[img=http://masil-astro-imaging.netfirms.com/SWI/LDN%201622.jpg]

[center][b]The Depths of Tartarus[/b][/center]

[hider=Summary]
[b]Official Name:[/b] Global Governing Body of Asphodel
[b]Unofficial Name(s):[/b] Global Governing Body, GGB.
[b]Demonym:[/b] Asphodelian; humanity.
[b]Capital System/Planet:[/b] Erebos System, Planet Asphodel
[b]Population:[/b] Four and a half billion
[b]Type of Power:[/b] Fledgeling spacefaring.
[b]Species Description:[/b] Long lost colony of humans, hidden in a cold nebula.
[b]Notes:[/b] We haven’t had first contact yet. Our faction name will probably change after that. Currently on-par technologically with the 1960’s USA/Russia, but we’ll be doing a prologue that’ll span the 30 years up until first contact.[/hider]
[hider=Government, Politics, & Economy]
[b]Head of State:[/b] Chairman of the Body
[b]Head of Government:[/b] Chairman of the Body
[b]Head of Military:[/b] N/A
[b]Chief Diplomat:[/b] N/A

[b]Type of Government:[/b] Oligarchy
[b]Description of Government:[/b] Each nation has a number of chairman in the Body equal to the number of facilities they run for the Body, as well as one more as a representative of the nation. In this way, a country that loans more facilities to the Body has more representation in the Body. Each representative is a facility administrator or nation representative. In order to pass legislation and executive action, the representatives make propositions, deliberate, and vote to eliminate or pass actions.
[b]Type of Economy:[/b] Each nation must put forth a minimum amount of funding to maintain their place in the GGB. Outside of this mutual funding, each nation has their own independent economies.[/hider]
[hider=Origins of Asphodel]
[b][Part I][/b]
In 2282, [i]Charon[/i], the first seedship, departs from Earth for the distant star system of Epsilon Eridani. The ship carries no human crew and is equipped with an experimental “FTL” system. Using nuclear thermal rocket engines, it achieves stellar escape velocity, and activates FTL. [i]Charon[/i] vanishes, never to be seen again. With no sign of survival and no return signal, humanity assumes the ship lost, and abandons the poorly understood technology in favor of more dependable stellar engines.
But [i]Charon[/i] was not destroyed, merely lost. Phase shifted out of the Earth’s reference frame, it drifts on through space. [i]Charon[/i] retains its initial velocity, but time becomes a complex quantity, endlessly oscillating. Eventually, as thousands of subjective years pass, Charon’s reactors go dormant, awaiting a gravitational signature before they awaken.
The ship enters the Epsilon Eridani system, and nothing happens. A malfunction perhaps, or a slight miscalculation in trajectory. The ship drifts on, blind and lifeless, through the void between spaces. Hundreds of thousands of years pass within, and finally, [i]Charon[/i] detects a gravity well.
It emerges from the complex plane at the edge of a planet’s atmosphere, approaching at a velocity of more than seventy kilometers per second. Automation scarcely resumes before Charon enters the atmosphere.
The machine minds on board react instantly, igniting the reactors and torching the planet with nuclear fire in a frantic attempt to save the ship. They succeed partially, regaining control just long enough to jettison colony pods. [i]Charon[/i] tumbles, hull warping in the heat, struts buckling. It is torn in half by the atmosphere, and crash-lands near the now-radioactive North Pole.
But the colony pods survive, mostly intact, to land at various parts of the globe. Their feeble artificial intelligences, damaged as they are from the sudden landing, begin the cloning process. And within a few short years, the first humans walk the hills of Asphodel. The machines raise the first generation, teaching them of the great classical philosophers and mythology, but nothing else. Damaged as they are, their memory banks contain no other information. The machines tell humanity that this is the afterlife, that the Ferryman [i]Charon[/i] brought them to Asphodel as a final resting place.
Civilization rises in the East, and the great Empire of Ghazele grows to encompass the largest continent. The humans of Asphodel, drawn from the best genetic stock and modified to suit their environment quickly give rise to a society analogous to Earth’s Rome. Science and philosophy flourish.
As they stare up into the skies beyond in wonder, as all humans inevitably do, they see nothing. No stars—only a sun and distant worlds orbiting it. Based on their understanding of mathematics and a few fragments of information they extract from the machines, scientists of the time believe their solar system of Erebos to be the last surviving system in a post-heat death universe. All other stars gone dark, all worlds dead. Only Humanity, the last species in the universe, trapped in Hell.

[b][Part II][/b]
But Hell is good, for a time at least. The Empire of Ghazele explores the globe, encountering other fledgling civilizations which they exploit or cooperate with as it suits them. In time, they even explore the hazardous and radioactive North Pole, home to an unusual plant called Taiben and tribes that are dependent upon it for sustenance. Taiben is addictive and possesses numerous beneficial properties, essentially acting as both an anagathic and a steroid. Naturally, the Ghazele explorers brought Taiben back to the empire, where it flourished. They eventually concocted a much more potent drug from the plant, and returned to the north to exploit the local tribes. The savages took to the drug a bit too well, slaughtered the expedition and began to migrate south in search of more.
Refined Taiben, in addition to being a tremendously powerful steroid, degrades mental functions and increases aggression. And so, when the uncivilized barbarians met with Ghazele’s well-trained armies, the barbarians won. They ravaged Ghazele, moving steadily south, laying waste to the cradle of civilization.
The “war” raged for three thousand years. It was as if the barbarian hordes of Europe had destroyed Rome, then returned again every year to destroy it again, forever. 

[b][Part III][/b]
Technology and science regressed and all hope was lost. But eventually, the surviving Ghazele colonies and trading partners regained their footing and resisted the Taiben tribes, forming islands of stability in a war-ravaged world.
Time passes, and the Greater Empire of Sanctus rises from the ruins. Sanctus begins the slow task of regaining territory lost to the barbarians. They conquer lands in the other continent, territories that will one day become the UCS and the Corporate Badlands. The Holy Sañira Protectorate rises, well protected from the Taiben by mountainous areas along its border.
Sanctus eventually becomes strong enough to challenge the complacent Taiben, who had been content to ravage the Ghazele heartland. But when Sanctus calls upon its reclaimed territories for support, the new isolationist regime of Sañira refuses, sparking a series of border conflicts between the two former friends. A surge in Taiben aggression and the conflict with Sañira force Sanctus to abandon its colonies, withdrawing to the Eastern-most peninsula.
Despite setbacks, technology improves, and firearms start to become commonplace. Civilized armies finally gain the upper hand, beating back the Taiben incursions. For almost forty years, life is comfortable.
And then the Taiben begin to manufacture their own rifles. They launch global raids against all countries they can reach, collectively known as the Grand Raid. The Grand Raid is only held back in the advanced nations by advantages granted by the newly developed steam power and electric communications.

[b][Part IV][/b]
With the advent of the industrial age, the nations of the world unite against the Taiben, invading the Taiben’s mountainous homeland. Massive advancement in technology allows the Taiben tribal forces to be crushed, but guerrilla tactics, theft of supplies and ambient radiation makes occupation costly. The alliance is eventually forced to retreat, but not before first using atomic weapons—manufactured in the Corporate Badlands by Ingle’s Corp, deployed by Sanctus. The Taiben homeland is devastated, irradiated forever, entire mountain ranges reduced to slag.
But the Taiben live on.
A new world power rises—a single man. Geoff Ingle is the primary nuclear arms dealer for the entire world. He sells to all first-world nations, creating a cold war in the aftermath of the Taiben bombing. 
The atomic age is beginning—and soon, humanity will aspire to rule their tiny dark system—to harvest its wealth, and thus somehow survive the heat death that has befallen every other system.
But truth is stranger than fiction—even this fiction of a dead race, cast down by the gods, trapped in hell, surrounded by a desolate universe. [i]Charon’s[/i] arrival at Asphodel predates human civilization on Earth. It traveled in the spaces between stars for four hundred thousand years, and yet when it arrives at Asphodel, it arrives five thousand years [i]before it left[/i], crewed only by mad machines.
Hidden within their dark nebula, humanity’s offspring will soon be their equals.
It is 4390 years after the founding of the Ghazele Empire, thirty years before first contact.[/hider]
[hider=Realms of Asphodel]
[img=http://i.imgur.com/NVWtXL6.jpg]
[b][Ghazele Wastes][/b]
Once the cradle of civilization, Ghazele’s former empire has been utterly obliterated. Now, this vast region is home to a plethora of warlords, kings and “planters”—those who sell Taiben plants or the refined drug to the barbarians.
Ghazele’s climate is varied, from the blistering deserts of the equator to the marshes and tundras in the north and south. Most of the region, however, is tropical and hot.
[b][Kingdom of Sanctus][/b]
This waning superpower has gradually adopted a more and more isolationist stance in the wake of the Taiben occupation. Little information passes out of the walled cities of Sanctus, but what little does is worrying. Rumors of the creation of a “silicon microprocessor” have reached the ears of high GGB officials—and such a device, in the hands of the Sanctan techno-mystical priesthood, is troubling news indeed.
Sanctus occupies a wiry, elongated peninsula, lined with fiords and small island chains. Before the great raid, they were a center for great trade, but now, in the midst of a cold war, their borders are closed. Sanctus tends to be cold and wet, with ever-present fog shrouding its well-defended cities.
[b][Sañira][/b]
Nestled between three mountain ranges, this police-state has endured Taiben raids for almost a thousand years. Now, with their ancient enemy diminished, Sañiran officials struggle to invent new foes to keep their people in line. Sañira boasts the most powerful army and navy, and is an industrial power only outmatched by the UCS.
Sañiran climate is moderately dry and average.
[b][Swehteir][/b]
Protected from the Taiben by Sanira and the vast oceans, Swehteir is possibly the most well-protected nation from the Taiben. The most heavily invested in GGB, Swehteir owns almost half of all GGB offices worldwide, and thus almost half the votes. Fortunately, Swehteir has maintained a roughly neutral political stance in most matters.
Swehteir’s climate is among the most mild on Asphodel. It boasts the best living conditions.
[b][Corporate Badlands][/b]
Initially a coalition of mining cartels formed after the withdrawal of Sanctus, this region is now a vast, industrial wasteland. With no central government, each corporation is a nation onto itself. The water is unsafe to drink and toxic waste is often dumped into the great northernmost river (nicknamed “the Small Stygian Marsh” by locals). Snipers from a shopping mall take potshots at employees at the car dealership just down the street. Because of this, it has one of the worst economies in the world, yet the highest profit margins.
The Corporate Badlands is home to megacorporations like Ingle’s Corp and Makaron Metals. It is the hottest and driest place on Asphodel—temperatures reaching as high as 40ºC during the summer.
[b][Ji-leh][/b]
With its safest harbors rocky—almost mountainous, Ji-leh might initially seem a horrible base for a trade empire. But those dangerous harbors provide protection from Taiben rafts—and on Asphodel, immunity to the Taiben is far more important than any inconvenience. Historically a mixture of monastery and marketplace, Ji-leh is now the wealthiest nation, per capita, on the planet.
The climate is temperate, cold and mountainous.
[b][Ingle’s Land][/b]
A cold, mostly empty island purchased by Geoff Ingle, who uses it mostly as a vacation home. It is home to a number of refugees, who are either ignored or used as target practice.
[b][United Coalition of States][/b]
Once a collection of warring, Balkanized city-states, the UCS has grown tamer with time. With the advent of the Industrial Age, and its proximity to the Corporate Badlands, it has become a manufacturing superpower, supplying the entire alliance during the Taiben war and occupation. The UCS currently possesses the most well-developed space program, and is in the process of launching the first satellites.
UCS’s climate is temperate and varied.
[b][Conglomeration for Mutual Welfare][/b]
Four years ago, a collection of states favoring socialist policies seceded from the UCS after heated debates concerning universal heathcare and welfare. Within a single year, CWM unemployment numbers hit 38%. The CWM requested to return to the UCS. The UCS refused. Things have gone downhill since.
CMW is heavily urban, with a mild climate.
[b][Global Governing Body][/b]
In addition to controlling offices and facilities across the globe, the GGB owns its own island chain. Most permanent residents are involved in administrative tasks. The climate is humid and cold, fog often blanketing its cities.
[b][Taiben][/b]
The word Taiben is synonymous with the barbarian tribes of the north, the plant with steroid-like qualities they are so fond of, and the land they call home. Much of Taiben is tundra or mountains, and it sports an unusually large number of caves and hotsprings heated by a natural fission reactor beneath the planet’s crust. The area was radioactive before the alliance nuked it—now it’s a wasteland. Many Taiben survived, but they are mostly disorganized.
[b][Zeeland and Strelia][/b]
The islands of Zeeland and Strelia are an oddity amongst the nations of Asphodel, as the isolation of the ocean protected them from the worst of Taiben raids. A Ghazele colony, Strelia developed into an urban center, while the larger island of Zeeland was largely agricultural, feeding the populace of it's sister island. Protected as they were from the worst of the outside world, though maintaining trade with the other civilized nations, Strelia developed into a cosmopolitan hub of learning and art.
This all changed when, just over 5 decades ago, massive, terrifying creatures swarmed over Strelia, aggressively attacking its people, and digging nests. It's still unclear whether this event was some kind of natural migration event, or if it was somehow triggered by man, intentionally or otherwise. Whatever the case, the once beautiful cities of Strelia are now home to the most deadly animals on the planet. The survivors evacuated to Zeeland, where they have managed to reconstruct much of what they lost, but artefacts of great value still remain on the abandoned island. Many would-be treasure hunters and fortune seekers make their way over, hoping to recover items to sell.
[b][Flats of Light][/b]
It isn’t called the Flats of Light because of any inherent goodness or hope-like quality. It’s called the Flats of Light because it’s really fucking bright. Cloudless skies, ozone holes and reflective salt flats result in blinding and harmful rays. Those few who call the Flats of Light home wear protective goggles when outside or risk blindness.
[b][The White Sands][/b]
Further south of the Flats of Light lies the White Sands—perhaps the strangest place on the planet. The White Sands, so named because one cannot tell the sand from the snow, is home to crazy, intoxicated “Rooskees” who roam this desolate land in dune buggies. Not a drop a water has fallen over The White Sands in recorded history, nor has any of the snow melted. Snow falls over the sandstone mountains to the West, where it is carried inland on strong winds—along with a healthy amount of sand, ripped from the sandstone.
[b][The Glorious South][/b]
Those who travel further south than the Flats of Light are generally considered insane. The Glorious South is the most inhospitable place in all of Asphodel. Temperatures remain cold enough to freeze a man in his tracks, and yet there still remain mad survivalists who live here, eking out a bleak existence in the ice.[/hider]
[hider=Worlds of Erebos]
[img=http://i.imgur.com/sBvGDun.png]
[b][Erebos][/b]
Erebos, a small yellow star, surrounded by seven planets. To those within the system of Erebos, other stars are not visible—hidden from view by the cold nebula that surrounds the system.
[b][Kronos][/b]
A tiny, scorched world, extremely close to Erebos. Kronos has an eccentric orbit, and is suspected to have a high metal content.
[b][Stygia][/b]
Commonly called the Stygian Marsh, Stygia is a runaway greenhouse planet with similarities to Venus. It has greater gravity than Asphodel and a much thicker atmosphere.
[i][Phlegethon][/i]
Moon of Stygia, Phlegethon is little more than a captured asteroid.
[b][Asphodel][/b]
Asphodel is similar to Earth, but markedly less hospitable. A thinner atmosphere and a weaker sun make it colder and more prone to extremes in temperature.
[i][Akheron][/i]
First moon of Asphodel, Akheron rocky and cratered.
[i][Mnemosyne][/i]
A small ice moon in a distant orbit around Asphodel.
[b][Hekate][/b]
A cold, red, low-gravity world with a thin methane atmosphere.
[i][Avernos][/i]
Hekate’s only moon is tidally locked.
[b][Lethe][/b]
A small, dead world with considerable uranium reserves.
[b][Scylla][/b]
The only gas giant in the Erebos system, Scylla has a considerable host of moons.
[i][Elysion][/i]
Despite being much further from the sun, Elysion is arguably more habitable than Asphodel. Of comparable mass and size, its atmosphere is considerably thicker. Geothermal vents heat the moon, supplying enough heat to keep it warm year-round. While little life exists on land, Elysion’s oceans are teeming with life.
[i][Kokytos][/i]
An ice world a fifth the size of Asphodel.
[i][Demos][/i]
Massive, of comparable size to Stygia.
[i][Oneiroi][/i]
A captured asteroid with a very eccentric orbit.
[i][Pol][/i]
Even smaller than Oneiroi, Pol is also a captured asteroid.
[b][Taenarum][/b]
Furthest world in the Erebos system, Taenarum is covered in a layer of ice.
[u][Notes on the Nebula][/u]
The cold, dark nebula that surrounds Erebos provides a very effective shield, blocking relativistic objects and most forms of FTL due to sheer density. Ships can pass through it normally at more reasonable speeds though. The nebula begins approximately 30 AU from the highest point in Taenarum’s orbit.
[img=http://i.imgur.com/oANHqp7.png][/hider]