Eileandu

**Eileandu** is the third planet in the Sorados Epsilon System. This is the former home planet of Leslie Kennedy, and as such is the most prominent planet in the Sorados Cluster. Sadly, it was also one of the prime battlefields in the
Sorados Civil War, and much of the planet is a barren shell of its former self
as a consequence.

## Physical Description

The general appearance of Eileandu resembles parts of
Central Scotland and the Highlands. Weather on the planet is characterized by
long sunny spells, frequently broken up by torrential rain, or snowstorms in
the winter. The climate is temperate at best, but tends to reach into the
extremes often; blazing heat in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. Thus
it is advisable to bring proper clothing when visiting the planet.

Eileandu has one major continent, which has a T-shape
when depicted on a map. This continent is dominated by mountains in the north,
grassy plains in the south, and forests all around. There are also several
clusters of islands to the south east of the continent, and one large island in
the southern ocean.

Most of the planet's primary settlements are concentrated
in a large area surrounding the Twin Rivers Region. Eileandu's capital city,
South Haven, lies on the south bank of the Desair Abain (*South River*). There are three other *Haven* cities in the area: North Haven lies on the north bank of the
Tuaid Abain (*North River*); West Haven
straddles this same river a few miles further west; East Haven-the smallest-lies
on the northeast coast of the Twin Rivers landmass.

Other major settlements include the conurbation of
Diamond Hill (made up of several coal mining towns), the railway town of
Balmalquhar, and the dormitory town of Glasmuir. This latter settlement is the
best known on Eileandu, due to it being the former home of Leslie Kennedy.

Eileandu has one single moon, which remains uninhabited,
in spite of terraforming into an ocean moon. Because its surface is almost
entirely covered in water, this moon appears blue in the Eileandu sky.

## History

Eileandu was one of the
later planets in the series to be colonized. It was discovered, along with the
rest of the Sorados Cluster, in the mid 2550s by a group of Scottish colonists.
They settled in the area which would eventually become known as the *Twin Rivers Region*. Naming the planet *Eileandu* (derived from a Gaelic term
meaning *black island*), the settlers
quickly got to work integrating it into the existing society built up
throughout the rest of the developing Sorados Cluster.

After several decades, Eileandu had grown into a
bountiful society, contributing to the Cluster through its many exports, such
as coal and timber. When the newly-formed Stellar Federation started making
noises about taking over the Sorados Cluster in the early 27th Century,
Eileandu was among the many planets who stood firm, and pushed to make the
Cluster an independent concern.

It was a similar story when the Independent Coalition of Stars was formed a century later. The people of the Sorados Cluster had always
been resistant to outside interference, even if it stood by the same ideals as
them. After a minor administrative war with the White Moon Cluster, home to the
Coalition's capital worlds, a compromise was reached in which the Sorados
planets, Eileandu included, were made neutral to either faction.

For the next few centuries, Eileandu would often be
considered to be rather behind the times compared to the rest of the Galaxy.
This was a deliberate mindset by the population, who preferred long established
ideas rather than anything new or innovative.

The most obvious manifestation of this backwardness would
have to be in the planet's rather aged railway network, which was still relying
mainly on steam power even after virtually everywhere else was dabbling with
diesel and electric power. This ended up actually being a stroke of genius by
the Eileandu government, for reasons which will become obvious later on.

During the infamous Galactic Wars of the 30th Century,
Eileandu was able to largely stay out of the conflict, being a neutral planet.
However, by the time the Third Galactic War rolled around in the early 2980s,
this neutrality would become the planet's downfall, and to explain this, a
little background is necessary.

As previously stated, the Sorados Cluster was a neutral
faction, not being affiliated with either the Stellar Federation or the
Independent Coalition. However, there had always been people of the opinion
that to gain the best protection from enemy invasion, the Cluster should align
itself with either of the two factions. When the Third Galactic War broke out
in 2983, it fired the arguments up again, as people debated over who to side
with, and who to fight against.

Ironically, as the internal debates raged on, the Cluster
ended up being able to stay out of the main conflict altogether. Six years went
by, until in 2989, when each side decided that enough was enough, and that the
other side would have to be taken down, and *quick*.

Thus began the Sorados Civil War, which raged on
concurrently with the Galactic War for the first two years of fighting.
However, even when that conflict had ended in 2991, the people of Sorados kept
on fighting, and Eileandu was no exception. Social order rapidly degraded; the
law of the land was quickly tossed aside, as the population degenerated into
murderous savages; it was a case of either *survival*
of the fittest*, or no survival at all.*

And all that was before the Stellar Federation finally
became sick of all the infighting, and stepped in to try and end the War in
2997. They launched an invasion of the Cluster, attacking system by system,
planet by planet. They attacked fighters from both sides of the conflict,
conscripting the Federation-aligned into their own forces, and executing the
Coalition-aligned. When they eventually reached Eileandu, all hell broke loose.

After trying their usual suppression tactics, the
Federation then sent troops down to capture and kill the fighters directly,
whichever side they were on. Many famous stories have been told of what went on
during this time, but the most famous has to be that of when they found the
squadron that Leslie Kennedy was part of. For reasons of clarity and
sensitivity, the exact details won't be shown here, but to put it simply,
Leslie ended up being one of the only survivors.

During the Federation's initial onslaught, they had
attacked the planet with nuclear weapons, destroying much of the planet's
infrastructure, and causing the remaining population to degrade even further
into savages. It also highlighted the reason the government had opted to stick
with steam power all those years ago: the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear
explosion fries the circuitry of electrical items, including diesel-electric
motors, and renders them inoperable. Steam powered machines, like the
locomotives, don't have this problem, and can carry on in more or less the same capacity
after an attack.

Eileandu went quiet for the next decade or so, becoming a
deadly silent wasteland. The only activities were the actions of what few
people were left, and the odd battle or two between them. The Federation made a
few more appearances in this time (during one of which Leslie finally left the
planet), but they eventually decided for the most part that Eileandu wasn't of
great strategic importance to them.

Someone else who once returned to Eileandu was Leslie
Kennedy, when she paid a visit in November 3009 to pay her last respects to her
late mother Argyll. During that short time period, Leslie ended up reuniting
unexpectedly with her younger brother Oliver, who then helped fight back when
some Federation troops chose to drop in that same day.

The events of that day highlighted the need for a unified
defence on the planet, in case the Federation should try to re-establish their
presence on Eileandu. To that end, Leslie's superior, the well known *Jaws* MacTaggart, has been looking into
the possibility of establishing an outpost of the Galactic Liberation Front on
the planet, based out of Leslie's old home town of Glasmuir, with Oliver as the
head of command.

Eileandu is quiet now, but even as this information is
being written down, amazing and important events are on the verge of
occurrence...