Cataclysm Day - HackMD

### What is Cataclysm day? Originally a series of informal traditions that marked kinship between the Riso-Tecetians and the Solarians shortly after the two peoples made contact, Cataclysm Day has since evolved into a holiday celebrated widely across the known galaxy. Codified in some way by every major political power, Cataclysm Day centers reflections on the fragility of life, and celebrates the persistence of living things in the face of adversity. In its strictest sense, Cataclysm Day commemorates the Solarian Night of Fire, the Riso-Tecetian Environmental Collapse, and a handful of other deliniated events which either eradicated all sentient life on a world, or came close. Though different peoples observe the day with very different traditions, Cataclysm Day is the celebration most broadly observed by the modern galactic community. ### Terrariums People build self-contained terrariums on Cataclysm day and try to keep them alive as long as possible. The difficulty is supposed to engender an understanding that all life is equally precarious. ### SRM Hunting Ban The SRM bans hunting on Cataclysm, and members hold a bread and water fast while engaging in ecological restoration activities. ### Ashen Mark Many Solarians, especially Africans and Polynesians, wear an ashen mark on Cataclysm day. This tradition is found in some non-Solarian human communities as well, including the SRM. ### Annual Maintenance Many Spacers time detailed annual maintenance for life support systems to this day. What was a joke on a few ships a century ago is now very common practice, and having no maintenance done on Cataclysm Day is considered bad luck. ### Living Keepsakes Some Spacers, especially those who do not often visit livable planets, hold on to something living from the last green planet they visited to exchange on Cataclysm Day with friends. Keeping the living thing alive until the day for exchange is supposed to offer a chance for reflecting on the fragility of life. The living things are sometimes incorporated into terrariums, kept as pets, or returned to the next living world a Spacer visits. This last custom has recieved much consternation from CLIP-BARD in recent years. ### Exchanging Cards There is a tradition of exchanging cards on Cataclysm Day with the person you most fear losing. Like a somber Valentine's day. The idea is that you may not get to tell them these things if you wait another day. ### Planet Painting On Cataclysm Day some people paint living planets that they identify strongly with. There's an emphasis on minimalism as people over the years have competed to extreme lengths to paint the most fragile looking living planet. A famous example is the Rachnid artist Chi'Ret'Xin'Ne who composed a black canvas nearly 250 square meters in area with a single grey dot in the center for Cataclysm Day 467FSC. This piece was titled "10,000 years from Reh'himl" and currently is on display in the Texe'geuhiml galleries. ### NGR Coopting NGR has coopted the holiday as a secondary mourning day for the glassing of Gorlex. They are extremely obnoxious about it and mostly use the holiday as an opportunity to vent political grievances and spread propoganda. ### Cataclysm Planets Outposts and radio stations have a tradition of airing a list of "Cataclysm planets" the morning of Cataclysm Day. Planets where life has been eradicated or nearly eradicated. Gorlex is often controversially included in the list. They will also end the day with a list of the planets most populated by sentients; a somber reminder that there are many places where Cataclysm might yet occur, but also a hopeful note to end the day on. "Today we remember the worlds of Cataclysm, where the flame of life faltered. Take a moment of silence. Remember..." List of Cataclysm Planets * Terra * The Capital of the Most Serene Solar and Intersolar Confederation and the original home of the Humans. Civilization was nearly destroyed in the hostilities of the Night of Fire. * Teceti: * The Capital of the Unified Teceti Federation and the original home of the Kepori. Centuries ago the civilizations of Teceti nearly drove their world to uninhabitability through the ecological consequences of unchecked industrial pollution. * Sitami's Folly: * Once called "Sitami's Hope," this planet was one of the oldest and most ambitious projects of the Green Belt Terraforming Initiative. The ecology of Sitami's Folly completely collapsed during the early ICW due to both direct sabotage and indirect disruptions to the project. * Mikiliwolo based on the Lingala (Congolese Dialect) phrase "Golden World" * Another Green Belt Initative World lost during the ICW, this planet was already fully terraformed when it suffered ecological collapse. This was caused by the release (either accidental or intentional) of a bacteriophage with extremely broad tropism. * Gorlex VII: * Though not terraformed, and not host to native complex life, Gorlex VII was a large N+S Shipping colony home to a population numbering in the millions. This population was supported by life support systems and habitats that were thoroughly destroyed during the ICW, primarily by the Pan-Gezena Federation Navy. Due to its lack of native life, Gorlex VII is a controversial inclusion on this list. * Re'tex'himl * An early Rachnid colony, Re'tex'himl had existing native fauna prior to Rachnid colonization. Unfortunately this life was extremely sensitive to a native agent in the Rachnid microbiome, and was entirely eradicated within 100 years of colonization. Without a biosphere, the colony on Re'tex'himl soon twindled to a fraction of its previous population, and never recovered. * Lowell B29-C: Located deep in the Frontier, Lowell B29-C is mid-sized terrestrial planet, with an oxygen-rich atmosphere and a primitive biosphere. Ruins on the planet suggest a technological civilization once lived here, dying out shortly after the development of atomic weapons. A sobering reminder of the fragility of intelligent life in a universe that allows so many tools for destruction. * Curie H2H-B: * Located in Intersolarian Territory, H2H is a small Red Dwarf Star that was obscured from early Solarian astronomy by interstellar dust. Located only a dozen light years from Sol, H2H-B orbits H2H at an appropriate distance for liquid water to form. Paleological investigation of the planet has found fossils of early multicellular life on the planet, though H2H-B is sterile today. The planet was most likely sterilized during a collision with a large planetoid that is thought to have robbed it of most of its water. ### Clothing/Wear Apogee: "I could see having some article of mourning/remembrance akin to armistice day poppies traditionally worn on that day"