¶ Venus
| Toxic Pressure Cooker |
| Ecological Tourist Attraction |
A world of acidic clouds and oppressive atmospheric pressure, Venus nonetheless represents one of transhumanity’s best hopes of rebuilding in the solar system. While a high number of Consortium interests are still involved above and around Venus, the majority of aerostats successfully voted to become an independent government of city states known as the Morningstar Constellation in AF6. Venus is now considered one of the premier tourist destinations of the inner system as fractious politics mingle with various cutting-edge terraforming efforts and socio-economic experiments.
¶ Venusian Orbit
¶ Gerlach
| Aging Indie Hab |
| Gateway to Venus |
Gerlach is a typical cylindrical O’Neil habitat 1 km in diameter and 4 km long. Gerlach has a population of 120,000 and acts as the major Venusian spaceport planetside. It is also the oldest inhabitat located on or around Venus. Initially constructed to conduct resuarch on the Venusian atmosphere and act as a staging ground for additional habitats, Gerlach station’s interior is occupied by several enormous, pyramidal arcologies, each 250m high by 900m wide. Studded between these arcologies are dozens of small bioreserves originating from Earth. Gerlach took in a huge influx of infugees from the Fall, and voted for independence along with most Venusian aerostats ~6AF. However, the population of Gerlach, more aligned with autonomist interests and frustrated with The Morningstar Constellation’s seeming unwillingness to fully part ways with the Consortium, determined to remain independent from both. The station now serves as both a relic of and a challenge to the older, more traditional views of the inner system. Of note, Gerlach station includes an entire arcology known as “Little Extropia,” which is considered an outpost for the Extropian way of life.
¶ Venusian Aerostats
¶ Octavia
| Castle in the Sky |
| Galactic Tourist Trap |
The political capital of the Morningstar Constellation and most successful of the Venusian aerostats. The United Division’s main stomping ground during The Venusian Job.
¶ Upper Docking
The primary port, arranged along 4 outward jutting spars projecting from the aerostat proper. A mix of exotic shipping and tourist transport, fanciful transport such as airships and baloons are often docked alongside more spaceworthy vessels and ionic jetcraft for faster inter-aerostat travel. Some extreme atmospheric diving vessels are available, as is access to the Cloud Diving nets. Home of the Venus Flies Trap, a last-minute attempt by mid-range ferriers to sell overpriced breather masks to those suddenly in need.
¶ Hospitality District/ The Rim
The outer rim residential district that crops up around the docking spars, usually for those travelling business class or better. Some of the finest views and resorts are found in the hospitality district, with a price to match. The only publicly-known access point to the Star Council’s Diplomatic Corps. Offices, run by an AGI known as Rathenberg.
¶ Lantern District
The greatest tourist trap on Venus. The Lantern District is home to all manner of kitsch products and services as well as high quality fine dining. While it does not cater to a middle class, you’re just as likely to run into the glitterati here as you are to have something stolen. It’s the ideal melting pot, or a great place to lose yourself, just make sure to filter your ad feeds. Home to local legend John Imwata and his namesake food stand-turned-bodega.
¶ The Sky Chapel
The public park where all Venusian citizens are welcome, and where the aerially-inclined frolic. Like the rest of the hab, 0-5m is a no-flight zone, 5-10m is AR-assisted traffic. But for the rest of the ceiling going upwards of 30m, unrestricted aerobatics ensue. The primary location for significant occasions, including the Stratos Convention, Morningstar Day, and Fall Day.
¶ The Heights
The personal quarters and diplomatic chambers of the Star Council, the ruling body of the Morningstar Constellation. Also where the Mayor Halis Sapien’s offices are located. The Heights include a number of embassies for the larger political factions and corporations of the inner system, and to a lesser degree those of the outer system. Strong security presence, for obvious reasons.
¶ The Progress District
The beating heart of various terraforming, ecological, and genehacking research on Venus. This is the district where progress is made. Home to both Nimbus Corporation’s base of operations as well as the Neo-Synergist research collective. Finally, the home of Morningstar University (Go Muons!), a mixed rep/cred place of learning where any resident of 1 month or longer is free to take lower level classes and must pay for more specialzied courses.
¶ Central Command
Central Command is part of Octavia’s original seed ship, which descended as a temporary platform prior to the fall, and which has been built around to the point it is cocooned solidly within the rest of the aerostat. Built of space-resilient materials and fortified construction, probably the most secure place on the station. Central Command houses the navigational, maintenance, and security forces that keep the hab floating. Commander Magnus Goddard stands at the helm and answers only to the Mayor’s Office and the Star Council. Habsec is run by several Chiefs, with the most colorful among them being DCI Francis of Criminal Investigations.
¶ Lower Docking
Primarily a shipping yard for automated haulers and the occasional local transport. Not flashy, but gets the job done, and better for arriving unnoticed, or at least less noticed. Customs handles inspections and checks, and acts as a technically separate security force handling Lower docking and everything below. Think the difference between TSA and the Military Police. Also home to notorious Slim Jim’s EasyRider Flier Rentals.
¶ The Spine & Tether
A crucial and well-secured area of Octavia. The spine houses the anchoring tethers which allow for various short to mid-term mining operations and scientific expeditions at the Venusian surface. A lifeline that acts to assist Central Command in maintaining proper bouyancy, pitch, yaw, etc. More critically, it includes the resource hauler platforms, elevators, sifters, and manufactories which allow Octavia to remain mostly independent in the event of trade embargos, seiges, or various other isolating events.
¶ Parvarti
| Speakeasy Pleasure Hab |
| Neutral Territory for Rent |
Parvarti aerostat is one of only two independent habs on Venus, making it a flashpoint for local politics and a hotbed of intrigue. It has a reputation for providing efficient and discrete services for seedier interests. For people in the know, various gray and black market agents provide darker services. It is part whorehouse, part non-stop bacchanal, and part shady speakeasy. Just about any deviance and permutations of sexual services you can imagine are available, and private spaces (small and large) can be rented for special occasions, no questions asked, on short notice.
¶ Shiva Tower
Invite only. If you have to ask, you’re not on the list. No negotiation. Home base of the brutal but precise mercenary outfit: Taurus Security. Taurus keep a tight lid on their activity their, but it is presumed to be their rank and file barracks and logistics center. Others may live there but they are not public about such things. Locals wildly speculate on if it’s the home to the anonymous Board whom run the station from the shadows, but no one really knows.
¶ Rajni Tower
Residential ward of some of the upperclass and predominantly for long-term stays. Practically a gated community for the underworld. The roost for Blackvein, the Third-Party Infobroker of Parvarti.
¶ Ganesh Platform
Like the other platforms, Ganesh Platform (or ‘plate’) is home to mixed business and short-term residential districts. The United Division staged an anti-trust assassination and false flag operation at one of the Night Cartel’s establishments to ensure they continued a rivalry with the local Shui Fong Triad. Ganesh is also home to the locally famous “Snake Pit,” a cat cafe except with snakes, slitheroids, terminal access, and catering exclusively to synths. The narcoalgorithms are singular, and the service is top-notch at an affordable price.
¶ Local Organizations and Corps
These groups predominantly operate on Venus or for specific Venusian interests. Their impact and power is severely limited elsewhere in the system, but individuals within these groups may have farther reaching connections.
¶ The Star Council
| New Government on the Bloc |
The central governing body of the Morningstar Constellation, The Star Council is made up of representatives per 100K population of all affiliated habitats. Morningstar habs agree to basic tenets of mutual aid, a mixed rep/cred economy with significantly more social safety nets than the PC, and individual self-determination. The council meets on Octavia to make decisions that affect all habitats and to handle disputes between the slowly growing number of aerostats in Venus’ skies. Nearly all official council business is publicly viewable on the mesh in real-time, resulting in a highly transparent if somewhat slower decision-making process. The first elected head of the council is Councilor Arisa, of Octavia, who has held this office over the past few years through yearly council votes.
¶ The Solid Ground Initiative
| Blatant Astroturfing |
| Taking the Selfish Long View |
The SGI is a conservative political faction on Venus that espouses the long term benefits of terraforming the planet into a new Earth, similar to the efforts on Mars. It is broadly believed to be an astroturfing campaign by the Planetary Consortium to destabilize the Morningstar Constellation’s founding purpose, the Aerial Terraforming Initiative. However, it includes among its ranks a small but growing number of researchers disenchanted with or disenfranchised by the recent secession of Venus from the PC. The party line is that terraforming the surface will take longer but yield 10x the living space for transhumanity than an aerial ecology would. What they don’t advertise is that it is estimated to take 300-500 years to reach this dream, and that it would require the creation of both a planetary sun-shade and the detonation of several antimatter bombs within the Venusian atmosphere. Local representative is one Sergio Ricci.
¶ The Venusian Tranformation Party
| Political Engine of The Constellation |
| Radicals and Realists |
The VTP represent the progressive faction on Venus. A large political tent that includes moderate researchers who see the practical value in getting another planetary body up and running as soon as possible as well as more fringe-view sociopolitical opportunists looking to break completely away from the PC and become a forward outpost for the interests of the outer system. A fractious, if dominant presence within the Morningstar Constellation which grew out of the early Aerial Terraforming Initiative. The friction between the VTP and SGI exists partly because of the SGI’s PC backing, and partly because the process for surface terraforming and aerial terraforming are mutually exclusive.
¶ Nimbus Corporation
| Big Fish Hypercorp |
| Communication Is Our Specialty! |
| A Halfstep Ahead of the Competition |
One of the few PC hypercorps to support the Morningstar Constellation when it voted for independence, having since moved their flagship research department to Octavia. Nimbus primarily works in communications tech and is ubiquitous throughout the system. If you’ve used a farcaster or radio booster, there’s a good chance it was a Nimbus model. Known only to Firewall and a few key Morningstar public officials, Nimbus has made some form of past contact with the alien race known as the Factors. More recently, they’ve contracted with the Neo-Synergists to develop the HyperMesh Project.
¶ The Neo-Synergists
| Parallel Processing State |
| Under New Management |
A progressive co-op in more than one sense, Synergistics was co-founded by Aurelia Montgomery and Rio Bautista. The company currently numbers 43 and only accepts highly qualified applicants willing to undergo an experimental procedure augmenting a biomorph for the purpose of creating a Parallel Processing State. While mocked or looked at with suspicion by some, Synergistics has proven to be upstanding and productive, if quirky in it’s membership. Voluntary ego examination of its members has repeatedly confirmed that they fall solidly within transhuman standards. Since they began recruiting in 8AF, no person who has joined has left. Members report a significant boost to self-esteem, sense of purpose, and empathy, not to mention near-instantaneous emotional support and assistance from a number of experts across a wide swath of fields. Although they mostly act as subcontractors or consultants to support other corporations, they recently contracted with Nimbus to work on the HyperMesh Project. At the most recent Stratos Convention, The United Division uncovered a secret hidden by their leadership which may have endangered the collective and the hab at large. Since the events of The Venusian Job, the colelctive agreed to a change in leadership, was freed from their Nimbus contract, and offered a job in the Diplomat’s Corp to work as liasaons with the new Factor Embassy near the nothern polar zone.
¶ Markov’s Hide
| Low Profile Smugglers |
| Sky Pirates |
Little is known about Markov’s Hide beyond that it is a smuggler’s hab floating somewhere in the Venusian acid haze. Markov’s Men take extra pains to not get too greedy as they typically hit cargo vessels during storms or when they approach acid clouds. In this way, the loss can be attributed to Venus’ all-too-common dangerous weather patterns. Apparently someone tipped them off to the HyperMesh prototype, and the price was right.
¶ Taurus Security
| Mercenary Peace-Keepers |
| Brutal but Honorable |
Taurus Security is an independent mini-corp with a reputation for fulfilling contracts to the letter. Taurus does not disclose the details of its patrons, but its base of operations and logistics is run out of Shiva Tower on Parvarti, and they are presumed to be working for the interests of the hab’s elusive Board. Since Parvarti declared independence in AF6, Taurus has patrolled its skies and corridors with lethal and impartial efficiency. They don’t take sides with gangs or crime syndicates, and their members have free reign of most of the aerostat. When firefights and serious armed conflicts spill outside their private venues, they don’t give warnings and they don’t look for apologies. On the other hand, they let pretty much any other illegal or immoral activity slide, so long as everyone is being discrete.