Commonwealth: Founders biology, Culture & Society

The Commonwealth...

A scientific powerhouse fuelled by ambition and refined with pragmatism, the rate of scientific exploits in its earliest creation pushed its frontiers beyond its neighbours and created a society which could both be an industrial powerhouse, wear the crown of scientific discovery whilst becoming a haven for all species of the galaxy.

It is very much simultaneously a multicultural and monocultural society, though you could say that its single culture feeds into creating many; the Commonwealth, formerly known as the Ortus Council of Nations, was forged from a series of trials and tribulations; one of which (The Exodus) you could argue they failed, from the crucible the Commonwealth emerged and set to forge its place in the world.

Rightfully, it looked to the stars and saw opportunity, discovery, the unknown just waiting to be explored; from a people in exile, forced to flee their homeworld, to a people taking the first steps into space. Humanity had grown weary of conflict and strife, now they looked for a greater purpose, they would make the best of their Second Chance.

> ***Per Aspera Ad Astra - Through hardships to the stars***
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## **Founder Biology**

*The biology of the Ortan Humans has been broadly explored in this article - Link - but the linked article does not specifically focus on it.*

### Appearance

Outwardly, there is no stark difference, the Humans of Ortus retain both major and minor features of a Human; if anything, their skin is paler and lighter than before due to their underground habitats, out of the sun, and thus little sunlight ever makes contact with them. Height is just as varied across the species as usual but the average height of these Humans are 156.3cm.

### Inside a Homo Scius (Changed from Homo Sapiens)

Internally, from an anatomical view, nothing has changed; not enough time has passed for evolution to change this.

Genetically, they have shifted towards a less malleable species in favour of a longer lifespan and better acumination to cold climates; this did not occur in the typical way, but you would not call it an unnatural way, in fact it was the very consumption of nature that nature changed them. Humans were forced to feed on cave funguses to survive as there was no other food in the caves (at this time the humans were still genetically suited to warmer environments and could not survive on the surface), the alien fungus was not entirely consumed though. Instead it largely survived in the body and, due to what seemed like a miracle for centuries, its DNA was perfectly suited to establish a symbiotic relationship with the Human.

Human DNA then reformed to share some of the base traits that allowed the funguses to survive, this being resistance to the cold and a positive side effect of reduced aggression; however, this meant that the humans lost some of their own genetic makeup and suffered from some the limitations that the mushrooms possessed (like reduced aggression, but this was seen as a good thing), the humans lost the edge of their sexual drive and became much more chaste in daily occurrences, they also became intensely agoraphobic or more accurately phobic of just the outdoors.

The big factor is lifespan, the fungal entity invigorated cells making them healthier and hardier, the cells became much more durable and the natural lifespan of these cells extended. Without having to replace dead cells as often more energy could be devoted to the immune system and the continued production of the fungal DNA.

### Notable Features?

Wisdom teeth. These teeth were once simple additional teeth at the back of a jaw, often causing discomfort and removal; now these teeth actually serve a vital role, but not before becoming slightly different. These teeth now grow beneath the gums at a much younger age but do not ever actually emerge, they forever exist underneath the gum and usually do not cause any pain, these teeth now serve as literal factories for a special cell called "The FR-Cell" this cell carries within it massive amounts of supplementary chemicals that it feeds to other cells to keep them healthy... wisdom teeth have thus come to be known as the "Founteeths of Youth" as these FR-Cells' are the primary way the body prolongs its life.

This life prolonging method also literally slows down aging, this has had an effect on growth cycles. Pregnancy now usually lasted a year (until it was later reverted by Aadhira Tanwar) and child / teenage life is prolonged.

#### Natural Engineers

The Humans of Ortus are also naturally inclined to greater feats of engineering, this has not been put down to any specific gene and likely arose out of the desperate need to survive the harsh climate of Ortus in the early days; since then the motto has arisen that the Commonwealth can build its way out of any problem.

## **Society**

At its heart the Commonwealth embodies the value of discovery, of advancement, and of academic thought, all in all the other aspects of state will all be provided for as scientific progression will translate into tools for all the other necessities. This is, ultimately, the most pragmatic approach; food, water, minerals and weapons, all can be provided with ease once the state is advanced enough to provide it, pragmatism is the core value behind many of the Commonwealth's ideals.

Before the Commonwealth, it was a predecessor state known as the Ortus Council of Nations; named after the second home-world of the founders, Ortus, but before even then they came from Earth. The values of science and pragmatism stem very much from the events that transpired before the Exodus.

### Dialect - The Founders

The vast majority of the Exodus survivors were formerly occupants of the earth based Commonwealth, this Commonwealth (which is not the Commonwealth that we come to know in Second Chance) was a global superpower whose borders stretched from central Europe to asia with no single language. When the survivors came through the portal though the languages assimilated into a mixture of Slavic-Germanic based words with small aspects of Italian & Greek and even less Asian.

### Dialect - The Commonwealth

However as the Ortus Council of Nations expanded many aliens would become citizens, due to obvious differences the majority of aliens could not even produce the same sounds a Human could, and vice versa, a translator was created; this translator could translate any alien language into the language of the bearer. So every species technically speaks their own language, but they all hear each other in their own language to.

### **Society: The Government**

#### The Ortus Council of Nations / The Innovation Party / The Science Council

The Ortus Council of Nations was a democratically elected body of state representatives, the people of the different nations of Ortus voted for a party and the leader of the winning party would become Chancellor; the Chancellor's party has complete control of the state, opposition parties could vote on acts but many reforms passed under the Innovation Party would place emphasis on efficient bureaucracy and override "oppositional entrenchment". Another position is that of the Prime Minister, a role once held by Takumi Ishii, this position is assigned by the Chancellor. How they differ in roles is rather little but as a rule of thumb the Chancellor is an advocate for his own party whilst the Prime Minister is expected to be more politically balanced.

In 2189 a rising party headed by Drahoslav Tesar swept away the Exile Party, the Innovation Party rose to prominence and has never since lost an election.

The Innovation Party was a political group that strongly advocated for development in scientific fields and a more progressive future, the party was made up of intellectuals and/or people who believed strongly in the value of science. Drahoslav Tesar became the first Chancellor. Under this new party the value of pragmatism became first among all, only people who were thought to actually be competent could hold office i.e. the councillor of agriculture had to actually experienced and learned in agriculture, positions were never given out for political power or favour.

The Science Council was initially a separate organisation made up of prominent scientists, it funded the research of many scientific breakthroughs including the discovery of warp space. The Science Council became extremely prominent though and as time progressed the Council of Nations became synomnous the Science Council, members of the Science Council more often than not held a position in the Ortus council too. Despite this, politics and science did not often mingle and largely avoided mixing, one of the key selling points of the Innovation party was the tough anti-corruption and anti-political-entrenchment stances.

#### The Ortus Council & Science Council Merge

When the nation -The Ortus Council of Nations- was renamed the Commonwealth, little changed but the name; however, the Ortus Council was officially merged into the Science Council as by and large they were the same thing now. The Science Council was now "The Council". The Council was now made up entirely of individuals from the Science Council but now a select few would become "Directors" of the council, The Council was still democratically elected.

#### Chancellor Elections

Due to the absolute majority the Innovation Party held the state was very "one-party" and so future elections often allowed voters to not only choose which party they wanted to elect, but who would be the chancellor of that party; this way the chancellor was also elected by the people, and did not just become Chancellor because his/her party won.

### **Society: The People**

Commonwealth society operates on a quasi caste system, citizens have a role assigned to them based on their specific skillsets, the system focused on meritocracy and ensured the best role was given to each person; this was highly selective and often rather intelligent people could end up assigned as a Delver because the system deemed their intelligence was best suited for enhancing that role rather than as a scientist themselves, movement between these roles was rather stationary and rare to begin with but as lifespans extended further and further many people gained the skills to suit several roles and could move between roles freely.

All are equal in the system; bureaucrats, doctors, miners, scientists, soldiers etc etc, they all receive the same legal rights and stations and all are subject to the same laws and the relevant punishments, of course, these roles come with different paycheques and benefits but bot *de jure* & *de facto* all are equal.

#### Academic Privileges

The Commonwealth values scientific advancement highly and makes great effort to ensure a large percentage of its population are scientists, the education system spends the majority of its budget on science related classes and gifted children are given as much resources as they need to accelerate intellectual growth.

Scientists should be concerned about science, not worrying about themselves or their families future, housing is heavily subsidised for scientists and the state even provides them with coupons for food and goods (though using them when not necessary is taboo and deemed exploitative of the state)

*"The Commonwealth has more gifted scientists than we have scientists"* This phrase is often muttered by others who live outside the Commonwealth, largely because it is true; the Commonwealth rigorously combs through its people to find the role they are best suited for, due to the emphasis on science within school, this is often one of the sciences.

### **Society: State Corporations**

An interesting plan was to create semi independent state corporations, these operated very much like normal corporations except they could easily be shut-down or have the CEO's replaced for corporate crime; this way the market benefited from competition as state corporations competed with each other but could not use underhanded tactics and unscrupulous labour to get an edge, normal corporations could exist but could often face a united front of state corporations unless they "got along" and worked beneficially for the economy. This may seem like the opposite of free market and in some ways it is, but imagine the market more like a free market... enforced by the threat of economic ruin on anyone wanting to exploit it, very much in the same way a group of builders would kick out anyone who smashed the building rather than build it.

### **Society: Law**

The law is judged to neither be overly oppressive or lenient by the general public, a very liberal stance is taken though only within what is judge within reason and plausibly safe; weapons are heavily regulated and strict requirements are needed to own any weapon - and, considering Commonwealth's meritocratic approach to pretty much everything, acquiring them once all requirements are passed is not exactly difficult. Hard drugs are generally illegal though medicinal drugs or low class recreational drugs are legal in certain circumstances / places. Officially, government's stance on said "lightweight" drugs is that as long as they don't cause harm to citizens, they should be allowed and in fact trying to outlaw them would only make said substances more difficult to monitor. Instead, the government officially approves certain substances for public use - although in most cases, consuming them is only allowed in specially designed places, to ensure safety of everyone involved. These "shisha houses", as they are colloquially called, are often located in various entertainment-focused districts and operate completely legally. In fact, said estabilishments gained quite a popularity during the Unbidden Crisis, as many citizens longed for some kind of stress-relief - and the state, as usual, was happy to oblige, especially since money from these locations could be funneled to help the war effort. In fact, weapon systems on one of Commonwealth destroyers, CSV Glowworm, were funded entirely by the income gained from government-approved recreation drugs. However, those who would try and trade non-approved substances (or even approved ones, but without proper paperwork and infrastructure) would quickly find themselves in the crosshairs of Commonwealth law enforcement - specifically the Narcotics Department, which was known for meticulous and merciless campaigns against anyone who would try to peddle substances that could cause harm to Commonwealth citizens or destabilize machine of the state.

Which leads to one major point - while "regular" crimes were approached with certain leniency (it is said that Takumi Ishii himself claimed that some low-level crime is good for mental health of entire society), actions that would cause harm on a strategic level were persecuted in much fiercer fashion. Rebel groups, terrorist cells, separatists movements (including one that enlisted support of famed officer Royland Drakovich) were hunted without remorse. In most cases, law enforcement tried to bring both members and leaders of such organizations back alive in order to at least try and rehabilitate them (or, if nothing else, isolate them from society). But in several cases, some individuals - or even entire groups (like Drakovich's separatists) - were branded as Threats to Unity, which essentially meant that such people were to be permanently removed from society by any means necessary. There is a rumor of a certain, speically trained, multi-racial strike team that was kept in reserve and only deployed to hunt such targets - whether or not it's true remains unknown, but one thing is certain: those marked as Threats to Unity rarely survive for more than a few weeks.

Enforcement-wise the law is heavily upheld. Authorities put immense effort into finding crime early before it establishes itself, though minor crime such as speeding and drug use is taken in a more measured and benevolent approach, other crimes are seen as almost wholly undesirable. Violent crime is one of these but even this can be seen through many lenses i.e. crimes of passion or desperation, the act of slavery though is wholly abolished and slavers are seen as some of the most detestable people.

Commonwealth Law Enforcement is covered in greater detail in the linked article.

### **Architecture**

    Buildings are space efficient, maximum housing capacity and minimum space occupied within reason; the vast majority of housing are large apartments tailored to suit the species who inhabit it, these buildings do contain some recreational areas and bars but in general lack aesthetic. After all expending money and time on making buildings look nice is a waste, the time and money is better spent on building other things; this makes the majority of Commonwealth cities uncharacteristic and dull, many touring aliens note the use of simple squares in almost all designs. It's simpler, it's cheaper, and it's ultimately more efficient

As the cities expanded many became official supercities, as in the city housed over 1 billion inhabitants; these cities stretch to cover massive swathes of land on the surface but are actually larger underneath the surface. The undergrounds provides natural shielding against the sunlight, which matters to those less inclined to it, but even better the underground hides the city from aircraft / orbital attack if such a benefit would ever be needed.

Though cities are dominantly built in this manner, some cities such as those built on gaia worlds or ones of cultural value are often built in more aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly manners.

However, while most of living areas are dark and cramped, special care was taken to bring at least a bit of color and variety into enless metal tunnels that citizens of the Commonwealth see for most of their lives. Every district block (an administrative unit that houses between 1000 and 5000 people) needs to have at least one recreational area. At first, those were just open, brightly colored rooms - usually with some kind of restaurant or a shop - but as time went by and technology progressed, said recreational zones evolved into self-contained underground gardens and parks designed not only to provide some much-needed aesthetics, but also to serve as backup life support for kilometers of tunnels they serviced. As years passed and more and more new plants were found in the galaxy, said gardens became increasingly complicated and soon cities across many worlds or habitat stations developed their own, specific ways of designing them with the most notable being the Silver Garden of Arvo (made even more remarkable, since the planet was mostly strip-mined). Technically, it is only a square 80 meters across, but it also spans from the lowest level of Arvo's capital city, straight to its highest rooftop which makes it over 37 kilometers high - which makes it not only a miracle of botanical engineering, but also a very much needed bit of natural beauty on a planet that is mostly covered by steel and concrete.

## **Culture**

### Xenophilia

Sentient life in all forms are no different than one another, all species can work towards common goals and interests once minute differences can be put aside.

The value of life does not stem from a overbearing sense of pacifism, the Commonwealth knows war as a somewhat inevitable event and the virtues of being prepared for it; rather the value of life comes from the unique mindset developed over centuries since the exodus, to them, everything could have been better had they all worked together.

### Science

As mentioned above the Commonwealth highly values scientific progress, the value stems from a simple desire, to be better than they were. Decades of progress, centuries of progress, can be undone be strife; famine, plague, disasters in general could all have been resolved sooner with the right technology.

### Military Values

The Commonwealth does not value military in any special way, infact the Commonwealth Armed Forces practically did not exist beside a few planetary guard whom would have been woefully insufficient against even the smallest invasion forces. The military only ever mobilised reluctantly and was entirely volunteer based, the technological advantage the military possessed saw the Commonwealth through many battles as it made up for lacklustre tactics and warfare strategies.

However after a particularly scolding military "victory" in which 13 million of 16 were killed, the Commonwealth recognised its inadequate warfare doctrines and reformed to a more professional and robotic army.

#### *Clarifications*

* Species: The Commonwealth became home to many different species, this article only explored the biology of the Founding Species, the Ortan Humans.
* Commonwealth: The Commonwealth has no connection to the UK-Commonwealth which in this universe never came to exist, there was a Commonwealth, but it was opposed to the Empire rather than a part of it.
* Definition: The Commonwealth is not a loose association of nations, it is just one nation, the word Commonwealth is more attributed to the literal meaning of the word; that being, shared wealth.