The planet Yakiyah in the Tsatsos system in Hex #0407 is the breadbasket of the empire. Home to millions of square kilometers of farmland and industrial food production,Yakiyah was also the homeworld of the sector-wide rebel organization called the Unified People's Collective. Today, Yakiyah is an Imperial planet and the Yakiyan population is managed by House Eridanus.
- See also: Yakiyah (Pre-3201)
Geography[]
Yakiyah is a temperate world with vast grasslands occupying a majority of the landmasses. Much of this terrain is utilized as farmland and gives the planet its reputation as the breadbasket of the empire. Several mountainous regions exist, as well as the remnants of rainforests and jungles that have not yet been cut down in order to make room for more farms. Similarly, the oceans of the planet are used as mega-fisheries. Almost all of the planet’s surface was ordered by A.C.R.E. to produce the food that the sector required. As a result, A.C.R.E.’s efforts damaged the well being of the planet’s population and its environment. With only the loss of a synthetic workforce driving the population into the more profitable and centralized heartlands, in some remote areas the wilderness is clawing its way back from collapse.
Cities[]
Urban areas on Yakiyah function primarily as trade and logistics hubs for the massive agricultural export economy of the planet. Industry is focused on the planet’s competitive advantage in agricultural output, with food processing and construction of agricultural tools. There is a severe lack of domestic production of general goods for the populace and any attempts to do so have been severely limited by centuries of Demnophi influence over the planet.
Most cities, such as the old capital of Tañez, lie in the plains encircled by farmlands and fields and function as logistics hubs for the agricultural industries. A handful of large coastal cities function as mega fisheries, reaping the plenty out of the oceans, but these urban areas are mostly used to transport the food into the interior of the continents. The heavy industrial and food processing factories are located in the center of cities, near warehouses and spaceports, make it easy to transport products off-world.
Ronaseën[]
Designed with the dual natures of both House Eridanus and House Pyxis in mind, the capital city of Ronaseën (meaning Rona’s Blessing) is intended to be an example of a return to Golden Age construction and splendor. A true city of the future, Ronaseën is planned to include every amenity and feature that hundreds of years of combined imperial and corporate knowledge can muster, building on the experience gained in constructing the capital of Tiber, Tyr. Created to be a new start amongst the presence of rebellious elements present on the planet the creation of a new city was seen as a golden opportunity to recreate the planet in proper Imperial image. After all it is far easier to create a new central point of power than root out the ideologies present in the old capital.
A tetrahedral megastructure, Hearth, serves as Eridanus’ capitol building for Yakiyah and houses the various offices and departments of the Rector as well as The Agora’s assembly hall. The structure itself is symbolic of the three pillars of Eridanii society. Three artificial rivers pouring off of its three mirrored faces, creating the effect of a shimmering jewel cut with precision and mastery. From these rivers, canals connecting the city’s districts and provide the lifeblood for the valley’s farms.
| “ | Built to be the central pillar for a vast and diverse new community of people, Hearth shall provide shelter, food, and security to all that seek sanctuary behind its walls. Every pair of hands found a job to do, Every moment made free of idleness, sickness, and discomfort.
Hearth shall be the ultimate example of Eridanus’ skill of being Shephard to the Sheep. |
” |
— An unknown Eridanii Aftifex
| ||
Tañez[]
The old capital is a monstrously large urban sprawl built around the planet’s largest spaceport. Factories and highrise mega-apartments surround the central port. Highways spiderweb out connecting the farmland and city districts in a single conurbation. Created by ACRE, the city has of late become a hotbed of revolutionary thinking and anti-imperial sentiment.
Despite several changes of hands, the sleek and elaborate mansions, libraries, and academies in the cities administrative district are now held by the nobles of the sector. Most references the A.C.R.E.’s leasehold have been thoroughly removed, and the young popular Yakiyahn Mandate’s symbols of governance have recently come down. Just outside of the administrative district are residential districts where hundreds of large brutalist housing structures, many in various states of disrepair, house hundreds of worker families. While many of the food packing factories still hum along, shipping food brought in from farmland all across the planet, the loss of a synthetic workforce and planetary turmoil have left dozens of factories and fields completely abandoned. Some entire neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city have been reclaimed by the natural flora and fauna, the city buildings covered with plants and animals building their nests in homes, while others are re-occupied by disorganized revolutionaries fleeing the heavy imperial boot.
Neo-Medellín[]
Neo-Medellín is a city built on the side and bottom of a large jungle mountain. The city is a rich producer of sugar, cocoa beans, honey, and coffee. Split into levels, the city is connected with lifts, escalators, and tightly winding roads. The lower level holds the final processing of these luxury foodstuffs, while the upper levels house the workers, and the top-most levels contain the farms. Each level blending in function to its neighbors.
For a considerable time, the Planetary Liberation Front, a militant revolutionary group occupied the city and provided a pivotal role in the rise of the Unified People's Collective on the planet. The halting of luxury exports from the city after the revolution made it a primary target for Eridanii sanctions and Tiberian settlement. Nobles from Tiber, practiced in luxury agriculture in highland jungles, found a natural home in the city and its outskirts.
The Widow and The Whale[]
A pair of city-sized A.C.R.E. factory barges that circle the oceans of Yakiyah, processing and rendering fish and other raw material from the waters. Each barge is supported by freighter ships that transport people and supplies to and from the mainland.
Icons of the revolution, these formerly A.C.R.E. facilities were occupied by violent and militant factions, such as The Synthetic Human Democratic Party and Anti Imperial Synth Company (AISC). House Eridanus directly threatened with economic sanctions these ships that were rumored to have been armed with hidden military capabilities. The Barges, isolated from their support convoys, adrift in the Yakiyan ocean, and starved of fuel and supplies, conceded to the Eridanii terms. Economic relief and imperial presence came hand-in-hand, much to the dismay of the struggling revolutionaries. With House Crux officers now on board, support for illegal synthetics among the barges has gone “underwater” and are no longer the havens they once were.
Government of Yakiyah[]
By Decree of The Eternal Rose, Emperox Pyxis Solanum Rona, House Eridanus is the rightful guarantor of peace and prosperity for the planet and are responsible for the Imperial government there. Formal leadership is vested in officials of House Eridanus, but an assembly of landlords ensures that regional matters are included in the planetary agenda. Land ownership is split among the various noble houses of the empire, but a majority of it, and the most promising economically, is held by House Eridanus. When possible, the noble families who once held lands on Yakiyah have been returned to their former estates, however, the new Eridanii government of the planet holds extensive reviews of these individuals and their heirs for involvement in anti-imperial and treasonous activities. If found guilty of treason or simply negligent, the lands are distributed to more loyal noble families.
Rector Yakiyah[]
The Rector Yakiyah is the planetary governor tasked with leading the bureaucracy and executing the will of both the House and the local government. They are appointed by the Triumvirate of House Eridanus and are approved by the Vaultkeeper. Considerable care is given to the selection of this management role to protect the economic interests of the sector.
The Office of the Rector (aka The Rector’s Office) is synonymous with the bureaucratic hierarchy that ensures the laws and codes of the planet are faithfully executed. This bureaucracy has adopted several of the Yakiyahn Mandate’s ministries as departments to ensure a swift and seamless transferal of power. All but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a duty that is superfluous to the Eridanii government, remains in some form. Unlike the anti-imperial YM ministries, these positions are appointed by the Rector rather than a parliamentary structure.
Collapsed below is a list and description of the Office's various departments
Department of Internal Affairs
- Internal Affairs coordinates the government's involvement with the Ordo Fiducalem to regulate abuses by nobles and maintain the harmony of daily life. The department also coordinates between the Ordo Fiducalem and House Crux to combat the constant threat of revolutionaries hidden among the Yakiyan populace.
Department of Finance
- Tasked with reformatting the Yakiyan Central Bank and providing traditional Eridanii services to the planet, the Department of Finance is the largest department of the Yakyahn government. From Trade to economic growth to fiscal policy, the department is staffed exclusively by Eridanii, and if it really wanted could find a legal course to subsume the responsibilities of other departments with little more than a nod from the Rector.
Department of Education and Research
- This department provides for the academic needs of the population and organizes the Yakiyan schools and universities. Yakiyah’s future is tied inextricably to the future of the empire. Technological advances that can be made here will provide the sector with the food and security to begin a new golden age. The education (and indoctrination) of Yakiyah’s population will facilitate the development of new industrial and agricultural processes. Yakiyah’s education is primarily focused on agricultural training and research, and works closely with Yakiyah’s Triangulum nobility to facilitate education and technological development.
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Food Security
- Tasked with protecting the longevity of Yakiyah’s export economy, this department oversees land use and economic development. Although chartered to be independent of the Acti Mehar, the guild of agricultural companies, the department is tied deeply to it and is critiqued as simply the governmental arm of that acti; informally called the Department of Mehar.
Department of Utilities
- Transport, Energy, Communications, Waste, and other utilities are all the purview of the Department of Utilities. The department helps ensure that the planet’s urban areas all comply with the codes and regulations to keep a well-ordered and efficient system with Yakiyah’s overlapping noble jurisdictions.
Department of Health and Social Affairs
- Working closely with House Serpens, this department protects the physical and social health of the planet. Hospital services are like with all other imperial worlds coordinated by House Serpens.
Department of Culture and Tourism
- Officially organized for promoting Yakiyan cultural growth and increasing ties with the rest of the Imperial core, this department is also home to programs to keep the common Yakiyan in-line. Lyran propagandists working in the government cultivate campaigns to restrict revolutionary sentiment and reinforce the chain of being. Additionally, the department also promotes business dedicated to the flourishing tourism industry.
Department of Security
- Without the wide-ranging support required for an effective local militia in the style of the Tiberian or Demonophi planetary militia, the department of security leans heavily on support from Eridanii Condotta and Imperial forces. Aquilan garrisons and Cruxian constabularies keep the peace on this planet known for its revolts and rebellions.
A nascent organization calling itself the Yakiyan Planetary Militia exists simply on paper and in noble halls. Far from the complex military and logistics networks of the TPM or DPM, it is at best, a club of like-minded nobles playing wargames. And by wargames, they are just that, computer simulations of the defense of Yakiyah with armies that don’t even exist. They are prepared for the day when the Rector allows the formation of a citizen’s militia, but now only sit around talking about such a day.
The Agora[]
An assembly of noble landholders called The Agora serves as the planet’s legislative body. Limited in its scope, the Agora helps write and pass laws for the planet. If unable to pass legislation swiftly, the Office of the Rector preserves the right to write the planetary laws itself. In addition, the Rector Yakiyah possess veto powers over any legislation passed by the Agora. The assembly also serves as a forum for debate and discussion among its noble members. Political maneuvering and lobbying efforts by agricultural guilds and other forces shape the legislature’s actions and attitudes.
Yakiyan landownership is the only limitation to membership in the Agora. If a noble manages at least 10 km2 of land they are permitted to enter the chambers. However, a byzantine system of voting and parliamentary rules often excludes nobles without the time or money to learn these processes. Having an active voice here reflects both respect among one’s peers and personal financial stability.
Political Parties[]
Politics within the Agora are complex but often issues divide the assembly along strong ideological lines. Collapsed below are a sample of some of the most common parties
Traditional Eridanii Parties
The Party for Sovereignty Integrity (PSI/The Blues)
- The largest and oldest political party of Eridanii internal politics is a major player in Yakiyan politics.
Party for Non-Irresponsible Debt Acquisition (PNIDA)
- Recently challenged by the audit of A.C.R.E. the historically large PINDA is characterized mostly by former members of the Assembly of Non-Interventionists. They are strong opponents to the Actii system and heavy-handed regulations by Eridanus and the Planetary Government. Taking a laissez-faire approach, PINDA attempts to limit the Office of the Rector’s powers and decentralize political power. More often than not though, it is viewed as simply an obstructionist and contrarian faction.
The Luminous Tide (TLT)
- Opposed to human augmentation and extra-human abilities, the Luminous Tide is a small but ideologically stalwart faction. Beyond medical necessity, all forms of “unnatural” human advancement, such as cybernetic enhancement, cybernetic fashion, and MES are seen as unclean or simply un-human by members. A single-issue-party, the Tide is often an unseen bloc that only reveals itself when policy affects their issue.
New Yakiyan Political Parties
Rivers of Grain (RG)
- This party is heavily aligned with the interests of the agricultural producers & the Acti Mehar. Nobles in the Rivers of Grain tend to represent rich rural lands and petition for policies to maximize the planet’s export of staple grains.
Party of Yakiyan Growth (PYG)
- Loosely following the sentiment of the Yakiyahn Mandate’s YIN, YAM, and YANG parties, the PYG seeks to build up the industrial capacity of the planet for economic self-dependence. Nobles in depopulated or unstable urban areas often take up policies of the PYG in the hopes of driving economic revival and quelling any unbroken unions.
The Shepherds
- Often heavily religiously motivated, the Shepherds are a coalition of noble landholders who promote policies to improve Yakiyan life. Many serfs on Yakiyah grew up to believe that one’s manager had only the value of a worker’s labor in mind. The Shepherds instead see the noble obligation to improve the daily lives of serfs for a more harmonious planet and sector. They hold that it is the duty of the nobility to take care of their flock, and seek to craft a more divinely guided connection between nobles and serfs.
The Conservative League (CL)
- The single most prominent remnant of the Yakiyahn Mandate, they want more powers vested in the legislature. At the moment are focused on creating legislative oversight powers to check the Office of the Rector, and push for noble representatives, not the Triumvirate, to appoint the Rector of Yakiyah. Despite its name and modest goals, the Conservative League is one of the most liberal and reformist political groups in the Agora. The party faces considerable pressure due to connections to the revolutionary group of the same name.
Yakiyah’s Blessing (YB)
- Comprised almost entirely of newly arrived nobles to Yakiyah the YB see Yakiyah as what it is, the breadbasket of the Empire. And the Empire is hungry. Campaigning for the repossession and exploitation of all that Yakiyah has to offer they see the planet as a source of profit and their duty is to see that come to fruition by whatever means necessary. The people of Yakiyah had their chance and they failed, now it is up to the empire to see them put to work.
Yakiyan Central Bank[]
An arm of the Rector’s Department of Finance, the YCB is a public-facing institution of the planet’s government. It provides Yakiyans various financial services: bank accounts, loans, financial grants, economic advice, and all other House Eridanus services.
Despite originating under the Yakiyahn Mandate, the Yakiyan Central Bank is a stalwartly Eridanii institution. It was initially created to promote revolutionary financial policy but the building blocks of the operational structure were heavily influenced by the Mutual Exchange of Expertise contract between the YMCA and House Eridanus. A Triffox of Eridanus helped set up the system but it would take a figurative army of Eridanii to undo the Yakiyahn Mandate’s overhaul of the economic status quo.
The YCB under the YM had nationalized and partially centralized the planet’s industries. Serving as a means to bring economic parity among the planet’s population, the improvement of lives locally was held above the greater economic health of the sector. Eridanii administrators substantially cut back on the YCB’s practices and introduced noble friendly incentives and regulations. Two aspects of the bank have remained, however, in almost unrecognizable forms: Universal Basic Income and the Yakyan Commodities Index.
Universal Basic Income[]
A corruption of the Yakiyahn Mandate’s public policy. Universal Basic Income survives, in a fashion, under the imperial government. The YCB provides noble landowners with monies to guarantee the wellbeing of the population under a complex rubric. For each Yakiyan three factors are measured to establish how much support the bank will give one’s leige-lord. The Non-Synthetic, Criminality, and Political scores are derived and compounded by complex computer systems linked to DELPHI to establish an individual’s “UBI Factor.” This variable is then introduced to regional and industrial factors to calculate the government grants. The exact algorithm is barely understood by the best Texarch of Eridanus and is not made public, but a simplified formula for just the UBI factor goes as follows:
Non-Synthetic Score (S)[]
There are few ways to truly determine the presence of an illegal synthetic, but the YCB’s UBI program attempts to develop a probabilistic score. Based on general physical and psychological screenings of the populace every Yakiyan is provided with a percentage score determining the likelihood that they are indeed a synth. Although a rudimentary evaluation, the score carries with it a heavy social stigma if on the low end. Cruxian and Serpens authorities are notified to conduct more extensive testing if an individual scores less than seventy-five percent on their Non-Synthetic score.
The Evident Human Registry is a sure-fire way to receive a 100% clean bill of humanity. Automatically enrolled in this registry are psionics users, new mothers, and newborns. Children that appear to age (such as if their baby-teeth fall out or experience a growth spurt) are not cleared for this registry following rumors of Cygnus’ most insidious experiments. However, these individuals are often marked with high scores, and cause a similar effect one’s biological parents. Outside of psionics and the recently birthing & birthed, few, even nobles are completely exonerated due to the test’s margin of error.
Non-Criminaitly Score (C)[]
Also known confusingly as the criminality score, this is a similar metric to the Non-Synthetic Score. Based on interviews, Cruxian records, and recovered A.C.R.E. and YM archives, each member of Yakiyan society is profiled to determine the honesty and likelihood to commit crimes against the empire. The resultant probabilistic score can be actively improved upon though positive work in one’s community and providing information to imperial authorities. Notably though, revealing information about active insurgents has a limited effect in achieving the ideal 100% score, as it implies a continual connection to rebellious forces.
Political Score (P)[]
Evidence collected from the Yakiyahn Mandate’s 3200 census and elections in collaboration with A.C.R.E. loyalty records, interviews, and psychological tests provide the YCB with individualized political scores. Honesty and remorse are principal values studied in these evaluations to discover who may have aided or resisted the ARS Consortium or the High Church. Measuring deference to imperial institutions and subversive (or even revolutionary) sentiment, the Political Score establishes a quantifiable loyalty of a Yakiyan to the current government. This metric is also used to evaluate the reliability of one’s liege to not squander the UBI funds on personal expenses.
Yakiyan Commodities Index[]
A localized form of House Eridanus Exchange reports, the Yakiyan Commodities Index (YCI) provides up-to-date valuations of Yakiyan goods on intra-planetary markets, the intra-system market, and across in wider imperial economy. Heavily influenced by the YCB and the Department of Finance, the index is carefully influenced to promote long-term growth and health of the sector. Ideally, the YCI is isolated from the lobbying efforts of the various noble Acti, but some marginal effect can cause savvy traders to amass fortunes.
The Yakiyan Commodities Index is a separate entity from the Yakiyahn Mandate’s Yakian Commodities Index although it serves a similar role in Yakiyan economics.
Ordo Fiducalem - Surveillance and Enforcement[]
The Ordo Fiducalem is the sector-wide surveillance apparatus of House Eridanus. It is the organization responsible for keeping the working class serfs in line. The Ordo detects and eliminates subversive elements on Yakiyah, in cooperation with the local House Crux peacekeeping forces.
Yakiyan serfs are under surveillance during their jobs. The farms and factories are incentivized by Acti Mehar to use a combination of biometric data and VI assisted computer analysis to keep their employees in line and operations on target. The Acti and the Ordo inserted these systems into the equipment of Yakiyan farms, and factories during the economic revitalization efforts of Operation Golden Door, and are now used to surveil the general populace. Additionally, any serf using a government program, such as UBI or Yakiyan Public School System, is required to present their documentation, and biometric data for review. This information is used by the Ordo to gain insight into Yakiyan communities and the potential deviancy of its individual members.
Serfs that show sufficiently deviant behavior are openly punished, with the purpose to instill loyalty and fear into the lower classes. When the Ordo identifies a deviant element, they send in the Enforcement Officers. This starkly uniformed secret police force is feared by the serfs, and respected by the nobility for their ruthless methods and brutal efficiency.
The Ordo enforces public order with a larger amount of brutality on Yakiyah, compared to Demnoph, Tiber, and other Imperial worlds. This heavy-handed oppression serves to prevent the fractured factions of the UPC from rising up, and seizing control of Yakiyah once more. In truth, the extreme measures taken by the Ordo have only increased the extremism of the Yakiyan revolutionary groups. However, the pervasiveness of the Ordo’s surveillance has forced these extreme groups further underground, and out of the daily lives of most Yakiyan citizens. The subsequent increase in life-threatening terrorist activities on Yakiyah is a calculated risk by the Office of the Rector.
Acti Mehar[]
The Acti Mehar is the agricultural industrial guild of the Acti Mercantil belonging to House Eridanus. The organization is politically influential on Yakiyah since all Eridanus owned rural farms and urban processing plants are members of the guild, and are thereby beholden to its rules and regulations. Even many non-Eridanus owned companies are members of the Acti since they would otherwise be forced to comply with its regulations anyway. The Acti Mehar holds considerable sway over landowners on the planet, and uses this to lobby its interests at The Agora, and the Office of the Rector. These practices effectively make the agricultural guild an unofficial third arm of the Yakiyan government.
On a business level, The Acti Mehar is responsible for setting standards for labor rights, production quality, prices, and trade quotas. The guild also incentivizes cooperation among farmers by acting as a facilitator that offers loans, handles renting/loaning of equipment, and redistributes the workforce among farms.
Culture[]
The colonization of Yakiyah by A.C.R.E.-backed nobles during the First Imperial Civil War brought a vast array of cultures to the planet. People with roots in what old-earth-anthropologists call Central and South Asia, as well as South America, brought their language, cuisine, and cultural practices to Yakiyah. In the prevailing thousand years since these people arrived in Acheron Rho via the colony ships and then survived the scream, many of these practices have adapted to fit the environment of the agricultural planet and the Sector in general. Yakiyans value principles of communal labor on the farm and in the factory and have deep connections to the land. A strong worker’s rights movement bloomed into the popular psyche with the rise of the UPC and developed into an ardent revolutionary zeal. The introduction of Imperial forces, by the High Church culturally and House Eridanus in leading a noble government, has driven out the revolution.
Holidays[]
Farmer’s Day[]
A farmer and worker-oriented celebration for the new Yakiyan year. The bountiful harvest from Yakiyah is shared in a grand communal feast. Modern celebrations are organized by the Acti Mehar, the Eridanii agricultural guild, and the festival draws crowds from across the sector. It is a day to celebrate what it means to be a Yakiyan and the planet’s pivotal role in the sector’s food security.
Reunion Day[]
The anniversary of the ascension of House Eridanus as the legal governors of the planet. It is a demarcation of the first time since the First Imperial Civil War, Yakiyah was ruled exclusively by God’s ambassadors in the universe. Icons of the Empire--and of House Eridanus specifically--are paraded down the streets of major cities and all are invited to enjoy the certainty and security that the Empire has brought to the planet.
Languages[]
Imperial and Tiberian Bastard Imperial are the two official languages of Yakiyah. Informally Yakiyan Creole (a mix of Hindi root works with, Spanish and Imperial influence) is also widely spoken but is not treated as a formal language for business or bureaucracy. Some regional dialects of this creole also have strong Mandarin, Mongolian, or Urdu influences.
Among the common worker population, a Turkic language with Uzbek and Kazakh origins was adopted to distinguish themselves from the oppressive A.C.R.E. Directorate. It is commonly referred to as Yazekh. Used to hide information form non-Yakiyans its use is often associated with the planet’s revolutionaries and is curtailed.
Additionally, on the fishing barges The Widow and The Whale as well as across many coastal communities, a Scandinavian pidgin called Nyarke, is common among the trawlers and fishery workers.
Cuisine[]
The most popular foods on the planet are cheap and rely on leftover foods not taken off-world. Offal, fermented and salted dishes, soups, stews, and jellied meals are the most abundant. A popular dish is called the Jello Biafra, it is made using collagen from pigs or cows feet with pulled meat, potatoes, cabbage, and cheap spices to create a hearty meat jelly.
Yakiyan's favorite beverages are in a similar vein, easy to produce or cheap. One being Yakiyan Moonshine made from the readily available corn mash from the mega-farms. As well, Fizzy Cheese, a formerly A.C.R.E. product, is equally popular here as it is on Demnoph.
Architecture[]
Many of the buildings on the world are products of A.C.R.E.’s tenure: hyper-brutalist, sparse, and practical in every feature. Flat, massively tall octagonal apartment complexes placed side-by-side near the edges of the cities. Supermarkets, malls, and theaters are present to provide workers a taste of retail therapy but they more often perpetuate cycles of debt and dependency. Large concrete factories with heavy machinery populate around the centralized spaceports. Highways, like crisscrossing arteries, are each specifically built to connect vital sections of the city. Every city on the planet was meticulously planned out by A.C.R.E. to optimize their local economic advantage. With Eridanus now managing them, experts have predicted that the planet's urban areas will drastically increase their output over the next century.
Education[]
- See also: Yakiyan Schools
Young Yakiyan serfs are automatically enrolled in Communal Child Care Facilities which provide early childhood education and health services to growing Yakiyans. Once they turn five-years-old, they then enter Yakiyan Common Schools to learn the skills to be upstanding members of the community and efficient workers. As of late, progressive measures by the Eridanii led government has incentivized, if not required, educational programs that promote practicing the faith of the High Church and promoting the idealized loyal imperial citizen, much to the dismay of the former revolutionaries and practicing repentants. At sixteen-years-old, Yakiyans graduate and may pass through the Mentor program, a holdover from the Yakiyahn Mandate, to receive qualifications for better employment. Upon graduation, any additional skills or training fall upon their employer and landowner.
Noble Yakiyans have access to private early-childcare and tutors at home. Older nobles often use their house's off-world boarding schools and universities for their education and social growth.
Entertainment[]
Music[]
Under the A.C.R.E. regime, music on Yakiyah was mostly limited to prescribed PRISM songs and approved worker’s chants. Some hyper-local acts, especially ones that evoked anti-noble and anti-managerial sentiments existed, but never got widespread distribution. After the White Orchid Assembly Hall Meeting, local band's like “Punk Yak's Dream” found growing popularity due to their anti-establishment message and music scenes sprung up to complement the message of collectivism and resistance on the planet towards the Empire.
The Tanez Orchestra is a popular favorite of Yakiyans. They are famous for their lengthy concert the night of the Yakiyahn Mandate’s parliamentary elections where they played a song called "Flight of the Silverbird." The song’s score was found in the possession of an A.C.R.E. Director in a lounge in Tanez. Rebroadcasts of the concert were common under the Yakiyahn Mandate, but modern airings have reframed to glorify the Empire and the resilient nature of House Eridanus.
Local music is encouraged by the planet's new government, but it is monitored rigorously by the Ordo Fiducalem. Music is seen as a necessary outlet for frustrations and airing of grievances, so long as they don't call for destructive action.
Sports[]
The local psiball team, the Yakiyan Yaks whose marketing made them synonymous with the labor struggle, is now under Eridanii management. General support for the team has flagged as the worker’s movements have dwindled and new Eridanii owners make drastic changes to the roster and coaching staff. The much-beloved Yaksky mascot, Mad Yak Mack, is commonly used to promote the planet’s agricultural exports, a departure from its presence with workers at the picket lines.
Faith[]
The Friends of Yakiyah[]
The Friends of Yakiyah is a religious minority, as well as a philosophical organization, with members known as “Friends”. They were founded on the planet and have deep roots in the agricultural communities promoting pacifist egalitarianism. Friends have an inherent duty to protect all Yakiyan life and have endeavored to shape planetary politics to protect it. As a partially-religious group, they were never formally affiliated with either the High Church nor the Church of Humanity, Repentant. Although, members often sympathized more with the religious freedoms of the latter rather than the hypocrisy and hierarchies of the former.
With the fall of the UPC and dissolution of the Repentant Church, the Friends of Yakiyah have found new support in becoming official sponsors of SERAPH, joining its larger charitable umbrella.
The High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox[]
The High Church has historically had a strong presence on Yakiyah, as it had almost everywhere. However in recent decades, the swell of revolutionary sentiment had weakened High Church influence on the planet, and particularly recently the Church of Humanity, Repentant had been rapidly expanding its cultural and political influence at the High Church's expense.
With the fall of the UPC and dissolution of the Repentant Church, this expansion has come to a halt, and part of the gains of the Repentant faith on the planet have been undone under renewed High Church pressure and presence.
The Repentant Faith[]
Due to its relatively close proximity to Cabina, the Repentant church has always had a close eye on Yakiyah. In recent times, the Church of Humanity, Repentant has been able to not just have an eye, but growing influence on the planet, as well as the grip of the High Church was weakened. Dozens of Repentant sects and orders are active on Yakiyah, but a few have a particularly prominent presence.
In the wake of the dissolution of the Repentant Church, and the fall of the UPC, the Repentant Faith on Yakiyah has suffered setbacks, which some sects have weathered better than others.
Devotees of the Good Work[]
The Devotees are a sect of the Church of Humanity, Repentant founded by A.C.R.E. workers on Demnoph, and primarily consisted of A.C.R.E. workers sector-wide. It believes that the Divine values hard work and good workers, and rewards those who work with both worldly and otherworldly success. It has a strong presence on Yakiyah.
Due to its historically strong relationship with A.C.R.E. directors, some of which are now House Eridanus miscounts, and support from its branches on Demnoph and Tiber, the Devotees have managed to largely weather the storm of revolution. Though the local sect leadership has been largely purged, replaced by new, more imperial-aligned, members brought in from Demnoph and Tiber.
Clockworkers' Faith[]
The Clockworkers' Faith is a belief system that grew up amongst Yakiyah farmers. It was particularly popular with synthetics as well when synthetics still made up the majority of Yakiyah farming labor. Though not originally a Repentant faith, the dominant version of the Clockworkers’ Faith is, having become officially Repentant two hundred years ago.
Following the imperial crackdown on the UPC and the House Eridanus seizure of Yakiyah, the Clockworkers’ Faith has ground to a halt and shattered. Those who continue to adhere to the officially Repentant version of the faith have largely been forced underground, whispering their Repentant and revolutionary chants at night and in secret gatherings.
The majority have instead found themselves the subject of High Church pressure and persuasion, with many communities having entered a slow track of being reabsorbed as another syncretic element of the official imperial state religion.
Fauna and Flora[]
Domesticated[]
Much of the plant and animal life on the planet has been drastically affected in the several hundred years since the planet was colonized. Any sign of native alien life on the world has been eradicated or greatly diminished. Most animals on-world are beasts of burden and ones that can be eaten and meat transferred off-world: Cows, Horses, Donkeys, Goats, Sheep, Tuna etc. Most of the plant life is specifically grown to be taken off-world as well: Corn, Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbages, Wheat, etc.
The Bugonia Bee[]
A genetic descendant of the European and Asiatic honey bee. Bugonia Bees have been breed for their resilience and honey production. The primary function of the bees is to aid in the pollination of the vast amounts of crops and plants on Yakiyah.
Giant apiaries are dispersed all over the planet and are highly controlled and monitored both digitally and by a corps of specialized Psychics known as Royal Aristaeuses using their psionic abilities they are able to calm and manipulate the highly aggressive bees at their hives, some highly adept Aristaeuses have been known to put on very elaborate and intricate displays of known as "royal balls".
The Padma[]
The Padma or the Padma Chicken, named after Emperox VIII Vela Padma Noy, in honor of their coronation. The bird has a shining golden plumage, with vibrant blue ascents on there tails and wings. The Padma is a chicken famous for their size and flavor, though its slow growth has made it more of an expensive delicacy. The average Padma chicken weighs about 8kg (18lb) for cocks and 6kg (13lb) for hens.
Yakiyan Bear-Yak[]
Yakiyah bear-yak (bos ursus)
The Yak or Yakiyan Bear-Yak (Bos ursus) is a descendant of the earth yak. genetically bred to be super resilient and can withstand temperatures down to -50 degrees Celsius, while yielding great amounts of meat. A Bear-Yak usually reaches a height of 2,5m over the shoulder and a weight of 1500kg and thus the Bear-Yak is the greatest source of natural meat in Acheron Rho.
Documents from a pre-scream study indicate some Bear-Yaks are able to develop a form of psionic resonance but very little credit is given to such theories today as no experiments have been able to produce psychic effects. Even so the Bear-Yak remain a revered creature in Yakiyahn culture, as some of these stories live on in folklore, it is associated with great wisdom.
A common event at the Farmer's Day celebration is the Yak shaving competition.
Wild Animals and Plants[]
Some plant and animal life does exist off the farms and grasslands that has since become feral in the mountains and jungles leftover on the planet, as well as some animals whose ancestors hitched a ride on the original colonists' ships. There are also some nightmarish creatures and plants inhabiting the Schroeter Jungle and others.
Yaksky[]
The Yaksky is an animal native to Yakiyah that are easily domesticated and can be found in around the mounatin regions of Yakiyah. They are known to grow deep bonds with their owners and give good comfort. They are the same size as dogs but with beaks, have brown to black scales and a long tail with different colored feathers on its end. They can also learn to mimic and understand the meaning of a few simple phrases in human languages, possessing intelligence that is slightly higher than a crow.
The Yakiyahn Maple[]
The Yakiyahn Maple was originally brought to the planet by Serpens carpet-baggers several centuries ago. It has since spread throughout the temperate regions of the planet, competing with few remaining native forests. The unique climate of the planet gives the sap from the tree a particular high concentration of glucose; in turn leading to Yakiyahn Syrup being particularly sweet. It is one of the few luxury commodities the planet exports.
History[]
Pre-Scream[]
Very little knowledge survived the scream regarding the planet commonly referred to as Yakiyah. A lack of evidence after the scream indicates that it was unpopulated and no civilization existed on the pristine world. Rumors persist of various noble houses who allegedly colonized or managed the planet, but most evidence of this would be paved over with the considerable post-scream colonization efforts. However, a large number of textbooks printed today posit that House Eridanus likely held the planet under a protected status.
Post-Scream & Imperial Civil War Period[]
With the formation of the A.C.R.E. corporation on neighboring planet Demnoph, the agricultural planet soon fell within the new corporation’s sphere of influence. Corporate directors lead the post-scream colonization creating the massive spaceport of Tañez. A.C.R.E.’s contracts with nominal noble landholders tied Yakiyah’s agricultural production to the massive logistics and manufacturing power on Demnoph. The power to from Yakiyah to feed the sector and A.C.R.E. inability to rise to the imperial throne gave the corporation significant leverage to profiteering off of the tumultuous civil wars. The strength of war-time factions ebbed and flowed as access to Yakiyah’s agricultural exports shifted under A.C.R.E.’s watch.
Acheron Rho in Peacetime[]
Noble landowners semi-regularly challenged A.C.R.E.’s de facto control of the planet but these nobles drowned in court cases and corporate strong-arming. In the 31st century, through an Imperial Decree, A.C.R.E. acquired a fully recognized mandate on the organization and management of the planet Yakiyah. Not explicitly a lease of the planet, this recognized responsibility allowed A.C.R.E. the ability to create a planetary government in all but name. Various worker-led uprisings also challenged A.C.R.E.’s and the landowner's roles in overseeing the planet’s agricultural exports, but it was not until the War Against the Artificials that significant resistance and rebellion sowed its roots.
Rise of the Unified People’s Collective[]
In 3180, the Bombing of Gats caused a shockwave across the sector. The catastrophic event propelled disorganized rebel groups to unite behind a goal of solidarity among the working class and under-privileged. At the White Orchid Assembly Hall Meeting, in 3181 the Unified People's Collective organized on Yakiyah against the Noble and Corporate elites. Disparate factions and parties, with conflicting methods and ideologies, eventually carved a significant foothold on the planet and drove A.C.R.E. to, in effect, abandon large sections of the planet.
Conflict of 3200 (aka the STO War)[]
Yakiyah, became a fulcrum of instability during the Empire’s interregnum. Rumors of a massive assault on the planet’s people and economy by A.C.R.E. in part drove the Sector Trade Organization (STO) and Noble Houses into armed conflict.
Yakiyahn Mandate[]
In spring 3200, the A.C.R.E. corporation found to be in violation of their management of the planet by House Crux, and also seeking to divest themselves of the issue, lost their defacto leasehold. Records are unclear as to the exact events but at roughly the same time, A.C.R.E. sold back its contracts over noble lands on the planet for a negligible price. Under pressure of both the lobbying and coercion efforts of the Free Commerce Initiative (FCI) and The Conservative League--as well as the ACRE directors who formerly managed their lands--the Yakiyan nobles gave control of the planet to the serfs. What followed was the establishment of the Yakiyahn Mandate Constitutional Assembly (YMCA). The YMCA brought together the various reformist factions of Yakiyah to create a new type of government, independent of the imperial system.
Shortly after joining and then withdrawing from the STO, the Assembly drafted and agreed upon a constitution, the Yakiyan Mandate Social Contract. A Provisional Cabinet was appointed to hold parliamentary elections and develop the ministries. In the The Yakiyahn General Election of September 3200, a coalition of labor-mined parties--aptly named the Labor Coalition--formed the first popularly elected Yakiyahn Mandate Planetary Parliament (YMPP). However, the following month, the presence of the High Exarch themself, drove the synthetic-aligned political parties out of the public eye. Without the SHDP, the Labor Coalition lost its majority and The Conservative League, bolstered by The High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox’s presence, formed a tenuous majority.
The halls of this experimental government did not provide safe-haven for the various factions of rebels and revolutionaries that call Yakiyah home. Imperial presence, first by the High Church--who revealed the UPC Conspiracy--and later by the noble ARS Consortium and House Crux, halted the organized rebellion after two months of bitter clashes. Unrest on the planet forced the hand of the Mandate to arrest terrorists and disavow the UPC’s corruption and undemocratic methods.
Injured by the attacks to its legitimacy and the economic shake-up during the empire’s campaign against the revolutionaries, the YMPP operated in a holding pattern looking for assistance where it could.
House Eridanus on Yakiyah[]
House Eridanus and the Yakiyahn Mandate[]
The role Yakiyah in the sector’s economy has made the planet an interest of House Eridanus since long before the A.C.R.E. audit. When the planet was under A.C.R.E.’s rule, Eridanus had very few means of leveraging the house’s will to protect and profit from this pivotal link in the financial system. That all changed when the YMCA formed. A planet of revolutionaries was still morally bound to continue to feed the billions of hungry mouths across the sector, and House Eridanus would find a way to maintain that arrangement, even if it meant working with enemies of the empire.
Mutual Expertise Exchange[]
The treason of A.C.R.E. in the spring of 3200 exasperated issues in Tiber’s agricultural industry. Several models of tractor and harvester became ceased working without the corporation’s maintenance. The Eridanii government, seeing an opportunity to also affect the Yakiyan economy in their favor, engaged in talks with the YMCA to create an exchange of knowledge. The Mutual Expertise Exchange provided Tiber with the means to repair broken agricultural equipment and the Mandate with The Yakiyan Central Bank and Yakian Commodities Index.
Sector 4[]
In January 3201, House Eridanus collaborated with the post-UPC YMPP to revitalize the lands around the capital city Tañez. Since the great fire of 3198, The Burned Lands of Sector 4 was a deadland of ruins and whatever weeds took root in the ashy soil. So close to the space-port of Tañez, the waste of space and logistics efficiency was a crime to both the Mandate and Eridanus. To reclaim it they would burn the sector again. Armed with flame throwers, teams of Eridanii Firemen scorched the land, eradicating contaminated livestock and clearing the wild brush. These silver-clad laborers drove a wall of flame before them. Behind, Harrower Class A.C.R.E. Agrobots upturned and treated the soil ready for next season’s planting. Sector 4’s re-burning was a success and cemented the Mandate’s trust in House Eridanus.
Operation Huddled Masses[]
February 3201 marked the beginning of a campaign of economic restrictions and coercion known officially as Operation Huddled Masses or simply “The Sanctions” by the populace. Kicked off with a speech from the Trivox, House Eridanus constructed trade barriers between Yakiyah and the rest of the sector. With increased cargo inspections, bureaucratic red tape, and arcane fiscal policy set out by the Acti Mehar, Eridanus forced the Yakiyahn Mandate to export all the planet’s staple grains and at unsustainably low prices. As a result, the price of food on the planet soared as farms struggled to break even.
| “ | Give us your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, |
” |
— Trivox of House Eridanus announcing the beginning of Operation Huddled Masses
| ||
Each prefecture and municipality was given its own trade restrictions but they were initially uniform across industries. House Eridanus aimed to force the government to make hard decisions to cut to civil programs such as education, health care, and universal basic income as the price of food locally rose. Simply getting food to the mouths of Yakiyah’s population became the YMPP’s top priority. After the initial effects of the sanctions were felt, House Eridanus offered modest proposals to areas of the planet. Included was the abatement of the export restrictions under the condition that nobles could purchase land and equipment. Naturally, these local governments heeded the advisement of the ideological parliament and refused. What followed is one of the single largest assaults on the livelihood of a core world’s population during peacetime.
Penalties and restrictions increased, especially among areas of highest anti-imperial sentiment, forcing the wholesale suspension of several government programs to subsidize the cost of food. House Eridanus paid-off known smugglers to stay out of the Tsatsos system to protect the house’s interests on Yakiyah. Protests against the Yakiyahn Mandate’s lack of action to protect the people broke out in the areas most affected. Unable to fix the problems caused by the Eridanii trade practices, attempts to spin the story against Eridanus and the Empire fell flat for the parliament. The revelations of the UPC’s subversion and corruption of the democratic process spurred on more conspiracies that pointed the finger at the parliament’s ministers, claiming that they had leached money from public funds for themselves.
In moderate municipalities, where sanctions were less strict, internally displaced persons became a major issue. Seeking food and medical care, millions of Yakiyan fled from their homes and migrating to safer cities and neighborhoods. These migrants caused a heavy burden on local infrastructure. In these places, with the movement of population and shifting attitudes in-favor of any sort of economic relief, that Eridanii regulators targeted new rounds of proposals. This time, however, pretenses of moderate change were abandoned and in addition, extensive political changes were requested. No longer would the serf populace run the show, but noble landholders who would “deliver economic salvation to the populace that was pinned under the tyranny of the Yakiyan Mandate.” A few months prior, this option would have been an impossible bargain, but now it was the only path to survival.
The massive cash inflow for these prefectures from the land and equipment purchases allowed food and supplies to reach the population. Sanctions were lifted on these areas and the newly empowered nobles solidified their position by providing the government services that the YMPP could not afford. A ripple effect ensued, the more pro-imperial and moderate areas of the planet allowed for nobles to rule them and they prospered. Strongholds of The Conservative League and the Free Commerce Initiative were some of the first blocs to agree to this return to the empire. Nobles funded parties and celebrations to welcome the Yakiyan people into a peaceful sector.
With municipalities and prefectures turning to noble aid, the Yakiyahn Mandate Planetary Parliament lost its connections to the dividing and dissenting districts. Every commune, town, and city left caused a legitimacy crisis to the YMPP and soon it became a government in exile. Abandoning the offices and parliament hall, hard-line ideological Mandate politicians and bureaucrats ceased formally operating the government publicly. They continue to strive for popular representation, but do so at the fringes of Yakiyah, where the deepest anti-imperialist sentiment persists.
Nobles now own and manage a majority of the planet and, under decree of the Emperox, House Eridanus has been tasked with governing Yakiyah. The Vaultkeeper and Triumvirate quickly appointed a Rector and adopted some of the YMPP's bureaucratic structure. An assembly of noble landholders called The Agroa functions as a limited legislature. Every noble house is present in this government, but (like on Tiber and Demnoph) Eridanii make up a sizable plurality.
Operation Golden Door[]
Shortly before the “Huddled Masses” speech, operatives of House Eridanus under pretenses of economic revitalization and continued cooperation acquired new zoning and planning permission for the Hearth Valley from the Yakiyahn Mandate Planetary Parliament. Piggybacking off of the successful efforts in Sector 4 of Tañez and the development of The Yakiyan Central Bank, House Eridanus snuck-in exhaustive fine print into the authorization documents, thereby establishing de facto sovereign Eridanii territory in the valley. Construction began on a new city thereafter.
A humongous construction platform above the jungle laid out guides for the overlapping networks of utilities needed for what was to be Ronaseën, the Eridanii government’s planetary capital. Like a wagon-wheel or spider’s web, roads, canals, grav-lanes, public transport, optical cable, power, sewage, water, and all other manners of utilities formed the backbone of the developing city. However, very little of the city was actually installed at the culmination of three months of hard work. Only a framework of the downtown district encircling the new Eridanii capitol building Hearth, a massive triangular pyramid at its center was built.
During the economic restrictions imposed by Eridanus, the construction project served as a release valve for the population. Although heavily monitored and regulated, the valley was a place of protection and relief from the planet-wide sanctions. A considerable portion of these protections was facilitated by charities connected to the Society for Ethical Reform through Aid, Protection, and Humanitarianism (SERAPH).
Similar relief efforts sprang up all over Yakiyah after the conclusion of Operation Huddled Masses. By supporting the local populace in their daily needs, House Eridanus attempted to get the planet’s economy and society back on track, after the extreme economic upheaval of “The Sanctions”.
Operation Tempest-Tossed[]
In late spring of 3201, teams of Eridanii military companies associated with the Acti Condotta landed on Yakiyah. Ostensibly there just to conduct light field testing of a shipment of pre-tech peacekeeping equipment for House Crux, a short but effective campaign of extrajudicial enforcement was underway. Under the name Operation Tempest-Tossed, a handful of companies entered areas notorious for their rebel presence. Although united and organized rebellion was a thing of the past, isolated strongholds of various UPC subfactions persist in the dense urban sprawl and unforgiving hinterlands. Working primarily off of seized YMPP records, limited dossiers from the High Church’s Argo Machine, and the surveillance by the Ordo Fiducalem, the Eridanii force swept the countryside of many outspoken dissidents that had not fallen with the UPC.
In addition to rifles and body armor compiled from various pre-tech caches on Agassiz 7 and Demnophi salvage yards, several toys stood out to the operatives. What would become classified as GRET-L APD Drones provided invaluable in searching hostile buildings and rebel hide-outs as they kept Eridanii security forces out of direct harm. Some less-than-lethal pistols and grenades also gave these troops a substantial edge over the irregulars in their sights. Limited by the delivery timeline, the Eridanii companies conducted the bulk of the active operation swiftly. The pre-tech equipment is now utilized by House Crux’s Judicial Enforcement Services’ Messiah’s Will troops.
Operation Tempest-Tossed remains active on Yakiyah through external military contracts and passive actions by the Ordo Fiducalem, but Eridanii strikes against rebels have died down now that they are lacking the pre-tech hardware. Popular revolution still lives within the hearts of many Yakiyans and it is a continual scourge for Imperial forces. Yakiyah is a safer place for off-worlders today, but revolutionaries persist; they remain a considerable threat to the peace and stability the empire has fought so hard to protect.
Non-Planetary Objects[]
Bland Project (Giant Gas Mine)[]
- Occupation: Strange robots and their overseers
- Situation: Things are emerging below
Around the Tsatsos giant gas planet of Goba, Bioenergy and Liquid Agrifuel Network and Distribution (BLAND) operates a gas mining and fuel refining project. BLAND was formerly an A.C.R.E. run biogas consortium which developed an efficient drone-based mining operation in Tsatsos space. When A.C.R.E. relinquished their custodial relationship with the planet Yakiyah, BLAND Project was controversially sold to the Yakiyahn Mandate. With the acquisition of the megacorporation and the ousting of the YM, Eridanus inherited both BLAND and it’s Goba mining project. Organized under Acti Llum, the Eridanii gas mining guild, BLAND Project is currently owned by Count Eridanus Upton Daniel, and the wider BLAND biogas network was divided between various interested nobles in the Acti Graja.
Before the removal of the YM from the planetary government, BLAND Project had reported strange and ominous symptoms from psionics users. As a skeptic and member of the Eridanii political party The Luminous Tide, Count Eridanus Upton Daniel sought to prove those affected by MES were simply acting like fools and lying about their symptoms. In his letters to Acti Llum, the Count’s evidence clearly supports his assumptions and argument, although he does mention having severe migraines. Individuals close to the Count have said he has had several out-of-body experiences and bouts of amnesia. Rumors in the mining guild claim that Count Eridanus Upton Daniel is suffering from late-onset MES, an illness that the Luminous Tide treats unfavorably. It is unknown if and or when a Serpens Nominator will visit Upton but it is sure to be a testy encounter no matter their conclusions.
Argo 2 (Orbital Ruin)[]
- Occupation: Heirs of the original builders
- Situation: Fighting outside interlopers
In orbit around Yakiyah, the second Agricultural Repairs for Global Operations (Argo 2) was an A.C.R.E. farm equipment repair base rebuilt after the Second Imperial Civil War. Located in orbit, it allowed for extensive refurbishment and upgrading of Yakiyah earthmovers, tillers, and harvesters without lugging the whole machines into Demnophi space nor flooding Yakiyah with surplus tools to repair for locals to retool equipment independent of Demnoph. As revolution sparked on Yakiyah during the War Against the Artificials, Argo 2 became a symbol of A.C.R.E.’s practices of limiting of Yakiyah’s independence and a rebellion broke out. After several months of conflict between A.C.R.E. security and the mechanical synth workers led to the destruction of the station in what is known as The Battle of Argo 2. A sole survivor, an enigmatic figure, known only as Jason, has claimed management off the ruin. Attempts to salvage the station and possibly rebuild it by A.C.R.E. Directors, Vagrant Captains, and even Imperial forces alike, have all been thwarted by electronic countermeasures and military fighter drones around it.
During the STO Conflict, Jason regularly sold resources and parts from the station and supplied Argo’s drone systems to rescue and repaired ships from both sides of the fight. Jason’s usefulness, if paranoid and secretive, protected Argo as a valuable neutral resource. Jason’s identity remains a mystery. Some say he is an A.C.R.E. overseer, a rebel Synth, an opportunistic criminal, a Yakiyan revolutionary, or even a Cygnus exile. He claims Yakiyan citizenship and even participated in The Yakiyahn Election. That participation gave Jason defensive protections from the Yakiyahn Mandate as a citizen of the planet.
Today, Argo 2 remains a fortress of countermeasures and booby traps. Limited attempts to salvage valuable repair equipment have been costly, with officials claiming it too dangerous to assault head-on. With too many resources trapped within the ruined station to simply blow it out of the sky, Eridanii officials have resolved to quarantine the space around Argo 2 and maintain an indefinite siege.
Schroeter Research Base[]
- Occupation: Black-ops governmental researchers
- Situation: Science monsters run amok
A.C.R.E’s mission when it started the colonization of Yakiyah was to feed the sector, in doing so they worked with House Cygnus to maximize the efficiencies of the native and introduced biology. Schroeter Research Base was one of A.C.R.E.’s secret facilities where technicians bred and genetically modified flora fauna to best fit the corporation’s tasks. During the Yakiyan revolution, a sleeper agent of the UPC infiltrated and sabotaged the gene splicer the scientists were using before killing themselves. The result: disgusting living creatures from the legends of old. Yakskys the size of shuttlecraft, cows with three heads and milk that caused your skin to turn inside out on contact, and sentient plants that strangle you with their leaves and smother you with their kernels. The base’s scientists and military personnel were quickly overwhelmed by the number of specimens and A.C.R.E. quarantined the site and hoping to leave no record of it behind.
When the Yakiyahn Mandate ousted A.C.R.E. in mid 3200, patrolling Yakiyahn Defence personnel were routinely called to jungle villages around the base to neutralize escaped creatures and nearby hikers encountered a whole host of things such as bear-sized roosters with deafening screams, giggling oranges, and explosive blueberries to name a few. The last one gave YakDef’s Commander “Blueberry” Raveli severe acid burns to his face and was permanently ink his skin a shade of indigo. Raveli maintained A.C.R.E.’s quarantine to protect villagers and hikers alike, but YakDef was never able to lead an assault against the labs before Yakiyahn Mandate funding fell through during sanctions against the government.
With A.C.R.E. and YakDef personnel gone, House Eridanus picked up the quarantine efforts. Aware of the failures by both former militaries, Eridanii Condotte developed a new type of containment. Experts in Tiberian guerrilla warfare, military companies from Eridanus’s Acti Condotta have established a tried and tested counter-insurgency protocol in the Schroeter jungle. Publically, the deployment is to contain anti-imperial revolutionaries but killer flora and fauna are their primary antagonists. With lookout towers hidden amidst the trees and a complex net of tripwires and sensors on the ground, the Eridanii have complete observation and a secure perimeter of the jungle base. The monsters A.C.R.E. inadvertently created are kept under a close watch. Research assistance from House Triangulum, with whom Eridanus shares aspects of House Cygnus’ divine mandate to maintain sustainable biology and agriculture in the sector, has propelled both House’s understanding of genetics and of the limits this type of editing should have. Data collected in studies of Schroeter’s abominations are a closely kept secret between House Triangulum and the Eridanii involved.
SWN World Tags[]
Mega-Farms[]
- Formerly Revolutionaries
Enemies:
- Tyrannical plantation owner
- Gluttonous food-hoarder
- Ecoterrorist
Friends:
- Down-to-earth farmer
- Magnanimous baron
- Mega-tractor mechanic
Complications:
- Somehow crops have stopped growing and mass starvation threatens
- The planet has run out of fertile land and is hitting overpopulation
- Isolationists are arguing to end food exports and let other planets starve
Things:
- Genome data of superior seeds
- Deeds to a massive estate
- The perfect pumpkin
Places:
- Farmer's village surrounded by massive fields
- Spaceship-sized mega-harvester
- Sumptuous feast
- Mega-market with every food type imaginable
Tyranny[]
Enemies:
- Debauched autocrat
- Sneering bully-boy
- Soulless government official
- Occupying army officer
Friends:
- Conspiring rebel
- Oppressed merchant
- Desperatepeasant
- Inspiring religious leader
Complications:
- The tyrant rules with vastly superior technology
- The tyrant is a figurehead for a cabal of powerful men and women
- The people are resigned to their suffering
- The tyrant is hostile to “meddlesome outworlders”
Things:
- Plundered wealth
- Beautiful toys of the elite
- Regalia of rulership
Places:
- Impoverished village
- Protest rally massacre
- Decadent palace
- Religious hospital for the indigent
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