Underhill-Planet

Alternate Name
Colony 3

History
After long years of war, the people of the Sol system were tired of fighting. Sublight had been achieved, as so much tech is, as part of the one-upmanship that occurs when war breaks out. Now, in an effort to keep the pressure cooker known as the human race from blowing up for the umpteenth time, the governments of the various nations and planets inhabited in the system got together and decided to take advantage of the newfound peace to spread the risk, as it were. Scientists were pressed into service. Scouts scrounged from the remnants of all armies concerned, and ships were sent off. One by one, they dropped of the interstellar map, their reports falling victim to distance and physics. Years and wars passed. Scientists kept working on the solution of moving armies at speed from one part of the solar system to another. Finally, someone failed in nearly the most spectacular fashion possible. The fact that Pluto had been shattered overshadowed the actual accomplishment for a good while, and it was only after the initial work of salvage had been accomplished that the first gate was discovered among the floating remains of the clandestine lab. It would have sparked another war, if the collective scientific community in the system hadn't risen up in revolt. War was averted, barely. On further study, it was discovered that the Gate had anchored itself in a distant part of the galaxy. An uninhabitable that none-the-less had a signal coming from it. A beacon. An expedition was sent, amidst high exaltation at finding intelligent life outside the Sol system. Hopes were dashed and millions of dreams crushed when the expedition returned. With the solar powered emergency beacon from one of the long lost, nearly forgotten, exploration vessels. Old hopes replaced those that had vanished at the realization that aliens had not yet been discovered. Somehow, someway, the now dead scientists working on Pluto had found a way to bridge the gaps between solar systems. Disagreements and wars were set aside in truth. The people of Sol pooled time, money, and scientific resources to recreate the accident that resulted in the Gate. Unmanned drone haulers were commissioned to haul the first Gate out past the edge of the system, and a base built around it of salvaged spaceships. Eventually, the science team managed to duplicate the feat, in a more controlled manner (and having decamped to the opposite side of the solar system for the second test). And the Sol Colonial Movement was born. A second of the original scout ships was found, and then the third. At last, all six had been found, their solar systems scouted, and more scouts commissioned, with more sophisticated and purposeful beacons. As the first colonial ships were readied, the second wave went out. Hopes ran high. At last, after uncounted years of petty wars and bickering over the last metaphorical drop of water, humanity could quit eating its own and finally start to grow again. To build.

GEOGRAPHY
They thought it was a wonderland. Enchanting and enchanted, the way leaves glowed in moonlight and its creatures moved in a delicate dance. Little did they know... A large planet in the habitable zone of it's star, Underhill didn't start out with that name. It's first settlers, remembering the ancient stories of a magical land, called it that once they arrived and got a good look at the surface. Cooler than the one habitable planet in the solar system they'd left, the planet was also larger. Steep mountains gave way to hills to gradual plains and low forests, with an abundance of fresh water lakes and rivers as well. Both poles were capped in frozen water, but there was plenty of open ocean between continents for travel. For those who came from climate controlled stations or warmer environs, it was a bit of a change, but the human race is adaptable, if nothing else.

Fauna & Flora
All plants and animals on the planet carry a compound that was first known as Ambrosia, and later was called

Food
Eating on Underhill means being very aware of what you put in your mouth. Just because a scanner says it edible, doesn't mean there might not be high concentrations of the Ambrosia compound. Or it might make you glow at night. Or alter your scent in some way that makes you walking bait for whatever predator works with it in a symbiotic relationship. Vegetation, animal meat, and even the insects were tested as possible food sources before the scientists of the colony would sign off on introducing any genetic material from Earth, either as a splice to local flora and fauna, or wholesale.

After the Gene Wars changed not only the people of the colony, but the planet itself, the testing had to be done all over again. Only this time, without much of the sophisticated equipment that had been in use the first time. New methods were learned and tried, and those whose new abilities allowing them to handle the foods of the planet became very valued members of a community.

Some were the only ones who could stomach certain foods. Others were the only ones who could cancel out or negate the negative effects during preparation. Others held the secret locations of untainted crops, and profited from cultivating and selling them.

After access to the ships in orbit was restored, the hydroponics on board were turned to producing food for those who could not eat the local foodstuffs. Some of the remaining scientists and their students found the left-over gene banks, full of DNA material that hadn't been used during the initial efforts to breed animals capable of surviving the planet. Made up of animals known less for their value as food and more for the traits they might have been able to give the altered cattle, sheep, horses, etc, the resulting merges of DNA with both the local fauna and the Earth-based fauna, especially when magic was the catalyst, did not always result in useful, or edible, offspring. The remaining Neutrals, hidden in the mountains, managed to force the shutdown of the program, but not before a variety of hybrids were set loose on Underhill to both compete for, and become food.