Lusitania

**Lusitania** was a colony planet of the Hundred Worlds and the homeworld of the Pequeninos.

## Description

Because of the Descolada, there was not very much biodiversity on Lusitania. All of the native animals and plants depended on the Descolada virus for survival.

Consequentially, the planet's terrain consisted of only forests and grasslands with a few species in each.

## History

### Arrival of the Descolada

Thousands of years before humans colonized the planet, the Descolada virus arrived on the planet after traveling through the vacuum of space. The virus devastated the ecosystem of Lusitania, but resulted in a few species surviving as interconnected pairs.

#### Colonization

Lusitania was discovered by a robotic probe in 3010 AX. Starways Congress gave the citizens of Baía, the nearest world with population pressure, a colonization license, and a starship full of colonists left on a 56-year journey.

Upon their arrival at the planet in the year 3066 AX, they named the planet Lusitania and soon discovered the indigenous race of Pequeninos. However, a deadly disease was also present on the planet, the Descolada. Before a partial cure was invented, a large portion of the colonists had died off, including the parents of Novinha.

##### Speaker for the Dead

In 3150 AX, the Speaker for the Dead Andrew Wiggin arrived on the planet, bringing the Formic Hive Queen with him.

After a series of events, the planet rebelled from Starways Congress and became independent. Congress sent a fleet armed with the Molecular Disruption Device to destroy the planet in order to punish the residents and destroy the Descolada, which would be a multi-species xenocide, as the Formics were also tied to the planet. Soon after, the Formics began a civilization on the world

###### Second Xenocide

When Jane developed the ability to travel faster than light, the Lusitanians began a massive effort to colonize other planetswith themselves, the Pequeninos, and the Formics to prevent another Xenocide when the fleet reached them. More than half the population of Lusos left the planet in the largest colonial effort since the Dispersal Project. The Lusitanians colonized several planets that were 1/3 human, 1/3 Pequenino, and 1/3 Formic.

When the Fleet arrived, Peter Wiggin II and Si Wang-mu went to stop the fleet carrying the Molecular Disruption Device. They were teleported on the flagship and ultimately stopped the fleet. After that, Lusitania was safe.

## Locations

###### As Fabricas

*As Fábricas* was a borough on Lusitania that consisted mostly of small factories that worked the metals and plastics and processed the foods and fibers that Milagre used.
###### Formic City

In 3150 AX, the Formic civilization began again on Lusitania. The Hive Queen ordered the construction of a large city that was built from [[1]] AX, but it had no architecture or appeal to aesthetics. It was mainly built out of concrete and had a large underground section.
###### Bird Meadow

When the Keas, Ravens, and Yachachiyruna from Nest were detoured to Lusitania, they were sorted in a meadow and then sent to different Lusitanian Colonies. The meadow where they gathered later became known as the Bird Meadow.
## Native Life

After reading her daughter Ela's research, Novinha realized that all lifeforms on Lusitania were forced to adapt when the Descolada was introduced. Many of these adaptations involved reproduction. After the Descolada's introduction, the planet was left with minimal biodiversity and species that were extremely interconnected and existed in pairs. Examples of these pairs include the cabra and the capim, the watersnakes and the grama, the suckflies and the reeds, and the xingadora bird and the tropeço vines.

#### Cabra

The *Cabra* (Portuguese - goat) were large beasts that grazed in herds on the prairies of Lusitania. They were transformed by the Descolada to die and turn into the grass that they ate, which became the males of the herds. The younger female Cabras reproduced young by grazing on the male cabra.
###### Capim

*Capim* was the species of grass on Lusitania. They were very sharp, and contained a anesthetic that was effective for the Pequeninos to numb their pain during the "Planting" procedure.

###### Grama

*Grama* was the species of rivergrass on Lusitania. It was known to be soft and harmless, and was known to benefit greatly from the slime left behind by the watersnakes. It was later discovered that the grama mated with the watersnakes, and this explained the six weeks in which when the riverbank was slimy and had a foul odor, which would result in both the next generation of grama and watersnakes.

###### Amaranth

*Amaranth* was a species of grain that was introduced by the human settlers of Lusitania. The sharing of this particular crop with the Pequeninos violated the rigid laws preventing interspecies technology transfer. Amaranth was the only crop that had any success adapting to Lusitania's environment and remaining edible and useful. Amaranth remained the only crop to prosper until the introduction of the Recolada anti-virus.

## LusitaniaIn citizens

Pequeninos

Formics