Nova

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Nova
PROBLEM?
Cogwheels Never go out of Fashion
The future is ours!
Population About 30'000
Government Technocracy
Techlevel Cyberpunk
Trade Batteries go out, food go in
Out of Game
IRL Counterpart Gävle
Contact info@bbreloaded.se

Nova (formerly Eden) is governed by the totalitarian Institution. They have successfully maintained and developed technology since before Kali and are therefore one of the largest power figures in Scandinavia. They have mastered the art of "improving" and "upgrading" people via cybernetic implants and enhancements.

History

The state of Nova can trace its roots back to those first days before the catastrophe that gave rise to what some refer to as the apocalypse. During this time, Nova was a research station staffed with dedicated and well-educated scientists working within the fields of chemistry and technology to create a brighter future. When it was apparent that the future was going to be -- at best -- difficult to brighten, the station's governing body opted to close its doors and retreat deep into the station's underground bunkers along with their families.

As time passed, those dwelling in the bunkers returned to their underground laboratories and drawing boards. The outside world moved on. As a new generation grew up under the earth, Nova's leaders made a decision: they would send scouts out of Nova to take stock of the world aboveground. What they found was a ruined wasteland. Further expeditions found pockets of more or less civilised settlements, and so began cautious negotiations between the worlds above and below ground. Nova could offer batteries, rudimentary medical care, and simple repairs. In return, they received information, food, and other resources from the outside world. The construction of a city aboveground began.

Early on in the development of the city, two primary schools of thought on how Nova should see itself in relation to the rest of the world emerged. One notion maintained that it was Nova's moral duty to support any and all attempts at survival out in the wasteland. The other maintained the opposite, based on the notion that the day Nova put its faith in unscientific, lowbrow outsiders would be the day civilisation as we knew it would be once again destroyed. With resources limited and doomsday still a fresh memory, a compromise had to be reached between proponents of both notions. In the end, both camps agreed that humanity's survival should take priority over the wishes and freedoms of individual persons. A plan began to take shape.

In addition to trade and commerce, expeditions leaving Nova were charged with the additional task of educating outsiders. The idea was that through logic and diplomacy, they could convince outsiders to fall in line with Nova's authority for the greater good. This lead to a number of conflicts due to many outsiders disagreeing with Nova's ideas on organisation and leadership. When the diplomatic route proved unfruitful, Nova adopted a more bellicose approach in its dealings with outsiders, leading to a protracted period of aggressive military expansion which continues to this day.

Today

Nova has never been bigger or more insular and reactionary than it is now. Some say at the more resources and power they have at their disposal the farther they grow from their goal as humanity's savior.

Structure and Culture

Corretly educated Nova personnel are not strangers to filed trips
The key words for Nova's political and social aspirations are meritocracy and technocracy. Everything must be handled with discipline and order, preferably through regimented beauracracy. The entire structure is divided according to work and responsibility sectors.
  • The education sector is responsible for ensuring that the right people wind up in the right place with the right skills and education.
  • The research sector handles medical and scientific developments.
  • The defense sector, possibly paradoxically, handles all military operations.
  • The requisitions sector is responsible for Nova's infrastructure and resources.

Following basic education, each citizen must take an aptitude test to determine to where and what they are most suited in society. The best one can be is effective and useful, regardless of what position one has in life. It is better to be a fully competent sanitation technician (janitor) than an incompetent surgeon. Incompetent is the worst any single person can be. This notion leads to many citizens -- in their quest to better themselves and thereby their society -- to undergo gene therapy and "updates" in the form of cybernetic implants.

It is also commonplace for citizens to take the name of one or another scientist or inventor from history. This can be described as a way of connecting to those in history who have worked to create or else successfully managed to make the world a better place through scientific endeavours.

The Institution

The Institution is Nova's governing body. It was originally intended to be a watchdog group and meeting point for all of Nova's sectors, but quickly morphed into a permanent, dictatorial establishment. The Instution's will is Nova's will; any decisions made by the Institution are absolute and inviolable. Only the most clever and productive members of society have a chance at joining the ranks of the Instutition. Members of the Institution serve for life, or at least until they show themselves to be incompetent.

Geography

Nova spreads out over large portions of Hälsingland and north Gästrikland. Nova effectively consists of a pair of strongly fortified cities and city centers with a number of outposts in the surrounding territory. In between lies farmland and watercourses which Nova jealously protects from surrounding bandits and enemy states.

Important Cities

Nova: The eponymous capital. Here resides the Institution.
Atlas: Nova's largest city.

Primary Income

Nova's need for resources grows in tandem with its aggressive expansion. Ambitious attempts to make Nova self-sustaining have failed, and so the city remains largely dependent on commerce to keep its people fed. Nova's primary exports are factory-made equipment, medicines, batteries, and mechnical technology. Nova no longer shares its technological expertise with outsiders.

International Relations

Nova compromises on foreign relations precisely as much as it needs to in order to succeed and survive. They have neither sympathy nor tolerance for so-called mutants.

Pansarvargarna are viewed as the primary enemies of both Nova and the Institution in the current scheme of things.

Rumours

Rumour has it that two high-level individuals from the Institution have deserted.

Summary/Footnotes

  • Nova is both the state and capital city.
  • The Institution is the government organisation boogeyman with which parents the world over scare their children.
  • Citizens of Nova take their family names from well-known scientists of the past.