion piracy, slavery and smuggling. (Decipher RPGmodule: Worlds)
Before joining the United Federation of Planets, the inhabitants of Rigel IV were little more than <a style="font-size:14px;fon