Venus Upper-Class

For the entirety of human life on Venus, the planet as sort of been split in two. In recent years, there has been progress in bridging that gap and making things more equal. In the Third Golden Age of Piracy, however, the gap was as large as it has ever been. There were the glittering, floating cities of Venus, populated by those who had more wealth than they knew what to do with and who had a fondness for lavish parties. Then there were the undercities, the parts of Venus society that allowed for life in the floating cities to exist. Those who resided in the undercities were often overlooked and ignored, hardly considered more than part of the machines that kept everything running. With regret, this article is not about them, though they deserve their turn in the spotlight as well.
Instead, this article is about those wealthy partygoers that floated high above the rest. The Venus upper-class.
How one managed to gather enough money, prestige and security to land themselves among this crowd was somewhat varied, though most found their way to the top through owning a particularly successful company. Or, on some occasions, being one close, friendly terms with the Crown. While the upper-class that resided on Earth were also quite wealthy, they had their own culture, distinct from that of Venus. Though, there was a lot of travelling between Venus and Earth for various events, including the famed Venus parties.
Parties thrown by the Venus upper-class were legendary. The guest lists were shocking, the food and drink were the best possible, and the entertainment was like nothing you could see elsewhere. It was a point of pride among the Venus upper-class to outdo each other year after year, following and setting trends and forging partnerships and heightened status through these events.
Of course, the parties weren't the only things the Venus upper-class were known for. Another, more frowned upon, practice was their approach to marriages. The eldest child was allowed to choose their own partner and was allowed to wait until the age of 25 at the latest before their parents would force a marriage of their choosing on them. Any children born after the eldest were to be placed in marriages arranged by their parents, typically meant to forge and strengthen social or business relationships between families. These children would be married off between the ages of seventeen and twenty. It was incredibly rare for a family to break this pattern.
If the eldest child were to die, the privileges of the eldest would be passed along to the second eldest. In the event of twins, triplets, and so on, all or both would gain the privileges. A number of dramatic books, films, plays, audio dramas and so on took this fact that used it for dramatic effect in romance plot lines. A second child would fall in love with someone, but their love could never be. Then, their elder sibling dies under strange circumstances and suddenly, they are able to marry whoever they choose. But the question remains, did their lover kill the sibling? A common enough plot in fiction, but in real life such events have only played out twice, that we know of.
Venus made itself into a glittering, massive, easy target for pirates. And yet, the parties didn't stop. Not for many, many years.