Name of World: Paradise
System: Gjallarhorn
Year Initially Settled: 2133.
Affiliations: Coalition.
Governmental Style: A bit of a banana republic.
Primary Languages: Pidgin English, Paradisian Sign Language (PSL), pockets of French, Maori, other island languages.
Primary Industries: Tourism, exportation of seafood - many considered delicacies off planet.
Current Leaders/Figures of Note: Yrenea Thalira Islae. Figurehead 'premier' with her own skincare line and the prettiest teeth you've ever seen.
In-Play Characters from this Location: CJ Frost, Seth Frost.
Human Mutations: Native Paradisians have, over the years, developed mutations such as gills that allow them to breathe underwater, the ability to hold their breaths for long periods of time, and webbed hands/feet. Other similar aquatic variants - such as scales and "unnatural" hair or eye colors likened to tropical fish - have been recorded but are less common.
Due to their heavily amphibious lifestyle, the planet's native tongue is primarily a modified sign language. The version of basic they do speak has a lot of borrowed words and phrases and is often accompanied or emphasized by signs and gestures.
It is also more common for Paradisians to be born deaf or hard of hearing than those born on other planets or stations, though the reason for this isn't quite clear.
Geography/Biodiversity: Largely strings of tropical islands, with a native population that's regulated mostly to the slums on separate land masses they have to commute from. The fishing industry occupies the less pretty land masses, out of sight and out of mind from the touristy areas.
Lots of marine animals - fish, shark-like things native to the planet pre-terraforming, dolphins because people thought they'd be pretty but actually they're just assholes. Various sea birds, crabs, etc. No real land-based predators. Someone did release cats on one of the islands once, and ever since then it's been overrun.
History: The planet Paradise was a late addition to the first ten planets to be terraformed, being brought in as a way to get some big dollar donors to sign on to the project. The marketing was extensive, expensive, but most importantly: convincing. They drummed up the remaining funding needed on the promise of beautiful beaches and pristine resorts, emerald golf courses, ignoring the dirty details of how they would staff such a concept.
As it turned out, though, it was going to take a little more than selling out overpriced cabanas to keep the planet afloat. The service industry they moved in to open the planet up with a proverbial bang wasn't well-paid, but they weren't cheap, either, and in order to supplement the fresh foods being provided to the tourists and wealthy residents, as well as to diversify the planetary economy, a fishing industry was soon added. Where the tourism industry dominates the tropical and subtropical zones of the planet, the fishing industry operates predominantly in the more temperate zones and polar regions--areas that hadn't been a big draw for tourists to begin with.
What is now considered the native population of Paradise were originally carefully screened and selected to craft a very specific narrative - an attractive, laid back culture reminiscent of Earth island nations and states to play host to the richest of the rich who could afford to visit or live on the planet. As a cherry on top, the Coalition installed a beautiful, vapid celebrity to be the face of Paradise, and that's been the trend ever since. Every few years, they prop up a new one as the de facto 'President' of the planet, but everyone knows they don't have any decision making power and serve only as a talking head to smile and say whatever the Coalition tells them to.
Paradise has a significant Deaf and hard of hearing community, in large part because of the way the culture embraces and relies on non-verbal forms of communication. There is no societal pressure to 'correct' hearing disabilities, and instead, natives with these differences are treated and respected as the fully functioning members of society they are. Many native Paradisians with hearing disabilities remain on-planet for this reason - and it's considered by some to be a destination for those out in the black with full or partial hearing loss as well.
Colony Day - April 16, annually. A Coalition holiday celebrating the day that Paradise 'opened for business'. It's supposed to celebrate the workers who make Paradise the amazing experience that it is, but very few actually get the day off because without them, the planet can't run. Instead they're told how important and appreciated they are and get their lunch paid for by their employer or some other low-effort gullshit like that.
It's generally a 'mixed feelings' sort of holiday for Paradisians, with many torn between honoring their ancestors who traveled here from Earth and derision for the way they've ended up being treated. Some areas, especially those with a high concentration of people who can trace their ancestry back to a specific Earth ethnicity - like Maori or Haitians - will celebrate with traditions specific to that locale. Others don't celebrate it at all aside from what is imposed upon them by the powers that be.
Fire Festival - November 2nd, annually. A night time festival honoring the Goddess Pele with fireworks, bonfires, fire dancing shows. The main celebration takes place at the waterfront district of Paradise City, where small carnival games and vendors from all over the planet line the torch-lit streets. Because of the concentration of native artisans, Paradisians often see the festival as the beginning of Hinatide season by using the opportunity to start their holiday shopping. Throughout the night there are continuous fire shows happening on huge rafts in the harbor and people gather on the docks to watch.
Over the years, Fire Festival has become a huge tourist draw, with people traveling to Paradise specifically for the experience. Because of this, smaller celebrations have been popping up around the native regions and a concerted effort has been made by the CHL to snuff these, citing fire hazards. Paradisians have made it clear that limiting tourism for the holiday would spur everyone back to the main celebration but, thus far, the CHL hasn't made any effort to curb the influx of tourists and the native population continues to be pushed out of their holiday.
Hinatide - December 25, annually. Instead of Christmas, which is considered by the natives to be a 'tourist holiday', most regions on the planet celebrate Hinatide. Named for the Paradisian Goddess of the Moon, Hina, many aspects of the holiday are similar to Christmas - homes and trees decorated with lights, gift-giving, a focus on family, generosity, and togetherness. The reason for this was a concerted effort amongst the native population to have their new culture recognized while also giving a subtle fuck you to the powers that be who were so hellbent on catering to the rich pricks traveling there for a more traditional tropical Christmas.
While there are small variations throughout the regions of the planet - often due to influences from old Earth traditions - the holiday is generally celebrated with a late dessert on Hinatide Eve followed by everyone going outside to ring in the holiday at the stroke of midnight. And they ring it in loudly, with singing and dancing, swimming and pakalolo, but no bonfires and all lights are kept low to let Hina's light shine on them. This party continues for a couple of hours until things start to wind down and then people start crashing all over the place - in people's houses, on the beach, but always with others in the spirit of togetherness.
Usually around late morning people will start moving again and a communal breakfast is served. During this, gifts are exchanged - always hand-made to distance themselves from all that consumerism, so even if it's bought, it's bought locally - and then the celebrations continue throughout the rest of the day but with a less raucous bent.
Miscellaneous - There are also many smaller, regional holidays that are determined by the people who live there, like Matariki, which is celebrated by those descended from the Maori people.
The native Paradise language is a pidgin form of Basic with borrowed words and phrases from other languages. They have a tendency to sign along with their speech or switch between the two mid-sentence and often refer to the adults in their lives as 'auntie' or 'uncle', regardless of actual relation.
Pidgin Origin: Hawaiian
Brah/bruddah (as is) - brother, friend, mate
Boddah/botha you? (as is) - you wanna fight about it??? Same as "like beef?"
Calabash cousin (as is) - someone considered family even though they're not actually related
Choke (as is) - lots of, as in "this man got choke cash" or "that place has choke ladies on Thursday"
Da kine (duh kyn) - can mean anything/anyone, sort of a "that thing/person/place" when you can't remember the word
Eia au, eia 'oe - "Here I am, here you are"
Hamajang (ham-uh-jang): all messed up, "my hair was all hamajang"
Hana hou (hah-nah ho): to do again/do it again
Howzit (how-zit) - "how's it"
Kama'aina (kah-mah eye-nah): native born
Kane (kah-nay) - man
Keiki (kay-key): kid/s
Lidat/l'dat (lye-dat/luh-dat) - literally just "like that"
Like try (as is) - want to try, as in "you like try" can be either question or directive
Mo betta (as is) - "more better"
Mahalo (mah-ha-lo): thanks
Makai/Mauka (mah-kye/mao-kah): Oceanside/inland, directional
Make (mah-kay): like pau but permanent, DONE
Ono (oh-no): good/delicious/choice
Ohana (oh-hana): MEANS FAMILY AND FAMILY MEANS NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND
Pakalolo (pah-kah-low-low): marijuana
Pau (pow): catch all for being "done" with something like "I'm pau" for leaving work or "the chips pau" when you're out of snacks or if your car shits the bed
Pau hana (pow hah-nah): after work
Shoots (as is): sort of like okay/sure/let's go in agreeing to something
Talk story (as is) - gossip, catch up with, "we talk story all night"
Try (as is) - sort of "please" like "you try come back later"
Wahine (wah-hee-nay) - woman
Pidgin Origin: Maori
Kia kaha (kee-ah ka-ha) - stay/be strong
Pidgin Origin: Mixed
Tantaran (tahn-ta-rahn - Tagalog/Japanese) - showoff, boastful
Skosh (...skosh - Hawaiian from the Japanese sukoshi): little bit
Aisos (eye-sohs - Tagalog/Ilocano/Spanish) - "oh my god!/oh no!"
Chaa (cha - Chinese/Japanese): tea
Mo (mo - Japanese): and
Bambucha (bahm-boo-cha - Portuguese/Hawaiian) - huge
Go 5-4-4 (Japanese/Hawaiian): gotta go pee, man
Paradise Specific Slang
Ahab - A racist who hates Paradisians
Bubbly - cool, good, "it's all bubbly"
Fish knob / fish dick - general insult
Gullshit - 'bullshit'
Irwin - Someone with an unhealthy sexual interest in Paradisians
Just keep swimming - keep moving forward. From an old Earth children's movie.
Sila's tits - catch-all swear