Post contact report prepared for Precentor Zwick, following encounter on Lontano
While conducting a series of deep space surveys in the area of space known as the Canopus Ruins, the Word of Blake ship Onslow, disguised as an Interstellar Expeditions vessel came across the IND-221-A2 system, knowns to its inhabitants as Lontano.
Settled in the late 2530s by author Terrance Deakin, a British radical who advocated what was generally considered a misogynistic, racist and generally ridiculous manifesto, Lontano slipped from star charts (apart from our own) in the mid 2500s.
Located just Corewood of Helvetica (another missing world), Lontano has regressed to almost medieval era technology, apart from a smattering of Age of War technology, which is lovingly worship by natives even as it decays.
Deakin petitioned Terran Hegemony authorities to establish a colony based around his warped teachings and was eventually given his leave in the 2520s, establishing Lontano with a core of his faithful.
By 2543 a Magistracy of Canopus exploration survey chanced upon the colony which had devolved into a tyrannical dictatorship. Ignoring the posturing of Deakin, the MoC government annexed the world, hung the “great leader” and his henchman and instituted a Canopus style government.
With the outbreak of the succession wars, the MoC pulled back resources from many of its colonies, presumably abandoning Lontano, which quickly slipped from the star charts.
Over the next 250 odd years the planet regressed dramatically. It’s believed the settlers soon fell into civil war, which climaxed in a series of short nuclear and conventional engagements. While some victims of Succession Wars managed to plunge themselves into all out nuclear winter, it appears Lontano simply managed to kill off its best and brightest. All the technicians, scientists, and machinists appear to have died out, effectively leaving society to regress to a dark age level as their grand reminders of their once high tech society crumbled and decayed around them.
Comstar’s Explorer corps kept tabs on the planet over the years, but it was not until the Onslow detected radio and fusion output in 3060 - along with the damaged remains of two Jumpships - that we decided to explore.
On world, our party found a small group of mercenaries (who had allied with one planetary faction) in the process of finishing off a pirate band (who had allied with another).
After restoring order, a small post was established in the hope we can bring the Word to the unbelievers of Lontano (their main beliefs effectively revolve around the deifying of Star League era relics and it’s expected they will be easily assimilated) as well as offering us an additional supply point in the Deep Periphery.
The offworlders were sworn to secrecy and forced to sign a series of non-disclosure clauses before we rendered aid and assisting in the repairs to one of their ancient jumpships. While our cover story of being an IE team was flimsy, we think they believed it.
Life on Lontano is confined to one large continent about the size of North America on Terra. However, it’s only sparsely populated with most settlements centered around a large river delta and plains area in the continent’s south. Further north the climate quickly turns too cold to effectively support life.
The original colony was centered on the southern most tip and originally named Deakinsville. Four other settlements hug the nearby coastline, while smaller settlements were scattered along the nearby temperate plains and forests. Now, these five settlements are rival city states which each control their surrounding lands under feudalistic trappings.
The barren plains are home to barbarian tribes (original settlers who rejected Deakin and fled into the wilderness) that have regressed effectively to the Stone Age but carry out regular raids on their more civilised counterparts. Interestingly, all five major settlements (no one city state has ever managed to decisively beat another because all were built to withstand relatively modern weapons, including tanks and Battlemechs) were built with fusion reactors to provide power. None of the reactors can manage more than a trickle of power that does little more than power a handful of cooling units, meat freezers or water pumps. The Duchy of Tyros is best known for its electric lights that periodically flicker on throughout its temple district, causing waves of religious fervour.
Natives lack the ability to maintain or repair these wonders and as such believe they’re gifts from the old gods who marooned them on the world.
What made our visit so curious was the discovery that the Confederation of Kas (who control the southernmost tip, including the original colony’s landing site) had allied itself with a pirate band know as the Bloody Brotherhood prior to our arrival. The Brotherhood had fled justice following a string of violent raids across Marian and Canopus space and managed to make their way to Lontano before their ancient jumpship gave out. Once on world they carried out a murderous campaign of violence before deciding to settle in Kas, where they were able to use the colony’s old but still usable repair facilities. These pirates could have easily set themselves up as planetary rulers had a mercenary unit known as Cavelli's Cavalierebnot accidently misjumped into the system. After landing (and initially avoiding contact with locals), Cavalli and his men assisted the Duchy of Frac beat back the pirates, even pressuring the Duke into his first ever alliance with several neighbouring kingdoms in an effort to combat the new threat together. By the time of our arrival the Brotherhood had been destroyed, with some parts impressed into the mercenaries, and the world was well on its way to reunification under Frac control.