Summary
Erulas is a lush, blue planet with vast oceans, sprawling green continents, and majestic mountain ranges. The planet boasts a rich biodiversity with a variety of flora and fauna that have adapted to the slightly higher gravity compared to Earth.
About 400 million humans live on Erulas.
History
As the most earth-like planet in the Junkstorm, Erulas was the first to be colonized, the first to draw in large numbers of settlers, and to this day the most populated.
Its early history is largely unremarkable. Discovery, exploration, slight terraforming, first colonists, expansion. Erulas grew rapidly due to its very earth-like nature, that requires little adaptation from colonists. Even a reasonable number of Earth plants can be grown on it.
Politics and Society
From its earliest days, Erulas has been run by one central government. Over the years, there have been many organizational changes to it, moving from a direct democracy to a representative democracy, to a republic with tiered voting weights based on wealth and length of residence on the planet, to its shape as a multi-tiered federation today.
The economic system of Erulas is a mixture of planned economy and capitalism. All social services and natural monopolies, such as health care, education, infrastructure, utilities, public transport, the spaceports and space stations, are state-run and planned based on current and expected future demand. The system has its weaknesses, but so far has managed to provide the citizens of Erulas with a high standard of living on all basics of life. Industries outside of these areas, where competition and market forces apply fully, are entirely private and with some of the most laissez-faire regulations in human space. Aside from anti-trust and truth in advertisement regulations, companies on Erulas are free to do as they please.
As a result, most of Erulas is permeated by a „can do“ attitude, and most Erulans believe that anyone can make it with hard work and the right attitude. In reality, however, social mobility is not as high as most citizens believe. Parental wealth and connections still can greatly boost a young person’s chances of success. There are plenty of examples of self-made millionaires and a few billionaires that prove that these are not the only factors, but about half of the very rich have inherited their wealth.
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The Erulas Military
For most of its history, Erulas had no need for a military, as it has always been a united planet and for a long time it was believed that no outside threats existed. So the planet granted itself a token army and space force, just enough to deal with the unexpected.
That all changed with the Qyrl war. Thrown into the frontlines of a war they were entirely unprepared for, and as the most populated planet in the Junkstorm expected to make a seizable contribution, Erulas adapted rapidly. In less than two years, a large space force and army were recruited, trained and equipped.
However, the rapid ramp-up had its price. Pilots sent to the frontlines with minimal training suffered horrible casualty rates, and the losses in equipment were equally staggering. Erulas bled heavily, but it contributed to humans reaching a hard-fought stalemate and a cease-fire.
Ever since, Erulas has maintained a reasonably large military, both in space and on the ground, and keeps them trained and ready at all times.
Electric Storms
Once a decade or so, the right combination of weather in the right place causes an electric storm to occur on Erulas - a thunderstorm with lightning discharges an order of magnitude above usual. Electric storms are incredible displays of nature, with their strong winds, heavy rainfalls and constant lightning strikes and thunder roars.
Until the colonists had learnt to deal with them, these electric storms used to cause serious damage, especially to the power grid. These days, only the more violent ones do. However, the storms are still powerful enough that for safety reasons the spaceports in affected areas close down during an electric storm.
The Obsidian Cliffs
The mountain ranges of the far south on Erulas are made up of an unusual combination of minerals, including large deposits of obsidian. In some places, these obsidian deposits have cracked and smooth splits dozens of meters high form unscalable cliffs of intense beauty. Only about ten such sites exist, and only two can be travelled to with relative ease. These two have become tourist attractions.