A’Mairuno-mot

A'Mairuno-mot is the homeworld of the Cetians, a rocky, watery world orbiting Tau Ceti in the Cetian Sector. Its system has a higher incidence rate of impacts than Sol, resulting in a great deal of water seeding on the planet due to asteroids and comets. This high incidence of impacts is also a main reason for the Cetians' laser defense program.

A'Mairuno-mot is slightly warmer than Earth, and most Cetians live on a chain of islands, as the planet has far less dry land mass. These islands represent the tops of several mountain chains peeking above the world ocean.

Exclusion
Only Cetians and half-Cetians are permitted on-planet, excepting particular facilities where humans are allowed (resorts, psychological treatment centers, and Earth's embassy). There is a complex set of taboos regarding who can freely set foot on a'Mairuno-mot and regarding who can have Cetian citizenship, all of whom must have Cetian blood. This is different from the Earth Republic, where other races may petition for full citizenship and receive it.

Name Meaning
In Cetian, a'Mairuno-mot means "all coming forth" or "giver of life." The Cetians seldom use this name outside of Tau Ceti, and almost seem embarrassed of it. They often refer to their home planet as "Tau Ceti" to humans, and are happy to use the name given by another race when discussing it. Like the name of their own people, this Cetian use of other species' titles for them and their planet represents a cultural desire to put others at ease, to be peaceful, and to not take themselves very seriously.

Human ambassadors and xeno-anthropologists sometimes find this aspect of Cetians frustrating, and have insisted on calling the Cetian homeworld by its proper name, or by the shortened name "Mairuno." Cetians find this either embarrassing or funny, depending on the individual and the circumstance. Part of the trouble with any human using this "proper" name is that a non-psychic race cannot entirely "pronounce" a Cetian name, as they cannot add the intended and correct psychic shades of meaning behind the word when saying it, making human use of the word difficult and awkward, even hard to understand, to a Cetian hearing it. Humans are more likely to unconsciously add a correct emotional shading to words of their own design, and a Cetian isn't likely to have confusing expectations of those words and the associated psychic shading that might lead to an awkward situation. So while a'Mairuno-mot is the correct name for a Cetian to use, it is not necessarily the correct name for a human to use. Even half-Cetians raised on Earth, who are not part of consensus and have not been normed in the use of psychic language, might use the name strangely.