Tianguo came from a colonization effort by the Nova Terran state of Tian Xia. It started beyond the fringe, in an attempt to allow greater growth before it ran into conflict with it's neighbors. It remained a high priority project by Tian Xia until Tian Xia's absorption into the United Nations, which helps to explain its relatively large size and richness despite the distance from the colonizing powers. It is relatively humanocentric.
General Information[]
Sectors[]
Guangdong[]
Capital Sector of Tianguo. Located at W-3. Current GDP of $17k. Population of 60 billion
- Bao'an binary
- New Hong Kong - Capital Planet at Bao'an A
- Warp gate at Bao'an B
Hubei[]
Located at V-3. Current GDP of $12k. Population of 50 billion
Fujian[]
Located at W-2. Current GDP of $10k. Population of 50 billion
Hunan[]
Located at X-3. Current GDP of $10k. Population of 50 billion
Jiangxi[]
Located at V-2. Current GDP of $6k. Population of 30 billion
Guizhou[]
Located at V-4. Current GDP of $6k. Population of 30 billion
Hainan[]
Located at U-3. Current GDP of $2k. Population of 10 billion
Taiwan[]
Located at X-2. Current GDP of $2k. Population of 10 billion
- Tainan System and Planet
- Total GDP: $65,000
- Population: 290 billion
- NCP: 26
Celestial Bureaucracy(government)[]
The Government of Tianguo is often known as the Celestial Bureaucracy.
Type: Constitutional Monarchy. The King(Wang) is Head of State and Head of Government.
Executive: The King can be charitiably described as an absolute dictator. On the other hand, "Even the Emperor needs to follow the law." Since very few things can really be restricted to applying to the Emperor alone, nearly everything that the Emperor can do, a random private national can do as well. Since the advent of upload and download technology, an Emperor can rule for much longer than merely life. As such, it's become traditional for Emperors to abdicate after some decades of rule in favor of their successor. Upload and download technology also effectively removed the ability for civil wars to be successful, as even if an usurper managed to kill the King, the King would be able to return from the grave, to lead the loyalists.
Legislature: The Ren-Da, made up of representatives from every planet in the polity. The Ren-Da is made up of two houses, the House of Keys and the House of Citizens. The House of Keys is made up of men appointed by the King. Ordinarily, they serve for 70 years. However, they can be removed from office either by the King, or by a vote of their peers. This has been exceedingly rare. The House of Citizens is elected from the prefectures, and is a much larger body than the Keys. Term limits are in place, though such long terms that they'd be lifetime for most polities. The politicians are generally corrupt as hell, but it's also generally acknowledged that they are corrupt as hell.
Judiciary: The Emperor is ultimately the highest judicial official in the polity, however he rarely actually hears cases. A panel of 9 judges makes up the Zuigao Fayuan (lit Supreme Court), hearing cases on appeal from several levels down. Both the Supreme Court and the next lower level court can refuse to hear appeals.
Currency: Tianguo Yuan (TGY), subdivisions are the Fen and Jiao. The Yuan has been revaluated several times over the course of the centuries in order to maintain uses for the currency subdivisions. This typically results in an old yuan equaling a new fen, or a 100x devaluation. Coinage is unique in that no coin is actually round (being triangular, pentagonal, or heptagonal, based on value of coin (significant digit being 1 are triangular, 2 are pentagonal, 5 are heptagonal)), with size depending on magnitude of value. All coins also have a hole punched through the center of them, with the result that they are typically found strung on a cord. All coins have a chip buried inside them that verifies their value. "Paper" currency consists of an advanced polymer with embedded circuitry that verifies the value.
Nationality: Every person born in Tianguo territory, or to parents of Tianguo nationality, is eligible for Tianguo nationality. Such status is provisional until the 21st birthday, and must be confirmed by the same. Confirmation is as simple as a provisional national filling out a form to the Ministry of State. Filling out this form is common as part of high school graduation preparations. Naturalization proceedings can also grant nationality.
Citizenship: Every Tianguo national is eligible for citizenship. Citizenship must be earned through service to King. Such service can be either civil or military service. The type of civil or military service makes a difference as to the amount of time needed to earn citizenship. Military service generally earns citizenship by the end of the first enlistment. Civil service can be anywhere from 8-40 years to earn citizenship, with high risk specialties such as police and firefighter granting faster citizenship. Citizenship gives extra priviledges and responsibilities over being a national. Amongst them is voting in elections, and being called back to the colors.
Economy[]
Tianguo uses a regulated free market economy. It is technically, an artificial scarcity economy. Without the artificial restraints on supply caused by cultural preference, it would be post-scarcity, which would likely cause a collapse of the economy as no one quite know how to accomplish such. It is only with objects requiring specialized materials that real scarcity becomes involved. There is, generally, no such thing as a company too big to fail. Such are either broken up when they do fail, such that they are no longer too big to fail, or nationalized (in the case of natural monopolies). The increasing problem of too many people chasing too few jobs has largely been solved by reducing the number of hours worked. The average worker works only 20 hours a week. This provides large amounts of leisure time. Most menial jobs are performed by robots powered by Artificial Stupid programs. It's been realized that true Artificial Intelligence has grave potential for rampancy.
Government funding largely occurs through the use of business taxes, with additional income coming in the form of tariffs, and property leases. Nearly all real estate is owned by the state, with indefinite lease rights given. The state can revoke the lease for it's own use, but generally cannot revoke leases otherwise.
Language[]
Tianguo as a Chinese dialect is unique, in that although hanzi characters are still used, an alphabetic character set is largely used for writing. This system utilizes 41 characters in order to represent the initial, final, and tone of the syllables. Due to the relatively large number of homonyms, hanzi is employed to disambiguate when necessary.
Religion[]
The dominant form of religion in Tianguo is Daoism. Through Moshu techniques, the shade of an ancestor can be summoned. They tend not to be very talkative about their new home, but it is one of the few religions that have a factual basis. Significantly less common are Buddhism, Haruhiism (that is, veneration of the Empress Haruhi as a goddess), and atheism.
Supernatural abilities[]
Like many other humans, a number of colonists gained powers as a result of the hyperspace travel trip. In Tianguo's case, the colonists gained the ability to do what is now called Moshu (or magic). Moshu is incompatible with other psychic power systems. Several have attempted to learn both, however, the results have varied from hospitalization, to brain damage, and even up to death. No attempt has been successful. Somewhat uniquely, a power to mana converter is available for users of Moshu (or Moshushi), allowing them to generate effects disproportionate to what a Moshushi would ordinarily be able to generate. This does, however, require a fusion reactor to apply the power. Such converters can also be used to power spells without a Moshushi present.
Cities[]
Arcologies[]
The predominatant type of structure is the arcology. The bottom stories tend to look like fortresses rising out of a parkland. On average, the arcology proper covers 4 square miles, with 4-5 times that in surrounding green space. The green space is typically used for both recreational purposes, as well as for growing food such as fruits to support the arcology. Underlying the entire area are additional farming areas, growing grain, cattle, chicken, pigs, etc. Also located underground are the fusion power plants that power the arcology. Generally speaking, an arcology is self sufficient for normal needs.
Transportation inside an arcology takes the form of both individual vehicles, such as bicycles and tumblebugs(small, one wheeled, self balancing motorized scooters), as well as mass transport, like slide walks. Exterior transportation is usually of the mass transport type, similar to light rail.
Communal style dining is the norm. Advances in Artificial Stupidity algorithms have driven the labor cost for making a meal down to the electrical cost of the robots to do so. Thus, despite the fact that most meals are taken together, extensive meal customization can, and is, performed. Resturant style dining is still available, and human chefs still cook in them, but the price of labor for the waitstaff results in a significant increase in price. Kitchens can also be rented, and so-called foodies often do.
One of the most significant variations can be seen in housing. Living quarters can range in size from capsules slightly larger than necessary to sleep in, to opulent suites.
Tulou[]
These are very similar to arcologies writ small. They are highly self sufficient, but not to the same degree as an arcology (food supply is much more restricted, etc). They typically house a single multi-generational family. Larger Tulou can approach the size of a small skyscraper. They often are in clusters, with large green spaces between clusters.
Space Colonies[]
Terraforming worlds being an expensive and long-term proposition, space colonies were built to house population. The most common form is extensively similar to an O'Neill Island Three design. That is, a rotating cylinder segmented into 6 pieces, 3 land pieces, 3 sky pieces. Light is fed into colony through mirrors and the sky panels. The sky panels are actually water filled, providing thermal mass to even out the temperature of the colony. Power is supplied from solar thermal and a set of fusion reactors. Underneath the floor of the panels are farms, providing both fresh food, and acting as part of the air recycling. Air recycling is also partially provided by phytoplankton in the sky panels. Radiators on the exterior of the colony help regulate the temperature. Shield generators both protect against solar flares and micrometeorites, as well as against the possibility of hostile fire. The exterior of the land panels is also made of armor plate, and the sky panels made out of armor "glass" as well. Space colonies come in pairs, to equalize angular momentum, allowing them to continuously point their sunward ends at the star they orbit. Normal population load of a colony is approximately 9 million.
Significantly less common is the non-rotating colony. As this colony type requires constant power input in order to maintain gravity, it's maintenance cost is significantly higher than the Island 3 type. These tend to be much smaller, with significantly less open space, more comparable to a driveless ship.
Technology[]
Energy[]
Use of anti-matter for energy storage has been suggested, and repeatedly rejected due to the danger that large amounts of anti-matter poses. Anti-matter fueled ships are banned from landing on Tianguo controlled planets. Possession of greater than microgram quantities of antimatter without a license is punishable by life imprisonment. It is impossible to get a license for greater than a gram of antimatter, and possession of such is cause for immediate application of the death penalty.
Drive[]
Cochrane generator[]
Creates a mass lightening field, allowing an object to be accelerated to much greater speeds for a given amount of energy. However, momentum remains conserved. If the generator is destroyed, the collapse of the field will result in mass returning to normal values, and the excess energy involved will be thermalized.
Mach Lorentz Thruster(MLT)[]
Utilizes the Mach Effect to accelerate a spaceship without any mass lost to space. Appears to violate conservation of momentum but definitively retains conservation of energy. Related to the Cochrane Generator, and forerunner to same. Reaction drives are however, more power efficient in atmosphere.
Medical[]
Backups[]
The vast majority of Tianguo nations have at least a basic cybernetic setup (known as a neural lace). Such a setup does not have wireless access capabilites, but is rather intended to allow a copy of a personality to be made. This enables reconstruction of a person even if all that is left is the backup node (or copy made in secure storage elsewhere). The effective result of this technology has been immortality. With the rise of moshu enabled computers, it's relatively easy to determine when someone has died, and can be resurrected. This is required, as the soul of the person is required in order to do a proper resurrection with Tianguo technology. The spells utilized now fail, preventing re-embodiment from backup, if the target is not dead. Prior experience has shown this to be necessary.
Personality Integrated Cybernetic Avatars[]
PICAs, as they are known, leverage the backup technology in order to allow extraordinarily dangerous tasks to be performed without the lengthy downtime that would be required for rebuilding a body from scratch after death. They are essentially prosthetic bodies. Due to difficulties in reintegrating memories that would occur, those who utilize a PICA remain asleep while using the PICA. PICAs are heavily utilized amongst the military, with land troops using the Combat Hardware Upgrade, which allows increased strength, speed, and agility. Additional functionality is built in to make it suitable for military use as well. Use of PICAs for extensive periods of time by wetware based personalities is contraindicated, as the increasing amount of time spent asleep can result in irreversible coma and death.
Uploads[]
The same technology that allows backing up a personality also allows the upload of that personality to run solely on computer hardware. Such personalities are known as uploads, and have the same rights and responsibilities of any other Tianguo national. Uploads can utilize PICAs without time restriction.
AIs[]
Generally speaking, AIs are frowned upon. Most jobs that require an AI can be equally effectively done by a disembodied (uploaded) human, typically. Commonly utilized to help, however, are sub-sentient programs often known as Artificial Stupids (or ASes). Disembodied humans and AIs are limited in computational power. Their hardware is divided into classes, with class 0 being identical in reaction time to an unmodified human. Each increase in class results in a doubling of computational power. Civilians are typically restricted to class 3.5 hardware. Special permits can allow up to class 7 hardware for civilians. Military personnel can operate at up to class 10. Hardware exceeding the limits can be removed, with a fire-axe if necessary. It's not uncommon for embodied humans to actually operate around class 0.5-class 1, as a result of an upgraded neural lace implanted into them. It's important to remember that higher class hardware doesn't result in the user becoming more intelligent (though it may appear so). Rather, their thinking is merely sped up. A four year old that's on class 3 hardware is merely a four year old that gets bored 8 times faster
Weaponry[]
Warheads[]
Pinch warheads. These are fusion warheads that utilizes a "z-pinch" to create a fusion reaction. This reaction is multiplied through a multi-stage process to the desired yield (max is several hundred megatons, before stages are blown apart before ignition). Used where kinetic missiles are contraindicated.
Missiles[]
Generally launched from Vertical Launch Systems. Said systems are not necessarily vertical, especially on Taikongjun ships. Regardless, they operate similarly, in that a sealed container holds the missile, and launches it directly out of the container. No additional launcher apparatus is required. Multiple sizes are used, due to requirements for missiles that scale from the one that fits onto a smallish truck, to anti-spaceship missiles, capable of battering down the shields of even the largest warship.
Mass Drivers[]
Guns no longer shoot dumb shells. In effect they launch miniaturized missiles of their own. Each shell contains the capability to alter its trajectory based on feedback from sensors, both its own, and the launching ships. This has resulted in much larger guns being necessary than before; however, the increase in lethality due to the reduction in misses more than makes up for that reduction in rate of fire. Decades ago, they went to gravitic based launch mechanisms, simply due to the fact that other propulsion technologies could no longer keep up.
Energy[]
Phased array lasers (aka Phasers), make up much of the energy firepower of a Tianguo ship. As they are modular in nature, destruction of an individual module will only result in the loss of energy to the beam from that one module. Similarly, adding additional modules increase the firepower available proportionately. Multiple modules are required to properly form a beam however. A single module is effectively just a flashlight. The outer surfaces of most Tianguo ships are carpeted with a combination of phaser arrays and sensor arrays.
Military[]
Ranks[]
Officer[]
There are 14 different officer grades, divided into 3 tiers of four ranks, and an additional tier of 3 ranks. All ranks in a tier have the same ending word, while all ranks of the same level between tiers have the same beginning word. The prefixes are, in order: Shao, Zhong, Shang, Da. The suffixes are Wei, Xiao, Jiang. The last tier consists of Yuan Shuai, and Da Yuan Shuai. These ranks apply regardless of branch of service. Insignia for the Wei tier consists of bars. Shao Wei and Shang Wei wear copper colored bars, while Zhong Wei and Da Wei wear silver. Shao Wei and Zhong Wei wear a single bar, while Shang and Da Wei wear two. Xiao ranked officers wear circular pips, with the number increasing with rank. The Jiang tier wears stars. Ci Shuai wears a single baton, Yuan Shuai wears a pair of crossed batons, while Da Yuan Shuai wears a trio of crossed batons.
Warrant Officers[]
These are technically skilled specialty officers. They rank co-equal to CGOs, but are not called upon to command a unit. Those that are called upon to command a unit are typically commissioned as a Shao Xiao. They perform skills such as doctors, pilots, investigators, and senior technicians (such a Lead Meteorologist). Similarly to the private tier, their rank consists of a numeral prefix before the rest of their rank. The suffix portion is always Deng Shiguan Zheng. There are 4 warrant officer ranks, Si, San, Er, Yi. Warrant officer's insignia consists of a single metal bar with square black pips inset into it. The increasing numbers of pips indicate increasing rank.
Enlisted[]
Similarly to the officers, there are tiers of 4 ranks, but there are only 2 tiers. All services utilize the same enlisted rank structure. The private tier is: San Dengbing, Er Dengbing, Yi Dengbing, Shang Dengbing. The NCO tier utilizes the same prefixes as the officer tier, however the suffix is Shi. Privates wear diagonally oriented slash marks on their upper sleeves. The number of slash marks increases with rank, up to 3 marks. San Dengbing wear no insignia. NCOs wear chevrons and rockers. Shao Shi wear a single chevron, Zhong Shi wear 2, Shang Shi wears 2 chevrons, with a round rocker underneath, and Da Shi wears 2 chevrons and 2 rockers. Certain specialties wear insignia inset into their rank insignia. The most significant of these are the first sergeant, with a diamond set vertically between the chevrons and the rocker, and senior enlisted advisor, who wears a star inset into his rank insignia. The senior enlisted advisor is only available to Da Shi, while first sergeant can be either of the top two ranks.
| Insignia | 
|
|
|
|
| Title | Da Yuan Shuai | Yuan Shuai | Ci Shuai | |
| Translation | Grand Marshal\Grand Admiral | Marshal\Fleet Admiral | Vice Marshal\ | |
| Insignia | 
|
|
|
|
| Title | Da Jiang | Shang Jiang | Zhong Jiang | Shao Jiang |
| Translation | General\Admiral | Lieutenant General\Vice Admiral | Major General\Rear Admiral | Brigadier\Commodore |
| Insignia | 
|
|
|
|
| Title | Da Xiao | Shang Xiao | Zhong Xiao | Shao Xiao |
| Translation | Senior Colonel\Senior Captain | Colonel\Captain | Lieutenant Colonel\Commander | Major\Lieutenant Commander |
| Insignia | 
|
|
|
|
| Title | Da Wei | Shang Wei | Zhong Wei | Shao Wei |
| Translation | Senior Captain\Senior Lieutenant | Captain\Lieutenant | 1st Lieutenant\Lieutenant Junior Grade | 2d Lieutenant\Ensign |
| Insignia | 
|
|
|
|
| Title | Yi Deng Shiguan Zheng | Er Deng Shiguan Zheng | San Deng Shiguan Zheng | Si Deng Shiguan Zheng |
| Translation | Warrant Officer 1st Class | Warrant Officer 2d Class | Warrant Officer 3d Class | Warrant Officer 4th Class |
| Insignia |   
|
 
|
|
|
| Title | Da Shi | Shang Shi | Zhong Shi | Shao Shi |
| Translation | Sergeant Major\Master Chief Petty Officer | Master Sergeant\Chief Petty Officer | Staff Sergeant\Senior Petty Officer | Sergeant\Petty Officer |
| Insignia | 
|
|
|
|
| Title | Shang Dengbing | Yi Dengbing | Er Dengbing | San Dengbing |
| Translation | Corporal\Leading Rating | Private 1st Class\Rating 1st Class | Private 2d Class\Rating 2nd Class | Private 3d Class\Rating 3rd Class |
Taikongjun[]
The Space Navy is a venerable, nearly millennium old institution. It is considered to be the senior service, and receives over an order of magnitude more funding than the Lujun, despite having two orders of magnitude lower manning. This is in part dictated by the extreme differential in equipment costs between the services, and the vital importance there is in ensuring the safety of space.
Lujun[]
The Army is a numerically larger force than the Taikongjun. Unfortunately, a single Taikongjun cruiser, with only a 2000 man crew, carries enough firepower to destroy a Lujun Army Group. This insolvable difference in lethality results in the supremacy of the Taikongjun in budget fights.
Goujia Moshushi[]
The Goujia Moshushi are uniformed service members. However, they will almost never be found in a formation of their own. They are magic users, trained in the not so mystical arts.
Gong An Bu[]
The Ministry of Public Security is the national police force. It utilizes military ranks, and the commander is a Da Yuan Shuai. Amongst it's duties is customs and border enforcement, which results in it operating a number of J-10 fighter bombers and Y-14 transports.