AN ESSAY ON WORLDS OF THE HERAKIAN FEDERATION
By William Pemberton Cooke
Following my most recent excursion to Heraklion from the Rollright Complex, I have compiled notes on the federation operated by the Controllers which comprises Heraklion and neighbouring planets and stellar systems. It is my intention to add to this fund of knowledge each time I visit, and I will be publishing my research in the pages of the online monthly magazine, Gateway, which is published by my very good friend, Mr Paul Edmund Norman, to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude for converting my random jottings into readable chronicles of the worlds encompassed by the aforementioned federation.
I should point out at the outset that although the portals which allow travel to and from the various planets in the federation are known to several of my acquaintances, there is little point in visiting them yourselves. Only people whose destinies are linked at the behest of the Controllers have the ability to travel via these portals, and a surprisingly small number are, to the best of my knowledge, from Earth. Were you to stand in the centre of the Rollright Stones, or, for that matter, in any of the other known portals, the chances are that nothing would happen to you. The stone circles are interesting enough per se but offer nothing out of the ordinary to people who are not destined to use the portals. They should be seen as ancient monuments and nothing else.
THE HERAKIAN FEDERATION
In the galaxy known as NGC3351 there are three adjacent solar systems, each containing habitable, inhabited planets. Each of these planetary systems is connected to the Earth via portals, the nature of which is known only to selected people, some of whom have travelled between the systems by accident, others by design. These portals are generally to be found in stone circles or ancient artefacts built expressly for the purpose of transportation between worlds.
The first of these solar systems is a binary star M6673, comprising an M-class (Earth’s Sun) star and a white dwarf at the very outermost edge. The third planet, occupying an orbit some 75 million kilometres from the M-class sun, is HERAKLION, with its sister planet (also inhabited), COHOOL a further 25 million kilometres away. Both planets resemble the Earth in many ways, supporting a wide variety of plant and animal life not too dissimilar from Earth’s flora and fauna.
The adjacent solar system, in the region of 0.4 light years distant from M6673, designated M6684, is home to ESTRALOR, the only inhabited planet in the system, and a neighbouring system, M9932, a further 0.7 light years from M6673, is home to SKOLANDIS I, SKOLANDIS II and SKOLANDIS III. Skolandis I is known to be uninhabited, though capable of sustaining life. Skolandis II and III are inhabited, and commerce between these two planets is commonplace. Once again, these two planets resemble Earth to a certain extent.
COHOOL is the driving force between the five planets mentioned above, in that humanoid beings from it are technologically far more advanced than any of the other civilisations. Cohoolians “seeded” the respective humanoid populations of the other worlds belonging to the federation, which are described in turn below (with the exception of the Earth. Although the Earth is counted among the federated planets, this is only by virtue of the fact that a portal was discovered between it and Heraklion. The people of Earth have no knowledge of the federation other than by word of mouth from people who have used portals and returned to Earth to tell their stories.
For reasons of security, the Controllers, who are scattered throughout the federated worlds, use Heraklion as the nominative head of the federation. Controllers are able to travel at will via the portals. A common language with dialectic variations exists throughout the local planets, the exception being the Earth.
“Conventional” space travel between planets in the same solar system is achieved using vari-pulse engine technology, which converts water to pure energy. Travel between solar systems is achieved via portals. The latter portals are nothing to do with the stone circle portals that are used to transport people between worlds, but are technological portals built by the Cohoolians for the purpose. Only one such portal exists on Earth, its exact location is a closely-guarded secret. Several portals exist on the western hemisphere of Estralor, where the technology was developed; there are none on the eastern hemisphere. On Heraklion, two portals exist, one in the northern hemisphere, one in the southern; their locations are known only to the Controllers. Similarly on Skolandis, there are two portals, and on Cohool, there is just one, in the province of Iri-don.
The Controllers have the ability of transporting people at their own will should the need arise, from any of the five federated planets to any other planet in the federation which has a natural or technological portal. By this means miscreants are sent to primitive worlds as a form of punishment.
COHOOL aka KAHUL
Earth-type planet, 70% water
100 million kilometres from sun
Atmosphere Earth-like, slightly cooler temperature
Indigenous population humanoid
Various mammalian, reptilian, bird and insect organisms
Vast desert areas, with tropical and sub-tropical vegetation, polar ice caps
Human population technologically advanced, capable of localised space travel and transportation to and from other planets in “federation” via portals (space-time)
Some chronicles have been released by the Controllers and shipped back to Earth via portals
HERAKLION
More is known about Heraklion than any of the other worlds, for the simple reason that more people from Earth have visited it. Heraklion has a complex civilisation structure, based in part on slavery, with appointed story-tellers in each province. The Herakian Chronicles have been shipped to Earth by various portal-goers, where they have been edited and published.
Earth-type planet, 85% water
75 million kilometres from a double star system. The M-class sun is the nearer, with a white dwarf almost a light year distant, but still capable of bringing light to the planet at certain times of the year. It is also visible during most of the daylight hours. Heraklion has two moons.
Atmosphere Earth-like, hotter, more sulphur, consequently slightly yellower skies
Indigenous population simian; humanoids oviviparous and seeded by Cohoolians. Eggs are deposited in vivaria, which are generally situated in the desert regions. Vivaria in the northern provinces are artificially heated to provide incubation. On hatching, offspring are assigned to random carers for rearing, which takes place rapidly. A child of eight summers is considered the equivalent of a fully-grown Earth adult. Only certain people are selected for further breeding, and these are normally slaves. It is thought that the oviviparation characteristic of Herakian humanoids was a Controller experiment, which, viewed as spectacularly successful, was subsequently repeated on Skolandis.
Various mammalian, reptilian, bird and insect organisms; many dinosaur-like animals, particularly in the desert regions
Vast desert areas
Human population primitive, similar to Roman civilisation. Slavery is widespread amongst the northern territories.
Transportation between worlds via portals but only to Controllers and selected people.
No advanced technology except Controllers and their appointed representatives have access to secret “spaceports” on remote locations known only to the Controllers. It is the express wish of the Controllers that Heraklion should remain primitive, and not progress to an advanced technological state.
Only one-seventh of Heraklion has been “explored” by people visiting via portals. Heraklion is so-named because the first man from Earth to discover it was a Roman centurion, Heraclius. Civilised Heraklion comprises a series of provinces, united after the wars of the seventh century following its discovery by Heraclius. The current dating system derives from the year in which Heraclius first came to Heraklion. Knowledge of Herakian geography is confined to the one-seventh that has been explored, and maps that exist on Heraklion do not show the other six-sevenths. However, maps of all the federation worlds are known to exist on Cohool, and are the property of the Controllers. It is a Controllers' map of Heraklion which I hope to publish in the next issue of Gateway Monthly.
Some place names on Heraklion are named after places on Earth, eg Baikonur and Erzindjian. Most names were created by settlers on Heraklion.
There is an extant legend that before the last ice age, the population of northern Heraklion inhabited biodomes, but that these were destroyed and the people perished approximately 10,000 years before the current time (the time of Marcellus of Barbessel). There is speculation that some people survived by travelling through time portals to the present day, but that they now inhabit the southern, unexplored territories of Heraklion. At the time of the last ice age, the planet was known as Gondiar. Many stories are recorded in the Great Library of turbessel to substantiate this legend, and few doubt that it actually happened, though there is, so far, no archaeological evidence to support it.
ESTRALOR
Earth-type planet, 55% water
55 million kilometres from sun
Atmosphere Earth-like, hotter
Indigenous population simian; humanoids oviviparous and seeded by Cohoolians
Various mammalian, reptilian, bird and insect organisms. Many dinosaur-like animals, particularly in the desert regions
Vast desert areas
Two distinct hemispheres
Eastern hemisphere has a primitive human population, again similar to Roman civilisation
Western civilisation technologically advanced, capable of local space travel
Transportation between worlds via portals but only to selected people
Some chronicles have been released by the Controllers and shipped back to Earth via portals
SKOLANDIS
Earth-type planet, 55% water
60 million kilometres from sun
Atmosphere Earth-like, hotter
Indigenous population humanoids oviviparous, seeded by Cohoolians
Various mammalian, reptilian, bird and insect organisms
Vast desert areas. Humanoids live in “biodomes”
Technologically advanced, capable of local space travel
Transportation between worlds via portals but only to selected people
Some chronicles have been released by the Controllers and shipped back to Earth via portals.
This series is to be continued in future issues of Gateway Monthly
