Far, far away in the distant reaches of the human frontier -- on the ragged edge of the borders of the Coalition of Colonies -- lies the most populated settlement in the region known as Light’s Edge, the '''Republic of Assunzione'''. Originally founded as part of a colonization mission launched by a league of Mediterrean countries, the system of Assunzione was first colonized in the mid 2200s by seven ships. The planet’s star shortly fizzled out after colonisation, a process that has yet to be explained, and one that dramatically altered the future course of the planet. This calamity gave rise to a local syncretic religion known as '''[[Luceism]]'''. Despite the disastrous fate of its star, Assunzione has managed to survive and thrive. This status has made many view the planet as the gateway to Light’s Edge, and the many mysterious phenomena that dwell within the region.
'''Assunzione's remote location and urban planning which places a premium on available housing and space has made it unattractive to outsiders as a destination for immigration. Because of this, characters born on Assunzione will have names and appearances consistent with the peoples living on or around the Mediterranean Sea, much like the planet's original colonists. Only native Assunzioniis may take the Assunzionii accent. This is enforceable by server moderators and admins.'''
The birthplace of [[Timeline of Humanity|humanity]], the Sol System is one of the most important systems in the bustling core of the [[Sol Alliance]]. With billions of residents, the System holds the oldest and most venerable human colonies such as [[Luna]] and [[Venus]], and some settlements date back to the 21st and 22nd centuries. The System is the metropolis of human space and holds the Core Worlds. Despite its venerable status and prosperity extreme wealth disparities exist, such as on [[Mars]] and Venus, which have proven to be a constant source of contention in the System. The official capital of the Alliance, Unity Station, is located in the Sol System in orbit of Earth.
==History==
==Planets and Major Bodies==
The initial long-range colonisation efforts carried out by humanity that formed what would eventually become the Coalition of Colonies were often perilous and dangerous ventures relying upon early and typically slow warp engines to navigate across dozens of light years of empty space. Many of these expeditions — such as those travelling to Xanu Prime or Vysoka — were successful, while others - such as the ships that journeyed to Himeo — ran into issues. Some — like the colonial fleet that landed upon Moroz — became entirely stranded and lost, cut off from their homeworld and left to fend for themselves. The distant system of Al-Maqdisi, and the sole habitable planet within it, was one of the furthest systems colonized during this craze, yet it would be one of the strangest.
===Mercury (Sol I)===
Mercury is the nearest planet in orbit around Sol. It completes one full revolution around its parent star every 88 standard days, and has a day that is a little more than 58.6 standard days long. It is a small terrestrial planet, being smaller than Earth’s moon. It’s surface is pitted with craters from eons of meteor impacts. The planet has a very thin exosphere composed of mainly oxygen, though it it much too thin to sustain any form of life. Mercury experiences wild variation in terms of surface temperature, with its daytime side reaching temperatures of 430 °C, and the night side dropping to the range of -180 °C. The planet faces constant bombardment from small meteors and solar wind, with no atmosphere thick enough to prevent it.
In the early 2200s, before the Second Great Depression and the ensuing Interstellar War, colonization by the Sol Alliance was at its peak: the frontier was being pushed further into the unknown. In this colonial boom, the Sol Alliance sponsored a colonial initiative brought forward by the Mediterranean Economic Pact — a European Union initiative that brought together a diverse alliance of Mediterranean economic powers stretching from Iberia to Anatolia in order to launch seven vessels to the Al-Maqdisi System for purposes of setting up colonies... The resulting “Med-Sev” expedition would be one of the longest journeys undertaken in the 2200s and would be the first to reach what would later be referred to as Light’s Edge, setting down on the only habitable planet in the system in late 2243.
While no attempts were ever made to colonize the planet due to its utter lack of resources and extreme conditions, it was chosen as the site of the Alliance's largest solar-based power generation facility due to its proximity to the Sun. The Icarus Facility, as it is locally known, produces a great amount of the power used in the Sol System itself and is primarily operated by [[Einstein Engines]] with a minority stake in the facility by [[Idris Incorporated]]. Work in the Icarus Facility is hazardous at the best of times, and most employees of it will typically only work for three months at a time before being rotated off to a less dangerous facility. Due to the immensely hazardous nature of Mercury, civilian travel is not advised.
While the initial colonial period of the planet that came to be known as Assunzione by the local settlers was fairly standard -- perhaps even boring -- the Med-Sev expedition was able to send some valuable resources back to Sol proper. The main value of the system, however, became the unusual phenomenon found within it. The Al-Maqdisi System was, during this period, home to a variety of light-related phenomena ranging from massive sunspots on the star’s surface thousands of kilometers wide to unusual prismatic patterns that occurred in Assunzione’s atmosphere, creating beautiful vistas above the self-contained domes of the seven initial colonies. The system’s star continued to provide a massive amount of data and bizarre, awe-inspiring phenomena until 2274.
===[[Venus|Venus (Sol II)]]===
[[Image:Venera.jpg|thumb|250px|The surface of Venus is uninhabitable, and the majority of its population resides in massive floating facilities referred to as ''aerostats''.]]Venus is the second terrestrial planet in the Sol system. A Venusian year lasts 225 standard days, while a Venusian day is longer, at 243 standard days. Venus spins retrograde when compared to the other planets in the Sol system, causing the sun to rise in the west and set in the east in its sky. Venus has an extremely thick and toxic atmosphere while its surface is an incredibly hostile environment.
''When it went out.''
Despite this, the upper atmosphere is known to be calm. Most colonies on Venus take either the form of floating aerostats, or bulky habitation complexes on the surface. While the temperature here is still a blistering 75C some of the aerostats, locally known as "donuts" due to their distinctive shape, tend to specialize in using the atmosphere's massive concentration of CO2 to cultivate extremely bountiful hydroponic farms, and Venus is one of the breadbaskets of the Sol System. Despite this, Venus is primarily known for its contributions to the Alliance's entertainment and media industry, and the planet is deeply divided between working-class Jintarians and richer Cythereans.
Understandably, this caused a significant amount of panic. Fortunately for the colonists, the star had retained enough mass despite going dark. While the darkness meant life on the planet had become a daily fight for survival, it managed to remain in orbit of the dead star. With the Interstellar War already beginning to break out, the Sol Alliance crippled by debt, and the Mediterranean Economic Pact in economic freefall, there was no easy way off of the planet for the immediate future. There was, however, a very real chance that Assunzione would become a planet-sized tomb. Fortunately, the colonists of the Med-Sev fleet turned out to be tougher than initially imagined, and luckier than one would have originally anticipated. As a precaution against a lack of fuel and hazardous atmospheric phenomena, Assunzione’s seven colonial cities were all built within large, self-contained dome structures powered by the one source of fuel that was not freezing or disappearing: geothermal energy. Despite their advantages, their struggle for survival would not be an easy one.
===[[Earth|Earth (Sol III)]]===
The months in the immediate aftermath of the star being snuffed out were marked by widespread panic, terror, and despair. The death of the system’s Star had an extremely negative impact upon the planet’s remaining population. Many residents of Assunzione turned to religion as a source of relief and succor or as a shield against the terrifying concept that was their entire planet freezing over and dying a slow death that could hardly be stopped. Even as the situation in the domed cities began to stabilize and it became clear to the population of the planet that they might just survive, a sense of desperation and hopelessness reigned supreme over the residents of the planet, and many found insufficient answers in both scientific explanations and in their traditional religions from across the Mediterranean. What would emerge from this tumultuous period was the quite unusual syncretic religion known as [[Luceism]], which established itself as a new faith inspired by various religious traditions of the original colonists. The religion, odd as it was, would eventually expand to the rest of Assunzione from its home in the domed city of Malaga and become known as one of the major hallmarks of Assunzione.
Earth is the third planet out from Sol. Earth has since regained its status as the jewel of humanity; it's central and arguably most important world. Earth is a Garden world, harboring millions of unique species of flora and fauna. It possesses extremely diverse ecosystems, with huge deserts, sprawling tundra, massive mountain ranges, rolling grasslands, and thick swaths of tropical rain forest. 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered in salt water while massive lakes of fresh water are found within continental areas. Humanity's home world is densely inhabited and every corner of the planet has a long, well-recorded history and culture.
By the early 2280s, Assunzione had managed to stabilize and now had to deal with another crisis. It had been written off as a lost cause by the Sol Alliance due to its position on the other side of the newly-formed Coalition of Colonies, on the boundary of Light’s Edge. As they had already passed through their greatest crisis and remained alive, by the grace of the fading light, the decision to formally split from the Alliance was an easy one to reach. The Med-Sev colonial mission formally declared its mission concluded as of 2282, due to "unforeseen consequences involving its environment", and formed the Republic of Assunzione - a union of all seven domed cities under one government in the capital of Triesto. It joined the newly formed Coalition of Colonies in 2300, becoming the Coalition’s only member state in Light’s Edge. This would prove to be an unexpected advantage in the years to come, as Assunzione’s unusual stability and location have turned it into the primary point of entry for the wild, untamed, and extremely strange systems further inside Light’s Edge.
Earth is home to a large but stable human and a small non-human population. The planet suffers from moderate space debris in high-orbit, a consequence of centuries of space travel. The Alliance maintains a significant naval presence around the planet.
The Republic of Assunzione, in the present day, remains prosperous in spite of its strange religion and despite its harsh living environment. However many go abroad to the greater Coalition or even further beyond to the Republic of Biesel, with New Gibson being a particularly popular destination due to its similar terrain, for reasons as broad as the Coalition itself.
Earth has one moon, Luna, which has developed into a fully fledged member state of the Sol Alliance.
==Environment==
====[[Luna]]====
Luna is the sole moon of Earth. It is tidally locked to its parent and makes a complete revolution every 28 standard days. It formed when a rogue planetoid collided with Earth during the early stages of its formation. The moon came together from the resultant orbital debris. Luna was the first target of spacefaring humans as they pierced the outer layers of the atmosphere. It was largely ignored until the age of FTL travel and colonization, when small colonies were established, mostly as refueling and launching posts for re-entry craft.
The environment of Assunzione is extremely harsh and equally strange at the same time. The surface is deathly cold, and death from exposure without a proper suit can occur in mere minutes unless aid is rendered immediately. The surface is also constantly shrouded in darkness, making any efforts outside of the extremely well-lit domed cities extremely risky and often tedious ventures. Some scholars, particularly those visiting from the universities of the United Syndicates of Himeo, have noted that the settlements on Assunzione have a greater amount of lighting per square meter than any other place in the Coalition, due to both the lack of a traditional sun in the system and Luceism’s obsession with light and brightness.
Luna is the oldest and most venerable of humanity's colonies, and is home to a vast amount of wealth thanks to the presence of megacorporations and those associated with their early successes. Lunans, despite being a relatively small population of slightly over a billion people, represent a disproportionate amount of the Alliance's naval officers and diplomatic corps. Luna is the headquarters and nerve center of [[Einstein Engines]], the oldest of humanity's megacorporations and major rival of both NanoTrasen and the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]].
Thanks to a massive die-off of flora and fauna following the extinguishing of the planet’s star, what flora and fauna remain have come to be integrated with the domed cities of Assunzione. Nearly two centuries of evolution has led to what animals remain on Assunzione becoming quite small and compact in order to survive in the heavily-urbanized environments in which they now dwell. Similarly, the great freeze has caused the planet’s plant life to be reduced to living in hydroponics bays, museums, and green spaces found throughout the seven great domed cities. Some of the most common animals now found on Assunzione are the common domesticated house cat, originally brought by the colonists to Assunzione, and Rattus rattus, the black rat, which stowed away on the original colonising vessels . In the urban jungle, cats have managed to thrive - becoming the primary predator of the domes and common household pets. One curious exception to this rule of all life being killed after the star died, is the so-called luce vine, the only known plant to have survived the Star’s fate -- often simply referred to as the Dimming -- and remain outside the dome. The luce vine is typically found growing on the surface level of the ice that dominates the surface of Assunzione, and is bioluminescent in nature with its bulbs constantly producing a ghostly white light. This quality has led to many on Assunzione viewing it as a symbol of the Light’s will and a sign that their star will someday return to its former glory - no matter what. Due to their ability to glow in even the dimmest sources of light, luce vine bulbs are the primary source of illumination for warding spheres and greater warding spheres. The process of harvesting these bulbs is viewed as a holy task for followers of Luceism, and a great deal of importance is placed upon it.
===[[Mars|Mars (Sol IV)]]===
Mars is the fourth planet out from Sol. A Martian day is only slightly longer than a standard day at 25 standard hours, but the Martian year is 687 standard days long. It is the outermost terrestrial planet in the Sol system. It is known as the Red Planet, because the iron-rich dust that covers most of the planet’s surface gives it a reddish tinge that was visible to the naked eyes of astronomers on Earth in ancient times. Mars had a thin atmosphere, but centuries of terraforming efforts have made it breathable.
==Government and Economy==
Mars was a target of one of the first bodies colonized by humanity. Its population swelled in the early days of the Second Space Age.
The Republic of Assunzione is a representative republic made up of the planet’s seven great domed cities, all of which hold a seat on the Council of Seven, and is headed by the elected President of the Republic of Assunzione. On paper the Republic’s political system is free of the influence of Luceism, but in reality, politics and prayer often find themselves hand-in-hand in the Republic. Prospective politicians will often ask for blessings from priests before embarking on their election campaigns, and the holy blessing of the Light (or lack thereof) can often make or break one’s entire campaign. Politicians and officials from Assunzione’s religious minorities, dubbed by Assunzioni society as Sinluceians, will often find themselves running into significant difficulties due to this focus on Luceism, and rarely find major success. The President of the Republic has never been a Sinluceian.
Mars has suffered two catastrophes while colonized: the abrupt failure of its terraforming infrastructure and widespread damage as a result of the First Interstellar War, when most of the planet attempted to secede from the Alliance. Mars is home to millions of descendants of refugees, cramped in centuries old bio domes or ruins. Yet Mars has proved resilient and today is one of the most populated worlds in human space with a highly advanced economy. Areas of the planet have been fully terraformed, allowing for massive, open air cities. These tend to be near the coastal areas.
The economy of the Republic is intrinsically tied to Light’s Edge due to its position upon the very edge of the region. Its proximity to the rest of Light’s Edge allows it to not only serve as the primary economic hub of the surrounding frontier, but also makes it the primary point of entry for scientific expeditions or missions (often megacorporation-funded ones) seeking to examine the phenomena of the area or chart unexplored territories beyond known space. In order to continue its status as the best place to launch an treks into Light’s Edge, the Republic’s economy is specialized into producing survey and sensor equipment ranging from a variety of sensor suites to exploratory and surveying vessels. Curiously, expeditions outfitted (and in some cases blessed for a price) by the denizens of Assunzione have a significantly higher survival rate than those that are not. Whether this is due to local expertise or something beyond that is unknown.
The Violet Dawn catastrophe of 2462 and civil unrest in the weeks leading up to the catastrophe has seen Mars reduced to a shadow of its former self due to massive phoron fires that raged across the southern half of the planet and the utter collapse of government authority over the planet. Millions have fled the planet and dozens of arcologies have been destroyed, leaving the future of the planet uncertain at best and apocalyptic at worst.
==The Assunzionii Expeditionary Corps==
The planetary capital of Mars is Unified Kunlun, located within the Provisional Government of Mars' zone of control, but a majority of the planet has fallen into anarchy.
Officially founded on the 200th anniversary of the planet’s calamity, the AEC are the result of a joint effort between Zeng-Hu Pharmaceutical’s Coalition Branch and the Council of Seven; created to explore Light’s Edge and the Lemurian Sea. Thus, since their original formation the AEC has spearheaded scientific exploration into the region. Though well publicized in their efforts - their departures are broadcast throughout Assunzione and beyond, only a scarce few of their more substantial discoveries ever reach the public eye, the rest perpetually concealed behind layers of bureaucratic red tape and corporate NDAs.
===The Asteroid Belt===
Despite this, the AEC are romanticized among Assunzionii as heroes and daredevils for braving the seemingly endless Lemurian Sea. This, as well as the mysterious drop in fatalities experienced on ventures involving the planet's denizens - has brought the group closer to the Luceian church throughout the years, though Zeng-Hu was initially reluctant to rely on the church. The image of an AEC Scout — adorned by a cloak inscribed in gold with Luceian scripture — has become a cultural staple within Assunzionii, appearing everywhere from shrines to popular media.
===Controversy===
The Asteroid Belt is an area around Sol where thousands of rocky bodies, too small to be called planets or even dwarf planets, orbit. The zone encompasses an area between 2.2 AU and 3.2 AU away from Sol. The asteroids in the belt are rich in precious and semi-precious metals, hydrogen and water. The density of asteroids in the zone is relatively low, which was an important factor in allowing asteroid mining companies to establish footholds. The oldest and largest of these asteroid mining companies is the Beltway Mining Company, which has claimed the rights to mine most of the Asteroid Belt. Other fledgling companies have often been pushed out through strategic economic maneuvers, intimidation, and sometimes force. Beltway has a main base located on the planetoid Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt. Over the years, the planetoid has been hollowed out by intensive mining operations, and now serves as a massive complex that the rest of their operations are based out of. Roughly seven million people reside in the asteroid belt.
The AEC’s acclaim within Assunzione is not without critiques. The most prominent is a 2464 journalistic exposé by the XNS aimed at breaching the unspoken layer of secrecy shrouding them. “The Lemurian Papers,” as they are known, allege poor working conditions, predatory NDAs, and contain harrowing first-hand accounts of the effect prolonged Light’s Edge exposure may have on body and mind. The papers claim antidepressant and antipsychotic usage in the AEC is higher in average when compared to the overall Assunzionii population, and life expectancy is significantly lower. However, exact statistics on the group’s fatality rates are unknown to the public. And yet, the romantic image of the AEC continues to attract new recruits — not all of whom return.
===[[Jupiter|Jupiter (Sol V)]]===
===Exposure to Light’s Edge===
Jupiter is the fifth planet out from Sol. It is the largest gas giant in the system and is actually two times larger than all the other planets of the Solar system combined. It is composed of Helium and Hydrogen in similar ratios as Sol itself, suggesting that Jupiter may have been on the road to becoming a dwarf star, but never achieved the mass to ignite. A Jovian day lasts approximately 10 standard hours, while a Jovian year is almost 11.9 standard years long. Jupiter is known for the multicolored bands and massive storms that are visible on the top of the planet’s atmosphere. The most well-known feature of Jupiter is its Great Red Spot, a massive hurricane many times the size of Earth that has been raging for centuries. Settlements on the gas giant are giant floating cities that grace the upper atmosphere, held aloft by massive, reinforced balloons. Jupiter has more than 67 moons in total, though only the Galilean Moons -- Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto -- are home to major settlements.
“Light’s Edge Syndrome” is a catch-all term for the mental health issues associated with prolonged exposure to the region. It includes symptoms of paranoia, hallucinations, and rarely prolonged episodes of total dissociation. Rarely, sufferers will display violent tendencies ranging from self-harm to animal cruelty. Somatic symptoms are common in sufferers, with many suffering from a severe focus on physical ailments such as shortness of breath, vision loss, or muscle pains. Informally known as “afflicted” or “darkened” by Assunzionii, the syndrome is unrecognized by Zeng-Hu. Sufferers of the syndrome are often stock villain characters in Coalition media, leading to further stigma against those suffering from it.
The Galilean Moons are major players in the Sol System: ''Callisto'' is one of the most densely populated bodies in the Orion Spur and serves as the Sol System's largest port, ''Ganymede'' produces a significant amount of the foodstuffs consumed in the System, and ''Europa'' is home to a great amount of scientific research facilities. ''Io'', due to its inhospitable nature, features no permanent habitation.
===Missing Flagships===
===Saturn (Sol VI)===
Many strange, impossible to confirm tales surround the AEC's efforts. These stories range wildly - from macabre visual anomalies and gargantuan, ancient ship graveyards filled with ships made by no known species; to pulpier, less credible stories - blood-starved gestalts whose pale-green hue draws in the curious or desperate; strange figures in the eternal midnight - clad in voidsuits from every-which origin, striding the the starless void as though walking through even ground.
Saturn is the sixth planet of Sol, and the second largest gas giant in the system. It is known for the spectacular systems of rings that encircle the planet. It is the second largest gas giant in the system, with a composition similar to Jupiter. A day on Saturn lasts approximately 10.7 standard hours, while it takes almost 29 standard years for it to complete one full revolution around Sol. Saturn has more than 62 moons, most of them home to at least small settlements. With its hundreds of brilliant rings, Saturn is a major tourist attraction within the Solar system.
There are those, a scarce few - that prove frustratingly difficult to explain, let alone disregard. Most notably, the AEC's missing flagships. The group is presently in possession of fourteen vessels - exploratory and defensive alike, two ascribed to each of Assunzione's seven cities - '''Lemure V''', the largest among them, serving as the fleet's current flagship after the well-publicized loss or destruction of its progenitors - '''Lemure I to IV'''.
The combined population of the planet's floating settlements is roughly fifteen million people.
It is well and widely known to the Assunzionii public that the four earlier Dullahan model ships were each destroyed or lost after years of service each; yet no design specifications, crew manifests nor verified images of them has thus far resurfaced, despite the efforts of countless invested on the topic. The only proof of their existence being the memory of those alive at the time, as well as the joint announcements released by Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and the Assunzionii Government following the event, mourning crew and ship alike.
==Culture and Demographics==
===Uranus (Sol VII)===
[[Image:Luceism.png||thumb|The common symbol of Luceism, the majority religion on Assunzione.]]
Assunzionii society is an odd, often insular one, thanks to the collective societal trauma experienced when the Star itself was extinguished. The nature of this catastrophe and the confinement of those on the planet to the seven domed cities have lent themselves to a very space-conscious and urbanized society, but underground habitation is very uncommon due to a common Assunzionii trait: a societal aversion, or fear, towards darkness and a preference for exceedingly well-lit spaces. This dislike of underground dwellings - and the dim conditions often intrinsic to them - has led to the planet’s domed cities consistently choosing the longer, more expensive route of building new interconnected domes spreading from a central “bulb,” dome rather than simply digging downwards. The lights of Assunzione’s great domed cities, surrounded by the utter darkness of the planet itself, often create a spectacular sight when seen from orbit.
The Assunzionii love of brightness is especially accented in its areas of worship, ranging from grand cathedrals to small-scale chapels. Many visitors to the planet’s holy sites find themselves wearing protective eyewear to shield their eyes - which are often used to the dim conditions of space travel - against the overwhelming brightness of the interiors. It is said that inside a cathedral on Assunzione one can stand in the middle of a room and cast no shadow at all. Outside of holy sites, the great domed cities are generally lit in fashions that make those holy beacons of places stand out more, and the ghostly lights of many of Assunzione’s domes often provide a spectacular contrast against the inky blackness that dwells outside. Celebrations on the planet - from religious ceremonies to holidays to birthdays - are similarly centered around brightness and light, with the goal of banishing darkness - if only for the special occasion itself. The most important of all holidays on the planet is the Assumption of the Fading Lights - a celebration on the eleventh of March (of the standard Earth calendar) every year that is viewed by Assunzionii as a tribute to their long-extinguished Star, and their enduring hope that it will someday return to life.
Uranus is the seventh planet of Sol. It is an ice giant that is tilted on its side so that its equator is at a right angle to its orbit. A day on Uranus lasts approximately 17 standard hours, while its orbital period is approximately 84 standard years long. The planet has 27 moons, with most of them holding small outposts.
Because of its Mediterranean heritage, Tradeband is the language primarily spoken on Assunzione and is the liturgical language of Luceism. Freespeak has been taught in schools since Assunzione’s formal joining of the Coalition of Colonies, however, to greater integrate with the Coalition.
The combined population within the planet's floating settlements is roughly ten million people.
Luceism is a cornerstone both of society and culture on the planet, and more can be read about it '''[[Luceism|here]]'''.
===Neptune (Sol VIII)===
===Assunzionii Architecture===
Neptune is the eighth planet of Sol, and the sister ice giant to Uranus. It has a very similar composition, with high amounts of methane present in the atmosphere. Large amounts of water are also present in the planet’s mantle. A Neptunian day lasts approximately 16 standard hours, while a Neptunian year is 165 standard years long. Neptune has 17 moons. Triton, the largest, is a small -- by Sol System standards -- yet functional colony centered around mining and refining materials from Neptune and its surrounding moons.
The evolution of Assunzione’s post-calamity architectural movements is unique among the Spur Subsequent decades have seen multiple urban regeneration projects - each designed to further cement the faith as an integral part of Assunzionii culture - to capitalize on the uptick in tourism the planet has begun to experience since the demise of its star.
The result is a densely packed urban sprawl — soaring vertical proportions used to circumvent the inherently limited space offered by the domes — where the practical, unadorned structures of typical Assunzionii residents exist alongside grandiose holy sites with intricately carved stone facades reminiscent of Earth’s cathedrals. Purple and gold accents feature prominently and lamps shaped like Luce bulbs bathe the streets in light.
=== Synthetics on Assunzione ===
Neptune has a population of roughly eight million, and only Triton has a permanent colony. Most of Neptune's population is centered around New Pacific, Triton's capital.
As a major regional port within the Coalition and the gateway to the mysterious Light’s Edge sector. Assunzione is home to a small but notable population of synthetics, a minority are manufactured locally whilst the majority of them are bought in from Konyang by corporations operating in Assunzione. The isolated nature and lack of space on the planet however make immigration by synthetics similarly unattractive as it does the immigration of non-synthetics, and the free IPC population of the planet is small compared to other planets of a similar size and development within the Coalition.
===[[Pluto|Pluto (Sol IX)]]===
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Pluto is the ninth planet in the Sol System, and one of the furthest permanently inhabited bodies from the Sun. It maintains an unusual local political and economic system as a result of its colonization by the USSR during the 2100s, and serves as the primary Helium-3 mining and refining area for the Sol System -- if not the entire Solarian Alliance.
Positronics manufactured on Assunzione are rare but make up most of the free synthetics on the planet due to the minuscule immigration rate to Assunzione. A majority of frames built on the planet are Bishop and Mobility frames, as the planet is the location of the Coalition HQ of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, who are also the biggest owner of synthetics on the planet.
===The Kuiper Belt===
The Kuiper Belt is the region beyond the orbit of Neptune that is home to tens of thousands of icy bodies, and potentially hundreds of thousands more. The Kuiper Belt encompasses an area from 30 AU to 55 AU away from Sol. Of the icy bodies present in the belt, Pluto and Eris are the most well known. The icy bodies here are rich in hydrogen and water, but lacking in terms of other resources, such as metals. The Kuiper Belt may also be home to up billions of comets too small to be detected.
A curious part of Assunzione manufactured positronics who stay on the planet is that they are blessed on creation and outfitted with datapacks minutely detailing the native faith of Luceism, to fit in better with the highly religious population - displaying both a knowledge of the faith and the ability to follow its tenets. Synthetics are most often programmed with an understanding of the Luceian branch most popular where they will be sent to work.
===The Oort Cloud===
Free synthetics can be found in all manner of roles on Assunzione, from expedition crews to menial workers and high ranking corporate positions, and similarly reside in the great domed cities that the human population occupy. All manner of frames are used by free synthetics across the planet, though the locally produced Bishop and Mobility frames are the most common.
The Oort Cloud is a spherical area of space that encases the Sol system. It begins where the Kuiper Belt ends, and extends outward until almost 1.5 LY away from Sol. It is estimated that Oort Cloud may contain up to a trillion icy bodies, including planetoids and comets. Unlike the Romanovich Cloud of Tau Ceti, the bodies in the Oort cloud are metal-deficient, making the effort of locating bodies in this region to mine a pointless endeavor.
Owned positronics meanwhile vary greatly across the seven cities of Assunzione, depending on the corporate presence there. The majority of positronics manufactured on Assunzione itself find themselves employed in Triesto, where the Headquarters of Zeng-Hu is located, serving as researchers, medical or service staff for the corporation. Another common role is as Bridge Crew and other staff for the many Zeng-Hu expeditions launched into the Light’s Edge region, the risks of exploring Light’s Edge make IPC crewmembers inherently useful as they are considered more expendable than human crew. Nanotrasen also employs synthetics in Triesto for their phoron-finding expeditions into the Light’s Edge for similar reasons. Markarsa also serves as another major hub for owned synthetics produced on the planet, as the research hub of the planet and home to a substantial Zeng-Hu research facility, many positronics serve as scientists or support staff here.
Whilst Triesto and Markarsa serve as hubs for Assunzione produced positronics, both NT and Zeng-Hu utilize synthetics bought from off-world in their operations here too. However, in other cities off-world produced synthetics make up a far larger section of the overall synthetic population with most coming from the nearby production centre of Konyang. Iraklio’s status as the primary shipyard of Assunzione and recent investments by Hephaestus Industries have brought large amounts of industrial frames to the planet to serve as labour for the budding shipbuilding industry and Hephaestus facilities. Meanwhile Said, being the port of call for many unaffiliated vessels travelling to the planet leads to it playing host to all manner of synthetics from off-world, primarily working as part of these independent crews but also within the city, a few members of the Golden Deep also have operations in the city, using it as their base for conducting business in the region.
The opinions on synthetics held by the human residents of Assunzione primarily stem from their interpretation of Luceist teachings, whilst Luceism itself espouses a neutral view towards synthetic life, personal interpretations vary between followers, and can be broadly classified into two primary views. The more pro-synthetic side of Luceism, albeit not necessarily advocating for synthetic freedom, still has a more positive outlook of synthetics for their efficiency, work ethic and other factors, especially those produced and blessed locally who adhere to Luceism, seeing them as properly integrated into the planet's population and support them being used on the planet.
The more anti-synthetic side of the faith believe that synthetics are a drain on Assunzione as a whole, and antithetical to the teachings of Luceism. This is primarily due to their inherently inorganic nature and the belief that synthetics drain away electricity that could instead have been used to produce light. They would rather see positronics not present on the planet at all. This divide exists within both the Pyramidicalist and Astructuralist branches of the faith, though is far more pronounced in the former.Due to Luceism’s overwhelming presence on the planet, followers of the Trinary Perfection, both synthetic and organic are unheard of.
The more anti-synthetic side of the faith believe that synthetics are a drain on Assunzione as a whole, and antithetical to the teachings of Luceism. This is primarily due to their inherently inorganic nature and the belief that synthetics drain away electricity that could instead have been used to produce light. They would rather see positronics not present on the planet at all. This divide exists within both the Pyramidicalist and Astructuralist branches of the faith, though is far more pronounced in the former.Due to Luceism’s overwhelming presence on the planet, followers of the Trinary Perfection, both synthetic and organic are unheard of.
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==Population and Major Cities==
Assunzione is not a very diverse planet compared to others in the frontier. Its population of roughly five-hundred million permanent residents is overwhelmingly human, with a small population of offworld humans and some positronic frames. Offworld humans from Assunzione itself are extremely rare, and most are generally drifters visiting the planet rather than permanent residents or - more rarely - immigrants. Positronics built on the planet are rare, with most originating off-world on planets such as Xanu Prime or Himeo. Travel between the cities of Assunzione is primarily conducted via aboveground magnetic rail lines inside protected (though transparent, to avoid darkness seeping in) tubes. The overwhelming majority of planetary residents reside within the seven great domed cities of Assunzione listed below.
'''Triesto''' is the capital of the Republic and the largest settlement on Assunzione, with a population of roughly one-hundred million people residing in a massive array of domes. Often referred to as the “Beacon of Light’s Edge” by its residents, the domed city is the single largest port in the entire interstellar south-east of the Orion Spur. Travellers from across the known space can be found beneath the domes of Triesto as they await their chance to brave Light’s Edge. Being a major regional port, and manufacturing hub of some of the most-capable deep-space survey sensors in the Orion Spur, Triesto has become the Nanotrasen Corporation’s primary location for launching phoron-finding missions into Light’s Edge. The city is additionally home to the headquarters of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceutical's Coalition Branch, with the majority of the keiretsu's exploratory missions launching from the city.
'''Malaga''' is the birthplace of Luceism and is arguably the cultural center of the Republic. With a population of eighty million permanent residents, the grand domes of Malaga are dominated by the centrally-located Grand Cathedral of Our Holy Light - the heart of Luceism. Malaga’s architecture is regarded by many Assumzionii as majestic: a skyline of ornate domes interconnected by a web of bridges; all set against the planet’s eternal midnight.
Dalyan, with a population of thirty-five million, is the planet’s breadbasket city. Beneath the lights of its domes grows a wide variety of plants and animals that feed the Republic, and help give it a higher standard of living than other locations in the far frontier. Some of its cuisine has found its way even to the Republic of Biesel, with NanoTrasen importing exotic foodstuffs for its subsidiaries.
'''Iraklio''', with its population of sixty million souls, stands nearby Triesto and Malaga along the equator of Assunzione. Prior to the Dimming becoming sealed, it served as a major blue-water port on the planet due to its deep natural harbor. Following the Dimming, it has been repurposed into the planet’s primary shipyard and has recently seen investment from Hephaestus Industries.
'''Makarska''', with fifty million that call it their home, is the primary research hub of the planet (and, by extension, Light’s Edge). Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals operates a significant research facility in this domed city, and many of the sensor suites that are eventually used across Light’s Edge were originally developed under these domes.
'''Guelma''', home to forty million, is another major site for the Luceian faith: the great domes of the city are located at the geographical north of the planet, upon its pole. Due to this positioning it is considered by the faith to be the “nearest city to the Star” and has had a very unique permission given to it. It is the only location in the Orion Spur where Luceism’s holy warding spheres (both normal and greater) are produced, and many followers journey to Guelma to receive one before traveling abroad.
'''Dalyan''', with a population of thirty-five million, has the boring distinction of being Assunzione’s breadbasket domed city. Beneath the lights of its domes grow a stunning variety of plants and animals that feed the Republic, and help give it a higher standard of living than many other locations in the far frontier. Dalyan exports a sizable amount of food to the larger Coalition and some of its cuisine can find its way even to the Republic of Biesel, with NanoTrasen importing exotic foodstuffs for its subsidiaries.
'''Said''', with thirty-five million residents living in it, is the secondary port of the planet. While it is not nearly as well-trafficked as Triesto, the smaller nature of Said’s port and cheaper costs of docking permits has made it attractive to many independent vessels not affiliated with a megacorporation. It remains to be seen whether or not Said will be able to use its port to become more prevalent in the future.
The birthplace of humanity, the Sol System is one of the most important systems in the bustling core of the Sol Alliance. With billions of residents, the System holds the oldest and most venerable human colonies such as Luna and Venus, and some settlements date back to the 21st and 22nd centuries. The System is the metropolis of human space and holds the Core Worlds. Despite its venerable status and prosperity extreme wealth disparities exist, such as on Mars and Venus, which have proven to be a constant source of contention in the System. The official capital of the Alliance, Unity Station, is located in the Sol System in orbit of Earth.
Planets and Major Bodies
Mercury (Sol I)
Mercury is the nearest planet in orbit around Sol. It completes one full revolution around its parent star every 88 standard days, and has a day that is a little more than 58.6 standard days long. It is a small terrestrial planet, being smaller than Earth’s moon. It’s surface is pitted with craters from eons of meteor impacts. The planet has a very thin exosphere composed of mainly oxygen, though it it much too thin to sustain any form of life. Mercury experiences wild variation in terms of surface temperature, with its daytime side reaching temperatures of 430 °C, and the night side dropping to the range of -180 °C. The planet faces constant bombardment from small meteors and solar wind, with no atmosphere thick enough to prevent it.
While no attempts were ever made to colonize the planet due to its utter lack of resources and extreme conditions, it was chosen as the site of the Alliance's largest solar-based power generation facility due to its proximity to the Sun. The Icarus Facility, as it is locally known, produces a great amount of the power used in the Sol System itself and is primarily operated by Einstein Engines with a minority stake in the facility by Idris Incorporated. Work in the Icarus Facility is hazardous at the best of times, and most employees of it will typically only work for three months at a time before being rotated off to a less dangerous facility. Due to the immensely hazardous nature of Mercury, civilian travel is not advised.
The surface of Venus is uninhabitable, and the majority of its population resides in massive floating facilities referred to as aerostats.
Venus is the second terrestrial planet in the Sol system. A Venusian year lasts 225 standard days, while a Venusian day is longer, at 243 standard days. Venus spins retrograde when compared to the other planets in the Sol system, causing the sun to rise in the west and set in the east in its sky. Venus has an extremely thick and toxic atmosphere while its surface is an incredibly hostile environment.
Despite this, the upper atmosphere is known to be calm. Most colonies on Venus take either the form of floating aerostats, or bulky habitation complexes on the surface. While the temperature here is still a blistering 75C some of the aerostats, locally known as "donuts" due to their distinctive shape, tend to specialize in using the atmosphere's massive concentration of CO2 to cultivate extremely bountiful hydroponic farms, and Venus is one of the breadbaskets of the Sol System. Despite this, Venus is primarily known for its contributions to the Alliance's entertainment and media industry, and the planet is deeply divided between working-class Jintarians and richer Cythereans.
Earth is the third planet out from Sol. Earth has since regained its status as the jewel of humanity; it's central and arguably most important world. Earth is a Garden world, harboring millions of unique species of flora and fauna. It possesses extremely diverse ecosystems, with huge deserts, sprawling tundra, massive mountain ranges, rolling grasslands, and thick swaths of tropical rain forest. 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered in salt water while massive lakes of fresh water are found within continental areas. Humanity's home world is densely inhabited and every corner of the planet has a long, well-recorded history and culture.
Earth is home to a large but stable human and a small non-human population. The planet suffers from moderate space debris in high-orbit, a consequence of centuries of space travel. The Alliance maintains a significant naval presence around the planet.
Earth has one moon, Luna, which has developed into a fully fledged member state of the Sol Alliance.
Luna is the sole moon of Earth. It is tidally locked to its parent and makes a complete revolution every 28 standard days. It formed when a rogue planetoid collided with Earth during the early stages of its formation. The moon came together from the resultant orbital debris. Luna was the first target of spacefaring humans as they pierced the outer layers of the atmosphere. It was largely ignored until the age of FTL travel and colonization, when small colonies were established, mostly as refueling and launching posts for re-entry craft.
Luna is the oldest and most venerable of humanity's colonies, and is home to a vast amount of wealth thanks to the presence of megacorporations and those associated with their early successes. Lunans, despite being a relatively small population of slightly over a billion people, represent a disproportionate amount of the Alliance's naval officers and diplomatic corps. Luna is the headquarters and nerve center of Einstein Engines, the oldest of humanity's megacorporations and major rival of both NanoTrasen and the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate.
Mars is the fourth planet out from Sol. A Martian day is only slightly longer than a standard day at 25 standard hours, but the Martian year is 687 standard days long. It is the outermost terrestrial planet in the Sol system. It is known as the Red Planet, because the iron-rich dust that covers most of the planet’s surface gives it a reddish tinge that was visible to the naked eyes of astronomers on Earth in ancient times. Mars had a thin atmosphere, but centuries of terraforming efforts have made it breathable.
Mars was a target of one of the first bodies colonized by humanity. Its population swelled in the early days of the Second Space Age.
Mars has suffered two catastrophes while colonized: the abrupt failure of its terraforming infrastructure and widespread damage as a result of the First Interstellar War, when most of the planet attempted to secede from the Alliance. Mars is home to millions of descendants of refugees, cramped in centuries old bio domes or ruins. Yet Mars has proved resilient and today is one of the most populated worlds in human space with a highly advanced economy. Areas of the planet have been fully terraformed, allowing for massive, open air cities. These tend to be near the coastal areas.
The Violet Dawn catastrophe of 2462 and civil unrest in the weeks leading up to the catastrophe has seen Mars reduced to a shadow of its former self due to massive phoron fires that raged across the southern half of the planet and the utter collapse of government authority over the planet. Millions have fled the planet and dozens of arcologies have been destroyed, leaving the future of the planet uncertain at best and apocalyptic at worst.
The planetary capital of Mars is Unified Kunlun, located within the Provisional Government of Mars' zone of control, but a majority of the planet has fallen into anarchy.
The Asteroid Belt
The Asteroid Belt is an area around Sol where thousands of rocky bodies, too small to be called planets or even dwarf planets, orbit. The zone encompasses an area between 2.2 AU and 3.2 AU away from Sol. The asteroids in the belt are rich in precious and semi-precious metals, hydrogen and water. The density of asteroids in the zone is relatively low, which was an important factor in allowing asteroid mining companies to establish footholds. The oldest and largest of these asteroid mining companies is the Beltway Mining Company, which has claimed the rights to mine most of the Asteroid Belt. Other fledgling companies have often been pushed out through strategic economic maneuvers, intimidation, and sometimes force. Beltway has a main base located on the planetoid Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt. Over the years, the planetoid has been hollowed out by intensive mining operations, and now serves as a massive complex that the rest of their operations are based out of. Roughly seven million people reside in the asteroid belt.
Jupiter is the fifth planet out from Sol. It is the largest gas giant in the system and is actually two times larger than all the other planets of the Solar system combined. It is composed of Helium and Hydrogen in similar ratios as Sol itself, suggesting that Jupiter may have been on the road to becoming a dwarf star, but never achieved the mass to ignite. A Jovian day lasts approximately 10 standard hours, while a Jovian year is almost 11.9 standard years long. Jupiter is known for the multicolored bands and massive storms that are visible on the top of the planet’s atmosphere. The most well-known feature of Jupiter is its Great Red Spot, a massive hurricane many times the size of Earth that has been raging for centuries. Settlements on the gas giant are giant floating cities that grace the upper atmosphere, held aloft by massive, reinforced balloons. Jupiter has more than 67 moons in total, though only the Galilean Moons -- Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto -- are home to major settlements.
The Galilean Moons are major players in the Sol System: Callisto is one of the most densely populated bodies in the Orion Spur and serves as the Sol System's largest port, Ganymede produces a significant amount of the foodstuffs consumed in the System, and Europa is home to a great amount of scientific research facilities. Io, due to its inhospitable nature, features no permanent habitation.
Saturn (Sol VI)
Saturn is the sixth planet of Sol, and the second largest gas giant in the system. It is known for the spectacular systems of rings that encircle the planet. It is the second largest gas giant in the system, with a composition similar to Jupiter. A day on Saturn lasts approximately 10.7 standard hours, while it takes almost 29 standard years for it to complete one full revolution around Sol. Saturn has more than 62 moons, most of them home to at least small settlements. With its hundreds of brilliant rings, Saturn is a major tourist attraction within the Solar system.
The combined population of the planet's floating settlements is roughly fifteen million people.
Uranus (Sol VII)
Uranus is the seventh planet of Sol. It is an ice giant that is tilted on its side so that its equator is at a right angle to its orbit. A day on Uranus lasts approximately 17 standard hours, while its orbital period is approximately 84 standard years long. The planet has 27 moons, with most of them holding small outposts.
The combined population within the planet's floating settlements is roughly ten million people.
Neptune (Sol VIII)
Neptune is the eighth planet of Sol, and the sister ice giant to Uranus. It has a very similar composition, with high amounts of methane present in the atmosphere. Large amounts of water are also present in the planet’s mantle. A Neptunian day lasts approximately 16 standard hours, while a Neptunian year is 165 standard years long. Neptune has 17 moons. Triton, the largest, is a small -- by Sol System standards -- yet functional colony centered around mining and refining materials from Neptune and its surrounding moons.
Neptune has a population of roughly eight million, and only Triton has a permanent colony. Most of Neptune's population is centered around New Pacific, Triton's capital.
Pluto is the ninth planet in the Sol System, and one of the furthest permanently inhabited bodies from the Sun. It maintains an unusual local political and economic system as a result of its colonization by the USSR during the 2100s, and serves as the primary Helium-3 mining and refining area for the Sol System -- if not the entire Solarian Alliance.
The Kuiper Belt
The Kuiper Belt is the region beyond the orbit of Neptune that is home to tens of thousands of icy bodies, and potentially hundreds of thousands more. The Kuiper Belt encompasses an area from 30 AU to 55 AU away from Sol. Of the icy bodies present in the belt, Pluto and Eris are the most well known. The icy bodies here are rich in hydrogen and water, but lacking in terms of other resources, such as metals. The Kuiper Belt may also be home to up billions of comets too small to be detected.
The Oort Cloud
The Oort Cloud is a spherical area of space that encases the Sol system. It begins where the Kuiper Belt ends, and extends outward until almost 1.5 LY away from Sol. It is estimated that Oort Cloud may contain up to a trillion icy bodies, including planetoids and comets. Unlike the Romanovich Cloud of Tau Ceti, the bodies in the Oort cloud are metal-deficient, making the effort of locating bodies in this region to mine a pointless endeavor.
