Kanon

Kanon
ZOCU
System Info
World Name: Kanon Map ID: Surface Gravity: 0.925 g Climate: temperate-subtropical Garden World Atmosphere: nitrogen-oxygen-carbon dioxide-argon 110.5 kPa (MSL) Demographics Population: 30.0 million Population Breakdown: 82.5% transgene (EU standards) Demonym: Kanonian Capital: Syene Infrastructure Wealth: 700 PIP: 500 CIP: 800 Dust: 0 Theta Dust: 1050 Logistics: Military: 30000

Kanon (pronounced /'Kænɔn/) is a major state of the Expanse and a founding member of the Zodiac Outworld Colonies Union. Its official name is the Principality of Kanon if its Supreme Elector is a Great Prince or Princess as has been true for most of its history, and is the Duchy of Kanon if a Great Duke holds the position. It is a constitutional elective monarchy with a stratified social system favouring an institutionalised class of transgene nobility. There are no political parties in the ordinary sense nor an effective Separation of Powers. Instead, the noble transgene lineages able to participate in governance negotiate in the interest of their dynasties, assets, supporters, and initiatives. Major decisions are made by the consensus of the Electoral Circle with the Supreme Elector as a figurehead position who also represents Kanon legally in the capacity of Head of State and Government.

Since the end of the ZOCU War, from which it emerged with a generally positive record, the Principality of Kanon has emerged as a guiding star amongst ZOCU worlds, often seen as bridging the differences between the "hawk" and "dove" factions within the Union. Although thought of as a stronghold of "transgene conservatism" (or even "genetic fascism") many pan-ZOCU political movements have in fact found credence among the transgene nobility and has therefore made Kanon a political arena that wields considerable influence. Despite frequent accusations by the UN for lack of democracy and violation of human rights, Kanon is also widely regarded as stable, secure, and developed. The Kanonian economy is strong and diverse, with high tech research, Theta dust reserves, transgenics, and pharmaceuticals being among the key areas. Kanon is also a cultural and educational leader, having the largest value of media exports in the Expanse and several renowned institutions of learning that attract transgene students from throughout the region.

Climate and Geography

Kanon and its sister world Saki are the second planets from Nitori 130, a G6V star somewhat smaller, cooler and older than Sol. The barycenter of this system ranges from approximately 0.85 to 0.87 AU distant, or approximately halfway between Venus and Earth. Being less massive, Kanon's surface gravity is noticeably lighter whereas the atmosphere is somewhat more dense, with high oxygen content. Visitors from most other worlds, including Earth, tend to find Kanon much more pleasant. Stays on Kanon are associated with improved short term health, especially for those already with ongoing health problems.

Presently, the climate is in a hothouse state and most likely has been for the past five hundred million years. Snow and glaciers are rare, being restricted to only a few areas; no ice caps form over the ocean at either pole. Most places experience a moist temperate to subtropical climate, with tropics along the equatorial coasts. The year is about ten months long and seasons are regarded as wet or dry rather than warm or cold through much of the planet. There are relatively few deserts or mountains; wetlands and rainforest are predominant. The large mass and proximity of Saki causes tides of nearly a hundred meters in some areas. Tidal wetlands (of a very different sort than on Earth) are a distinct biome of Kanon, as are tidal forests, flying reefs and a variety of other areas where life has adapted to large, regular changes in coastline and high levels of erosion.

Overall, Kanon has over 111 million square km of surface land area - a little over twice the area of Eurasia - with additional areas exposed intermittently. There are three continents: Chrysanthemum Europe, Lotus Asia, and Rose Oceania. Only Chrysanthemum Europe, a northern hemisphere continent roughly the size of Africa, is developed. The primary settlements of Kanon are located in various areas near the west coast. Lotus Asia is by far the largest continent and extends across the southern hemisphere. Rose Oceania is a remote, mostly northern hemisphere archipelago with the vast majority of its shelf below sea level.

Biointegrity

The Asakuran biosphere developed indigenously on Kanon prior to human arrival. Fellow ZOCU world Heaven's Shore shares a divergent version of this biosphere through Precursor seedng. Named for Dr. Nao Asakura, who published the first extensive papers in the 2080's, Asakuran biology is remarkably close to Terran life - close enough that efforts to prevent microbial contamination by the Terran biosphere (and theoretically vice versa) are impossible. A human can subsist almost entirely on the Asakuran biome, requiring only supplements for a few complex essential nutrients not shared by Kanonian life. Many other Terran life forms have no difficulty colonising Asakuran worlds from a biological standpoint and depend on artificial isolation or the ability of local ecosystems to keep them under control. Kanon, like many other worlds with indigenous ecosystems, imposes restrictions on imports to minimise the possibility of runaway contamination. The Asakura Institute of Ecology and Agriculture is a massive arcological complex dedicated to research and testing of candidates for naturalisation in the Kanonian biosphere. Hundreds of species deemed sustainable and non-invasive have been safely introduced to Kanon.

Flora and Fauna

Paksigue roams the tidal marsh.

System Astrography

Nitori 130 is a G6V yellow dwarf somewhat smaller, cooler and older than Sol. It is located along the PACT arm of the Sphere; the interstellar catapult path reached it in 2180. It is a fairly stable and inactive star, not prone to sudden outbursts or violent phenomena.

Shana (I) is the innermost planet, a hazy, reddish-gold terrestrial world. It orbits at 0.43 AU and masses about 0.285 Earths. Shana has a thick atmosphere with a surface pressure of about an MPa and a runaway greenhouse effect that renders the world quite similar to Venus. This hostile environment makes it a comparatively uninteresting object. Its vicinity is occupied by autonomous scientific and military satellites only.

Saki (IIb) is Kanon's enormous water moon (more accurately sister planet) whose presence causes dramatic tides and a very well lit natural night sky compared to Earth's. Although surface conditions are unpleasant to unprotected humans, Saki has an atmosphere, liquid surface water, and a biosphere dominated by primordial microbes whose colorful cycles give the ocean moon repute as a natural wonder of galactic standing.

0 Teru is a co-orbital quasi moon of the Kanon-Saki system, an oblong rock roughly 6km long. It appears from Kanon's perspective to follow a very erratic path around the planet in a 1:1 resonance with the annual orbit. The entirety of space around it was designated the eleventh S-Class Security Area following the war.

Saint's Ring is a tight debris ring located at around 1.3 AU from the sun. It was a militarily significant feature of the system during the ZOCU War although the Kanonian Heavenly Militia generally considered too close to the PACT fleet presence around Kanon.

Sola (III) is a terrestrial planet that appears white-blue-violet due to its thick atmosphere - like Shana, it is also about an mPa at the surface and so is something of a cool Venus. It is almost exactly an Earth mass and orbits at about 2.14 AU. Although the mineral and chemical resources of Sola are believed to be economically significant if exploited, the vast untapped potential still on Kanon has left commercial interest in Sola to the future.

Air(IV) is a light pink to rose gas giant. It is about 80 Earth masses, making it somewhat smaller than Saturn, and orbits at 3.86 AU. Its proximity and significant gravitational presence keeps the inner system mostly safe from what would otherwise be catastrophic bombardment from the Robe. Although not a "hot jupiter" type world, Air is fairly close to its sun and has comparatively benign magnetic and radiation fields, making it a good source of Helium-3.

The Robe is a huge debris disk with an inner edge at around 7.3 AU and extends way out. Its collective mass is up to three orders of magnitude greater than that of the Kuiper Belt and has a density sufficient to be nearly visible from Kanon itself. There are many objects of significant mass and large potential mineral reserves. During the PACT invasion, much of the KHM hid within the Robe to await their chance for action.

History

The Principality of Kanon is a ZOCU power founded in the 2080's by an alliance of corporate foundations ruled and owned by a newly established class of enormously powerful and wealthy transgene dynasties. Although initially guised as an economic venture, the Kanon mission's true nature became increasingly obvious as repeated appeals for immigration rights, improved baseline employee relations (and participation) and accelerated development of the highly desireable world were vetoed one after another by the executive council: the new "colony", was first and foremost a jointly owned private resort. The gene-based qualifications for settlement in this extrasolar gated community also quickly became evident. As Norio Saitama, CEO of Saitama Industrial Zaibatsu and future first Supreme Elector of Kanon remarked with unusual political bellicosity "...baselines will be as welcome on Kanon as transgenes are on Earth." As a result of legal manipulation, disincentive, and outright discrimination, Kanon's population grew quite slowly in the first years and dominantly consisted of high quality first generation transgenes and their even more enhanced second and third generation descendants. To this day, Kanon's immigration policies remain relatively stringent and are widely regarded as being purely an economical convenience.

Few who saw Kanon for what it was were pleased by the appropriation of prime extrasolar real estate for entirely private and fundamentally selfish concerns. Despite outcries by everyone from the scientific community to legislators to international activist groups however, the transgene-run conglomerates had simply amassed too much wealth and power during the preceding decades. They simply mired political and legal proceedings in delays and bureaucracy for the better part of a century while carrying on a gradual campaign of divestment from Earth. The transplantation of high level operations, capital and a few key foundation industries to the heavily privatised colony had significant negative impacts to the economies of their host nations on Earth, but also had great short and medium term impact on the corporations themselves. This great exodus became an ongoing, decades long political and financial issue, gradually drawing attention and support from the ostracized transgene community even as it drew grassroots ire from everyone else. Once in the Expanse, the much greater isolation of outer space made further interference a much more difficult prospect and the establishment of a virtually autonomous haven for the rich and enhanced was clearly already in mind. During this time, many "gene newbies" were able to use Kanon to get around increasingly heavy restrictions on genetic manipulation coming into force on Earth and in the Core. Both Kanon's leaders and those they termed "transgene progressive" baselines quickly realised this arrangement was beneficial to them for different reasons; Kanon did need a lower class - preferably one that was educated, motivated, yet willing to work cheaply - to fill the gap between industrial robotics and transgenes that wanted upper-middle class lifestyles and a move as quickly as possible to four day work weeks; meanwhile, some baselines still wanted transgene futures for their kids. Kanon quickly adjusted policies and filled its quota of immigrants year after year with such "permanent residents" with the prospect of full citizenship and transgenic enhancement for their children born on Kanon.

The Breakdown represented a massive economic crash for the relocated elite as they lost touch with their assets on Earth, especially the vast bulk of their physical infrastructure holdings. It also provided a pair of completely unexpected opportunities. Kanon's large Theta dust reserves suddenly became a priceless resource, giving Kanon a great strategic advantage as conventional D Drive ships wallowed uselessly in the grip of the virus. Given Kanon's already independent minded population however, the loss of regular contact with the Core was an even greater boon, prompting the executive council to immediately elevate their ambitions to full statehood. With a low labor agricultural sector already in net export, significant high tech sectors already in place and self-sufficiency inherent the long term plan, Kanon was better equipped than most worlds to stand alone. Once the immediate economic gremlins were shaken off and vital missing industries and infrastructure established, Kanon asserted independence and joined Londenium and other states of the Expanse to form the Zodiac Outworld Colonies Union. A constitution detailing the grades of transgene nobility was established, and the system of intergenerational social mobility put into place. Although initially a smaller player than Londenium, Kanon grew rapidly in importance over the decades, involving itself in the Union defence of Nidaros and eventually formed a part of the ZOCU expeditionary forces sent to the League to assist in their own fight against the Magnates.

The biggest long term crisis turned out to be a transgene population boom that could not, in the Breakdown years, be effectively answered by baseline immigration. By the time of the reconnect 27 years later, Kanon was facing an aging and shrinking baseline workforce already beginning to be supported by their transgene children. General economic downturn during the last years threatened to turn into depression. Demand for low level labor was high and some transgenes found themselves drawn to those jobs, translating such frustrations into pressure for immigration to resume as soon as possible. In the immediate aftermath of the reconnect, the Core engaged with Kanon with unease but not necessarily hostility largely because of willingness to grant settlement visas to several immediate cohorts of immigrants. Granted, these were screened immigrants and not the refugees the UN badly needed to foist off to someone but the move was nevertheless seen as tacit admission by Kanon's annointed "nobility" that they could not exist without the Core. Among the many early signs of normalisation was the completion of the Kanon cut of the PACT catapult arm. Also important was the pragmatic "recognition of Kanon's individual success" during the Breakdown years. Economic and political issues, baseline equality, and the silly notion of independence could and would be worked out in time, or so Earth thought at first. In fact, Kanon took advantage of the fact that while domestic demand for immigration had grown, so had the supply of prospective permanent residents willing to see things Kanon's way. As the differences mounted and Kanon's ideas of its own future - one without regard for Earth and the home countries' wishes - became clear, relations quickly dove and the new UN missions that had been quietly tolerated became quasi-besieged enclaves. Tensions continued to rise through the 2180's culiminating in the ZOCU War which tore through the Sphere in the latter half of the decade.

The ZOCU War began with the Kanon campaign (Feb 14-Dec 10, 2185) which saw pan-PACT forces attempting without success to knock the key ZOCU world out of the conflict early. Against superior PACT forces, Duke Akira Sumeragi and other talented commanders developed a long and calculated defence, bogging down the PACT offensive and straining their logistical capabilities. The success of Flight of the Bamboo Cutter, the operation to run the designs and prototypes of the OMF-06 Hoplite in April, and the EU Deep Space Fleet's defeat at Londenium in August proved to be enormous strategic setbacks for the Core. By December, Kanon had captured over 70,000 PACT prisoners of war and enemy forces had been driven from the system. Thereafter, Kanon continued to be a vital pillar of the Union throughout the conflict both as the primary research and development center for mobile weapons and as an important producer of Theta dust and mobile suits. The Kanonian Militia was also heavily engaged as a combatant in the PACT theatre, engaging enemy forces at Choson, Suzumiya, and in space. A large contingent of Kanonian forces was part of the pan-ZOCU fleet mustered for the Battle of Haraway which brought the ZOCU War to an end.

Although the war left ZOCU militarily crippled and largely in debt, Kanon's economy and influence has managed to rebound significantly, emerging from the war as one of the Union's clear leaders. Now in possession of ZOCU's rotating leadership chair, Kanon has begun pursuing a variety of peacetime initiatives along a compromising middle road between the hawk and dove factions of the Union. Primary concerns in the 2190's have included restoring member worlds' economic integrity, ensure the Union's ability to defend itself, addressing security concerns, and supporting the ideology of colonial independence in the Expanse.

Politics

Kanon is non-democratic. Direct participation in government decision-making is limited to a small class of genetically and financially advanced nobility. This system excludes baselines as well as most transgenes and earns Kanon much censure in the democratic Core. Kanonians on the other hand, consider the system to make sense: the ancient assumptions of nobility running in the blood are now scientific facts and genetic modification of children is now a natural pathway of intergenerational social mobility. Kanon imports immigrants to operate the lower strata of society and in turn these immigrants fund the genetic upgrades of their children who move upwards generation by generation. In turn the nobility are expected (both by their peers and subordinates) to exercise reasonable discipline and noblesse oblige. Economic and cultural prosperity and local democracy also reinforce the legitimacy of the noble class.

Under the 2156 Constitution, all members of the noble class have a voice in the governance of Kanon and in matters relating to their interests. This right takes the form of membership in the Estate-General, defined as the collective body of nobility. Communication and debate at this level is undertaken on a restricted access network. Of course, anyone caring to poke around can find most of the things on this network mirrored on the general network in almost real time and the official transcripts are also soon made available to the public. Most members of the Estate-General are minor nobility - counts and dukes tend to intrigue in other settings. Because nobility is granted for life, many older members are of genetic templates that would not qualify for nobility were they born today. A significant portion of the population are relations of minor lords who are commoners.

Supreme Elector
At its highest level is an oligarchy which rules partly by consensus and partly by competitive politick. A Supreme Elector is selected by the Electoral Circle among their own number to represent Kanon legally as a head of state and government. This selection is usually on the basis of charisma, political acceptability, and the ability function as a face or initiator of Circle discussion rather than personal political assets. The paramount leader is elected for only a single Kanonian year, which is shorter than a standard Earth year. By custom however, an incumbent leader can expect to serve multiple terms. The paramount leader is usually a junior Prince or Princess from a ducal lineage - it is generally thought of as a non-beneficial post to the career of an established politician or administrator.

Genetics

Ducal Lineages
A Class-A lineage is considered a ducal lineage. The Duke or Duchess of a lineage is generally tied for its least genetically advanced member at any given time but would normally be in control of the family's considerable assets. In some families, a custom of peaceful early retirement has become semi-established. Ducal lineages have deeply entrenched power and financial depth and generally direct political policy to keep it that way. Notably, even with the disruption of the ZOCU War, no ducal lineage has lost its status, though some have risen or fallen significantly in fortunes. Most of these families are the oldest on the planet with ancestors who were already upper class, possibly before they were transgenes on Earth.

Comital Lineages
A Class-B lineage is considered a comital lineage. In general, Counts are nobility and can expect to influence policy to a fair capacity. Their power and wealth are more limited than Dukes, but the actual quality of their genetic templates can be comparable. Most of these families have founders who were upper-middle class transgenes from Earth with a few among the very first baseline immigrants from well before the Breakdown.

Lord
A Class-C transgene is a non-lineage rank - that is the genetic template, though high quality, has mostly off-the-shelf features. Nevertheless, they are generally very high quality multi-generational transgenes. Citizens with the right to be addressed as 'Lord' are a minority in society and generally lead very comfortable upper or upper-middle class lifestyles. They are regarded as nobility have a voice in government, though individually a small one.

Commoner/Citizen
A Class-D transgene encompassing a range of commonly available upgrades. The attraction of Kanon to immigrants is that their children can expect this level of enhancement with hopes of seeing noble grandchildren.

Permanent Resident

Knight
A knight is a military transgene. This is generally not as popular upgrade as it does not provide the career and political advantages of having more balanced transgene offspring who eventually almost match knight class upgrades in their specialties anyhow. Moreover, the brightest commanders and officers are, obviously, mainstream nobility. However, it does have the advantage of government subsidy. Knights have their own classifications ranking from Level 1 through 4 in ascending order of potency. The title is heritable within the military career - the genetically pure descendent of a knight is also a knight if he or she enlists.

Branch Families
Breaking new ground in transgenics is expensive and difficult and generally pay-by-the-child. Once a transgene line is established however, further members of the same template on the next generation is (with some odd exceptions) as simple as having children. Family branching is a controverisal strategy that is sometimes formalised among upper class families - the designated leaders are enhanced or updated concurrently with supporting family members who are "mass produced" on the same generational template as their parents. This practice reared its ugly head in the media in 2190 when Kanako Reizei Kuga, branch member of the Kuga family took the lives of four half siblings of the main family in a mass murder believed to stem from intra-clan conflict. The Kuga lineage stated it would cease the practice.

Military

The responsibility for the armed defence of Kanon rests with the Heavenly Militia and Earthly Militias. The former is acknowledged as the more important of the two and receives the bulk of funding, although the latter's necessity is also unquestioned since the Kanon Campaign.

Warships

Impossible Request class battleship

The Impossible Request is the aptly named, rumored Pallada replacement battleship project being undertaken by Kanon. Its pan-ZOCU designation is Lydia class.

Recollection class cruiser

Kanonian version.

Origin: Londenium
Primary Operator: ZOCU
Date Of Introduction: 2187
Role: Heavy Cruiser
Control System: Bridge
Length: 228 meters (hull)
Empty Mass: 32,600 tons
Loaded Mass: 36,200 tons
Powerplant: 2x Forced-Fusion Reactors
Main Thrusters: 2; Mercurion Type
Apogee Motors: 52
FTL Drive: Theta Type
Fixed Armament: 8x Twin Mega Particle Cannon Turrets, Leap Missile System, 8x AA Burst Cannon Turrets, 42x Cluster Missile Launchers, ACLS Warden System
Defensive Systems: Composite Armor, Flash Field
Strike Craft: 14

Mobile Weapons

One of the problems ZOCU had was that they had a zillion variants of everything. No one was ultimately guiltier than Kanon itself.

KMF-132 Virago

Even before smuggling the OMF-06 prototypes offworld and certainly long before the any space combat models even began assembly on Kanon, the Hoplite had to be turned to another task. The PACT invasion on Kanonian soil was a severe and immediate danger; even if they failed to interdict the plans they might still knock Kanon out of the war. Thus, the first mass production versions of ZOCU's new mobile suit were ground attack variants under the Kanonian designation KMF-132 Virago. The Virago reached the lowland defense lines in a slow but steady trickle. where they were provided ample opportunities to field test. From April through the end of the year, the suit received monthly minor updates. The design was eventually adopted for the strike oriented Hoplite Gamma.

KMF-133 Knightress

The Knightress was Kanon's local variant of its own flagship mobile suit.

The Knightress shared over 80% parts commonality with the standard Hoplite Alpha but had uprated electronics, homegrown systems and a dizzying surfeit of gadgetry that made it a difficult but ultimately rewarding variant to pilot.

Origin: Ginte Group
Primary Operator: Principality of Kanon; exports to ZOCU and friendly Rim/Expanse governments
Alternate Names: Hoplite Kappa, Hoplite 2k, Hoplite 2000, Hoplite Knightress
Date Of Introduction: 2185
Role: 3rd generation mass production mobile suit; local variant
Control System: linear frame; pilot only
Height: 16.0 meters
Weight: 53.2 tons (standard combat loadout)
Powerplant: 2 x K-0N forced fusion
Main Thrusters: 4
Apogee Motors: 14
Fixed Armament:
Options:
Defensive Systems: laminate armour

OMF-21/KMF-219 Valkyria

Origin: -
Primary Operator: Principality of Kanon
Date Of Introduction: 2190
Role: 4th generation mass production mobile suit
Control System: 1080 panoramic/linear-seat; pilot only
Height: 16.0 meters
Weight: 55.0 tons (standard combat loadout)
Powerplant: 2 x dc reactor
Main Thrusters: Mercurion furnace
Apogee Motors: 18
Fixed Armament:
Options:
Defensive Systems:

Historic Mobile Weapons

KMF-042 Huntress
The Kanonian designation of the standard OMF-04 Peltast. Widely produced in an initial version and a homeworld defence version optimised for Kanon's wet climate and forested terrain. One test type eventually became the KMF-055 Marin.

KMF-055 Marin
KMF-111 Acgal
KMF-180 Urin

Other Equipment

EMS-11240 Contessa battle rifle

EMS-11381 Artaria C.C.
The C.C. (Close Combat) is an electromagnetic weapon designed primarily for short range combat. Its mass and recoil are sufficiently manageable for a transgene knight to shoot one-handed, keeping the other hand free to operate other devices. Alternatively, a second copy of the weapon is said to effectively square a commando's firepower.

EMS-05277 z

Key Locations

Hourai Island is a site within the upper tidal area of Seihou harbor, being an island during high tide. Its bedrock is lined with tidal bore caves, some of which have been sealed over the past century. The island lies within Syene district anti-aerospace umbrella and was heavily refortified during the PACT invasion of the world. It is presently one of Kanon's eleven designated S-Class Security Areas. Although the Kanonian regime never acknowledges or denies the site, it is now widely believed to be the site of sensitive research and Theta dust production facilities. Kanon is ZOCU's largest producer of Theta dust within ZOCU, accounting for over half the Union's reserves in this strategic resource and fluctuations in this supply correlate well with observations of activity on Hourai Island.