- For the mirror universe counterpart, see Rigel II (mirror).
Rigel II, also known as Beta Rigel II, Mokalar and sometimes simply "the Rigel Colonies", was the second planet of the Rigel system or the Beta Rigel system, in the Beta Quadrant. (ST reference: Star Charts, Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
It was famed for its resorts, casinos and cabarets. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
It had two small moons, named Dahoj and Vialma. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
- The planets of the Beta Rigel system in Star Charts are inextricably linked to those of the Rigel system. Hence, Beta Rigel II is included here. Only one moon is shown for Beta Rigel II.
Government[]
By the late 24th century, Rigel II remained largely officially independent and neutral. It lacked any kind of government bar the great palace-casinos, which were home to most of the political and economic activity on the world, and had a strong oligopoly over the surrounding settlements. There was little regulation. Civilization there was generally lazy, decadent and hedonistic. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
However, several colonies on Rigel II were members of the United Rigel Colonies and members of the United Federation of Planets. (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation, Star Charts)
- Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation, and Star Charts make Rigel II a Federation member world, contradicting Worlds. This might only refer to the colonies of Federation member races: Humans, vulcanoid Rigelians, or Chelarians.
The world was defended by a small fleet of ships headquartered at Sandapam, though they were mostly Orion privateers. The many heavy warships orbiting the world for R&R also provided an effective deterrent against attack. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
Culture[]
Rigel II was populated by 500 million Orions, 250 million Kaylar, 200 million Rigelians, 40 million Humans, 10 million Chelarians, and 10 million members of assorted other races. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
From c. 2270 to c. 2365, its population, when combined with that of Rigel IV, was over 8 billion. (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation)
The Orions and Rigelians were generally content to reside on their plantations by the coast, where they grew and processed occasional loads of spices, and managed the strong and lucrative tourism industry. The Chelarians meanwhile grew more difficult crops at their steadings in the swamps around the Tondotu Sea, and worked as middle-men between the other two races.
The Kaylar, meanwhile, were unsettled nomads who wandered the jungles and sailed the seas in their catamarans. They formed long trade routes with each other and with the Orion settlements, through which they exchanged fish and plant products for weaponry and luxuries. They worshiped the ruins of ancient Orion civilizations, a practice the Orions allowed and even encouraged to prevent outsiders discovering ancient Orion technology. The savage Kaylar tribes in the interior set traps, including strangler vines and shrapnel-trees, with which they attacked archaeological expeditions to the ruins. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
History[]
The First Orion Empire first settled Rigel II 40,000 years ago. It was unknown if the world was used as an agricultural colony, a governmental retreat, an enormous park or something else entirely, and it was difficult for archaeological expeditions to get through the dense jungles and past the Kaylar tribes to find out. The Kaylar worshiped at the Orion ruins, while the remaining structures were grand palace complexes converted into the most famous casinos on the world.
Kaylar mercenaries and slaves were settled on Rigel II, as well as Rigel IV and Rigel VII. However, once their masters' empires collapsed, they quickly returned to a nomadic lifestyle. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
Together with Rigel IV, Rigel II was settled by Humans from Earth in the late 22nd century (less than 200 years before 2365), founding the first so-called Rigel Colony. (ST references: Star Trek Maps, The Worlds of the Federation)
It joined with other colonies on Rigel IV, Rigel V, Rigel VI, and Rigel X in the United Rigel Colonies, which became a member of the United Federation of Planets in 2202. (ST reference: Star Charts)
Rigel II became a popular R&R spot for Starfleet personnel throughout the 22nd, 23rd and 24th centuries, and was famed for its cabarets. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
Rigel II was struck by the deadly Rigellian plague, which decimated the population of a quarter of the planet. In 2147 SFC (reference stardate 1/4705, c. 2219), Doctor Haras Keolar and other physicians from USS Clara Barton visited Rigel II and used the recently invented medical tricorder to quickly diagnose and develop treatments that would halt and potentially wipe out the disease. (ST reference: Spaceflight Chronology, FASA RPG module: The Federation)
Leonard McCoy with recreations of two dancers from a cabaret chorus line from Rigel II
At some point in his life, Doctor Leonard McCoy met two dancers from a cabaret chorus line on Rigel II. In 2267, the computers of the so-called Shore Leave planet recreated them from his imagination. (TOS episode: "Shore Leave"; TOS novel: Mind Meld)
In the mid-23rd century, the former Orion slave girl Marta was the star attraction and later the manager of the largest casino on the planet, where she seduced, spied for, and sometimes betrayed officers of Starfleet, the Andorian Defense Force and the Klingon Empire. When the ruler of Palmyra II gambled away his fortune at her casino, she married him and seized that planet for herself. (Decipher RPG module: Narrator's Guide)
Circa 2261, a young Orion woman was murdered by the Tellarite criminal Muso. Her sister, Leata, began tracking Muso down, intending to kill him. He was finally arrested in 2264. (ST comic: "Alien Spotlight: Orions")
The pirate Auk-rex once stopped at Rigel II. A survivalist on Sanctuary once tried to sign up with him there, but just missed him after he left. (TOS novel: Sanctuary)
Sometime prior to 2267, a cabaret dancer was found dead in her dressing room after being injected with a large dose of cordrazine by a jealous patron. The patron was later convicted of the murder. (TOS - Crucible novel: The Fire and the Rose)
After 2290, Human entrepreneurs made good use of Rigel II's neutral status and resort facilities to host diplomatic summits and meetings, making it a hub for interstellar affairs. With the diplomats came spies, arms merchants and other war-profiteers. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
By 2365, Rigel II was a major Federation world. Its ambassador to the UFP was Robert Klymyshyn. (ST reference: The Worlds of the Federation)
Places[]
The coastal cities were home to markets, restaurants, resorts, casinos and cabarets. These were all high quality and quite beautiful, with equally impressive natural vistas. They catered to every taste, and it was even possible to rent entire tropical islands, with perfect weather and no predators guaranteed. It was also a popular neutral world for hosting diplomatic summits.
The best and most well-known of Rigel II's casinos were built during the First Orion Empire 40,000 years ago, originally as grand palace-complexes. They were powered by a subspace energy tap of Rigel A that was beyond the latest Federation technology, granting the facilities essentially free energy supplies
The largest city and palace-casino complex on Rigel II was Sandapam, which had a population of approximately 2 million, and an average 2 million more in tourists, travelers, and others. Anything was legal here, provided only that it was consensual and did not cause physical harm, while anything else could be simulated in its holosuites. Sandapam also had the most advanced transporter and spaceport facilities on the world, and was the central off-world export point of Rigel II's plant products. It also headquartered the planet's small defensive fleet, mostly of Orion privateers.
The ruins of ancient Orion civilizations could also be found buried within the dense jungles, though these were worshiped and brutally protected by the Kaylar tribes. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
- Settlements
- Herlar • Noramar • Sandapam • Serando Resort • Tarna • Thorapa • Xolmar
Environment[]
Rigel II was a class L or class M planet with a gravity of 0.8 g, and almost no axial tilt or orbital eccentricity. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds, ST references: Star Trek Maps, Star Charts)
- Worlds says class L, while Star Trek Maps and Star Charts say Class M.
It had a year that lasted 142 Earth days and a diameter of 5476 km. (ST reference: Spaceflight Chronology)
It had a thick argon–oxygen atmosphere and an overall warm-to-hot climate, which provided a great deal of energy (presumably from the sun) to the native flora and introduced fauna. The equatorial regions were quite tropical, while conditions become more temperate near the poles. The world was 60% covered by water, with shallow oceans all around the equator and continents capping the north and south poles. The winds and water currents would be overwhelmingly powerful if it weren't for a number of archipelagos with large islands spread across the ocean, breaking up the flows. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
- The SFC states that Rigel II lies 1.28 × 10^8 km, ~0.86 AU, from the star, though this is greatly at odds with Decipher's few hundred AU. This is also unlikely given astronomical knowledge of the star Rigel; at this range, the planet would likely suffer extreme heat, hotter than arc welding. The SFC also gives a 65°C average temperature, unlikely at this range yet too hot for the tropical depiction. The smaller, cooler star of Beta Rigel may be a valid alternative here.
The northern continent was Sandak. It had two mountain ranges, the Eloria Mountains and the Tharker Mountains, which resembled the Appalachians of Earth. They were low and latitudinal, and channeled the heavy rain into fertile river valleys that wound through the thick Torango and Volnali jungles, which had teal-colored leaves. The southern continent was Zalok, with the high Zeolok Plateau centering it; the steep mountain crevasses ran almost down to the shoreline.
Plant life was plentiful on the world, with lush jungles on the ground and more in the oceans. The plants were brightly colored, even phosphorescent. However, Rigel II had no native animal life; fish were introduced to the oceans millennia ago. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds) An unwanted addition to the ecosystem was the Orion wing-slug, a pest that the people of Rigel II launched periodic eradication campaigns against. Like every afflicted world, they claimed it wasn't native to theirs. (Decipher RPG module: Creatures)
- With the Orion presence and phosphorescent plants, the luminous Orion fern tree might originate from Rigel II.
- Sandak
- Eloria Mountains • Sarclap Bay • Tharker Mountains • Torango Jungles • Volnali Jungles
- Zalok
- Zeolok Plateau
- Islands
- Alando Archipelago • Calora Islands • Grarlok Islands • Herlari Islands • Jeramano Islands • Lornat Islands • Torlar Islands • Zanto Islands
- Oceans
- Draykol Ocean • Saparla Ocean • Tondotu Sea • Xanor Ocean
Resources[]
The primary resources of Rigel II were tourism, gambling and entertainment, and it produced spices, perfumes and drugs. It also had gray and black markets.
The jungles produced a vast variety of unique plant species and organic chemicals that could be shipped off-world and used to create spices, perfumes and medicines, as well as intoxicants and poisons. However, with the dense jungles and heavy rainfall, developing the jungle any further was more expense and trouble than it was worth. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
FASA Version[]
- The FASA RPG module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge presents a different version of Rigel II, seen below.
Rigel II, also known as Atugn, was the second planet of the Rigel system, in the Alpha or the Beta Quadrant. It had no moons.
Atugn was situated just outside the asteroid belt that lay between it and Rigel I, and was also an airless class J planet, though it was slightly cooler than that world. Atugn had a gravity of 0.3 g and a day that lasted 17 Earth standard days. It had a total surface area of 27,898,600 square kilometers. About 46% of its makeup was normal metals, 27% was radioactive elements, 2% was gemstones, 3% was industrial crystals, and it had trace amounts of special minerals.
The safer environment enabled permanent habitation, with an Orion mining outpost in operation there for centuries, owned and managed by Orion corporations. The miners worked the asteroids of the nearby belt and Tugn itself, through the pits and shafts in the planet's surface. News of a major belt strike excited and panicked the miners.
It remained a frontier community, however, with disheveled rough-and-ready towns, saloons and bawdy cabarets. The population was mostly Orion and largely transient, consisting mainly of miners, cargo handlers, corporate office-workers and space travelers. It was all fairly dull, tired, dreary and unremarkable.
However, Atugn was one of the few places from which Starfleet vessels were allowed to monitor the Rigel system, albeit with strict limitations (presumably imposed by the terms of the Orion Neutrality Act). They could orbit the world, but their routes and behavior were restricted. They could not follow or intercept other ships, only run identity checks and estimate Federation traffic. Consequently, Starfleet ships posted here could spend months waiting and doing nothing but keeping an eye on passing ships and listening to local rumors and radio traffic, while carefully avoiding making diplomatic mistakes. The boring duties and limited R&R facilities gave Rigel II the nickname of "Security's Playground".
It had a technological/sociopolitical index of 999974-74 and a planetary trade profile of HAGHDGH/B(D). (FASA RPG module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge)
Connections[]
- Rigel II article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.