SUPER SCIENCE IN NUNA

So I’ve gone on long enough about Inuit, who are one of the pillars of Nuna. The other pillar is not just Iceships, but the whole retro-futurist super science that underlies them.

Labrador and all of Canada’s arctic has an element of this. The Pinetree Line was a series of geodesic dome radars strung across the North to detect Soviet air invasion. My father worked at one, and there are lots of strange (and NSFW) stories about them. But I remember as a child seeing the white geodesic domes outside Goose Bay standing out against the rocky hills and stunted spruce trees and being awed by their futuristic shapes.

The arctic has also been the site of superpower conflicts (and attendant accidents) as well. On the 22nd of May, 1968, a cabin fire forced a nuclear bomber crew to eject Over Thule Air Base in Greenland. They left the plane to crash with its nuclear payload onboard, and its B28FI thermonuclear bomb, second stage, was never recovered. In Labrador, a German U-boat has been found sunk in the Churchill River, 100 kilometers from the ocean. German officials confirmed U-boats did operate off the coast of Labrador, and also German intelligence did set up weather stations along the coast, many of which were never found.

All these are grist for the mill in Nuna.

SCIENTISTS

What we call scientists in Nuna are more like mad scientists from comics and old movies. They strut around in shiny suits with glass cowls, fly on (dangerously radioactive) thrones, and can perform miracles when they want. They are also mysterious and secretive, and have hidden agendas that would frighten the other inhabitants of the land if they knew of them. This makes them both envied and feared by the other inhabitants of Nuna. Inuit and Vikings want nothing to do with them, but Whalers guardedly embrace their technological support.

Once, Howard Hughes tried to make a giant claw to retrieve a sunken Soviet nuclear sub in the Pacific, but told the press he was interested in underwater mining. His claw failed and the vessel broke into pieces, spilling its deadly cargo onto the ocean floor.

THIS is the vibe of mad scientists in Nuna.

ICESHIPS

Michael Moorcock introduced the idea of Iceships in The Ice Schooner, but this romantic view of classic sailing ships on ice runners needs an update.

Instead, Nuna’s light Iceships are based on the solar sails of space exploration. Anyone can be trained to use one, but repair is the sole province of Scientists.

The heavy Iceships used by Whalers are based on Soviet nuclear icebreakers, but as they would exist had the USSR had another hundred years or so of technological advancement. Remember, for a short while they beat the West in the Space Race, and their heavy aircraft are still used today. The aesthetic is Super Science Soviet City Ship (try saying that ten times fast), with light Iceships milling about them for the hunt. Kind of like Gundam on ice…

TECHNOLOGY

There are basically three tiers of technology in Nuna. There is Inuit survival technology, which seems almost magical to the other groups. Then there is modern technology, used by Vikings and Whalers, with some upgrades for the post apocalypse. Finally, Scientists use super science, retro futuristic technology that does incredible things. For a price. And there’s always a price to be paid.