venlin | World Information

« the departure & journey

By the year 3020, the Earth could no longer sustained the billions of people. From the dying greenery to animals becoming extinct, water was tainted and trash built up around them, smog covered the sky and left little sunlight to warm the planet. For a hundred years humans attempted to save their world but there were simply too many people. So the major countries spent the next two hundreds years building large ships capable of supporting thousands of people. Each ship was equipped with cold sleep capsules that would allow the passengers to sleep until they reached their destinations. Androids were left to pilot and care for the ship and its precious cargo. When one ship was fully prepared with its people, it would leave Earth to travel to a nearby star system. They searched for any planet capable of supporting them. Over a million people remained on Earth in an attempt to revitalize humanity's homeworld. There has been no news of this project being successful and no word from many of the ships if they've reached a new world to call their own.

One ship named Kibo built by the Japanese carried 60,000 people on it from various countries across the world found refugee in a distant star system on not just one but two planets. Two large cities were built on both and grew over the next five hundred years. Travel and trading between them was common until a disagreement closed those lanes. Both sides claim that the problem lie with the others but no one can remember what the issue was anymore.

« the collision

After two hundred years of feuding and fighting, something unbelievable happened. A hail of meteorites knocked one of the planets off its trajectory and sent it straight into the path of the other. They were going to collide. The issue was severe enough that the feuding stopped and they attempted to solve the problem. While they tried many solutions to prevent the planets from colliding, there was nothing they could do but hope that their similar mass would prevent one from being completely destroyed.

Their old ships were refurbished, new ones were built and they once again took to space to wait out the calamity. After the dust settled, the people were surprised at what had been left - one half of each planet still remained, drifting so close together that it could have been one. Inspired, people started to bond the two pieces together with inner supports while smoothing over the surface to make it appear natural. Unfortunately there was a great deal of debris and it left a huge fissure in the planet which exposed the molten lava that lay beneath the crust.

« after collision

While the construction of their planets was being handled over the next two thousand years, many people lived on board the ships. A proper atmosphere had to be re-established for humanity to return to the planet. Only those who had permission to go down to planet were those who worked there. All of the children are educated on the ships while some of the adults worked construction, rebuilding or re-fertilizing their new planet. Finally, in the year 2019 AC (After Collision) the ships are returning home. Children, youngsters, adults and the elderly alike have seen their first look at the planet from the surface.

Life has returned to normal and peace reigns on Ven'lin (light).

« ven'lin

After the collision, the planets had been devastated. Buildings were nothing more than ruined remnants of their past, foliage was minimal, even the wildlife was scarce, water was contaminated. Having the foresight to deal with these problems, a lot of their problems were solved by the various flora and fauna they managed to save. They first built water plants to cleanse the streams, rivers and lakes on the surface. After that machines were designed to provide an artificial atmosphere that would surround the entire planet. Then came reseeding the planet, most of this was done from the air but those who were capable started farms all over the planet. It didn't take them long to figure out that nothing would grow near the crack in the planet due to the intense heat and so they planned to build elsewhere. Once the planet was green again, animals were introduced. None of them would be familiar to the people of Earth but those who had lived on the two planets would recognize them immediately.

This entire process took a few hundred years and it was only once the planet was buzzing with life again that they started building their cities. One large city (Kibo) was built opposite of the crack and small villages can be found here and then across the rest of the surface. While certain features may remind people of Earth (green grass/plants and blue skies, one moon) there is still plenty to remind them just how far away they are from humanity's first home world. Water and clouds have a blue tint to it, perfectly healthy - just different. There are no oceans at all and lakes are scarce and small, mostly man-made. To the natives of Ven'lin all of it is completely normal.

Only three years have passed since the ship named Kibo landed on the surface and the people have had to adjust to the new life they have.

There are 412 days in a year and that's been broken down into fourteen months. The last month of the year is the shortest.

« technology

Far more advanced then it had been over 5000 years ago. While some of it was lost during the collision, others have made great advancements such as transportation and communication. Most can use ships that allow them access to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, children at taught this when they reach their teens. Children are allowed access to genospheres, bubble-like machines that can take them anywhere. If under the age of six, a parent/guardian/teacher must confirm their destination. All communication is hands-free with the exception of those who prefer the outdated systems. Books that came from Earth are rare and practically none exist from the time before the collision. Most information can be downloaded onto portable devices for easy perusing.

« lifestyle

Up until the last few years, almost all of the population lived on board the Kido and other smaller ships. Only adults were allowed to go planetside for work and most of the time, they lived there. Any child born was sent back up to the ships to live. Sometimes one or both parents would accompany them until the child reached the age where they could begin their education.

Since returning to the planet, families have been reunited but may be strained due to the separation between parent and child. Until children graduate at the age of 17, they remain in their parent's home. Upon graduation they select a job and are offered simple housing in or near the building if they wish. Most of those who have graduated select this option as they feel more estranged than younger children do.

There are plenty of jobs to go around - from educating the children to working in the fields to expanding their knowledge of technology and science. Once a month there is an open market where farmers bring various goods to the big cities and everyone is given the day off so they can attend if they wish. Birthdays are celebrated en masse one day a year in mid-spring, no gifts are given but there are festivals in the cities and towns all across the planet. Parents and children often gather to celebrate together. The other major celebration is the New Day, marking the day that they started construction on the two broken planets. No one works on New Day but instead relaxes and enjoys a light show after the sky darkens.

Wars are a thing of the past even if fighting does still happen on a smaller scale. Cooperation is key in this new world if they're going to continue to survive. Any fighting that happens is over something trivial such as domestic spats, bargaining over trades and so on.

« family units

Since the population had become such a big deal on Earth, there are laws in place to prevent overcrowding and overpopulation. It was especially important during the two thousand years they spend on the ship. A person could only have two children. This is strictly enforced even should one parent start a relationship with someone who has no children.

Marriage is very common among two people while divorce is less-so. There is also the possibility of never getting married and simply living with someone else. Gender is not an issue when it comes to two people sharing their life together. Nor is anyone required to have children. They are very open and accepting about these sort of relationships. Those who cannot have children may adopt those who have no parents with little trouble, it's not unheard of for a sibling to become the guardian and it doesn't count towards their own limitation. Therefore most family units can consist of two to five people.

« currency & trade

They have since done away with the currencies of the past and created a single new one named Meri. While people rarely actually use paper or coin, they have cards that act as cash - much like debit cards of the past. However, Meri is not the only way to handle a transaction. Sometimes trading happens between two people for the more common items. A person could trade a day's work for a small variety of foods or a place to sleep. Of course, there's always an option for trading one object for another. Basically if it exists, it can be traded for.

The only exception to this is rare, antique items. Since these are limited and can only be reproduced, it takes a great deal of Meri to purchase one should it come up for sell. If it's practically being given away - it's a reproduction.

« education

All children start their education at the age of four. They learn how to read, write, and basic mathematics at this age. Every child must attend and cannot advance as it helps to build social skills with others their age. School is attended every day but there is a half day on the fifth day of the week for six months at a time. Upon reaching the sixth month mark, children take tests to advance to a higher grade. If they excel on these tests, they may advance more than one grade.

When children reach five, they add a new course - physical fitness. At ten, they're allowed to choose which extra courses to pursue so they can prepare for their future. They can only change once after three years so they must choose carefully.

Class sizes vary depending on how many test into it, one child may excel in mathematics and science but have difficulties with reading and writing. Each child is placed according to their skills. Teachers may have two to a class depending on the size to help the students and may even have an assistant teacher who is newly graduated and planning to be an educator.

By the time the child is seventeen, most have decided what they want to do as their job. They are required to take a corresponding test a week after their birthday. Should they pass, they are automatically granted to the job of their choice. No interview is necessary.

« language

Since Earth had several thousand different languages and the ship Kibo had people from all across the world, they have since abandoned their old languages and have a single one. It may resemble something that came from Earth but is somehow completely different at the same time. Only words from the old languages still survive - such as book, ship, kibo. One person may say it in English while another uses Japanese or Russian. It all depends on what was passed down from their ancestors.

« lala

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Edited 2016-01-08 21:47 (UTC)

Government

council of five - elected by the people
representative - announces all decisions

elections held every year, council members can remain on for the entirety of their lives

Laws

No:
Murder/attempted murder
stealing
17 & older can vote
firearms are prohibited unless a license is acquired
everyone is given a fair trial
only 2 children

World Information

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