[hider=Imperial Mercury]
[center][h2][b]Imperial Mercury[/b][/h2][/center]

[b]Government Type:[/b]

The Mercurian government can best be described as two entities, the official one enshrined in law and presented to the solar system as legitimate, and the unofficial one that makes, effectively, all actual decisions.  The official government is one of the nobility that, legally, exercises total and complete authority over the planet.  Nominally they are totally divorced from the whims of the people and more than able of passing laws merely because they suit them.  In reality?  The nobility would be lucky if they could secure passage outside one of their sealed communities. 

This is because the unofficial government, the Mercurian Assembly, exerts the only real authority on the planet.  They, in theory, are a pointless chamber that presents petitions to the noble government, but this has not been the case since they effectively ‘took custody’ of the planet's nobility during the beginning of the civil war.  It was the assembly that declared Mercury’s position of neutrality, and it is the assembly that keeps the Mercurian nobles in gilded cages. 

[b]Demographics:[/b]

The vast majority of Mercury’s population is, of course, Mercurian.  Engineered to surmount the unique challenges of colonizing Mercury, especially the claustrophobic conditions of the tunnels, Mercurians are notably shorter than other humans and demi humans.  Males top out at about four feet five inches, and women four feet.  Additionally Mercurian eyes function best in far red, which is the sort of light most often seen in the otherwise pitch black tunnels they inhabit.  Overall they are small, but hearty people.

[b]Economy:[/b]

The Mercurian economy, simply put, is colossal.  The planet declared neutrality at the very beginning of the civil war which eventually destroyed the gate network, and to this day it maintains that position.  Conveniently, this makes Mercury one of the only territories in the Solar System that SolSec, the great fortress around the Sun, does not target.  In fact, in exchange for ‘taxes’ the SolSec AI has largely acted to protect Mercury.  This has allowed Mercury to invest into one of the largest merchant fleets in the system, one willing and able to take any contract, for any player.

Additionally, Mercury conducts much of SolSec’s trade.  While the AI demands ‘taxes’ in the form of raw materials, Mercury has long since exploited the fact that SolSec will accept processed goods as well.  At any moment some percentage of the Mercurian fleet is shipping goods for SolSec, but which ships are doing what is a secret that Mercury guards closely.  Thus, to protect its own assets, SolSec has occasionally acted in favor of Mercurian shipping.  Something which has been a powerful, even if mostly illusory, deterrent to pirates and raiders. 

SolSec aside, Mercury is also a natural port.  On average it is the entire solar system's closest neighbour, and thus it not only has an advantage in exporting raw materials and processed goods but in shipping things from one planet to another.  Further, its neutral position has allowed it to make goods normally available only in one belligerents market accessible from others.  In this way Mercury is one of the solar systems great links.  Even as nations battle, Mercury connects their economies.

Of course, that is not the only way Mercury benefits from the battles that still rage across space.  The planet officially prohibits arms exports, but only to government entities or from government entities.  It is because of this, rather obvious, loophole that there is a vast weapons market on Mercury, dominated by tens of thousands of firms of varying sizes.  Beyond weapons, massive amounts of conventional goods are shipped from Mercury.  The Mercurian economy will cater to anyone, even and especially when it becomes difficult for them to source whatever they need.  It needn't be said aloud, but Mercury has armed countless rebel groups with one hand while outfitting their governments on the other.

[b]Military:[/b]
[b]History:[/b]
[b]Characters:[/b]
[/hider]
[b]
its a wip[/b]