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Name of World/Station: The Menagerie.
System: Uriel.
Year Initially Settled: 2133.
Affiliations: Independent.
Governmental Style: Largely self-governed, with a limited leadership role given to those who manage the planet's (equally limited) interactions with outside entities.
Primary Languages: Wide and varied, though little of it is comprehensible to the human ear and mind. Some still study human languages, and often wind up selected for the role of intermediary when engagements with humans are necessary.
Primary Industries: N/A.
Current Leaders/Figures of Note: The last time humans spoke with the Menagerie, it was via a crow. The time before that, an elephant. There seems to be no human logic to the selection of their representatives.
In-Play Characters from this Location: None.
Human Mutations: N/A.
Geography/Biodiversity: Earth-like in nature, as it was terraformed to provide a second-home to animals brought on the Ark from Earth. There are no known native fauna, though some of the flora proved capable of thriving in a nitrogen-rich environment and was incorporated into the new world.
History: The Menagerie was once a planet of enviable beauty that prided itself on maintaining its environments in the way the people of Menagerie would have wanted for Earth, long ago. Every city was sustainable, covered in greenery and eco-friendly technology, and the people lived in what they thought was perfect harmony with the animals humans had brought to the planet. For the Menagerie was originally intended to be a safe-haven, a rescue for all of Earth's creatures and even a place where they might resurrect some of the species they'd lost to time, deforestation, poaching, pollution, and other diseases of humanity.
Over time, though, some of the animals humans had brought to the planet began to show signs of greater intelligence. Along with the rise of the Enlightened Ones, as they were called, came the Adepts: humans who pair-bonded with specific EOs and were thusly able to hear and understand them. These bonds encouraged the idea that the humans and animals of Menagerie could work together toward a second chance at life; a coexistence between nature and humanity that would show the rest of the universe it was possible.
But as much as segments of the human population of the Menagerie tried to argue it, the Coalition wasn't keen to listen to their theories about the "pet project" Menagerie had become. And the longer things went on like this, with the CHL dismissing EOs and leaving that to be the Menagerie's problem alone, the more unsettled things became.
The civil war was the perfect inflection point. Tensions had grown between the Menagerie and CHL over the years, and finally, with Asphodel's influence, they declared their independence and sided with the rebellion. At least, it all seemed that simple at first. While the war raged on, though, a formidable contingent of animals gathered - both EO and not - with the intention of using the split attentions of Menagerian humans and the EOs bonded to them as an opportunity to get rid of them all.
The threat was significant enough that the CHL diverted resources for a rescue mission to evacuate as many of the planet's humans and those who opposed the coup. In truth, it wasn't an entirely altruistic effort. Having some of those forces on their side was better than fighting the lot of them, and it was hoped that the refugees would align themselves with the CHL once more as a result. That hope proved out... but the Menagerie was lost to the beasts in the end, and even after the war ended the planet cut itself off completely from the CHL.
While some independent planets continue to trade with the Coalition, the Menagerie does not. In fact, very little contact is made between the Menagerie and the outside universe, these days. If there are any humans left on the planet, they are assumed long dead, and aside from some vague satellite imaging nobody really knows what's going on on the surface anymore.