Longyear orbits within the Habitable Zone of the blue giant Atlantica once every 80 years. It has only one large landmass, at about 18 degrees north latitude. The planet’s axial tilt is very small, and Longyear’s weather is bearable without any expensive technology—the hottest days of summer are comparable to earth’s Middle East, and the coldest days of winter are like those in Lapland.

Spring and autumn are beautiful, mild, and everlasting, and Longyear is a popular site for interstellar tourism. In summer, the large migratory schools of fish that follow the warm ocean water were especially plentiful, and fishing is our primary industry. But, in winter, Longyear is cold and lonely. No tourists come. The fish are far, far away. The handful of Southern hemisphere islands are owned either by the super-wealthy as private playgrounds, or by the fishing conglomerates.

Most people leave. Those who don’t, those who stay for 20 years of frigid cold—we are the “Winter Generation.”