STUKRID PRIME (STUKRID-B)
N-CLASS (former M-Class) TERRESTRIAL PLANET
POPULATION
~11 million
CLIMATE
Stormy, turbulent. Extreme surface temperatures due to insulating atmosphere.
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ASTRONAUTICAL ASSETS
- 1 orbital space station, abandoned and older/primitive technology (originally launched in 2285).
- Around a dozen high atmosphere crafts, ~100 capacity, up to the border of the exosphere
HISTORY
Stukrid-B originally supported humanoid life as an average M-Class planet. The native nations, however, were rife with international discord and regularly staged bloody wars over both territory and global resources. Combined with general threat of planetary eco-collapse, a population of the Stukrid civilization began research and development for âcloud citiesâ, an effort to rapidly evolve and transform their society to adapt to life in the planetâs stratosphere.
In the year 2302, factional fighting escalated to the breaking point. Several of the most powerful nations launched their supplies of baryon bombs and the global chain reaction of weapons of mass destruction resulted in the deaths of millions, while additionally rendering the planetâs surface uninhabitable due to lethal concentrations of baryon radiation.
Though many of the cloud cities were also targeted in these attacks, historical accounts indicate that only two of them were actually destroyed, due to individual heroics in sabotaging the WMD targeting systems. Three additional cloud cities had been near ready for launch, so a percentage of apocalypse survivors that had taken refuge underground during the catastrophe were also able to flee the planetâs surface when these cities were activated.
To this day, the planetâs surface continues to be inhospitable to most forms of life.
CLOUD CITIES
The Aerozeni cloud cities are undoubtedly one of the strangest marvels in aeronautic history, despite their ultimately fairly simple execution. Clusters of platforms are suspended by enormous, segmented blimp-like balloons known as âsynthcloudsâ, which are crafted with specialized lightweight materials that can harness both solar and triboelectric energy. Each synthcloud consists of individually monitored segments that can be precisely inflated or deflated. This level of control empowers the cities to manage their altitude with unparalleled precision and redundancy, adapting seamlessly to changing environmental conditions.
The platforms themselves are densely packed with green/park-like spaces, interspersed by short towers of residential apartments and municipal facilities. The Aerozeni cannot afford to waste an inch of aerial real estate, so the cities are built with a strong focus on communal facilities, with private residences are generally standardized and only varying in accommodation of family sizes.
A perimeter public transportation system allows for both intra and interplatform travel. Less often used are the suspension bridges and ziplines (depending on which platform is more elevated at the moment) that connect adjacent platforms to one another.
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
Officially, each cloud city governs itself, with its own elected city council and mayor. The original design for cloud cities demanded total independence and self-sufficiency; should the worst happen to one city, it would not doom any others with it. In practice, however, most of the cities run very similarly to one another, with the only substantial differences resulting from the Aerozeni developing the confidence for cities to begin to specialize a little more.
Each cloud cityâs council additionally nominates an individual liaison (not necessarily the mayor) to be part of a global advisory board. The role of the advisory board is not to rule, only to communicate and disseminate information quickly between cloud cities and to agree on best practices and protocols. In this way, the cloud cities do their best to cooperate and trade with one another, without relying on mandates.
There is no standing military on any cloud city.
NOTEWORTHY CLOUD CITIES
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Horizon City
- The premiere research & development capital. The most talented engineering and science minds develop their work and proposals here, including the burgeoning space program.
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Reclaim Core
- Headquarters for salvage and re-appropriation operations. While all of the cloud cities are capable of carrying out salvage/recovery operations, Reclaim Core has the greatest capacity and more personnel dedicated to this work.
- Salvage operations include all of the following: safely collecting irradiated materials from the surface, decontamination procedures, cataloguing recovered items and potentially reconstituting items that are only useful as raw resources, etc.
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Bio-Grove
- Headquarters for agricultural development. To feed their populations, all cloud cities have significant platform space devoted to greenhouses, filled with some traditional soil-based agriculture techniques, but more significantly aeroponics.
- Bio-Grove is home to most of the scientific research that continues to push the envelope in getting higher yield crops, through both environmental controls and genetic modification.
- Bio-Grove is also where the original research on humanoid genetic engineering was developed, but this program has been largely defunded in practice.
