Oceania
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Overview
Archetype: Loyalist PACT Spacenoids
Head of State: Prime Minister Roger Dalton
Government: Media Democracy
Political Alignment: PACT
About Oceania
"Oceania, a jewel of the galactic seas."
The Oceania is an Outer Expanse colony cluster founded by Indonesian mining interests that quickly rose to prominence as an important shipbuilding cluster and trade hub on the periphery of PACT space. Due to a lack of viable planets, nearly the entire 60 million people permanently in-system reside in space habitats located at Lagrange Points around the Pacifica gas giant.
History
Discovery Era [2078-2100]
Oceania was a system first charted and explored by Posthuman probes circa 2077. Originally believed to be the reformed remains of a star that went supernova several billions of years ago, indicators of Precursor intervention (mostly in miniscule pocket of functional Delta Dust locked into sub-atmospheric orbits) indicated the possibility that the system was manipulated to it current state but apparently abandoned before any viable or terraformable planets were created.
Despite a lack of livable space, several corporate interests, most notably Pacific Rim mining consortiums that had taken note of the abundant heavy metal and Helium 3 supplies the system held in its asteroid belts and numerous gas giants. The Indonesia and Australia were primary investors in the venture, while Singapore and New Zealand, eager to establish footholds off-world, bought in as secondary partners.
Within a decade years of its discovery, Oceania was quickly established as a logistical waypoint between the more distant colonies of the Outer Expanse with a little under a hundred thousand colonists calling the system's first space habitat Pacifica-One home. For the next few decades, the population grew very slowly as the system remained mostly undeveloped by corporate interests.
Colonization Era [2101-2151]
It was only after the arrival of fleeing Transgenes, driven from Earth and denied entry into other Pac-Arm worlds, that Oceania's population swelled in size. A traditionally bioconservative Australia was reticent to allow potentially tainted Transgenes, any movement to bar them entry was vetoed by Indonesia and Singapore, which had long since embraced the advances of Chinese transhumanism. Everyone was welcome to Oceania.
Although the local shipbuilding industry was indeed more than capable of fulfilling quotas on building new habitats for normal immigration rates, migrants simply overwhelmed the industrial capacity normally available. Subsequently, many colonists made do by loaning ships from the government and using them as residences, or building their habs directly into hollowed-out asteroids.
By the 2120's, Oceania had become a vibrant and multicultural center of commerce and industry with a growing biotech field, in part due to deliberately unrestrictive laws in regards to transgenics and genetic engineering. With the majority of the population eventually adopting a template better suited to zero-g and spin-gravity life or giving one to their children, Oceania became an open market for firms suppressed by Straus-Kasserism on Earth. Most of the population utilize
While many Outer Expanse states suffered abuses at the hands of Core interests, Oceania had escaped mostly intact and prosperous because of the high profitability the local He-3 harvesters and heavy metals and an aggressive negotiation style in its loaning of mining rights.
Because of these slightly underhanded tactics and its control of a catapult hub, corporations that weren't domestic often had to compete with one another to get contracts and permissions. Oceania's ability to negotiate itself into a position of relative safety was one of the reasons that they never saw any reason to secede and tensions never really fermented to the boiling point as they did elsewhere. Oceanians were perfectly happy with following the dictates of Core ethical standards (for the most part) and enjoyed trade with the rest of PACT.
Breakdown Era [2152-2180]
During the Breakdown era, Oceania left was alone to define itself while it labored to rebuild its catapult node. It emerged from the Breakdown-induced isolation in 2162, having restored lost infrastructure by
Certain bioconservative factions such as the nearby colony of Esperança were reticent to resume association with an extremely transhumanist state, but the general atmosphere in PACT was receptive, if cool. As reconstruction continued in the Pac-Arm and Oceania made itself known as a staunch supporter of its fellow colonies, relations improved to the degree that most were at least willing to continue associating with them for the economic incentives. This is extremely present in its continuing interractions with its close Brazilian neighbor, which enjoyed the benefits of a continued relationship with the relatively Dust-rich colony while developping its own Combat Frame line during the ZOCU war. Indeed, while many Outer Expanse states suffered during the post-Breakdown, Oceania was buoyed by its natural resources and enjoyed the status of creditor rather than debtor in most interactions with its neighbors in the Expanse.
ZOCU War Era [2181-2188]
Against expectations, Oceania threw its lot in with the Core during at the onset of the ZOCU War instead of joining the Zodiac Outworlds or their allies. This was for a variety of reasons, but the central theme understood by analysts was a lack of incentives to cut ties with the Core. Oceania was isolated for a very short period of time, and had never been approached or contacted by Theta-drive vessels in the wake of the Breakdown. It could certainly be said that it only superficially resembled the kind of state that had joined the Outworlds, lacking a number of factors that had driven the breakaways to actively oppose the Core's influences.
Oceania's participation in the war, did however see some political and social unrest from some political bodies that were sympathetic or aligned to those of ZOCU. Understandably, this stemmed to the proximity Oceanians had to the other nations of the Outer Expanse and sympathies for some of the Zodiac Outworlds that had genuine reasons to want secession. Pro-transgene individuals in positions of power with political or economic ties to these Outer Expanse breakaways had a vested interest in keeping positive relations with ZOCU stepped forward as leading figures during the ZOCU War Era.
The peace movement, backed heavily by this cabal of activists, media personalities and politicians, denied the validity of what was fundamentally a reconquista and sought peaceful compromise with the rebelling colonies to avoid the damages of a protracted war. A largely grassroots movement based in the outer system habitats and communes, it nearly managed to remove popular support for the then heavily pro-Earth government until a series of political scandals saw those officials supporting the Anti-War Movement retreat from the public eye until the end of the war. After a terror attack in New Sydney and intermittent periods of martial law, it was eventually decided the colony would not push to fight ZOCU beyond the defense of its own borders, or at the request of its fellow PACT neighbors. These policies, criticized as 'flaccid' by some Core political analysts and journalists, would be a continued point of contention in the debate over the colony's future.
Consequently, Oceania remained mostly inactive during the war for much of its duration. It acted as a ship depot, refueling station and staging ground for the assaults pushing around the blockade zone at Horizon to attack ZOCU worlds, but never engaged in any of the major battles of the war. Well-protected by its in-system fleet and buoyed by reinforcements from the NorPac and ASEAN space fleets, it remained inviolate for the entirety of the conflict and remained a constant thorn in the side of 'western' ZOCU.
The Oceanian Navy did make a few tours of duty with the Australian and Indonesian space fleets scouring the tradelanes for ZOCU commerce raiders, but only did so for its own interest. It also also notably participated at the disastrous Battle of Rapture at the insistence of Esperança, and took heavy losses from ZOCU mobile armors. It's (correctly) thought that Oceania's own homegrown Com bat Frame program and their funding of Esperança's project is a direct consequence of the trauma of the battle and the strong impression the experimental left on Oceanian commanders.
Postwar Era [2188-2195]
The colony received some recognition for its support during the war particularly during the Battle of Rapture, although criticisms on the government's inability to keep a strong hold on popular opinion stuck for several years after the end of the war. However, hoping to avoid another breakaway, the four nations that had founded the colony allowed it to peacefully gain independence while retaining its affiliation to the Core and PACT.
Entering the Postwar Era as one of the leading nations in the PACT frontier, Oceania is now pushing ahead and making its own destiny. Old grievances can be set aside to rebuild anew and the Divers continue their old way of life, settling the fringes of space one habitat at a time.
Politics
Oceania has what could be considered a media democracy, a political system that combines a digitally-enabled direct democracy with a strong core belief in citizen journalism and political activism. For the most part, the nation otherwise functions as a standard democratic unitary state, however, there are no political parties beyond the associations and social networks to which a candidate is a member, all of which must be made public when they apply for candidacy.
On each level, an election is direct to the people the elected official is responsible to. The mayory is elected by the citizens of a habitat, the governors are elected by the residents of their colony cluster and the president is globally elected by the entire population. The more direct democratic element of the Oceania government comes up only when a representing official does not work towards the interests of their constituents, in which case they have the ability to veto their decisions or potentially remove them from office. For this reason, all legislative power de-facto rests with the electorate, with only the judiciary and executive branches being notably separated from the people's immediate control, and the head of state is at all times a political figurehead who functions as a public celebrity and goodwill ambassador to the Core governments.
During the process on all three levels, the candidates are narrowed down by gradual elimination of the lowest-placed or through public bargaining until a majority can be established. Thanks to network technologies, however, a process that would ordinarily take days or even weeks is narrowed down to an electoral race of approximately 48 standard hours for most positions (and 72 for the presidential elections).
Society
Oceania's culture is intensely metropolitan thanks to a heavy influx of transgenes from various PACT states, with clear Indonesian, Singaporean and Australian influences in the architecture, religion and language of the people. Because the transgene migrants came from various PACT states, there's a strong vein of American-style melting pot cosmopolitanism, with ethnic districts in cities and ethnic colonies spread out throughout the system.
Networks and Media
Network technology is not only important by profoundly essential to their culture, in part due to the distance between colony clusters and also because of a general lack of real environments to explore. Saturated with mass media, augmented reality and virtual reality, everything seems to move incredibly fast, from the development of new ideas to the formation and dissolution of popular opinions. Policy regarding media in the colonies could be likened to free market liberterianism, where there is very little control in the marketplace of ideas and citizen media is often the deciding factor in the political process.
Lifestyle
Although updated with new materials such as carbon nanotubes and advanced laminates, the majority of the populace live in habitats similar to those initially proposed by physicists and engineers over a century and a half before Oceania was colonized. Variations on the cylindrical O'Neil Cylinder and Standford Torus are the most popular and most common in-system.
Nomadism is and remains an oddly popular ideology in the asteroid belts. Colloquially referred as Fishers for the original tugboat miners who dragged asteroids to Pacifica during the mass building of habitats in the early 22nd century, they remain an extremely large and visible minority in the Oceanian population. Partially because of the initial housing shortages during the migration waves from the Core, some settlers had resort to living in hollowed out asteroids and retired ships.
Over the course of a few years, some refugees took to their temporary lifestyles very strongly, leading to the creation of a whole counterculture movement. These groups became nests for ZOCU sympathizers, and one of the leading fronts on the Oceanian anti-war movement. Although most eventually would settle down in the habs, some transgene settlers simply preferred the isolation or exiled themselves from society out of safety, while others enjoyed living in outer-system communes alongside their fellows. The Fisher counterculture rejects the materialism of the inner system of Oceania (and indeed, much of the Core) and espouses an ideology of transhuman pacifism and equality across all nations, creeds and genetic types. Many Fisher colonies have practice full or partial nudism when not wearing their spacesuits or mining gear, and most of these colonies tend to avoid adopting cultural taboos beyond a strict insistence on non-violence to keep their membership accessible to any comers.
Transhumanism
Much of its controversy and the cool nature of relations with many of the Second Stage colonies stems from Oceania's relations with Transgenes and the unexpected pro-Transgenic outlook the colony took at inception. After vetoing Australia's attempted closure of the system to Transgene migrants, Indonesia and Singapore shipped large numbers of their own local Transgene populations, many of whom had been persecuted at home in the wake of the Brazillian debacle. When the colony was declared to have an 'open door' immigration policy later than year, the population exploded, leading to an overtake of the baseline population.
Oceania is now one of the Core's few predominantly Transgene colonies, with roughly 70% of the population using either cognitively-augmented or zero-g adapted body types. The remaining Baselines nominally receive minor treatments to acclimate them to zero-gravity and control their metabolic rates to cope with the diet and enclosed environments of space colonies.
Major Settlements
Lacking colonizable landmass, Oceania has a number of notable habitation clusters in-system, consisting of large numbers of space habitats localized at one of the Lagrange points in the orbit of the gas giants Pacifica, Sumatra and Aotearoa, as well as numerous habs dispersed in the asteroid belts. With a growing population of 60 million, the clusters are constantly expanding and building new habs at the various zones. It's eventually hoped that the Oceanian government will gather enough support from abroad to begin construction on a Bishop Ring-type megastructure in order to create a permanent home for the population, although popular and official opinions are that such engineering projects are grossly beyond the industrial capacity of most of the power blocs combined (were that sort feat of diplomacy even possible).
Pacifica-1: New Auckland
Population: 5.6 Million
Main Language (s): Indonesian/Malay, English
The New Auckland cluster plays host to the main shipyard cluster in Oceania, as well as a majority of the heavy industry located in-system.
With branch offices for major arms Pac-Arm aerospace developers such as the Sydney Naval Research Institute and Indonesian Aerospace, New Auckland is the cornerstone of Oceania's industrial and logistical strength. Central to this, is the Medan Colony and the industrial facilities it houses, which account for a little under half of the system's shipbuilding capacity.
Built around a Posthuman fabricator supplied by the Indonesian government, the Medan Colony is a modified cylinder-type colony designed for optimal drydock space. It neither emulates an Earth-based biosphere nor is meant to be particularly habitable, as the inside of the cylinder is opened to space and most of the internal space is taken up by factories. What little is inhabited is inside of a torus structure that wraps around the narrowed top of the cylinder. Both the facility and hab complex areas of Medan Colony are connected by a series of elevators and trams which pass through the interior of the structure.
Because the facility is so essential to Oceania's continuing development, New Auckland is also the headquarters of the Oceanian Colonial Militia and a major staging area for the fleets deployed by other PACT nations.
Pacifica-2 New Sydney
Population: 15.8 Million
Main Language (s): Indonesian/Malay, English, Javanese, Mandarin
Situated at Pacifica's L2 Lagrange point, New Sydney is the administrative capital of Oceania and the center of its culture and trade. Much like its Earth-based namesake the city is a futuristic marvel of architecture and engineering, both in the structure of the dozens of Island-3 O'Neil cylinders and the cities built inside of them.
Most of the colonies were designed to emulate the feel of balmy coastal cities and feature fully fleshed ecosystems with thousands of imported plant and animal species brought in order to give the appearance of a modern Earth-based metropolis.
The elegant vistas and terraces of rounded cities of rounded laminates and glistening golden-hued glass are not entirely as they seem, however. Because every structure is assembled entirely from standardized frefabs for safety reasons, the architectural profession in New Sydney is less a matter of unique design and an artful game of deception. The designer is tasked with disguising the soul-crushing blandness of standardized colony modules with elegant curves and personal touches, working on broad 'aesthetic budget' accorded to them by the city planning committees.
Colonists at New Sydney are multi-ethnic and multi-national and generally wealthy. Indonesian and Malaysian culture and style mingle heavily with Australian sensibilities, creating a uniquely gonzo urban culture that has given New Sydney a self-given but arguably deserved reputation as an international city.
Pacifica-3: Barat
Population: 1.7 Million
Main Language (s): Indonesian/Malay, English
Barat is the center of Oceania's biotech and high-tech industry, located at Pacifica's L4 point, its shares this orbital point and its name with a rogue planetoid that has been the subject of recent and intense scrutiny by Core xenoarcheologists.
Once the site of extensive Precuror facilities, speculation abounds about the true nature of the sites on the surface. It's frequently thought that the planet once housed an observation post, but many refuse that claim on the basis that the stores of Delta Dust are simply too dense and abundant for this to be possible. More radical theorists believe the planetoid was somehow being 'groomed' to be formed into a proper planetary body and would have been terraformed to a viable biosphere, although there is very actual little evidence to support this or any information beyond the certainty of a significant Precursor presence in-system at one point or another.
As expected given its status, Barat has extensive caches of Precursor Delta Dust nanomachines amid the deteriorated ruins quickly becoming the subject of rapid exploitation by local and foreign interests, the ruins have been looted and mostly destroyed and the planetoid subsequently covered in mining probes and automated facilities that process the Dust and ship it to a number of habitats located in low orbit over it.
Barat demonstrates a good cross-section of the regular populace of Oceania, with permanent residents consisting mostly of researchers from PACT and staff culled from the other colony clusters.
Pacifica-4: Selatan
Population: 24.4 Million
Main Language (s): Indonesian/Malay, Hindi, Thai, English
Selatan is the largest colony cluster in Oceania, located inside of a large asteroid field at the L5 Lagrange point, similar to the Jovian Trojans. Consisting mostly of ice and ferrous asteroids, the Selatan field has blessed its various habitats with abundant materials for construction and far more water than it requires for survival.
Because of the availability of resources, Selatan's colonies aren't strictly bound by the requirement to use standardized components. The cities tend to built a little more haphazardly than in New Sydney, and the reconstructed biomes are even more lush and extravagant than those built in the main cluster at New Sydney, emulating the classic feel of 22nd century Earth cities more closely.
Several of the habitats were even designed specifically as giant pisciculture reservoirs and beach resorts, with simulated island chains and sandy beaches. The scale and intricacy of these artificial ecosystems dispels the perceptions of austerity often attached to space colonists and hab dwellers, although it's perhaps earned Oceania a reputation of excess. The stereotype of Oceanian cities being livable and almost unnaturally unsqualid is one that is well-deserved and a point of pride for many colonists.
Most famous (or infamous) in setting this image is the Neo Bangkok habitat, housing a half-dozen distinct cities that emulate the classic boroughs of the Thai capital. The city notably features deliberately haphazard city planning and a network of minor city boroughs and villages connected by a series of canals, lined with iconic synthwood riverfront homes and stone temples. These canals are home to motorized riverboats that ferry locals and tourists around the hab and hosts a number of floating markets in the iconic style of the Damnoen Saduak marketplace.
Selatan otherwise boasts significant diversity in its population, with large Indian, Thai and Cambodian communities. The cities are extremely livable and inexpensive to dwell in, in part because of the availability of resources and the availability of high-paying jobs in ice and ore mining for unskilled migrant workers.
Oceania-1: New Singapore
Population: 2.4 Million
Main Language (s): Indonesian/Malay, English, Mandarin
The only colony cluster outside of the Pacifica orbit, New Singapore is a series of outer system habitats and space stations arranged around the safe zone near the main catapult lane. Most of the facilities there exist to resupply and rearm foreign and domestic vessels, and acts as cargo hub for several Outer Expanse shipping companies. The main habs otherwise boast decent entertainment and tourist destinations, although these are somewhat unimpressive compared to the main clusters at New Sydney and Selatan. The majority of foreign fleets passing through the system remain at New Singapore during refueling, making it a nonetheless rather popular tourist destination for soldiers on shore leave.
Oceanian Colonial Militia
Resources
Ship Listings, Corps Listings, Etc...
Equipment
Vehicles
Mobile Weapons
Statistics
History Path
Final Stats
- SP: 10
- SP Limit: 10
- Population: 450 (Base bonus: 225)
- Trangene: 70
- Morale: 12.5
- Wealth: 900 + 225
- PIP: 150 + 225
- CIP: 900 + 225
- Fabbers: 500
- Delta Dust: 950
- Theta Dust: 200
- Military: 27500
- Doctrines: 25
- Logistics: 40
- Global Tech Level: 24
- Applications: 400
- Stockpiles: 0
- Debt: 0
SP Expenditures
- Tech Indices: 10
Transgene Templates
Oceania is a nation dreaming of finding its own identity, something reflected in the multipurpose and generalist nature of the Diver template. It is intended to not simply survive in space, but thrive and live in comfort, given numerous minor tweaks that do not significantly hamper reproductive viability or health in an age of ubiquitous exowombs and reproductive assistance.
The Diver is a high-performance transgenic template which has been in implementation in Oceania for several decades, based on a combination of the space-purpose Icarus template and innovations discretely purchased from the Eternal Dawn around the time of recontact as well as those secured from prolonged long-distance contact with the Minkowski, the other predominantly space-based society in the Sphere. Like the Icarus and to a lesser extant than the Minkowskian, the Diver is adept in zero-gravity habitats and vessels. Unlike the former, they are somatically and metabolically tuned for certain universal markers for attractiveness (symmetry), shiny hair, a lack of skin conditions and bad smells produced by the body. They emit naturally emit a constantly-changing cocktail of pheromones which are universally pleasant to most transhumans and allow them to reduce stress caused by proximity. It would be easy to say that the purpose of the Oceanian body isn't simply to make another, better Icarus, but one that can like itself and is predisposed to being liked.
Although the physical modifications are the most evident, Divers also possess a slew of neurological modications, mostly tailored after standardized upgrades seen in the Icarus and Alpha. Nervous system optimization and an densening of so-called 'social brain clusters' give the Diver better memory, a larger 'monkeysphere' or ability for sustained empathy towards other people in the environment, and mildly increased reflexes and dexterity. Oceanians are not simply comfortable in zero-gravity, but possess an otherworldly grace in it, their lithe bodies intuitively moving and adjusting for momentum in space.
Additionally, all Divers possess variable-wavelength multispectrum electromagnetic vision that allows them to view multiple spectra ranging from gamma radiation to radio, allowing them to directly perceive EM hazards and even augmented reality without the need for implants or glasses like some of their peers. This has a number of side-effects, notably causing space to take on the spectra of nearby celestial bodies (Oceania's blue star coloring space a bright oceanic blue for its residents) inducing synasthetic responses to posthuman ruins and causing the iris to tend towards bright, rich colors in shades of red, blue and purple, with the pupil being wrapped in a concentric red ring of ultradense vision cones that can retract over the pupil to prevent damage from hard radiation by increasing the reflection index of the eye on a number of wavelengths.
Tentative
- Primary Attributes
- Enhanced Reactions 1 (7)
- Enhanced Intelligence 1 (7)
- Enhanced Socialization 1 (6)
- Secondary Attributes
- Eureka Eyes [EM Vision] 1 (3)
- Tertiary Attributes
- Appearance [Attractive] 1 (1.5)
- Pheromones [Pleasant] 1 (1.5)
- Purified Metabolism 3 (6)
- Zero Gravity Tolerance 3 (0)
- Survival [Vacuum] 1 (1.5)
- Survival [Bio/Radio/Chemical Resistant] 1 (1.5)
(32 * 3 = 96 - 27 = 1)
Technology
Tech Indices (GTL 24)
- Shipbuilding: 29
- Parasite Construction: 24
- Carrier Construction: 37
- Aviation Warship Construction: 24
- Aerospace Construction: 30
- Mecha Construction: 24
- Ground Construction: 24
- Projectiles: 24
- Lasers: 24
- Railguns: 24
- Particle Weapons: 30
- Mega Particle Weapons: 24
- Missiles: 24
- Propulsion: 34
- Power: 30
- Materials: 24
- Shields: 27
- Electronics: 30
- Stealth: 30
- Transgenics: 27
- Mass Production: 24
- Civilian Technologies: 29
- Xenotechnology: 35
- Basic Theotechnology: 40