NS: Gestalt Concordant [hider][center] [color=00aeef]Nation Name[/color]: Gestalt Concordant [color=00aeef]Government Form[/color]: Council of planetary representatives [color=00aeef]Demographics[/color]: 100% human [color=00aeef]Population[/color]: 3 Billion, split between 6 moon civilizations --- [img]https://www.shareicon.net/data/2015/11/18/674280_flag_512x512.png[/img] --- [/center] [color=39b54a]Planet Name and Description[/color]: The Concordant is a collection of moon colonies that have a loose diplomatic relationship with each other. The system named Hellas by its inhabitants, is home to 13 moons orbiting the brown dwarf Paphos. Of these 13 moons, only 5 are habitable and can host complex life. Melos: The closest of the 13 moons of Paphos and most affected by its parent planet. Due to its proximity to Paphos Melos is tide locked and the side facing the brown dwarf is perpetually dark. However due to the decay heat of the brown dwarf and the thick atmosphere of the moon, the entire planet maintains a temperate climate. The native flora and fauna for both the day and night side of the planet have adapted to their environments. For example, the large forests on the night side of the planet have adapted themselves to be carnivorous, secreting a mildly acidic sap that traps and dissolves small insects 1.32 earth masses Gravity 0.7G ( based on 1G earth gravity) Naxos: Has the most eccentric orbit around Paphos and is rumored to be a new addition to the group of moons and still stabilizing its orbit. Naxos is cold, sporting a thick ice crust that protects a massive subterreanean liquid ocean. The geological activity of the planet warms the subterranean ocean to habitable levels for life, As this water evaporates it rapidly freezes as it rises creating the self sustaining domes that protects its inhabitants. Life on the surface of Naxos is restricted to small purpose build camps, the majority of the colony live in massive underwater arcologies. The large subterranean ocean is home to a number of aquatic species some docile and some hyper-aggressive. 2.05 earth masses Gravity 1.5G Nicosia: The most temperate of the 6 moon colonies and home to the planetary council, that tries to manage the diplomatic relationship between the colonies. This is the most earth like moon in orbit around Paphos with a similar day/night cycle to earth. The lack of an axial tilt results in the lack of seasons for the planet, but its proximity to the brown dwarf and the light from its parent star keeps the planet comfortable. 1.02 each masses 1.001G Konosos: If the tenacity of the human species could be distilled into a singular planetary body, it would be Konosos. The planet is nearly a carbon copy of Venus in the Sol system of old. The moon sports a thick ammonia, Co2 and methane atmosphere that makes it toxic to human life. This is coupled with near constant tectonic activity and planet wide eruptions. Most wouldn’t call Konosos a true colony due to the compact nature of its habitation. Every man, woman and child lives in a singular massive closed city, resembling a multitude of arcology spires. Leaving this spire without respiratory and protective equipment is immediately fatal and even direct contact to unexposed skin can lead to sever irritation and injury. The people of Konosos love their city however and thrive in this inhospitable environment 1.0 Earth masses 1G Argos: A lush green paradise on its surface, this moon sports a tropical climate with lush rainforest that dominates the entire planet. There is no visible ocean on the planet, however the planet’s surface is made up of a collection of interconnected subterranean tunnels, allowing water to run along the entirety of the planet. Any cave system potentialy gives you access to the entire planet. The planet is home to a vast number of native carnivorous species of animals and plants, all which fight for survival to thrive in the jungle. The moon sports a robust set of interconnecting rings that makes orbiting the moon hazardous, collisions of larger rocks and ice in the rigs are common, leading to common motor showers and rouge debris. Those who inhabit the planet look at their X-shaped ring system with pride. 1.3 Earth Masses 1.2G Boitia This is the only moon that would be considered alien by the human colonists. Rather than the stark destructive power of Konosos or barreness of the other dead moons that orbit Paphos, Boitia is lush, sporting large plains of neon blue marsh. The moons orbit, is rather eccentric but studies show that this was one of the first moons to be captured by Paphos’s sphere of influence. The geology of the moon also sets this apart from its siblings, large amounts of heavy and exotic metals are abundant all over the surface which is different from the majority ice and silicate rock make up of the rest of the moons. Everything points to this moon not being native to this region, a possible rogue planet perhaps? Or part of the core from a failed planet? The flora and Fauna of this moon is also alien and completely different from the other moons native species. The atmosphere is acceptable for human lungs, providing the nitrogen and oxygen needed to carbon based complex life. Helium also makes up a relatively large proportion of the atmosphere and is used by the native species of the planet. Large manta ray like creatures, full of organically produced helium, slowly glide across the sky in herds decending on the overgrown marsh grasslands to feed. The large alien marshes also support the planetary ecosystem, acting as vast shallow oceans which dictates the water cycle for the planet and air filtration of CO2 to and oxygen, nitrogen, helium mixture. 1.3 Earth Masses 1.0G [color=39b54a]History[/color]: When the first colony ships left the gateway they were horrified to find not the habitable planet that they were promised but a failed star, a brown dwarf. Careful system surveying is what came next as the colonist struggled to find a place to settle. Running low on fuel, food and morale, the colonist chose to split their fleet towards the few moons that seemed habitable. Not all of these expeditions were successful however, some surveys were incorrect, leading their colonist to certain death upon landing on their moons. Other never made it to a moon to colonize. The rigors of a long arduous journey became too much for the crew and the colony ship, many malfunctioned catastrophically. With sheer tenacity and a good bit of luck, 6 of the original 20 ships were able to make it to their destinations and successfully begin a colony. Melos: three ships were sent towards Melos due to the high likelihood of it be habitable but only one ship made it to the moon. The first to perish suffered a reactor leak that killed the entire colony ship in a matter of hours. Lacking extreme radiation protection and without the capability to fix the leaking reactor, the ship was left to drift through space for eternity. It was last seen on a course leading out of Papho’s sphere of influence The second ship to perish, suffered a propulsion failure during its final orbital burn around Melos. Its reactor melted down under the stress and the ship lost power. The ship drifted into the gas giant, taking with it 750k souls and a full genetic bank. The last surviving ship completed it orbital burn and the colonists began the process of disassembling the ship in order to establish the first colony of Melos. Being the first, the new colonist of Melos learned a lot of their lessons the hard way, but there were able to establish the groundwork for the colonies that would come after as Melos communicated every new world building technique they came up with. Like all colony ships, a genetic bank of earth flora and fauna was maintained for the purpose of seeding the new world with stapled of human life. The plants and animals of earth quickly took to and began to thrive in this new environment as native and non-native species began to interact and interbreed. Despite the obvious challenges of living on a tidal locked moon, the colony of Melos was established peaceful and successfully. Naxos: Naxos was not the moon these colonist expected to find. During deliberations on what moon to investigate, only one colony ship agreed to try and colonize Naxos. Much to the horror of the crew, they were greeted with the barren, icy, atmosphere less body of Naxos. Panic gripped the crew first as they realized this could be their deaths. Without the fuel or resources to pick another moon an investigative team was sent down to the surface to try and salvage anything they could. It was here they discovered hydro-vents, that extended deep into the crust of the planet that would shoot liquid water up into the vacuum until the vent froze over again. After further study a research base was established and a probed was bored through the icy crust to determine was was below. No one expected to be sitting above a giant habitable ocean. Tests were quickly run to determine the feasibility of colonizing under the crust of the planet before the first construction crews began breaking ground on the underwater colony of Naxos. Nicosia: Nicosia was boring, both in its perfect suitability and the ease of colonization. 10 ships originally began traveling towards Nicosia before moving on to what they thought were better moons to colonize. Only one ship remained on course for the planet and quickly established a colony on the earth like moon. Native and non-native species interacted positively and quality of life was high from the very beginning on Nicosia. Allowing the colonists to build a grand city with a multitude of public works and community spaces. When the Gestalt Concordant was established, it would be the people of Nicosia who would create the buildings that govern the collection of colonies. Konosos: The colonization of this planet was the result of a hardware malfunction, incorrectly labeling the planet as habitable. The toxic hellscape that greeted them was a far cry from anything habitable. Thick ammonia clouds and constant volcanic activity all but made exploration nearly impossible. It took three revolutions around Paphos before a small settlement was established in a relatively calm part of the moon. Progress was slow for the colony before larger geothermal power plants could be taken from the colony ship and installed on the surface of the moon. With almost limitless power at their disposal, the colony quickly grew and began to thrive in their new environment. Argos: Was the most attractive moon after long range scans were conducted and signs of native life were confirmed. 2 colony ships originally set out on course for the moon, and were quickly joined by another 6 from the Nicosia expedition due to their proximity to eachother. Upon arriving at the moon, the colonists were relived and awe struck to see the perfectly habitable moon and its unusual ring system. Plans were immediately made to make landfall but the treacherousness of the ring system was yet to be known. High geological activity within the core gave the moon a stronger magnetic field than normal, and its proximity to the brown dwarf gave it a unique magnetic profile. Any ship conducting a polar orbit of the moon would run the risk of electronic malfunction or damage due to the strong magnetic field. An equatorial orbit would be needed in order to safely unload men and material to the moon. The first 2 ships to try and orbit the moon quickly fell victim to the unpredictable collision pattern of the rings during its orbit and suffered catastrophic damage. Failing reactors and propulsion resulted in both crashing on the moon. The next group of 4 ships risked a polar orbit but fell victim to the strong magnetic field one by one. It was at this moment that the colonists discovered a fatal flaw in their reactor pattern, leaving them prone to deadly leaks when under stress. Afflicted ships would jettison reactors and purposely crash their ships, leaving the moon a eerie ship graveyard. 10 years went by as colonization attempt after colonization attempt failed catastrophically, leaving one ship to make its last effort. Low on supplies, morale and at near mutinous levels of unrest. The ship made a drastic choice, it would land. This was drastic for a few reasons, the zero-G environment of space made the unloading of heavy machinery easy, on the planets surface these would measure in the thousands of tons. The colony ships also were not designed to land on planets. The designers intended for them to be disassembled in orbit. They retained the capability for landing within atmosphere but doing so would undoubtably put strain on the ship. With no other option, the crew successfully landed the ship without causing major damage or a deadly reactor leak. Their elation was short-lived once they discovered they had survived re-entry, only to find themselves in the middle of a murderous rainforest. Losses were high again, as they battled to build while being mercilessly set upon by the native beasts of the rainforest moon. Large multi armed beasts swarmed camps and devoured whole villages. Any outposts built by the naturally occurring watering holes, quickly found themselves set upon by amphibious creatures of similar appearance. They colonists would not know it yet, but they were the second species to call this moon home. The native apex predator of the moon, called the “Dru” by the colonists, had established itself as the top of the moon’s predatory ecosystem and had existed without any competitors for a few millennia. The species had evolved into a simple hive structure of society when the humans arrived, giving them a level of organization in their attacks. Calling them sentient or intelligent life would be incorrect however, maybe if given another few millennia to evolve some more. Like the other colonies, Argos would first survive, adapt, then begin to thrive as a martial culture evolved across the moon. Making Argos the only colony with a standing military. Boitia: This was the last planet to be colonized, for obvious reasons. Its highly eccentric orbit makes travel time to and from the other moons almost 4 months at its furthest distance. Much like Nicosia though, colonization was rather boring, it was just the distance that turned most colony ships away. Only 1 ship agreed to undertake the journey, after nearly a week of deliberation. To the rest of the moons Boitia is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The distance gives it a sense of otherness to the rest of the moons, and there are rumors of both sinister and magical things being made on its surface. The truth is much more mundane, the abundance of rare metals gives the moon a rare opportunity to create and research advanced electronics. This coupled with a unique, yet safe atmosphere and a largely peaceful native population of animals made this moon the oddest perfect planet. Quality of life was high from the beginning and a diplomatic culture spread amongst the population. Boitia now is a collection of interconnected super villages, maintaining a high quality of life without sacrifcing the natural beauty of the moon. [color=39b54a]Culture and Society[/color]: Each moon has a distinct culture, yet some of their shared human earth culture remains Boitia: Its people are diplomatic and accepting of foreigners. There is little crime and conflict on the moon except for civil land disputes and occasional youthful antics. Due to the high quality of life there is little to need to commits crimes for. The other moons consider Boitians to be odd, due to their carefree happiness. Some recognize this as envy, while others will call them psychopaths or lobotomized Argos: Argans are hard people from birth, there is little room for anything weak on Argos. You either survive by being smart, tough or both. Life in Argos is spent almost exclusively within large grids standardized cities that can extend for hundreds of miles. Any water source on the planet will be heavily guarded due to the interconnected nature of the planets waterways. Argans are military thinkers, strategist and ultimately fighters. Their entire civilization is geared towards defending and defeating the Dru. That does not mean the entire population is actively in the military however, most carry out support and administration roles in civilian life while maintaining a sense of reserve readiness. Those in active duty carry out almost exclusively combat roles, relentless bringing the fight to the savage Dru. Most if not everyone will have a history either in the reserves or active military of the moon. Konosos: Konos are proud yet careful people who value a subtle life. Constantly inside large arcologies due to the conditions, they are very private people. This gives them the appearance of being cold and sneaky to the inhabitants of the other moons. Nicosia: Nicosia are similar to Boitans as quality of life is high and crime is low on the moon. This is where the similarities stop however, Nicosians are known for being cutthroat politicians to the point of sabotage and assassination. They feel like they are competing not just for their own local politics but the entire concordant as well. Most are brash and opportunistic to a fault. Naxos: The Xos, as they like to call themselves are rarely seen outside of their underwater cities. They are so rarely seen, their mere existence is often joked about by the other moons as mythical. With that being said, the Xos that do travel abroad often have an ethereal air about them. Either through, careful public relations or genetics, the people of this moon are rumored to be the most beautiful despite the indoor life they live. More oddly so, all Xos born to the moon have an odd affinity to the underwater sea the inhabit. The connection is still largely unknown yet being extensively studied but instances of non-verbal communication have been documented with some other native species of the subterranean ocean. Life within Naxos is largely carefree and quiet, they are often forgot about by the other moons other than the aquatic delicacies they trade. Most are wealthy and live luxuriously. Melos: Quality of life is split between the dark and light side of the moon. Large super cities are where most of the Melites live on the night side, crime is common within the lower districts and social / economic stratification is obvious. On the light side, the Melites are proud to be first colony and hold themselves in high regard. There are similar to Nicosians in the fact that they are politically minded. However, they are cooperative and kind unlike the cutthroat Nicosians. [center] --- [/center] [color=f7941d]Governance and Politics[/color]: Each moon has a representative republic system in some sense. Where districts choose a representative to speak for them in the moons governance. The moons also have a collective, but weaker, government that debates issues for all of the moon colonies. These representatives are chosen amongst past governors and are treated more like diplomatic missions. [color=f7941d]Technology Overview[/color]: There is nothing too remarkable about the technology in the concordant. Some colonies are specialized in survival technology, like Naxos and Konosos. It is common to find advanced water and oxygen recycling technologies in these colonies as research is always ongoing. The small exception to this would be the colony of Boitia. Due to the large amount of heavy and rare metals on the moon, the colony has become a research and development hub for all of the moons. They produce the majority of the electronic components for inter-moon trading and have produced advanced weapons and armor for the Argan military. [color=f7941d]Military Overview[/color]: The only colony with a standing military is Argos, specifically designed to combat the Dru. Due to this, the Argan military has developed a particularly unique fighting style as a result. The Dru, being mostly melee based, commonly try to close the distance with the colonists to take advantage of their natural strength and armor. Armor and melee weapons are common, along with bucklers with some specialized units. Argos is also a hub for military thought, as strategies can be easily tested against the Dru. [/hider]