The Golden Spire

[Citty]

Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): A semi-autonomous city state of the Sol Alliance.

Founding/Settlement Date (if applicable): January 2nd, 2091.

Region of Space: In high Saturn orbit.

Controlled by (if not a faction): The Sol Alliance.

Other Snapshot information: The Golden Spire is an enormous, cylindrical space colony orbiting Saturn hosting a burgeoning population of 1.02 million. The Spire itself was originally an idea cast forth by a small group of colonists and scientists, and the first foundations of the now 125 kilometer long facility were laid in the beginning of the year 2091.

Long Description: The Golden Spire, physically, is an enormous cylindrical structure 125 kilometers long and 10 kilometers in diameter, it's outside marked with enormous radiator panels, airlocks, hangars, vacuum parks full of space suited citizens and tourists alike, solar arrays, and if the Spire is in alert status, fields of thousands of beam cannons and missile launchers. Strangely, the station features no windows or mirror systems to provide light to the interior, instead relying on a transparent tube, reaching from one end of the installation to the other, full of fusing light gases mined from the planet below, to provide warmth and light.

The station spins at 0.6 rotations per minute, providing a comfortable amount of gravity for those living on the inner environment of the Spire. The landscape of the interior appears to be roughly based on the Scottish hill country, featuring a large amount of diversity, both geographic and biological. Much of the interior surface is covered in a metropolitan area, where hundreds of different cultures and religions mingle and live in harmony. The general population enjoys the same freedoms and rights as the average Sol Alliance citizen, serviced by a small senate of around 30 people, and typically live in small, space and energy efficient apartments, serviced by robotic workers, medical nanobots, and advanced 3D printing machines.

Much of the physical labor in the Spire is dominated by a robotic task force, leaving the organic population either to exist in a "permanent vacation" lifestyle, or take on work in more intellectual fields, such as science, mathematics, economics and business, and computers and technology. The education on the Spire is highly individualized, relying on a combination of practiced teachers and tutors, robotic assistants, and direct neural information uploading and experimentation. The average Spire citizen speaks three different languages and the dropout rate is effectively nil. Education and healthcare are effectively universal, requiring no payments and do not discriminate based on social status.

Some examples of the structures of space colonies, credit Gerard K. O'Neill:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Spacecolony3edit.jpeg/220px-Spacecolony3edit.jpeg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Spacecolony1.jpg/220px-Spacecolony1.jpg

Edited February 25, 2015 by Guest

[Shamiel]

Very interesting, I find it quite nice that someone else is making a faction that is not a Human Supremacist based faction, and is doing something a little more different, you have my full support on this one, and I would most definitely make a character from here, to run alongside my Martian characters.

[Vittorio Giurifiglio]

Very interesting, I find it quite nice that someone else is making a faction that is not a Human Supremacist based faction, and is doing something a little more different, you have my full support on this one, and I would most definitely make a character from here, to run alongside my Martian characters.

I was the original mate Huehue, And this is a nice Idea, I like it.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I think a lot of people do not realize the true scale of numbers they sling around, like figures running in the billions. If you're going to try and fit more than a billion people into an orbital colony, I can all but assure you that they won't be living a 'permanent vacation' lifestyle. More like 'overpopulated space ghetto' or 'space food riots' lifestyle. I'm not opposed to a well defended space colony for the ultra rich, acting as a step above gated community, but that's the thing; they'd all have to be ultra rich. More than a billion ultra rich people are not going to crowd together in slum-like conditions. I doubt there even are a billion ultra rich people in existence. I would support his if you took a second look at the numbers you have listed for everything, and cut them waaaaay down.

[Gollee]

The population is definitely an issue, running the maths on the volume, discounting vital systems like air control, temperature control, reactors, so all of of it is for living space and that alone, each person gets slightly over a cubic metre of space.

[mrimatool]

Very interesting, I find it quite nice that someone else is making a faction that is not a Human Supremacist based faction, and is doing something a little more different, you have my full support on this one, and I would most definitely make a character from here, to run alongside my Martian characters.

I was the original mate Huehue, And this is a nice Idea, I like it.

U wot m8. I'm afraid my humanitarian Union faction predates your enlisting on the old forums, so GOML biatch.

Anyway yeah I like this, other than the obvious population issue

[Gollee]

Other than the space issue, I do like this, plutocratic states are fun. There is a very good example of one in the Night's Dawn Trilogy, by Peter. F. Hamilton; the Bitek Habitat, Tranquility.

[Citty]

Holy crap, I really messed up. The figure is supposed to be in the MILLIONS, not the billions. Even then, it'd probably only have a few hundred thousand people at most.

[Gollee]

Millions is about right, it gives each person 1225m^3 of space, which seems excessive until you take station superstructure, amenities, power facilties and other essentials into account, and public areas, you could probably have a million people with 15000-250m^3 of space each, which is very luxurious, and still have plenty of space for everything else, and free accomodation.

[Citty]

Million sounds good.

[mrimatool]

There we go, Golden spire is supported by me.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I still think a million might be pushing it, and jesus christ this thing is huge... but those are just my nitpicks. I could see this thing being a huge source of tourism for the Sol system.

[Citty]

It's supposed to be HUGE. It's the been constantly in construction since the early 2090s.

[Rechkalov]

While I can see why Rusty is skeptical/resentful of ideas that operate in great numbers and sizes, I think this one is not necessarily 'pushing it'.

It is one thing to have a million of armed-to-the-teeth pro human terrorists, and another thing to have a million of lazy, comfortable richmen having a blast in their independent utopian station.

Then again, given the 'bourgeouis pigs' nature of this thing, cutting the numbers down even more would emphasize the station's essence, rather than reduce it in importance.

You know what I mean - the less people get there, the more it will truly be the 'paradise out of the reach for ordinary men'.

But, all debate aside, I really like this. I find it believable and, among all the radical/terrorist movements and kingdoms and whatnot, its nature is pleasantly refreshing.

Gib plox.

[Erik Tiber]

I personally thought the population was a bit low, but that seems to be partially the point. The surface area should be around 3700 sq.km, which is almost one and a half times as large as Rhode Island. If it had a similar population density, it would have over 1.5 million inhabitants. With vertical farms, advanced manufacturing tech, and access to all those orbital resources, this colony should have enough room for self-sustaining cities and plenty of room to spare for wilderness.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

This place as it stands works for me. One last thing: How many characters are involved with this as a backstory?

[Citty]

Sorry for the late reply, but no characters at the moment. I might make someone who was born and raised there, eventually. Likely a scientist or surgeon.

[Guest]

Notice: Please find at least 2 Buy-ins within the next 72 hours or this application will be denied for inactivity/lack of community involvement.

[SgtSammac]

I'll buy into it, if I make another character, or flesh out one of my existing, they will have something to do with the spire.

[Guest]

Accepted.

Locking and archiving.