Alpha - Home of the Valen
The perfect place to kick-start a galactic economy, rife with a history of back-stabbing and questionable ethics.
General History Overview
Prior to the Valen age of space exploration, Alpha was home to a society that was not to dissimilar to humanity. They had simple space programs, many governments, widespread development of the planet, and their fair share of free markets. There was a fair bit of conflict on the planet, primarily over land disputes between nations, but it was nothing too terrible. Valen had long ago solved their own energy crisis, having developed custom-crystal-based net-positive energy generation technology that kept everything rolling on Alpha without the use of fuels, or even the need for complicated renewables infrastructure.
A major player on Alpha back then was Blackwood, a massive multi-national corporation that manufactured many things. Their primary money maker was government contracts to product weaponry, second to the public's purchasing of the numerous household electronics they sold. They were a household name and a necessity as much as they were a problem for many others, sometimes to the same people. They developed aircraft, spacecraft, you name it, for all sorts of companies. They're big enough to have sovereign land in numerous countries, and rather significant amounts of it too. In a way, they're their own country.
One day, after years of development, Blackwood has a successful, intersolar voyage. The public and world governments alike are excited by the prospect of the travel this enables. Months later, the Valen discover the Ventara. Blackwood scientists engage with them for the first time in the unexpected encounter, managing to establish basic communications. They return with textbooks from the foreign land, pictures, and overwhelming evidence of the existence of this foreign species.
The public reacts in a way no government had foreseen.
International conflicts come to a standstill as many soldiers, informed of the news, refuse to fight. The general populous' approval of the nations of the world begins to decline as leaders struggle to navigate the complex, new social environment such a discovery had spawned. People across the planet want to meet these people, see their culture. The limited info Blackwood shared with the public left everyone starved for more.
Blackwood begins contributing to eroding government control over much of the world. They make efforts to subtly sabotage the militaries they outfitted while arming the previously peaceful populous, triggering global civil wars in the shadows. The age-old powers collapse under the pressure, buckling under the impossible to navigate internal conflict and collective desire of Valen society.
There were a few decades of combat, nations struggling to hold on. Blackwood had been (quietly) continuing their research and development of new spacefaring technologies in the background. They established direct, reliable communications with the Ventara scientific outfits experiencing much the same turmoil on their planet. They had developed translation programs and began creating a universal spoken language. It wasn't long until trade started to happen, and as the dust began to settle on Alpha, the two outfits would join together to perform joint space expeditions. Blackwood had grown significantly in the meantime, a haven for those seeking normalcy and a stable environment to do something for what was left of peaceful society.
The public began to rebuild and reassemble them, aided by Blackwood and its many resources at this point in time. The organization's lack of real market-based objective at this point left it in a weird position. The board pushed along efforts to kick-start previously private or government ran facilities, repairing infrastructure and providing essentials to "humanitarian" type groups as well as their own direct efforts. Blackwood began providing their own security detail to disarm or hire the militias they had created previously. They took over government facilities, converting them into museums or destroying them to make way for new development.
Blackwood's campuses became closer to governmental facilities. Executives became overburdened with new tasks and buckled under the pressure, many of them having completely abandoned the company as they couldn't perform what Blackwood expected of them. The board went through many crises, the small group of Valen feeling similarly unequipped to handle the situation.
After much struggle and significant projects to repair all that had been destroyed, as well as house those that had been displaced by Blackwood's projects or the uncountable number of wars that had broken out globally, the world had managed to heal. It was nearing a century since the Valen had originally discovered the Ventara, and the idea of Blackwood being a kind of security blanket on top of the Valen population was slowly becoming popular.
Blackwood's board churned through members rapidly. The board always had consisted of employees from each division of the company, of which could be any employee. They would serve on the board for maximally 5 years before they would lose the seat, and it would go back to a lottery out of the top 20 employees from each division, rated for their contribution to their division. Employees couldn't join the board again once they had served on it for 5 years.
The Public's trust of Blackwood only grew over time, and to date the strange, homogenous corporate entity oversees Alpha as a whole. Citizens of Alpha enjoy their necessities covered by Blackwood. Frivolities, such as entertainment, arts, junk foods, and just generally anything that's not deemed a necessity, are paid for with special credits allocated annually to citizens. Citizens are paid for art and other non-productive, but quantifiable, societal contributions. In general, folks are happy, but not without numerous social issues. People also aren't quite content with the way the non-necessity credits work, but it remains semi functional.
Alpha World Map
Blackwood Facilities - Includes factories, governmental type buildings, offices, and just about anything Blackwood needs to function as an organization.
Government Residents - A low population buffer area between restricted zones, housing much of the population working for Blackwood.
Alpha Galactic Neutral Zone - A low density area populated largely by Blackwood employees. Includes a space port, high end accommodation for visitors, several embassies, and restricted underground train lines to the rest of the continent. This is where most meetings of other planetary governments occur when hosted by Blackwood.
The Public - Where most Valen live. Contains little for industry, but a fair bit of commercial development and arts occurs here. Access for outsiders to The Public is very limited and requires special approval from Blackwood. Most residents living in The Public never travel into space or interact with the Exogrid.
The Shroud - Undeveloped land and commercial ruins in the sea dividing The Public and Blackwood R&D. Infrequent vacation spot among civilians looking to do camping or spend some time on an island. Contains some Blackwood-managed resorts on The Public's side of the islands.
Blackwood Deadzone - Truly No Man's Land. Highly policed land that is truly off limits to anyone outside of Blackwood. Employees need special permission to be here or they could face severe punishment. Civilians are always spotted and removed from these locations when they stumble across them. Basically a wide net to catch folks looking to spy on the R&D processes at Blackwood.
Blackwood R&D - Blackwood's galactic R&D continent. Includes numerous scientific facilities spread throughout the land, hundreds of test locations, and countless factories producing parts for spacecraft and space stations alike. A proper economic powerhouse, producing all of the funds to sustain the rest of the population alone. Access is heavily restricted.
R&D Residents - Home to the families of employees of the R&D division of Blackwood. Basically its own civilization with its own subculture somewhat separate to that of The Public. Quite the secure place, existing as a bay city.