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Orbital Blender

Masaq' orbital

Masaq' was a Culture Orbital in the Masaq' star system, orbiting the star Lacelere.[1]

Characteristics[]

Masaq' was a Full Orbital, meaning it had contiguous Plates around its entire length forming a complete loop of almost 10 million kilometres. It therefore had a diameter of approximately 3 million kilometres. Its width was about 6 thousand kilometres and its containing walls were about 1 thousand kilometres high.[1]

At the time of the Remembrance of the Twin Novae Battle, c. 2167 CE, only eight of Masaq's several dozen Plates were uninhabited due to their landscapes still being terraformed, despite the Orbital being several thousand years old.[2] On these unfinished Plates, the Great River flowed through a series of seventy-five-thousand-kilometre-long transparent tunnels made of base material which overlooked the gradually forming landscapes.[3][2]

The Plates were separated by the Bulkhead Ranges, vast trans-atmospheric mountain ranges that stretched from one retaining wall to the other.[4]

Masaq' Great River was an unbroken loop of water that spanned the entire circumference of the Orbital. The Great River was fed by and fed into major water systems on every continent of every completed plate on the Orbital.[3]

Masaq' was known for the high rate of mind-state back-ups amongst its inhabitants, ostensibly due to the local popularity of dangerous sports, such as lava rafting[2] and wing-flying[4], but in truth due to the dangerous volatility of the star Lacelere, which had the potential to flare violently and kill people on the surface.[1]

Hub Mind[]

The Mind that was the Orbital Hub during the events leading up to the Remembrance of the Twin Novae Battle and the following attack on Masaq' Orbital was formerly a warship by the name of Lasting Damage, a General Systems Vehicle who fought in the Idiran-Culture War.[5]

The Lasting Damage suffered a number of traumatic experiences during the war, including its own death and having to destroy three Culture Orbitals, a result of which was the death of several thousand humans. Consequently, the Hub felt an overwhelming debt of responsibility to the human inhabitants of Masaq' and vowed to protect them with its own life.[5]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Look to Windward, 12: A Defeat of Echoes
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Look to Windward, 5: A Very Attractive System
  3. 3.0 3.1 Look to Windward, 7: Peer Group
  4. 4.0 4.1 Look to Windward, 3: Infra Dawn
  5. 5.0 5.1 Look to Windward, 13: Some Ways of Dying
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