Albany

Introduction
Established in 2130 by the Twenty-Fourth Exodus Fleet in the Groombridge 34-system, the largely American-descended colony has blossomed as a center of education and science.

Star Geography
Groombridge 34 is a binary star system located about 11.7 light years from Sol. It consists of two red dwarf stars in a nearly circular orbit with a separation of about 147 AU's. Both stars in this pair exhibit variability due to random flares and they have been given variable star designations. The brighter member Groombridge 34 A is designated Hudson and the dimmer member Groombridge 34 B is designated Rensselaer. Hudson is a cool and dim, main sequence red dwarf at about 40.04 to 48.6 percent of Sol's mass and 34 percent of its diamete. Based on the abundance of iron to hydrogen, Hudson is less than 35% as enriched as Sol in "metals", elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

Rensselaer is even cooler and dimmer, main sequence red dwarf star has only 16.3% of Sol's mass, 19% of its diameter, and 42/100,000th of its luminosity and percent of its luminosity. Like Gliese 752 B, Rensselaer is so small, with less than 20 percent of Sol's mass, that it can transport core heat only through convection, unlike larger larger red dwarf stars like Gliese 752 A.

Hudson and Rensselaer exhibit violent flare activity for their size and brightness. While these are much dimmer than with Sol or Arcturus, flares on Hudson emit up to 10,000 times as many X-rays as a comparably-sized solar flare on Sol, and so flares can be lethal to Earth-type life on planets near the flare star. In addition, the light emitted by red dwarfs may be too red in color for Earth-type plant life to perform photosynthesis efficiently. Hudson is orbited by six planets while Rensselaer is orbited by seven:

Groombridge 34 A (Hudson) Groombridge 34 B (Rensselaer)
 * Groombridge 34 A I
 * Groombridge 34 A II (Albany)
 * Groombridge 34 A III
 * Groombridge 34 A IV
 * Groombridge 34 A V
 * Groombridge 34 B I
 * Groombridge 34 B II
 * Groombridge 34 B III
 * Groombridge 34 B IV
 * Groombridge 34 B V
 * Groombridge 34 B VI
 * Groombridge 34 B VII

Planetary Geography and Climate
Albany is a cooler colony world, though its climate can swing between extremes at times. Winters can be very cold with fluctuating conditions; temperatures often drop below −18 °C at night. Summers on Albany can contain stretches of excessive heat and humidity, with temperatures above 28 °C. Because of Albany's smaller size at 8,286-km and being only 0.2 AUs from Hudson, the planet's complete rotation is completed in under 11-hours, while a year is less that 4-weeks. The majority of Albany's largest continent of Schenectady consists of rolling hills which are broken up by thick Pine forests, while the north merges into arid, sandy soil surrounding the polar regions of Helderberg. Albany is covered in 65% water.

Biology
Due in to its nature as a terraformed world, all fuana and flora on Albany has been genetically modified and imported. Still a majority of the environment was devoted towards Earth animals native to the upstate New York area such as Karner Blue butterfly and the Pitch Pine tree. However fears that one or the entire orbital filteration array could fail, several X-ray harder species were imported, such as Adun Cactus and Valit Burrowers native to Vulcan.

History
Colonized in 2130 by the Twenty-Fourth Exodus Fleet, most of the original colonist hailed from the state of New York or from the New York-Jersey Metroplex. Led by the colony ship UES Karner under Captain Gerald Jennings, the fleet of 27 ships completed the five-year, 11.7-light year transit to Groombridge 34 A II where they delivered the first 10-million colonists on July 17th to the southern contient of coast Schenectady. Jennings became the first Governor of the newly christened Albany and the newly founded capital colony of Fort Nassau.

Albany is named after the capital city of the North Ameircan Republic state of New York. Albany had close ties with the nearby cities of Troy, Schenectady, and Saratoga Springs, forming a region called the Capital District. Because of this a majority of the planet's landmarks and settlements are named after these areas.

When the colonists arrived, the majority of work was done terraforming Albany to be habitable for life. While it did have liquid water and a thin oxygen, argon atmosphere, X-rays emitted by Hudson were lethal to Earth-type life the surface. In addition, the light emitted by red dwarfs was too red in color for Earth-type plant life to perform photosynthesis efficiently. One of the first major projects was the installation of filteration arrays in high orbit, which would convert Hudson's red light into yellow and deflect off the majority of the X-ray radiation.

Actual surface terraforming could not begin until 2137 and was completed in 2149.

Armed Forces

 * Volunteer Guard of Albany

Society and Culture
Because Albany's orbit is only 11-hours, it is common for colonists to work through the first day/night, half way and use the second day/night to sleep. It is a common saying "Coming from Old Albany" as implying a new arrival from Earth with the intention of settling on the colony, though recently most colonists have been of Asian nationality.

The Tulip Festival, one of Albany's largest festivals, is set in Broeck Park and celebrates Old Albany's Dutch heritage. This traditional Albany event marks the beginning of spring as thousands of tulips bloom. The Sunny Seventh Day celebrates Albany's day of settelment with musical performances and a large fireworks display.

As most of the original colonists were from North America, primarily the state of New York, the official language of Albany is English. Several thousand Tenctonese have also arrived, helping in the colony's industrial industry.

Galactic Location
Groombridge 34 is located about 11.7 light years from Sol and as such, Albany's population enjoys lucrative trade with Earth, Alpha Centuria, Vulcan and Andoria.

Provinces and Cities

 * Fort Nassau
 * Christiaensen: Mining village north of Fort Nassau.
 * North Pearl: Mining village north of Fort Nassau.

Points of Interest

 * Algonquian River: The longest and widest river on Albany, it is used by ships to move cargo between the northern mining villages such as Christiaensen and North Pearl to Fort Nassau for refining.