Terra Nova

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Terra Nova is a collection of orbital stations around the most Earth-like planet in Orion's Arm. While the planet itself has never been visited since the Plague, the orbital stations are centers of commerce, finance and culture. Along the Cassiopeian Corridor in The Midline, Terra Nova often act as a transfer point for many vessels traveling to and from Cygnus.

History

Terra Nova’s geological and cosmological features make it a near identical twin to Earth. For this reason, it was one of the first planets to be colonized after superluminal transit was perfected. But, unlike other planets which were settled by pioneers, corporations or governmental organizations, Terra Nova was developed by a consortium of academic institutions lead by Stanford, Osaka Bio Technical and the Bombay Institute. The consortium took great efforts to transplant as much of Earth ecology to Terra Nova and the institutions constructed numerous facilities to monitor the development of the planet in the absence of human intervention.

When a horrible ecological disaster on Earth caused by the transgenic fauna Yislia nearly destroyed Earth’s living system in the late 27th century, the Board on Science under the Conference for Common Standards & Practice banned any further biological engineering research on Earth and stepped up sterile homeostatic containment procedures. With Earth set aside as only a passive collection and observation zone for biological research, Terra Nova became the next best alternative to conduct experiments and hundreds of additional research facilities popped up around the planet by both academic and commercial firms.

Since most of the facilities had an orbital monitoring station, Terra Nova became a unique planet during the resettlement of Orion’s Arm. Converted to small cities, the numerous orbital stations helped make Terra Nova one of the most vibrant and independent trade planets in the galaxy. With its location near Earth and extensive orbital stations, it has become the hub of interstellar commerce and just about every member of the Commerce Plexus and numerous lords in the Syndicate has presence there.

Since each orbital station has a representative on its official legislative council, Terra Nova tends to favor populism and a number of leveler movements throughout the galaxy take inspiration from its political governance. However, in practice, a great deal of the consensus of the stations is maintained by the immortals who form the Circle of Fifteen. The immortals make sure that the commerce to which their fortunes are tied continues to flow unobstructed through the policies they steer through centuries of official policy.

Terra Nova has some of the strongest property rights and individual liberties of all planet-nations. But, maintaining its independence from the immortal ruled planet-nations around them has always been the highest priority for all its members. So Terra Nova also employs numerous diplomats and spies throughout Orion’s Arm and the constant intrigues threaten to destroy the rights of the population.

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