Centauri Republic

The Centauri Republic is a major Frentierist state located in the Sol Sector. Founded in the aftermath of the Great Cataclysm, the Centauri Republic struggled for decades to build a new society, with few connections, and pressure from the Union of Sol. As jump travel became easier however, the Centauri Republic's economy grew rapidly, which then allowed the Republic to resettle some worlds that had been completely destroyed in the Long Night. In the current era, the Centauri Republic has thrown, nearly completely, the shackles imposed upon it by the Union of Sol, and established itself as a major power in charted space. Thanks to its position at the heart of the galaxy, and the extensive trading connections that brings, it is one of the most influential economic powerhouses in civilized space.

Culture

The Centauri Republic maintains a libertine, if somewhat elitist society, with a strong emphasis on personal freedom, and market competition. In this way it maintains a certain spirit that had been falling out of favor in the face of civilizational breakdown. The Republic maintains a very financially valuable cultural industry, producing a number of cultural products for export. In the arts, the Republic favors trideo, traditional film, music and holographic art as the primary cultural products, though tourism is also a major source of income generated through culture.

History

The systems that would become the Centauri Republic were among the earliest settled with initial crewed missions to the Home region occurring during Project Exodus, and permanent settlements being founded shortly after the jump drive became a viable technology. Alpha Centauri in particular would be home to two colonies founded in the 23rd century. These first colonies were quite small, and remain so for a couple centuries as the colonization technologies of the time limited the capability of the terraforming technology of the time, and the resulting limited capacity host large populations. Towards the end of the First Expansion, Alpha Centauri began to grow in population, and was stable enough to launch a rebellion against the United Nations of Earth at the start of the Troubles. After the end of the time of Trouble, and during the Opulence, the Alpha Centauri System was made a cornerstone of efforts to develop older colonies. Indeed, the Centaurus Project, the first effort made to artificially create Earthlike conditions on other worlds was initiated on Chiron. These efforts were successful, and heralded an immigration boom to the colonies. During this time, the Alpha Centauri became a major economic hub a second only to Sol itself. Other colonies, were established including permanent settlement of the Wolf System, and the initiating of deep terraforming of Midway and the Lalande System. By the end of the Opulence, the Core Worlds of what would become the Centauri Republic were all well developed, healthy colony worlds. Towards the end of the Opulence, Alpha Centauri became a major industrial powerhouse, and supplied colonial efforts towards the Gemini stars. Though these colonies would play a minor role compared to those coreward of the Line Sytems, they proved the strength of the Centauri systems. During the Second Expansion, the Centauri would play a key role in developing the Third Generation of the Standard Build Template system. The Central government of the Transolar Union offloaded a lot of manufacturing onto the Centauri systems, though the Central government preferred to retain Research and Development, and the reverse engineering of Pardian technology in the Sol System. It was during this period that the beginnings of a distinct Centauri culture could be formed, around the principles of the Free Market, and the protection of property, even in an era of three dimensional printing. This would form the foundation of the Frentierist movement, which would eventually subsume most other forms of liberal thought. Alpha Centauri would play a key role in the Third Great Human Civil War, being the center of the Frentierist faction of the war, and being the launching pad for numerous attempts to conquer Earth. After the war, the Centauri would be a major player in the construction of a new government, and indeed Centauri politicians would form the bulk of the reconstruction council. The new Stellar League would be shaped by Centauri thought, and the fourth and final generation of the SBT would follow Centauri principles. The Jred would upend everything however, though the Centauri worlds were spared from directed Jred attack, people fleeing from the rim left many of the currently Centauri systems totally inhabited. Worse still the Great Cataclysm was extremely devastating. Initially contacted by the survivors of the Stellar League, the Centauri worlds only stayed in the fragile emergency government for little more than fifty years before declaring independence, leading to the first Centauri-Solar War, after which the newly formed Centauri Republic gained its independence. The Centauri Republic survived the Long Night intact, and used its position at the heart of the galaxy to become a major player, particularly counterspinward of Sol. As the Long Night began to fade, the Centauri Bank of Chiron ascended to become a major financial player, and Centauri trade fleets, freer to move, establish trade routes with much of the galaxy. This has led to two additional conflicts with Sol, one of which the Republic one, and one which it lost. These conflicts, though guaranteeing the independence of the Republic limited its power, and locked Sol and Alpha Centauri into a Cold War over the economic dominion over the systems close to the Sol Sector.

Demography and Population

The Centauri Republic maintains one of the largest populations of any organized state in civilized space, which is fairly impressive given its relatively small number of claimed systems. It is also maintains a reasonably accurate census of this population. As of the most recent count, the Centauri Republic has a population of 41,247,876,835. The bulk of the Centauri population lives in the Alpha Centauri System and the Wolf System with populations in the billions. The Prospero system is also fairly large with a population in the tens of millions. All other systems are much smaller with populations smaller than one million. The Centauri Republic was first colonized by peoples from the poorer regions of Earth, but dramatic population shifts during The Opulence saw the bulk of the Centauri population come from the wealthier regions of Earth, primarily from Europe.

Territories

The Centauri Republic is a moderately sized state, possessing a claimed territory of eight Parsecs, which is considered large for the regions of space close to Sol, but small compared to many of the frontier sectors. This region is densely settled with only two parsecs of empty space held within Centauri territory. The core system of the Republic, Alpha Centauri is heavily developed, and indeed quite possibly the most densely settled and populated system in civilized space. Wolf too is fairly well developed with industrialization and a population in the billions. The other colonies however, are much smaller being minor corporate colonies holding dangerous manufacturing and resource harvesting facilities. The Republic for the most part is not interested in expanding its territories, despite the variety of independent worlds within its reach, with the exception of Dismal, which it has been pressuring via trade sanctions to submit to Centauri rule.

Military

The Centauri Republic maintains a large, robust military capable of standing on even terms with every other state in civilized space. Its fleet is thousands of ships strong, including a number of powerful Sol Sector ships, which remain the backbone of the Republic's military capability. It maintains a comparatively modest marine corps however, basing its planet-side power on its planetary forces which are moved readily thanks to the Centauri's substantial heavy star lift capability. Indeed this capability has also allowed the Republic to neglect its planetary defense forces which are much weaker than the more mobile assets of the Centauri armed forces.

Technological Level

The Centauri Republic maintains an extremely high level of technical development, with every single member state having maintained an interstellar level of development though only Chiron has maintained the peak level of development achieved before the Long Night. This is attributed to the Republic's close proximity to Sol, and the Galactic Surveyor's Guild, who assisted in the maintenance of interstellar society and advanced technology. Though a smaller contributing, effective stewardship of its technical base on the part of Centauri scientific and manufacturing communities also assisted in keeping alive a uniformly stellar level of development.

Religion

The Centauri Republic is a secular state, and allows open and free practice of any religion within its territory. The Republic's citizenry is extremely diverse religiously with a broad mixture of traditional Earth religions, revivalist faiths, minor technocults, and Opus Dei being practiced within the territory of the Republic. The largest portion, a large plurality of the population is Agnostic, of people who are religious, the Abrahamic faiths have the strongest representation, Opus Dei has also found purchase in the region, with the Beaconist sect of the faith being the dominant one. The largest revivalist movement, Harakat Alnahda, has gained a lot of followers in recent years, and may eventually eclipse Opus Dei, and the traditional faiths in the next century.

Foreign Relations

The Centauri Republic is something of an open trader, with its prime concern being securing markets for Centauri corporations and a steady flow of imports. As a result it frequently makes partnerships that would not match ideologically in the name of securing trade deals, or at least preventing major tariffs on their goods. The Centauri Republic maintains positive relations or at least neutral relations with most major nations, including an in depth trade agreement with Cetian Union, traditionally it also had such an agreement with the states of the coreward Gemini Sector, though the Third Centauri-Solar war put an end to those. Indeed the greatest rival of the Centauri Republic in the current era is the Union of Sol, which has stymied Centauri efforts in a bid to reassert hegemony over the Centauri.

Laws

The Centauri Republic, or at least its most populous worlds, maintain relatively lax controls over the general populace. This is especially the case where corporations maintain a somewhat weaker influence over the course of the state. Generally speaking, laws are strictest regarding weapons, armor, and drugs, with computers, assorted technology, and other consumer goods largely free to be used in the market. Overall, the Centauri Republic is widely regarded as one of the most libertine states organized under the Frentierest economic model, and is seen as the ideal Frentierist state. While liberal democracy and civil rights are seen as strong in the core worlds, societal control tends to be much stricter on corporate colonies, where citizens reliably have little in the way of civil rights, especially those concerning right to dissent, organize, and go on strike.

Agriculture & Industry

The Centauri Republic is in possession of an advanced, diversified modernized economy with a fairly high degree of specialization among the constituent worlds of the Republic. Its core regions are fairly heavily industrialized, with Wolf indeed being classified as an Industrial system. Alpha Centauri is not far behind in that respect, but has maintained better environment controls, and more diversification of its own economy. Prospero is the agricultural heart of the Republic, and provides much of its food. The tertiary sector has a good deal of support in Centauri with a number of financial institutions including the Bank of Chiron, as well as a robust tourism sector centered on the resort world of Midway.

Education

The Centauri Republic maintains a modest state education system, with a basic state curriculum. This curriculum includes basic instruction in reading, writing, maths, the sciences, history, and cultural studies. This particular education lasts until a student reaches an age of majority where they are no longer obligated to attend school, nor is higher education supported by the state. Indeed, there is a large market in private schools, covering more advanced topics, and especially tertiary education. Most education facilities are found on the core worlds, with the smaller colonies relying on remote learning.

Infrastructure

The Centauri Republic is a highly connected interstellar state, with all of its constituent worlds connect to Jumpgates, but not necessarily to one another. Its network consists of two primary lines which leave the Republic, and an exit point to the Union of Sol. All of these Jumpgate lines are centered around the Alpha Centauri System, which acts as a hub for the realm. The Centauri Republic is also in possession of one of the few working ansibles in the galaxy, something it uses to coordinate its military with greater efficiency than is possible for most other interstellar states.