Sol-3
Cradle of humanity and diplomatic heart of the Alliance
Planetary Survey
Earth is a volatile planet, frequently reshaped by catastrophe. The biosphere is the result of rapid expansion and adaptation by all forms of life in the brief grace periods between times of ecological disaster: the history of Earth’s inhabitants is one of trial, error, and change.
Earth’s surface is majority oceanic (~70%).
The landmasses and the seas are host to many overlapping biomes and a diverse range of lifeforms – the legacy of intense evolutionary differentiation in response to the planet’s instability.
Compared to other habitable zone planets and other planets in its star system, Earth is comparatively poor in the compounds and liminal metals used in voidcraft. Early forays into local spaceflight relied on a combination of chemical propellants and thermal propulsion to escape the atmosphere. Such methods are extremely inefficient compared to modern manifolds, but they reflect the stubborn – though short-sighted – ingenuity of early Anthropocene engineers.
Earth has one extant intelligent species: the human (Homo sapiens). Humans are bipedal tool-users with complex hierarchical structures. Early human societies relied on unsustainable resource extraction, facilitating their rapid development while putting extreme stress on the planet’s ecosphere. In spite of a pre-Alliance paradigm shift toward preservation, the planet is still scarred by this period.
Earth has one natural satellite (SOL-3.1, local name Luna): a relatively large planetary-mass moon, formed from an early collision between Earth and another protoplanet within its star system. Luna is too small for true terraforming, but self-sustaining arcologies have been established within the larger craters.
E/I/R
Economy
Earth has great economic significance, almost none of it having to do with the planet itself. Legal contracts within the Alliance are written and ratified on Earth.
Research
Earth is a hub of historical research and scientific study, with a key role in collating data from all over Alliance space. There is no active experimentation to speak of – the planet is too precious and the ecosystem too unstable for the kind of testing that is permitted on other worlds.
Industry
Earth has few natural resources and produces little by itself. It is an importer, taking Alliance goods in exchange for the administration it provides.
Demographic Review
Earth hosts embassies from each world and species within the Alliance. It is the homeworld of humanity and the majority of the population are human, but the auto-terraforming systems employed to keep Earth habitable at all have also made it uniquely comfortable for many other species.
Earth is the foremost diplomatic hub of the Alliance. The people of Earth were driven by impending disaster to work together as one, with the goal of mutual preservation overcoming their differences. This precedent of clear-minded co-operation has led them to their current role within the Alliance: no treaty is ratified, no negotiation held, no deal brokered, without the assistance of Earth’s bureaucrats.
Cultural Evaluation
Earth is a bright light that casts a long shadow. While its diplomatic corps smooth the edges of the Alliance, historians and analysts scour the history of Earth and its allies for pertinent lessons: learning from the mistakes of the past as they build the future. Earth celebrates difference, but disagreement and division are tempered before they pose a risk to the community as a whole: too much is at stake for pride to outweigh stability.
Earth is a planet in suspension, in a sense: a museum of itself, reliant on outside interests to protect and sustain it. Thousands of cultures have formed, flourished and collapsed over its lifespan, and the modern planetary monoculture is a diplomatic fiction. Earthlings keep their extant cultures alive through festivals, which range from planet-wide commemorations to spiritual rituals observed by only a few.
Cultures with less tolerance for paperwork perceive Earthlings as smooth-talkers and fence-sitters, overly focussed on procedure and rhetoric. It must be said that many of Earth’s finest are married to their jobs, but their long history gives them much to draw on – in the form of art, dance, food, music – whenever they do clock off.
Diplomatic Positioning
Earth maintains cordial relations with all members of the Alliance, leading to tensions when multiple member states are involved with disputes that Earth is mediating. Earth’s significance to the Alliance is at odds with that of frontier worlds like Sultonia or industrial powerhouses such as Marzion IX, who perceive the influence and protection enjoyed by Earth as excessive (relative to its contributions).