• Peter's Eden is a small mined-out world resettled by followers of the Church of KumByar, an
obscure sect which believes in an after life made progressively less awful by successive years
of virtuous living. For 100 Arexack-years after the founding of the colony (65 Earth-years of
prayer, head shaving, flagellation, and life-extending drugs) there was little trade with Peter's
Eden since the settlers lived austere lives eating locally grown roots and vegetables raw.
• But then Galactic Play Boy Zack Blackbeam spent some ten million Credits on
HoloProjectors and meteorological control devices to stage a fake Coming of KumByar on
Peter's Eden. The settlers, being religious and extremely gullible, were totally taken in and so
devastated to hear that their ascendence to the Highest Level of Paradise was prevented only
by the "displeasing shave" of their leader His Magnificence the Right Holy Ssord Rettu III.
• 65 sin-free years were promptly tarnished by the lynching of Rettu III and 74 years of
bloody holy war that continues to this day. The Church is violently divided over the
interpretation of the phrase "displeasing shave". The traditionalists believed that KumByar had
found them wanting on grounds of insufficient baldness and now remove every follicle of hair
from the body using micro-laser surgery. The other side feel that shaven skin is Offensive In
His Sight and, with the aid of imported hormonal treatments, attempt to grow verdant hair over
every part of their bodies. This war has brought Arexack back into Galactic Trade, importing
firearms, defollicalation kits, and hair creams; exporting root crops and pelts.
Entry by Ian Bell
|
