Silversun
| REGION - JEWEL WORLDS | ||
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| This location is centered in the Jewel Worlds region. | ||
| Centered in the heart of the Sol Alliance and largely safe from any common galactic dangers, the Jewel Worlds are the pride of Humanity to some, and a massive bane to others. Here is where the first colonization from Humanity arose, and where the Interstellar War was powered, producing an extremely polarized mindset against it amongst the Colonial territories. Nearly sixty billion Humans can be found here with an undetermined amount of aliens. Among the Jewel Worlds are the entirety of the Sol star system, Epsilon Eridani, New Hai Phong, and Silversun. The Jewel Worlds possess two bluespace gates, one from Sol to Konyang - which is in the process of being dismantled - and another from Epsilon Eridani to Qerrbalak.
Earth, Venus, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, New Hai Phong, Silversun, and the planets of the Eridani Federation are considered Jewel Worlds. | ||
A middle colony with an amazingly hospitable climate across most of the planet, and large oceans, Silversun is well-known as the main tourist destination and retirement point for the wealthy elite of the Sol Alliance. In recent decades, the planet has seen heavy investment by Idris Incorporated. One of the bank's major branches is located here - a gleaming monolith dedicated to corporate wealth located in Silversun's capital city, Helios City - the spot where the first colonists touched down centuries ago.
With a minimum temperature of 17.4°C in the winter and a maximum temperature of 27°C in the summer, Silversun's main climate zone could be described as "eternal spring". Humidity varies throughout the year, but is usually low, although soft, pleasant rains are frequent in the summer.
Human residents of Silversun are divided into two major groups: descendants of the original colonists, and the rich Expatriates. Political tensions are extremely high, but have not yet boiled over into violence, and Silversun's political situation has dramatically worsened due to the ongoing phoron crisis and Solarian Collapse. While historically an area for political debate, the political quagmire that is Silversun's government has only worked to fuel tensions.
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History
Silversun is one of the first Middle Colonies, sometimes even being called a sister colony to New Hai Phong. As colonization had, by this point, become an effort run by the Alliance, the original colonists sent to Silversun were from all around Earth - no real nationality or ethnicity dominated, leading to a diverse set of backgrounds and beliefs being sent to Silversun. While being too distant from the heart of the Alliance to become a jewel world such as Venus, its pleasant climate still made it very appealing to its first settlers. Shortly after landing it was discovered that the planet was incredibly hospitable in almost all of its areas. The planet was quite comfortable in terms of temperature, with it never really becoming too hot or too cold to be comfortable, and lacked major weather phenomena such as typhoons or the intense storms that battered Silversun's sister colony on New Hai Phong. Flora and fauna were abundant, beautiful, and quite docile - some species of avians would nest in the prefab buildings of the first colonists without caring that they were aliens, and aggressive wildlife was notably lacking. Having just come from the still environmentally-devastated Earth, the first colonists of Silversun came to cherish their newfound homes. This viewpoint would, eventually, lead some to come into conflict with the Idris Incorporated investors and staff that arrived on the planet after its initial colonization.
Instead, Idris Incorporated committed to making Silversun a planet-wide resort for the Alliance's wealthy, particularly Cythereans, investing heavily into constructing entire cities from scratch and staffing it with high-quality service staff and primitive, non-intelligent service droids such as automatic bartender and waiter systems to ensure the highest possible quality of service was guaranteed. High apartment prices ensured that only the most powerful and affluent would move into these new Idris-built homes that quickly became symbols of status to own. Occasionally even entire cities were left deserted due to lack of immigrants able to afford housing or willing to settle in the Middle Ring. Large areas of jungle were marked for development by the colonial government, which some of the original colonists suspected of being increasingly in the pocket of Idris Incorporated. The destruction of these large swaths of jungle caused anger amongst some members of the original colonists, and damage to the ecological system of the planet. The planet remained beautiful - as was the intention of Idris' architects while designing these sprawling resort towns - but some of the raw natural beauty of the planet was forever lost in this period.
The settlements of the original colonists, meanwhile, gradually had tourism make up more and more of their economies as Idris Incorporated increased its investments and began hiring heavily from local areas to reduce costs. The previous local industries - primarily agriculture - began to fall to the side as more and more individuals became involved in the service industry, or supporting the service industry, that was developing on Silversun as a result of Idris' heavy investments in the planet. In these first years of Silversun's booming tourist industry the primary visitors were Cythereans from Venus, though wealthy visitors from across the growing Alliance could be found on the planet. Senators from Sol, Hephaestus executives from New Hai Phong, and Eridanian suits amongst others could all be found vacationing or holding business in the beautiful resorts of Silversun. The original colonists were somewhat divided on the matter of Silversun's new primary industry. Some viewed the rapid growth of the tourism industry as a boon to Silversun - and a method to make it more relevant than other planets in the Middle Ring - while others, perhaps the majority, viewed the growth of the tourism industry with varying levels of suspicion. Some felt that the planet's culture would become sanitized in order to achieve the maximum Idris quality appeal to outsiders, while others worried that the large amount of development needed to support the rapidly growing tourism industry would negatively impact the planet's environment. Though the issues at hand have changed, this divide between new and old residents of Silversun remains a major cultural conflict for the planet.
Everything changed with the discovery of Skrell, however. Once the Skrell learned of Silversun, they have expressed high interest in the planet due to the climate, which is especially pleasant for the amphibious species during the rain season. A couple years after the first contact a large wave of Skrell tourists arrived at the planet, which was caused by a Skrell idol advertising the planet on Skrell social media. Afterwards, Silversun ports saw anyone with the money to afford a trip to the planet arriving - flooding the only small spaceport at Helios City - and often staying. The problem only got worse during the rainy seasons, with many Skrell scientists and officials taking vacations here. This exact moment moved the Sol Alliance to introduce their famously strict visa requirements, and only tighten them ever since.
A recent point of conflict between the descendants of the original colonists and Idris has been the presence of IPCs - primarily shells and Bishop frames - on the planet. These Idris shells are a recent arrival, and are of some concern to the native workforce. After all - an IPC can work longer hours at less pay than a human, generally does not complain about working 48 hour shifts, and requires only electricity and a roboticist to function. Many of the more recent high-end resorts have a majority-positronic staff, with the famous Villa del Sol staffing itself entirely using Bishop frames (aside from human handlers) as a measure of their wealth as a resort.
In the aftermath of the Solarian retreat from much of the Middle and Outer Rings Silversun has remained as one of the few Middle Ring planets under direct Solarian control, and has continued to prosper even in the chaotic environment that has followed the inward retreat of the Orion Spur's hegemonic power. While the Solarian Corporate Authority has nationalized many of the Alliance's megacorporation assets within its borders Silversun has remained untouched -- and has even seen an increase in the Alliance's military presence due to the smaller amount of territory the Navy must patrol -- thanks to Idris paying for the planet's cost in full. Money is, after all, the key to many things - including the Orion Spur's favorite vacation world.
Environment
Silversun is a tropical, primarily oceanic climate with an average daily temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. Most of the planet is covered in oceans. There are five major islands on the planet; New Aotearoa, the Petal Isles, Nu'ulopa, and the islands of Toowoomba-Tauranga. The landmasses on the planet are home to several volcanoes, but most that could cause significant planetary disruption are long-since inactive. The largest active volcano on Silversun is Tagata Taufaamata'u, on the island of Silisili, and it is constantly monitored by scientists around the planet for signs of eruption. Volcano tourism is quite popular, and Idris Incorporated hosts tours inside the inactive volcano of Rohutu-no'ano'a; the rich volcanic soil is also home to incredible biodiversity.
Silversun's tectonic activity and weather patterns means that tropical storms are incredibly common, and every citizen is prepared for the eventuality of a blaring siren indicating an oncoming hurricane or cyclone. Owing to this, infrastructure on Silversun is flexible, usually lifted some off the ground by poles, or made of waterproofed material.
Florae and Faunae
Silversun dawnflower (Astraeus helios)
The Silversun dawnflower is a symbol dear to the Originals of the planet. It is a flowering plant found across the planet that blooms in the morning and remains active during the early hours of the light, when it utilizes bioluminescent petals to attract insects to spread its pollen. The flower features an odd arrangement of petals in a dual layer - one set of petals is larger to collect light, while another set surrounding the stigma of the flower are smaller to allow it to remain bioluminescent for a longer period at night. The wide and double-layered petals of the dawnflower along with its surprisingly stubby stigma are a common symbol of the Originals that have been co-opted by the Expatriates in their marketing for Silversun's resorts. Imitation dawnflower pins can be found throughout human (and even Skrellian) space, and both imitations and real dawnflower pins are seen as a very fashionable accessory, demonstrating one's unity with nature (or love of corporate vacation spots).
Yincheng reishi (Ganoderma yincheng)
Yincheng reishi is not true, Earth-born reishi fungus, but rather a very similar-looking mushroom. While edible and even nutritious, the fungus is most popular for its hallucinogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. Some Originals syncretised the ritual consumption of Yincheng reishi to achieve higher understanding or visions with their Earth-originating faiths, and over time it was also incorporated into therapeutic practices and meditation. However, Idris Incorporated has begun cultivating and selling Yincheng reishi across the Spur as a recreational drug, a practice which some Originals decry as cultural appropriation. Silversun is also one of the only places in Sol Alliance where Yincheng reishi is officially legal, though some planets (such as Venus) have decriminalised it.
Soikla (Soiklos niveus)
The Silversun soikla has some external similarities to the Arecaceae (palm) family. It is a large, flowering tree crowned with broad, flat leaves, with layers of porous bark from which buds will sprout during the flowering season. The inland soikla, however, has a far shallower root system than palms such as a coconut tree, and can be easily uprooted and planted elsewhere while keeping the tree intact. Rather than producing drupes, the soikla fruits from the buds on its trunk. Soikla fruit is cream and very pale green, with a pit in its centre - it has a crunchy texture and sweet, mild taste when ripe.
Politics and Government
While Silversun managed to remain cohesive and aligned with the Solarian Alliance during the chaotic period known as the Solarian Collapse its government is hardly the picture of functional governance. While nominally still under the control of popularly-elected Governor Andrew Clarke the military's dominance of the Alliance's emergency government has damaged Governor Clarke's ability to effectively govern Silversun. Governor Clarke's inability to effectively govern has seen him leaning more and more upon the Silversun Development Council for support in managing the day-to-day affairs of what the Alliance's military government is attempting to promote as a model Middle Ring colony. In theory the Council -- with oversight from the Governor -- works to create a better future on Silversun for both Originals and Expatriates while keeping the ever-present Solarian Navy pleased enough that they will not replace Silversun's governor with a naval officer, as they have with many other Middle Ring planets.
Unfortunately the Silversun Development Council is riddled with infighting between various factions on the planet. The most powerful faction in the Council is the pro-Idris Incorporated Tourism Development Group of Silversun. Made up of Expatriates and the occasional Original affiliated with Idris Incorporated, it is very clear to most that the Development Group is Idris' way of manipulating Silversun's politics to be friendly towards the megacorporation. The weaker faction in the Council is the anti-Idris Environmental and Cultural Preservation Group of Silversun. Primarily made up of Originals and the extremely rare Expatriate paid or convinced to support them, the Preservation Group is dedicated to fighting what seems to be a losing battle against the unquantifiable wealth of Idris Incorporated. But while they are losing the fight over Silversun the Preservation Group retains enough influence to dead-lock the Council if needed, which will undoubtedly lead to an even worse situation in the government.
And the man atop this dysfunctional organization, Governor Clarke himself, is simply attempting to ride it out and hold onto what power he has all while reporting on his government's success to the Alliance. Despite his well-known status an incompetent (and corrupt) official elected mostly due to the interference of Idris Incorporated in 2460's planetary elections and to stamp off on proposals by the megacorporation, the Governor understands that he must ensure the planet remains stable and attractive to the tourists that keep the local economy running. He also understands that if he does not preserve Silversun's status as the ideal vacation area of the entire Orion Spur, the rug will very quickly be pulled out from under him.
But those that will pull the rug out from under Governor Clarke are most likely not his exceedingly wealthy benefactors in Idris Incorporated. Instead an increasingly irate military-dominated Solarian Alliance has Silversun and its governor under an extremely watchful eye, simply waiting for Clarke to make a mistake severe enough to permit his removal without causing unrest on the planet itself. Many argue that the Solarian Navy's significantly larger presence in the Nova Gallia system, and particularly around the most populated planet in it: Silversun, is intended more to intimidate the local government than it is to protect against pirate or Stellar Corporate Conglomerate incursions.
Education
Most, if not all, of education on Silversun is run by the Sol Alliance. The planet has few centers of higher education due to its widespread tourism industry, with most universities being operated and staffed by descendants of the original colonists and focusing themselves upon the natural sciences due to the planet's bountiful biosphere. The Helios City Institute of Botanical Sciences (Coloquially referred to as the Heliodome due to its massive, dome-shaped greenhouse) is definitively the most famous institute of its kind in the Middle Ring, and is perhaps the most well-known in the entire Solarian Alliance. Researchers from it have found employment through human and even Skrell space, and the Institute boasts a decent population of non-human students due to Silversun's focus on tourism and the Institute's prestige.
As the Idris Incorporated presence on the planet has increased, so has its influence on the kinds of job training that a person may receive on the planet. In the city of Yincheng is the Yincheng Academy of Security Sciences and Criminology, an Idris-owned institution that aims to equip any attendee with the knowledge they might need to succeed in a high-level corporate security, law, or private military environment. Idris Incorporated is known for offering jobs to the top performing students right out of the academy, and for many is seen as a gateway into the world of Idris' security operations.
Culture and Demographics
There are two major cultural groups on Silversun, with a major divide running between them. These groups are the descendants of the original colonists called the Originals and the later settlers brought in by Idris called the Expatriates. The Originals tend to be more anti-Idris than the later Expatriates, which tend to be the result of corporate-sponsored settlements by Idris following the discovery of the planet's incredibly hospitable environment. This cultural wedge has been built over the course of decades - perhaps centuries - by Idris' efforts to develop the planet into a gigantic luxury resort and the efforts of many of its original colonists to become something more than a nature reserve for rich Solarians.
The Originals
As with many colonies of the Alliance, the settlers of Silversun were an eclectic group puled from across the Earth and unified by one thing: a mutual desire to leave humanity's decaying home behind and make a new, better life for themselves elsewhere. Many of the original settlers of Silversun were descended from the residents of areas lost to global-warming induced flooding and motivated to seek a new life elsewhere, signing up for the colonial mission in the 2250s that would see Silversun settled in 2253. The experience of watching Earth gradually fall apart and their homes sink beneath the waves instilled in these original settlers are conservationist tradition, and a desire to live alongside nature rather than conquer it. The original colonial settlements that have not yet been overtaken by Idris Incorporated, such as certain districts of Silverport preserved as tourist traps, demonstrate this commitment to living alongside nature: "green space" can be found throughout their urban spaces, and these spaces tend to naturally blend into the surrounding countryside rather than dominating it. The Originals, as they are now called following Idris' arrival, additionally became renowned for their agricultural and botanical research conducted on Silversun, with the Helios City Institute of Botanical Sciences becoming renowned throughout the Alliance and even well-known in the Nralakk Federation. Most Originals dedicated themselves to living in a self-sustaining manner, even if this ultimate did result in the planet being less wealthy than average. But despite their dedication to preserving the planet as it was forces far beyond the control of Silversun's Originals would see the arrival of Idris Incorporated in 2357 due to the planet's immense attractiveness as a vacation destination for the rich of the Alliance, and Idris' arrival would permanently and irreversibly shift the cultural climate and outlook of the Originals.
Watching their planet turn into a gigantic tourist trap for rich people from across the Orion Spur -- though most tourists are their fellow Solarians -- while being unable to do anything to prevent the transformation due to the immense wealth of Idris Incorporated compared to any singular non-Jewel World planet in the Alliance has made cynics out of many of the Originals. It has, furthermore, caused the community of Originals to fracture along the fault line that is Idris Incorporated: some believe that the megacorporation must be fought no matter what, while others believe that it is better to instead work with the megacorporation in the hope that Idris will come to appreciate the planet's natural beauty more with native colonists of it in its company. The relationship between anti-Idris Originals and the Expatriates -- the settlers brought by Idris Incorporated and their descendants -- are horrific at best, though not on the level of breaking into open violence. Protests against further expansion by Idris Incorporated are common -- though futile, due to the immense power wielded by the megacorporation -- and an active effort is being made by most Originals to hang onto their distinctive cultural background that existed prior to Idris' arrival on the planet. To most outside observers it is clear that the Originals are fighting a losing battle against Idris Incorporated, with the megacorporation having retained its power over Silversun despite Originals having poured support into the anti-corporate Industrial Reclamation Mandate of 2463. But despite the battle being a losing one, many Originals believe it one worth fighting.
But many more have simply seen the writing on the teal wall, and have left their second home to once again seek a better life. While many go abroad in search of better employment -- such as botanical research positions -- some simply go abroad due to Idris' hold on the planet being unbearably tight, and utterly unbreakable. While the Originals' diaspora is small they can be found throughout the Alliance and beyond, often championing their cause of closer and better relations with the natural ecosystem of their planets.
The Expatriates
The so-called Expatriates of Silversun are a wealthy and influential minority on the colony closely and intrinsically tied to Idris Incorporated, which the overwhelming majority of Expatriates still work for today. The first Expatriates had a diverse background, originating from across the Solarian Alliance, but were -- and remain -- unified by their association with Idris Incorporated. The Expatriates are, as a rule, generally wealthier than their native counterparts due to affiliation with Idris and less inclined to care as much for Silversun's natural ecosystem. Expatriates often live in their own communities free of Originals that have security provided by Idris' in-house security forces, and spend much of their time not interacting with the "upstart and uncooperative" natives of the planet. The culture of the Expatriates on Silversun is closely wedded to Idris Incorporated itself, due to the megacorporation sponsoring Expatriate settlements on the planet. Silversun is considered to be a very pleasant posting by Idris Incorporated employees -- even its security personnel responsible for "containing" protests by Originals that stray too close to Idris property (which in some areas can be the majority of a city) -- and many lower-ranking employees constantly vying for a position on the planet. Expatriates are often considered to be some of the best employees Idris has to offer due to their extreme loyalty to the megacorporation, and many Expatriate families have worked for Idris for upwards of three generations.
Despite not being the original settlers of the planet the Expatriates consider themselves to be just as Silversunian as their native counterparts, and are proud of the home they have created for themselves and their megacorporation. They -- not the Originals -- have turned Silversun from an utterly irrelevant backwater focused upon analyzing plants and animals to the premier tourism destination for the Solarian Alliance, if not the Orion Spur. With tourists coming to Silversun from as far afield as the Nralakk Federation and Coalition of Colonies the success of the Expatriates is clearly seen by everybody on the planet more concerned with people than plant life, and they are riding high on a level of success that even the Alliance's (to the Expatriates, misguided) Industrial Reclamation Mandate of 2463 could not even put a damper on. However the relationship between the Expatriates and the Originals on Silversun are increasingly hostile, though not quite on the level of open violence, and have worsened in recent years. Success often breeds jealousy, after all, and the Expatriates of Silversun are nothing if not successful. They, and Idris Incorporated, are clearly in the more favorable position to win the political war over Silversun despite the dogged -- and perhaps futile -- resistance of the Originals and an increasingly anti-corporate Alliance. To the Expatriates, preserving success is something worth rolling up their teal sleeves and fighting for.
Expatriates found abroad are often Idris Incorporated employees (temporarily) assigned to off-world facilities in order to promote the megacorporation's many interests abroad and typically retain a strong connection to Silversun itself, typically through familial ties. The "diaspora" of Silversun's Expatriates is truly inseparable from Idris Incorporated, and very few are found abroad without some connection to the megacorporation. As Silversunners are often regarded as some of the best (and most loyal) employees of Idris Incorporated they often find themselves assigned to important postings for Idris, such as in cross-corporation contracting positions.
Positronics
The overwhelming majority of IPC frames found on Silversun are owned by Idris Incorporated or one of its affiliates, with Expatriate families often leasing out (or being rewarded with) an IPC from the megacorporation. While Idris maintains a significant presence of security IPCs, such as IRUs and ISUs, on the planet most IPCs on Silversun can be found in the planet's service or tourism sector and most tend to be higher-end models such as Bishop or shell frames, in order to achieve Idris Incorporated's famously high quality in all things. Even the positronics of Silversun have managed to become a point of conflict between the Expatriates and Originals due to the manner in which Idris' shells utilized on Silversun are designed: they are build resembling the native population of the planet and are programmed with the accent common to Originals in order to give tourists the "authentic Silversun experience" in Idris' resorts, which primarily tend to draw their employees from the Expatriate community. While the construction of these positronics is point of protest for many Originals it remains likely that Idris will stay its course due to high profits from its "authentically-staffed" resorts.
Fashion
Silversun fashion is, like much on the planet, a point of contention between the Originals and Expatriates in addition to being a massive source of profit for Idris Incorporated. The fashion of the Originals according to the Originals themselves is generally full of muted, earthen tones and designed to be very breathable in order to both encourage sustainability and function well in the warm, humid coastal environments that dominate Silversun. The fashion of the Originals according to the Expatriates is full of flashy, attractive colors that draw the eye of off-world customers and tourists alike. The best example of this is easily the extremely successful line of Silversun fashion from Le Soleil Royal, Idris' major fashion subsidiary, such as floral print Silversun shirts. Despite protests from Originals that their culture is being hijacked and morphed for profit, Idris' Silversun fashion lines continue to bring in massive profits for the megacorporation.
Major Holidays
The most famous (and most controversial) holiday on Silversun is the Festival of the Silver Seas, which is celebrated every year on the 9th of April. The Festival of the Silver Seas is (allegedly) a celebration both of the day that the firsts colonists made landfall on the planet and of their dedication to preserving the planet's unique ecosystem for future generations to enjoy that brings together both Expatriate and Original in a celebration of everything that makes Silversun a beautiful and great planet. In reality it is an extremely disingenuous corporate attempt to co-opt native culture in order to promote tourism to Silversun that has only continued due to Idris Incorporated's feverent promotion of it. While many view the holiday as nothing more than a chance to become exceedingly drunk and wake up in a dumpster (or worse) on the 10th of April the native population of the planet often stages their largest anti-Idris protests on or near the Festival, and tensions are typically highest on the planet during the week of the Festival of the Silver Seas. Idris Incorporated security personnel on Silversun are generally placed on high alert during the period surrounding the Festival, which they typically refer to as the "Week from Hell."
Notable Settlements
Silversun has a bevy of settlements spread across its various islands, ranging from pre-planned towns housing five-star resorts and hundreds of thousands of expats to the sleepier, less frequented smaller towns mostly dominated by Native Silversunners. While the types of settlements may vary some, those listed below are the most notable of all of Silversun's cities and towns, and would be known to almost every Silversunner, if only by name. Each of the cities below has its own culture that that most of its inhabitants are proud of and try to represent, if only because it is encouraged by Idris Incorporated in most cases due to it making the monetizing of those very cultures easier.
Helios City
Located near Silversun’s equator, Helios City is the capital of Silversun, its largest port, and the central hub for its economy. The city was founded originally in 2253 as Helios Base One, the first base on the planet where colonization was organized from on the lush tropical world. Spearheaded by American capital and interests, the city soon grew to be the most important in the newly colonised world, a position which it has more or less maintained throughout the planet’s history to the present day. Helios City is the home to nearly one-third of all of Silversun’s population and is a massive, sprawling megalopolis that has grown from its humble beginnings to encompass six islands, each of which are connected to one another by colossal Idris-funded and Hephaestus-made railroad and motorway bridges that stand high above the waves of Silversun’s crystal blue oceans. The largest of these islands, Apollo Island, is closed to the general public and is home to the Apollo Solar Array, the largest solar power plant in the Orion Spur. It covers most of the entire 250,000 square kilometres of the island it sits on with solar panels or other energy infrastructure like windmills that generate enough electricity to comfortably power most of Silversun, though smaller, more local solar arrays can be found all over Silversun. Though built by Einstein Engines, it is now owned by Idris Incorporated who contract its maintenance out to Hephaestus Industries and run tours for those interested in seeing the spectacle.
Helios City is the financial center for Silversun as well and is the headquarters for Idris Incorporated’s operations on Silversun and within the Sol Alliance at large. It houses the Idris-owned real estate firms which make much of the planet’s economy turn, has the third-largest stock exchange in the Sol Alliance after Callisto and Luna, and has the second-busiest passenger port in the country after Callisto’s. It is home to some of the best night clubs on the planet and arguably within the Orion Spur, and has a bustling entertainment industry that often sees headlining acts from all over space perform for crowds of hundreds of thousands. Most, if not all of the main resorts of the planet can be reached through Helios City’s rail lines, shuttle ports, or for the more aquatically inclined, ferry and cruise ports. Many who live here have no connection to Silversun, and are mostly expatriates or second-generation immigrants who have affiliations with Idris Incorporated or are simply looking to make a new life on the planet of Sunshine in its ever growing and ever bustling economy and job market. It is the largest megapolitan area in the Solarian Middle Colonies outside of New Hai Phong.
Yincheng
Settled shortly after Helios City by a Chinese expedition, Yincheng or “Silver City,” as it is sometimes called was established on the largest island on Silversun in hopes of making use of what the colonists originally perceived as a wealth of minerals, the foremost of which were Silver, Lithium, and Gallium. As news of this discovery spread, hundreds of thousands from all over the Sol Alliance flocked to the city in hopes of striking it rich. While many failed in their endeavors, the ensuing influx of people turned Yincheng into the richest and most populated city on Silversun for a few decades. While the minerals are either entirely depleted or sitting at levels that are economically unviable, their presence allowed for Yincheng to become the home of a large technology and manufacturing sector that cemented its status as one of the most important cities on the planet. Like many other cities on Silversun, Yincheng has a large Idris Incorporated presence which has bought out much of the area’s technology and research industry for their own purposes. Despite this or perhaps even because of it as Idris moves more employees to Silversun, Yincheng maintains its identity as a city built by an influx of new people from anywhere looking to make it big. Most of Idris’ most innovative technologies and products in recent memory were invented in Yincheng, ranging from the coding and interface development of Holo-Dive, the algorithms which make Chirper function, to the latest models of ISU’s and Idris security software.
Due to its tech industry, Yincheng also houses many security operations ran by Idris, with numerous information and data centers in the area along with some IRU and ISU maintenance and assembly plants. Even though Helios City has the largest port on Silversun, Yincheng hosts the planet’s Idris-sponsored planetary defense force and its modest flotilla. A premier security education institution, the Idris-Owned Yincheng Academy of Security Sciences and Criminology, is located here and attracts many from all over Silversun as well as from throughout the Sol Alliance who hope to score a job with Idris Incorporated's security division. The mining pits of Yincheng’s past mining operations now serve as tourist attractions monetizing the history of the city and areas where holidaymakers can go on underground guided excursions through the subterranean network of the old mining tunnels.
New Yogyakarta
New Yogyakarta is the third largest city on Silversun and the last major city which many consider to be the truly “native,” on Silversun. Settled shortly after Helios City had proven that a colony was sustainable on the planet, New Yogyakarta was the result of a joint Indonesian-Japanese effort that aimed to create a city that could serve as a home base for future colonization efforts in the Middle Rim. Because of this, a strong manufacturing base was built up in the city along with off-shore mining operations that hoped to see New Yogyakarta turn into the workshop of the Middle Colonies and industrial hub of Silversun. These hopes were soon dashed however as it became increasingly clear that New Hai Phong, not Silversun would become the industrial powerhouse of the Middle Colonies. New Yogyakarta saw this writing on the wall and instead embarked on a program of wholesale diversification, specializing into not just manufacturing, but the services industry, hydroelectric energy production, and biomedicine, all with ties to Einstein Engines rather than Idris Incorporated as an act of defiance against the company which the city saw as trying to erase the native culture of Silversun. To this day, New Yogyakarta is one of the only places on the planet where an Idris presence cannot be found, is thought by many to be the final vestige of true “Silversun,” culture and is where the majority anti-Idris activists and protestors on Silversun live. As the company’s hold on the planet has only grown stronger, many Native Silversunners have moved to New Yogyakarta to better be with people they see as like themselves, though Natives can still be found the planet over. This has not stopped Idris from trying to gain sway in the city by either trying to buy out Einstein Engines owned enterprises there, running public smear campaigns against those who want to keep the company out, or bribing those in the city government or police forces to take a more Idris-friendly stance. Despite these efforts though, New Yogyakarta is staunchly in opposition to Idris Incorporated, something that has only entrenched itself further after Einstein Engines found itself as the largest company in the Orion Spur following the start of the current phoron scarcity. The vast majority of New Yogyakarta’s population are Silversun Natives rather than Expats.
Toowoomba-Tauranga
Toowoomba-Tauranga, often called “The T-Twins” or “T-T,” by locals is the fourth largest city on the planet of Silversun. It was established shortly after the colonization of Yincheng had begun on two close islands, Toowoomba Island and Tauranga island, by a joint Australia-New Zealand colonization initiative with support from the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations. In contrast to most other places on Silversun, Toowoomba-Tauranga does not experience a tropical climate due to its far-southern position on the planet, nearly within the antarctic circle. It is one of the few cities on Silversun where winter is noticeable, with snowfall is a normal occurrence throughout half of the year. The reasoning for its location was similar to that of Yincheng’s, in that the original colonists were hoping to extract natural resources from the local area, but instead of precious metals they were after Helium-3 and natural gas beneath the seabed surrounding the island. These predictions however let the city down, as soon after extraction operations began the deposits were discovered to be drastically smaller than originally thought by the colonists, a predicament that threatened to throw the survival of the T-Twins into jeopardy. Noticing that much of the planet was heavily catering to the growing Silversunner tourist industry but having no tropical vistas of their own to draw tourists, government of T-T partnered with Idris Incorporated to establish casinos and even terraform part of the already mountainous Tauranga Island into a ski resort with Hephaestus Industries, so that the city could better attract outsiders and their money.
In the modern day, Toowoomba-Tauranga is unrivalled in its gaming industry on Silversun and boasts some of the largest and most expensive casino resorts in the Orion Spur, the most well known being the Silver Snow Palace on Toowoomba Island. Additionally, the city is host to the Tauranga Winter Resort, the largest and only resort of its kind on Silversun which hosts the annual Idris Permafrost Exhibition, a massive sporting event sponsored by Idris Incorporated that attracts athletes and teams from all over the Orion Spur with hopes of winning huge cash prizes and prestige for their excellence in winter sports. Aside from the resort and casinos however, much of the T-T economy and culture is free from Idris influence as the location and culture of the cities themselves is not seen as easy to monetize as Helios City or Yincheng. For that reason, most of those who live in the “Winter Wonderland of Silversun,” are Silversun Natives rather than Expats.
Mulobi-Mbisi
Mulobi-Mbisi is an old town that has been transformed into an entirely new project that Idris Incorporated is attempting to bring into being on Silversun. Mulobi-Mbisi was officially founded relatively long after the initial colonisation of Silversun as a small fishing town a few hours flight away from Helios City on a large volcanic atoll. Its founders were mostly immigrants from Central and East Africa who were looking to find a better life for themselves on the beautiful and unpolluted world of Silversun, as Earth was still in the process of climate-change reversal. Over the years it grew to have a modest population of nearly one-hundred-thousand people that made a poor living off of fishing and water desalination plants. This all changed about a decade ago when Idris Incorporated brought a proposal to the city government: they wanted to buy the entire city. To the company, the small podunk town’s location on a beautiful and large volcanic atoll made perfect business sense as a location from where they could build the largest resort the planet, and the Orion Spur, had ever seen. The town’s residents, who were only getting by in many cases or were otherwise unemployed, voted in favor of this proposal after Idris promised a cash pay-out for all residents in the town of ten-thousand credits which many residents used to move elsewhere and leave the small town behind. In 2454, Mulobi-Mbisi became ground zero for Idris’ largest construction project to date. Of course though, this resulted in the homes and businesses of many of the natives who stayed being bought and then demolished to make way for Idris’ exploits. Though still under construction, the Sunshine Ring Oceanside Resort is expected to be a city-sized tourist attraction dotting the various islands inside the borders of Mulobi-Mbisi connected by bridges that connect the islands together in a ring-shaped circle. Initial construction off the first leg of the resort is expected to be completed in 2466, though tourist and land development in the area is foreseen to stretch on even into the next century. Mulobi-Mbisi’s population is made up almost entirely of Silversun expats or immigrants who have come to the town to work on the ambitious Sunshine Ring project and it is currently the fastest growing city on Silversun as more people both from Silversun as well as off-world buy up timeshares or condominiums in the city, most often before the buildings are even finished. Recently, the company has proposed renaming the city to “Sunshine City,” in support of their new project, a proposal which is by nearly all measures expected to succeed. Many Silversun Natives who oppose Idris’ continued expansion on Silversun and transformation of the planet’s people and landscapes cite Mulobi-Mbisi as both an example or even a reason all on its own for why the company needs to be stopped.