Bacchus - The Celebration of Wealth

Bacchus is the main corporatist planet in the system. It was named for the notion that it would be the most prosperous planet in the system. The people would celebrate in the streets, be mad with happiness, and live lives of plenty with all the wine and festivities to match. To be fair, those who rise to the top and have a fortune to burn do live that life. Everyone else? They’re worn to nubs.

Geography

The planet has about a 50/50 mix of land and ocean. This makes it difficult at times to say any one body of water is a distinct ocean when there is so much oceanic expanse. Most of the dry-land is forest land, with uncommonly tall trees - some have reached 1000’ tall. These forests have created a stark barrier between the ‘civilized’ and the ‘uncivilized’ world.

The central city, Bacchanalia, is a sprawling 2000-mile-wide complex and the only city on the planet. Everything here is build under an authoritarian, centrally planned rule. There are regions for manufacturing, housing, recreation… the rich and the poor. The air in the lower class sectors has notably worse quality than those living in high-class regions. Smog pollutes the air and water in the city. It’s not uncommon to see yellow clouds floating above residential streets.

In contrast, the rest of the planet is seas and forest that are being poisoned by the city. The forests are mostly flat, with a few hills and valleys. There are no mountains on the planet’s surface. The primary deterrents to expansion have been the wildlife and the management. Land-claims are expensive, costing billions per square foot of undeveloped land. Those who hold claim to land, claim all its natural resources. Legal disputes over territory are not uncommon as there is no central register for outside the city. It’s possible to make false claims and the court battles to settle such matters are lengthy investigations. Trespassers are fined and punished harshly. The wildlife is equally problematic. A number of poisonous insects and other hazardous wildlife populates the untamed forests. They’re not an issue in the city, but beyond the city?

Many hope the new wildlife will be helpful in scientific discoveries, new drugs, and so on. The race to make such discoveries is equally buried in legal obstacles.

Key Locations

Bacchanalia

We had a garden, and we paved it.

The biggest and only city on the entire planet. This mega-city spans for thousands of miles. Its population numbers in the hundreds of billions. It’s generally divided easily into economic classes. Those who live on the edges of the city are often the lowest class, while the city center, with its skyscrapers and guilded high-rise suites is for the ruling class. There is no social safety net on the planet. It’s pure corporatist here, with those on the bottom beaten into near slavery by the system around them.

A mix of manufacturing and refineries pollutes the air at the city’s edges. Careful design by their master architects funnels the smog outwards from the city-center, ensuring their richest citizens never breathe anything but fresh air. This has lowered life expectancies in the city outskirts by 20 years. The woodlands beyond the city are a constant threat to its citizens, though the on-going poisoning has weakened most wildlife that draws near.

Safe food cannot be grown here, the toxins in the atmosphere render most naturally grown foods inedible, poisoned.

The Platforms

There are four large orbital docks, these are the main way for bulk cargo to reach the planet. They’re each owned by a different company, controlling a different territory, and of course, running a different business model. This complicates matters for people who might land at Bacchanalia during the day passing by Warden’s Futures Station, but leave that night through Enduring Innovation Station’s territory. They’ll have to pay separate fees to each. It’s a great scam that entangles and confuses many visitors.

Warden’s Futures

A station hoping to run a stock market and control trade throughout the sector. They’re known best for their expansive espionage network. There’s rumors that they’re manipulating business deals behind the scenes to secure ownership of at least two of their rival stations. It’s not uncommon for them to sell data about the ships in their territory, put spies on those ships, and especially attempt to infect ships in their docks with automated malware.

Gala Station (Pronounced Gay-Lah)

A weapons’ dealer trying to get in on more regular commerce. This station is often used for backroom deals. Private Militaries and others come here to have meetings and demo a variety of weapons. The technology on display is often outlawed in other systems or even galaxy-wide, but Gala has a enough leeway to perform their demonstrations here.

Progress Corp.

Named after an old automated cargo system, or perhaps descended from the company that built it, Progress Corp. Station is one of the few fully automated stations. There is no staff here. The AIs are all purpoe built. There are very few complex AI’s here, with the bulk of the station being simpler ones who’ll just push cargo through as fast as possible. This station’s goal is to be the fastest to process people through, though it does come at a cost. Literally. Service comes at a premium. And the AI’s may not be the most secure.

Juno-Annalee Mercantile

The only one of the shipping platforms that comes from an actual shipping business. Juno-Annalee is one of the biggest shipping conglomerates in the galaxy. Their empire spans the system, carrying up to 25% of all human shipping traffic. Their employees number in the billions. The shipping center at Bacchus is the best way down to the planet. This platform is their foothold in the system, the beginning of the plans to expand their shipping empire. The business plan is to outmanuever their competitors through good services, some backhanded deals, and a heavy loss-leader design. The other stations absolutely despise them, but the shipping empire is just too big to unseat them.