SAGI Status Report

[jammi]

To: The Bretonian War Cabinet.
Encryption: Moderate.
Topic: Report: O3/Sprague/Environs.

This series of reports has been compiled by the Sprague Administrative and Growth Initiative (SAGI) in order to demonstrate colonial progress within and around the Omega border.

This report details the environs and conditions of Planet Sprague. Later reports will expand on the progress surrounding the terrestrial development of Planet Sprague; the fortification of its orbital paths; the maintenance of Port Talbot and the projection of Bretonian authority throughout the system. We will also include a break-down of the activities of each of the component bureaus of the SAGI, and a speculative assessment on methods by which part of our colonial overheads could be reclaimed.

Planet Sprague is a largely barren planet, possessing extreme variances of temperature. Due to the planet's orbital pattern and spin, its rotational period is slightly shorter than a New London Standard Cycle, being approximately 17.8 hours. Sprague's average year is 162.3 Standard Cycles. The atmosphere is considered suitable for unassisted human respiration, to within 1 degree of error. There is very little surface water on Sprague by way of oceans or large lakes, so most of our colonies will have to tap groundwater from underground aquifers. Sprague consists of three primary environmental biomes:

1) A hot equatorial desert band. The deserts closest to equator can reach midday heats of up to 70^oC, which can then drop as far as -15^oC during night cycles. This region posesses the greatest variance of temperature on the planet, and of any Bretonian planet in general. Very little organic life thrives in this region, limited to hardy desert plants that subside along the desert perimeters and primitive photosynthetic bacterial organisms. Bowex ExSec surveyors located several sites that would be appropriate for a spaceport complex. Due to DSE docking rings requiring geostationary orbits, a touch-down point on the equator is essential. The extreme polarity of heat at sea-level would make establishing a site there impractical, so a compromise was struck with the survey of the Aberavon Plateau, a level area of the Glywysing Mountain Range. The elevation above sea-level gives an ideal stable mean temperature, although the thinned air does require assisted breathing.

2) Frigid polar regions. The deep polar areas can reach an extreme low of -71^oC. Much alike its equatorial opposite, this temperature is lethal to humans without extreme protective measures, making it highly inappropriate for colonial projects. In contrast to the massive daily variations within the desert bands, temperatures in the polar regions are mostly stable, and slowly warm as longitude increases/decreases. Over the course of a year, these areas can vary from -70 (winter) to -30^oC (summer) based on the orbital period. Contrary to the image associated with the name, the polar wastes are not capped by thick ice, as there is not enough surface water or atmospheric humidity to warrant their creation, although there is frequently a covering of frost. The frigid winds do freeze the ground solid, turning the area's dust and sand into a material akin to concrete. There is some scientific interest in portions of this area, due to a rich fossil record. While analysis is still ongoing, popular hypotheses claim that this is proof of a planet-wide slump in biocomplexity due to a massive climatological shift.

3) Temperate scrubland. Zone three is the area picked by colonial surveyors for settlement sites, and the construction of significant infrastructure. The scrublands exist on both sides of the equator, occupying a broad range of temperatures deemed suitable for human settlement (proposed capital city site located within the southern band). The areas our colonies will focus on range from -15 to 40^oC over day, night and seasons. The central scrublands are largely covered in a monoculture of green-brown grass, which are regularly interrupted by rocky outcroppings, mesas and plateaus. While the Baroness Snowdown has now been declared traitor, her recommendation that settlements be mined into these formations for security has merit. Large formations with mineral metal content and nearby underground water-tables were favoured (see final report, recovery of overheads). The terrain itself does not lend itself well to terrestrial travel, making the construction of a long-range motorway system to link cities impractical. Most commercial transit and commuting will be done via shuttle, including shipments to and from the equatorial spaceport. Plans have already been made for a nationalised shuttle service to be established that will handle the majority of civil needs.

One factor in particular appears to be common within all three of these regions: the concentration of Daam K'Vosh ruins and artifacts. Sprague has long been an object of interest to the academia of Cambridge (who might I add, strongly opposed colonisation for precisely this reason), and subject to many xenoarchaeological expeditions. This number starkly fell after the Rheinland-perpetrated destruction of Sprague's first docking ring (see report on the projection of Bretonian authority), but has continued in a reduced capacity to this very day. It has always been within the Crown's interest to have a Bretonian presence on the planet, even if we were not directly payrolling it. With the sudden increase in attention and scrutiny the planet is receiving, ruins are being uncovered at an almost unprecedented level. Protocols are already being established which allow the Intelligence Services to quarantine sites of potential interest until such a time as they have been fully catalogued and can be deemed safe for public consumption. There is also the worrying prospect of a deregulated Bretonian artifact trade becoming established, due to local grave-robbers pillaging newly discovered ruins.

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