HOME | DD

Description
The Lunar Republic is the oldest state in the Exile, and also one of the wealthiest. It's also unusual in that it is situated in a location that possesses no biosphere whatsoever - namely, Old Earth's moon.

Celestial bodies such as Luna are usually passed over for colonisation, due to the extreme expense required to support a functioning society. The Lunar Republic only exists due to an accident of history, namely its proximity to Old Earth.

Settlements on the Moon consist of a mix of underground complexes and domed cities on the surface. The underground complexes tend to be older; the technology needed to build domes many kilometres in diameter came later.

The Moon's population was initially quite small - as late as 200 BE it was only around 500,000. However, as Old Earth's climate collapsed during the final eco-catastrophe and billions of people were faced with a choice between emigration or death, the Moon's population swelled. Today, in the 1290s Post Exile, the Moon has a population of 2.3 billion. It is in fact the only post-human domed colony with a population of more than 500 million.

The Moon owes its surprising prosperity to several factors. Whilst Old Earth is now an uninhabitable Venus-style runaway greenhouse nightmare, nonetheless it is also still the effective centre of the Exile-wide wormhole network. It's not quite true that all wormholes lead to Sol, but certainly a lot of trade routes go through it. The Moon is well-placed to act as a rest stop and a trading hub. In addition, the Moon has an extensive solar power industry - there's no atmosphere to weaken incident sunlight, and no weather to interfere with photon collection. The Moon does also have exploitable reserves of various useful metals like iron or titanium.

A weakness to the lunar economy is the need to import volatiles like water, oxygen and luxury foodstuffs. The Moon is regularly supplied by ice mines located on C-type asteroids in the Main Belt, and also the occasional comet diverted in from the outer solar system.

Politically, the Moon is a social democracy. There is a parliament; power typically alternates between the three major political factions. As it's a wealthy society, the Moon's politics are quite stable. While it did experience some incursions during all three Mechanist Wars, nonetheless the Moon itself has never faced a serious risk of foreign invasion. The Sol System is arguably the single best-defended in the entire Exile, as it is host to the three richest individual governments (the Moon and the two Martian polities).

In defense terms, the Lunar Republic focuses firstly on its aerospace force and secondly its navy. Most of the key wormhole connections are in Earth orbit and thus within astronomically-close range of the Moon itself. Consequently, focusing on a rapid-reaction fighter force makes political and economic sense. Lunar pilots are generally considered to be some of the best in the Exile. (Perhaps surprisingly given the peaceful state of Solar affairs, the Lunar Aerospace Force has a lot of combat experience. The Republic is quite generous about handing out its services to its allies.)

The Moon doesn't go in much for infantry combat, on the assumption that once an invading force breaches the pressure domes, it's as good as lights-out anyway.

Like many Exile societies, the Moon's inhabitants have undergone extensive genetic alteration to accommodate them to their new environment. This process has left them with a superficially bat-like appearance. The early lunar colonies involved a lot of badly-lit tunnels, hence a capacity for echo location was helpful. The Moon can also be quite cold - as it has no atmosphere, its equilibrium temperature is -19 Celsius. Bat-like fur was considered helpful as extra insulation. Lastly, the Moon's low gravity entirely changes the power-to-weight ratio for muscle-powered flight - on the Moon, bat wings actually work! Giving the Lunars wings had an extra beneficial effect - it reduced the need for complex infrastructure like roads and cars within the early domes. The first domes were relatively small, and anything that freed up space for more agriculture was beneficial.

Description
The Lunar Republic is the oldest state in the Exile, and also one of the wealthiest. It's also unusual in that it is situated in a location that possesses no biosphere whatsoever - namely, Old Earth's moon.

Celestial bodies such as Luna are usually passed over for colonisation, due to the extreme expense required to support a functioning society. The Lunar Republic only exists due to an accident of history, namely its proximity to Old Earth.

Settlements on the Moon consist of a mix of underground complexes and domed cities on the surface. The underground complexes tend to be older; the technology needed to build domes many kilometres in diameter came later.

The Moon's population was initially quite small - as late as 200 BE it was only around 500,000. However, as Old Earth's climate collapsed during the final eco-catastrophe and billions of people were faced with a choice between emigration or death, the Moon's population swelled. Today, in the 1290s Post Exile, the Moon has a population of 2.3 billion. It is in fact the only post-human domed colony with a population of more than 500 million.

The Moon owes its surprising prosperity to several factors. Whilst Old Earth is now an uninhabitable Venus-style runaway greenhouse nightmare, nonetheless it is also still the effective centre of the Exile-wide wormhole network. It's not quite true that all wormholes lead to Sol, but certainly a lot of trade routes go through it. The Moon is well-placed to act as a rest stop and a trading hub. In addition, the Moon has an extensive solar power industry - there's no atmosphere to weaken incident sunlight, and no weather to interfere with photon collection. The Moon does also have exploitable reserves of various useful metals like iron or titanium.

A weakness to the lunar economy is the need to import volatiles like water, oxygen and luxury foodstuffs. The Moon is regularly supplied by ice mines located on C-type asteroids in the Main Belt, and also the occasional comet diverted in from the outer solar system.

Politically, the Moon is a social democracy. There is a parliament; power typically alternates between the three major political factions. As it's a wealthy society, the Moon's politics are quite stable. While it did experience some incursions during all three Mechanist Wars, nonetheless the Moon itself has never faced a serious risk of foreign invasion. The Sol System is arguably the single best-defended in the entire Exile, as it is host to the three richest individual governments (the Moon and the two Martian polities).

In defense terms, the Lunar Republic focuses firstly on its aerospace force and secondly its navy. Most of the key wormhole connections are in Earth orbit and thus within astronomically-close range of the Moon itself. Consequently, focusing on a rapid-reaction fighter force makes political and economic sense. Lunar pilots are generally considered to be some of the best in the Exile. (Perhaps surprisingly given the peaceful state of Solar affairs, the Lunar Aerospace Force has a lot of combat experience. The Republic is quite generous about handing out its services to its allies.)

The Moon doesn't go in much for infantry combat, on the assumption that once an invading force breaches the pressure domes, it's as good as lights-out anyway.

Like many Exile societies, the Moon's inhabitants have undergone extensive genetic alteration to accommodate them to their new environment. This process has left them with a superficially bat-like appearance. The early lunar colonies involved a lot of badly-lit tunnels, hence a capacity for echo location was helpful. The Moon can also be quite cold - as it has no atmosphere, its equilibrium temperature is -19 Celsius. Bat-like fur was considered helpful as extra insulation. Lastly, the Moon's low gravity entirely changes the power-to-weight ratio for muscle-powered flight - on the Moon, bat wings actually work! Giving the Lunars wings had an extra beneficial effect - it reduced the need for complex infrastructure like roads and cars within the early domes. The first domes were relatively small, and anything that freed up space for more agriculture was beneficial.