Free World of Europa

Europa, terraformed

The cold watery world of Europa has been very silent through most of it's history, to outsiders it is known by it's advanced biotechnology and pharmaceuticals( though some might say lagging behind in some other fields) which they export to the rest of the system. Until recently Atlanteans ( another word for the new race on Europa) were seldom seen beyond Europa, their trade ships and scattered enclaves in the oceans of other worlds. This has changed however as the New Hesrek Tekseeker has taken a much more social approach to traditional Europan practices. To some an Atlantean may appear strange, and also due in part to their historical isolationism a number of foul rumors had spread about them. While highly false a popular joking theory is that they made a pact with some slumbering sea god or race of fish-men for their superior aquatic adaptation and scientific knowledge. A consequence of this is the slur 'FishFuckers' often used to describe the race as a whole. Many Europans have been seen on more inner worlds in recent years to increase ties with other imperials. They are easily identifiable by appearance alone; Being taller than an average human, typically wearing sunglasses which serve the dual purpose of protecting their sensitive eyes and keeping disease-born particulates in the air out of the eyes, And the use of a protective mesh-like facemask to keep disease particles from entering or exiting the airway.

## History

Europa is the smallest of the major Jovian moons, and was once the smoothest object in the solar system. This was due to the immense ocean below the world-spanning glacier that covered pre-terraformed Europa. There was so much water in fact that excess water from the Europan terraforming project was used on other nearby world that were much drier like Ganymede, Calypso, and Io. Even so Europa has among the largest water-land ratio of any body in the solar system, rivaled only by Ganymede.

Much of the history during the colonization period is very simple, people from numerous cold water seafaring cultures migrated in order to discover new things and secure a better life, is is later that genetic splicing between native Europan simple life and more complex life brought from Earth that the burgeoning biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry really took off, eventually putting the sleepy fishing/research world on the map.

## Culture

The people that now call Europa home mostly descend from Norway, Scotland, and Northern Canada with small populations coming from Japan and other parts of Northern Eurasia. This is largely due to the similarity in environment between Europa and these maritime cultures. However few retain a link to one of these cultures alone, as the new Europan phenotype is much more adapted to the new climate. Europans have quite pale skin, are on average 6.5-7 feet tall, often slender though that varies, stronger muscles involved in swimming, better underwater grip, better breath holding ability, and increased pressure tolerance. This however comes at the cost of being more frail on high gravity world like Earth, where the weaker heart struggles more to pump blood. At a glance most of these things are not noticeable, The Average Europan would only look like an unusually tall Sami person.

Historically isolationist, Europans have preferred to do their research, operate their fishing boats, and tend their living mangrove cities without much contact with the outside world ( though avowedly imperial supporters). This is because of culture value placed on a quiet life devoted to a single important vocation as well as a ' cultural germaphobia'. While most Europans do not truly fear germs, they are incredibly obsessed with preventing disease spread and proper hygiene. While the Europan government claims this is due to the founder effect, where a number of very disease conscious individuals were very present in the early gene pool, many claim self genetic modification was undertaken in order to increase the production of their biomedical sciences and protect the heavily biotech reliant society from plague of any sort.

The biotech that Europa is so well known for has been integrated into most aspects of society, one of the most evident expressions of this are the living cities built into massive artificial mangroves. These cities are seeded on metal mesh nets , which may rust out after the colony becomes mature. The buoyant mangrove trees may share their bodies with various algae, fruit trees, and more plants and fungi to create a massive colonial organism. As well as providing food directly, they provide shelter for various marine and terrestrial species. A moving reef. The reef consumes marine snow and the bodies of animals that die while inhabiting the colony. These colonies can vary greatly in size from only supporting a small station to supporting a whole city. Each colony is very different, and may contain different grafted and symbiotic species both natural and created. Most often the largest colonies have habitats on a separate connected platform, while small ones may be built directly from or into the plant matter. These colonies are central to the culture and lives of the people who live on them, promoting a custodial attitude among Europans.

## Economy

The primary engine of Europan economy is it's massive biotechnical research and manufacturing infrastructure. Possessing the deepest oceans in the solar system, Europa boasts a variety of ecosystems to which one many discover new properties naturally. It also has assess to sea-floor research facilities where biological experiments can be preformed with little fear of successful containment breach, the ready access to tidal and geothermal energy only aids in this endeavor. While medicinal drugs and tools are among the chief exports of Europa in volume and profit, they also make use of these technologies for a number of other important sectors including genetic modification services, ocean management services, vat-grown parts, living work drones, biologically aided exosuits, and patented nutrient paste ( often used to keep underpaid asteroid miners and slaves healthy for cheap, as well as to alleviate starvation in unstable situations).

## Geography

Europa is an ocean world at it's heart, yet what you see from space is not always a representation of the world. Many large swaths of 'land' are actually large tidal flats, the pull from Jupiter, the Sun, and the other moons leads to an interesting tidal situation. These flats are home to stilted homes, one of the poorer regions on the planet, the people there farm tough rooted kelps and scavenge the various small animals that live in the mossy flats. Another feature created by the tidal forces is the abyssal shelf. The abyssal shelf is a large slab of rock extending from the major islands outwards, with reefs and kelp forests above, and then curving back down into what is essentially a massive cave system ( though the low gravity means it is not like any traditional caves). Blue bores (like blue holes on earth) connect the land, the over shelf, and the under shelf in a few select locations. One of the most stunning tidal features is that when many of the tidal forces work together the tide can in fact be seen on the horizon very clearly.

## Religion

When Europa was first colonized many different religions were present, and in some ways that is still true. Europa has an official freedom of religion policy but is dominated by a massive pseudo syncretic religion. The early origins of this religion can be traced to the large population of seafarers supplementing their spiritual world with various universal legends and myths. The power of Jupiter and it's moons on Europa is self evident and soon religions began to conflate their own gods with various planetary figures, as well as increased popularity of ancestor veneration. Foremost among these figures are 'Sol', which represents the sun, majesty, motherhood, and creation; and 'Jol' which represents Jupiter, Fatherhood, protection, silence, and ingenuity. Other planets are also venerated as older siblings. Christianity, once one of the most popular religions, easily synchronized with this planetary system associating Jol with the Father, and Sol with the holy spirit. As many religions became one religion with many sects, a few prevailing ones appeared in great number. These sects generally highly valued the importance of knowledge and experimentation, again much like the cultural germaphobia it is not known if the Europans value these things because the religion was manipulated to make them do so or if the religion is that way because the cultural already valued such things.

## Government

The Government of Europa is complex, but best defined as a Constitutional Dynastic Elective Monarchy. The Highest Authority on Europa is the Hesrek Tekseeker ( which translates to prime research director). They are always from the Carino Dynasty, elected by the other Carinos. The Carino dynasty, and other noble dynasties are synonymous with large corporate entities, the dynasty generally administrates these and has a democratic process within it's own ranks, the Carinos are no different. These nobles send representatives to the 'Council of Industry' to write laws and advise on matters of large companies. Each community (and sometimes allied communities) elect a Mayor, who will send a delegate to the Mayoral assembly, This assembly can write laws and advise on civil matters, more importantly they can call council of judges to null an unconstitutional law, should the judges agree.

## Recent history

Mangrove village 'seed' with exposed scaffoldinga mid-size floating citya pelagic shelf colonysalvage operation for a wrecked icebreaker cargo ship