EMPIRE5! Worlds of Axiom

[DoomHat]

The Jackstar Free Union

Leadership:

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Current:
Grand Admiral Coldcase Tienlung [Rolls-Reroll]
Diplomacy 1
Military 4
Economy 3
Philosophy 2
Intrigue 4

Home Region: (The Carabas Constellation)

Terrain:

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(Cyrano System) A fairly unremarkable 7 planet system save for its habitable world, known to the locals as Varglan. The habitable belt of Varglan lies on its temperate equator, with frozen tundra regions taking up roughly a full third of the surface, extending from the poles.

(Ghrok System) Despite the unusual amount of vapor and ice rings orbiting this star, its system contains a life supporting planet. The planet Ohm has very little dry landmass, and an incredible density of highly cultivated sealife. Beneath the waves rules a large species of sentient nudibranch, living in vast shepherd coral reefs. A few vestigial remnants of their grand stellar remains, but for the most part, the Ohmin now remain sequestered in their little blue green homeworld.

(Jack Stars)In the common vernacular of space miners, a “Jackstar” is a system that contains no planets that are even candidates for terraforming, let alone habitation, but are nonetheless abundant in useful raw materials. The Carabas Constellation is abundant in jackstars, and nearly every one of them is orbited by a wide variety of enormous space habitats, orbital mining rigs and spaceborne refineries.

People:

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(Varglanders) The Planet Varg is dominated by a species that, while almost certainly human in origin, have undergone a significant amount of evolutionary diversion. Where a typical human's body degrades with age, the Varglanders never really stop growing. By middle age they begin taking on distinctly canine characteristics. As senility would normally begin setting in, instead their sapience begins slipping away from them. By age 80 or 90, most have become enormous wolf-like creatures, incapable of speech or abstract thought. By age 140 or so, they typically die of organ failure typical of unsustainable gigantism.

(The Exquisite) The mysterious and once highly imperialist natives of the planet Ohm. At the beginning of the great modern age of FTL travel, little is know of them, as little is seen or said of them any more.

The Jackstar Free Union:

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History
For over a thousand years, The Exquisite of Ohm ruled the Carabas Constellation with an iron pseudopod, and they still do. Technically, at least on paper. The elite Ohmite Patrician Guard started as a highly engaged occupation force, oppressing and managing the movements of a vast underclass of of mostly Varglander serfs. After generations without meaningful opposition, they eventually became little more then decadent fobs, passively collecting tribute from the safety their fortified pleasure palace.

As the imperial navy grew content and arrogant, its best minds turned from policing and cultivating the Jackstars of the stellar hinterlands, preferring instead the luxuries and amusements of planetary life. The billions living and working aboard jackstar space colonies eventually learned that the only thing they count on from the imperial navy as violence in retaliation for unpaid tribute.

Not only was the imperial navy lax in confronting pirate raiders outside habitable stars systems, they could no longer even be expected to provide any form of disaster relief, or fair arbitration of legal disputes. As time went by, the most successful jackstar pirates discovered they could make a better living patronizing the space stations in their reach, as defenders against other pirates. The larger the pirate gang, the more it could benefit the populations in their grip, winning their support, and increasing their material output.

The Pirates Age was fierce and lawless, but thankfully, it was finally brought to an end by The Jackstar Free Union. The JFU is a democratic federation of space station and ship crews unified in the name of fair enterprise and freedom from extortionist violence. While the brutal jackstar pirate gangs typically did all they could to eradicate or enslave their rivals, the JFU offered even their most bitter rivals an opportunity for reform and collaboration. The overwhelming majority of pirates subdued by the JFU were not conquered by tooth and claw, but open arms and fellowship.

The larger the Jackstar Free Union grew, the more it could benefit the populations in its membership, winning their support, and growing their economic livelihoods.

Eventually, the Free Union came into conflict with the Imperial Forces, but by that time, the JFU had massively outstripped the Imperial Navy in raw numbers, large scale combat experience, and weapon quality. As the imperials prepared for a brutal siege, they found themselves shocked by the JFU's sudden surrender.

The terms were simple, and eventually accepted. The Imperial Navy retains direct control over the immediate orbit of the two habitable worlds in the Carabas Constellation, while the JFU is commissioned by Imperial Charter as a privateer force for the protection of the empire's holdings across space. The JFU is also technically expected to uphold Imperial Law, however, the charter's wording allows them unilateral authority in how they choose to do so.

Organization Structure
(Crew)
Fellowship of arms. Main army and police force. Able to vote for Captains, Fleet Admirals, and the Grand Admiral at regularly scheduled referendums.

(Clients)
Ultra Platinum- Allowed to live on the surface of Ohm and Varglan. Afforded extraordinary luxury, but not allowed to operate any complex machinery on their own without Crew supervision.
Platinum- Owners of large corporations. Allowed to own large scale capital and intellectual property.
Gold- Small Business Owners. Allowed to own trademarks and copy right on specific works.
Silver- worker/citizen
Bronze- Clients who can't afford a higher tier of subscription are offered the opportunity to work off their dept without being labeled a Trespasser.
Guest Permit- Temporary Client status of one of the above tiers.

(Trespassers)
Violating protected space, unauthorized access to public subscriber utilities.

Resource: (High Fashion [Textiles-Great])

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Fashion is so wildly important in the Carbas Constellation that the wondrous overflow of precious metals and raw carbon found in the region’s many jackstars are all processed and prioritized toward elaborate and sublime personal fashion items.

The region wants for little, save for the extreme superstitiousness of the population.
[TP1- ](JFU)

[TP2- ] (None)

[TP3- ] (None)

(Arcana) resources are in constant demand.

Philosophy: (Aether Navigation)

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A system describing a variety of “natural laws” that govern the flow of “cosmic energies” by and through the spatial arrangement, shape, color pallet, and orientation of objects in relation to each other. For the practitioners of “Aether Nav”, the favorable or unfavorable effects of these energy flows are taken into account in the design and construction of everything from clothing to architecture, and even starship engines.

Learning Center- The Cross Roads (Aether Navigation)
A bizarre bazaar said to rest at the interception of 5 potent "galactic ley lines."