New Chicago

New Chicago:  Inhabited world, Trans-Coalsack Sector, approximately 20 parsecs from Sector Capital.  The primary is an F9 yellow star commonly referred to as Beta Hortensis.

The atmosphere is very nearly Earth-normal and breathable without aids or filters.  Gravity is 1.08 standard.  The planetary radius is 1.05, and mass is 1.21 Earth-standard, indicating a planet of greater than normal density.  New Chicago is inclined at 41 degrees with a semi-major axis of 1.06 AU, moderately eccentric.  The resulting variations in seasonal temperatures have confined the inhabited areas to a relatively narrow band in the south temperate zone.

There is one moon at normal distance, commonly called Evanston.  The origin of the name is obscure.

New Chicago is 70 percent seas.  Land area is mostly mountainous with continuing volcanic activity.  The extensive metal industries of the First Empire period were nearly all destroyed in the Secession Wars; reconstruction of an industrial base has proceded satisfactorily since New Chicago was admitted to the Second Empire in A.D. 2940.

Most inhabitants reside in a single city which bears the same name as the planet.  Other population centers are widely scattered, with none having a population over 45,000.  Total planet population was reported as 6.7 million in the census of 2990.  There are iron mining and smelting towns in the mountains, and extensive agricultural settlements.  The planet is self-sufficient in foodstuffs.

New Chicago possesses a growing merchant fleet, and is located at a convenient point to serve as a center of Trans-Coalsack interstellar trade.  It is governed by a governor-general and a council appointed by the viceroy of Trans-Coalsack Sector, there is an elected assembly, and two delegates have been admitted to the Imperial Parliament.

From The Mote in God's Eye, by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven (Pocket, 1974).

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