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Description

Across the vast expanses of Federation Space, Humans have settled colonies on the most worlds and have grown to become the most populous species in the whole of the Federation. Most worlds, however, have at most a few million settlers, and the core of Human settlement and expansion in the Galaxy remains firmly rooted in the immediate neighborhood of Earth. Much as has historically been the case of all urbanized species to cluster in urban areas both before and after leaving their homeworld, most of the Republic of Terra has concentrated its presence into a series of planets within vicinity of Sol, forming what is deemed the "Human Metropole". While Humans as a species are widely-traveled and have expanded far beyond Earth, seemingly out of instinct to travel and explore, Earth remains the most powerful world of Humanity and much as in the past people clustered around the centers of power, Humans continue to cluster into the worlds which nestle close to Sol.

Three worlds anchor the Human Metropole: Earth, Venus, and Mars. Earth itself needs no introduction of course, the ancestral homeworld of Humanity and the most populous planet in the Federation. Venus and Mars, the worlds most immediate to Earth within the Sol System, were not originally Earthlike. The first truly great projects of Humanity, the two worlds were the first Human efforts at terraforming, carried out over a process of nearly 200 years and culminating in their complete transformation into being worlds molded in the image of Earth. Ever since, Humanity has not only settled worlds amenable to their preferences, but become experts at shaping barren worlds into havens for any species that desires them. Earth, Venus, and Mars, the so-called "Terran Trio ", form the core of the Republic of Terra and represent the greatest single investment focus of the Human species. This is common for most species, as in almost all cases a homeworld will be the most populous of a species, but Human seem to take it to a new level.

The first two colonies of the old United Nations of Earth beyond Sol come in the form of Horizon and Theia. Horizon was the first such colony, settled in 2217 not long after the UNE had unified Earth and began the first exploration of the galactic hyperlane network. Having been colonized early on, the United Republic of Earth and later the Republic of Terra invested heavily into these two worlds, both of which were graciously very Earth-like (despite its purple appearance driven by retinal proteins in place of the more common chlorophyll, Theia is by all accounts just as Earthlike as most others). Having grown out to more than two billion each, the two planets are two of the most populous planets in Human space, outpaced only by Earth, Venus, and Unity (Mars, meanwhile, keeps even). The significance of these worlds to Human economic, political, and scientific activities is such that they are (alongside Venus and Mars) the primary "Secondary Worlds" of the Republic of Terra, when Earth and Unity are considered the Primary.

Unity itself is an outlier in that it is technically the oldest Human colony. The former core world of the Commonwealth of Man, Unity had its own colonies during the Commonwealth period, counting among their numbers Hoxworth, Capella, and Euterpe. Of these worlds, however, only Unity ranks as a majorly developed world of the Metropole. In the course of the Final War of Humanity the bulk of fighting took place first in the fringes of both the UNE and the Commonwealth, but later proceeded deeper into Commonwealth territory. The ravages of the war left nearly 2 billion dead, and the Core Worlds of the Commonwealth were ravaged. Unity alone was spared; after the fall of the Deneb Citadel the rump government of the Commonwealth conceded to the reality that they had lost, and surrendered Unity without a fight. As such, only Unity escaped the devastation of the Commonwealth's fall, and to add further in its aftermath a major migration from the ravaged Commonwealth worlds to UNE worlds even after the Republic's formation only increased this disparity.

The last three worlds of the Metropole are interesting in and of themselves because they were later examples of the advancements in Human terraforming capacity. In systems already settled by Humans, terraforming moved from simply altering existing worlds to be more habitable to fully building ecosystems from the ground up. Harmony and Destiny were worlds created in Earth's image, while Ashur was an example of creating a tidally-locked ecosystem meant to be as identical as Earth as possible while accommodating the lack of rotation, seasons, and the fact that habitation was only possible in the narrow twilight belt of the world, but despite having been settled so late in the history of the UNE and the Republic, their proximity to the core Human worlds has led to their developing much more rapidly than other frontier worlds, meaning that even while Ashur has less than 50 million inhabitants its overall development is firmly within the Metropole alongside the other core worlds.

The Republic of Terra, along with Humanity in general, continues to push outwards to new worlds in all directions, having the most settled worlds and colonies of any member of the Federation and consisting of nearly 20% of the Federation's overall population, a small plurality but still the largest in general. The constant expansion of Human space is one carried out both to ensure the survival of the Human species but simply from a kind of inbuilt desire to expand and explore. In the galaxy, Humans are often typecast as the "Explorers", willing to go anywhere and do almost anything if it satisfies this almost inherent desire among their species to simply wander. Hundreds of years before the present one of the most influential Human writers quoted: "Not all those who wander are lost", and that axiom has seemingly guided Human action in the galaxy for the last 350 years. From the depths of the Pacific to the edge of the Galaxy, there is seemingly nowhere Humans won't go, but at the same time most every Human still wants to know there's somewhere they can come home to.

Description

Across the vast expanses of Federation Space, Humans have settled colonies on the most worlds and have grown to become the most populous species in the whole of the Federation. Most worlds, however, have at most a few million settlers, and the core of Human settlement and expansion in the Galaxy remains firmly rooted in the immediate neighborhood of Earth. Much as has historically been the case of all urbanized species to cluster in urban areas both before and after leaving their homeworld, most of the Republic of Terra has concentrated its presence into a series of planets within vicinity of Sol, forming what is deemed the "Human Metropole". While Humans as a species are widely-traveled and have expanded far beyond Earth, seemingly out of instinct to travel and explore, Earth remains the most powerful world of Humanity and much as in the past people clustered around the centers of power, Humans continue to cluster into the worlds which nestle close to Sol.

Three worlds anchor the Human Metropole: Earth, Venus, and Mars. Earth itself needs no introduction of course, the ancestral homeworld of Humanity and the most populous planet in the Federation. Venus and Mars, the worlds most immediate to Earth within the Sol System, were not originally Earthlike. The first truly great projects of Humanity, the two worlds were the first Human efforts at terraforming, carried out over a process of nearly 200 years and culminating in their complete transformation into being worlds molded in the image of Earth. Ever since, Humanity has not only settled worlds amenable to their preferences, but become experts at shaping barren worlds into havens for any species that desires them. Earth, Venus, and Mars, the so-called "Terran Trio ", form the core of the Republic of Terra and represent the greatest single investment focus of the Human species. This is common for most species, as in almost all cases a homeworld will be the most populous of a species, but Human seem to take it to a new level.

The first two colonies of the old United Nations of Earth beyond Sol come in the form of Horizon and Theia. Horizon was the first such colony, settled in 2217 not long after the UNE had unified Earth and began the first exploration of the galactic hyperlane network. Having been colonized early on, the United Republic of Earth and later the Republic of Terra invested heavily into these two worlds, both of which were graciously very Earth-like (despite its purple appearance driven by retinal proteins in place of the more common chlorophyll, Theia is by all accounts just as Earthlike as most others). Having grown out to more than two billion each, the two planets are two of the most populous planets in Human space, outpaced only by Earth, Venus, and Unity (Mars, meanwhile, keeps even). The significance of these worlds to Human economic, political, and scientific activities is such that they are (alongside Venus and Mars) the primary "Secondary Worlds" of the Republic of Terra, when Earth and Unity are considered the Primary.

Unity itself is an outlier in that it is technically the oldest Human colony. The former core world of the Commonwealth of Man, Unity had its own colonies during the Commonwealth period, counting among their numbers Hoxworth, Capella, and Euterpe. Of these worlds, however, only Unity ranks as a majorly developed world of the Metropole. In the course of the Final War of Humanity the bulk of fighting took place first in the fringes of both the UNE and the Commonwealth, but later proceeded deeper into Commonwealth territory. The ravages of the war left nearly 2 billion dead, and the Core Worlds of the Commonwealth were ravaged. Unity alone was spared; after the fall of the Deneb Citadel the rump government of the Commonwealth conceded to the reality that they had lost, and surrendered Unity without a fight. As such, only Unity escaped the devastation of the Commonwealth's fall, and to add further in its aftermath a major migration from the ravaged Commonwealth worlds to UNE worlds even after the Republic's formation only increased this disparity.

The last three worlds of the Metropole are interesting in and of themselves because they were later examples of the advancements in Human terraforming capacity. In systems already settled by Humans, terraforming moved from simply altering existing worlds to be more habitable to fully building ecosystems from the ground up. Harmony and Destiny were worlds created in Earth's image, while Ashur was an example of creating a tidally-locked ecosystem meant to be as identical as Earth as possible while accommodating the lack of rotation, seasons, and the fact that habitation was only possible in the narrow twilight belt of the world, but despite having been settled so late in the history of the UNE and the Republic, their proximity to the core Human worlds has led to their developing much more rapidly than other frontier worlds, meaning that even while Ashur has less than 50 million inhabitants its overall development is firmly within the Metropole alongside the other core worlds.

The Republic of Terra, along with Humanity in general, continues to push outwards to new worlds in all directions, having the most settled worlds and colonies of any member of the Federation and consisting of nearly 20% of the Federation's overall population, a small plurality but still the largest in general. The constant expansion of Human space is one carried out both to ensure the survival of the Human species but simply from a kind of inbuilt desire to expand and explore. In the galaxy, Humans are often typecast as the "Explorers", willing to go anywhere and do almost anything if it satisfies this almost inherent desire among their species to simply wander. Hundreds of years before the present one of the most influential Human writers quoted: "Not all those who wander are lost", and that axiom has seemingly guided Human action in the galaxy for the last 350 years. From the depths of the Pacific to the edge of the Galaxy, there is seemingly nowhere Humans won't go, but at the same time most every Human still wants to know there's somewhere they can come home to.