The Core Planets

The Core Planets inhabit a very tiny sector in the close vicinity of Mars, but collectively control and influence several hundred worlds around the galaxy. While some Scrappers can still make their way here, the majority of those living on the core planets are in the Upper and Upper-Middle class.

Mars - Sol

Mars is the seat of government and commerce for all known life in the galaxy. ICP, ESSA, and SpaceTech all maintain their headquarters on Mars. MG maintains a corporate office here, but keeps their Headquarters on Tau.

Mars is the wealthiest and most influential planet in the system. Life expectancy is 90 years for most people and there are even a few citizens of Mars who can say they were born at the tail end of the Galactic war. Citizens of Mars operate at the absolute top of the social, political, and economic ladder. There is no working class on Mars, all manual labor and service work is performed by automated robots and drones. These benefits do come with a level of insecurity however. Life on Mars is entirely monitored by a labyrinthine Code of Conduct (CoC) that all citizens must adhere to. Your adherence to the CoC is measured by a Personal Rating (PR). Your PR defines where you stand in Mars society, what jobs you can hold, and what social circles you are allowed to initiate interaction with. Life on Mars is a constant tightrope walk of bureaucracy, profiteering, and social engineering. It is no wonder why even the wealthiest of Mars citizens choose to flee to the frontier. And of course there are those who fall from grace, who's PR sinks to an unsustainable level, giving them no choice but to leave Mars.

As the smallest of the Core Planets, Mars is known for radical and experimental architecture, made possible by the low gravity of the planet. Skyscrapers as tall as Mount Everest; Curved, angular and forked architecture with minimal support is very common, with the most popular style being extremely slanted buildings. It is often unsettling to visitors to walk under a skyscraper leaning over them, seemingly held up by nothing but thin air.

Venus - Sol

Above the corrosive golden clouds of Venus float a network of interconnected city-domes collectively known as The Meadows. Mostly owned and operated by SpaceTech, Venus is the jewel in SpaceTech's crown; the ultimate luxury resort planet, catering to the wealthiest citizens of the galaxy. Venus is a two-faced world. On one side, unparalleled extravagance, leisure and decadent excess. On the other, a seedy underbelly of organized criminal societies. The surface of the planet has never been successfully terraformed, so all citizens and guests of the planet live up above in The Meadows.

The Meadows are made up of 5 city-domes, each with their own specialty:

  • Canopus - The central spaceport of Venus. Located higher in Venus' atmosphere than the other domes, with roadways leading down to each of the other domes. The space port sectors take up the center of the dome, and the outer borders are full of lower-end casinos, hotels and tourist traps. A special shield is required for FPE vessels to land and take off without reacting to the Venusian atmosphere, so all space traffic occurs on Canopus which has the proper altitude and shielding to allow space capable vehicles. This is also the reason why Venus is the only planet in the Galaxy that still uses wheeled vehicles. The typical FPE personal craft cannot operate in the Venus atmosphere, so all of the domes on Venus are connected by covered roadways.
  • Avalon - The main resort dome. The center of Avalon is a simulated island in a man-made sea. The inside wall of the dome is a massive video screen depicting the Venus sky, except Sunrise and Sunset occur every 6 hours instead of the normal Venusian day. Interesting fact, a Venusian day is equivalent to 243 Earth days, and is in fact longer than a Venus year. That's right, a Venus day is longer than a Venus year. Market research done by SpaceTech showed that sunrise and sunset are integral to an optimum vacation experience, so in Avalon you get twice as many as you would normally get on Mars.
  • Palisade - The "Red Light District" of Venus. Home to all manner of delectable and decadent entertainment. All of the establishments in Palisade are operated by the Palisade Trade Association which is an independent corporate entity owned collectively by those who work in Palisade. The Palisade Trade Association ensures fair wages, benefits, safety, and quality of life for all of its members. It is likely the only organization not yet infiltrated in some way by the criminal societies operating on Venus.
  • Fortuna - Fortune favors the bold, and the bold may test their luck in the grand casinos of Fortuna. Whether you are a single-credit slot-jockey, or a trillionaire high roller, you'll be touching nothing but gold and silk during your time in opulent Fortuna.
  • Vesta - For the majority of Venusian citizens, Vesta is where they call home. Vesta is a massive city-sized apartment complex designed to house the workers and staff of the resort domes. Being out of the public eye, Vesta is not as carefully patrolled or regulated as the other domes; and as a result, Vesta is where most of the criminal societies on Venus run their operations out of. Privacy laws in Vesta, combined with lackadaisical enforcement by surprisingly well-paid local authorities make it almost impossible to snuff out these criminal organizations.

Anille - Alpha Centauri (Orbits the binary Alpha Centauri AB system)

The lush planet of Anille, orbiting the binary stars Alpha Centauri A and B, demonstrates unusual environmental qualities that make it ideal for photosynthetic life. That is to say plants flourish there. The year-round tropical weather makes Anille a veritable paradise, however there is a catch. Cities on Anille are built in harmony with the natural environment so as not to upset the temperamental ecosystem, which acts like a massive hive mind and attacks anything it sees as a threat. Only 128 cities have been successfully integrated so far, but as long as the cities present no significant harm to the environment Anille appears content to permit their existence.

Located on Anille is the famous Mercy Corp medical research facility. The best doctors across the galaxy are trained on Anille. Anille is also home to native species that provide many life saving medical compounds. These compounds are it's primary exports.

Anille is the only exoplanet in the Galaxy that required no terraforming to be habitable. Dominated by plant-life, Anille does not have any native animals. Instead it developed a complex ecosystem of mobile and non-mobile photosynthetic life-forms that all operate collectively like a giant hive-mind. The first colonists arrived on an idyllic peaceful world but as they began clearing ground the plant-life turned gradually more hostile. Anille's warnings went unheeded, leading to the deaths of the entire group. It took 2 more colonization missions before the technique for colonizing Anille was finally understood.

Kledera - Proxima Centauri (Red Dwarf)

The twilight world of Kledera is the center of Galactic media and culture. It has been dubbed in the tabloids as "New Hollywood" or "Hollyworld" because 90% of all feature films, commercials, and media content are produced on Kledera. Many historians are befuddled by this because Kledera orbits a small Red Dwarf and rarely gets brighter than twilight outside. This would normally be terrible for filming; however it is the only Core Planet with anything close to Old Earth topography, which was in short supply after the Embargo of Earth in 2226. With a bit of terraforming and landscaping, one could hardly tell the difference between a Klederan sparkling lake and the Great Lakes of the old American Federation. The film industry adapted to the low light conditions, and within a quarter of a century had most of the artistic community settled in with it.

Klederan citizens enjoy the benefits of a very diverse economy and some of the best entertainment in the known universe; but the Entertainment Capital of the Galaxy isn't all tinsel and flowers. Being the media and PR center, Kledera is carefully monitored by the Digital Standards Bureau, which is a regulatory body of the ICP that is charged with stamping out subversive or seditious media content on the Galactic networks. Even an off-hand comment in casual conversation may be enough to get you Blacklisted if you speak ill of the corporations or the ICP. Blacklisted individuals cannot be employed in any capacity in a film, PR or media company. Depending on the circumstances, their Klederan citizenship may also be revoked.

Tau - Tau Ceti

Plato’s Republic for the Modern Citizen, Tau is the primary residential planet for the rest of it’s system, and for the majority of Millennium Global’s employees. Nearly the entirety of the planet’s surface is covered by the sprawling “Primary Dormitory” of Millennium global, a massive complex of housing units, ration centers, and recreation zones, built to an exact ratio, with every unit being identical to all the others of its type, and constantly expanding under the same ratio and schematics. The Tau solar system is blessed with numerous planets and moons that are rich in minerals and valuable metals, enough to last another 1000 years of mining. at current consumption levels.

While Tau may sound bleak and bland, the citizens of Tau are reported as some of the happiest among the Core Planets. This largely sprouts from the significant lack of classist structure or lifestyle disparity on Tau. Everyone’s resources and the availability of them are effectively identical on the surface, while of course the elites of Millennium Global and others have more access to imported luxuries and specialty items, the vast majority of it’s population enjoy abundant if simple lives, able to follow their own personal interests without envy of their neighbors. One of the most widely admired aspects of Tau are its spectacular transportation systems, with systematic and extremely swift mass transit between every type of station on the “Primary Dormitory” and most importantly the myriad of well developed space ports across the planet, to allow the workforce of the Tau system an easy and pleasant commute to their respective Occupationally Designated Worlds.

Outside of all this stands the only other true standalone structure of Tau, The Millennium Global Headquarters. A massive spire positioned over the planet’s northern pole, symbolic of the Corporation being the axis that keeps the planet spinning. This is both a beautiful sight from afar, and an awe inspiring one up close. Extreme defensive systems litter the outside of the Headquarters, as master thieves and the occasional rogue Muk’taa raiding fleet will take the power and secrecy of the HQ as a challenge. To date, none have ever succeeded. The slag of the intruder’s ships is melted down into small coins, with numbers representing the number of people on board. These coins are displayed along the sides of the entrance of the HQ, as a perpetual warning. It is well known that the HQ has extensive living space for it’s elite staff, who spend their entire lives inside, in order to prevent competitive staff poaching, and the leak of any of Millennium Global’s secrets. To be an engineer invited inside, is a great achievement, though some refuse, in order to maintain their lives outside of the HQ’s walls.