ECONOMIC PROFILE AND DEVELOPMENT:

Janus was discovered over a century and a half ago by exploration ships of the old Recon-Development and Exploration Council. It was briefly cataloged, and forgotten, along with a thousand other worlds “explored” by the last bloated wave of centralized bureaucracy. After the fall of Centralization and the development of the Laterial Federation, planetary development was opened officially. Due to its location off the mainstream of galactic travel, Janus and most other Sol-Type worlds along the spiral were virtually ignored during the boom and bust periods of exploration and exploitation that followed the creation of the Free Trade Federation.

About sixty years ago Janus was again touched by galactic travelers when the trading ship “Borderline” crashed in the southern hemisphere. The owner  and commander of the ship was Jerry Tatum, who was also the discoverer of the Tatum Plant, whose leaves made an almost universal pain killer and a good antiseptic. Since then the production of Tatum-leaves have become the primary product of Janus and its principle source of export income.

Tantum and his crew were also the discoverers of the planet’s inhabitants, dubbed “Wollies”. These creatures are bipeds covered with shaggy fur standing about six and a half to seven feet tall. The civilization of these people is described as nomadic and semi-tribal, although some larger tribal units of relative stability have been observed, primarily on the northern continent. Their intelligence in galactic terms has been tested as very low, and their survival potential as a race on Janus judged as low.

CURRENT ECONOMIC PROFILE:

The economy of Janus depends almost entirely on the growth and export of Tatum leaves, from which a base is extracted to be made into painkillers and antiseptics. Due to this situation, the real economic power on Janus rests with the Multi-Cap Corporation, a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm with galactic distribution, and whose directors realized early on the potential sales to be gained from exploiting Tatum leaves.

Multi-Cap functions as the real governing power on Janus, although there is a rudimentary parliamentary system, and a planetary-based police force which is roughly equivalent to the Sol-Type sheriff system used by many asteroid belt mining communities. Multi-Cp company police appear to be the real law enforcement power of planetary affairs.

Multi-Cap has developed large tracts of the southern hemisphere, and administers it in the following manner: Tatum Plants are grown on extensive plantations. Land tracts are apportioned by Multi-Cap, which picks the owners of each tract, helps the owner with financing, clearing the land, equipment purchases and the other set-up costs. These plantations are settled along major waterways in order to secure cheap and reliable transportation for movement of the harvested Tatum leaves.

A plantation system is established with the owners of the plantations in debt to Multi-Cap for development capital and dependent on Multi-Cap for control of the land itself. Multi-Cap agrees to buy all the Tatum leaf produced and offers settlers a reasonable price, not neglecting the profit margin they stand to make from the product when it is refined and sold off planet. For security reasons, no Tatum leaf extract is refined on Janus itself. [Speculation—that this helps maintain the firm control Multi-Cap holds over the plantation owners and develops an even greater dependence on Multi-Cap’s purchasing power.]

The labor to actually plant, weed and harvest the Tatum Plant is provided by the Woolies. Use of Woolies as labor appears to be a mutually exploitive system. That is, the growing and harvesting of vast acreage of Tatum-Plants would be impossible without a source of cheap, effective labor able to make independent decisions beyond the capability of programmed robot labor.

The plantation system appears to be a salvation for the Woolies themselves. The planet is over run with a host of natural predicators, both animal and plant, and most of these predators feed on Woolies, whose function in the ecology appears to be roughly equivalent to that of rabbits in Sol-Type Normal worlds.

The lack of large tribal or clan connections, or more than elementary civilization development, make the Woolies a poor long-range choice to emerge as a dominant species on Janus were it not for the intervention of other intelligent species, specifically, the advent of the Multi-Cap Corporation and plantation system.

In return for working the plantations the Woolies receive free food, free housing, free medical treatment, and trade privileges as payment. Woolies do not appear to fully understand the term “payment for wages” or the concept of labor being valuable. However, they are willing to work the plantations in return for such implements as knives, spears, trinkets, and primitive weapons such as bows. Apparently the primary consideration from the viewpoint of the Woolies is security. There are no predators within the boundaries of the plantations (except for occasional intervening creatures which break thru the security perimeters), which means Woolies can raise families and live a peaceful existence without the fear of imminent death. The second consideration is medical attention, which they regard as some sort of god-magic provided by the generous out-worlders. They do not regard free food or housing as any benefit at all, since in their natural state food and housing is relatively “free” anyway.

Investigation eleven years ago by a Federation Board of Inquiry reveals that the system utilized by Multi-Cap does not constitute slavery, voluntary or otherwise, and from all appearances the Woolies themselves, as well as the plantation owners, are happy with the situation which places them at the disposal of Multi-Cap. The system appears to be uniquely fitted for exploiting the only real economic potential available on Janus in the best and most efficient way possible.