To Postcard from Elysia

To OrZoo in Space  

ELYSIA

Elysia is a popular resort planet, and you will find much information elsewhere.
   Elysia is mostly covered with warm, shallow water, dotted with ovoid fungi. These are soft and leathery, and are marvelous for lying on to sunbathe.
   The fungi occasionally send up fruiting "trees." These trees, like the Bosiella tree on the postcard, are thought to be very beautiful and are given special reverence.
   The people who live there, the Dorids, favor for eating another sort of fungus, gomfus, that exists only on the asteroids around the planets. They have small space vessels with robot arms to collect them.
   If you want to explore the real Elysia outside the resort compounds, we highly recommend Orzoo as your guide. He may even take you on a gomfus collecting expedition. Don't miss his cousin's souvenir shop. Be sure to mention Gilli's Galactic Guide for your 70% discount.

CICUTA

LOCATION
Cicuta is the 2nd satellite of the 3rd planet of Epsilon Indi, or as the Cicutans call it, Kentro.
  
   Epsilon Indi is a main sequence orange star (K3 type), 11.3 light yrs from earth, 4.7 magnitude, temperature 4130¡. Its mass is 80% of the sun's, but its luminosity is only 14%.

   The 3rd planet, or Akar, is a class D Geo-Plastic planet, molten with H compounds & reactive gases. Its satellites are Galana and Cicuta.

   The only other planet of interest is the 8th planet, Andor, which is Class M, like Cardassia, Vulcan, or Risa. The Andorrans are important trading partners of the Cicutans.

Itinerary: from Earth, go to the Kitri FPS, find Gate 10, and fold to Tau Ceti.
There take the down chute to the bottom Gate, 1101, then fold to Epsilon Indi.
Finally, take the S'Bus to Cicuta. Be sure to get the Express.

To the Journal: Arriving

To the Journal: Rising

CICUTA IN GENERAL
Cicuta is smaller than Earth, so there is less gravity. One way to lose weight instantly!
   The most notable feature of Cicuta is the Cicuta "trees". They grow to be as much as 100t tall (about 3000 feet oldstyle).
  The Cicutans build their cities in the tops of these trees, in the flower heads. Each flower head with buildings & a gora (plaza) is called a Plat. The secondary heads are subPlats.
   Most weather, clouds and rain, occurs below them so it is usually pleasant on the Plats.
   If you come by S'Bus, you will land at Fallands SpacePort on the forest floor where it is dark, humid, & full of fallen debris,. Note the unusual "GlowWorm" lighting. By smearing stake tops with kymo, the Cicutans train the "worms" to stay in position & provide illumination. Be sure to keep on the walkways: this is not a place to explore without a proper guide. .Fortunately, a quick ride on the first available Riser, and you will be up above the clouds and rain in beautiful High Cicuta.
   Wealthier travelers arrive in Cruise Ships which hover overhead while the tourists descend in pods to the Plats for visits.
   Virtually all visitors come in the HighSeason, mostly for the Kahto Festival.

THE CYCLE
The Cycle is the basis of life on Cicuta:
   HighSeason: The Cicutans live in the tops of Cicuta trees.
   BeforeFall: An eclipse triggers the trees to begin to lose their flowers and die.
    This is when the Kahto Festival is held.
   Fall: The trees break at their joints and fall over.
   AfterFall: The Cicutans live on the forest floor until the trees grow again.
   RisingSeason: A rope is hooked on to the growing tree so, when it is grown,
    a riser can be attached, and the Cicutans can again build high in the tree tops.

To the Journal:
High Cicuta

To Cicutan Tourist
Board Display

TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE

The Kahto Festival
The Kahto Festival (short for FageDipSuthAfKahto: roughly translated as "Eat, Drink,& Be Merry for Tomorrow We Fall") is somewhat like our Mardi Gras.
   The festival celebrates their life above the clouds and their appreciation of the trees and their bond. They both go down together and will rise together. There are solemn ceremonies with KahtoAnos, rather like our yo-yos. One much-repeated mantra can be translated as: "What goes down must come up".
   Destruction and throwing stuff over the sides of the plats is a traditional part of the Festival. Supposedly it helps the trees and acknowledges that destruction is part of the Cycle, It also demonstrates faith that the trees will grow again and the Cicutans will build again. In modern times, this has become more symbolic. In fact, they make a lot of money selling old stuff to tourists to destroy (while carefully lowering down prized possessions.) Modern technology does make it easier to lower stuff.
   There is much dancing and music, and the kymo, or fermented tree sap, runs freely. And the normally rather sensible Cicutans really let loose.
   It is also a mating time for Cicutans, but that is not for outsiders to see.

  Cicutan Rug

Seemeo

BeforeFall Sales
While shopping is always a pleasure on Cicuta, its BeforeFall Sales are known around the galaxy. The clearance discounts are huge.
   With their four arms Cicutans are excellent weavers, knitters, rug knotters, basket makers, and artists in all sorts of fiber arts. They specialize in sweaters for all types of people: no matter how many arms, legs, or heads they have.
   Ceremonial Yo-yos, or KahtoAnos, are a popular souvenir.

   There are also various collectibles made of colored resin, especially the Seemeo, a teaching toy for children. The Seemeo shows Akar, their planet; Galana, the inner moon; and Cicuta in a mobile that helps children understand their place in the complex orbits. Kentro, or epsilon Indi, is depicted on the base.

To a Sketch of the Rising

To the Journal: Going to the Tekalkoin

To the Journal: Inside the Tekalkoin

The Tekalkoin, or Communal Art Space
This place is certainly worth a visit. Ask the LeaperCab driver which Plat it is on this cycle. The Tekalkoin is built on the second-highest tree of the current Cycle; the Na-os, or ceremonial place, is built on the highest. Also be sure it is still open for the season. It closes early to have time for lowering the treasures that will be kept.

Check out the Contemporary Cicutan Arts Exhibit. One of the latest fads is Bio-Art .The object is to explore the aesthetic possibilitries of living organisms. The artist may adjust the medium's genetic code to respond to stimuli in various ways. Then the artist designs an environment, and lets it grow. Some put it in stasis when they think it's at its best. Others prefer to viz its progress and let it develop, at least till the Fall.
    The art can be hard to control, and there have been strict rules since an incident when some Bio-Art escaped. There are unconfirmed rumors of underground art movements which refuse to stay within these boundaries.

Smells are a very important part of Cicutan art, as well as colors in the UV range. This makes their art often difficult for human people to appreciate fully. Use your MIN's variSpectra setting to see the UV colors. And it's worth renting one of the translator plug-ins developed by Earthan exPlans to help you interpret the smells.
  Because of their nomadic, up-and-down lifestyle, Cicutans traditionally view art as having a brief life, and only the most venerated pieces are kept more than a season. One example is "Thetor Returned" on the left. Before every Fall, these are carefully packed and let down. Another is the "Great Sculpture", always displayed in the Main Room. It must be seen and heard to be believed

Bungeeing
If you are into thrills, you must try bungeeing (one thing Earth has contributed to the galaxy-- (now quite a fad.) Due to the lower gravity, it is almost like flying, and descending 50t into a cloud and rising into the sky is unlike any other experience.

ExPlans
You might enjoy meeting with some of the exPlans from Earth. Some are taken with the climate and the beauty and usually move on come Fall. Others are fascinated by the Cicutans and their culture, and try to understand it, not a simple task. And some are just trying to get away from whatever.
   The middle group hold lectures and get-togethers to help promote understanding. They have also developed a number of MIN plug-ins that are helpful. Finally, if you really get homesick for Earthan food, there are exPlan restaurants where the food is more like home than most Cicutan attempts..."Earth-style cooking!"...Sure.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Lodging
Reservations are necessary, especially during the Kahto Festival, if you want a room in a Tourist Hotel. Rooms for Cicutans are sometimes available, but while the ceilings are high enough for most Earthans (Cicutans bounce), the doors and windows are waist high..
   Generally, the weather is pleasant enough to sleep in the gora, and there are always rugs for rent. You may want to hire a storage locker to keep your stuff safe, not so much from thieves as from over-enthusiastic destruction.
  As gravity is low, structures tend to be flexible, a bit bouncy by our standards, but very sturdy.

Food
Most Cicutan food is digestible and nourishing for Earthans. They eat several types of flying insects that come to pollinate the flowers. Their national dish is Shish-ka-grub, using the grubs of these insects. If you Earthans from insect-phobic cultures would give it a try, you might be really surprised at how delicious it is. There is a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and breads from ground seed flour. Most food is cooked over charcoal fires in earthen braziers.
  Tree sap is the primary drink, mostly water, slightly sweet, sometimes fruit-flavored. It is boiled down for syrup and sweets. And fermented, as kymo, it is an important part of the Festival. Fortunately, sometimes unfortunately, it affects Earthans like our alcohol.
  Be very sure to avoid gafga; we don't have the enzymes to digest it, and you 'll be sorry. The apechthis is so obnoxious you won't be tempted.
  HighSeason is a bountiful time. In AfterFall when they live on the ground, they traditionally scavenge fungi, small creatures, and seeds. Nowadays, with better storage and lowering methods, their AfterFall diet is much improved.

Getting Around
Cicutans use Leapers to get from one Plat to another. There are Rent-a-Leapers but most tourists use LeaperCabs because they can't fit in Cicutans driver "seats" or use controls designed for four hands.
   There are negotiations with the neighboring Andorrans for a type of Leaper that tourists can use which should be very popular. Some Cicutans are very much worried about drivers unskilled in 3D traffic.
  If you get around on your own, be sure you have the latest map on your MIN as locations are different each cycle.

Hours
The Cicutan day, from one rise of Kentro to the next, lasts a little over 3 Earth days. However, it is never really dark because the Cicutan-tree area always faces Akar as Cicuta orbits around it.When Kentro has set, Akar is at its brightest.
   Cicutan scheduling is very flexible, especially during the manic Festival period. Generally there is someone who is up or can be awakened. Be prepared to take naps as you feel the need; it is easier to adjust than to try to stay on an Earth schedule.

Money
As they are in the GIG, there is rarely a problem. In a few cases, you may need to use your MIN to print local currency, drax.

To a Sketch of a Cicutan

An Example of Cicutan Writing

THE CICUTANS

History
Their ancestors lived on the dark forest floor. They were forced to stay in there by the EdgePeople living in the open areas outside near the ocean..
   The Cicutans' great hero, Thetor, bravely decided to climb the Holy Cicuta tree. There is a saga, Thetoriad, very symbolic and mythical, which describes his journey. It tells of the difficult tasks and demons he had to face at each of the 7 joints. But he persisted and finally reached the top. There he discovered a whole new world, full of light and air. Thetor stayed up there for 60 days making a rope. He used it to let himself down. When he reappeared on the forest floor, as if from the dead, he was hailed as a hero and a prophet.
   After the Cicutans moved to the top, they were discovered by other people. The Cicutans began to trade, obtained technology to get in the GIG, and started to attract tourists.

Their Culture
Cicutans are very sociable. They love to sit around, do crafts and jabber away. They are able to do different things with each set of hands as well as intricate 4-handed weaving. They work hard and are always busy. For the most part they are cheerful and practical.
   Their writing is based on tracks once made with their 4 hands on the forest floor. Of course, now they use computers and printers like everyone else. Smells are a part of their communication so they prefer to speak face to face. (Their written language does contain smell symbols.) They also use colors we can't see as they are sensitive to wider range of wave lengths. With practice and several atomizer bottles, you can learn to say "Hi" and "Thank you" in Cicutan.
   There are two sexes. There is no sexual division of work and no difference in appearance we can see. But they know. They usually mate around the time of the Kahto Festival (though some can't wait) and quickly produce an egg.
   The egg incubates during AfterFall, and is opened about the next Rising. The mating only lasts for one egg. The pair raise the little one for a Cycle or so, but in such a communal society longer is not necessary.
   Cicutans know exactly the lineage of every individual and have intricate kinship rules. Evidently there are serious consequences for breaking the rules, though they are quite private about such things.
   Because of the continual up-and-down Cycle, they don't have a lot of possessions. Except for their rugs, tools, MINs, books, and ceremonial items, they tend to make what they need as they need it. The materials used are mostly wood and resins from trees, clay from the forest floor, and many sorts of vine fibers.
   Now that it is easier to lower stuff and keep it for more Cycles, they are beginning to accumulate more, but material possessions are still not important.
   During AfterFall, each PlatGroup protects and cares for its tree. They make compost with the fallen debris for their tree. They also work hard making crafts to sell, readying building parts to rebuild (using last Cycle's trees), gathering and storing seeds. Caring tenderly for their eggs is a very important activity. During this season down in the dimness, they have readers and story tellers to entertain and teach. They also hold skak tournaments; skak is a very intricate board game which can continue for days.
   Though they make the best of life in AfterFall and recognize that without this difficult season they wouldn't appreciate HighSeason so much, there is rejoicing when the Cicuta trees begin to sprout again.