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--- briareos [2019/06/04 15:59]
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+++ briareos [2019/06/11 17:29] (current)
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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 brief yet bloody civil war, Briareos was split into ‘Dusk’ and ‘Dawn’ factions.
+  * 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 two sides were forced to work together following an infestation of walking corpses.
 =====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.
 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.
-This unhappy compromise was thrown off course after five years. The previously barren ground of the planet had been made somewhat more habitable through the application of advanced farming technology. Foilowing an attempt by a group of gerontocrats to reassert their power, a number of their opponents fled to the planet’s surface, making it their base and attempting to make lives outside of gerontocratic rule. The following years were tense and characterised by a number of scuffles, before a brief civil war broke out in 1775.
+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.
-The civil war was won in 1778 by the young people, due to their strong supply lines and the more stable food supply now found on the surface of Briareos. They were able to force a number of significant concessions including barriers to suffrage and political participation, effectively forcing a total rewrite of their government system.
+=====Briareos Now=====
-=====Briareos now=====
 {{:rice-fields-and-steppes-vietnam.jpg?200 |}}
-After many centuries, the surface of Briareos is slowly becoming more habitable thanks to the successful development of a variety of advanced strains of crops. 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. The slow turn of the planet still forces a migratory lifestyle, but more people now inhabit the ground, and perennial plants are seeded within the ground to be ready for harvesting as the long day turns to dusk.
+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.
+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.
+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 are, and have been for the past few years, in a state of political limbo, trying to settle on how they are going to run their planet now. Despite the end of the war, those who fought on either side of it have settled into different factions and remain hostile, but a new political dimension has emerged, with the question of whether, in the light of the newly inhabitable-surface, power should be centralised and the Briareons work as a whole people government by one central body, or whether greater power should be given to individual settlements, whether they be in gasbags or on the surface.
+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 of Briareos=====
+=====The People of Briareos=====
-The cessation of hostilities means that the people of Briareos are back to intermingling, from having had a very sharp divide between surface dwellers and gasbag dwellers before. However, there is still some mistrust between the two groups, as everyone rmemebers how easily things kicked off the last time they attempted diplomacy. However, Briareons 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.
+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.
-Briareons dedicate much of their time to farming and survival, whether on the ground or the gasbags. Following the calming of hostilities, the world is less dangerous and Briareon citizens have had more time to relax and work on scientific developments.
+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.
-In addition to great strides in farming technology, Briareons have also made significant progress in biomodification. This has notably included the creation of the so-called ‘foodless’ technology. Once installed, the bearer grows 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. The technology does not, however, remove hunger.
+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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