Rigel VII

Rigel VII, or Aulia, was the seventh planet in the Rigel system. It was a class M planet and had an enormous moon called Golia. It was the homeworld of the Rigellians and the Kaylar.

Environment
Aulia had an Earth-like gravity of 1.0 g and a 27-hour day, with only 29% land mass. It was a class M planet with a terrestrial atmosphere, and a cool temperate climate.

The most striking feature of Rigel VII is its huge moon, Golia. Subtending 30 degrees, it can nearly fill the sky, and cannot be covered by two hands at arm’s length. Its rugged cratered and fissured surface is easily visible at most times of the day or night; the bright-side lights up the landscape at night, and even half-full the blue-lit dark side is visible. Eclipses of Golia are frequent and sometimes quite lengthy – a full half-day may be cast in twilight, or the moon may be completely hidden all night – while solar eclipses are not uncommon.

The spectacle of the ballet of the moon, sun and planet are said to be soul-stirring and awe-inspiring, not easily forgotten. It inspired the song Moon Over Rigel VII. 

However, Golia’s great size raises huge tidal forces, where the difference between low tide and high tide is at least 150 metres and often greater. The orbits of the planet and moon also make the tides highly chaotic, with high tides sometimes occurring less than two hours apart, or low tide lasting a day or more. Due to the irregular coastlines and shapes of the oceans, the shorelines suffer huge deluges at least twice a day. These tidal bores surge up narrow straits as 50 metre high walls of water at high speeds, and are quite destructive.

The rest of Aulia is a world of natural beauty and nearly untouched wilderness. The vegetation is lush and plentiful, and provides significant quantities of food and medicinal compounds. However, harvesting it is difficult and expensive due to the tides.

It had a total surface area of 497,177,120 square kilometers and, with 29% land mass, a total land area of 144,181,360 square kilometers. About 42% of its makeup was normal metals, with 14% radioactive elements, 11% gemstones, 7% industrial crystals, and trace amounts of special minerals. 

History
Ten thousand years ago, it was known that the species known as the Masters planted new as well as promising forms of life on Rigel VII which, in time, evolved intelligent star farring races that revered the Masters as gods after they were long dead. 

The Orions have attempted to colonise Rigel VII on at least four separate occasions, and have left the ruins of castles and fortresses, mines, logging camps, fishing towers, spaceports, plantations and villages. Each effort has been thwarted by the tides or by the attacking Kaylar. Every time the Orions cut their losses and departed, and no interest in trying again by the late 23rd century. 

In 2254 Rigel VII was visited by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) on the eve of its entry into the Federation. By 2289, its nearly 50 years of membership had become so etched into vacation-goers and explorers alike, that it was the basis for the song Moon Over Rigel VII. 

Rogue elements of the Rigellian population took the opportunity to rebel against the planet joining the Federation and lead a coup, with the Rigellian warrior caste; the Kaylar attacking Federation personnel.

Seven crew members were injured, including Spock, Nano and Sita Mohindas, and three were killed, including Yeoman Dermot Leon Cusack. The incident led to Rigel's admission into the Federation being rejected. 

However the incident did shock much of Rigellian society, spurring them to continue their reformations, to remove the more barbaric elements of their society. It was suspected that Rigel VII could quite possibly reclaim its place in the Federation. 

The attacks on Rigel had a profound impact on Captain Christopher Pike and the memory of the incident was used shortly after by the Talosians when they held the captain in captivity. 

In the late 23rd century, Humans began to re-occupy some of larger and stronger fortresses and castles and attempted to renovate them as expensive, exclusive resorts, supplying tours by air of the ruins and excursions to the sea. Three corporations requested permission from Rigel Space Control to construct proper spaceport facilities. [The outcome of this is unknown]]

In 2270, there was an outbreak of Orion blood fever that ravaged settlements, including those of the Klingons. 

Backed by the Federation, a global computer network was later built to provide education and outside perspectives for the citizens of Rigel VII. This would crash catastrophically in 2362 when the Kobliad criminal Rao Vantika used a subspace shunt to access and purge everything in its active memory. The resulting economic collapse wiped out almost all the progressive pro-Federation businesses on the planet. 

Economics
Aulia had a technological/socio-political index of 111220-13 and a planetary trade profile of BDEEDFF/B (E). 

Places of interest

 * Rigellian Parliamentary Assembly
 * Zemtar fortress

Other Versions

 * Star Trek: Star Charts and The Worlds of the Federation both claim that Rigel VII is a preindustrial world, and that the Kalar are the dominant, but primitive species. The RPG sourcebooks, , and instead present a different version of Rigel VII, where it is the Orion homeworld. (The  chooses Rigel VIII.) Since canon and other appearances of Rigel VII depict it as a Kalar world, this article assumes that be primary, and the LUG/Decipher version is assumed to be secondary.

Rigel VII, called Kolar, was the seventh planet in the Rigel system. It was a class M planet and had an enormous moon called Haladar. It was the likely homeworld of the Orions and the reputed headquarters of the Orion Syndicate; as such it was often called simply Orion. 

Environment
Rigel VII was a class M planet with a thinning terrestrial atmosphere, a cooling temperate climate and a drying 40% hydrosphere. It had a gravity of 1.2 g.

It had a purplish sky and a large nearby moon. It was a warm, dry Class-M planet, known for being dusty, spicy and exotic. 

The ecology of Rigel VII was worn out by two hundred millennia of empires, wars and overpopulation, steadily cooling and desiccating. The plains became deserts and dust bowls, while its lakes and oceans were tainted by toxins leached out of the soil after the effects of biological warfare and experimental chemistry. The atmosphere was thinning and drying, and held traces of pollutants and a metallic tang of dust. In all, the planet was gradually approaching an ice age. The seas shrank as the frozen poles increased, while the sandy deserts advanced to the shores.

Geography
Ingarroi, the northern continent, is approximately the same size as Africa. It was mostly steppe, with low mountains along a south-west fringe and irrigated plains between the Vaklash and and Othlivash rivers.

East of Ingarroi was the largest continent, Oaniru. Its interior had been turned almost completely into desert, with drifting sands and blasted dune seas. The western half was home to Kaylar descendants of former Imperial Guard slave-soldiers, who ruled a network of coastal enclaves and deeply-irrigated oases.

The Kotay archipelago lay further east, and its forested islands ran south into the large island of Zalaril. Independent Orion lords built near-modern states on some of these islands, while the Republic of Zalaril had a less-advanced but functioning mercantile economy, bolstered by higher technology imports.

At the south pole lay the continent of Evanaroi, the size of the Asia, covered with eroded badlands and glaciers at the pole itself.

Culture
It holds decadent Orion kingdoms, the largest of which is Thakolarivaj, known simply as the Vaj, or 'Empire'. There are also dangerous tribes, ancient ruins, and concealed shipyards for piracy and smuggling. 

History
Rigel VII is claimed as the Orion homeworld, but it cannot have existed long enough for them to have evolved there. 

The collapse of the global computer network by Rao Vantika was suspected to be the handiwork of the Orion Syndicate, or even the Emperor, to increase suspicion of the Federation and reinforce the grip of traditional authorities over the population.