Location
An Overview
Caladan is the third planet of a main-sequence G-star Delta Pavonis. It has one moon. Its nearest planetary neighbour is Harmonthep, third planet of the system.
It is an oceanic world with sparse landmasses in its northern hemisphere. The climate is as much determined by sea currents and monsoons as by latitudes. Climatic zones stretch from temperate cool in the north to tropical in the south, with a lot of regional anomalies. The weather is quite unpredictable.
The world's biosphere is rich and diverse, with only about half of landmass and but a fraction of the oceans being cultivated. The biodiversity is only partially catalogued and analysed for the properties, with many endemic species, giving both the Suk doctors and planetologists plenty to do. Caladan also hosts a unique electrical phenomenon which some consider a lifeform - elecran. It's poorly studied but feared for the effects it has on fishing and aerial transport.
Agriculture and pisciculture are the foundations of Caladanan economy. Pundi rice is the mass cultivar, harvested all year round, seconded by fruit like sea-grown Paradan melons, apples, and grapevines. Seafood is both poached in open seas and bred in tidal pools or in enclosures over underwater grasslands, though a recent mite plague killed off most of the commercially promising moonfish cultivation.
Food processing is the dominant industry, including shelf-stable staples and beverage production, with wines and ciders appreciated offworld. These operations are usually privately owned, though there are no big enterprises. Shipyards, wingboat and aircraft factories manufacture for domestic use, and their strategic branches are under direct Ducal control.
Tourism is limited, despite great conditions for it. The Atreides maintain only two full-fledged spaceport facilities, one for general use (Cala City) and one for cargoes (Atreides Landing), and subject visitors to security screenings.
The local population is predominantly rural, and dispersed. It consists mostly of medium-sized estates worked by tenants and wage labour taxed in kind by the Atreides or landlords of their Houses Minor. Demographic parameters trend toward equilibrium, so both taxes and wages are relatively stable, ensuring social peace but little economic progress despite good productivity. Most people are conservative, religious, and respect traditional values, though also festive and sea-hardy.
Orange Catholicism is the dominant religion, though the indigenous people called the Muadh follow their own version of Buddislam. They are largely assimilated, though some primitive communities remain in remote locations.
The planet's modern history is determined by the suzerainty of House Atreides, its liege lords for 26 generations. Castle Caladan overlooking the Cala City is their seat of power. Their power is exercised both directly and through Houses Minor or equivalent organisations (like Muadh vicars). Atreides domestic legitimacy leans toward charismatic, requiring personal leadership and oversight, high morals, and occasional public feats of bravura.
Cultural life leans rustic, with harvest-related festivities and religious celebrations covering most of it. Regattas are the most popular sport. The Atreides nurture awareness of their alleged roots on Old Terra, occasionally staging archaic tragedies related to the House of Atreus, but it is the bullfights which the people consider the most important events.
It is an oceanic world with sparse landmasses in its northern hemisphere. The climate is as much determined by sea currents and monsoons as by latitudes. Climatic zones stretch from temperate cool in the north to tropical in the south, with a lot of regional anomalies. The weather is quite unpredictable.
The world's biosphere is rich and diverse, with only about half of landmass and but a fraction of the oceans being cultivated. The biodiversity is only partially catalogued and analysed for the properties, with many endemic species, giving both the Suk doctors and planetologists plenty to do. Caladan also hosts a unique electrical phenomenon which some consider a lifeform - elecran. It's poorly studied but feared for the effects it has on fishing and aerial transport.
Agriculture and pisciculture are the foundations of Caladanan economy. Pundi rice is the mass cultivar, harvested all year round, seconded by fruit like sea-grown Paradan melons, apples, and grapevines. Seafood is both poached in open seas and bred in tidal pools or in enclosures over underwater grasslands, though a recent mite plague killed off most of the commercially promising moonfish cultivation.
Food processing is the dominant industry, including shelf-stable staples and beverage production, with wines and ciders appreciated offworld. These operations are usually privately owned, though there are no big enterprises. Shipyards, wingboat and aircraft factories manufacture for domestic use, and their strategic branches are under direct Ducal control.
Tourism is limited, despite great conditions for it. The Atreides maintain only two full-fledged spaceport facilities, one for general use (Cala City) and one for cargoes (Atreides Landing), and subject visitors to security screenings.
The local population is predominantly rural, and dispersed. It consists mostly of medium-sized estates worked by tenants and wage labour taxed in kind by the Atreides or landlords of their Houses Minor. Demographic parameters trend toward equilibrium, so both taxes and wages are relatively stable, ensuring social peace but little economic progress despite good productivity. Most people are conservative, religious, and respect traditional values, though also festive and sea-hardy.
Orange Catholicism is the dominant religion, though the indigenous people called the Muadh follow their own version of Buddislam. They are largely assimilated, though some primitive communities remain in remote locations.
The planet's modern history is determined by the suzerainty of House Atreides, its liege lords for 26 generations. Castle Caladan overlooking the Cala City is their seat of power. Their power is exercised both directly and through Houses Minor or equivalent organisations (like Muadh vicars). Atreides domestic legitimacy leans toward charismatic, requiring personal leadership and oversight, high morals, and occasional public feats of bravura.
Cultural life leans rustic, with harvest-related festivities and religious celebrations covering most of it. Regattas are the most popular sport. The Atreides nurture awareness of their alleged roots on Old Terra, occasionally staging archaic tragedies related to the House of Atreus, but it is the bullfights which the people consider the most important events.
The Maker | Blessed Her Coming and Going
The Southern Continent
The southernmost landmass is a place of seeming contrasts. Most of its coastal areas have been converted into agricultural areas and have become Caladan's primary fruit basket. Vineyards stretch in the northeast while apple orchards dominate southwest. However, the interior is starkly different. Primeval rainforest, wild and poorly explored, winds amid and around two mountain ranges. The mountains stretch north toward the sea, ending in a maze of spectacular basalt cliffs.
The boundary between the farmlands and the jungle is visually abrupt. Logging is restricted by Ducal decree, and it is mostly wildlife that encroaches on the farmlands, not vice versa. This includes boar, monkey and various snakes, but also manta birds. Foragers are usually not bold enough to go deeper into the forest. Primitive Muadh communities are known to be living in the jungles but maintain little contact with the cultivated areas.
The area is mostly under supervision of one House Minor - House Lanville. The family is a large one, known for longevity, with the tradition to have many children, who often intermarry with local population. Most local entrepreneurs and community leaders have some blood connection to the ruling family. A good portion of the family's youth is dedicated for military careers in the Atreides forces.
Elderly lord Lanville has mostly retired from official capacities, spending most of his days cultivating his apple orchards for the Duke Leto's favourite beverage called cidrit. Most of the affairs of the House should be run by his firstborn son, Lt. Roger Lanville, an Atreides Warmaster second only to Gurney Halleck, but his military and security agendas often drag him away from actual governance. Its his siblings and cousins who fill in that role to various extents, making authority a bit fuzzy.
The Atreides Spaceport is the only place on the continent worth the name of a city, though beyond the spaceport proper it's a functional and unaesthetic place, full of warehouses and processing facilities, with most of the workforce coming from rural suburbs. The bucolic towns elsewhere are where the unhurried community life is, swelling for festivals and fairs but otherwise remaining peaceful.
The boundary between the farmlands and the jungle is visually abrupt. Logging is restricted by Ducal decree, and it is mostly wildlife that encroaches on the farmlands, not vice versa. This includes boar, monkey and various snakes, but also manta birds. Foragers are usually not bold enough to go deeper into the forest. Primitive Muadh communities are known to be living in the jungles but maintain little contact with the cultivated areas.
The area is mostly under supervision of one House Minor - House Lanville. The family is a large one, known for longevity, with the tradition to have many children, who often intermarry with local population. Most local entrepreneurs and community leaders have some blood connection to the ruling family. A good portion of the family's youth is dedicated for military careers in the Atreides forces.
Elderly lord Lanville has mostly retired from official capacities, spending most of his days cultivating his apple orchards for the Duke Leto's favourite beverage called cidrit. Most of the affairs of the House should be run by his firstborn son, Lt. Roger Lanville, an Atreides Warmaster second only to Gurney Halleck, but his military and security agendas often drag him away from actual governance. Its his siblings and cousins who fill in that role to various extents, making authority a bit fuzzy.
The Atreides Spaceport is the only place on the continent worth the name of a city, though beyond the spaceport proper it's a functional and unaesthetic place, full of warehouses and processing facilities, with most of the workforce coming from rural suburbs. The bucolic towns elsewhere are where the unhurried community life is, swelling for festivals and fairs but otherwise remaining peaceful.
The Maker | Blessed Her Coming and Going