Politics

## Greater Nations

### The Euro-American Union

The largest and most powerful governing body on Earth. Its clout and resources has been the primary factor in the development of Venus. Even though Venus technically declared its independence, the EAU still holds a tight grip on its former colonies. The EAU may be a organization of sovereign nations, but many of the more powerful companies have taken economic control, robbing the states of any real power. There is still plenty of resistance from the general population. Venus is a promise of a new land with independent nations and a possible chance to be free of the encroaching environmental and economic disasters looming around the Earth. The EAU is desperate to take back control, and the formalization of an independent free press is one of their first attempts to expose the people of Earth to what is happening on Venus, perhaps changing their opinions about a mass exodus.

### Ishtar

The first and oldest nation of Venus. Ishtar is a strong military power with a formalized society. Despite its strength, its suffers from a lack of renewable resources that limits its size. It also suffers within, as the rich and powerful are supplanting those who earned their positions through merit and service. Consolidation of power at the top has always given the state a noble direction to follow, but corruption has begun to unravel that national goal of a united Venus. Instead of protecting its citizens and offering protection to those who were willing to conform, the state of Ishtar was now actively engaging its neighbors in unprovoked combat. Its uncertain if these aggressions are part of the national plan, an attempt by the new aristocracy to gain more power, the machinations of foreign powers, or all of the above.

### Aphrodia

The largest and most successful of the nations of Venus, Aphrodia is the closest thing anyone has come to the dream of a united and green planet. Water treatment, fields of crops, and habitable cities are all things Aphrodia has promised. But the successes of the nation have reached a plateau. Immigrants continue to pour in from Earth despite the fact that the current output of crop yields and clean water cannot sustain many more people. Companies, mostly from Earth, gorge themselves on an open capitalist market. The politicians play as their pawns at the expense of the growing poor who have become very disillusioned to politics. Whether apathetic or completely cynical, the people of Aphrodia are quickly losing sight of their future and with it the foresight to react to coming war. But there are those who have seen this war brewing and have prepared, despite the lack of assistance from their government. Whether their efforts will be enough remains to be seen.

### The Company

A colloquial term referring to any of a large number of companies and their subsidiaries. Three giant companies stand tall above the rest, all based on Earth, and have created a corporation that exists in a legal gray zone. Though they may not know it, most people are incidentally referring to Petrov Heavy Industries, Idenshitech, and/or Unite. By creating virtual monopolies in industrial technology, biotechnology, and marketing, the Company is arguably the most powerful organization on Earth or on Venus. However, recent events on Venus have made the Company nervous and their desperation is starting to show. Their actions have always been behind the scenes and shoved under the rug, but a number of scandals have been exposed. The work of new aggressive investigative journalism and outright sabotage is starting to show people just how invasive and corrupt the Company really is.

### Tyrus

A relatively small island nation, Tyrus is actually the most technologically advanced of its contemporaries. Keeping themselves insulted both geographically and politically, Tyrus has managed to hold its own without much trouble. The nation doles out its technology in small amounts and carefully so as to not anger any of its neighbors. Recently, there has been a flurry of activity. Tyrus has traditionally been very quiet, but more and more of its people are being spotted far away from their island. Nobody but the Tyrians know what has cause them to suddenly be so bold.

### Niobeh Mara Collective

A united group of terraforming cities built upon the acidic seas of Venus. Driven to fulfill their mission, to balance the pH of the open waters, these isolated city states have started banning together and formalizing a brand new nation. The Collective has been acutely aware of the tensions raising all across the planet and this has made them all the more vigilante to their cause. There is talk both in and out of the Collective that they might use their water and food production, the finest on Venus, as ransom. The rich and the powerful would be the first to feel the effects, but the NMC is not a military power. How they want to move forward is a delicate affair.

## Lesser Nations

### The Sino-Asian Alliance

One of the other major governing bodies on Earth, centralized in China.

### Asteria

One of the other large nations of Venus, though not as prominent as Ishtar or Aphrodia. Its cities are scatter across the continent of Aphrodia mostly within the Asteria Region and Beta Region.

### Phoebe

One of the other large nations of Venus, though not as prominent as Ishtar or Aphrodia. Its cities are located on the continent of Aphrodia in the Phoebe Region.

### Lian Hua

Created by the Sino-Asian Alliance, Lian Hua is primarily populated by Chinese nationals and has been very insulated for much of its history. It is located in the Temis Region near the Ravina Sea.

### Bauhaus

One of the other large nations of Venus, though not as prominent as Ishtar or Aphrodia. It is located in the north of the Alpha Region, built into Lake Urania and its surrounding satellite lakes.

## Warbands of the Waste

The rouges, scoundrels, and anarchists that have managed to meek out a living without the benefits of modern society. Also known as Dusters, Cravens, Wastelanders, Scum, or Devils by city folk. The names they have for themselves are even more varied, but Aeneans has become somewhat universally accepted. Even though Venus is technically habitable, the few places that settling down and having some semblance of civilized existence are possible have already been inhabited by larger nations and their companies. Outside these safe zones, the life expectancy of humans drops sharply. Still somehow, through ingenuity and sheer willpower, not only have humans survived, but a few have even managed to thrive. By exploring parts of Venus that most people will never see, these ragtag people have discovered many things and they have taken advantage of it to become what they would call true Venusians. Though they have usually kept to themselves, the pressures from Ishtar and Aphrodia have displaced many of their settlements and cost lives in a war they have no interest in. Nobody knows how many of them live out in the wastes or how organized they are, but they are starting to fight back.

## Religion

### The Manse of Biogenese

Also known as Bastianism, the Manse of Biogenese is the first and largest indigenous religion of Venus. It is most prominent in the densely populated cities of the planet.

### Goddess Cults

Any of the various animistic religions that focus on Venus as a goddess of the planet as a direct parallel to Mother Earth. Such cults are popular amongst the various Aenean clans living in Venus's less civilized areas.

## Media

### The Global Press

The Global Press is a free and independent news organization operating out of New York City on Earth. Because of its location in the city and a series of archaic Unite company bylaws, the media group has found a way to access part of the Company's data network and expose many of its secrets without legal repercussions. The Company has tried to buy out the paper, but they have refused. Though New York is as inundated with the Company's presence as much as anywhere else, the particular free spirit of the city has harbored a healthy amount of personal freedom and its laws have followed in tow, allowing the paper to be one of the only free presses on the planet.