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--- briareos [2019/05/21 14:01]
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 ======Briareos======
 //"We're leaving again. Sun's got too far over the horizon, so we're heading East to get into the next citadel. Helen says that there looks to be some scratching on some of the original Gasbag designs in the old city ruins. So, if you get back here before we do I've attached maps for how to find them. Best of luck to you both, and wish Julio fortune on their implanting tests."//\\
 --- From Leane, Briarean archivist before [[the War]].
   * Briareos is a single blasted planet, even from before [[the War]], that turns slowly on its axis. Nothing else in the system is inhabited, barring small stations.
   * The people get by using bio-technology adapted to the toxic environment, and constantly move along the line between night and day.
-  * Following a brutal civil war, Briareos was split into ‘Dusk’ and ‘Dawn’ factions, occupying opposite sides of the day/night line.
+  * Most Briareons live on giant, floating farms known as gasbags. Young people are expected to complete a form of national service, reclaiming the planet’s  barren surface.
-  * The Dawn side have more or less won, with the help of Kedalion. The Dusk fighters are not completely eliminated, and still roam the wastelands trying desperately to survive.
 =====A history of Briareos=====
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 {{ :singapore_ruins_by_jonasdero-d53xj4h.jpg?400|}}
-Briareos is no stranger to war; even before the conflict that desolated [[the Seven Systems]], the planet was a harsh and barren place to live. Previous civil conflicts destroyed vast swathes of the planet and slowed the rotation of the planet to a crawl. The long days and nights, approaching the length of years of more reasonable planets, and the vast pollution left by the war, meant that agriculture became mostly unfeasible. Still, Briareos was able to rebuild, using bio-technology to provided much-needed stability. The most obvious example is the floating farm known colloquially as the //Gasbag//. By using reverse engineered plant matter, the people of Briareos could pilot a portable farm to areas of promising environment, while the very method of transport was growing and ripening. When ripe it can be eaten, or used as a framework for growing more meat-like calorie-dense foods. This quickly became the staple of Briarean diet and employment, and most inhabitants had worked as a farmer at one point in their lives. People also moved along the dusk-lines, between certain safe cities to prevent drying out in the day, or freezing at night.
+Briareos is not stranger to war. Conflict against enemies internal and external destroyed vast swathes of the planet and slowed its rotation to a crawl, leaving the surface harsh and barren. The long days and nights, approaching the length of years of more reasonable planets, and the vast pollution left by the war, meant that agriculture became mostly unfeasible. Still, Briareos was able to rebuild, using bio-technology to provided much-needed stability. The most obvious example is the floating farm known colloquially as the //Gasbag//. By using reverse engineered plant matter, the people of Briareos could pilot a portable farm to areas of promising environment, while the very method of transport was growing and ripening. When ripe it can be eaten, or used as a framework for growing more meat-like calorie-dense foods. This quickly became the staple of Briarean diet and employment, and most inhabitants had worked as a farmer at one point in their lives. People also moved along the dusk-lines, between certain safe cities to prevent drying out in the day, or freezing at night.
+Politically, Briareos had been a strict gerontocracy((ruled by the oldest)) for as long as anyone could remember. The logistics involving itinerant populations, and the intricacies of a vast range of supporting biological machines, required a lot of experience and left no room for error. Thus it was necessary to follow those who had had the longest time to prepare. That was the official line, at least. At the time of the Ananke Conference, it was clear that generational tensions had grown more than anyone could have expected. The passing of the previous gerontocrat, Oscar Letts, in his sleep was seen as an opportunity to foster meaningful change in Briareos.
-Politically, Briareos had been a strict gerontocracy((ruled by the oldest)) for as long as anyone could remember. The logistics involving itinerant populations, and the intricacies of a vast range of supporting biological machines, required a lot of experience and left no room for error. Thus it was necessary to follow those who had had the longest time to prepare. That was the official line, at least. At the time of the Ananke Conference, it was clear that generational tensions had grown more than anyone could have expected. The passing of the previous Gerontocrat, Oscar Letts, in his sleep, followed by the explosion which took out both the old ruling class and the planet’s politically savvy young people, meant that a political explosion was inevitable.
+A rough proposal for political reform was hammered out at the Ananke conference. The presence of some of the generation’s most politically active young people, along with many of the planet’s oldest, meant that the discussion stuck once the delegates returned home, resulting in the creation of a series of small local authorities, run by gerontocrats but where the young were also able to have a say.
-The civil war started soon after the Ananke Conference when the gerontocratic faction, scared by the political awakening that seemed to be happening there, enacted a bloody and brutal crackdown on the younger generations. From there it soon escalated beyond all reasonable containment. The faction who stood for the old Gerontocratic rule became known as the Dawn Briareons, let by Oscar Letts’ daughter Coraline. The faction which stood for change became known at the Dusk Briareons, who eventually fell under the leadership of Maribelle Johns, who proved herself to be a shrewd and cunning leader. These factions occupied opposing sides of the twilight line, moving slowly and primarily fighting with long-range weapons and traps, and occasional forays into enemy territory.
+While many were initially not thrilled with the compromise, the message of unity managed to sink home for most people. Over time, a more settled compromise was worked out, helped by swathes of new and advanced land reclaim technology which worked to make the surface of the planet - the old farms and cities - habitable again. While the older generations were generally left in charge of the gasbags and the newly reclaimed cities - old strongholds of Briareon civilisation - young people have been able to find more freedom in participating in missions to reclaim the land below.
-Although the Dawn Briareons, by striking the first blow, started on very good footing, it was not to last. The Dusk faction quickly fled to the planet surface and began a radical programme of revolutionising their food supply. Using a heavily advanced vertical farming technique, which historians believed originated from technological exchange on board the Ananke, the Dusk faction were able to dig their heels in deeply. Though the Dawn faction won most, if not nearly all, of the direct military engagements, their political and economic foundation had been fundamentally cracked. Furthermore, their alliance with Kedalion, who offered military aid in exchange for weakening the traditional Briareon food bloc, lent some much needed technological superiority. The guerilla warfare perpetrated by those lining up behind Maribelle Johns have brought them to the brink of victory, even if it has taken them nearly 20 years of non-stop war to do so.
+=====Briareos Now=====
-=====Briareos now=====
+{{:rice-fields-and-steppes-vietnam.jpg?200 |}}
-The Dawn Briareons, concerned for their own stability, were initially certain that offering any concessions to the younger generations, would lead to ruin. Decades of conflict have done little to soften their hardline position. Briareon civilisation is a nominally still strict gerontocracy, though this no longer simply means the oldest member of the civilisation, but rather everyone over the age of 70 has a vote to elect a single septuagenarian, octogenarian or nonogenarian to lead for the next few years. As the most recently elected gerontocrat died recently, coincidentally just as Coraline Letts turned 70 herself, it is widely assumed that she will be next elected.
+After many centuries, the surface of Briareos is slowly becoming more habitable thanks to both a number of successful technological developments and the efforts of the planet’s younger generations to develop the surface. What was once a blasted wasteland now harbours large, carefully regulated plant beds growing varieties of hardly plant life, even as the gasbags still fly above. Genetically modified crops work in sync with swarms of robotic bees, a strange sight to those unused to them but one which seems to be helping with the terraforming efforts.
-{{:monochrome-desert-bush.jpg?350 |}}
+The political situation on Briareos has improved over the past couple of decades to settle in a place most people are happy with. Of course, no-one will ever be entirely happy and some gasbags and surface areas have declared independence, such as the so-called Independent Cities controlled by Maribelle John and jealously guarded with heavy weaponry and zealous guards. For the most part though, the older members of society remain firmly in charge, as has been tradition. The planet is no longer ruled by the very oldest members, but a general culture of respect towards one’s elders remains.
-Life on the Briareon gasbags is hard. Many were destroyed in the civil war, along with many of the scientists who understood how to work and improve them. There is a constant risk of attack from outside forces, and the hierarchy is strict and quick to punish infractions. However, it isn’t as hard as life on the surface. War has rendered it mostly desert, and those parts which have avoided this fate are covered in traps and toxins leftover from the civil war that slowly rotated across the planet’s surface. The Dusk Briareons find shelter where they can, freezing in the night or burning in the day, relying on underground algae farms fed by light tubes for survival. Many have fled to the cities, where old power keeps things ticking over, but these are the prime targets for the Dawn Briareons to search for and root out opposition. Those on the surface might, rightly, believe they can win, but that doesn't make the journey any easier.
+The main innovation in the lives of most Briareons is the creation of the Expeditionary League, a group sponsored by the planet as a means to repopulate the surface. Most young people will join the League for a few years, in part to do their bit for Briareos and in part because the commune-based structure of the League offers them more freedom than the traditional gasbag life. The League has done good work over the decade and a half since its inception, covering the planet in a thin layer of green that looks set to become ever more firmly lodged.
-=====The people of Briareos=====
+One of the political effects of recent years is that the planet has become far more inward-looking. While they conduct trade with other planets, their foreign policy is drifting slowly towards the isolationist end, ad Briareos seeks to look out for Briareos, and focus on their own planet’s restoration.
-The people who live on Briareos now can be split into groups roughly along the lines of the civil war: the Dawn Briareons live on gasbags, eke out a meagre existence on their great, damaged mobile farms. Meanwhile, the Dusk Briareons dwell on the surface, seeking shelter where they can. Regardless of their current state, however, this is a new state for most Briareans, and the memory of their previous lives means that they all still share some traits. Briareans tend to be knowledgeable about technology, as even the youngest have some knowledge of how to produce and maintain it.
+=====The People of Briareos=====
-Those who live aboard a Gasbag broadly have lives comparable to those of serfs under medieval feudalism. While rule is theoretically by the eldest, in practice some families have risen to prominence, and even the young have authority - notable among these is Coraline Letts’ oldest daughter, Thalia, whose managerial ability has allowed her to run several gasbags in he mother’s name. For most people under the age of 70, however, life is hard: while technically  free to do whatever they want, so long as the food is grown, most Briareons dedicate all of their time to farming and survival. People from all stripes of the Briareos that was work on one of these, so the expected talents of even a single farm are hugely variant.
+Even in this new age of relative safety and prosperity, all of Briareos remembers what it means to cling onto life in a hostile environment. This has fostered a culture of great respect for the elderly, meaning that most political decisions are made by the older generation. The expansion of arable land and improvements in food production capacity have given Briareons more time to relax in recent years, but the risk of hardship remains and Briareos is keen to instill in its youth a sense of Briareos as it was.
-Those who have rebelled and live on the ground move around in tight-knit units, trying to avoid the many threats to them both natural and human-made. Out of necessity these people have taken to wearing an increasing number of bio-technological implants and enhancements; this allows them to bring the tools of survival anywhere, on their person. The most notable of these are a series of nodules that look like miniature Gasbags - these can be eaten as a steady food supply, but also leaves the bearer without the need to eat to survive. It does not, however, remove hunger. The Dusk Briareons are also known for a kind of symbiosis with the Kedalian machines: even though they are controlled by an external, suspicious intelligence, they have been hacked so many times that they are little more than roving repositories of spare parts, and weapons that can be levelled at the hated Gerontocrats.
+To this end, many young people participate in the Expeditionary League, travelling down to the surface to work on reclaiming the land. This has led to a slight disparity in talents between age groups, as young people who have been a part of the league tend to have better survival skills and a greater understanding of advanced technology and farming techniques. Meanwhile, the older generations have more experience with traditional farming methods and governance and leadership abilities. People, particularly the middle aged, can find this slightly disorientating, as all the people younger than them have gone off to do adventures, while all the people older than them have had very little change.
+Probably the most notable bit of technology to come out of Briareos in recent years is the so-called foodless technology, allowing people to go without food for extended periods of time by attaching effectively plant matter to the person’s body, allowing them to grow their own sustenance and conduct limited photosynthesis. Initially adopted by the first Expeditionaries, this was later adopted more widely throughout society once it was found that the technology worked incredibly well to keep infection at bay.

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