Kalai

Kalai is one of the capitals of the ancient and powerful Empire of Astrus, and a prosperous and rich world in its own right. The moon was terraformed and colonised by 6330 CE, pioneered by the Empire, and later grew into one its two capitals. The moon orbits its parent world of Mastrus, a ringed gas giant, which in turn orbits the yellow dwarf star Amorala.

History

Kalai was discovered along with its orbital parent, Mastrus, by the GVCS Imor, a Valerian Cybocracy ship, in 5340 CE. The ship logged the moon's orbital characteristics, mass, composition, and rudimentarily mapped it before moving on to survey the rest of the system. It was known solely as VC-23002 6-2.

The moon remained a backwater until the system was claimed and colonised by the Empire of Astrus a whole thousand years later. Terraformation began almost immediately after moonfall, as the first cities began to crop up across the moon's equator.

Kalai was chosen for a multitude of reasons - a pre-existing magnetic field; Earth-like gravity; a pre-existing thick atmosphere and the presence of liquid water on its surface. It only took the Empire a few hundred years before the world was habitable.

During those hundred years, the population of the planet skyrocketed from mere hundreds of thousands to the hundred millions. Vast cities grew up along the planet's eqatorial mountain range, anticipating an ocean world.

Terraformation Controversy

Across the Kalain and Amoralan Local Internet, many differing opinions sprung up regarding the terraformation of Kalai. Out of a hundred or so differing ideological groups, three main political blocs formed in the system, based around their opinion of Kalai's terraformation. The first, and most powerful, advocated for the moon to be terraformed into an ocean world, citing that it was the original plan, and most cities had been built high up in preperation for the global flood. The second advocated for a desert world, with little to no surface water, and bioengineered life flourishing on the arid surface. The third demanded the planet be restored to its original state, claiming the moon had a certain beauty to it, and that terraformation would destroy Kalai's inherent wonder.

Out of the three groups, the first two, advocating for terraformation, eventually compromised and merged, striking a deal that the world would never be an ocean, but it would never be a true desert either; it would have elements of both, with its surface drawing inspiration from other worlds such as Ares. They opposed to anti-terraformationists, and won the hearts and minds of the masses. They drafted a proposal for the continued terraformation of Kalai, and the moulding of the moon's surface commenced, much to the protest of the anti-terraformationists.

Growth into the Imperial Co-Capital

With the conclusion of the moon's terraformation, the population skyrocketed. Kalai's system is resource-rich, only discovered when the Empire colonised the system, and so it soon became the industrial and economic heartland of the sector.

With the Imperial Civil War, Kalai sided with the Secretia, becoming a major hub in the losing sides' logistics and military planning. With the fall of Amber's Secret, and the subsequent dissolution of the Secretia, Kalai fell back into Imperial control, and began re-integrating with the Empire.

It was within this period, the post-Secretia years, that Kalai experienced its most prolific and explosive growth. The planet's population jumped from 8 billion to 50 billion, phys and virt, and the system began to be recognised as one of the Empire's hubs.

This growth only continued into the Cerulean Emperor's reign, as economic and political stability encouraged more spacebound peoples to migrate to the moon's surface.

Towards the twilight years of the Cerulean Emperor's life, a major economic crisis rocked the Inner Sphere, decimating the Empire's then-capital Astrum as law and order fell away. Kalai was less hard hit by the crash, and so the Emperor relocated his family and staff to the moon temporarily, while Astrum was brought to heel by Imperial forces.

The Pacification of Astrum ended up taking over five years before it was deemed safe enough for the Cerulean Emperor to return, along with his family and staff. During the time he spent on Kalai, many Imperial bureaucratic and economic facilities were relocated to Kalai, and expressed a reluctance to leave, citing cost in both time and money to move. As such, Kalai was finally designated as the secondary capital to the Empire, which it later was elevated to co-capital with Astrum.

Biology

Kalai's ecosystem is entirely artificial, grown, designed and create by sophonts. The planet is largely biodiverse, with different biomes hosting different ecosystems, based off the degree of water, wind, heat, salt and more. For the most part, Kalai's primary biome is desert, with vast swaths of it covering the rain-shadowed equator and the central continental plateaus. In these deserts, vast shaggy beasts roam, bioengineered to be the desert counterpart of the wolly mammoth. In the skies, threatening but docile creatures soar, kept aloft by the warm updrafts and their massive wings.

On the coasts of the many seas and lakes, lush jungles and forests grow up, filled to the brim with ecosystems mimicking Earth's Amazon or Siberia, depending on latitude. Bears make way for elephants, as temperature increases.

In the mountains, especially the highly-developed mountain range that splits the world into two, specially designed aerial creatures live and die, creating a whole mini ecosystem based off of the fall of these massive sky dolphins, as they are called.

Geography

Kalai is geographically diverse, covered in lush forests that make way to endless plains, which then slowly transition to rolling deserts. The temperatures far from oceans can swing dramatically, going from near 30 degrees in the day to negative 5 during the night, as there is minimal cloud cover to keep in the heat. However, life thrives in these regions, growing thick wolly coats to keep the heat in at night, and expert burrowing abilities, to get underneath the sand during the day.

Kalai's geography is defined by the equatorial mountain range, created as a result of millions of years of colliding with Mastrus' rings. Many vast and sprawling cities are built into this mountain range, as it was originally planned to be the only land of the moon.

The mountain range, known simply as the Dividing Range, seperates the world into two distinct hemispheres - north and south. Both host similar ecosystems (by design), but, if Kalai remains habitably for millions of years going forward, they will quickly diverge and seperate.

To the south lies the seas of Venizai, defined by long and winding valleys, flooded with water, and steep mountain islands spiking out of the deep seas. These are some of the most habitable lands on the moon, but due to their tough terrain, are lightly populated. They make for some of the best natural views on Kalai.

Furthermore, to the south lies the only non-equatorial mountainous region on the moon - the Jainan Plateau. Covered in snow year-round, the Plateau hosts ski resorts famous throughout the Empire for the treachery and their luxury. In the center of the Plateau, a deep depression has flooded to form the Comin Sea, fed by constant melt-water streams. Here, temperatures are much higher than their surrounds, and make for a stark contrast to snow-capped mountains surrounding it.

In the north, vast steppes give way to arid lands not-quite deserts, but close enough. Only short and stubby grass grows here, plus moss, for thousands of kilometers in every direction. Many cities were built here, after the terraforming, for the ease of access and the relative accessibility from orbit. In the eastern hemisphere lies the moon's largest ocean, Semanna. Studded with islands and peninsulas, Semanna is the economic and cultural hub of the planet, discounting the Dividing Range's cities, with every shore urbanised.

Economy

Kalai's economy largely revolves around tourism, AI, virtuality, picoengineering and megaconstruction. Of these five fields, tourism is by far the largest. Kalai is renowned across the Empire for its unparalleled beauty and prosperity, with its 'marble mountain cities' said to be one of the Wonders of the Universe.

Kalai sits right at the heart of the Empire's economic hub, surrounded by prosperous and developed worlds which feed their trade to Kalai. Acting as a hub for both Imperial citizens and foreigners alike, Kalai is the public capital of the Empire, as opposed to Astrum which is limited to Imperial citizens only.

The moon primarily exports software, hardware, pico and nanomaterials, and artisan goods. Kalai runs a deficit on food, metals, water, and construction materials, and needs them to be imported from other places in the system or beyond.

Kalai is designated as a free trade world, meaning no tariffs or duties are placed on goods traded here, unique in the Empire of Astrus. While the motivation for this is unclear, many think it is an attempt to draw people to the Empire's co-capital, and draw attention away from its less-beatiful aspects.

Society

Society on Kalai is highly stratified, as with all worlds in the Empire. However, as Kalai is the 'face' of the Empire to the rest of the galaxy, it allows comparitively anarchic freedom, when opposed with the rest of the Empire. Kalain society is seperated into layers, based around a individual's 'worth' to society and the Empire, determined at birth. In opposition to the norm, social mobility is permitted on Kalai, but based on strict requirements that must be met in the face of systemic discrimination. Additionally, you will always be held in contempt due to your previous position.

Aside from the Imperial norm, Kalai is unique in that Kalain cities are highly integrated with nature and the world around them. For example, what is commonly known as the mountain marble cities are a series of open-air cities built across the southern cliffs of the Dividing Range. They are built to integrate with nature and the mountains around them.