Extracts from the New Omnibus Mandaean Almagest and Dataset [NOMAD] 3172 CE
Cabot’s Landing, NOMAD 129.683.365.120.B.5, is a class 12 satellite of Kenebec (NOMAD 129.683.365.120.B), a Type II gas giant orbiting 1.2 AU from the local star. The system was discovered in 2306 by the Heale Moanne of the Grand Alliance Fleet. Cabot’s Landing consists almost entirely of a planet-encompassing ocean with only one significant land mass, Bountiful, an island of approximately 58,000 km2. Native marine life is abundant (see the entry for bandersnatch), but native land-based life forms appear to be restricted to a few primitive plant species and various viral and microbial parasites. The satellite is notable for large deposits of dysprosium and other rare earth metals.
Cabot Industries Trust (CIT) purchased the system in 2312 and human operations began in 2318. CIT seeded the land mass with a genetically engineered ecosystem to facilitate human habitation. This primarily supported species of wheat (see triticum cabitorum), amaranth (see amaranthus cabitorum), and sugar beets (see b. vulgaris caitorum), collectively designed to provide biomass and for the automated food processors common to the era. The latter two species required special soils and exist in limited locations, while the former spread planet-wide. In addition to constructing cybernetic mining operations in the western mountains of the single land mass, the company placed a standard self-sustaining habitat on the southeastern shore. This habitat, known as Cabot’s Lodge, provided for housing up to three hundred human technicians. By exploiting the genetically engineered crops, the personnel could theoretically survive indefinitely without resupply from off-planet. CIT constructed two Ghostports, one adjacent to Cabot’s Lodge and the other adjacent to a industrial port serving the mining enterprise. Both ports included automated facilities for replenishing and repairing up to three Cruiser Class ghostships at any time, and up to fifteen tactical transports.
Subsequently, the Grand Alliance leased space for a ghostfleet naval base and a marine base on the planet. CIT also leased limited colonial rights to a subsidiary foundation and funded an agricultural research station on a small island south of the main mini-continent, Bountiful. At its peak, Cabot’s Landing supported a population of over 39,000 humans.
Mining operations ceased in 2462 at the start of the Great Disintegration, and by 2464 CIT had evacuated all personnel from the Cabot Landing system.
With the rediscovery of ghost condensate shunt starships [ghostships], contact with the system resumed in 3107. That same year, an expedition by the Praetorian Syndicate claimed title to the system and initiated plans to restart the mines. All of the original CIT installations rebooted successfully, although the colony and the research station were in ruins, presumably due to outlaw raids during the Disintegration. The mines resumed operations in 3112. In 3142 the mines were again shut down due to the discovery of more economical sources of rare earths. The industrial port and the ghostport at Cabot Lodge remain operational, with facilities for the emergency repair of commercial ghostships.
Pursuant to the Imperial Decree of 3168, in order to maintain its title to the system the Praetorian Syndicate maintains continuous human occupancy of the planet via a resident caretaker.
