The Unified Republic of Stars

The planet of New Normandy was discovered in 2105 by a French exploration team. Though one of the first planets to be discovered, it was one of the last to be colonized with the first settlers arriving in 2109. Following the Invasion of 2338, it became the capitol of the Unified Republic of Stars with the establishment of the Boldyrev RFD.

Demonym: Norman.

Discovery & Colonization

A map of the planet New Normandy with the major settlements

After being discovered in 2105, New Normandy was slow to be colonized, with the first settlers not arriving until as late as 2109. Those settlers tended to come from Eastern Europe with the vast bulk of them from the region of the former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Following that initial wave came a large number of settlers from the South America continent. As such, it became a strange blend of culture and peoples.

It was neither fast to be settled nor was it slow, but painfully average, having just over 51,000 residents by the end of the first year and almost 30 million when independence was declared. By population size, it was larger than Galileo, Athena, and Troy but smaller than worlds of the Hwon, or Fenghuang systems.

Because English and Chinese were the predominate languages during the initial push to the Colonial Star Cluster, they were integrated into the blend of languages already being spoken and, like most planets, became it's own blend of Colonial English. "Official" Colonial English was also taught to most students and soon it came to dominance over the local flavor.

In all other ways, settlement of the world occurred very much like it did on Darwin, Galileo, or Troy with the eventual establishment of new industries, farms, and ranches, the settlers marking out their claimed lands and attempting to make a life for themselves.

New Normandy was a participant in the First Independent Congress in 2169 and generally favored independence though it favored slow caution over the instant creation of a new political body.

Relocation of the Capitol

Following the Invasion of 2338 with the occupation of Galileo, the federal government found itself in hiding. President In Gyu Lee and what members of the house and senate managed to escape eventually regrouped on Yong Nam but the capture of the Republic's capitol was still a major black eye.

Fearing that in a future conflict it could happen again, the federal government began a search for a new planet to call home. It's primary criteria was a world that had never been occupied by UUHA forces. It was thought that if the UUHA had never landed troops on the world in the past then they would be less likely to do so in a future conflict. Additionally, by placing the capitol on one of these worlds, it would require the Republic's enemies to hunt through each star system looking for the one with the capitol in order to occupy it again in the future.

While that strategy was considered dubious by the Republican Fleet, the reasons for leaving Galileo were sound. Since even before the Republic's inception, the Galileo System had been a a battleground durring every UUHA incursion into the Republican Star Cluster. It was the base for the entire Second Fleet and their deadly NOVA class ships and it was the closest world to Earth. But if not there, then which world?

Many suggested moving the capitol to one of the unpopulated moons to maintain neutrality between the conservative and libertarian worlds. But most of them were cold and, while habitable, only barely. The most hospitable, of course, was the moon of Gelassenheit but the Republican Constitution specifically excluded it from the union and no one saw a political benefit in clashing with the Amish. So it had to be a Republican world then.

There were a few other criteria imposed on the federal government in its search by the member worlds. All of them had seen how the federal government had sprawled out across Galileo City, turning into a defacto company town and essentially destroying it trade outside of government. So, where ever the Republic decided to establish its new capitol, it was going to have to be a new city, far enough away from any existing one to not interfere with its populace. Additionally, the conservative worlds of Columbus, Al Gharbiyah, Madaba, and Yong Nam insisted that it be established on a more moderate planet than Galileo was.^[1] With this being the case, only a few worlds existed that would meet all the criteria: New Normandy or the worlds of either the Hwon or New Nippon systems.

At the end of the day, New Normandy won out because it was a moderate world that offered to donate an entire, relatively unpopulated continent to the federal government.^[2] The federal government accepted it and designated the entire landmass the Boldyrev Republican Federal District.

Construction began in 2343 based on a design by Namian architect Kyon Moon Choe and, while large swaths were still being built, the federal government moved the Republican Congress, Constitutional Court, and President to Boldyrev RFD to begin governing there by 2345 with an official flag raising ceremony performed before congress began its first session.

Major Products

As with almost everything else, New Normandy is very average in terms of economic production, having a little of everything. It has large, productive farms and ranches as well a vibrant manufacturing segment making everything from household appliances to automobiles that are sold mostly on world.

Among the other Republican worlds, New Normandy is known for two things, its excellent whiskey produced outside the city of Côte de Forêt and it's substantial technology industry in both Landes and Sarajito. New Normandy is the technology center of the Unified Republic of Stars, with many of the innovations being developed here, if even they are manufactured within the Hwon System for want of resources. Its universities turn out computer programmers by the thousands and they are employed by the literally thousands of technology companies.

Because of the ease of entry into the software market, New Normandy has a rich startup culture and these companies often provide software for other corporations around the Republic, both for embedded systems and corporate software.

Baseball

New Normandy is a big supporter of Republican Baseball, starting their first teams in Landes in 2152 in the then called Hwon-Normandy League. Since then, it has expanded to having ten teams in three of the four league divisons. Its teams are well supported and the games is always the highest rated program on the world. Since the first team, New Normandy has appeared in the Republican Series twenty-two times, and brought home the championship eleven.

The teams are:

Kaesong Division

• Sarajito Lawnmen
• Sarajito Ice Climbers

Normandy Division

• Landes Buccaneers
• (Landes) New Normandy Oysters
• Landes Baymen
• Landes Star Sailors
• New Budva South Townies
• New Budva North Townies
• Côte de Forêt Islanders

Interstellar Division

• Côte de Forêt Whiskeymen

Climate

New Normandy has a diverse range of climes across all five of its continents. For instance, New Budva is generally warm with constant sun, being on the ocean but protected from cool winds that would blow by the mountains on its western edge. Landes, on the other hand, is on a warm bay from the ocean and the meeting of warm and cold waters bring the city frequent rains and thick fogs. Along the equatorial region, there can be some fairly dense jungles while thick forests surround the mountains north and south.

Sarajito is relatively cold, not unlike Edmonton in Canada and surrounded by lush green.

Côte de Forêt benefits from the warm equatorial waters brought south and pushing the colder arctic waters away though, during the spring and fall months, this can result in monsoon like rains.

Transplanted & Native Species

Almost all Earth plant species transplanted to New Normandy have survived and flourished well, integrating well with the native species while not pushing them out. Escaped seeds from farms have spread wild colonies of plants across the settled continents but not to the detriment of any native plants. Instead, they appear to share the land rather well with native pollinating insects and Earth bees just as happy to work from any plant.

But like many other worlds, Earth fish have had a tough time of being transplanted into New Normandy's vast oceans. This is in large part to the many enormous shark-like creatures that inhabit the deeper waters capable of sweeping up whole schools at once. The native fish appear to deal with these predators by breeding much more quickly to ensure their own survival.

Most of New Normandy's land predators live within the forests and jungles of the world and rarely leave thus providing no conflict for human settlers outside these areas. In the lush green plains however, there are several mid-size predators that feed on the grazing animals and are just as happy to prey on the relatively slow and fat livestock humans brought with them. As a result, farmers and ranchers have all but eradicated these creatures anywhere near human settlements thus making an over population of native grazers which the farmer's, in turn have hunted to prevent them from competing with their own livestock which they tend to fight.

Also, native birds, looking more like large flying mammals with their colorful furs and flaps skin between webbed arms have prevented any transplanted species of birds from taking hold as they seem to be regarded as hostile and kill them on sight.

Travel Times

Story References

• Matriarchy

Footnotes

1. ↑ The conservative worlds were still embarrassed by the way Galileo had acted while the New Age of Morality Act was in effect, refusing the enforce the laws and thus leaving the capitol more or less free to engage in the very "immoral" acts the law was intended to address.
2. ↑ This continent was known as Ocean Montagne, meaning almost literally, "Ocean Mountians" for its long beaches and towering mountains. While it had some citizens, it was the only continent without any incorporated towns or cities and officially considered "wild" by the planetary government. These residents were compensated for their claimed lands with both money and similar sized and situated lands on the northern continent, also considered "wild". Most of those relocated did so happily but some who had lived for generations protested loudly and Norman government was forced to pay significantly more than they expected to make up for the relocation.