Planetography

The worlds within the Islands Clusters are remarkably lush and rich. They provide reasonable areas well-adapted to humans and the majority of them have indigenous life which in turn furnishes the essential lumber, grain, meat and other biological products necessary for a reasonably cheap, easy life.

Intelligent Life

Two life forms of potentially intelligent levels were present in the Clusters when the colonists arrived. One, the Batwings of Esperanza, have subsequently been identified as Droyne: they were eradicated by the colonists within two hundred years of their arrival, a process Esperanzan historians are strangely reluctant to discuss.

The second potentially intelligent race, the Orpheides of Orphée, are an herbivorous grazer species confined to their world of origin. These grazers have achieved only rudimentary development, approximating tech level 0, although their culture at that level has proven of interest to academics throughout the Clusters. It is expected that the Orpheides, with suitable protection from interference, can achieve a technological civilization within a few thousand years.

Orphée, although it does have a small human academic community, has been interdicted to trade and naval traffic by the Convention of 5575AD (Terran reckoning), signed by all worlds within the Clusters. Occasional ships carrying supplies and researchers do call on the system from time to time. The interdiction of Orphée is the equivalent of a travel zone red within the Imperium.