Primer: The Purian Confederation

Introduction

Hyperion is the original homeworld of the Purian species. The Hyperion system has three inhabited planets, Hyperion, Clyero (an intensive mining planet), and Thimis (an intensive farming planet). The people of Hyperion respect tradition and ceremony. Hyperians follow time-honored practices and make friendships based on those of their ancestors. The first system the Purians colonized was Nycena. Despite being the second oldest system, Nyceans posture themselves as a people without a history, living in the present and eschewing traditions. Nyceans are quick to make friends and quick to leave them yet rarely are they alone. During Nycena’s development, Hyperion colonized several other systems, spurred on by the struggle to feed their growing population. Having Nycena as a contrast, these new colonies took after Hyperian culture in respecting the past although they embody this spirit less strongly than Hyperion. Eventually, Nycena started colonizing new systems as well. These systems took after their colonizers, embodying the spirit of not looking back even more strongly than Nycena. Nearly all Purians will identify as either a Hyperian or a Nycean regardless of whether they came from those systems specifically. Thus a cultural identity in between the local community level and the species-wide level in terms of scale was born. The unofficial Hyperian “league of systems” is larger and more powerful economically than the Nycean one but the Nyceans have a stronger cultural identity as rivals to the ways of the past. Ever since the population boom caused by the widespread adoption of bug meat and later artificial meat, which the Nyceans capitalized upon more effectively, the Nycean league of systems have been steadily catching up on the Hyperian league by many metrics until they finally fulfill their destiny of demonstrating the mastery of the present over the past.

Brief Entries for Selected Systems

Hyperion

As previously stated, Hyperion is the original homeworld of the Purian species. Hyperion is well known for its five great nations: the capital nation Amezial, the port nation HyperionNation2, the mercantile nation HyperionNation3, the renaissance nation HyperionNation4, and the inland nation HyperionNation5. Amezial lies in the frigid southern mountains and is the seat of the government of the Purian Confederation, the Hyperion planetary government, and the Amezial Wielding Monastery, the winningest Purian wielding school. In the middle of a great desert, the renaissance nation is the only great nation in the northern hemisphere of Hyperion and is home to many of the most iconic cultural movements of the Purian species which took place during the economic boom caused by the adoption of sustainable meat. Many of the most well known, popular, and aggressively exported dishes from Purian cuisine were born here. Between these two nations, in the boreal highlands, lies the enterprising nation. Conveniently located near the port nation, many Purian companies are headquartered here, including General Proteins which was one of the first companies to be established in its capital city. Located on the equator, the port nation is long and narrow in order to comfortably house two space elevator anchors and several spaceports. People here seem most like Nyceans out of all the nations owing to the fact that most people here do not stay for long. There exist many traditions unique to this nation about gathering and parting centered on the idea that anyone can be a friend. In the meditteranean climes is located the inland nation, home to the central command of the Purian Navy, the only multi-system military besides the Intersyst Armed Forces, which continues to be criticized for existing. Life here is characterized by training, recruitment, defense contracts, but also a love of sports and fair play.

Nycena

Compared to Hyperion, the Nycean system is replete with colonized bodies. There are two planets: Nycena and Sunilios which are both agriculturally oriented planets, an indicator of the original reason the Nycean system was colonized. A further manifestation of this purpose are the four colonized moons orbiting the system’s gas giant: Lage, Singat, Metche, and Deran which are industrial, mining, agricultural, and research oriented respectively. Nycena’s single moon serves as a logistical hub where cargo is dropped off and picked up and for ships to dock and refuel. Nycena’s landscape consists of large swathes of forest, desert and tundra with a great stormy ocean wrapping around the planet’s equator. National borders criss cross the forests and deserts. At the center of each country is a single large area of cultivated land almost sufficient to feed the residents of the city at the center of the cultivated area. The polar nations of Nycena are notable for cultivating natural meat from livestock, making Nycena the most developed planet where natural meat can be purchased. This in combination with the culinary excellence of the northern nations, makes Nycena a popular tourist destination for foodies. Having more forests, citizens of the equatorial nations are distinguished from their polar counterparts by their pronounced love of nature and the fine arts. Many countercultural movements that are commonly and erroneously associated with Purian history in general took place exclusively in the two largest equatorial nations. In addition, the Purian movement to rejoin Intersyst at the end of the Schism period first gained traction here despite being started on Hyperion.

While the people of Nycena are generally regarded as artistically inclined, the people of Sunilios are business oriented and practically minded. Sunilios is home to several large corporations, including the Almetic Mining Group, and over 20 million registered startups. Their industrial nations are noted for their agile rapid prototyping houses which get close to competing with traditional manufacturing techniques in terms of output. These rapid prototyping houses satisfy the myriad startups’ need for novel and unique goods at a moment’s notice. The economic landscape of Sunilios is volatile as startups rise and fall on a daily basis making its stock exchanges a proving ground for up and coming investors. Contrary to popular belief, however, life on Sunilios does not revolve around startups but rather around small businesses. Over 1 billion registered small businesses are active on Sunilios. The Purian preference for the local over the global is especially strong on Sunilios making small businesses the de facto end user supplier. Nearly all of the large businesses on Sunilios have government or small businesses as their customers. At a glance, most working people on Sunilios are, in order, farmers or fishers, small business employees or owners, laborers, government officials, large business employees, other, or professionals.