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Edelsteen Redux

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Behold! I have finally created a true spacescape! One that meets my absurdly high standards for my own work! Please, please, do check it out in full size (click download).

Some time ago I submitted a deviation that was just a planet, Edelsteen I called it. I have taken that down, as I have put it in this work here. Now, if you care to read it, I shall recount the story of the planet Edelsteen. If you wish to skip the story, go right ahead; but all you'll find at the bottom is credits and stats.

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It was settled mainly by Afrikaans speaking humans from South Africa around the year 3445. It already had flora and fauna of its own, the plants very similar to Earth plants (probably due to very similar conditions to Earth in terms of water content and exposure to light). It was found to have no true sapient lifeforms, though there was a highly intelligent species capable of making and using fire and tools, though they were officially labeled (after many, many Earth years of study) "proto-sapient." On top of that their numbers had rapidly declined during the course of the study, and it was judged that their species would soon be extinct. With no native sophont to claim the planet, the go-ahead was given for colonization.

Edelsteen was originally called Mandela, though its name changed soon after an enormous deposit of precious gems was discovered in mines close to the first human city (which was originally called "Nuwe Hoop Stad" or "New Hope City" but is now called Mandela). The word Edelsteen is Afrikaans for "gem," though whether it refers to the planet being a gem or being filled with gems is still unknown by everyone, including the populace.

The gems fueled the economy and Edelsteen began to grow in wealth, which it used to expand farming programs to increase its population, which was at that time unable to grow due to lack of food. Edelstite farms expanded into the areas outside the colony, into what had traditionally been accepted as the "dying zone," the territory where the proto-sapients lived. But as the farms expanded, a strange things happend; the proto-sapients learned agriculture by studying the humans. The mechanized farming was puzzling to them, but they were just smart enough to realize that if the humans could plant their own food like that, so could they.

Soon native Edelstites began settling into agricultural communities and growing in numbers, which caused a great many problems for the human Edestites. They were now in violation of interplanetary colonization laws, and the Bureau of Colonial Affairs put a halt to all trade, immigration, and expansion of human settlements and infrastructure on Edelsteen. Such an event had never transpired in the history of colonization; never before had humans accidentally created a civilization, so there was no protocol. It was eventually decided that contact should be made with them, and an explanation given to the natives.

The natives took the explanation surprisingly well, stating that they had already seen "sky people" before, not too long before the humans had arrived. It had been those sky people who had taught them how to use fire and make more complex stone tools, though apparently those sky people had become trapped on the planet and died, destroying their great vessel along with their bodies in a "great fire like the sun" (later investigations of the area showed signs of the detonation of nuclear weapons, though whatever detonated them took great precaution in dispersing radiation scrubbing micromachines beforehand, thus ensuring no major damage to the environment).

Today the humans and natives live together on the planet, though it has been divided into separate human and native nations and cities (that's not to say that the two races remain totally separate, there are many humans living in native cities to learn more about them and guide their development while many natives live in human cities to learn more about science and technology to take back to their own people). And the gems? Well, they're seemingly endless, and the economy of Edelsteen has become dependent upon them. Whether they can adapt in time to avoid a total economic collapse when the mines run dry remains to be seen.

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A big thanks to :iconkribabe:, :iconskwonk-stock:, and :iconmiq-panda: for their stock, which I used to make the nebula. The spaceship I made long ago, by editing a picture of a honing tool (used for, well, honing the cylinders of engines or something, I've only used one briefly once).

Adobe Photoshop CS2
3000 x 1500 px
300 dpi
~4 hours
Image size
3000x1500px 2.95 MB
Comments4
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Very dreamy and awe inspiring. Thanks for using our stock.