universa

The nation of Alhiasi-Cuperti (previously called Allahiase) is a Terran colonial construct in the far Western corner of the South Continent on Paramonga.  The original immigration was largely along religious lines, and was predominantly from muslim societies in the Terran Indian Subcontinent and French African regions.

The nation today is largely desert, with few resources or inhabitable regions.  The economy is driven by moderate mining and shipping interests, as well as small-scale agriculture and husbandry.  The ascendancy of textile production and some food processing may give new impetus to Alhiasi-Cuperti's prospects.

first draft map

The largely desert nation of Alhiasi-Cuperti has few cities or even inhabitable regions.  The low hills and long coastlines provide the geography for an ex-colony of Terra which remains closely aligned with its historical settlers.

Brombat-Bilne keeps a microcosm of the larger population profile of Alhiasi-Cuperti--a generally muslim population with large groups originating in French African areas, Indian and subcontinental Terra, as well as a wide array of additional nationalities with the exception of Condorij or Ramagonians.

The confluence of several rivers into the drainage of the main river creates a region ideally suited for warehousing and transportation.  The hilly geography prevents too much marshland from developing, although problems with floodplain management do exist.  The city of Yabandti is one of the original colonial outposts of the Paramongan period, with its near neighbor Pidol being a much newer construct.

The canals in Pidol and its suburbs give it a Venetian aspect, although it is moderated by the highly industrial nature of the local economy.  Agriculture predominates in the northeastern and western areas.

IMT came early to the region, with the latest extensions being the junction south of Pidol.  Regional transport is characterized by a healthy mixture of railways and urban rail, along with boating traffic and substantial air connections.

The general nature of development of communities on Sobor has allowed for the heavy reliance on organized public modalities. In various locales, these modes are widely different; however a fairly general system of rail-based transport is common for most regions, including an operable international system. The growth of rail as a form of transport comes from the large availability of metal ores, and the paucity of fossilized fuels, as no large lifeforms developed on Sobor, and no extinction events have occurred within the timeframe that life existed. (see related article on: tectonics, fossil fuels, impacts, extinction events, native lifeforms, aboriginal life on sobor).

Individual motorized transport is entirely possible through various engine types, but the largely undeveloped nature of the geography, and the large distances involved (sobor is roughly twice the diameter of earth for example), created conditions for the development of community solutions for transport needs, either aerospace based, or high-speed rail, with the interactive local modalities to be described.

Parnesbeuel, Venn Heberon, Dallis

With the increasing technological advancement of the human population, especially on Terra, the 'spiritual' groupings which had held primacy for the prior millennia found themselves increasingly sidelined, both for resources and for influence. The reduced protections enjoyed by these groups led to increasing instability, both between the groups and society, and between and within the groups.

With the tripartite agreement on the colonization of new worlds, spiritual groups found a ready haven in new, under-populated worlds with plenty of space and resources. While many groups opted to use their remaining influence to purchase the interest in entire worlds, others, for economic or other reasons, opted to settle within wider settlement arrangements.

Of the first segment, the Catholics are the most obvious, having complete dominance over the orbus of Nova Roma. Immigration to Nova Roma is open only to avowed, practicing Catholics. Those who renounce Catholicism once resident, or born on Nova Roma, are expected to resettle elsewhere--usually with some form of government subsidy. Alternatively, these migrants are given limited reprieve in certain circumstances, especially those born to observant citizens who 'qualify' for the "proselyte's promise."

Other orbs which are wholly settled by religious groups include Al Rothadoro, which was an entirely Islamic world, but since evolved into a pluralist society.

Nation-states have also evolved where original colonial groups were significant in population or power. These include the Alhiasi-Cuperti (previously Allahiase), Rawallenfold, and Mactar regions on Sobor--all of which continue a tradition of religious observance in the greater part of their population, and that of a single dogma.

In lesser import are the various colonial outposts established as religious centers and which have since been absorbed into a wider socio-political unit. Examples of such colonies/missions include the Grandeis Complex, the Semapolis Adjacent-Mall, and the Gemeinde Hollmorgensol. The original city of Conaq, Praqonac, was an establishment of quaker/Anabaptists, and other pacifistic-minded sects.

Sobor recognizes no particular religion in its overall governance documents, although mention is made of the special contributions of the Hindus, Ragaw/Rastafari, and Christians in its original colonization and some of the ex-Terran struggles, especially the protestant-Christians of Zaelle.

With slightly over 11 million inhabitants in its immediate region, and nearer 30 million in the greater urban agglomeration, Lappfell remains the single largest urbanization on Sobor. It is followed closely by Galansaern, Yfbai, and Ilpaeraeod, all of which maintain populations of near 30 million in their greater area.

Lappfell's origins are a convoluted story of colonization, independence, re-colonization, and conflict. The original "Lappfell" colony was established by Scandinavian-Terrans in the Yflur valley in what is now Yefalles.

The National Transportation Authority (NTA) oversees all regional and urban authorities, establishes procedure for interaction between regional and national traffic, and controls air traffic nationwide.

The Greater Lappfell Regional Transportation Authority (GLRTA) manages and operates regional, suburban, and urban rail, as well as alternate public vehicular modalities. The GLRTA is responsible for the administration and operation of regional and suburban vehicles on the National Rail within the greater Lappfell conurbation, as well as solely-administered rights-of-way.

The GLRTA is under the control of a board of directors. The 9-member board is comprised of one representative from each of the (8) administrative districts, and one representative from the NTA.

Lappfull Urban Transportation Authority (LUTA) works closely with GLRTA to refine schedules and services to optimally serve transit between the suburbs and the central core area. LUTA is directly tasked with operating services that originate and end entirely within the "core" area, which includes all of the "T," "U," and "S" modes. Trams which operate between the core and the suburbs, or between suburbs are labeled "TR" and are governed by the GLRTA.

LUTA is controlled by a 13-member board, comprised of one each from the city's 11 departments, plus 1 from NTA (generally the same as sits on GLRTA), and 1 from the GLRTA (generally appointed from the GLRTA board).

Transport Designations:

TS Street Tram
Serves individual streets with block to block services
TC City Tram
Serves major thoroughfares block to block, or multiple blocks
TE Express Tram
Serves the main thoroughfares at level or grade separated rights of way, calls only at main junctions
TR Regional Tram
Serves suburban markets, or joins outlying stations on the high speed network with suburban and regional destinations.
S City Subway
Underground multiple unit trains with calls at major junctions
U Urban Railway
Elevated multiple unit trains call at major intersections and points of interest, with some extensions outside of the city boundary
R Suburban Railway
Separate Right of way operating in alignment or with alternate routings from the National Railways
P Private Railway
Either private right of way, or private services operating over public infrastructure
H Helicopter
A Airbus/Shuttle
M Moving Walkway
Public, or private operations (generally outside of the normal tariff)

Terra (Earth) had a long a storied history composed of tribal and national interactions on the long road to amalgamation. At the time of first contact the Terran political scene was still a divided consciousness, with the various continents beginning to show signs of union, some from necessity, others from mutual interest.

The essence of the alignments of the period is defined by linguistic and proximal considerations. The Europeans have developed a sophisticated but loose union including several North African nations. The Russians have evolved an isolationist viewpoint, but maintain close economic and military union with their southern neighbors, almost universally except India.

Africa, India, and China have drawn together into a Southern Bloc, with the Indochinese and Indonesian regions joining in an acrimonious but successful union of convenience with Australia and Japan.

The Americas remain roughly divided between the Spanish and Portuguese South, and the English and French North, efforts to unify for economic benefit remain stunted by linguistic and political differences.

Aside from these more explicit unions, certain implied unions exist, notably between the Southern Bloc and the Russian Confederation, between Europe and North America, and between North and South America. Each of these is also tied to the discreet but ideologically forward-looking United Nations.

The history and position of the United Nations is detailed elsewhere, but for the purposes of clarifying the situation as regards the Terran colonization of Sobor, it should be noted that the UN remains fundamentally opposed to colonization of other planets by its constituent nations, having a mandate to oversee such colonization as a unified and singular Terran body with organizational and functional capacity.

Terran nations which established colonies without UN ratification or support include:

France—as a secessionist European power and a resurgent colonialist within the Terran orb (Algeria, West Africa); Finland in cooperation with the Russian Confederation; Southern Block under the direction of China and in union with the Australasian union; Russia (especially Iran and Turkey); Southern America, especially Venezuela and Brazil; Europe to a lesser extent, although significant sites are established with flavors of Dutch, German, English, and Italian cultural reliquaries.

In the void between the habitable regions and the furthest, outer stretches on this galaxy, a rock floats in a gravitational zone almost untouched except by the most discreet galactic tug. Scientists, experimenting with the fundamentals of gravity (especially discreet gravity), established the first outstation.

Being roughly spheroid, but not eroded by any passing objects due to its remoteness, LonCarono remains a rough approximation of a planet, but with the characteristics of a astraloid.

As the staging area for a new set of researches, Lon Carono has grown in recent years to maintain a sizable, albeit domed, city. The city provides support for the construction of vehicles that are intended to be the first manned probes beyond our galaxy. Using a modified gravreg system with a much looser harness and a timed, rather than geographically triggered release mechanism, these craft will achieve multiple speeds beyond light, and it is hoped, will begin to chart a course for regular human encroachment of an alternate galaxy—the Andromeda.

And it does take nerve.

Standing in front of this howling audience, the colonists, the ex-colonials, the colonizers, and of course, the anti-colonials, Temestor could almost sense the lines of conflict between each group as a real thing, some sensible objective construct that if allowed to continue, would begin battering each consortium.

His own background was somewhat of a mishmash, each passionate sense of belonging to a group had been superseded by an equally passionate sense of belonging to the other group, and the attendant disapprobation had never really manifested themselves as an active hatred in his heart, unlike the crowds now thronging the vast hall below him. This hall, chosen for its size, and for its lack of particular architectural meaning (and also for its likelihood not to be bombarded from orbit), allowed two thousand of Sobor's most passionate inhabitants to gather and coagulate into little like-minded groups who carefully manufactured artificial borders with the group next to them--equally like-minded, but of a different mindset.

Temestor needed to stop this. This polarity, this infighting, the urgent need to unify in the face of an external threat would be a good enough excuse, but how to articulate it was the tricky part, and Temestor had spent the better part of his life working to this moment.

A life well spent

Growing up in the vineland region of Dahland, Temestor was a special child. His parents knew that he would have some role to play in the affairs that were to come. Howling hours on end, Temestor was a baby able to reach octaves of unthinkable scale. His vocal command was so strident, and so undiluted that he was quite able, even from a young age to command attention and satisfaction of his many desires. With the inevitable learning of language, these desires became more sophisticated, but directly articulated, also more easily satisfied.

Gierfloess is a two-level station, with the actual platforms on the upper tier, and through traffic rails on the lower tier.

Trains of the S system call at Gierfloess, the S1 and the S4. S1 trains travel between Everintsen and Orogonnor. S4 trains currently travel between Ahestum and Ginkelbaum, and will soon be extended beyond Ginkelbaum to Hain.

Trains of the R/F system call at Gierfloess. After the 1149 reorganization, R1, 2, and 3 all call at Giefloess.

The confluence of two main railbeds creates a traffic anomaly for the preservation of cross-platform transfers. Because of the prevalence of airport-bound passengers, the S4 has priority at all times. Passengers arriving on the R/F system are able to cross the platform only in the eastbound direction, and must make a full transfer when traveling from the east. Long-distance trains operate in separate railbeds and do not enter the platform structures at all except in exceptional circumstances.

The main platform serving tracks 2 and 3 is sized for accommodation of the larger number of transferring passengers, as well as the presence of baggage. Markings on the pavement ensure a smoother flow of passengers between modalities, especially in diverting exiting passengers to the street level and tram platform.

The proposed S22 from Breglab-Garry to Sudstaacion would call at Gierfloess, providing the first direct services between South city and Revenland, obviating much congestion at Weststaacion. This has been obviated by the development of the U2, eventually connecting Aldergles with the Breglab Garry corridor.

Gierfloess is an attended station, with STC, STX, and future TRAM connections. A restauration facility, and some travelers’ assistance are available.

The immediate neighborhood is characterized by medium-scale industrial enterprises (non-pollutant class), some offices, and lower-grade multi-unit residential developments. The district is Gierfloess, and has a residential population of about 50,000 people, and a daytime population of around 150,000—making it a commuter destination.