State of Tranquility

Article under construction This article is in the pre-production phase, and is thus largely unwritten. The author(s) apologise for the inconvenience.

State of Tranquility
Seal, minimally symbolising the planet's habitable terminator line
c. 4004 photograph of Gliese 832 c in true colour
Interstellar State
Department(s):	Adam, Chavah, Lilith, Serenity
Government:	Federal democratic republic
Director:	Nél Jupe
Colonised:	3222
Founded:	3222
Currency:	Tranquilan Unit (₮)
Capital:	Tranquility Launch Arco
Demonym:	Tranquilan
Colours:	IGSA standard:              (Civil)              (Military)
Geography
Planet:	Gliese 832 c
System:	Gliese 832 System
Avg. distance from Earth:	16 ly
Moon(s):	0
Demographics
Population:	3.5 billion
Notable inhabitants:	Mia Sikdar, Maqsud Nader, Cina Neal
[Source]

The State of Tranquility (Martian English: Staatenkiltii) is the planetary state governing the some 3.5 billion humans living in orbit of the exoplanet Gliese 832 c, known popularly as Tranquility after the Launch Arcology that served as the nexus of the venture. From the point of view of the Solar System, Tranquility's star Gliese 832 has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.66, and thus is too faint to be seen with the naked eye.

Tranquility was colonized at the beginning of the thirty-third century by wealthy corporate financiers seeking to avoid the strict legislation of IGSA and INTPOL that banned AI development. The high gravity world was selected as the front for the true colorization of the system that sought to exploit the resources of the gas giant Serenity. Legally, the Tranquilan Colonial Government claimed the inhospitable world, establishing remote mining operations to stake the claim that it was an inhabited world. In practice, development of the colony was focused entirely on the construction of orbital cities to house future populations.

Geography

Human Development

Schematic of the Tranquility Launch Arco and the Sentinel Metro

Tranquility's orbital settlements are separated into seven self-contained stations, known collectively as the Tranquility Launch Arco and the Sentinel Metro:

• Tranquility Launch Arco: Refurbished in the centuries after landing to become the centre of the Tranquilan state, and includes the seat of government, the supreme court, police headquarters, and is the location of the Commonwealth, Martian, Novian, Saturnian and Jovian foreign embassies.
• Sentinel A: Financial district. Notable companies headquartered here include Axil Industries and Xu Tai Inc.
• Sentinel B: Affluent district. Includes high income housing, hotels, casinos, parklands and artificial beaches, and et cetera targeted at higher-income consumers.
• Sentinel C: High and medium-income housing.
• Sentinel D: Light industrial.
• Sentinel E: Medium and heavy industrial.
• Sentinel F: Low-income housing. By far the largest residential sector.

Each station is lavishly defended by a swarm of anti-torpedo cannons, EMP seekers, point defence drones and drive dampeners, with the Tranquilan Defence Forces garrisoned into seven self-contained sections at each. In government rhetoric these fortifying measures are justified as being crucial to Tranquilan self-defence, with the fragility of the space stations frequently stated as the planetary state's key weakness in the face of prospective Solar invaders. In reality however, these defences are far more thoroughly used to exterminate pirates and deter illegal immigration between stations.

These structures orbit the planet in a loose ring. There are also additional industrial sectors located on the planet's surface, including mines and farms, with terrestrial agriculture providing almost 100% of the orbital settlements' plant-based products.

Habitability

Tranquility is a super-Earth with almost 2.4 times the gravitational pull. Though it orbits its star's habitable zone, it is tidally locked, allowing only a small space around the planet's terminator line to be suitable for life, a region colloquially known as the "green belt" (in reference to the abundance of plant life rather than the actual colour of Tranquilan plants). Most of its western hemisphere boils in an eternal daylight, while most of its eastern freezes in complete darkness. The habitable zone itself is remarkably pleasant by comparison, with its average temperatures of ~0º C allowing liquid water to persist. Due to these intense temperature differences, the terminator line is subject year-round to powerful cyclones.

The planet has an atmosphere dominated predominately by CO2, with a pressure over 1000 times that of Earth. While all surface agricultural efforts are required to take place within semi-subterranean climate-controlled greenhouses, these conditions have proven quite lucrative for oxygen farming, with Tranquilan oxygen being sold at a premium to Solar clients.

The planet orbits Gliese 832 every 36 Earth days. The official calendar groups Tranquility Years into lots of 10.145625, with each lot (colloquially termed Cycle) equalling one Earth Year. The star is a red dwarf with a spectral class M2V, appearing as an unmoving red disc in the lower western hemisphere, and illuminates the planet in a pale orange-red light, giving off an effect often referred to by visitors from the Solar System as a "permanent sunset".

Due to Gliese 832's luminosity falling in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, with lower energy than the bright light of the Solar system's Sun, Tranquilan plants have been genetically engineered to adapt to a wide light spectrum to gain the maximum amount of energy through photosynthesis. A side-effect of this genetic engineering is that - in visible light - the foliage of Tranquilan plants appear deep black in colour.

The planet has no moons.

To survive Tranquility's surface, one requires extended and intense periods of preliminary high-gravity training, a necessary dosage of anticoagulants, and a medium Interface Suit-Self-contained Breathing Apparatus duo fitted with an exoskeleton. Additionally, due to the planet's immense winds, safely walking on its open surface is impossible.

The planet's surface is shielded from radiation and most cosmic rays by a naturally protective atmosphere and magnetic field, and thus surface dwellers do not need to factor in additional protection.

Government

Tranquility Senate, as of the 4001 election. Key:      Old Concord: 10 seats      Techo Autarky: 11 seats      Orange 832: 5 seats      New Concord: 3 seats      Bulwark: 1 seat

Though its government is nominally a liberal democracy, the Tranquility Parliament operates only on terms set by the broader state and planetary ruling class, being delegated to a rubber-stamp role of packaging and selling pro-capitalist policies to the masses, with true power held in the hands of the planet’s corporate monopolies, the courts, the central bank, the military, and so forth.

The Tranquilan Parliament is comprised of two houses, both divided into thirty seats: The Senate, charged with representing the residential stations, and The Directorate, charged with managing the commercial and industrial stations.

Its two dominant parties are Old Concord, an economically liberal conservative party dedicated to market rule and government intervention predominately to ensure social etiquette and harmony, and Techo Autarky, a progressive technocratic state-capitalist party that takes cues from the Martian ALIAS regime, and is headed by the Jupe clone-dynasty. Techo Autarky has currently held office for two five-year terms, however its 4001 election was won by a slim margin, and it has continually dropped in polls after a recurring poor deliverance on campaign promises (namely wage increases and more social safety nets), with an Old Concord-stoked anti-Mars sentiment riling up opposition in conservative electorates.

Other parties include New Concord (liberal pro-capitalists), Orange 832 (Albion-style social democrats), and Bulwark (Right-wing Tranquilan nationalists).

Though considerably capitalistic and undemocratic, the Tranquilan state does recognise the long-term economic necessity of a healthy and educated population, and thus fully funds all education and healthcare, and maintains a welfare system that provides a slim basic income for all registered citizens.

Culture

Mainstream Tranquilan culture is thoroughly informed by the cultural ideals of Tranquilan upper class society, and is defined by strict formality, class, and obscurantism. In all but the most private of settings, complex rituals must be observed to maintain politeness, governing posture and gesture, speech and tone of voice, and positions within a room (e.g. class-respecting seating or standing arrangements).

Transhumanism is also a key facet of Tranquilan culture, shaped by the desires for immortality held by its ancient elite, and the collective wish to one day survive the brutal surface of the planet itself. Consequently - aside from wealth and connections - class on Tranquility is also determined by the engineered purity of one's genetic make up.

Architecture

The planet's architectural styles are heavily characterised by an intense fascination with minimalism and abstractness, echoing many of the concepts of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Three elements of such are quite prominent:

• Miyabi - the elimination of anything that is absurd or vulgar, polishing of manners, diction, and feelings to eliminate all roughness and crudity so as to achieve the highest grace.
• Shibui - the particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty.
• Yugen - the subtle profundity of the unexplained; a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe, and the sad beauty of human suffering.

Cuisine

Tranquilan cuisine is a highly diverse meld between various Earther styles, and still indicates the various backgrounds of the first Tranquilan settlers. A plethora of flavours and textures are available, with countless restaurants often specialising in a particular palette. A particular oddity that separates its from its Earther ties however is its appearance; most or all Tranquilan food is produced in various colours, some naturally bizarre (e.g. naturally black leafy vegetables), some artificially coloured and shaped (e.g. meats sculpted into spheres and given a metallic sliver dye).

Economy

Overview

Tranquility boasts a strong free market economy with a minimal degree of state intervention. Its chief industries are oxygen farming, personified largely by the Tranquility Air cooperative, and AI and android development, headed by the Tranquilan corporate flagship Xu Tai Inc.

Though vulnerable industries were protected by subsidies and other state protections in the planet's early history, its isolation from the Solar System has largely negated the necessity to protect most of its economy from interstellar competition, and for the past fifty years it has seen unprecedented boom.

Gallery

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  Chart detailing two Tranquilan starships in their IGSA-defined colours