Iedda - E62AA88-D {2} (J9E+2) [AC5D]
Iedde is a water planet with a smattering of small islands on its surface and a small orange-red sun gently warming it. It's thin atmosphere is not suitable for comfortable breathing, though it isn't toxic. As a result, most of the planet's 90 billion citizens live underwater. The Ieddan government generally does not interfere with the islands at all, considering their territory to start at the water's surface.
The system was founded by an immigration of asteroid miners who call themselves the Children of Harmony, affectionately nicknamed "Charmers." Charmers are secularists who deeply believe in focusing on local community, living in balance with one's environment, taking only what one needs, avoiding violence, and making long-term changes through small, short-term actions. Their pacifism is renowned and they have a waiver for military service (they still must serve, but they take non-combatant roles). Their expression "don't make your children pay your debts" sums up their planning philosophy.
At TL-13, they are not technophobes, though they have a reputation for avoiding certain technology. Each group's local community bureau chief determines rules for adopting technology, usually based on what will keep the community close. Certain tech is eschewed by all Charmers: jump-capable starships, radio communication, weapons of all kinds, holographics, robotics and artificial life.
The Ieddans all understand a very complicated formula by which one determines the cost-benefit tradeoff for the food they consume. After years of practice, most Charmers can do this calculation instinctively, determining that it's better to eat this krill-paste than butcher this rabbit. Their math takes into consideration problems like level of consciousness and net environmental impact.
The Children of Harmony are infamous pacifists. Their feeling is that life is the most precious thing in the universe and everyone plays a part in avoiding loss of life and perpetuating creating of natural life (partly why they have 90 billion people here). In combat situations, they feel that many people play a part in an unbroken chain of actions that could prevent loss of life, and every single person bears full responsibility for not breaking the chain. If a Charmer is involved in the taking of a life, it deeply saddens them, and they will spend the rest of their life trying to pay that debt by saving lives, helping the family and friends (and even species) of the victim, and lobbying for policies that prevent the situations that started the "chain" to begin with.
Charmers also have a strict dress code. They wear a kind of uniform of a typical spacer's jumpsuit or coveralls, free of extra adornment. They do not wear jewelry or get tattoos. Their tradition says that no one should act like they are special or better than everyone else.
On Iedde, they discovered a world with abundant resources, but no land. The Charmers adapted their technology to create tidal-driven power generation and, lacking easy access to metals on the world, created new glass polymers for building. Their cities are made of ultra-tough glass with a coating that responds to electrical signals and can become opaque or transparent, as needed.
Charmers are famous for their friendliness to outsiders, despite being somewhat impenetrable to them. That is, they will embrace you as a friend, but rarely let you into their community. The community is to be protected from outside influence at all costs. When visitors violate the many taboos of Charmer tradition, the locals will smile and tolerate it and the most socially astute visitor might sense a bit of a feeling that the Charmers feel superior to you.
Another famous Charmer tradition is called the Wandering, where a young citizen who has just come of age is encouraged to go out into the wider galaxy and learn for themselves what they're giving up by staying on Iedde. The young Charmer will live among Outsiders, perhaps on a starship, for 1-10 years, then choose to return to their community. Once they come back, they must make the permanent decision to stay or go. Those who go -- the Severed -- are banished from their planet. Those who stay, must obey the regulations of their local bureau.
Iedde is organized into a hierarchy of bureaus. The wheels of progress turn slowly but continuously. Local bureaus make recommendations that filter ever upward to the proper level of decision-making and then the decision is passed back down to the local region for execution. There are thousands of regulations that govern who can make a decision at which level of government. This can be frustrating for visitors to the planet.
Do not mistake the homogeneity of government structure for a flat culture. Each bureau has its own ideas and rules, traditions and norms. The Charmers feel that each bureau can make its own rules, so long as they do not violate the broader regulations that come down from the top. A visitor who gets to know someone from one bureau may be shocked when meeting someone else from another bureau, as the differences can be stark and confusing.
Bureaus consider education to be vitally important, but they may limit the study pathways of each candidate. The best and brightest are chosen to advance to the higher bureau levels and visitors often are surprised at the quality of diplomats at the highest levels. That isn't to say that politics don't play a part in selection, but it is somewhat less than other societies.
Iedde has no highport, no planetary defense systems, no orbital defense platforms, not even satellites. There are a few small downports on islands. These are dirt or rock pads suitable for craft of less than 1000dT only. There are so few of them that a ship must wait 4D6 days in orbit before gaining clearance to land. As the world is otherwise covered by ocean, watertight ships are free to set down anywhere on the surface without clearance, and use submersibles to visit the underwater Ieddan communities.
The planet produces everything it needs without requiring imports. The Charmer civilization produces very high quality manufactured goods but does not export them, as a general rule. Yes, there are Severed who live on the uncontrolled islands and serve as brokers between Outsiders and Charmers. They'll happily set up trades. Charmers generally prefer to barter goods and avoid using any kind of Imperium currency, which is basically useless in the cities. Also, their idea of fairness requires deals to maximize the potential for everyone. If a one-sided deal somehow is closed, they will remember that forever and treat the "selfish" party poorly from that moment forward.
Travellers will be surprised to find there's not much of a global computer network on Iedda. The Charmers feel that the Net is destructive to their local communities and largely shun use of it. If they need something, they'll ask their neighbors for it. If it takes a while to get it, they'll wait. If they need to talk to someone far away, they'll go visit.