Lazarus Federation

The Lazarus Federation, more formally the Federal Republic of Lazarus, is a multicultural limited franchise constitutional federal republic where-in only people who serve a minimum of two years of federal service are granted the right to vote, but are otherwise deprived of no rights or privilege. It was established by a multi-cultural team of colonists who settled on a series of moons orbiting the ringed gas giant Lazarus, similar to the solar system planet Saturn or Jupiter. The original colonists where drawn from smaller nations of the world who banded together to afford the project. However, the result was that the world was left mostly to fend for itself during it's growth, causing it to develop into a unique form of government.

They are known for their large research base, use of a insectile Xenos race called the Vrees, and their unique variation on the federal republic.

File:Federalflag.jpg
Federal Republic of Lazarus
System Info
Star Name: Heinlein Map ID: TBA
World Name: Lazarus Surface Gravity: 0 G Climate: Gas Giant Atmosphere: 89.8±2.0% Hydrogen 10.2±2.0% Helium ~0.3% Methane ~0.026% Ammonia ~0.003% Hydrogen deuteride 0.0006% Ethane 0.0004% water
Population: Medium-High Breakdown: 50% Southeastern North American 25% South African 15% South American 10% Southeast Asian Government: Constitutional Federal Republic Capital: Heinlein City, Providence, Lazarus Major Settlements: Providence Discovery New Norfolk Lee New Mephis New Augusta Alignment: PACT Infrastructure Wealth: Primary Industry: Complex Industry: He3 Deliveries: Domestic He3: Delta Dust: Military: Primary Doctrine:

Overview

Military

The Lazarus Federation has always had a strong military tradition, the core tenets of which where laid down in the colonial charter. Originally, a system similar to the South African Commando system was to be adopted by the colony, and was already in place when the first ships where arriving in Lazarus. This system involved a trained militia which was entirely responsible for their own communities and nothing more. These forces where relatively effective, particularly given their stated obligation; it was far easier to motivate them to protect their homesteads and communities then to fight for someone elses. Thus, this system would remain in play for the entire life of the Lazarus Federation, although it was not accepted as Federal Service when the limited franchise system was enacted post-Break Down.

This system was nearly immediately proved effective when the menace known as the Vrees appeared on the various colony moons. These large insectile creatures where a ravenous menace, with an unknown origin to this day. They attacked the colonists mercilessly, seeking only to harvest this new found source of resources that had landed on their planet. The Commando system, with it's established zones, was key in combating this menace. However, they could not do it alone, and despite their valiant efforts many smaller colony plants where lost during the conflict. For this reason, the colonial charter was amended to allow for the creation of a full Colonial Milita.

The Lazarus Federation military is broken into two large branches, the Army and Navy. These are further divided into the Geo Force and Air Force, for the Army, and the the Marines and fleet, for the Navy. Even further specialized, each subdivision has it's own subdivisions, such as the Xeno- and Mobile Infantry for the Geo Force.

Religion

Amongst the inalienable rights inherent in the Federation was the freedom of religion which declared that all all where free to exercise their religion without interference of the government, so long as that exercise does not intrude upon other peoples rights as well. This freedom has made religion a notably part of the Federation, with Christianity being by and large the largest of them, split into two major groups: the Baptist Church of Lazarus and the Lazarus Catholic Church.

Planet Lazarus

Physical characteristics

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The planet Lazarus and it's rings.

Lazarus is a massive gas giant similar in size and composition to the planet Jupiter. Lazarus's upper atmosphere is composed of about 88–92% hydrogen and 8–12% helium by percent volume or fraction of gas molecules. Since a helium atom has about four times as much mass as a hydrogen atom, the composition changes when described in terms of the proportion of mass contributed by different atoms. Thus the atmosphere is approximately 75% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, with the remaining one percent of the mass consisting of other elements. The interior contains denser materials such that the distribution is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium and five percent other elements by mass. The atmosphere contains trace amounts of methane, water vapor, ammonia, and silicon-based compounds. There are also traces of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, and sulfur. The outermost layer of the atmosphere contains crystals of frozen ammonia. Through infrared and ultraviolet measurements, trace amounts of benzene and other hydrocarbons have also been found.

Lazarus is a mass that is over two and a half times as large as all the planets of the solar system combined. However, it is considerably less dense then most planets, such as the Earth, composed a soup of gases and chemicals shielded in a perpetually moving cloud system which covers the entire planet. Very few attempts have been made to do anything close to 'exploration' given the nature of the planet, though a number of helium harvesting stations have been established around it to harness that element of the planet for the good of the federation.

The planet has a large and highly visible ring, as well as a number of moons in various orbits around the planet. These moons are where the Lazarus Federation is primarily founded, along with a number of asteroid homesteads and mines. The ring is composed of many objects simply caught in orbit, including some ancient ships which contributed to the federations technology base when discovered.

History

Ancient History

Little is known about the origins of all the dust on the Lazarus moons, nor why they are extremely well seeded already, with dozens of them ready to accept human life with minimal modification. The deposits of delta dust has led some to theorize that Lazarus was some sort of ancient hub for Precursor culture, though it is long worn anyway into the readily mined formations. These formations and 'ruins' dot nearly every one of the moons, including a number which have not yet received proper colonization and are instead used nearly entirely for mining.

According to the most popular theory, Lazarus was once created by the Precursors for some unknown reason, perhaps to test the viability of various climates for the Vrees. This group of closely related species was thought to have been created, or imported, to the moons for this reason. Why, how, or any other the myriad of questions are without any answers, and left only to speculation of the elder academics and professors.

Vrees

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Vreesius Atroxius Militis, a basic Vrees Warrior

The vrees are a race of insectile creatures which are considered to be 'native' to the various moons of Lazarus. They earned the name Vrees upon their first encounter on moon New Richmond, where they encountered one of the colony settlements of South African Boers. Meaning terror in their language, the name was given both based upon the screeching cry they made which inspired so much fear in the colonists, and the vicious way they attacked. The name quickly spread to other colonies, and has since been used as their proper scientific name as well. They have also been, variously, called Terror Beetles or, more simply, the Bugs.

Almost universally the Vrees share a number of traits, such as four large limbs for locomotion and two smaller arms used mostly as weapons or manipulators. All of the limbs end in two large hardened spikes, useful as weapons and traction due to an extremely strong sense of balance and weight distribution which allows them to cross over unstable terrain by distributing the weight over while retaining great strength by being able to focus it all very quickly one one of those points. The Vrees usually have two eyes and a large set of mandibles capable of exerting enough force to slice a man in half. They also have a hard external carapace which is extremely resilient and weather-proofed, though still quite vulnerable to small arms and other weaponry.

Species

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Vreesius Atroxius Laboris, the Vrees Worker

Although the Vrees consist of hundreds of species and subspecies, it is now known, the three main species when people speak of Vrees are also some of it's largest members; members of the Atroxius family. The other members make up a sizable portion of the moon's ecosystem, from the smallest Vreesfly to the biggest of the Domůian Vreesbeetle.

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Vreesius Atroxius Volatilis, the deadly Vrees Hopper

Moons

New Richmond

The largest of the moons of Lazarus, New Richmond also hosts the capital city of Heinlein. New Richmond was the first of the moons to be landed and colonized as it already possessed an earth-like climate similar in to that of the Scandinavian Peninsula many of the colonists originated from. The moon was roughly one-fifth the size of earth, and also where the Vrees where first encountered. For this reason, it has always been considered a culturally important site even before Heinlein was declared federal capital.

The main cities of the moon are the capital Heinlein, Flores, Jenkins, Levy, and Zim. Heinlein is the location of all government buildings as well as the national monuments. Flores is a computer farm, the Lazarus equivalent of Silicon Vally. Jenkins and it's sister city of Levy are the largest cities on the moon, and are host to the entertainment capitals of the Federation. Finally, the city of Zim is a military town, the main military base on the planet and the city that grew around to support it.

Rico has a population of .

Augusta

Settled originally as a research facility, the moon Augusta is the technological powerhouse of the federation. It was the third of the moons to be colonized and is known mostly for it's temperate climate and small size. It is the smallest of the core colonies, only one-eleventh the size of Earth.

New Norfolk

Although most of the moons have some form of dock, the low-gravity New Norfolk is the largest of them all for the federation. The moon is one-sixth the size of Earth.

Jackson

Jackson is a military moon, dedicated to both training and housing the majority of the military might of the federation.

New Mephis

A simple economic world, Otthon is best at nothing, but has a smattering of all

New Austin

Home to the finest education centers in the federation.

Other Colonies and Satellites

Numerous colonies exist in smaller moons and asteroids. These mostly consist small farming homesteads and communities on small but fertile low-grav moons where it is easy to ship out the produce, and asteroid mining operations, often either family owned and operated or Federal Service mines. These are often considered backwards by the other major core moons, but they are an indispensable part of the federation's economy. For this reason, they are well protected through direct Federal trained and equipped commando units.

Praf

Praf is one of the largest of the asteroid facilities, a multi-purpose mining site where useful ores and dust are mined. It is commonly said that signing up for Federal Service gives you a fifty-fifty chance of being assigned to the mine, and this has led to a term in the federation of being "sent to Praf," meaning being given a bad situation at your own fault.

Historical Path

Colonization

Late National

The Lazarus Colonization Project was an late national program which had investors from a number of smaller countries and PACT states who where unable to fund a mission solely on their own resources. As a result, the original first wave of colonists involved a number of southeastern states, such as Georgia and Virginia, as well as smaller groups from South Africa, South America, and a small number from Southeast Asian countries. The wide variety came from people when wanted to escape the Earth and start a new life, a fact which tended to help for racial unity.

Initial Colony: Dominantly Baseline

Despite it's wide base, the Lazarus was nearly entirely baseline, and much of what little transgenic population existed was later breeded out or simply died off rather quickly. This homogeneous group led to greater unity, however, and a better set-up for military support.

Garden World: Xenomorphs

The moons of Lazarus where mostly readied, with only minimal terraforming influence required to make them more comfortable for the colonists. However, the native life was far less accommodating, and while many creatures where simply harmless pests, one race stood out above the rest: a collective and highly dimorphism race known as the Vrees. These insectile creatures where a constant thorn in the early colonists, and the conflicts that grew from them would define their growing nation. The species led to the creation of the Colonial Militia, precursor to the Federal Forces, and also pioneered the military traditions of the future Federation. One could say that without the Vrees, the Lazarus Federation, in it's current form, would not have existed.

Early Colonial History

The early days of the colony brought the threat of the Vrees and discovery of a number of other unknown factors, both of which defined the colony and led to a dramatic shift in doctrine and technology.

Military Action: Narco-Warfare

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Early conflict with the Vrees was a bloody affair that left thousands dead.

The conflicts known as the Vrees Wars where not wars in a traditional sense, as one cannot truly have war against a non-sentient species such as the Vrees. It is unknown how the race showed up with only minor differences on nearly all of the colony moons, and the theory of the bugs being some sort of posthuman or precursor experiment or weapon. Regardless of their origin, this early conflict began a military tradition in the colonies, at the cost of many lives. This population hit was a problem in the early life of the colony and led to later efforts to grow some ties to core powers while retaining the independence so enjoyed by the colony.

Artifact Find: Reverse-Engineerable

Amongst the other discoveries of the colony was the find of ruins and dust on the various moons and asteroids of the belt, as well as a number of derelicts of various sorts equally trapped in orbit around the planet. These finds led to an increase in dust mining, a key element of Lazarus, and a rapidly advancing technology base. These finds also solidified beliefs that the planet Lazarus was something of a former hub, now lost to the ages. This also, however, led to the rise of the doctrine of manifest destiny for the colony; the colony was though to be fated in it's links to the posthuman and precursor legacy.

Prelim Stats

SP
Population
Transgene
Morale +
PIP +
CIP ++
Wealth +
Dust ++
Theta -
Helium
Military ++++++
Doctrines +
Logistics +
RP ++
Debt
Technologies +++
Rim Relations -
AI Tech ++
Computer Tech +
Ground Doctrines +
Air Doctrines +
PACT: + Aerospace Technology, + ECM Technology, + Pulse Tech, + Carrier Technology