Quire is a terrestrial planet located in the Twilight Mirage's region of the Milky Way. Over the past 800 years, it has been settled by exiles and defectors from the Divine Fleet, who have formed various societies planetside. The crew of Myriad has been sent to scout and prepare the planet for possible future settling by the people of Séance (who, under the maxim "Steal no one's perch," do not normally colonize planets) via the potential loophole of bringing Quire's inhabitants back into the fold.
Characteristics
“
I watched them find a new home. Or what looked like one, anyway. A world of singing storms and howling seas, deserts and mountains, lakes and forests and swamps and ice, a planet with as much diversity as the citizens of the fleet.”
Able to support life and with a broad range of biomes, Quire is highly suitable for colonization. It is slightly smaller than Earth and has five moons.
History
Dusted Age
40233 years before the Quire colonization mission, the native population enters an early space age.[1] At this time, Quire, a planet and a being in its own right, is worshiped as a deity, whose symbol is a stylized image of the planet as viewed from space. The people struggle against the planet--what they would come to call Qui err vi na-em, or "the Soil without Memory"--which can just as easily kill people as save them.
At this time, Quire had two moons.[2]
Glassed Age
26622 years before the Quire colonization mission, an Apostolosian smuggling vessel, the Holiday Gambit, crashes on Quire. Its unknown cargo (per the final log of Captain Cyron of the Holiday Gambit, almost certainly the Gnosis Virus featured in Counter-Weight)[3] is the likely cause of Quire's "Glassed Age," a period of great stability and growth. At this time, the Rapid Evening builds (inactive) observation infrastructure on or around the planet.[1]
Records from this time period are difficult to interpret. Leaf Cart-horn believes this is because technology, nature and humanity had blended together. The planet was then called Qui err vi qi-em, "the Soil with Memory." By the end of this age, the planet reaches a population of billions.
Sometime during this age, Quire acquires two additional satellites, bringing its total to four moons.[2]
Blooded Age
11112 years before the Quire colonization mission, an unforeseen solar flare[4] shifts Independence off the trajectory which the Rapid Evening predicted would have taken it to the nearby Benthos system. Their attempt at intercession fails.[1] The Divine crashes on Quire along with the few hundred people on board.
This age is marked by enormous strife.
During this age, an unknown force causes the southern half of the planet to become ocean.[2] This age was also the period during which Quire's fifth moon, Volition, was created.[5]
Modern Age
About 800 years before the Quire colonization mission, settlers flee Memorious and land on the planet, hoping to start an artists' colony. Their efforts fail, and they remain a scattered group of artists until the rediscovery of silica-vitrus enables, through an artistic and technological revolution, the formation of the Crown of Glass.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Twilight Mirage 16: An Approximation of a Connection, cold open.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Twilight Mirage 15: A Life and A History, 0:50:05.
- ↑ Twilight Mirage 22: godspeed, glory Pt. 1 2:00:00
- ↑ Twilight Mirage 21: One's Own Right, 0:37:00.
- ↑ Twilight Mirage 21: One's Own Right, 1:06:30.
- ↑ Twilight Mirage 14: The Value of Distance, 1:02:00.