Medina

REGION - BADLANDS
This location is centered in the Badlands region.
The Badlands are home to some of the Orion Spur’s most savage flora and fauna, a phenomenon that attracts only the wildest and wisest of the system’s inhabitants - xenobiologists, weapon scientists, there’s even a market for mercenaries, in the hunting of the particularly large and lethal creatures. Of course, there are also those looking to make a life for themselves, but natives aren’t known to treat settlements kindly. The majority of the People's Republic of Adhomai and the Republic of Elyra’s space finds itselves positioned in the Badlands. As well, the entire Izweski Hegemony and a small portion of the Empire of Dominia. The Badlands are accessible by a set of bluespace gates leading to and from Tau Ceti and New Ankara. Persepolis, Medina, Aemaq, Moghes, Ouerea, Tret, Adhomai, Hro'zamal, and Gakal'zaal are located in the Badlands.

The flag of Medina, with its brown, white, and violet colors respectively representing the planet's terrain from where its wealth came, the purity of its peoples' ideals, and the color of phoron.

Medina, nicknamed the Republic’s Prize, is a planet located within the Jedeed-Isfahan star system. Considered one of the core worlds of the Republic of Elyra, it is one of the most populated planets in the nation. Medina’s population lives atop city-sized, hovering land vehicles that float over a constantly-shifting landscape. These hovering vehicles are supported by magpulse drives, a technological marvel supported by the Republic’s investment in phoronic research. Over weeks, no single location remains the same, as the entire tectonic assembly of the planet shifts. The largest industry on the planet is the export of fine goods and valuable commodities. The second largest is a unique bounty list referred to as the Phoron Bulletin, where the Elyran government contracts experts from across the galaxy to hunt phoron as it is uprooted across the planet’s ever-churning surface.

History

An image of Medina from orbit, displaying its rather dull features from a glance.

“I think there are better ways to build a society than draining the life and light from its best citizens.” - Mahmud ibn Amin (2328 - 2419), physicist and second team lead of “Project Hubris”

Isfahan I was marked for development in 2360 for a very specific reason; the absurdly high levels of phoron concentration under its surface. Geologists and engineers touching down on the surface soon realized the unfortunate side to the planet’s obscene mineral wealth; the constant earthquakes and frequent dust storms would make it next to impossible for a permanent settlement to be constructed on the surface.

While brief excursions on the planet’s surface made it possible to mine, thanks to low-flying shuttles and jetpacks, it was still inconvenient, hazardous, and resource-intensive to continue orbital mining operations. The size of Isfahan I and its abundance of precious materials merited a dedicated colonization effort. Thus, the Republic tasked a group of engineers and researchers to develop a way for a stable colony to exist on the planet’s surface. The project was originally led by Misha Khouroshi, an electrical engineer from Bursa employed by Osman Electronics. As the scale grew larger and the Republic’s demands grew more ambitious, the team expanded to include not just engineers and geologists, but physicists, mechanical engineers, and architects. They would go on to nickname themselves and their work “Project Hubris”, in sarcastic reference to the grand demands that their government was making of them.

It was Khouroshi who originally proposed the concept of hover technology, though the rest of the team was skeptical of the idea owing to the massive amount of resources, planning, and construction it would take, beyond the point of practicality. Khouroshi managed to easily convince the Republic, and less easily convince her team, that the money and resources that went into developing large-scale, working hovercraft technology could be compensated with Isfahan I’s rich natural resources.

“Project Hubris” was developed over the course of twenty-one years. Setbacks, failures, political unrest, and poor communication between both the team and the Republic were common. The greatest setback was the death of Misha Khouroshi in 2372, at age 49, from an aortic dissection. Mahmud ibn Amin, her successor, would remark that Khouroshi was “the hardest worker of any of [Project Hubris]”, and noted that it was a death most likely caused by intense, ongoing stress.

Despite all these setbacks, it was April 18th, 2381, when the magpulse drive had its first test runs. The first platform, Drifa, was established in the southern hemisphere of the planet, and thousands of miners, medical personnel, and researchers were finally able to call the planet home. The planet was newly-christened Medina by the Republic. While the first prototypes of the magpulse drive were rudimentary and overpowered to contrast the planet’s Earth-like gravity, the warp technology they harnessed would go on to develop more efficient drives that permitted the rapid expansion of the planet’s surface colonies.

By 2388, individuals from across the Republic of Elyra were migrating to Drifa and other newly-founded extraction platforms, and in this rush, the planet became a phoron boomtown. Khouroshi was correct; the mineral extraction and economic benefit that the magpulse platforms assisted in paid back the debt on Project Hubris thousands of times over. With limited failures, the floating cities of Medina continue to hover over the planet’s surface to this day.

Environment

Medina is the only planet within the binary star system of Jedeed Isfahan. It is orbited by six moons; Hubal, Manat, Ruda, Quza, Al-Uzza, and Allatu. The surface of Medina is hot and arid, with daily temperatures averaging at 35 degrees Celsius. Medina’s median pressure is typically 80 kilopascals, meaning even short trips outside of the safety of its floating cities require oxygen gear. The weak atmosphere produces a pinkish-red sky, and the planet’s beautiful yet desolate vistas are famed across the Republic.

Most notable about the planet’s landscape is its constantly shifting surface, dotted in purplish-white sand dunes of silica and tiny granules of phoron. The six moons exert constant pressure on the planet, and tectonic activity is unstable and actively prohibitive to attempts to build a settlement on the surface. The moving plates, however, ensure that minerals deep within the planet’s core never stay hidden for long. Some parts of the planet’s crust will, given enough time, produce towering spikes of phoron pointed at blood-red skies.

Because of the unstable surface and phoron toxicity, no native life exists on Medina. Yet time and the careful observations of geologists have uncovered evidence that, millions of years ago, there were once living organisms on Medina’s surface. It primarily seemed to be arthropodic, similar in shape to isopods, and these fossils have developed a culture of fascination around them due to limited knowledge and their intriguing history. Some claim to have seen "Madani sandcrawlers" on the shifting dunes, and some tales have been spun about mysterious insectoid cryptids that feed on phoron beneath the surface of the planet.

All Madani cities have robust energy shielding and self-perpetuating atmospheric systems for the eventuality of dust and sandstorms. A far more dangerous occurrence also presents itself to those who excavate the surface without proper protection; the violet haboob. It is the local nickname for the phenomenon of phoron particulates being swept up in a sandstorm, sending clouds of poisonous dust whirling across the surface. Unprepared miners seeking glory with the Phoron Bulletin can quickly find themselves in danger when caught outside, and many more have gone missing when a haboob kicks up in the fields.

Economy

So well-off is the average Madani native that a divide between rich and poor is something of a foreign concept. Citizens have strong social support networks, supplemented by well-planned and highly-accessible cities.

While Medina’s best-known exports are the production of artisanal goods, such as furniture, cookware, glassware, and sculpture, it also is heavily industry-based. Resource extraction, not limited to phoron but also glass, gold, silver, and gems, factors heavily into the planet’s bountiful economy. The Elyran citizens under the direct employ of Elco can hope for a job as drill operators, equipment technicians, and machinists who keep the automated conveyor belts, drills, sorting machines, and foundries operating. Jobs given to Elyran citizens are usually safe, subsidized, and well-paying; any hard or dangerous labour is shunted on the shoulders of non-citizen persons, drones, or IPCs.

Tourists from all over the Spur, and typically young people from more conservative planets in the Republic, also flock to the floating cities for the nightlife and youth culture. The service industry is booming on Medina, from luxury hotels that specialize in holding parties and events, to cheaper hotels for the mercenary seeking the Phoron Bulletin. Unusually for the Orion Spur, all of Idris Incorporated's previous attempts to break into the service industry have failed or been blockaded by the Republic's strict economic controls, citing an unwillingness to allow the foreign megacorporation to operate.

The Phoron Bulletin

The Phoron Bulletin is a relatively new feature to the Madani economy, having been introduced by Elco in early 2430. However, since then, it has been responsible for countless millions of people from all over the Orion Spur seeking the planet’s rich resources.

The bulletin is a bounty system established by the Elyran government for the sake of outsourcing massive workloads to external parties of all varieties. These workloads include but are not limited to phoron location and extraction, and is extremely dangerous work. The average Madani usually avoids Bulletin work, with the dangers of working on the planet’s surface readily apparent to them. While forms of travel are granted by Elyran officials in the way of hover-barges and extraction vessels, the usual Bulletin hunter is found using their own ships or even daring to make expeditions on foot.

Outside of the floating cities, the planet is exceptionally hazardous. The Elyran government keeps a close watch via surveillance cameras on government-issued helmets on the various teams they contract out to find phoron, and has explicitly forbidden armed conflict between phoron hunters over deposits on the planet's surface. Harsh penalties await those who break the sacred “violet peace”, ranging from heavy fines and a stripping of phoron-hunting licenses, to even field execution.

Despite these risks, some phoron hunters still take their chances both with the Elyran state and other hunting parties. Law is difficult to enforce in remote areas, and fighting over deposits is not unheard of. The Medina Bureau of Economics patrols around areas with high known phoron concentrations to both protect hunting parties and uncover the remains of those that have been lost to Medina, either through natural causes or conflict. Even so, the Elyran government has been known to overlook the transgressions of some hunting parties or dismiss their charges. Coincidentally, those parties are usually the ones with the largest phoron hauls or the strongest connections to government or Elco officials.

Those from off the planet seeking the Phoron Bulletin are often surprised by the cutthroat nature of other phoron hunters. Others are warned and come prepared, knowing full well that the next deposit may spell disaster in the form of accidents or even illegal ambushes by foreign parties.

Culture and Demographics

“If you value your lover, don’t vacation on Medina.” - Damascene saying

Medina is considered something of a heartland for supporters of the League of United Republicans, the Republic’s center-left party. Most cities are quite socially liberal, with a “live and let live” attitude common in the nightlife culture. Decency laws are fairly relaxed compared to Damascus II, and loose, colorful clothing adorned with embroidery, eye-catching jewelry, and oxygen equipment customized and adorned with personal effects can be seen across all floating cities. EVA equipment, such as helmets and suits, are also usually dyed bright colors and embroidered, or encrusted with jewels (real or fake) or metals.

On Medina, there is a strong emphasis placed on not just artistry, but also perfection in artistry. The planet itself has built an astounding reputation for quality in its exports. While Madani goods are valued in the Republic of Elyra, they are sold for very expensive prices in the greater Orion Spur. The quality of goods can be attributed to the immediate availability of many precious gems, metals, and ores. Certain types of wood, stone, and animal products such as fur and leather are more expensive and rare due to importing costs, and thus Madani art is primarily centered around glasswork, sculpture, and jewelry. The further automation of its mining industry means that creation and artistry is becoming increasingly ubiquitous among the populace. The Republic’s greatest artists find themselves often starting out on Medina, drawn to the freedom present in such a culture, and the novelty of its ideas.

Individuals born planetside tend to take on a colourful mindset, seeing artistic liberties as an absolute necessity to take when confronting invention. Every invention, from the most luxurious hovercar to a simple kitchen appliance is seen as its own contained canvas upon which the absolute boundaries of the creator’s imagination must be pushed. This mindset usually boils down to “If something cannot be beautiful, why make it?”

Naturally, Madani art culture and its focus on beauty and perfection has spawned a counterculture. Called ghul-anata in Elyran Standard, and typically translated to “ghoulpunk” in Tau Ceti Basic, the artists of this subculture prefer to create works that are deliberately ugly, off-putting, or uncomfortable. This includes noisy, grating music, visual media designed with garish colors or deliberately skewed perspectives, and fashion designed to be grungy and ill-fitting. While typically disparaged as edgy youth culture, native Madani illustrator Noor Amari has found great success and popularity in the wider Orion Spur for her sketchy, garishly-coloured illustrations of modern life in Elyra, often with a darkly humorous spin.

The floating cities of Medina generally contain a healthy variety of people from all walks of life. While there is no major distinction between those not from the planet and people born planetside, the lifestyles may vary tremendously. Most of the planet’s long-term residents are Elyran citizens, though there is a significant population of elderly Elyrans, usually from Persepolis or New Suez, moving to the planet in their retirement.

About 85.6% of the population of Medina are practitioners of varying sects of Islam. Religious doctrines are quite loose, however, and interpretations of the Quran among Madani are considered more liberal and progressive. Notably in the past two decades, a movement has spread among the younger populace where pre-Abrahamic faiths such as Zoroastrianism, Arabian polytheism, and Turkic spiritism are beginning to be practiced and ritualized in small groups. However, only a very small percentage of citizens are actually registered as having a non-Abrahamic faith as their religion, and data on how widespread the movement actually is is inconclusive.

Non-Citizen Persons

Behind Medina's rich bounty, idyllic society, and booming economy, non-citizen persons on the planet are similar, if not worse off, than their counterparts elsewhere in the Serene Republic. The NCP population is considerably smaller in size than other planets, owing to not just the cloistered nature of the floating cities but the high rates of injury and death that plague their professions. A lucky non-citizen may be able to find work as housekeepers, dishwashers, or line cooks in one of Medina's many hotels. An unlucky non-citizen may have to find work with Elco on the planet's surface, maintaining machinery and resource extraction efforts on temporary platforms and mining shafts. Exposed to far more pressing dangers than their Elyran counterparts, the non-citizens who may end up pursuing the Phoron Bulletin usually do so out of desperation, lacking the preparation and skill of their more mercenary counterparts.

Most of the NCP population are humans of various origins; the most notable group are former residents of Middle Ring planets, such as Lhokogan, Sankt Frederick, and San Colette, and refugees from the Empire of Dominia.

Non-citizen IPCs are usually put to work with the Phoron Bulletin; almost always, these IPCs are manufactured in Elyra, and synthetics from other nations are rarely permitted within the core worlds. Like the rest of the synthetic population, they tend to congregate in their own groups due to widespread mistrust of synthetics. While Medina’s culture is more libertine, and there are rare elements of synthetic sympathy among the younger populace, this does not change that it is still monumentally difficult for an IPC to gain citizenship. In cities such as Drifa, there are rare underground groups and some ghul-anata groups that accept IPCs into their circles, seeking new perspectives on Elyran life.

Unathi formerly of the Izweski Hegemony are also a rare but unremarkable sight on Medina. Typically, former Gawgaryn or Guwan make their way off Moghes towards Medina, seeking the riches found in the planet’s crust. Unlike Unathi on New Suez, Madani Unathi typically have little interest in assimilating into Elyran culture, and they are reputed to be untrustworthy and criminal in the cities.

In recent years, Medina has seen rising discontent among the civilian populace regarding the treatment of NCPs, and the dangerous conditions of their work. A notable demonstration in Drifa in 2464 called for worker protections for Madani NCPs; these demands have largely been ignored by the planetary government, even by the League of United Republicans representatives.

Floating Cities

Drifa: The floating capital of Medina, Drifa is home to over sixty million people and rests on the back of over a thousand magpulse drives. Due to the seemingly endless profits phoron has brought to the planet, Drifa is overwhelmingly middle-and-upper-class. It is populated with luxurious SuezBank resorts and other get-aways, and is known for artificial greenhouses that produce upscale goods such as high-end coffee, chocolate and dates. As one of the more liberal planet capitals, Drifa’s abundant nightlife is popular with local youth and those visiting the planet from offworld, wishing to get away from the more restrictive law of their homeworlds. The current mayor of Drifa and governor of Medina is Layla Bint Hussein Al-Shahi of the League of United Republicans party. The city has a sizable synthetic population, where the precision and skill of IPC workers are highly prized in achieving the obsessive levels of perfection that the planet is known for. Detractors believe that as IPCs lack souls, they do not have the ‘human touch’ required to produce competent works of art.

Najada: A city where fortunes are made and lost overnight, Najada is unusual in the fact that its local governance is almost entirely Artisan free synthetics. Najada began as a simple shuttleport established early on in the planet’s history by a group of ambitious positronic settlers, wishing to seek their fortunes in reaping the ripening fruits of the phoron industry. The city has since sprawled from their port during the planet rush and now caters to the phoron mercenary population of Medina, being widely regarded as one of the seedier cities in the Republic as a whole. With a local government that is interested in profiting from the needs of the Phoron Bulletin above all else, almost anything goes in Najada provided it does not attract the ire of the Medinian Planetary Authority, who turn a blind eye to most of the goings-on of the city due to it’s high phoron yield. The headquarters for most of Medina’s mercenary companies are found here amidst the luxurious high-rises and mercenary bunk-housing, with its thriving black market providing all of the equipment required for their bloody work and more. The Najadi “Banafsaji District” is famous for its high-stakes gaming, where rich clientele gamble with the rights to mine entire deposits of mass quantities of phoron over dice-games and blackjack. The careful balance of Najada has been recently disturbed by the arrival of “danger tourists from” the rest of the Elyran Core, following the dramatized depiction of the city in the hit Elyran series Blood on The Sands.

Harba: More a fortress than a city, the floating enclave of Harba is among the most secure on Medina, and is where the EAF Command for the entire Jedeed-Isfahan System resides. Harba is closely connected to the Madani capital, and acquiring property here is notoriously difficult. The city is directly governed by the Planetary Authority rather than any local authority, and housing is typically reserved for government officials and their families, or occasionally awarded to exceptional soldiers for their service. Regardless of one’s background, government clearance is required to enter the city at all due to security concerns, and most civilians come to Harba for work from elsewhere on Medina, inevitably finding themselves under a strict NDA. Harba is the main vector of getting Medinian Phoron off-world and into the rest of the Republic, and it is fiercely protected with a military exclusion zone for all ground and air activity. It is rumored that Osman Electric Industries has a government-contracted facility here which is in the process of developing military AI for the Elyran Navy, but OEI has repeatedly claimed that it is just another factory developing QQs.

Turaif: Turaif is the academic heartland of Medina, home to several learning institutions and the headquarters of one Elyran Megacorp. Turaif’s primary export is phoron research and education. The headquarters of Osman Electric Industries is found here in the grand Burj Osman, a tower known first for its many amenities, and second for its unique quirk in that it also functions as a research facility. The Burj Osman’s lower floors open to the public and present a typical offering of shopping malls, high-end restaurants, spas, and even hotels. The upper floors, however, are access restricted and home to OEI’s most prominent phoron research facilities, where all manner of phoron technology is researched and presented to the wider Republic. Also in Turaif, the Khalil Osman Institute for Applied Phoronics is Elyra’s foremost learning institute for phoron sciences, and many of the Spur’s greatest phoron researchers graduate from the institute. The rest of Turaif is home to closely-packed city housing, with most residents working in education or research fields. A local student art collective dubbed The Turaif School produces popular work that regularly pushes the boundaries of Elyran Futuro-Impressionism, much to the government’s annoyance. Their latest work is a series of 24 murals across Turaif showing the struggle of Medina’s NCP populace, and was widely published on Elyran social media despite the government’s attempts to the contrary. The League of United Republicans expressed quiet approval for the works, though local Republican Revolutionary Society members disapproved it for “rocking the boat.”