The Vorkosigan Companion (28 page)

After a number of bloody insurrections, including everything from quick and dirty wars over the distribution of the horse manure from the Imperial Stable to the rebellion of counts against the insane Emperor Yuri Vorbarra, private armies have been abolished on Barrayar. All military service is through the Imperium, with the single exception of the counts' armsmen. Each count is allowed to maintain a private, oath-sworn force of twenty loyal men for personal protection.

The Barrayaran planetary day is 26.7 hours long, and Barrayaran ships keep Imperial, rather than Old Earth, time cycles. The planet has two moons, a temperate climate with four distinct seasons (as on Earth, winter, spring, summer, and fall), and a topography that is very Earth-like, including large oceans. There are two main continents and a number of islands. The North Continent was settled by the original colonists, and is the main population center of the planet, although the South Continent, which is the personal property of the Emperor, has been opened to settlement for some years and is expanding in population quickly.

Barrayar's mythology is varied. Military and cultural heroes from the planet's recent and distant past are celebrated, along with a number of carryovers from Old Earth culture, including Russian fairy tales and Greek mythology. The main holidays celebrated on Barrayar are the Emperor's Birthday, Midsummer Review, and Winterfair, where the coming of Father Frost is eagerly awaited by all Barrayaran children. The planet's society is still very much a male hierarchy, with inheritance laws based on primogeniture, and the military and Imperial Security academies are still closed to women. The Army and its domestic arm, Imperial Security, or ImpSec, are still all-male organizations. Women are making strides toward more rights, but they have a very large amount of ground to cover before true equality is achieved. Currently their power base is gained through manipulating the men around them, for better or worse. But with increasing levels of education and pressures from other galactic civilizations, great change is inevitable in the long term.

Komarr is a planet with a single main reason for its settlement, namely a rich supply of wormhole jumppoints in its immediate vicinity. By charging a hefty tariff on all goods passed through those jump points, the various merchant families who formed the ruling oligarchy on Komarr amassed both riches and power. The planet is essentially a galactic parasite, surviving and thriving on the taxes placed on interstellar trade. The planet may have economic riches, but it is an inhospitable place. Human habitation is possible only in domed cities. An array of solar mirrors to increase the natural light sources and a planet-wide terraforming project are scheduled to make Komarr habitable by humans outside the domes in the very long term, but all current expeditions outside are only possible with the use of some form of serious breathing apparatus.

The Komarrans grew up as an independent colony, but when they gave access to Cetaganda for an invasion of Barrayar, they sealed their fate to become part of the Imperium. Under the leadership of Aral Vorkosigan, Barrayar invaded and conquered Komarr. Given its lack of habitable land for any resistance to retreat to, and its vulnerability to attacks that might shatter the domes, the conquest of Komarr was quick, though not as bloodless as Vorkosigan had envisioned when setting up the invasion. During the war, two hundred members of the planet's ruling families, gathered under a flag of truce to negotiate the surrender, were killed by a political officer acting without orders from above. Despite murdering the responsible officer with his bare hands, Vorkosigan was never able to convince the Komarrans that the political officer's action wasn't planned, leaving some segments of the planet ripe for seeking revenge against Barrayar. Vorkosigan became known throughout the galaxy as "the Butcher of Komarr." But galactic aid was not forthcoming to the Komarrans from neighboring states, because Barrayar immediately reduced the tariff on interstellar goods passing through Komarr from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent. This made galactics favor keeping Komarr in Barrayaran hands.

Currently the planet seems to be adapting well to Barrayaran rule. The Imperium is fast-tracking suitable Komarrans into positions of power, and Emperor Gregor Vorbarra recently married a Komarran, Laisa Toscane. As a wedding gift to the planet, he arranged for a much-expanded solar mirror array, speeding up the terraforming project by several orders of magnitude.

Barrayar discovered a wormhole jump that led to the planet Sergyar, and claimed the planet as its own. Named for Emperor Ezar's son, Crown Prince Serg, the planet is earthlike and beautiful, and since it had no native species possessing higher intelligence, it was ideal for opening up to human settlement. But Barrayar's main reason for settling Sergyar in the beginning was to use it as a staging point for an invasion of Escobar. The invasion failed miserably, in part because of aid to Escobar from Beta Colony, and Prince Serg and a number of high-ranking Barrayaran military officers died in that attempt. After a peace treaty with Escobar was worked out, the planet was retasked to more peaceful purposes, and is currently a rapidly expanding human settlement. Government of the colony is handled by an Imperially appointed viceroy. Early difficulties that impeded settlement, including a terrible worm plague that hideously bloated its victims, have been overcome, and the colony is on track to become a vibrant and valuable member of the Imperium.

Other Political Entities in the Wormhole Nexus
(In rough order of importance to the Vorkosigan universe)

The Cetagandan Empire consists of eight developed worlds and a number of allied and puppet dependencies, many of them forcibly acquired. Cetaganda is ruled by a genetically engineered emperor, and the Imperial government consists of a two-tiered aristocracy. At the head of the Imperial power structure is the haut
class and at the head of the haut
class is the emperor—currently Emperor Fletchir Gaija. The Emperor serves as the only point of meeting between the affairs of the haut
and the affairs of the second tier of the aristocracy—the ghem.

The haut consider themselves to be a post-human breed, the result of several centuries of genetic engineering that they have carried out upon their population. They have a vaguely attenuated elf-like look, and their physical beauty is revered throughout the galaxy. Haut women are so beautiful, in fact, that they are rarely seen in public, traveling in float chairs surrounded by opaque force screens as they move through the landscape, and exiting their protective chairs only in safe and restricted confines familiar to them. The sight of a haut
woman
has been known to induce instantaneous emotional slavery in typical human men.

The haut do not believe that their genetic experimentation has reached its apex yet. The work of improving the genome is undertaken by the Star Crèche—which is run by the haut consorts of the various planetary governors and headed by the emperor's mother or the mother of his heir. Each year, the result of their genetic work is sent out to the Cetagandan worlds in the form of a shipment of developing haut embryos in uterine replicators. These children-to-be are taken in by their respective genetic constellations when they reach their home planets, where they will be raised and educated to take their place among the planets' ruling elite. The haut
own nothing individually, despite their luxurious lives spent in isolation in the incredibly beautiful enclaves inhabited exclusively by the haut
and their genderless ba
servitors. All property is held in trust by the government, and awarded to the haut
caste based on breeding, merit, status in the haut
hierarchy, and ceremonial needs.

The ba
are asexual genetic siblings to the haut, and are created by haut
geneticists to test out new genetic additions to the haut bloodlines. The ba
are engineered to be servile and loyal, but a few incidents in which they have behaved with startling initiative and ingenuity have raised some questions among the haut as to the degree to which their genetic control has been effective.

The haut control their empire though a secret and reputedly devastating collection of bioengineered weapons. The few examples of haut
genetic weaponry that have been used throughout the galaxy have been so terrifying that it is widely believed that the reputation of haut for maintaining a strong arsenal has been, if anything, underestimated.

The haut
look inward at what they are becoming, while the ghem are the outward face of the Cetagandans. The ghem
women, in imitation of the haut, also
work in genetic engineering, but they concentrate on non-human material. The ghem
men concentrate on politics and conquest, and favor a very aggressive brand of territorial expansion. Their most recent adventures have been universally disastrous for the last century (Barrayar, Vervain, Marilac, etc.). It is widely hoped throughout the galaxy that the Cetagandans are embarking on a newly peaceful period in which they concentrate on improving their own empire, instead of aggressively invading their neighbors.

The ghem are kept under control by the haut through a system of rewards and restraints. Haut women who have fallen from grace are awarded to successful ghem men as trophy wives. Ghem
who achieve great things have their genetic material taken up by the Star Crèche for inclusion into the haut
genome. Ghem
who fail are ruthlessly dealt with, sometimes by difficult and messy "suicides" that can include multiple stab wounds in the back, though more elegant forms of elimination are preferred.

The central world in the Cetagandan Imperium, and the home of the Imperial Gardens, where the planetary government and the Star Crèche are situated.

Located in Sector II.

The nearest Cetagandan world to the Komarran wormhole jump point.

A Cetagandan prison planet, which, while run in exact accordance with galactic treaties, is as fiendish and Darwinian a place as ever conceived by the minds of humans.

Other Civilizations of the Wormhole Nexus

Beta Colony is a technologically advanced planet with superb schools, a very high standard of living, and a very advanced approach to personal liberty, sexual orientation, and lifestyle choices. The planet is essentially a desert, with little surface water other than flat saline lakes, and the vast majority of human habitation located underground. Rebreathers and nose filters are required for humans to survive on the Betan surface, along with personal heat shields during the hotter months. Betan politics are based on a planetary-wide constitutional democracy. Logic and scientific exploration are central to the Betan way of life, just as oaths and honor are central to Barrayarans.

Sexual behavior is wildly free on Beta Colony, but at the price of reproduction being strictly controlled. This is a legacy of the planet's unique colonization by sub-light generation ships. To bear a child on Beta, a couple must undergo extensive training in parenting, apply for a child permit, and arrange for the health and welfare of the offspring in advance of its arrival. The first permit (actually, the first two half-permits) are free; more may be purchased on a secondary market, where the price varies, or are sometimes rewarded for merit. While a woman or herm may still undertake an old-fashioned risky body birth, and some do, most responsible parents choose
in vitro
fertilization with the zygote being carefully examined and treated for any genetic flaws before it is placed in a uterine replicator for its next nine months. Sexual preferences among the three genders (male, female, and hermaphrodite) are indicated by earring designs worn by all sexually active Betans, with a design to accurately indicate adult sexual status and the wearer's preferred variations, with gradations ranging in every stage from "not interested at all" to "involved in an exclusive relationship" to "will screw anything willing to allow it." Contraceptive implants are required by law, and may only be removed temporarily with government approval for reasons involving health or officially sanctioned reproduction.

Among the galactic tourist spots on Beta Colony is the Betan Orb of Unearthly Delights, where every kind of human sexual behavior ever observed is practiced with enthusiasm, and even accompanied by psychological counseling as needed.

Poverty is unknown on Beta Colony, and every citizen is guaranteed access to information, education, health care, and occupation.

Given its conveniently placed wormhole access to other planets, Marilac was a prosperous and advanced world. But it was invaded and conquered by Cetaganda. The planetary resistance was rounded up and sent to the Cetagandan prison planet Dagoola IV, and the conquest seemed complete. But a daring massive prison break arranged by the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet brought all the planet's rebels back into play at once. Eventually Cetaganda withdrew from Marilac, and left it to once again govern itself.

A technologically advanced neighbor of Beta Colony, Escobar was settled by colonists who were, judging by its resulting Latin culture, most probably from Brazil, Spain, and Italy.

Originally founded as an interstellar base by libertine space pirates, Jackson's Whole has since evolved into a planet run by a nongovernmental structure of 116 viciously competing Great Houses, countless Minor Houses, and a desperate population of ordinary citizens trying to stay out of the way of politics—which are generally widely terminal on Jackson's Whole. Only the Deal is sacred on the planet—and Jacksonians are expert dealers. The Great Houses have amassed power through traditional criminal enterprises, including slavery, illegal genetic manipulation of living organisms, clone slavery—including implantation of human brains into unwilling clone body donors—weapons dealing, and so on. Scientific research facilities, even if criminal, are top-notch, and do a large trade in galactic one-off contracts for poisons, assassinations, drugs, bioweapons, and other lucrative industries. Anything in the galaxy can be bought, traded for, or stolen on Jackson's Whole.