(continuing the theme of planetary culture driving imperial ...)
rethe
rethe is one of the more unusual worlds in the imperium in that, despite its vast population, family ties continue to predominate. in the opinion of most this has not served them well, but the rethans ignore this and continue their ancient ways. from the original two thousand families that came six hundred years ago to mine the mineral deposits, the size 2 world population has swelled to twelve billion. through the water crisis, through the vermin plagues, through the civil war infighting, through the shutdown of the mines, and through the permanent economic crisis and vast overcrowding, the rethans continue to remain in and return to their family homes on rethe.
rethan society is stratified, literally. rethan habitats are "pits", large shafts sunk into solid rock at the planet's surface that may be up to a thousand feet wide open in the center and that can reach down several thousand feet. the pits are capped with a steel framework inset with thick glass panels to retain air pressure at sustainable levels in the pit. the shaft is lined with living spaces, almost always family apartments, set into the solid rock and facing out towards the wide walkways circling the open shaft. successful upper class famlies live in the upper tiers, middle in the middle, while city life support infrastructure, the lowest class of families, and lone individuals, are at the very bottom. cities consist of huge collections of these habitation pits, along with pits devoted to space port, agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, academic, civic, and communal activities, all linked together by tens of thousands of foot, slope-rail carriage, and (in "high-class" tiers) grav-driven carriage tunnels at most levels, in addition to endless elevators and stairs between tiers. most of the upper level tier stairs and transport passages are documented and can be isolated at each end with iris valves, but many of those in the lower tiers are not. in addition the entire planet is perforated by quite literally millions of mine pits, shafts, passages, communication tunnels, played out ore veins, and other diggings, many of them connected to the cities and transportation tubes between cities. in addition new pits and new transportation tunnels are always being dug, and some few mines remain in operation, continually adding to the planet's porosity and sometimes causing deep mine flooding when the world's underground seas are encountered accidentally.
artificial gravity is maintained in all family dwellings to encourage normal human physical development, but the walkways, passages, and pit centers are unmodified and have nothing but the planet's own gravity. lighting is common and bright in the upper tiers, becoming a bit dimmer and more intermittent towards the lower tiers. power is provided mostly by vast solar panel farms on the surface and supplemented as necessary by cold fusion power plants leased from outside companies.
marriages are often arranged according to family traditions - oddly, men and women maintain separate traditions. while women on rethe are considered free and equal citizens they almost always marry young and almost never work outside of their homes. men who are not at work usually are with their families almost non-stop. "going out" usually means going out with the family to communal activities, and despite their troglodyte existence rethan cities are filled with civic and communal activities. the children seem slightly more independent of their families than the adults and large groups of them hurtle through the tunnels and walkways playing their games and going places.
one rethan norm that many outsiders find disturbing is their practice of lining the walls of their habitations with small statues, plaques, and urns with the ashes of their ancestors. ask a rethan about any of these displays and he can tell you all about that ancestor in sometimes unnerving detail. another rethan norm that many outsiders find entrancing is their practice of singing in their pit wells. they will line the walkways of their pits, any number from a few to literally tens of thousands at a time, singing ancient harmonies that everyone knows by heart and sometimes trying out new ones. rethans tend to maintain these two practices whereever they go.
rethe must import most of what it needs. with their mineral veins played out and lacking the technology to build starships on their own, rethe has no natural resources other than it's own people, their physical and technical labor, so this is what they sell and export. millions of rethans serve in extra-planetary corporations, the merchant marine, and the imperial forces, remitting their pay back home. despite their family ties rethe routinely sends pioneer colonists to worlds that request them, as many as and often more than are requested. if a mercenary company can supply the transportation then rethans can sign up for mercenary work by the tens of thousands. and when the imperium needs to raise an army, literally ten million rethans can sign up in one day. except for the colonists most rethans return home, bringing their expertise and skills with them.
in addition to their people themselves, rethe sells manufacturing labor. vast trains of ships bring raw materials to rethe and turn around with manufactured good for sale elsewhere. treece and enope are unable to compete with rethe in manufacturing and are bypassed on the trade routes, and despite their huge technological advantage even feri and zivije are hard-pressed to keep their costs below that of rethe industrial labor and transportation. in fact feri does some of it's space-going vessel production on rethe. bartering between rethe and inthe in foodstuffs for manufactured goods is one of the most regular and profitable trade runs in the regina subsector.
rethe has several atypical resources. for one, it has plenty of space on its surface for large-scale hazardous testing accompanied by large-scale personnel support and non-wilderness living for the testers. many corporations, and sometimes the imperium, conduct long-term testing of hazardous products at rethe. for another, rethe is able to engage in hazardous materials manufacturing without having to worry excessively about industrial pollution or biosphere contamination. such workspace is surprisingly rare, and rethe can charge handsomely for these priviledges. it does.
one less-mentioned and less-remarked-upon rethan export is teams. the close living and close family ties of rethe often produce groups, sometimes very large groups, of men and sometimes of women, whose families have known each other for generations and who know each other very deeply from childhood, and who thus make excellent teams of whatever training and purpose. some of these teams achieve great fame, but most are covert, and some are outright secret.
rethe
rethe is one of the more unusual worlds in the imperium in that, despite its vast population, family ties continue to predominate. in the opinion of most this has not served them well, but the rethans ignore this and continue their ancient ways. from the original two thousand families that came six hundred years ago to mine the mineral deposits, the size 2 world population has swelled to twelve billion. through the water crisis, through the vermin plagues, through the civil war infighting, through the shutdown of the mines, and through the permanent economic crisis and vast overcrowding, the rethans continue to remain in and return to their family homes on rethe.
rethan society is stratified, literally. rethan habitats are "pits", large shafts sunk into solid rock at the planet's surface that may be up to a thousand feet wide open in the center and that can reach down several thousand feet. the pits are capped with a steel framework inset with thick glass panels to retain air pressure at sustainable levels in the pit. the shaft is lined with living spaces, almost always family apartments, set into the solid rock and facing out towards the wide walkways circling the open shaft. successful upper class famlies live in the upper tiers, middle in the middle, while city life support infrastructure, the lowest class of families, and lone individuals, are at the very bottom. cities consist of huge collections of these habitation pits, along with pits devoted to space port, agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, academic, civic, and communal activities, all linked together by tens of thousands of foot, slope-rail carriage, and (in "high-class" tiers) grav-driven carriage tunnels at most levels, in addition to endless elevators and stairs between tiers. most of the upper level tier stairs and transport passages are documented and can be isolated at each end with iris valves, but many of those in the lower tiers are not. in addition the entire planet is perforated by quite literally millions of mine pits, shafts, passages, communication tunnels, played out ore veins, and other diggings, many of them connected to the cities and transportation tubes between cities. in addition new pits and new transportation tunnels are always being dug, and some few mines remain in operation, continually adding to the planet's porosity and sometimes causing deep mine flooding when the world's underground seas are encountered accidentally.
artificial gravity is maintained in all family dwellings to encourage normal human physical development, but the walkways, passages, and pit centers are unmodified and have nothing but the planet's own gravity. lighting is common and bright in the upper tiers, becoming a bit dimmer and more intermittent towards the lower tiers. power is provided mostly by vast solar panel farms on the surface and supplemented as necessary by cold fusion power plants leased from outside companies.
marriages are often arranged according to family traditions - oddly, men and women maintain separate traditions. while women on rethe are considered free and equal citizens they almost always marry young and almost never work outside of their homes. men who are not at work usually are with their families almost non-stop. "going out" usually means going out with the family to communal activities, and despite their troglodyte existence rethan cities are filled with civic and communal activities. the children seem slightly more independent of their families than the adults and large groups of them hurtle through the tunnels and walkways playing their games and going places.
one rethan norm that many outsiders find disturbing is their practice of lining the walls of their habitations with small statues, plaques, and urns with the ashes of their ancestors. ask a rethan about any of these displays and he can tell you all about that ancestor in sometimes unnerving detail. another rethan norm that many outsiders find entrancing is their practice of singing in their pit wells. they will line the walkways of their pits, any number from a few to literally tens of thousands at a time, singing ancient harmonies that everyone knows by heart and sometimes trying out new ones. rethans tend to maintain these two practices whereever they go.
rethe must import most of what it needs. with their mineral veins played out and lacking the technology to build starships on their own, rethe has no natural resources other than it's own people, their physical and technical labor, so this is what they sell and export. millions of rethans serve in extra-planetary corporations, the merchant marine, and the imperial forces, remitting their pay back home. despite their family ties rethe routinely sends pioneer colonists to worlds that request them, as many as and often more than are requested. if a mercenary company can supply the transportation then rethans can sign up for mercenary work by the tens of thousands. and when the imperium needs to raise an army, literally ten million rethans can sign up in one day. except for the colonists most rethans return home, bringing their expertise and skills with them.
in addition to their people themselves, rethe sells manufacturing labor. vast trains of ships bring raw materials to rethe and turn around with manufactured good for sale elsewhere. treece and enope are unable to compete with rethe in manufacturing and are bypassed on the trade routes, and despite their huge technological advantage even feri and zivije are hard-pressed to keep their costs below that of rethe industrial labor and transportation. in fact feri does some of it's space-going vessel production on rethe. bartering between rethe and inthe in foodstuffs for manufactured goods is one of the most regular and profitable trade runs in the regina subsector.
rethe has several atypical resources. for one, it has plenty of space on its surface for large-scale hazardous testing accompanied by large-scale personnel support and non-wilderness living for the testers. many corporations, and sometimes the imperium, conduct long-term testing of hazardous products at rethe. for another, rethe is able to engage in hazardous materials manufacturing without having to worry excessively about industrial pollution or biosphere contamination. such workspace is surprisingly rare, and rethe can charge handsomely for these priviledges. it does.
one less-mentioned and less-remarked-upon rethan export is teams. the close living and close family ties of rethe often produce groups, sometimes very large groups, of men and sometimes of women, whose families have known each other for generations and who know each other very deeply from childhood, and who thus make excellent teams of whatever training and purpose. some of these teams achieve great fame, but most are covert, and some are outright secret.
