Marx
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"The red, white, and blue gem of The Commune - This is where it all started for us here. This is where the Founding Revolution took place. This is where we learned everything about how to structure a just society - This is what we fight to protect. This is what we fight to show all of Mankind." - Luna Sanderson, Leader of the Solar Militia, 200,000CE, 10,550VC
Marx is one of the two capital worlds of The Commune - One part of a double planet orbiting a binary star system, Marx was an Earth-like world before Humanity arrived, and settled there easily enough. Over the centuries, it has become a major place of education, learning, and political intrigue throughout The Commune.
Being the homeworld of The Commune, many individuals who seek to join The Commune often visit Marx to see first hand what sort of society has been built. There is a rumour that anyone who visits it doesn't leave not fully convinced of The Commune's cause.
Marx has been the site of a number of historical events throughout it's life, from the Founding Revolution, to great social reform, to the First Soviet-Commune War, and facing a surprise attack from the Kreigsleute head on. In spite of these many events, Marx has been able to remain firm and strong in it's prominence and cultural importance to the Commune.
Overview
Being one of the Capitals of The Commune, Marx is a very well built up world, with nearly every island available to the inhabitants being colonized and utilized in some way. It is home to thousands of cities, nearly all of which are full of ecologies and attempts to merge nature with the cities Humanity needs. It is home to the Marx Planetary Commune, and is an administrative capital of the wider Linkinsiki Solar Commune.
As a double-planet, Marx has particularly close ties to its twin Engles. The pair will often engage in trade and mutual aid with one another, almost on a daily basis. Hundreds of artificial colonies exist between the two worlds, which are dedicated to industry and agriculture production, many of which are automated by the modern day. The headquarters of the Solar Commune is located between the two.
Geography and Climate
Marx is an Earth-like world, possessing nature, forests, oceans, and wildlife, though not as naturally diverse as is found on Earth. It is home to hundreds of thousands of species, all of varying degrees of sentience and intelligence. Several of these species have been uplifted and brought up to Human levels of intelligence, and now live alongisde Humans and other sentient Commune species as equals.
Unlike on Earth, most of the plantlife on Marx is coloured red. This is because the plants seem to have adapted to absorb more sunlight from its parent star as this colour. In the winter months, instead of falling and dying from their trees or shrubs, leaves will turn a golden-green colour for three months.They then return to their natural red colouration. Leaves can take decades before they're ready to fall.
Marx possesses a large ocean, known as the Damas Ocean. It also possesses two continents; one in the northern hemisphere and the equator known as Aubla, named after the first Human to step foot on the planet, and Dryash, the southern continent, named after the ship that found the planet originally. Between the two are a series of thousands of islands, which are collectivly known as the McHale Islands, which are named after the first explorer of those islands.
Temperature wise, Marx is colder than Earth on average, with the average temperature being 10C (50F). It is however survivable for Humans and other sentient species that come to visit or live on the capital world. In the mountainous regions, snow can be a year-wide occurence, and is a common staple of every year.
Organization
Like many worlds within The Commune, Marx possesses no borders or nation states of any sort. Instead, it possesses what are known as Communes - Local governments based on local participation within a wider community.
Communes can vary in size from a county to a city. These smaller Communes are also part of a wider commune known as the Planetary Commune, which acts as a world government. These are further part of a Solar Commune, which act as a system government. the smaller communes are more relevent to the average person, while Planetary Communes handle disputes and resource distribution, and Solar Communes handle administrative issues and oversee construction and colonization efforts.
All of these Communes are a mix of democracy and beurocracy - Direct democracy is implemented where it is the most effective, while matters such as trade policies and major colonial issues are handled via beurocracy and administration to ensure speed and efficency. Local Communes tend to be more democratic, whereas Planetary and Solar Communes tend to be more democratic within their internal structures - Workers within them can vote on various policies and what would be the most efficent project and how to go about it.
Population
The population of Marx is largely Human, but has become the home of hundreds of various alien species over the milennium. Each person on Marx is part of a Commune, and is permitted to engage in the politics of that Commune as they so desire.
Being a center of education, technology and development, many of the people on Marx are highly educated individuals, and are known for their contributions to the wider Commune.
History
The history of Marx is long and storied, spanning over 10,550 years until the current day. It can be divided up into several key segments.
Discovery And Early Colonization
In 0VC, Marx was discovered by a fleet of energy mining ships. Without any way to get back in contact with the wider Human race or escape the galaxy the fleet decided that they would establish a new colony here. It was intended to be a temporary arrangement, but as it became more and more apparent that leaving the galaxy was going to be impossible, more and more work went into making sure that the civilization being built would be sturdy and capable of housing generations to come. The planet was officially named Rubrum - The Latin word for "Red".
A few dozen ships, such as The Diez, The Thykara, The Queens Memory, and The Zuckerland, as well as many others, were brought out of orbit and placed on the surface, to become buildings the colonists could live in while the construction of cities was underway. The rest of the now 40 ship large fleet was sent out to scout for other worlds that could be colonized, or mined for resources. The ships that were brought down to Rubrum remain there to this day, as both historical monuments and as the Government Buildings for the planet.
0VC to 2100VC
There are two thousand years of societal history on Rubrum beforer what is refered to as 'The Post Revolution' era.
For most of it's existance, Rubrum has existed as a series of decentralized dictatorships, under the justifcation that it was nessesary for the survival of the colonists, and would lead to advances in technology that would make life easier.
Rubrum maintained a large degree of it's technology after being settled. However, it did not nessesarily possess the nessesary tools to maintain that technology, nor could it be replaced when broken beyond repair. This eventually lead to a more leveled out degree of technology, though before this occured, several colonies were established around the planet. Terraforming for it's double planet counterpart, at the time known as Griseo (Now known as Engles) was a rapid development, as was constructing the infrastructure nessesary for maintained space travel. The goal of this was to ensure that the settlers would still be able to expand, and hopefully one day find a way to return to the wider universe, and escape the Messiah galaxy.
Over the next two thousand years, a variety of cultural distinctions began to emerge as time went on. Trade with other worlds that had been settled was common. Intersteller travel was an impossibility due to a lack of energy and maintainance technology, so most of the ships in the region were relegated to system-wide exploration, and aiding in the construction of a wider variety of colonies. As the most populated world in the system, Rubrum was seen as something of a capital of the solar system.
While it never established nation states, Rubrum divided itself into what became known as Segments, flexible regions of territory that encompassed towns and cities. Cities could appeal to become part of different segments if they were within a certain distance of the borders of the segment they were seeking to join. Typically this did not apply to slands, whom could join whatever Segment they so desired. The formation of Segments was also common within this period of history. They primarily served as methods to administrate regions, and to keep track of productivity and maintain quotas. This did not prevent conflict between Segments however, and did erupt sometimes into open war. While there were hundreds of wars, four in particular are remembered; The Typez-Paren war, the Akuana-Kingston war, the Yi-Xoşevî war, and the Mikâlesdóttir-Santos war. Each of these wars turned into something akin to a world war.
Of these wars, the Mikâlesdóttir-Santos war is perhaps the most notable. It took place in 2098VC and ended in 2110VC, and causes immense devastation all over Rubrum, and even to other worlds and colonies. the conflict began over an economically productive city known as Karsburg, seeking to change it's Segment, and the leaders who refused to seek a mutually beneficial agreement - Instead seeking total control over the city for economic gain. This sowed the seeds for the immense anti-capitalist sentiment throughout Rubrum.
Revolution
"We've had two thousand years to see that whatever we're doing here, it isn't working for nearly everyone. We fight pointless wars and lie to ourselves, telling ourselves that if we just work harder, everything will work itself out - Nothing will work itself out until the bastards that bleed us of our labour are thrown into the streets. Pick up your arms and steel your souls, comrades - Change comes now!" - Revolutionary Legend, Hyun Min-Joon, 2134VC
In 2132VC, economic and material conditions began to make the population of Rubrum discontented. People began to get poorer and poorer, while their wages kept decreasing. More and more settlements started to utilize authoritarian means to quell dissent, and political divisions began to get wider and wider. In 2133VC, there was a general strike of pilots and traders, who refused to carry on their work until pay and conditions improved. While these protests started out small, eventually they spread all across Redrum and Griseo. A series of riots began to break out, and eventually, the riots broke out into a full blown rebellion. People became more and more openly discontented with the dictatorships they had been made to live under, and demanded democratic rights. These protests were crushed harshly by Rubrum security forces. This lead to further antagonism between the population and their rulers.
By 2134VC, several armed groups began to form to fight against the authoritarian measures of the governments, and saw rapid growth as personal freedoms became more and more oppressed. In particular, social minorities took up the cause, seeing it as a way to escape the persecution levied against them by the state. This period of time became known as the 'Founding Revolution'. Several major politicians, who had entered politics already sympathetic to the plight of the common man, engaged in various methods of indirect assistance. Various Segments saw more and more conflict and civil unrest, whereas others gave more and more power to the people, hoping to appease them. Many were rejected due to the concessions being made being mostly symbolic and not practically meaningful.
By the second half of 2134VC, the situation had devolved to the point of civil war.
The revolution lasted unti 2139VC, when the workers all over Rubrum and Grisco took over the workplaces, and were able to throw out the various leaders of industry and autocrats from their posistions of power. A series of new branches of government and organizations were set up in order to figure out how to structure the new society. Because of the fact they had taken over the society, the various groups formed together and set up a socialist society - Workers would now own the means of production within their workplaces. Segments were now turned into democracies, and communal work was done to invest and build up poorer regions of the planet.
Post Revolution
In 2154VC, Rubrum elected to change the name of the planet to Marx, in honour of the philosopher Karl Marx, whom had been an influential figure in the ideologies of several revolutionaries. While many thousands of pohilosophers contributed, Karl Marx was considered the original philosopher, and so it was decided he deserved the honour.
By 2402VC, the concept of Segments had been abolished. Instead, the peoples of Marx now lived as one people. Communes existed to help manage lives, implement local policy, and provide administrative classification. The concept of money had also been abolished by this point, instead relying on mutual aid and automation. The Commune became a catch-all term for all the colonized worlds within the Linkinsiki system.
Due to technological progress, Intersteller travel became a reality again in 2433VC.
First Contact
"The first aliens we meet in this galaxy and they open fire on us. Either we're some seriously ugly freaks to them, or this galaxy is a lot more hostile than we thought." - Captain Emyr MacQuoid after First Contact.
The Commune made first contact with an alien spcies native to the Messiah Galaxy in 2436VC, with a species known as the Oswaihr. Upon making visual contact, the Oswaihr appeared to be a to be a welcoming species. after making visual contact with Humans though, the Oswaihr turned hostile, and fired upon Commune ships. The Commune were able to disable the Oswaihr ships without any casualties.
It was revealed by the Oswaihr prisoners that Humanity is in fact well known throughout the Messiah galaxy, and that there are dozens of factions dominated by Humans in nearby systems. The Kreigsleute,The Union Of The Stars Of Gold, and the Deciarchy of the Overlord being two particularly dangerous factions. The Commune was an unknown, and when it was revealed that it was a Human faction, the Oswaihr opened fire on them. Diplomatic relations were established between the two peoples, and the Oswaihr Representative Monarchy was permitted to visit Marx.
The Union-Commune War
Coming into contact with the world Minskulak and the wider The Union Of The Stars Of Gold (UTSG) in 2436VC, Humanity found itself in contact with an authoritarian regime that guised itself in the language of progressivism. While this fooled some into beleiving that the UTSG could become an ally, this was quickly shattered when the UTSG invaded the Commune, seeing both more Humans to bring into it's fold, and seeing them as a threat due to their relationship with the Oswaihr, whom they had been at war with for several years.
Given the close proximity of the systems, the UTSG was able to launch a direct attack against the Linkinsiki system in a charge attack. Marx was shelled in this invasion, before being beaten back by the Commune Navy and Solar Militia. The Commune began a series of counter attacks, eventually pushing the UTSG out of their solar system by 2438VC, and counter attacking the Golden Star system, home system of the UTSG.
Working alongside their Osawihr allies, The Commune was able to take control over the Golden Star System after the battle of Minskulak in 2441VC. The UTSG did not surrender however, and carried on the fight throughout the system. In spite of this, they were pushed out of their home system and had to set up a new capital in other occupied solar systems, and enter a peace accord with The Commune due to the damaging of their forces. The intergration of Minskulak into the Commune remains a source of contention between the factions.
Formation of the Commune Federation
Marx became the center of a huge debate after the Union-Commune war, the subject of which being the fact that other Human factions have been confirmed to exist, and that many may be hostile. the debate centered around the idea of reaching out to them to get them to join an alliance, or to destroy them to protect both themselves and other species that were being threatened.
During this debate it was proposed that The Commune and the Oswaihr pool their resources and become a unified force based on mutual aid and defense. This idea was proposed to the Oswaihr, whom voted in favour of it. The Commune Federation came into being on 2447VC, and the treaty declaring such was signed on Marx.
Kreigsleute invasion
In 4556VC, the Kreigsleute launched an attack against Marx - Utilizing An FTL rapid-attack system, they were able to break through the defenses of The Commune and strike at Marx directly. The attack was not designed to be a crippling blow, but was designed to demoralize and divert resources. To this end, it was an effective attack.