Prologue

Soldi Rochemont: Distance from Sol 138 light-years … Spectral class G1V; radius 1.006 Sol; mass 1.02 Sol; luminosity 1.102 Sol. Stellar Effective Temperature 5900°K … Four planets, one planetoid belt. There is only one habitable world, the innermost, designated “Polypheme”.…

I Polypheme: Orbital radius 0.90 AUs; eccentricity .0136; period 0.845 solar years (308.8 std. days) … One natural satellite, Nonhomme, mass 0.004 Terra; density 0.6 Terra (3.3 g/cc); orbital radius 130,269 kms; period 5.16 std. days (123.8 hours) … an airless, waterless body notable only for its significant tidal effects on Polypheme …

Planetary mass 1.1 Terra; density 0.85 Terra (4.675 g/cc); surface gravity 0.93 G. Radius 6950.4 kilometers; circumference 43,670.54 kilometers … Total surface area 607,054,524 square kilometers …

Hydrographic percentage 82 % … Atmospheric pressure 0.9 atm; composition oxygen/nitrogen. Oxygen content 18% …

Planetary axial tilt 17°40’57.4”. Rotation period 46 hours, 14 minutes, 28.9 seconds.…

Planetography: Polypheme’s close satellite produces tidal stresses which have shaped many facets of planetary development. The planet is more seismically active than Terra, with a consequently more rugged surface.… There are ten continents.… Tides cause broad coastal tracts to be regularly inundated and then exposed.…

Equatorial temperatures have been recorded as high as 45°C.… Polar temperatures rarely rise above freezing but are too warm to produce permanent ice packs.… There is a moderating influence exerted on the planet by the oceans, and humans find the climate tolerable outside the tropics.

The low planetary density is indicative of a general lack of worthwhile ore deposits, but there is an unusually high concentration of minerals in the planetary oceans, possibly caused by widespread undersea volcanic activity. By Commonwealth standards Polypheme is poor, and were it not for the twin interests of scientists studying tidal effects and miners lured by the high mineral content of the seas Polypheme might well have been ignored.…

Although the usual variety in terrain and ecology is present on Polypheme, of greatest interest are the many adaptations to the tidal conditions.… The tidal plains have become home to many species uniquely evolved for this strange environ, including the planet’s sapient race.…

Biology: Intelligent life arose in the tidal flats, in a species originally adapted to a dual existence built around the ebb and flow of the tides.… Equally at home as swimmers or clinging by sucker-like appendages to rocks exposed on the flood plains, this species found intelligence useful both to cope with the fast-changing conditions of their unique ecological niche and to handle certain swimming predators. The latter further spurred adaptation to a dry-land environment.…

The sophonts of Polypheme, the drooroukh, are a bilaterally symmetrical, bimodal race with four limbs all equally well adapted as hands, feet, or fins as circumstances warrant. A highly sophisticated pseudogill system can extract oxygen from air or water with equal proficiency, with membranes in the gill outlets serving as speech organs. They generally stand upright on land but can move on all fours very quickly and are superb swimmers. A flat, heavy tail provides propulsion in the water and balance ashore.… They are homeothermic, producing live young. The juveniles of the species cannot leave the water on their own, and they normally swim free except when feeding.… The young are parasitic, clinging to an adult and drawing nourishment from its blood. Although humanoid in gross appearance, the drooroukh have little in common with Mankind.…

The average local measures 1.7 meters in length, not including the tail, with hairless, slick skin which ranges from gray-green to black in color.… Although possessed of two sexes and a fairly typical reproductive cycle, the drooroukh have little concept of family, regarding child care as the collective responsibility of the group.…

Civilization: Several thousand years ago a schism developed among the inhabitants of Polypheme. Part of the population began spending more and more time on land, except as necessary for child-rearing and mariculture.… The process led to the development of a civilization along patterns similar to Terra, with metalworking, cities, and the rudiments of scientific thought.…

The second group, however, remained closely tied to the seas in a nomadic existence unchanged over a period of 50,000 years.… The nomads have enjoyed mixed relations with their land-dwelling cousins, sometimes trading with them, at other times in conflict.… Most researchers see them as locked in a cultural dead-end.…

Commonwealth Contact: Prior to the Semti War Polypheme was nominally a part of the Semti Conclave, but the Semti had little interest in the planet and leased development rights to the neighboring Toeljuk Autarchy.… The Toels found conditions on Polypheme familiar and applied many of the techniques invented in their own climb to power to exploiting the new world.… Though poor in metals ashore, Polypheme offered resources in abundance at sea, where a species of small aquatic grazer, the “shelljet,” was found to extract and concentrate metals in its shell. A number of large harvester ships, and bases to support them, were established by the Toeljuks on Polypheme.… The project was abandoned about the time of the Semti War due to the collapse of the Autarchy’s economy in that period.…

For close to a century Commonwealth contact was limited to a few scientific teams and the missionary work of the Uplift Foundation.… Three years ago Seafarms Interstellar put forward a proposal to duplicate Toel harvesting techniques, using the abandoned Toeljuk facilities as a basis for new operations.…

—Excerpted from Leclerc’s Guide to the Commonwealth Volume VI: The Toel Frontier,
34th Edition, published 2848 AD