Republic of Biesel
| Federal Republic of Biesel | |
| Biesel | |
 Flag |
|
 Galactic Position | |
| Capital Planet: Capital City |
Biesel Mendell City |
| Language(s): | Tau Ceti Basic |
| Species: | Human (Majority) Dionae (Minority) IPC (Minority) Skrell (Minority) Tajara (Minority) Unathi (Minority) Vaurca (Minority) |
| Religion: | None |
| Demonym: | Biesellite, Republican |
| Government Head of State |
Federal Republic President Ake Torvald |
| Legislature Upper House Lower House | Congress State Senate Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople |
| Established: | May 5th 2452 |
| Contents |
|---|
In the core worlds of Humanity’s power, built upon a center of phoron deposits and trade, the Federal Republic of Biesel is an independent state and considered the economic and social centre of the Orion Spur. The young Republic as it is known today came to be in 2452, and since its independence it has only grown stronger, its population flourishing, ignorant or uncaring as NanoTrasen maintained a vice grip over the Republic not only economically, but politically and socially as well.
However, in recent years, that is changing. The Phoron Scarcity has shaken the very foundations of the republic, not only in regards to NanoTrasen’s monopoly, but also the role it plays on the wider stage of the Orion Spur. Once only holding territory in Tau Ceti, today the Republic of Biesel extends across much of the formerly Solarian Middle and Outer Ring, reaching the new border of the massive Coalition of Colonies, creating the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. The Republic of Biesel's expansion into former Solarian territories was met with both applause and total rejection from its populace Combined with the mounting issues of the Phoron Scarcity, the CRZ would prove the final nail in the coffin for the Republic’s political establishment, which was shaken drastically in 2462. However, Tau Ceti remains one of the most populated systems in Human space, and easily the richest in the galaxy thanks to NanoTrasen, and now the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate.
The Effects of the Phoron Scarcity
Nowhere is more intertwined with phoron than the Republic of Biesel. As one of only two nations in the entire Spur with phoron deposits, it has always had the largest phoron deposits and the largest phoron exports. For many, the Republic is the only source of phoron, as unlike the Serene Republic of Elyra, it exports beyond its borders. The Republic’s prosperity, place in the Spur, and technologies all came to be because of phoron and the influence of the company that extracted it.
As the primary system where commercial phoron mining occurs, Tau Ceti boasts the largest number of phoronic industries in the Spur. The sheer scale of the operation NanoTrasen Corporation created for mining and then processing phoron cannot be overstated — almost the entire planet of New Gibson is dedicated to the production of phoronic components. In 2460, around 23% of the population of the system had a job tied to the phoronics industry. Biesel’s economy and the livelihoods of its citizenry are dependent on phoron to retain their standards of living; it is the most “phoronised” system with the most advanced technology in the Orion Spur. With the Phoron Scarcity threatening the lifeblood of Biesel, fear, instability and doubt are on the rise, with concerns about the Republic’s future that almost came true come the 35th's invasion. Five years since the beginning of the Scarcity, the phoron industries of Tau Ceti are still humming along, but only growing quieter as facilities are gradually shuttered.
President Torvald has enacted policies attempting to limit the damage of the situation, keeping the economy afloat. Interest rates have dropped to near zero, bills have been signed into law that give substantial subsidies to new facilities built that supply alternatives to phoron — a boon to Einstein Engines — but it’s only barely keeping the flood wall from breaking. More extremely, the Republic and its megacorporations have officially begun to ration phoron, with much of the phoron and its components reserved in the state’s strategic stockpiles. While this rationing has relieved the stress of the scarcity from many people, it has done so by transferring it onto others, due to its unequal nature. Less affluent neighbourhoods find their infrastructure allowed to age and fall apart, becoming unreliable; hardware stores and clinics supply older, non-phoronic wares that are a notable downgrade. More affluent neighbourhoods continue to have phoronic infrastructure maintained, if at much greater cost and sparingly where possible and, while still supplied with phoronic hardware, medicines, etc., the prices have soared. Due to the unstable state of the Spur, the Tau Ceti Armed Forces remains very high on the priority list for phoron allocations. Arms factories and military shipbuilding docks rarely have shortages; the fleets always have enough fluidic phoron for their bluespace drives, and those within the enlisted ranks of the TCAF find themselves in as good a position as the middle class (one of the top reasons enlistment rates haven’t plummeted since the Peacekeeper Mandate saw opinions on the TCAF nosedive). President Torvald has promised these are temporary measures but, for now, there are no signs this will change.
Unemployment is at an all-time high, with sustainable jobs exceedingly rare and, as crime has skyrocketed, less affluent neighborhoods have changed massively over the past five years. More ghettos are cropping up, and places such as Mendell City’s District 6, District 11, and District 12 look more run down than ever, deprioritised of phoronic infrastructure maintenance. Brownouts and blackouts are of frequent occurrences, as their phoronics based infrastructure (such as phoronic superconductive cabling) falls into disrepair or is unfitted for use elsewhere. It has a cruel similarity to the Alliance's abandonment of their outer worlds during the Collapse. Criminal organizations have filled in the vacuum, allowed to run the districts as they see fit, and be largely unbothered by law enforcement, who only interfere when any violence within these areas spills out into other, less dilapidated parts of the city; in which case the standard response has been to violently bludgeon it back into containment.
Phoron black markets and the smugglers who supply them have exploded within the Republic, and though they are not yet utilized by the population at large, their presence is steadily growing. Many have come to rely on them for everything from replacement phone/PDA-use SMES cells, to superconductive cabling, to phoronic medications — often stolen. Smuggling routes into Tau Ceti all lead to the tradeport moon of Valkyrie, a nexus for criminal activity. Valkyrie has been hit especially hard by the economic slowdown experienced across the Orion Spur, and its many port workers struggle to make ends meet; it is no surprise that a great many of them now participate in this smuggling activity. With these black marketers paying well for phoronic goods, petty theft of phoron-based equipment from the workplace has reached the top three reasons why an employee contract is terminated within Biesel, despite the unemployment crisis all but ensuring the fired employee will be unable to find another job.
As a result of the scarcity, NanoTrasen Corporation’s power has waned. Where NanoTrasen once had almost complete control over the Republic's government by themselves, their influence has dropped to just ‘very strong’. Now, the other megacorporations flock like carrion birds, eager to claim what they can and emboldened to challenge the phoron giant. President Torvald appears willing to exploit this, now giving an ear to all of the megacorporations jointly, where previously only NanoTrasen was afforded the privilege.
Planets
The Republic of Biesel has expanded greatly since the Solarian Collapse, moving from its home system of Tau Ceti to encompass what is now known as the Corporate Reconstruction Zone.
The capital of the Republic and its namesake, Biesel is where many megacorporations have moved their primary base of operations to after the Solarian Collapse and recession. Biesel's first colony was established in 2147; a comfortable and temperate planet, it proved a valuable location for agriculture and manufacturing, and after the discovery of phoron in 2352, proved a very valuable location for all sorts of phoronics work. Since then Biesel has become the most wealthy and influential planet in human space. Biesel previously had many smaller corporations, however since the discovery of Phoron, these have either been gradually bought out or undermined by the larger megacorporations; in the contemporary Spur they no longer exist. Despite recent setbacks, NanoTrasen and its subsidiaries account for the majority of economic activity in Biesel and Tau Ceti today - though continue to slip lower.
The moon of Biesel, the Commonwealth of Valkyrie, is a member-state of the Republic that contributes strongly to its economy through its status as a major shipping and trade port. Goods from all over the Spur, legal and illegal, can be found in the twisting streets of Valkyrie, and it acts as a layover for many tourist vessels and trade ships moving across the galaxy. Since the beginning of the scarcity it has also quickly become a hub for smuggler's as corruption runs rife throughout its ports.
New Gibson is the second exoplanet to be colonized by humanity, shortly after the initial success of Biesel's colonization attempt in 2147. It is the industrial workhorse of the Tau Ceti system, containing a rich and valuable resource pool with the highest concentrations of many valuable minerals of any planetary surface in Tau Ceti. While New Gibson has a complex dedicated to virtually all industries, its major players are shipbuilding and wide-ranging manufacturing adjacent to its titanic planetary mines. In the cavernous pitfalls and valleys of New Gibson resides both its thriving mining economy and its greatest dangers. Unlike its bigger brother Biesel, New Gibson hosts very few phoronics specific facilities like refineries and compounding factories - though it still uses immense amounts of phoron in its more regular industries, as they wish to create goods up to the 2400s standard of technology.
Formerly a Solarian colony, Mictlan had become integral to the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate’s plans for expanding its influence within the unstable region of the Orion Spur. However, violence followed the sudden shift to the Republic of Biesel, with deserters, terrorists, and paramilitaries taking up arms to forcefully push back against the perceived corporate occupation of their planet, eventually resulting in military intervention by the Republic of Biesel, as they instituted the Peacekeeper Mandate to begin to restore order.
After a protracted occupation by the Tau Ceti Armed forces, including a guerilla war between against the ex-Mictlani Defense Force run Samaritans (a paramilitary group) and a protracted anti-terrorist campaign against the Founding Movement (a political movement that turned towards violent extremism and terrorist tactics), in late 2465, after the leader of the founding movement was found lynched and the Republic Forces negotiated a surrender with the Samaritans following rising public unrest within Tau Ceti, Mictlan eventually managed to secure its status as an independent member-state within the Republic, and now sets it's own terms with the corporations. They have not left in their entirety, merely been somewhat restricted in their activity, and stratification and corporate influence still separates much of the population. Mictlan is the sight of the worst disparity of phoron rationing, with the corporate upper classes getting almost all of the allocated phoron and the anti-corporate lower classes getting little to none of it.
A very recently settled planet, Port Antillia had great ambitions of being a vital port between the Jewel Worlds and the Serene Republic of Elyra. Due to its novel colonisation, it faced severe struggles, which were exacerbated by frequent natural disasters. Ultimately, this resulted in its early collapse, only really seeing itself somewhat stabilised nearly a century later. It has its roots within the nations which formed the Caribbean Federation, who found themselves facing extinction from the ecological crisis that Earth endured.
Despite millions becoming part of the colonisation effort, no one truly knew the dangers present on Port Antillia. Due to its relative youth on the cosmic scale, the planet experiences earthquakes rather frequently, which produce tsunamis that pose a threat to cities that dot the coasts of Port Antillia. Additionally, volcanic activity is yet another persistent danger with some of the largest eruptions across the inhabited parts of Orion Spur being registered to the planet. Many of the major population centres are equipped to deal with these problems, but there are still minor settlements that have to contend with the hostile geological activity of the planet, with most residents having accepted that they are simply a part of life on Port Antillia.
Formerly Solarian space, the Corporate Reconstruction Zone is the name for all systems occupied by the Republic of Biesel that are not within Tau Ceti's gravity well. These were occupied during the King of the World arc and its finale, and after the Solarian Alliance retracted all necessary support to them. Essentially, the Alliance cut these colonies' lifelines off, and only the Republic would step up to fill the void.
Politics and Government
The Federal Republic of Biesel is a federal democracy that is committed to ensuring the dignity and basic rights of all that make up the Republic, as laid out in the Constitution. It is composed of 5 member states.
The Republic has a bicameral legislative branch, with a Republican Congress divided into an upper and lower chamber. The upper chamber, the State Senate, is responsible for, in addition to legislature, treaties, the appointment of senior civil and judicial roles, and trying and convicting the impeachment of senior civil servants. It is composed of 10 representatives of each member state of the Republic holding terms of five years, for a total of only 50 senators, and so represents more long-term visions. The lower chamber, the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople, is responsible for, in addition to legislature, financial bills and triggering impeachments. It is composed of 800 seats which are filled by directly elected representatives of smaller voting divisions. Both chambers together share war powers.
The judicial branch of the Republic is dual jurisdictional, split between private law (civil and criminal) and public law (administrative and constitutional). Each jurisdiction has an apex court: the Council of State, which is the highest court in private law; the Supreme Court of Cassation, which is the highest court in public law. The latter of which is the judicial check on both the legislative and executive’s authority, and has a role ensuring the constitutionality of any legislation either during its formation or prior to it being assented by the President.
The executive branch is composed of the president and the various administrative departments that assist the presidency in running the government and implementing policies in the best interest of the citizens. Currently, Åke Torvald is the President of the Republic of Biesel.
For the most part, the Republic is very hands off as a result of historical scars over the Solarian Alliance’s strong governance of Tau Ceti and a byproduct of its laissez-faire capitalist approaches, with its major responsibilities only being that of: 1) promoting the Republic’s core values of freedom, individualism, multiculturalism, 2) ensuring the Republic’s sovereignty and security against those which would do harm to these values. While many federal laws are in place, it is ultimately left to local governments as to their finer interpretation, application, and enforcement. Consequently, the Republic relies heavily on the megacorporations for many functions, from private megacorporate education and health & social care that runs parallel to local state schooling — many of these gaps are filled in by NanoTrasen Corporation, due to their historic dominance over Tau Ceti, but other megacorporations have been beginning to carve out their own portions of these sectors.
Political Parties and Ideologies
Cetian Congress of Conservatives
The Cetian Congress of Conservatives is a Cetian Conservative party that seeks to uphold and defend the traditional values of the Republic of Biesel against a perceived threat.
The party stands for transforming the Republic from a peaceful, economic hegemon that influences the Spur with its prosperity, abundance of phoron, and connections with the megacorporations, and instead one that has a strong military and is able to stand and defend itself. Defence spending and ensuring the Tau Ceti Armed Forces is best fit to repel a military incursion is the priority for the party, even if at the detriment of spending elsewhere. It advocates for increased federalism and devolving the powers held by the Republic of Biesel’s federal government to those of its planetary and regional governments, and staying hands-off in regional matters. The party is pro-immigration, on the basis that immigrants are a key component of the TCAF’s Foreign Legions, however has advocated for tougher citizenship restrictions where other citizenship application routes are taken and also the tough prosecution and potential deportation (or pressing into TCAF service) of immigrants who criminally offend.
The Cetian Conservatives’ economic policy would see changes to ensure the federal republic is capable of some economic intervention to ensure competition between the megacorporations remains competitive, however has not meaningfully laid out any plans to achieve such. The party does not wish to limit the power of said megacorporations to empower smaller or regional corporations to compete with the giants. The party has delivered mixed messaging when it comes to the Republic’s reliance on phoron, with party members offering differing views on solutions to the Phoron Scarcity, however the party has seen a number of phoron rationing policies enacted to ensure what phoron stockpiles do remain are distributed where best seen fit.
The party’s social policies largely focus on increasing participation in the military. The party has long advocated for national service (including military) for citizens between 16—18, alternative criminal sentencing resulting in mandatory national service, and similar. A significant amount of spending on service members and veterans of the Tau Ceti Armed Forces is also advocated for, ensuring those doing or who have done their service are well-compensated (and to incentivise those to join the TCAF).
While the Cetian Conservative party espouses multiculturalism as one of the Republic of Biesel’s traditional values, the party has wavered when it comes to the rights of more alien species, such as vaurca and diona. Party members often raise into question the sapience of these species, whether they are able to positively contribute to Republic culture and society, or some other mitigating factor based in speciesist belief. While significant progress has been made in advancing the rights since the Republic’s independence, the Cetian Conservatives have begun to walk back certain policies brought in by the Biesellite Free Market Party — notably, voting restrictions on bound vaurcae were established in the Electoral Integrity Act. Legislation that sought to wholly emancipate owned IPCs or provide better opportunities to free, non-citizen IPCs has also been repeatedly quashed, with the Conservatives unwilling to commit to universal IPC emancipation or supporting non-citizen IPCs.
In 2466, the Cetian Conservatives under now President Åke Torvald and Vice President Adalet Uysal defeated the BFMP in the Republic’s presidential election, marking the first change in administration in the Republic’s history. On their own the party is not able to achieve much, not controlling enough of the seats in the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople to rush through legislation despite holding the most. As such, the party is only capable of seeing legislature through when backed by at least one of the other significant parties, and which usually results in the Conservatives having to back the legislation of another party.
The party is headed by Adalet Uysal, Vice President of the Republic of Biesel. Though President Åke Torvald won his presidential bid with the support of the Cetian Congress of Conservatives, he is not a member of the party on paper. They control a fluctuating 38% of the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople seat share.
Biesellite Free Market Party
The Biesellite Free Market Party is a corporatocratic party that advocates for a wholly deregulated, free market economy with ideally zero intervention by the state. It is generally regarded as a puppet party of NanoTrasen Corporation.
The party seeks to foster an environment where the megacorporations can continue to prosper, and that market forces will shape the economy into what is demanded by the consumer. Under the BFMP, megacorporations have and would be encouraged to replace services typically provided by the state, ranging from basic utilities (water, power, etc.) to replacing all state welfare services through employment programmes. The party advocates for equal rights across the board for all recognised sapient species of the Spur — including oft-excluded vaurca — however, this is wholly transparently not altruistic and instead to bolster the workforce available to the megacorporations. For the same reasons, it is pro-immigration and lax on citizenship requirements.
The BFMP also takes an explicitly Biesel-first stance, prioritising the financial and cultural centre of the Republic of Biesel over the other planets and moons. The party has shown little interest in meaningfully tackling the problems experienced by other federal regions of the Republic, other than ensuring they too enshrine the corporatocratic and party values as [[Biesell] is eager to take on.
The party is a staunch advocate for the continued mass adoption of phoronic technologies, even in the face of the Phoron Scarcity. It has stated that the Republic of Biesel’s future relies upon and is determined by the continued exploitation of phoron by NanoTrasen Corporation, and that the megacorporation and state’s missions are one and the same in regard to the elusive element.
Historically, the BFMP has had a major influence on the Republic of Biesel, having been in power from its independence in 2452 to 2466 when the party was finally ousted. It has been a strong supporter of the now defunct Tau Ceti Foreign Legion and was responsible for securing a number of deals between the armed forces and the Zo’ra Hive. During power, it advanced the rights of many alien species, shaping the Republic of Biesel into the beacon of liberty in human space it is today. It is also, as a result of incalculable lobbying efforts from the megacorporations — particularly NanoTrasen Corporation and, in more recent years, the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate — responsible for the level of integration and inter-reliance the megacorporations have within the Republic.
Since being voted out of power, the BFMP has been in a state of disarray, as it had never prepared to lose an election when it had the full support of the Spur’s megacorporations behind it. Naturally, it continues to receive heavy support from the megacorporations.
The party was formerly headed by former president Joseph Dorn who retired after his election defeat. It is now headed by Caroline Benkhoff, a former NanoTrasen Corporation executive who has since changed career and entered Republic politics — shocker. They control a fluctuating 16% of the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople seat share.
The Egalitarian Coalition
The Egalitarian Coalition, or just Egalitarians (sometimes Republic Egalitarians to differentiate from other Spur parties), is an alien rights and equality single-issue party that seeks to improve the lot of non-human species in the Republic of Biesel.
The party focuses on the Republic’s tenets on multiculturalism, personal freedoms and individualism, and argues that previous governments have fallen short on these values by allowing non-human species within the Republic to disproportionately be subjected to discrimination and segregation to deprived areas. The Egalitarians seek to break up instances of segregation in the Republic, minimise state encroachment and violations on sentient liberties, and significantly increase social spending to deprived cities and regions of the Republic of Biesel (particularly in Mendell City, Virklund, and the Corporate Reconstruction Zone). It is entirely pro-alien and inclusive of species often excluded (IPCs, vaurca, diona). The party is pro-immigration and supportive of lax citizenship application routes where it concerns aliens, but has indicated it would limit asylum application from other human states (arguing humans have more options to seek safe asylum within compared to aliens), and is also for universal suffrage regardless of citizenship status.
An ambitious policy of the Egalitarian Coalition is that of outlawing the Vaurca Hives practice of creating and lobotomising Bound vaurca within Republic territories, who they argue — without lobotomisation — could have formed into Unbound instead. The creation of an unbound would be tantamount to inflicting grievous bodily harm, and bound would be covered under the same protections that unbound are — and so owning one would be tantamount to slavery. The party has not outlined any plans on how they would deal with Bound already active in the Republic.
The party has no significant stance towards the megacorporations or the Phoron Scarcity, however has condemned the megacorporations which discriminate by species — so, all but NanoTrasen Corporation — and has acknowledged that the Phoron Scarcity disproportionately affects alien species within deprived cities and areas of the Republic.
The party has gained a large amount of publicity with a mandate goal that will see the Federal Republic of Biesel formally renamed to the Federal Republic of the Middle Spur — a name inclusive of all bodies and regions under the Republic. This alone has garnered the support of elder, non-Biesellite Republic citizens — New_Gibsonites especially — who remain resentful of the Biesel-first nature of the Republic and its name, though the name is still contested within the party. This has soured the party to some Biesellites though, alienating a portion of their largest voting base.
The Egalitarian Coalition was formed recently in 2467 out of two regional parties that had struggled previously to field the resources to campaign on a Republic-wide level: the Progressive Party of Biesel and Egalitarian Coalition of Valkyrie. It is almost entirely reliant on the donations from organisations such as the Trinary Perfection church and Eternal schools, both of which holding large presences on Biesel.
The party has a co-leadership structure, headed by both Montgomery and Harbinger of Peaceful Purposes — an IPC and diona respectively. Since combining their resources and planetary reputations, they now control a fluctuating 23% of the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople seat share.
Cetian Social Democratic Front
The Cetian Social Democratic Front (CSDF) is a New Gibsonite Social Democratic party that seems to balance the Republic’s capitalist values with a robust welfare state, as seen on New Gibson.
The party endeavours to implement a series of policies that will regulate the Republic of Biesel’s economy, implement some anti-trust laws, and increase taxes targeting megacorporations and the wealthy so as to level the playing field in the Republic’s markets and to establish a welfare state. It has explicitly set out to break the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate and constituent companies monopolies and party messaging often claims they have been allowed to progress too far, which has seen it gain the ire of the megacorporations. The CSDF has also advocated for significantly increasing public education and health & social care funding, allowing public schools and health & social care services to better compete alongside private services. The party should not be mistaken for left wing or socialist though, and their vision only sees the megacorporations regulated enough to allow competition with local corporations, services, and public bodies.
With a notable skrell influence, as is expected for a party out of New Gibson and one led by a Xoikku skrell, the party has advocated for a Social Compatibility Index-like system to be implemented in the Republic, with a scaling universal income based on one’s degree of impoverishment and contribution to the Republic of Biesel. The party has also taken an anti-synthetic stance, seeking to halt any further emancipation or support of owned or non-citizen IPCs, null the First Amendment that emancipated free IPCs and entitled them to citizenship and the rights thereof, bring back external IPC tagging at a national level, criminalise IPCs who do not clearly identify as such, and to decommission advanced AIs such as Huginn and Aura. For all other species though, sans vaurca which they have remained silent on, the CSDF strongly advocates for equality, and putting in place strong anti-hate laws that prevent speech and actions that threaten the Republic’s diverse and multicultural environment.
Despite its progressive stances, the CSDF takes an anti-immigration stance. The party has stated that temporarily halting citizenship and asylum applications or severely toughening up the application process is necessary for the Republic to effectively handle the strain on its systems which now are exaggerated by the Phoron Scarcity. It is adamant that said anti-immigration stance is not a result of xenophobia.
Unlike all other parties, the CSDF is also explicitly anti-phoron, believing phoron alternatives — such as warp drives and cryogenic engineering solutions — are vital to see the Republic of Biesel through the phoron scarcity. Yet another reason for the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate and constituent companies to scorn the party. However, it has seen the party receive some support from Einstein Engines.
Historically, the Cetian Social Democratic Front has always been hindered by scandals, Biesel Security Service Bureau investigations, and other obstacles set in place by the megacorporate establishment. However, since the election of Ake Torvald, the frequency of these have curiously ceased.
The party is headed by Zash Vi’tak. They control a fluctuating 20% of the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople seat share.
Minor Parties
Hadiist Party of Tau Ceti The Hadiist Party of Tau Ceti is a Biesellite Hadiist party that seeks to apply President Njadrasanukii Hadii’s teachings to the Republic of Biesel and its problems.
The party seeks to drastically expand the powers of the Republic’s executive branch, consolidating unlimited power in the president, through which the Hadiist teachings can be enacted with greater ease. These teachings include the establishment of a robust welfare state and equality for all species. It is against melting pot multiculturalism and instead advocates for the state to preserve and protect each species’ traditional values, and that they can exist alongside one another but not merging with one another — it somewhat differs from Adhomian Hadiism in this regard, as it has abandoned the idea of creating a superculture. As a result of the Solarian Alliance’s stance on tajara, the party also advocates for a strong defence budget.
Its current leader is Chairman Matvei Karakhan, a People's Republic of Adhomai migrant who also founded the party. They control a fluctuating 3% of the Tau Ceti Assembly of Spokespeople seat share.
Syndicated Union of Labourers (Banned) The Syndicated Union of Labourers (SUL) is a radical syndicalist party that seeks to revolutionise the Republic of Biesel into a system of worker’s unions, as seen on Himeo.
The party is the reaction to the Biesellite Free Market Party that has dominated the Republic’s politics since its independence. To this day and despite being banned, it campaigns for the immediate nationalisation of megacorporate holdings, the expansion of worker’s rights, and then ultimately the dissolution of the Republic of Biesel after the promotion of worker’s unions to the point they can replace the Republic. However, being the only socialist party to have ever gained significant traction, it often attracts those with their own ideas of syndicalism, or those who aren’t syndicalist at all and instead some other flavour of socialist, so it has forever been uncertain as to whether they would be as extreme in their actions as they say they are — or, if these campaign messages are fabricated.
Obtaining membership or associating with the SUL is a potentially criminal offence, one that is guaranteed to result in Biesel Security Service Bureau or CCIA investigation even if no charges or regulatory infractions are raised. Higher echelon members or those responsible for organising party events or membership drives are at risk of serious indictments, up to terrorism. You are at greater risk of losing your character should you play an SUL-affiliated person; discretion is advised.
Economics
The Republic of Biesel is a market capital economy, described as having strong investments in resource extraction, agriculture, shipping and handling, and manufacturing. In reality, its economy is based on two things: phoron and trade. Exporting phoron, and acting as a trade hub for the rest of the Spur. Both of which are currently under threat due to the scarcity, and have resulted in economic instability within the Republic. Early in the Scarcity, its currency saw some devaluation; however, it has since bounced back as subsidies, the slashing of interest rates, and other monetary policies have managed to keep its economy technically growing slowly for now, but the rate of that growth is falling rapidly year over year. It maintains the Biesel Standard Credit (电/CR) as its official currency, with some segments of the Corporate Reconstruction Zone still utilizing the Solarian Standard Credit. It sees usage outside of the Republic, within the Izweski Hegemony, who adopted it as their official currency following the collapse of the Solarian Alliance, and some sections of the Coalition of Colonies near the shared border, as well as the People's Republic of Adhomai. The BSC is available in electronic, bankcard and chip that have the symbol of a lit torch on them. Responsibility for the currency falls to the Central Biesel Banking Authority, which is located in District One of Mendell City, where it cooperates closely with Idris Incorporated to form monetary policies. Similar to the Solarian Standard Credit, the BSC is a fiat currency.
While NanoTrasen is still the undisputed most powerful megacorporation within the Republic, the Republic is no longer exclusive to them. This was made clear by a daring move of Noelle Lopez-Zhang, when Einstein Engines acquired NanoTrasen's holdings in the Biesellite city of Phoenixport. When the government cooperates with Megacorporations, it cooperates with almost all member corporations of the SCC on somewhat equal terms. Still, for now NanoTrasen holds significant economic power within the Republic, given their stranglehold on one of the most important aspects of the economy, Phoron. Phoron has made Tau Ceti and the Republic as a whole one of the wealthiest nations in the Spur, and has been integral to its very identity. This is, of course, now threatened by scarcity - something that has put pressure on not only the entire country but on NanoTrasen specifically, who tries their best to keep up the illusion that all is well.
Biesel has a significant presence in the medical technology industry, owing to the agreement signed between Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and NanoTrasen a decade after the discovery of phoron. Its medical innovations spawned from this agreement include being the nation where dexalin and peridaxon were first synthesized.
Culture and Demographics
See also: Biesellite Culture and Society
Due to the many events of the past decade, the Republic of Biesel’s culture has drastically changed in recent years. They place emphasis on individual freedoms, inclusivity, and more recently, duty to uphold those previous two values. Originally a culture propped up by megacorporate entities, in the past decade's challenges, such as the Second Solarian Invasion, it is clear that the culture of the young nation has come into its own in many ways. Still, Republic Citizens are on average largely pro-megacorporation and rather anti-Solarian; the latter sentiment only continuing to increase due to Solarian Actions.
Languages
Although Tau Ceti Basic has prospered as the official language of Biesel ever since its founding, it has undergone a significant amount of change thanks to the linguistic and cultural additions of the Republic’s many immigrants. Linguists have noted that the original Solarian-born tongue is highly susceptible to both human and alien pronunciation, making accents easy to detect. Due to its multicultural roots, though, little was done to interfere with its natural progression in schools and the general population — Biesel’s government continues to frequently tout Tau Ceti Basic’s many forms to this day. Many actors and singers are especially famous for embracing (or in more dishonest cases, emulating) foreign accents to reach new target audiences or for plain clout. Unsurprisingly, these differences are also used by politicians to tie their voters together or draw lines between them. ‘Pure’ Biesellite accents are mostly a mark of prestige used by diplomats and influential business workers, usually obtained naturally through being born into long-established immigrant families, gradually eschewing their former pronunciation as a result of distance.
A noticeable byproduct of this multiculturalism is the abundance of foreign slang used by a wide range of Biesellite citizens. Drawn from just about every corner of the Spur, these words and sayings are often thrown into sentences with little care for grammar, with alien immigrants especially finding it hard to let go of old customs. Humans, who generally have an easier time with Tau Ceti Basic, are known to pick these remnants up through living and working close to alien-dense districts. Truly bizarre combinations of dialects and slang emerge from these relationships, which tend to confuse completely foreign listeners, but are the beating heart of culture for urban Biesellites.
Aliens in Tau Ceti
See also: Skrell in the Republic of Biesel, Unathi in the Republic of Biesel, Little Adhomai, Zo'ra in the Republic of Biesel, The Biesellian Choir
The Republic has among the most diverse and widespread populations of non-human species in the entire Orion Spur. From the district of Little Adhomai to the Zo'ra Hive's presence on Biesel and Caprice, Biesellite humans are no stranger to aliens in their streets. However districts primarily populated by aliens have a lower-than-average income than human-dominant districts, and are essentially ghettos. The condition and wealth divide in these districts is only continuing to worsen as the phoron rationing policies of Ake Torvald sees priority go towards wealthy neighborhoods. They look more run down than ever, as the crime rate has steadily been increasing and black markets begin to pop up more frequently. As a result, similarly to the human poor, recruitment in the Tau Ceti Armed Forces has become particularly popular.
Synthetics in Tau Ceti
See also: IPCs in Biesel
Biesel is currently home to one of the largest populations of IPCs within the known galaxy. Although not yet entitled to the same rights as their fellow Bieselittes, the attitude towards IPCs, owned and unowned is generally regarded as the most progressive within the Inner Colonies. IPCs in the Republic are a common sight in urban areas such as Mendell City and Phoenixport. Such a degree of urbanisation can be attributed to the more developed infrastructure and available services required for the maintenance, housing and charging, as well as employment opportunities provided by the megacorporate presence.
Military
See also: Tau Ceti Armed Forces
The Republic of Biesel's sovereignty is currently protected by the Tau Ceti Armed Forces, which were formed in 2465 in response to the long and difficult fight against insurgency in the Corporate Reconstruction Zone, replacing their ineffective predecessors in the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion. An amendment to the People's Protection Act saw the creation of the TCAF, alongside the new branches of the Tau Ceti Minutemen (Army), Republican Fleets (Space Fleet), and the Corporate Auxiliary Forces (Corporate Paramilitaries). Since President Torvald’s election, the TCAF has seen it’s funding increase dramatically, and be prioritized for phoron after the president instituted soft-rationing, which has led the military to see a surge in recruitment numbers, while retaining access to some of the best technology and equipment available in the spur; enough to where by most estimates, they could put up a real fight against their current regional threat, the reconstituted Solarian Alliance.
Non-citizens seeking citizenship in Tau Ceti can acquire it through service in the Armed Forces.
Their current operations extend as far as the borders of the Corporate Reconstruction Zone, and generally drop off from there, except their previous involvement in the S'rend'marr Coalition at NanoTrasen’s request almost half a decade ago.
Technology
Phoronics: The Republic of Biesel's technological advancements are owed to the vast deposits of phoron in the Romanovich Cloud, and what would become the republic was the birthplace of the “Phoronic Revelotion” a technological revolution that followed the discovery of phoron for almost fifty years, and laid the foundations for the technology of the Spur to become what it is today. Even in the midst of the scarcity, Biesel still has some of the most advanced technology in the Spur thanks to its large supply of phoron - including a large supply of phoron WMDs and Phoron Warheads, planet killers and city killers respectively.
Robotics: The relative freedom of synthetics within Biesellite space has also inspired a great degree of research into refining and developing positronics. While many megacorporations still have primary positronic facilities in the Alliance, with some even purchasing Shell frames from Einstein Engines, NanoTrasen and Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals in particular have begun to invest in positronic and frame manufacturing plants on Valkyrie, New Gibson, and Reade.
Anomalies Studies: The Republic's other greatest scientific advancement is the study of the anomalous properties of bluespace. Xenoarchaeology and the study of Alden-Saraspova activity within the Romanovich Cloud is a well-established field in Tau Ceti, and many aspiring anomalists and bluespace researchers venture into Tau Ceti to study the high amount of anomalous items and artifacts that are unearthed within the Romanovich Cloud. Strangely, the rates of anomalous activity emanating from the Romanovich Cloud have steadily increased as phoron has been mined.