Summary

The 2nd planet of the Dango star system, which has only four planets in total, is one of the planets within the Junkstorm. It is run by a military government that defies stereotypes.

The planet was lifeless when it was discovered, only its atmosphere being well-suited to a colony and after just a decade of terraforming, perfect for humans and other Earth life. Today it is a desert with a network of oasis-like cities.

History

One of the earliest planets in the Junkstorm to be colonized, Dangorod has a colorful history. Just two decades after the first settlers touched down, political differences over the handling of natural resources lead to a splintering of the settlers into three factions, and two years later an accord for peaceful co-existence was reached where all three factions would set out to start new colonies elsewhere on the planet, with the original settlement left as a neutral ground and for those who identified with neither faction.

At first, the new colonies flourished and expanded rapidly, with more settlers pouring in to the planet constantly. As is often the case, the newcomers were, once integrated, more extreme and radical in each factions’ political views than the original founders, and tension between the factions soon escalated into a trade war.

It was this conflict that finally boosted the neutral settlement into importance, which had for the past two decades lingered on as a neglected outpost barely sustaining itself and more and more inhabited by those who had been pushed to the edges of society - criminals, misfits, the unconventional. Its political decision making process had degenerated into a kind of structured anarchy, with few laws beyond the prohibition of causing physical harm.

On this backdrop, trade between the now hostile factions moved to the neutrals, who rebranded their settlement as „Dang Central“, commonly called just „Dang-Ce“. With import and export fees to the other factions spiraling higher and higher, trading through Dang-Ce soon became the cheapest option, even with the tariffs there and additional transportation costs. As a result, it grew into a prosperous city.

This unusual arrangement held stable for almost fifty years. Then, a violent hurricane of unprecedented strength demolished much of the western faction’s territory and settlements. This caused the entire system to come crashing down in a domino effect of broken trade lines, unmet demand and cascading dependencies.

With its major income source rapidly crumbling, Dang-Ce was torn between restoring the balance by investing its accumulated wealth into aid for the devastated faction, or asserting its dominance through military might.

Surprisingly, the anarchists chose aid. Soon, convoys of building material, food and water, necessities and more moved westward. Dang-Ce turned to the stars to feed this demand, and for several years Dangorod became the largest importer of everyday goods in the Junkstorm, by a wide margin.

It was the other two factions who saw the rebuilding of their western counterpart as a looming threat, fearing it would emerge stronger than ever before. Soon, rumors were circulating that the west was rebuilding not just its infrastructure, but abusing the aid coming in to expand its military.

The conflict on Dangorod had never been fought with weapons, so each side had only a minimal military branch, just in case. Now, however, Dangorod entered an arms race. Within a year, it had also become the largest importer of military hardware.

Two years later, war broke out. The eastern faction had recently reformed under a military government and had built up its army more than anyone else. Its ally in the south had invested into espionage, elite forces and commando troops and a small space force. Together, they crushed the still rebuilding western faction - which as it turned out had not at all been expanding its military, at least not until the arms race had been in full swing. The winners decided to follow up with a siege of Dang-Ce to assert their dominance over the entire planet.

This last move did not work out as expected. Dang-Ce still had financial reserves and spent them on mercenaries. Soon, a rag-tag fleet of mercenary ships appeared above Dangorod and quickly turned the small southern space force into orbital debris, then bombarded the two capitals from above.

The eastern province moved to counter the threat and invaded Dang-Ce. A stand-off followed, each side threatening the other’s capital center. While the diplomats were negotiating, the clock was ticking on Dang-Ce. Each day cost the city a fortune in payment to the mercenaries it had hired. The stand-off was complicated by the fact that Dang-Ce did not really have a government. Each offer the diplomats secured had to be discussed with dozens of groups and important individuals.

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In the end, it was a wealthy trader from the city who broke the stalemate. He had personally paid for two mercenary ships and now ordered them to open fire on the capital of the East below. Within an hour, other ships had joined in the bombardment and in response the eastern army marched into Dang-Ce.

In a surprise move, it was the south that ended the first Dangorod war. Its spies had infiltrated not just the west but also the east. On the brink of all-out war, they assassinated the leaders of both sides and offered Dang-Ce their own cease-fire deal. Two days later, corrupted leaders within the eastern military ordered their troops out of Dang-Ce and the east was forced into a peace deal.

However, in a twist of irony, the influential people in Dang-Ce understood that it was by a thread that they had prevailed. And some of them now had military power available to them. Two years later, in an unusual coup not against the government but against the people, Dang-Ce itself became a military republic - a small elite that among themselves had democratic structures, but ruled the city through military might.

Now powered by the ambition of few, Dang-Ce soon began to assert its power over the other factions. Towards the west, aid turned into a tool for control, and towards the east the peace-deal was turned first into a defeat and then into leverage. Only the south remained entirely independent for another decade.

The last chapter of Dangorod’s history is more simple. An increasingly powerful Dang-Ce and its elite made several attempts to gain control of the south, but they were all thwarted by their opponents better intelligence and ability to sabotage. Once again, Dang-Ce turned towards copying its enemy and began building up a formidable intelligence service. Unsurprisingly, it soon became a second playground for the power games between the members of the ruling elite. As a result, the intelligence service was set up to be an entirely independent branch of the government, not as is more commonly the case a section of the military.

Today, the south still maintains its independence, but on the larger scale has become unimportant. To the outside, Dangorod is ruled from Dang-Ce and many outsiders have bought into the military government’s propaganda that the south is a rebellious province rather than an independent state.

Both sides wage a low-intensity intelligence war against each other, with sabotage and espionage, but without military engagements.

Earth-Like Fauna and Flora

When Dangorod was first colonized, it had no native life. Therefore, all of the plants and animals on the planet today are from Earth or other Earth-like planets, giving Dangorod one of the closest resemblances to old Earth among the stars. That is, as long as one remains within city boundaries.

As it had no previous life, there is no soil on Dangorod that plants from Earth can use. In and around the cities, artificial soil has been created in large quantities. It is enough to give them the occasional park and create a small amount of agriculture. The main crops grown are not just for food but also those that improve the soil and create more biomass.

Animals from Earth or Earth-like planets have been continuously brought into Dangorod over the past decades, first in small amounts and recently in larger numbers. Most of these animals are insects and small reptiles and mammals. A small number of larger animals live in wildlife sanctuaries and zoos.

Twilight Moon

Dangorod has two moons, one being unremarkable, the other one being tidally locked with a very small axial tilt. As a consequence, a region of the planet called colloquially the Twilight Zone, is constantly in the shadow of the Twilight Moon. The exact size and position of the Twilight Zone changes over time, so no spot on Dangorod is always in shadows, but the area over which it oscillates is small.

By chance or long-forgotten intent, the Twilight Zone is almost exactly opposite of Dang-Ce.

North Hole

It has a different official name, but almost nobody on Dangorod remembers it. The North Hole is a large basin almost exactly at the geographic North Pole of the planet. Surrounded by arctic highlands, the North Hole is dotted by geysers and warm pools of water, and many have speculated that it would make an ideal location for another city, with the ground rich in minerals and snow-free most of the year despite its location.

A scientific expedition to the North Hole almost a decade ago found inconclusive evidence of primitive life. The samples collected may have been contaminated or the evidence may be the result of non-organic processes, but the discovery has caused enough of an uproar to halt any colonization plans for the North Hole, and further studies are underway.