OLD EARTH
Year of Discovery: N/A
Year of Colonisation: 3,000,000+ BCE
Colonised by: Genus Homo
Population (approximate): 20 billion
Primary Orbit: Sol
Important Locations: London, New York, Brussels, Tokyo, Moscow, Canberra, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Melbourne, Singapore, Shanghai, Geneva, Dubai, Paris, Berlin, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Cairo, Athens, Rome, Kuala Lumpur, et cetera.
(Old) Earth is the cradle of humanity and the birthplace of the species. It is the capital planet of the League of Old Earth Democracies and is both the most heavily populated and most industrialised human world. It has a wealth of history and traditions dating back tens of thousands of years in almost as many individual cultures both extant and extinct. While today the League has taken down political and national barriers to become an interstellar alliance as opposed to a collection of individual nations, the continental zones and blocs of Old Earth still retain their cultural heritage, though usually with a shift towards more integration with the whole.
Notable Life:
Old Earth's biosphere contains almost 9 million different recorded species, and each year that number continues to grow as scientists and biologists continue to explore and study life on the planet.
OOC NOTICE: Earth is a real planet - we live on it today. There are approximately 3 million real towns or villages and almost 500 major cities across the globe. As such if your character is from Old Earth, use a real location - do not make something up.
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LUNA
Year of Discovery: N/A
Year of Colonisation: 1969 (first landing), 2039 (first settlement)
Colonised by: United Nations
Population (approximate): 7 billion
Primary Orbit: (Old) Earth
Important Locations: Tranquility, Crisium, Serenity, Fertility, Imbrium
The first off-world colony and in orbit of (Old) Earth. As a small moon, Luna required significant technological effort to become habitable to humanity - such as vast atmospheric generators to initially create a suitable atmosphere for humans. Technological effort is still necessary today in order to keep the (now naturally produced) breathable air close to the surface rather than allowing the atmosphere to escape into space. Luna was originally settled by American, Russian, and Japanese citizens, though this quickly became an increasingly multinational colony.
Notable Life:
Terraforming was slow but has now created a vibrant ecoscape on the once-dead moon. All plant and animal life here were originally Earth-based, but many have begun to evolve to take advantage of the lesser gravity.
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MARS
Year of Discovery: N/A
Year of Colonisation: 2022 (first landing), 2054 (first settlement)
Colonised by: United Nations
Population (approximate): 11 billion
Primary Orbit: Sol
Important Locations: Marineris, Olympia, Hesperia, Nepenthes, Argyre, Isidis, Hellas, Solis, Zephyria
Colonised a decade after Luna, lessons learned from that effort as well as advances in technology allowed for a speedier Martian terraforming process. Though at the time it was a concern that Mars would require maintenance of its atmosphere as Luna does, only the magnetosphere requires technological assistance today - the Martian atmosphere is now completely self-sustaining.
Notable Life:
As with Luna, all animal and plant life on Mars originally come from Earth-based breeding stock and have begun to evolve to take advantage of the lower Martian gravity.
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CENTAURI
Year of Discovery: 2015 (tentative)
Year of Colonisation: 2069 (first arrival), 2135 (first major settlement)
Colonised by: United Nations
Population (approximate): 7 billion
Primary Orbit: Alpha Centauri A & B
Important Locations: Outland City, New Washington, New Amsterdam, Meridin, Kadath
The first extrasolar colonisation effort, it took over sixty years before a proper colony was fully set up on Centauri as the terraforming process altered an almost-breathable atmosphere into one suitable for human habitation. It was the success and prosperity of the colony here that led directly into the original Great Colonisation Rush - the United Nations set up a major exploration and expansion program that led to dozens of worlds being colonised in rapid succession, but these colonies did not have the success of Centauri - leading to the Great Depression on Old Earth as the world economy collapsed. After the Great Depression, Centauri was the only extrasolar colony still in contact with Earth, Luna and Mars - leading to many groups in the American/European power bloc assuming (with varying degrees of accuracy) that colonial life might take them away from the economic problems of Earth and spurred mass immigration to Centauri prior to and during the first interstellar war against the fledgling Alliance of ExtraSolar Unions.
Notable Life:
While a mostly habitable world to start with, Centauri possessed little in the way of life
Noted as being a dry and windswept planet, its vast deserts of rock contain no life whatsoever.
In the sparse regions where life grows it is mostly yellow-brown grasses and small bush-like scraggly trees, with tiny insects that help pollenate them.
Many of the native grasses are rich in nutrients due to their hardy nature, making them a good source of emergency rations out in the wilderness.
Almost all major forms of life now on Centauri come from Earth stock.
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VESTA
Year of Discovery: 2209
Year of Colonisation: 2231
Colonised by: League of Old Earth Democracies
Population (approximate): 5 billion
Primary Orbit: Alpha Centauri A & B
Important Locations: Angel Island, Nyutten, Catania, Opa-Loka, Nacona, Ulubrae
Vesta was colonised by the League colony ship Catania, which was dismantled and used to create the city of the same name on the coast of one of the southern continents. While the atmosphere of Vesta is breathable, its water contains trace amounts of ammonia - thus requiring water treatment facilities to process the oceans into a safe form for the colonists. One of the first generation of undersea facilities was the Nyutten Treatment Plant which (upon its retirement) was purchased by some Eurozone survivalists and became the first underwater colony city - over the years this pressurised, sealed, and controlled environment has been expanded and rebuilt multiple times and now houses several million people, with a decompression time of two hours one-way in order to safely travel from surface to Nyutten or vice versa.
Notable Life:
Vesta's surface is almost 80% water, and native life is mostly restrained to the oceans.
Giant nautiloids with shells as big as a house, human-sized arthropods similar to anomalocaris, and even strange legged worm-like creatures that resemble hallucigenia.
The surface was, until human colonisation, home only to alien lichen and moss, but today many forests of Earth-born trees cover the land masses, while Earth-stock animals and other plantlife are commonplace.
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CALLISTO
Year of Discovery: 2209
Year of Colonisation: 2217
Colonised by: League of Old Earth Democracies
Population (approximate): 4 billion
Primary Orbit: Alpha Centauri A & B
Important Locations: Astoria, Nunakik, Qom, Reedport, Uusi-Vaasa, Lillestrom, Ostersund, Sabbah
The Astoria was the colony ship sent to Callisto and like all League colony-class vessels it was designed to be dismantled upon landing for its parts to be used to construct and power the first settlements - thus giving the first town (later capital city) its name. Possessing an atmosphere already breathable to humans (albeit with an increased percentage of oxygen) and even some native forms of life, Callisto was a perfect candidate for colonisation in the second great Colonisation Rush after the failed war against the fledgeling AEU. A large number of Inuits also took to Centauri, hoping to use the newfound wilderness of Centauri's frozen northern regions to retain their culture after the increasingly monocultural shift from United Nations to interstellar League of Old Earth Democracies back on Earth.
Notable Life:
There is a large variety of life native to Callisto and even today much of it has yet to be fully documented - since the original colonists brought with them many Earth-based forms of life, a considerable number of native plants and animals have been lost through these introduced invasive species.
Surviving native species include the shamak - a two metre long sabretoothed lagomorph native to the northern polar regions, bathyglyptus - a one metre long mammal-like quadropedal pseudoreptile with a large colourful backsail native to the eastern continent, and the false moa - a four metre tall flightless avian native to the temperate regions.
