Taradia

The Serene Federated Commonwealth of Taradia and its Satellite Worlds (Indus Corus α), more commonly known as Taradia, is a Γ-type terrestrial planet that orbits in the first position within the Indus Corus system. One of the most famous United Nations Space Command colony worlds, it has grown to be one of the leading powers in the Human sphere. The small terrestrial planet also boasts three moons: Ensas, Dansas, and Bido; additionally, it boasts a single sister planet, Bartoni, within the system.
The FCT, as it is commonly abbreviated, was originally placed under jurisdiction and ruling of the now defunct Colonial Administration Authority, which would later give way to the United Nations Bureau of Colonial Affairs.
As with many first rim colonies, Taradia boasts a multitude of large-scale mining operations and is one host to one of the largest shipbuilding elements in Sector IV. Taradia is also known to trade and cooperate immensely with other nearby First Rim colonies, including Bartoni, Oompa, Madrigal, Harvest, and Arcadia.
Notably, the colony hosted the 2556 Summer Olympiad, the activities of which were executed on an unprecedented scale. It was the first spectacle of its type since the haphazard Transcendence 2538 Winter Olympic Games.
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Table of Contents
Etymology
History
Colonial Archive Card
Politics
Security & Defense
Economy
Demographics
Health
Culture & Cuisine
Geography
Notable Inhabitants
Notable Locations
Gallery
Trivia
Sources
Further Reading
NOTE — A blue star ( ★ ) indicates an Infinityverse-exclusive section, whilst Against All Odds-exclusive sections are marked by an orange star ( ☆ ).
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==Politics==
The political system encountered on the Federated Commonwealth, while not precisely unique, was still far from the colonial norm. When the planet was initially settled, all local entities fell under the direct governance of the Colonial Administration Authority. A governor provisoire was appointed by the CAA President every eight years; such position was often filled by ex-UNSC/CMA Generals, Unified Earth Government Senator, or even judicial kingpins of various backgrounds. Meanwhile, positions such as mayors and judges were elected by the adult populace from each respective city.
This particular system, which happened to be quite common for other fledgling colonies at the time, would continue on Taradia for a number of decades. During the decade that was the 2410s, however, a growing planetary population demanded a stronger and more durable political infrastructure. While the current system remained successful in the larger cities such as New Bath and even the distant New Celje (which barely managed a population of forty-five thousand inhabitants), smaller, remote settlements were often subject to marshal law, which often allowed for spiked crime rates as well as stunted economical growth.
After a series of conferences and Senatorial hearings, an entirely redesigned political governing system was initialized. It focused on the province concept as many came to call it. Pioneered by Mars in the early 2100s (though it has since been restructured there), the majority of the closest major cities and accommodating rural towns were grouped into a single province, which was named the North Capital Commonwealth. As population boomed throughout the rest of the twenty-fifth century. More than a dozen provinces would be formed across the super-continent Hestia. Each province is responsible for electing five representatives to the planet's House of Senate; additional seats may be allocated to provinces boasting greater land areas and/or populations.
Furthermore, Taradia has come to develop a strong political tie with nearby colonies and the various central governments that have come and gone. One of its more successful ventures was the Indus Corus Zero Tariff Pact ratified in 2447, ten years after the colonization of Bartoni. The document barred the enactment any sort of embargo or tariff within the planetary system, thus allowing for an ever increasing economical bond between the various colonies of the system.
==Security==
The metaphorical defensive grid encompassing the Federal Commonwealth of Taradia has proved itself in preserving the colony's standing all too often. It is comprised to two major components: an atmospheric element and an orbital element. Each has unique duties that must be adhered to and respected in order to ensure proper execution of activities.
===Standing Military===
The Joint Armed Security Forces are the primary guardians of security and defense for Taradia and its outlying assets. The JASF Security Council, which answers directly to COSCOM in peace time and the UNSC Defense Force, is headquarted in New Bath. Also based there is the colonial honor guard and the local SES detail, the latter known colloquially as the Taradian Black Slacks.
In addition to these unique standing units, the JASF is charged with the upkeep and management of twenty-one localized security detachments (one for each province). These local commands are the primary fighting force of the JASF and will often correlate with one another in order to combat greater threats, as seen notably during the Taradian Miners' Campaign of the Second Human Civil War or Operation KĒTOS, a conflict of the same war which occurred only months after the former.
In addition to the UNCSC|Colonial Security Command's operational presence, the United Nations Space Command also maintains a modest garrison on Taradia. Since the midyears of the First Great War, Taradia has grown into a major first rim hub for the UNSC Army; accordingly, the III Colonial Army has traditionally been stationed on the planet, which constitutes nearly 110 thousand individuals along with their accommodating equipment. This formation further complements the Colonial Army of Taradia, which is comprised of both COSCOM and UNSC personnel. Often attached to local Army formations are a dozen Ranger special-ops regiments; these elite units participate in high-risk operations and are very capable of precision vessel boarding during orbital and suborbital operations.
Furthermore, the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy each maintain active forces on the FCT. The former proudly boasts the Twelfth Air Force, a renowned unit made up of more than 41,000 professionals and respective equipment. The Twelfth works closely with the III Regional Army in routine operations on the surface of Taradia. As for the Marine Corps' activities on the planet, the Thirteenth Fleet Marine Force is traditionally based on the planet. It is considered to be one of the toughest units in all the UNSC Defense Force, and as such, it is heavily relied upon when a major force is threatening Taradia. Also, in addition to the Indus Corus Colonial Fleet, the UNSC maintains a personal defense fleet: the remodeled UNSC Seventh Fleet (alternatively referred to as simply the Seventh General Operations Fleet - Taradia). Often maintaining as many as ninety vessels, around thirty or forty of which may be routinely deployed, comprise this luxurious fleet of war.
At any one time, Taradia is also protected by a handful of Peacekeeper regiments. The Peacekeepers, while also technically members of the Colonial Security Command, are separate from the mainstay planetary defense infrastructure in most cases and as such are somewhat mobile. They are usually temporarily (though sometimes indefinitely) assigned to a planet and perform roles including, but not limited to, light reconnaissance, urban garrison, military police, limited counter-insurgency, and other paramilitary rates.
===Colonial Navy===
The local, system-based fleet is a prominent naval element of the United Nations Colonial Security Command, although it also fell under Naval Command jurisdiction; in times of full-fledged war, the latter would likely assume total command of the force. It is charged with the defense of the colonies Taradia, Bartoni, Oompa, and the Kodiak asteroids. Since its formation, the CSF has been comprised of two major formations, the names of which are Fleet patrol element-(FPE) LAQUEARIUS and FPE-VELES.
The former of the two units is charged only with the security of Taradia, while VELES is tasked with upholding the safety and order of the system's minor outlying colonies/operations in addition to the outer reaches of the system. Accommodating the base loadout of combat vessels that each FPE is allocated is a number of orbital and deep space stations of varying roles. These may include defensive installations, remote scanning stations, and communications platforms, among others.
As of 2585, FPE-LAQUEARIUS comprised approximately twenty fully mobile vessels, ranging from speedy patrol boats to warhorse ships-of-the-line. These mobile vessels were supported by a total of seven major military stations, including both weapons and repair platforms. It should also be noted that many of the vessels are staffed partially or entirely by UNSC personnel in order to ensure a better disciplined crew and to compensate for a deficit in willing militant candidates.
*4x Drako-class destroyers
*6x Retarius-class frigates
*5x Thor-class corvettes
*5x Kyoto-class patrol boats
*14x Multirole Orbital Support Stations
*2x Hephaestus-class orbital refit/repair stations
===Law Enforcement===
The final aspect of ensuring proper security is enforced is civilian and military law enforcement. Like twenty-first century Earth, each major city and most smaller settlements maintain and operate their personal police forces. As one might predict, the size of a city's constabulary varies directly with said city's greatness. Some, like that of the small town of Northfield in the Westphal province, are made up of volunteers while others, such as the New Bath Regional Police Department, are comprised of hundreds of individuals and patrol surrounding suburbs as well.
In addition to civilian firms, common law is also withheld in part by the UN Peacekeepers, the locally based Joint Armed Security Forces, and the UNSC, each in a varying magnitude. Of the three, the UNSC Defense Forces claims the largest portion of Taradia's military police force. This is partly due to the indefinite presence of the III Regional Army; as such, UNSC Army MPs tend to number above two thousand worldwide while another six hundred are Marines with the Thirteenth FMF. Local militants and Peacekeepers combine for another eighteen hundred operators, around half of which actively pursue roles in criminal justice while the remainder maintains security within military complexes.
==Economy==
Taradia is one of the few colonies able to maintain a self-supporting economy, along with Mars, Transcendance, Shei, and a handful of others. Its diverse set of economical sectors, combined with factors such as living costs and employment capabilities, is what truly makes such a feat possible. In November, 2553, the FCT boasted an annual gross decimal product worth nearly fifteen billion credits, ranking it first in all the Human sphere albeit only for a brief period.
===Transportation===
The Federal Commonwealth's transportation system has long been considered to be one of the most well-maintained and efficient in all of the colonies (Earth undoubtedly retains the first spot). While the first major venture was a small magnetic levitation railway spanning no more than three hundred miles of track, city and regional planners have come to focus on four major aspects: long distance railways, state-of-the-art continental roads, sufficient air travel, and an unmatched interplanetary/transatmospheric travel network.
As mentioned above, the former of the four began with the creation of the laying down of the first handful of mag-lev railways. By the early 2420s, a massive project was underway to design and build a set of four side-by-side rails spanning from New Bath to Bofors, a small pioneer-style settlement on the coast of the Midland territory that is located on an isthmus on the Hestia super-continent.
This track would be aptly named the Hestia Grand Rails, span six thousand miles, and cost more than a billion credits. Accordingly, the project would take nearly half a century before its completion. The three "civilian" railways ferried hundreds of thousands of passengers to various depots along its length, though by the advent of the First Great War, this number would be a staggering forty million tickets purchased annually; meanwhile, the fourth rail acted as a supply rail, and transported raw materials, mail, and other goods in massive multi-kilometer trains. Monorails have also come to be abundant in urban sprawls, usually thirty to forty feet above street level. This provides an alternative to the often clogged inner city streets.
Another major form of transportation is the planet's luxurious sprawl of roads. Taradia's first such roadway was a short stretch linking the UNSC Anderson-Thompson's fusion reactor to the planet's first greenhouse farm; the twenty mile stretch was the site for many of the first residential and commercial buildings and was made cheaply with a combination of carbon steel rebar, an archaic building material by modern standards, and polycrete. By the turn of the twenty-fifth century, hundreds of miles of roads had been built, although not with polycrete. The surface of said roads was comprised of massive, textured carbon-based polymer panels, supported by a dense, non-cracking rubber cement. This type of road was considered to be much more efficient and was capable of lasting forty to fifty years will little to no maintenance.
This road concept would be relatively unchanged for centuries sans occasional chemical improvements. Nevertheless, efficient travel still required the presence of a sufficient air travel capacity. While exit/reentry travel had efficiently cut down travel times and fuel requirements, in-atmospheric travel was still a must in order to prevent excessive delays. In 2416, the first air travel company, Skyline Premium, opened its doors in New Bath with the help of government aid. Within a decade, it was financially stable and boasted a total of six ZN-102 transports, each capable of carrying one hundred passengers nearly two thousand kilometers. By the turn of the century, its fleet was led by a dozen 5509 transports and fifteen 2290 shuttles in addition to dozens of smaller craft; these were supported by fourteen airports and five spaceports.
The final aspects of the Commonwealth's transportation were the interplanetary and transatmospheric networks. A common staple among major colony worlds is the ability to allow the income and departure of citizens from other planets or even systems with no difficulty, and Taradia surely is not discounted from this class. Since the first spaceport was built during the metaphorical dusk of the 2390s, some, if not all, local inhabitants have been granted access to travel to and from space. However, such a need wasn't truly necessary until proper intrasystem routes and the system's first superior interstellar jump point were established.
Once these aforementioned necessities were established, though, tourism, immigration, and trade subsequently skyrocketed, and as such, Taradia was set on track to develop its gargantuan economy that many have come to know.
===Energy===
Energy production has long been one of the greatest of Taradia's plentiful prides. It features a broad horizon of various sources, ranging from clean-burning fossil fuels to high orbit solar farms.
While others may vary in rank, nuclear power plants are uncontested as the top source of energy for the Federated Commonwealth. By 2553, they provided for a staggering seventy percent of the industry's total output. Of the two types of nuclear reaction, fusion has always been more popular that fission because of its greater energy production capabilities, though the latter can still be encountered in remote areas where the higher maintenance costs of embracing fusion are not necessary. The largest power plant on the colony is the Corbett-Boston Greater Power Plant, located four hundred kilometers southwest of New Bath. It is notable capable of producing nearly 150 TWh annually.
The next greatest source of clean energy for the FCT is hydroelectric power. This is largely due to the enormous Grand Valley Dam, which is located in the Thüringer province. It spans nearly two kilometers across the Endieras River and, at the time of its construction, was the single largest structure in all of the first rim. Finished in 2451, it is consistently capable of outputting a whopping average of one hundred ten TWh in a single military calendar year. Other major damns include the Midland Dam and Fujikawa Dam of the Midland and Greene Valley provinces, respectively.
===Tourism===
With the advent of Taradia's monumental transportation network, tourism has notably become one of the most important and diverse industries.
Extravagant tourist hot-spots are typically limited to colonies that boast tropical sprawls and/or a myriad of exotic local fauna and flora. Taradia, however, is quite the opposite: its features are almost painfully Earth-like. This, however, does its own justice in drawing in tourist activity from neighboring systems, as the region looks to Taradia as a retreat. Nicknamed a "cure for colony sickness," Taradia's features have come together to produce one of the largest largest tourism industries in the entire Human sphere, second only to Earth.
===Mining & Manufacturing===
Like the colonies located in the Core region, Taradia proudly boasts a contingency of diverse, varying industries. As with other First Rim colonies, though, the Commonwealth credits the greatest portion (though not necessarily the majority) of its gross decimal product to the mining world. Most commonly placed in unclaimed albeit mandated territory, massive open-pit mines as deep as two kilometers dip into mountainsides and/or flat lands. 
The largest services involved in the Taradian mining sector are undoubtedly Anguaro Proprietary, Psi Mining Operations, and Vulcan Mineral Corporation; this trio effectively combined for a whopping sixty-two percent of an industry worth tens of billions of UN Credits annually. In order to protect and mandate this juggernaut industry, the Taradian Mining and Mineral Regulatory Association (abbreviated as Taradia-MMRA) was established in 2425; the MMRA works tirelessly to ensure that Taradia's environment is not pushed beyond its limit by the greedy mineral extraction companies.
After mining, the combined space craft, vehicle, and arms manufacturing industries are unarguably the second largest on the colony; it is worth noting that most economists combine the three sectors due to the fact that many companies produce two or more of the aforementioned. Led my giants such as Haywood Aeronautical Dynamics, Jablomi Military Manufacturing, NaTech Heavy Industries, and locally based Robinson Tactical Arms Corporation, among more than a hundred others of varying sizes. SLVA (space/land vehicle and arms) made up approximately sixteen percent of Taradia's total industry in 2521, although this number more than doubled in order to support the war effort in the following decades.
===Other Sectors===
Once the above economic sectors have been discounted, those that remain bear no major gaps in between. Nevertheless, they are still crucial to the planet's prosperity through multiple means. One such example of a notable business is Yanelle Farms, a company that raises and sells wingfish in massive, netted farms that are often encountered along the coastlines of the Westphal province. It is the largest of approximately forty companies that routinely embark in the same industry.
Additionally, Newtown Beverage, based out of the Greene Valley province, produces and distributes soft drinks to Taradia and nearly a dozen surrounding colonies and, as such, it contributes a noteworthy share to the overall GDP. Moreover, local giant Copernicus Bay provides an extensive variety of watercraft for the planet; these range from two seat paddle boats to high power oceanic carriers for the UNSC Army and since the turn of the twenty-fifth century has monopolized its respective industry.
==Demographics==
===Language===
===Religion===
===Education===
==Health==
==Culture & Cuisine==
The culture of Taradia is one that is unusually diverse and unique to itself, unlike most other colonies, especially those in the First Rim. Like other colonies, Taradia's pioneer colonists were chosen to emulate the many nations and backgrounds one might encounter on the homeworld of Humanity. A large majority of the planet's populace can trace its roots back to the United Republic of North America or the Republic of the European Union; of the latter's many states, Germany, the Balkan Emirates, and the English Commonwealth are the best represented entities, while colonists from the East African Protectorate and the Democratic Union of Greater Indochina follow closely behind.
These major states have been the source of as many as one hundred million of the planet's three hundred million occupants in 2553, while a large portion of said three hundred million denizens came as refugees from worlds that were devastated during the Human-Covenant War. Interestingly, nearly fifteen million Reachans had made their way to Taradia once finished with their random-vector jumps as per Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1.
Beyond these inherited cultures, Taradia has begun to develop one of its one. For example, coastal cuisine often involves the use of the native wingfish, a seemingly squid-tuna hybrid, in various dishes; one common dish encountered in luxury restaurants worldwide is le poisson-aile à la crème (French for wingfish in cream), which is a portion of wingfish fillet roasted and served in a seasoned cream made of goat's milk; it is most commonly served with a local wine, while the wealthiest citizens may be served authentic champagne from France itself.
Another major factor of Taradian culture is entertainment. One major form common on the planet is sports; sports such as lacrosse, soccer (as it is generally known in the modern era), rugby, and gridiron football are not uncommon. Interestingly, track and field sports have grown into a popular phenomenon as more events become incorporated.
The colony's largest sports complex is located in New Bath and is able to provide seating for as many as two hundred thousand spectators in certain configurations, although the only time the stadium sold out at such a capacity was the Shock and Awe, a concert-charity planned to help reconstruction efforts in 2554; general admission passes were sold for only 8.5 cR.
Aside from sports entertainment, Taradia was known for its enthusiasm of amusement parks. One such park, known as Wild Wet Adventure, featured a five square kilometer portion that floated on the water and was held in place by massive chains. At its peak, the park drew in just over five million visitors per year between 2577 and 2580, which uncoincidentally occurred in the years following the opening of the previously mentioned floating section.
The Federal Commonwealth of Taradia was also notably home to the 2556 Summer Olympic Games, the first time an outer colony was home to the event. Being the first full fledged Olympiad in more than twenty years was one of its major claims to fame. The other was its popularity; more than ten million people (and six hundred Sangheili political leaders) notably travelled to watch the two month spectacle. This etched the event as the greatest (and largest) in sports, and arguably entertainment, history. Even greater that these hallmarks, however, was the profound morale boost solidified by the Taradia summer games; many looked to the event as the golden gate that promised a better future.
Then-Supreme Minister of the United Nations Directorate Xavia May Palin remarked that the "remarkable event has and never will be matched in scale nor significance."
==Geography==
Taradia's geography is shockingly similar to Earth's. Such a statement has been virtually unarguable even since before the minimal terraforming that was performed on the planet's lush surface. The majority of the planet's surface (approximately 53.1%) comprises massive sprawling plains blanketed by both native and non-native tall grasses in addition to patches of exotic forests, canyon-carving rivers, or jagged mountain ridges.
To the contrary, many are quick to boast of the difference between the aforementioned and the geography of the New Bandar Coastal Trade Region. Geographers compare this cultural/political subcontinent to the northwestern states of the Transcoastal American Republic, and this is rightfully so. Imported fir trees flourished as quickly as Humanity did on the planet, growing into massive clusters spanning thousands of acres that originated from but a handful of parent trees. While their presence has somewhat challenged the well being of native flora, the firs fit in surprisingly well while conservationists work to assure that the trees' presence does not grow out of control. Additionally, natural parks such as the Harrisford Recreational Reserve have been established by Taradia's Bureau of Wildlife, Forestry, and Recreation in order to preserve local plant life in the case that invasive species do spread uncontrollably.
===Climate===
Before Human colonization, one might consider the planet's climate to be somewhat cool; with an average temperature of around forty-four degrees Fahrenheit, noticeably lower than the Earth's fifty-nine degrees. While it was still considered more than habitable, it proved to be a painful hindrance to unenclosed agriculture. Accordingly, UNSC terraforming teams were brought in within three years of Taradia's establishment as a colony and immediately began their work on the colony. With the help of massive, state-of-the-art machines, the crews were able to raise the planet's average temperature by eleven degrees via the concentrated release of specialized greenhouse-type gases into the lower atmosphere. As always, the terraforming crews released a myriad of compatible organisms onto the planet. These ranged from elegant butterflies to mighty California redwoods.
===Native Life===
The FCT has long been considered one of the most Earth-like planets in terms of biological diversity among its natural inhabitants. The colony world's unique history has gifted it millions of unique species, many of which bear uncanny resemblances to those one might find on Earth. Arguably the greatest supporting example of such a hypothesis is the wingfish. While said organism, like the greater majority of advanced Taradian life, does not feature a cellular makeup but rather a network of interwoven microfibers, it still bears a number of extreme similarities with that of the family Thunnus, more commonly known as the tuna. Similarities include role in the local ecosystem, appearance, and even edibility and desire by Humans.
Another major example of similarity is between the Taradian mop jelly and the Terran Stomolophus meleagris, known otherwise as the cannonball jellyfish. While the visual correlations are not as abundant as the aforementioned comparison, ecologists still manage to point out their extreme similarities in behavior and role in the ecosystem. Additionally, the mop jelly is actually quite sweet testing, more or less mimicking the taste of a cantaloupe, though a number of high power toxins reside within it and must be extracted before it is edible.
A third major similarity is that which has been noted between flora of the Federated Commonwealth and Humanity's homeworld. Many organisms support a striking visual correspondence between the two distant worlds; the most noteworthy of said plant life is that of American prairie grasses and the Venetian grass, named for colonial ecologist Miranda Venice. Both varieties are nearly identical in appearance if viewed from afar, though if one was to examine either specimen closely, it would be worth noting that the Venetian grass is much softer and smoother to the touch, hinting at a more efficient network of water storage and use.
==Notable Inhabitants==
*James Corbett - Shock infantrymen, later commanding officer for CRE Ozone Six.
*Travis-379 - SPARTAN-II, Class II operator.
*Izsak Pusel - private military operator.
*Drago Kjromejnco - UNSC Marine.
==Notable Locations==
:Aspen Plains
:New Bandar Coastal Trade Region
:: Greene Valley
:: Mertedam
:: Neki
::*Massaquoi (regional capital)
:: New Tiber
:: North Capital
::*New Bath (regional/planetary capital)
:: Peninsula
::*Aston Cape (regional capital)
:: Thüringer
::*Southern Valley (regional capital)
:::*Covenant Archive
:::*Peugot manufacturing complex 23B
:: Westphal
::*New Celje (regional capital)
==Gallery==
File:TarWorld1.png|A Robinson projection of Taradia, generated January 20th, 2373
File:NewBandar.png|The New Bandar Coastal Trade Region, encompassing nearly a dozen of the planet's twenty-one provinces.
File:Building1.png|The Taradian House of Senate in New Bath; one of Victory Square's many fountains is visible in the foreground.
File:Building2.png|The Cape Tower, planetary headquarters to Anguaro prior to the New Bath crisis.
File:FuelDepot1.jpg|A massive deuterium storage facility in Peninsula, ca. 2522.
File:Battle8.png|Colonial regulars of Westphal Land Operations fight their way up a hillside during Operation KĒTOS.
File:Olympics1.png|Logo for the Taradia 2556 Summer Olympics.
==Behind the Scenes==
*Covenant interstellar cartographers referred to the planet as Divine Ascendancy.
*A number of SPARTAN-II Class II operators were from Taradia, namely Travis-379.
*Taradia was encircled by a series of rings consisting of ice, dust, and rocks; some examples of the later were known to have diameters as wide as one thousand meters.
*Sans Earth, Taradia is home to more Congolese, Korean, or Slovenian peoples than any other colony.
*In the real world, this article has been written to most resemble a country page.
==References==
==Further Reading==
===Internal===
*United Nations Space Command
*Taradia Joint Armed Security Forces
*Indus Corus system
===External===
*
*Planet on Wikipedia
*Official website
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Category:Halo: Infinity
Category:UEG Inner Colonies