Biesel
Overview
Biesel was one of the first habitable exoplanets to be discovered by early exploration and is located in Tau Ceti. It was first colonized 2147, seventeen years after the development of the Warp Drive. Prior to human colonization which introduced Earth-based animal and plant populations the planet consisted of simple flora and small, furry gopher-like animals early colonists called Barks. These animals soon went extinct despite conservation efforts due to being out-competed by earth animals entering the wild, and by the fact many colonists considered the animals pests due to their loud, ceaseless barks and affinity to chew wires.
Since it’s colonization and maintained terraforming efforts, Biesel has been among the most influential and wealthy planets in human space. The Federal Republic of Biesel and the Tau Ceti System gained its independence in 2452 during the immense economic recession the Sol Alliance was suffering.
It is run by the Tau Ceti Assembly and State Senate in Mendell City, the capital, with the combined congress containing 286 representatives. 2 Representatives from the 120 Districts on Biesel, 20 Districts on New Gibson, and a single representative for each of the three Habitation-Stations with permanent populations over 4,000.
Nearly all the major corporations operated on Biesel before its independence, but since the creation of the Free Trade Zone they found themselves slowly bought out or undermined. Today Nanotrasen is the largest employer in Biesel and Tau Ceti, with it and its subsidiaries owning the majority of all business.
Mendell City is the capital of Biesel, and is considered the most affluent city in human space, people of all walks of life can find a purpose on Biesel and in Mendell City, and there are many prestigious education institutes that countless people use to push their intellect to new heights, where they are eagerly hired by the corporate giants that dominate the city.
However the city also has large low-income districts and neighborhoods that exist on the periphery of the more wealthy inner city. Most of these low-income areas house a sizable population of non-humans that are employed by Nanotrasen for cheap labor. Very few people actually live in abject poverty, with basic utilities and public services provided, but basic services tend to be less reliable and there are very few higher institutions available.
Description and Features
Demographics
Biesel has a population approaching three billion, most of which are human. However with the constitution guaranteeing the rights of "free travel" and "open immigration" the planet is gaining a rapidly rising population of alien inhabitants.
This population is primarily spread out over the continents with very little of the population going offshore to the islands. There are several major cities, including the capital, Mendell City. Phoenixport is the second largest city on the planet, with Scottsdan the third.
Mendell City contains the largest Shuttleport ever constructed, second only to the shuttleports of Earth. This large complex is vital to the city and sees thousands of shuttles come and go every day. NanoTrasen has situated many of their main offices in the city, taking advantage of the low taxation and cheap transportation.
Phoenixport is well-known across Biesel for it’s wondrous construction projects, replicating man-made wonders from old earth, such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or the Taj Mahal.
Where Mendell is the heart of Biesel’s transport industry, Scottsdan is it’s production center, with many modern industries dedicated to producing goods for sale in Biesel and beyond.
Population Demographics
Mendell City
Mendell City is the capital of Biesel and of Tau Ceti as a whole stretching over forty thousand square kilometers; it houses a total of 18 million people, situated on the south-western coast of the northernmost continent. Due to the low-tax system; many corporations and mega-corporations, such as Nanotrasen and Einstein Engines, have their head offices in the cities business sector. The city itself contains a mix of structures, ranging from kilometer high skyscrapers covering a dozen city blocks to almost serene suburbs, wrapped in the city’s urban sprawl.
Mendell City is the hub of trade throughout the system; trillions of credits flowing through the electronic stock markets in the business sector; whether in private transactions, or on the trade floor itself. It is said that you can buy anything in Mendell city; given enough money and time; however, this is not always true; given that walth attracts crime, the largest part of the city budget goes towards a very well-armed, organized and trained police force; keeping crime well-below acceptable levels. The training is so in-depth, that several Paramilitary Companies recruit almost exclusively from the police force; giving them a very lucrative reputation.
Though Mendell City is relatively well-developed; it, like many other cities, has it's poorer districts, with significantly higher crime rates than the more affluent areas. Though Mendell City's well funded police force is able to restrict much of the illegal activity to these areas; they are hard-pressed to prevent sporadic outbreaks of gang-related crime in specific areas. Mendell City is divided into fifteen districts, five of which are considered to be slums:
The Equal Rights Union, a very philanthropic faction of Freedom, calls Mendell City home, usually more prone to try and talk change through rather than fight for it, there are still a large enough number who do to make it noticeable.
District 1
'Zhèngfǔ District' - The absolute middle of the city, this district holds a small residential area, as well as many city departments as well as City Hall. NanoTrasen Headquarters sits opposite of city hall on Phoenix Street, where the original touchdown on Biesel was made.
District 2
'Phoenix Park' - One of the more affluent areas of Mendell, Phoenix Park is a large commercial district, with various retail, department and niche stores, surrounding a massive park reserve in the north-west of the city.
District 3
'Xinghua Prefecture' - A small district that makes extremely efficient use of it's space, this district is almost solely populated by large apartment and condominium complexes, there are a few office buildings in between as well.
District 4
'Abaster Fields' - A large rural area to the west of the city, largely home to various estate properties and mansions of the affluent. Although there are a few agricultural establishments as well, the district isn't heavily populated, but due to the relative wealth of those living within, it's a fairly influential one. Attractions within District 4 include the Godswood Estate, the Jie Residence, and Iovine Manor.
District 5
'Homewood' - A large residential district on the eastern side of the city, with an artificial river built coming in from Severson's Rift. Home to the medium-upper and upper class families, most of these homes are large or fair sized, but not much compared to those in Abaster Fields.
District 6
'Imperial Plaza' aka 'Little Adhomai' - A shady district with various dives, bars and restaurants, as well as a high rate of crime. Domestic disturbances and break ins are frequent, as are scrumptious burgers. Although not an outright slum, it is not widely trafficked by those who reside outside of the district. In recent years the district has taken on the moniker "Little Adhomai" after the large number of Tajaran residents who dwell there. This district is the birth place of "Little Tajaran Electro swing", a Biesel based variant of the classic Tajaran Electro swing known for its stronger focus on electronic dance music and Tau Ceti Basic lyrics.
District 7
'Vega De Rosa' - Casinos, clubs, bars, all the high-end entertainment that the city's elite love to enjoy. On the outskirts there are some less-established franchises that the middle and lower income residents attend.
District 8
'Lekan District' - A mostly industrial center housing the bulk of the utilities that provide drinking water and power to the city with its multiple fusion power plants and water treatment plants. The district also houses massive recycling centers that neatly and efficiently sort through the hundreds of tons of trash generated by the city. This district was named after the City Commissioner Lekan Mugabe who commissioned the development of District 8.
District 9
'Flagsdale' - Overpopulated by unemployed vaurcae that have found they have little to no purpose or reason to be here, and are just trying to wait and survive long enough for the remainder of their hive to come to human space. Tensions in this district have risen as numerous riots and violence directed at the new species have boiled up in the recent months, providing a new issue for the City Council to tackle. The district a designated slum where disease and violence are quarantined by the Mendell City Police Department.
District 10
'Republic's Landing' - A large commercial district taking advantage of the multiple civilian shuttleports in the area. It has two amusement parks, ports for orbital cruise ships, and various museums and other tourist attractions, as well as the worlds largest hotel, The Crimson Heights. It has a direct maglev link to District 5.
District 11
The result of urban sprawl and low-income housing, this place is regarded as the worst of the worst in Mendell. Gangs and criminal enterprise rule the abandoned streets, and many of the buildings are derelict structures.
District 12
'Xavier District' - District 12 is one of the largest gathering of intellectual properties in human space. This single district has over twenty-five universities, fifteen colleges, thirty high schools, four training centers, and three NanoTrasen research facilities, as well as other corporate research laboratories. Xavier District is officially classed as a residential district, a measure proposed by NanoTrasen's liaison on City Council. Some suspect the lower property taxes in residential zones was perhaps the reason behind this. Formerly known as the Think Tank, this district was renamed in remembrance of Xavier Trasen.
District 13
'Bullard Avenue' - Although much larger than the single avenue for which it's moniker is derived, a large portion of the north of Mendell, Bullard is the economic center of Mendell City, home to big banking centers, and other stock market and finance institutions. Although the majority of the district is designated commercial properties, there are some residential complexes to be found here that are typically rented to those who work within the district.
District 14
'New Detroit' - An industrial district that houses a large portion of the automated factories. Due to the recent embargo by the Sol Alliance, the district has fallen on hard times as material shortages have reduced industrial output as the City attempts to stimulate growth through subsidizing domestic material production of plasteel through Nanotrasen to replace the other materials. It is designated as a slum.
District 15
'Jie District' - The location of a majority of the city's low-income housing, this slum is located on the outskirts of Mendell City. Before it was turned into subsidized housing, this area of the city was a location where displaced refugees of the First Interstellar War resided. This district was formerly known as the Suo District, named after the Sol Alliance admiral Wen Suo, however, this district was renamed after the Republic Navy admiral Zheng Jie who grew up in this district.
Mendell City attracts vast numbers of tourists, whether for the numerous festivals that the city holds, or for simple sight-seeing; however, after recent heavy riots caused by the far right Apotheosis party; after many high-ranking members were arrested for various criminal charges in 2451; tourism has dropped off in recent years; leading the City council to increase investment in attractions such as festivals, while cracking down on the more extreme political parties.
Population: 18,038,831 (2457) Demographics:
Human: 50.1% - 9,037,455 individuals
Vaurca: 16.7% - 3,012,485 individuals
Tajara: 15.1% - 2,723,864 individuals
Unathi: 10.9% - 1,966,232 individuals
Synthetic: 5.9% - 1,064,291 individuals
Skrell: 1.3% - 234,504 individuals
Phoenixport
Selene’s continental capital is Phoenixport, situated, much like Mendell City, on the inner coast of of it's continent, adjacent to Severson’s Rift. Over the past few decades, the governing council of Phoenixport, and the Tau Ceti assembly as a whole have constructed replicas of many old-earth architectural wonders; such as the Eiffel Tower, or the Parthenon. This construction scheme has done much to improve the city as a whole, attracting vast swarms of tourists, eager to see these wonders rebuilt away from the population, pollution and decay of Earth.
Kasri
Though Eos is surpassed by New Gibson for sheer bulk production, it produces a great quantity of luxury goods; most of which are transported across the oceans in Biesel’s signature supercarriers; along with other goods, such as livestock and advanced electronics.
It is in Eos' capital, Kasri, where much of this production occurs. Kasri is situated on the closest point on Eos to Mendell City, so as to have the shortest route for the frequent voyages between the cities.
Scottsdan itself is a hive of industrial plants and urbanization, focused mostly on ore and luxury goods. The city itself is surprisingly pollution free, primarily due to strict pollution controls put in place by the Tau Ceti Assembly. They are determined to prevent another case of severe climate change as occurred on Earth in the 21st - 22nd centuries.
Geologic Description
The planet itself holds three major continents along with a multitude of smaller islands. Geological surveys of the unusual mountain ranges and extinct volcanoes show a violent geological past filled with asteroid impacts.
Continents
Despite being the smallest of the three continents of Biesel, Astraeus is the most affluent of Biesel’s continents and is home to the capital, Mendell City, as well as a population of 1 billion. It is the most heavily populated even four hundred years later. It possesses immense, rich plains that were easily colonized by early stations. These homesteads grew into towns, then cities, leaving Astraeus dotted with countless cities across it’s plains. Astraeus possess two major mountain ranges, the northern Grattle range, and the southern Uratines. The Grattle range holds Mount Turvin, the tallest mountain on Biesel at 8243m. The Grattle range is also well known for it’s numerous snow slopes; leading to a boom of wealth at the start of each ski season as people the world over book holidays in the more prestigious resorts.
Selene is north of Astraeus and is the second largest. Selene has the lowest population of the three continents despite its size, sitting close to 700 million and rising. Most of this population reside in towns along the coast. Selene has a single massive mountain range, named Splitrange by early settlers due to how the sheer cliffs and rugged, impassable mountains split the continent in half.
Eos is the largest continent with a population just exceeding 300 million. It is the most heavily industrialized of the three Bieselian continents, with a large amount of coastal flatlands, supplied by the rugged inlands, rich with minerals and resources of all varieties. Eos has two major mountain ranges, both running vertically. They are the northern Latra range, which is heavily mined for its abundance of copper and iron, and the southern mountain range, the Sevul. Towns that dot the Sevul mountains hold many sports tournaments, with its fans infamous for being more rabid fans of the thunderdome than anywhere else on the planet.
Oceans and Trade
Much of Biesel’s internal trade is done by immense freight carriers, traveling between the three continents; shifting massive loads of goods and materials from place to place; this is most easily seen in the large central ocean, known as Severson’s Rift; named for the captain of the first landing on Biesel’s surface, Nigel Severson.
The oceans of Biesel are benign; with the almost non-existent tectonic activity, there is little risk of Tsunamis; tropical storms are also known to form with a similar regularity to Earth, though with the smaller amount of landmass, the tropical storms can be significantly stronger, they are, however, unlikely to harm a super-carrier; the colossal vessels are floating cities in their own right, stretching over dozens of square kilometers, they are impossible to capsize, and can easily weather the storms.
Flora and Fauna - The Legacy of Earth
Ironically, while Biesel maintains strict environmental standards, the original colonization of the planet saw settlers introduce plants and animals shipped from Earth to the local ecosystems. Before human settlement Biesel boasted native plants and animals, all of which were out-competed by the introduced species.
Biesel now has been fully transformed to resemble Earth with both flora and fauna. The coniferous, temperate, and other types of forests boast deer, elk, wolves, bees, and other analogous species. The deserts and waters also carry earth species suited for those areas.
Nearly all native alien species on Biesel went extinct in the decades of terraforming work. A handful of native insects, fish, and rodents managed to adapt to the new ecosystems and have thrived. What few large animals remain remain inside zoos for public viewing.
The most important introduced species to Biesel remains the all-important bee and its many subspecies.