The Floor

The Floor is a planet of the Virasana Empire. More a planet-sized space station than a proper planet, The Floor is home of the guilds and boasts the highest number of universities and high-tech enterprises of the Empire.

## Climate

* only remnants of one moon
* axis tilted almost 63°, very strong seasons
* no biosphere, rather a planet-sized space station
* entirely covered in man-made structures, no open terrain or water
* Building crust is at least several hundred stories thick, actual bedrock position and composition is unknown, leading to the joke that it's never been a planet to start with. (Seismic patterns suggest a planetary core, though.)
* no weather to speak of, relatively frequent rain around sunset
* Redox Towers keep oxygen content of air at breathable minimum
* surface air is extremely dry even though the Redox-Towers vaporize immense amounts of groundwater
* high air and water pollution
* occasional patches of vegetation usually collapse after a few years
* three more planets in the system besides Floor

## History

* lost all contact to humanity during the Lost Years
* bitter civil war broke out when external food supplies stopped arriving, killing several billion people
* the last remaining survivors struggled with the decaying atmosphere to the point that there were only neolithic tribes living on the slopes of the last functioning Redox Towers (see children's TV series Red Ox Tower Tribe 2253 ET to 2269 ET)
* Rediscovered in 1398 ET
* high N'Ptalini population
* Temple Verata has a significant temple here at Fort Phosphoros.
* no serfs, almost no slaves. Lots of commoner wage slaves.

## Culture

A wide range of music is produced on the Floor; pop music, rock, electro and techno primarily.

Floor food is marked by the necessity of importing all foodstuff or synthesizing it from raw materials - synthetic, junk and convenience food are the most common varieties. Soma is readily available, but not as all-suffusing as on Yaiciz, for example.

While it is well known that there is a steady stream of commercial sculptures and paintings coming out of the factories of Floor, the real leading edge of art on Floor is intangible - VR contructs that push every boundary of what is conceivably possible.

Naturally, e-sports and all sorts of VR entertainment, are highly popular, but so are all sorts of betting sports - the latter one merging seamlessly into the Trading Floor - the Empire's most important stock exchange. All sort of collecting is highly popular, too, from action figures over slaves to priceless art.

Last but not least, the famous Floor Sweepers - the highly popular hoverball team that has won the Imperial Hoverball League four times out of the last ten, often due to its superior equipment.

## Landmarks & other snippets

* The Glade, the headquarters of the Psions' Guild
* Zirconia, the floating hoverball arena hosting the finales of the Imperial Hoverball League, seating up to 60k people
* Flox 500
* Ardenberg Industrial
* Planetary Eugenics
* Nightwidows - an elite mercenary unit of lizard-skinned women
* Floating islands, including Mauritius (verdant with pastel art-deco buildings)
* Temple Verata has their headquarter here in Fort Phosphoros
* the Guild Headquarters
* the headquarters of the Courtesans' Guild
* lower class housing arcologies abound, many with euphemistic names like Cherry Grove, Daisy Glen, Cloverfield, Rose Garden, ...
* Fast Planetary Access Trains - FPATs - are the main public transportation system, basically a highspeed underground system, cordially called fatties by the locals. There are countless other options for each budget and region, but the fatties are one of the few planet-wide and reliable options.
* Cutting Edge - a leading arms dealer specialized on Monofilament Weapons
* SchwaneMeyer's - an ice-cream parlour franchise modeled after the coffee houses of Shiraz, considered an abomination by everone who has ever seen the real thing.
* The LaGrange family - old money, filthy rich commoners since several generations and intent on staying so. Best known current member is Mariposa LaGrange, an elderly artist and socialite with a keen eye for good deal.
* The Rostock - a space station near the Floor Mandala, the best known 'secret' haven for all shady activities.
* Jäckert, Jäckert & Schleif - one of the most prestigious and questionable law firms, a direct subsidiary of the Moneylenders Guild
* Kesihatan Solutions - a sucessful bioengineering corps, producings drugs and combat stims
* all taxis are bright red and yellow, often in stripes
* Blackwood Strikers Inc. - a large mercenary outfit, specialising in off-planet operations, providing security as well as task forces for attacks or extractions. Appr. more than a thousand active agents.
* Industrial parks, run by real estate corp and rented out to smaller corps (Monroe Compound)
* Bionic Investment Interstellar
* gated communities, owned by corps to house valuable employees in one place where they don't have a reason to ever leave (Fair View)
* PlanSecuritas - mercenary corp, specilaised in property protection (including residents)

## Notable Floorians

 Charles Ardenberg Deirdre Jacoby Erica Ardenberg Frederick Moravia Gabriel Ardenberg Mel Ohm Quetzal Rene Laurent Robert Jacoby Tilda
## Other Articles on The Floor

 Circle of Thales Floor Sweepers Fort Phosphoros Guild Council Red Ox Tower Tribe The Glade The PV-3 Mutagen