Siencia

**Siencia** is a Class M moon, the largest satellite of Khiori I, a planet in the binary Dubo system, and the name of the Federation colony located there. It is not far from the Federation/Cardassian border. (*Siencia Colony*)

## History

Siencia was first charted during a routine Federation survey, circa 2230, which also discovered large deposits of latinum on the moon. The presence of the ore was noted in a geological survey that was sealed to prevent a "gold rush."

Once the Federation Council opened the planet up for colonization, two interested "factions" emerged: the first, scientists who wished to use Siencia as a base to study the binary system; and the second, naturalists seeking to preserve the moon's wilderness. In the end, the naturalists won out, founded the first settlement around 2245.

Eventually the colonists segregated into three groups:

* Spiritualists: A group who founded the Church of Energies on Siencia, believing that the Dubo system's binary star pair created a natural flow of energies, spiritual in nature. They were led by an individual known as the Pari, a holy man who was said to be able to "converse" with the "energies" and assess the health and best course for Siencia and its people.
* Explorationists: A group interested in the eventual development of Siencia, seeking to gain technological assistance from the Federation, while remaining autonomous. The explorationists supported separation from the Federation.
* Centrists: The centrists (as the name implies) were interested in preserving Siencia but not at the cost of its colonists and their betterment. Centrists made up the majority of the colonists and were instrumental in setting up the first governmental bodies on Siencia.

Upon the realization that there were valuable latinum deposits on Siencia the Centrist government began to attempt to direct profits from mining toward the responsible development of Siencia as a resort location while protecting its ecosystem. This altruistic plan, however, was brought to an end when a particularly violent faction of the Orion Syndicate attempted to invade the settlement and overrun the mines.

The fledgling Siencian Council, called on Starfleet to repel the invading Orions and order was restored to the colony. In the wake of the invasion the centrists signed control of the latinum mines over to the Federation Council, an act which caused some dissatisfaction among the colonists and remained a difficult topic between both Federation supporters and detractors.

Despite the intervention of Starfleet at the behest of the Siencian colonists conditions on Siencia continued to be difficult. A strong and influential criminal element infiltrated colonial society and even the Siencian Governmental Council was not immune to its influence. In April of 2374, the Federation Council turned full management of the latinum mines on Siencia over to the civilian government and since that time the role of Starfleet in local affairs diminished greatly. The garrison was charged with helping the Siencian Council establish itself and assisting the colonists as requested by their government, though relations between the colonists and Starfleet remained volatile.

## Cartography and geography

Siencia orbits Khiori I at a distance of 704,000 kilometers at perigee to 809,600 kilometers at apogee, and has an equatorial circumference of 13,040 kilometers and a mass approximately equivalent to that of Terra. Its atmosphere is an oxygen, nitrogen mix, rich in water vapor, with a climate that ranges from arctic conditions in the polar regions to tropical near the equator. Though Siencia has Earthlike seasonal variation, distance from its primary means that the local year is 730.5 days, and the seasons are generally twice as long as their Terran counterparts.

The moon is dominated by oceans, which account for nearly 2/3 of its surface area. The vast oceans of Siencia are churned by a tidal cycle, which in turn is powered by the gravitational pull of Khiori I as well as the neighboring moon of Miencia. The topography of the landmasses ranges from tropical rainforest to polar tundra. Siencia has an active, volcanic core that causes geologic activity in the form of earthquakes and volcanism. This activity has forced up mountain ranges and created volcanic islands in the Siencian oceans.

Siencia supports a vast diversity of plant, reptilian, avian, and insect life as well as a great diversity of fish and crustaceans, but until colonization, no form of higher mammals. However, fossil evidence suggests that mammalian life did exist on Siencia in the distant past, until some form of massive extinction event.

By the 2370s, 3000 individuals of various races (in addition to a Starfleet contingent) made their home at the Siencia Colony, located in the moon's tropical region.