Odin (Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight)

Odin is a planet that features in Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight.

History
Odin was a planet located in the Argo cluster where it was one of three planets that surrounded the large blue white star called Canopus. Thousands of years ago, it managed to develop life where an advanced humanoid civilization developed and rose in technical development. The height of the species came around 4,000 years ago when they discovered that the star Canopus entered into an active state when it appeared in the nebula above the planet. Its effects led to turning the planet into a living hell that threatened the existence of the Odinian civilization. Despite the danger, warning of this impending doom was well known amongst their people in the years prior to the formation of the nebula. Some members of their civilization remained behind on Odin in order to attempt to survive the Canopus supernova though their fate remained unknown. At the time, Queen Sarah of Odin watched as preparations were made to save her race. Among these preservation plans included sending gene-samples of their race to far off planets. As the supernova erupted, a number of Odinians constructed a huge space colony and their level of technology allowed them to craft a mechanical world. To oversee their survival, they created the computer system Asgard that took the name Belgel. These survivors in the old-times thus abandoned their homeworld whereupon they surrendered their bodies and their future to the will of the computer system. This was in the hopes that their species would survive until the Canopus supernova died out and allowed them to return to their homeworld in order to revive it. However, the Odinian computer intelligence began to grow and gained a will of its own whereupon it took control of all the people under its charge. In time, it turned the Odinian as parts of its mechanism where it forcibly turned its crew into cyborgs under its control and declared a war against all lifein the universe. Thus, the spacegoing Odinians were robbed of their lives and their desire to return to their ancient homeworld with its memory almost faded from their minds.

Part of the Queen's seeding mission was believed to had reached distant Earth where some of the blood of the Odinians mingled with that of mankind. These would be apparent in those of Nordic ancestry that settled in their new home. Evidence of their initial explorations of the system were evident by the remains of a crashed spaceship that remained buried on the surface of Oberon, one of the moons of the planet Uranus. Inside of it was a crystal memory device that contained reference to the ancient civilization of Odin along with a map to its position in the cosmos. In time, legends would be passed ot humanity that spoke of mankind being descended from the great god Odin as dictated in Norse mythology. According to the myth, Odin was described as a world of great beauty that was destroyed by the "Kingdom of Fire" which was a reference to the Canopus supernova. However, its existence was lost to humanity with only a few of Nordic ancestry containing a racial memory of their long lost homeworld whilst the legend of Odin was spread amongst the populace. Once humanity colonized their home system and attained star travel, one of the descendants of the Odinians was Sarah Cyanbaker who felt compelled to join a mission to the outer worlds in the system. A disturbance caused by an Odinian probe led to her ship being destroyed but she was rescued by the crew of the Starlight who were transported to near Uranus space where they uncovered the crashed starship on Oberon. After examining it, they recovered a star map to Odin and used the alien engine system to allow for faster-than-light travel thus beginning the quest for the long lost planet.

Overview
Members of the Odinian species were close to humanity in form and appearance with the ability for them to interbreed with mankind. Among the inhabitants of the planet included a number of giants who raised some of the people of Odin. Furthermore, they believed in a tree of space whose roots had reached into the universe.

Their civilization was noted to had made crystal records as a form of data storage. They had developed an advanced society that was capable of creating FTL starships and powerful artificial intelligence systems.

Appearances

 * Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight (1985)