Amaranth Republic

The Amaranth Republic is a populous and industrious republic in the near-system, circling the desolate planet Ardjet. Amaranth makes heavy use of advanced fortification technology and observer ships but lacks decent military of its own, having spent several decades loaning its naval yards and industrial facilities to nearby polities to finance reconstruction in other areas.

History

The Amaranth Republic began its existence as a technocratic monastic state in a relatively secluded gas cloud, its members ultimately impassive to the whims of the outside world. The discovery of the twin moons of Mantegazzianus and Acanthochiton drew the attention of colonial interests, however, and eventually led to mass immigration of Terion miners and shipbuilders to establish large settlements there. Secular money from the trade of industrial goods proved to be enough of an incentive to allow these people to have a form of government separate from the religious roots of the order, although many of the immigrants adopted the pseudo-religious work ethic and inspired aesthetic of the Order's own constructions. As local space began to become heavily colonized, Amaranth grew to prominence as sellers of ships and weaponry uninvolved in overt warfare.

By the dawning of the high Belkar era, the Amaranth Order had become an accepted fact where the yellow-and-green was flown, its goods coveted and ships seen as far as the holdings in distant Isis and Nephtys. Trade with the outside world and increasingly large numbers of non-Order people within its borders eroded the cultural monolith of the Amaranth Order, but led to the creation of popular democratic government at the local levels and the creation of a military fleet to protect merchant assets.

When the empire finally collapsed after a succession crisis, Amaranth was left in uncertain terms. It scrambled its military in an attempt to retain control and found itself at the center of competing interests keen to use it to leverage themselves into power. Intent to keep the prize to himself, the Belkar dictator Dresslok pillaged the Order's coffers and seized the facilities fuel expansion rimward. His assassination ended many centuries of Belkar dominance over the small nation, but Amaranth was forced to take emergency measures to stay afloat and safe. The Order ceded authority to a military emergency council that then elected a merchant prince dictator to oversee emergency measures, and became belligerently neutral as it attempted to rein in civil unrest and pirate threats, waiting out the rest of the General War and holding together long enough to participate in the post-war reconstruction.

The rising Amaranth Republic has recently cut back on the harsh emergency measures put into place during the war and is having its second democratic elections since the abolishment of the military council ten years ago, but still sits on uncertain terms. Its military is pitifully small compared to its neighbors and almost entirely defensive in nature. Whether it will survive to assemble a military that will see it through the growing instability of the new era or collapse under the covetous gaze of its many neighbors remains yet to be seen.

Culture

Amaranth's culture is ascetic and deeply religious in nature, despite and possibly because of the face-value materialism that their gleaming tower cities would imply. Primarily composed of Terions with Apoion and other significant minorities emigrated from nearby countries, the nation is cosmopolitan and wealthy. People are nominally cared for by institution of public welfare and allowed spartan but comfortable housing conditions, while those members of mercantile guilds or monastic orders live in substantially better conditions.

Religiously, the Amaranth Doctrine espouses that people should live in simplicity and embrace only their best works and rewards earned through hard labor. This has heavily influenced their architecture and lent it a powerfully minimalist and ascetic aesthetic that favors soft shades of off-white with particular colors used to emphasize the proper emotions and mindset for a place, as well as their interior decorating. Subsequently, Amaranth have an excess of space and as little furniture and furnishing as possible, using only what they need or feel most attached to.

Their religion is not particularly superstitious, believing in a clockwork universe that operates on scientific principles, with the divine entity residing in the lofty principles that are truly inscrutable and all-shaping, such as quantum physics and unified field theory. Many members of the monastic orders are scientists and vice-versa, and time spent in religious seclusion is neither a lifelong commitment nor one that implies a stronger variety of asceticism than is the norm in Amaranth, with celibacy preferred but ultimately not enforced provided the acts do not attract negative attention to the monastic society.

Government

Amaranth is ruled by its third president and second democratically-elected leader, Nerea Del Bosque, and her Emergency Executive Council, with a chamber of legislature shared between the monastic orders and merchants and a forum for discussion by the common citizenry beneath them. Authority over individual territory is loosely split between old-style monastic cities that form a sizeable minority, mercantile-owned districts that are signed over to trade unions and governmental spaces that are managed directly by the national government.

Districts are largely accorded broad rights to protect traditional rights and freedoms as long as quotas are met, with those repeatedly failing production requirements going under supervision and forced management by overseers from the Republic's Emergency Financial Council, a holdover from the days of dictatorship two and a half decades ago, until it returns to normal parameters. Monastic districts are bothered less out of respect for the old Order even if its influence has waned significantly. Few in the Order actually genuinely desire to return to power, as the Republic has given them a renewed buffer against the outside world and currently respects traditional values.

Traits

Maginot Line
Amaranth's civil engineering is peerless in the inner system, something which has carried over strongly to its military methodology, which favors strong fortifications.

Zones

Points: 160
Industry: 440
Upkeep: 220
Materials

• Claria: 24
• Sakuradite: 2
• Adamant: 2
• Sildron: 2

Mantegazzianus

Mantegazzianus is a dense and populous planetoid sitting in a semi-habitable gas cloud which shares its name. Endless urban sprawl covers the planet and stretches far into the skies, the core hollowed out and filled with hundreds of miles of farmland. Despite the crowded nature of the cities, Mantegazzianian architecture has a practice of 'psychological insulation' that reduces the appearances of crowds and claustrophobia in public spaces with clever design, making them comfortable and attractive to live in in spite of this.

The impressive industrial facilities date back from the height of the old Corin dynasty, but have been continuously updated and upgraded with the passing of time.

• 1 Gas Cloud + 1 Planetoid
  • 4 Metropolis

Acanthochiton

Acanthochiton is Mantegazzianus' sister city and rests opposite the Graecizans highlands in another similarly habitable zone. The cities of Acanthochiton are often called the 'terrace cities' or 'garden cities', owing to the vast expanse of floating and fixed terraces that span across the surface of the planetoid, covered in abundant green spaces that have been cultivated for decades and in many cases, centuries.

• 1 Gas Cloud + 1 Planetoid
  • 3 Metropolis

Arenicola

Arenicola is an outlying city on the outer ring that bounds Amaranth territory and the gravitational pull of of Ardjet. Arenicola is prosperous port city and exists as a meeting point between Amaranth interests and foreign powers from beyond the planet's gravity.

• 1 Ring
  • 2 Metropolis

Palmeri

Palmeri sits in the inner ring that seperates Amaranth territory from the inner orbit of Ardjet's' gravity well, and is consequently far less traveled by foreign ships. Its position on the shortest route around the Graecizans Highland makes it crucial for the exchange of goods within Amaranth space, and its sometimes used as a final resting point before those entering the highlands.

• 1 Ring
  • 1 Metropolis

Graecizans

Graecizans is a dangerous sargasso region, sometimes called the 'tumbleweed highlands' for the strange metallic lattice bundles that roll swarm around in the region. The region dominates the view from the the twin moons of the Republic, as well as the imagination of the people, though Amaranth traders tend to see it as a nuissance to convenient trade than anything else. Enterprising merchants and prospectors sometimes visit Graecizans try and harvest the metallic bundles for use in scientific experiments. Many are never seen again.

• 1 Sargasso

Military

Points: 30 (450 IP)
Upkeep: 120/220

Amaranth Self Defense Force Space Force

The Amaranth Self Defence Force Space Force (or ASDF-SF) is the second-largest branch after the Monastic Guard, and the only holder of combat ships in the ASDF. After the destruction of the Order's merchant fleet by Belkar in the Dresslok era, the ASDF-SF has steadily grown in number to the point of being able to protect the Republic's borders. The construction of the battleship Lola Andreu in 4789 of the Axial Era is a particular point of pride for the SF, which has seen its prestige steadily rise.

• 1 "ASDF Lola Andreu", Lola Andreu-class Battleship (3 Claria)
  • (+1) Engine Upgrade (+3/Claria)
  • (+1) Shockwave Torpedoes (+3 Claria)
  • (+0) Holographic Patriotic Banners
• 40 Carmina Travieso Ia-class Destroyer (1 Claria)
  • (+1) Wave Sensors (+3/Claria)
  • (+1) Engine Upgrade (+3/Claria)
  • (+0) Holographic Patriotic Banners
• 10 Carmina Travieso Ic-class Destroyer (1 Claria)
  • (+1) Electronics (+3/Sakuradite)
  • (+1) Engine Upgrade (+3/Claria)
  • (+0) Holographic Patriotic Banners

Amaranth Self Defense Force Land Force

The Amaranth Self Defense Force Army (or ASDF-LF) is a small and relatively unimportant, consisting of twenty foot brigades and paired transport ships. They currently work mostly as another branch of law enforcement. The ASDF Land Force has a romantic image being made up of throwaway last sons and daughters of merchants, indulging in dangerous high-risk and high-reward tactics for personal glory.

• 20 Sandoval III-class Transport Ship (1 Claria)
  • (+0) S-class Interior Decorating
• 20 Foot Brigade
  • (+1) Jetpacks (+3/Sakuradite)
  • (+1) Personal Shields (+3/Sildron)
  • (+1) Shockwave Panzerfaust (+3/Claria)
  • (+0) Fashionable Militaria

Amaranth Self Defense Force Monastic Guard

Under the military partitions set forth in the Third Amendment of the Amaranth Charter, the Monastic Guard of the Amaranth Order oversees the function of defensive facilities such as space bunkers and cosmofortresses. It is an all-volunteer service composed primarily of retirees who wish to continue their military service while remaining in monastic seclusion, as well as some few young people desiring safe postings and relative job security, who often work as fighter pilots posted to Lore Villaneuva watchtowers. The Monastic Guard is allowed to keep a standing force of infantry, escorts and transports but has not retained their allotted number since they ceded their foot brigades during the last restructuring of the military.

Somewhat notably, the Monastic Guard funds its non-maintenance needs primarily via advertising space, making the sight of space billboards in Amaranth space a common and often disquieting sight for visiting foreigners aware of their true purpose.

• 60 Lore Villanueva IIa-type Bunker
  • (+1) Wave Sensors (+3/Claria)
  • (+1) Interceptor Wing (+3/Sakuradite)
  • (+0) Holographic Advertising Billboards
• 30 Lore Villanueva IIb-type Bunker
  • (+1) Wave Sensors (+3/Claria)
  • (+1) Shock Turrets (+3/Sakuradite)
  • (+0) Holographic Advertising Billboards
• 10 Lore Villanueva IIx-type Bunker
  • (+2) Shock Supergun (+6/2 Sakuradite)
  • (+0) Holographic Advertising Billboards
• 12 Gaspar-type Cosmofortress
  • (+1) Shields (+3/Sildron)
  • (+1) Wave Sensors (+3/Claria)
  • (+0) Large Holographic Advertising Billboards
• 4 Pere Martinez-type Super Cosmofortress
  • (+2) Shields (+6/2 Sildron)
  • (+1) Shock Turrets (+3/Sakuradite)
  • (+0) Monolithic Advertising Space