Plateau (Known space)
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Plateau is a human colony in Larry Niven's Known Space. It is located on the second innermost planet in orbit about Tau Ceti.
It is a hot world, with a dense atmosphere similar to that of Venus. There is a small amount of photosynthetic life (or some other oxygen producing process) in the atmosphere to create a "life zone" approximately 50-75 miles above the surface of the planet. At this altitude there is a breathable atmosphere with temperature and pressure suitable for human life.
The surface of the planet is almost entirely uninhabitable with the exception of a large mesa like mountain, which rises up into the life zone. Therefore the entire habitable area of the planet is only about half the size of the state of California on Earth. Inhabitants of the planet are called Mountaineers.
A unmanned Bussard ramjet probe visited the planet during the twenty-first century as a prelude to colonization. It sent back information from a point on the plateau, and deemed the world to be habitable. However, it failed to convey the fact of the limited habitable area. Human colonists, unable to travel by ramscoop craft (due to the powerful magnetic fields involved) arrived many years later in their slower colony ships. With provisions only for a one-way trip, they were forced to stay.
The Captain of the first arriving "slowboat" circled the planet for many hours before finding the plateau. Opon seeing it for the first time, he exclaimed "Lookitthat!!" which gave the feature its formal name of Mount Lookitthat.
Upon arrival, the crew decided to assume absolute control over the colony world, including the colonists who were in stasis. Two factors likely led to this scenario: One, the crew had done all the work for many years piloting the ship to its destination. They had taken more risks, had aged more than the colonists, and therefore felt themselves justified in ruling. Two, the relatively small habitable area of the world would make it easier to control the colonists, as there was no place for "dissenters" to run. (The second factor is the most likely reason that the same thing didn't happen on all of the colony worlds!)
The crew awakened the colonists from stasis one at a time, forcing them at gunpoint to sign the "Covenant of Planetfall", an agreement granting absolute rule to the Crew and their families. Over many generations, a firm class division between "Crew" and "Colonist" developed. The Crew controlled all Power, Technology, and Medicine. Rebellious Colonists were kept in check by "Implementation", a gestapo-like order of secret police who would conduct periodic raids, sending rebels to the Hospital to be broken up for the organ banks. These were used to keep the Crew (and compliant Colonist) families young and healthy.
The class division and repressive society persisted for three centuries, ending with the revolution detailed in A Gift From Earth.
