Republic of Biesel
The Republic of Biesel is an independent system within the Core of human space. It is heavily tied to the NanoTrasen corporation at nearly every level of government. The Republic of Biesel is the government of the Tau Ceti System, exercising authority over Biesel, New Gibson and all other settlements and installations within Tau Ceti's gravity well.
It is one of the most populated systems in human space, a financial center, industrial powerhouse and one of the most prestigious systems in the galaxy. However, unrest and gridlock undermine the government, and the aggressive attitude of the Sol Alliance against its former system has made many worried of the future of the Republic.
Recently, there are rumors of increased Syndicate activity within the system. However, Nanotrasen has insisted that their financing of the Biesel police force is more than adequate to deal with terrorist threats.
General
Official Title(s): "The Federal Republic of Biesel and the Tau Ceti System" (SC)
Capital:Mendell City, Biesel
Demonym: Bieselitte, Cetian, Gibsonian
Official Language(s): Sol Common, Tau Ceti Common (dialect of Sol Common), 24 additional Recognized Languages.
Population:
- 2445 Census: 2,709,678,435
- 2457 Est.: 3,056,727,000
Economics
Biesel maintains the Credit as its official currency. Backed by fusion energy, the credit remains the galactic currency.
NanoTrasen is an unquestionable monopoly within Tau Ceti. The Free Trade Zone established shortly after independence in 2452 served to only reinforce their foothold. Almost the entirety of business in the system are either owned directly or a branch of Nanotrasen. Small business is rare, but recently the service sector has kicked back up with smaller "family run" restaurants and grocery stores popping up in the cities of Biesel.
Societal
Ethnic Groups:
- 15% Colonial Chinese
- 15% Colonial Hindustani
- 15% Colonial Caucasian
- 14% Colonial Arab
- 10% Colonial African
- 30% Other
Being one of the early colonized systems, Tau Ceti remains diverse. People from all walks of life exist in the Republic, and the meshing of cultures extends to even the growing minority of alien species that find their home in the small Republic. There are tensions between the natives and the influx of alien immigrants, and the integration of IPC's into society remains an extremely hot topic.
General Fashion:
Biesel fashions are numerious and very cosmopolitan. At present there is a spike in popularity with Little Tajaran Electro swing music and neo-greaser fashion. This includes pompador hair styles and leather jackets with white vests. Another rather avant-garde, alternative style is the floor length braid, usually dyed in neon colors. The floor length braid or "FLB" is associated with anarcho-communist or general anarchist sentiments largely due to its impracticality in general Biesel work environments.
Government
Biesel remains a Federal Democracy as enshrined in the Tau Ceti Constitution. It has an elected president, a congress, and a supreme court. Legally there are various checks and balances between the branches of government. In reality, current president Joseph Dorn has centralized a significantly influential executive branch, though he has refrained from taking on the Supreme Court.
For the executive branch, President Joseph Dorn was sworn into office for his first term as president in 2454. He faced reelection in 2458 and won in a landslide, yet contested victory.
The legislative branch of Tau Ceti's government is the Congress, which is unicameral and is made up of senators from every district of Biesel and New Gibson.
For the Judiciary, the Biesel Law Institute is the foremost law agency of the Republic, and is the primary source of legal services for the Nanotrasen Corporation. The Tau Ceti Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial authority of the Republic however, with the 7 justices being appointed by Congressional vote.
Military
Being surrounded entirely by the juggernaut of the Sol Alliance and situated near the core systems of humanity, Tau Ceti is isolated from the major dangers and players on the galactic stage save for an increasingly hostile Sol Alliance.
With the most common threats being incursions by raiders, pirates, and Syndicate mercenaries, Tau Ceti maintains a small military dedicated to self-defense.
With 30 corvettes and 2 destroyers, the navy maintains 25,000 active sailors with 12,000 in reserve, and 223 marines deployed with 4,000 in reserve. The Biesel National Guard, a form of a ground army, maintains an 40,000 active force and 90,000 in reserve, whereas New Gibson maintains a reserve force of 4,500 National Guard.
NanoTrasen and its Emergency Response Team take up the bulk of actual security duties. A complex and intricate series of security and engineering contracts has corralled the young Republic to be obligated to get weapons and equipment exclusively through the mega-corporation, such as weapons and tactical armor. The military recently took offense to apparent NanoTrasen laziness in an event where NanoTrasen shipped the navy 800 new Tactical Armor sets with the NT logo still on them.
Despite patronizing attitudes from NanoTrasen towards the Tau Ceti's military, the mega-corporations extensive involvement allows the young republic to only dedicate .98% of its budget towards the military.
History
Being one of the closest systems to Earth, Tau Ceti was one of the first explored by early interstellar travelers. When Biesel was discovered to possess an Earth-like atmosphere, complete with full-fledged biospheres, the system was flooded with settlers. As Biesel flourished and towns grew into cities, explorers began to survey the nearby planet of New Gibson, and found it metal-rich. Corporations and individuals alike established mining colonies which have grown over the centuries into massive domed cities and industrial parks, mining raw materials and turning them into all manner of goods, then shipping them off to Biesel or outside the system. Biesel, with it's Earth-like atmosphere, became the financial and agricultural heart of the system while New Gibson was the industrial powerhouse. Around 100 years after it's first settlers made planet-fall, the Republic of Biesel was formally established as one of the first semi-autonomous states within the Sol Alliance.
Following the discovery of plasma in the sparsely explored Romanovich Cloud at the edge of the system, NanoTrasen began to move it's corporate assets and bureaucracy onto Biesel. As NanoTrasen became fabulously wealthy, the money trickled down to the Tau Ceti System's upper class. However, the economic catastrophe of the Second Great Depression threatened to wipe out the entire economy of the Sol Alliance. With the Sol Alliance teetering on absolute bankruptcy and consequential tax hikes for systems, the unemployment rate in Tau Ceti exploded to 20% by 2450. Within the next two years, Nanotrasen became one of the only still functioning corporations within Tau Ceti, making it extremely popular with both politicians and the population at large, as it offered jobs and services unavailable anywhere else.
Politicians pushed for closer ties with the mega-corporation, and eased anti-monopoly laws for NanoTransen. In 2452, The Republic of Biesel and NanoTransen formed the "Tau Ceti Free Trade Zone", which gave NanoTransen control of vast swathes of the Romanovich Cloud and at the same time presented an ultimate to the Sol Alliance government to give Tau Ceti independence or face a total loss of Nanotrasen investment. The announcement was met with both praise and outrage: Some welcomed the money that would flow into the system with NanoTransen able to more effectively mine and distribute plasma, while others claimed that NanoTransen had 'bought' the government of Biesel and that an Orwellian future was just around the corner. Desperate and unable to enforce their refusal without a total collapse of their economy, the Sol Alliance caved and allowed Tau Ceti to become independent in 2452.
A side effect of NanoTransen's increased operations in the sector are that employees from outside the system are often 'bused' in through the system's Warp Gate. Many have chosen to settle in the system and are provided corporate housing in numerous 'Corporate Enclaves' that have sprung up across New Gibson and Biesel. The system's population is estimated to be one of the most diverse in Human Space.
Later on, in the year 2458, due to a lack of Sol patrols in it's territories around Tau Ceti, the system had seen a steady increase in piracy and raider attacks. As a result, the military began to invest in NanoTrasen brand combat cyborgs. This angered skrell dignataries within Tau Ceti, who later appealed to the Jargon Federation, who in turn successfully had gotten the Sol Alliance to blockade the Tau Ceti system with it's 33rd fleet, headed by Admiral Frost. Prices soared in Biesel, tensions between Synthetics and Organics grew, xenophobia of not just non-humans but non-Biesel natives as well.
The Blockade ultimately ended in the week long military occupation of Tau Ceti by the Sol Alliance 33rd, who were acting on their own orders and ignored commands from the civilian government. During the occupation many free IPCs were sold into slavery or scrapped, robotics labs were shut down, and many protested not just within Biesel, but other Sol Alliance worlds. Eventually, the Sol Alliance 25th fleet arrived to Tau Ceti and successfully purged the 33rd from it's space, yet Admiral Frost had escaped and to this day, remains at large.