The Bellatrix System, Under the Stewardship of the 5 and 7,
Beholden to the Grand Sovereign of House Orion
Government Form:
Federal Semi-Constitutional Monarchy
Population: ~5 Billion
What is humanity?: House Orion’s scholars define humanity as Ensouled animals, unique in their capacity for politics, reason, and creativity. All other animals are merely at the disposition of their organs. But in truth; only one thing is known about Humanity, and that is their capacity for change. In civilization, man is as divine as old God, who judges and creates; he is clothed in finery, and enjoys literature, art, company, and purpose. When left alone in the savage wilderness of nature, Man comports himself accordingly
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Planet/System Name and Description: The Bellatrix System holds 2 great Gas giants in its grasp, Poseidon and Euryale. Poseidon is the larger of the two, with faint icy rings in between it's shepherd moons. In its orbit rides Laertes, Lemnos and Artemedia. Euryale, with its great horde of uninhabited moons rich with mineral wealth, holds Thalassos and Aeson.
Demographics: Populations of the separate moons are, in some aspects, radically different from one another. Genetic evolution and ‘drift’ has affected almost every moon, bringing the mass of humanity that lives there closer to being adapted to the environment. The original stock of colonists come from Greek, North African and Korean populations, intermixing between these populations has made differences between them rare. Religious affiliations with the central Church of Jesus Christ is somewhat rare, yet folk-religion is commonly practised. Cybernetics, Sentient Xeno-Life, and cloning are all unheard of, though gene-modification is an emerging technology and the system has a bloody history of eugenics.
History: From the perspective of Earth: The Bellatrix system was a failed investment. The brainchild of a cancer-ridden multi billionaire burnt up in the tumult of late-terran economics and mismanagement. When the firm overseeing the preliminary terraforming and prospecting went under, most of the dying homeworld merely shrugged, and went about their own business.
That was, until people got desperate enough. A coalition of like-minded Mid-level millionaires from Korea, the Middle east and Greece formed a central consortium to construct, launch and hopefully support an array of 12 colony ships heading to the half-terraformed Bellatrix system, and its haven moons.
Nobody knows what was going through the heads of those poor, desperate souls while they formulated this plan. It was highly illegal; the consortium had no legal colonial charter to justify their presence in the system. It was dangerous; with colony ships being pushed past safety checks and regulations with reckless abandon. But perhaps most importantly; it was their only chance.
12 launches rock the sun-caked deserts of Kazakhstan, as old soviet aerodromes are used to flee the Earth, packed with too many people, too little supplies, and too little hope.
7 arrive at the Bellatrix system with anything more than a procession of corpses.
From the perspective of those living in the Bellatrix system today, early history has a mythologised, fuzzy aspect to it. Earth is a mythical, far off land, only known in the vague oral histories passed on through those first tumultuous years, and inside the religious texts of the small Church of Jesus Christ. The first 80-100 years of History within the Bellatrix system is said to have a ‘hangover-like’ quality to it, and little in the way of written records remain.
What we can be sure of, is the birth of Adonis the Great, the Unifier, the Lawbringer, the Mother. The 4-fold Ruler Ruled over House Orion; a loose collection of family connections and hoarded technology allowing the fledgling royal house to dominate the moon of Learties. Establishing herself, 4-Fold Adonis turned her eyes to the sibling planets of the Bellatrix system, and over the next 30 years, brought together the furtive colonies into the System of 5 and 7, establishing herself and her own house as first among equals.
Over the next 390 years, House Orion has built the system of 5 and 7 into the grand design it holds today. Peace and prosperity abound, and while strife may exist in some corners of the system, by and large people live good lives. Humanity is safe; saved from its one-time destruction by the flight of their ancestors. It is now the duty of those within the Bellatrix system to live well, and carry the light of humanity across the uncaring void of space.
That is. Until the gate reopens.
Culture and Society: Culture within the Bellatrix System is varied, yet holds some core tenants. First among them is a strong sense of honor and stewardship spread among the noble classes; Those in positions of power must act as responsible leaders to their people first and foremost, doing what is in the best interests of their nation before all else. Short-sightedness, selfishness and a lust for personal gain are seen as the most horrid traits a leader can have.
Secondly; Art and culture hold very important places in the hearts of the upper classes and lower classes alike. Operas, Plays, Songs, Beautifully designed architecture and pristine natural environments all grip the heart of Bellatrix’s citizens. Where history is deficient, a corpus of literature, stage play and mythology step in, allowing those disconnected from their past to form a solid cultural identity. Arts are usually directly funded by Noble houses, providing viewing to the public at little to no cost. The use of these art pieces as propaganda is almost integral to their existence.
And Lastly; collectivism is common among lower classes, and higher classes to a lesser degree. Working within a greater whole towards a harmonious end is seen as the greatest calling. Biosphere management and terraforming are tasks that can take 10’s of thousands of people hundreds of years to complete, yet the people of 5 and 7 gladly take up their role in these grand tasks.
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Governance and Politics:
The governance of the Bellatrix system is split into 3 interconnected branches; The Judiciary, Executive and a bicameral legislative branch.
The Executive branch of government is synonymous with the noble house of Orion, Uniters of the Bellatrix system, and absolute monarchs of the 5 worlds. The Head of State is the Grand Duke of House Orion; a Hereditary position passed down through a system of Selective House Ultimogeniture. During their Reign, Grand Dukes will select an eligible young member of house Orion to serve as their designated Heir. Typically between the ages of 15 and 20, these designated heirs are groomed for rulership and trained incessantly.
Once a Designated Heir ‘ages out’ at 20, they are usually given an important role within the Executive branch, suited to their exemplary breeding and education. A new Heir between the ages of 15 and 20 is then selected. This system ensures that when a sitting Grand Duke dies, they are guaranteed to be succeeded by a young and well-trained member of their house, ready to serve the system as its sovereign for the rest of their long lifespan. Grand Dukes frequently live considerably longer lives than the common citizen, leading to a sense of monumentality when a Sovereign passes, and a sense of comfortable stability during the long spans of a sovereign's rule.
The Judiciary is the smallest branch of government, consisting of a series of 6 courts, one for each inhabited world of the Bellatrix system, with a 6th set aside for House Orion itself. High-Importance court cases will be sent first to Local, Federal and Planetary courts, before being sent to the Grand Duke themselves for the final word. In this realm, the Grand Duke’s word is law, but a law infrequently used, as Planetary courts can usually sort out such cases before they reach such a scale.
The Legislative branch, also called the Parliament of 5 and 7 has 2 houses;
The first, called the House of 5, consists of 10 representatives from each inhabited world within the Bellatix system. Each assigned member must be an influential non-noble natural-born citizen of the world they represent. Seats within the house are appointed by the Sitting Grand Duke, on the suggestion of the most senior member of that world’s delegation. Appointments are made for life, yet serve at the pleasure of the Grand Duke, and can be forced into retirement. (though this use of power is VERY rarely used, usually only to remove an MP who can no longer discharge their duties due to age, illness or some other. Reason. Some MP’s in the past have requested retirement from the Sitting Grand Duke for personal or professional reasons, though it is also somewhat rare.)
The Second, called the House of 7, consists of 10 representatives from the 7 noble houses. MP’s are once again appointed by the Sitting Grand Duke, but this time at the suggestion of the various Noble heads of the houses they represent. It is encouraged for MP’s to sit for life within their granted seats, but retirement of any given MP is dependent on the opinion of their House Head, and nothing else. Some highly factional Byronic houses have made habits of forcing their entire delegation into retirement upon the ascension of a new Baron, much to the Grand Dukes Dismay.
Both Houses of Parliament can Propose, Debate and Vote on legislation. Usually legislation is limited to System-wide issues, such as the collectively funded military, Large-scale infrastructure projects and terraforming endeavours, along with any inter-house or inter-world disputes. Governmental spending debates can take literal months of debate to pass.
Once passing a majority vote in either house of Parliament, the selected legislation is most often passed to the 2nd house where it is debated, edited and voted on. Then, it is presented to the Grand Duke for Royal ascension. That being said; Technically each house of Parliament has the authority to unilaterally present a bill for royal assent regardless of the opinion of the other house of Parliament. Bills presented in this way can be sent by the Grand Duke to the opposing house for voting, or receive royal assent just as any other bill. Bills past with only the consent of one house of Parliament are rare and often controversial.
A 3rd, even more controversial method of lawmaking is royal prerogative, where the Grand Duke can exercise their absolute power to pass legislation without the consent of either house of Parliament. This right has not been exercised since the founding of the System of 5 and 7 by the Grand unifier nearly 400 years ago. Its use would call into question nearly every aspect of political life within the Bellatrix system if not used very, very delicately.
Technology Overview: The worlds of the Bellatix system have a fairly robust academic base, with universities and full-time researchers not uncommon sights in House capitals. The most grand of these centers of learning lies on Lemnos, where the Polar University-City holds the learned caste of the planet. Research into Biosphere management and teriforming are at the forefront of study, along with agricultural sciences, genealogical study, medicine, chemistry and so on. It is said that those Biosphere engineers trained on Lemnos can control rainfall down to the millimetre, and atmospheric composition to the Part-per-million (These are exaggerated claims).
Space travel, especially for the purposes of cargo transport, has been iterated on by shipwrights and stellar engineers for generations, and is seen as a quite mundane aspect of daily life. Small, 3-man spacecraft zip through the void of Bellatrix, hauling food, industrial products and elsewise in the highly advanced and interconnected economy of the moons. Space travel for personal pleasure is common among the elite. For cost reasons, Grav-Plating isn’t considered ‘standard’ on most spacecraft, instead letting their crews develop their ‘space legs’ in zero g.
Genetic augmentation and variation through the Bellatix system is vast, to the point where most lunar populations have some sort of noticeable ‘mutation’ to help adapt them to the environment where they live. The Impressive cardiovascular strength of those born on Laertes and the full-suite of changes experienced by the population of Thalassos are the most notable changes. These adaptations have been brought on by a mix of eugenics, isolated populations and direct genetic augmentation. ‘Designer Children’, being individuals who have had their genetic code augmented and changed in-utero, are common among higher classes and noble houses.
Military Overview:
Conflict is rare among most inhabited worlds in the Bellatrix system. Most planets have quite small local police forces overseen by whatever authority most closely controls a certain region. Police forces are rarely militarised in any significant way, mostly employing low-tech and nonlethal solutions to conflict de-escalation and riot control.
It is the right of the ducal houses of the system to control military force, but militaries are limited in their size to avoid ‘needless spending’. Only House Orion holds the right to an ‘Unlimited’ Military force. Most of the 6 minor houses field small terrestrial armies of bodyguards, peacekeepers and unconventional warfare divisions (Mostly hackers, spies, drone specialists, ect.).
House Orion’s military is the only that routinely reaches into the stars on deployment; as the Craft Moon of Aeson is prone to worker revolts and armed conflict. To fulfil this, a small highly elite branch of genetically engineered Sovereign Cataphracts are used. Selected from a small number of insular populations, Cataphracts are trained from early adolescence for their role as the iron fist of the Grand Duke. Equipped with the most technologically sophisticated equipment, they are singular in their efficacy and effectiveness.
As for Spaceborn assets; House Orion is somewhat lacking. Mostly possessing troop-transports, a few support picket ships, and a singular ‘Flagship’ (mostly used as a diplomatic tool for touring the system instead of direct conflict).
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