Editing Aquila (section)

=== Aquila 230 A 985 858 A Garden, High Population, Rich ===

A very earth like world of temperate climate, Aquila soon filled up with dozens of little colonies from all over Earth and Known Space and now has a population of 310 million. A series of mostly peaceful amalgamations has left five states in control (numbers indicate relative power): 

Merovin - independent mostly French speaking nation 5
Onika - very loosely affiliated extra-planetary Japanese prefecture, with lots of non-Japanese residents 9
New Dorset - English colony, currently torn by agitation for independence, many Russian speakers, Americans, Scots and Irish 5
The Eagle Khalifate - Small Shia state in an on and off state of war with Merovin, accusing the Merovinese of being in thrall to Shaitan 1
Federation of American Aquilan States - Actually only one state, of the original three US colony sites one became a county of New Dorset by popular plebiscite and another simply fizzled out to become little more than a military outpost as colonists moved to the cities of Onika and Merovin 2

There is an Aquilan League of Nations which includes all of the states. The FAAS are frequently a bit dubious about their membership, though promises of return of lost territory keep them hanging around, and the Khalifate frequently storm out accusing the whole thing of being a Merovinese plot to take over the world.

The planet is wealthy, with many large and mostly pleasant cities and tolerably democratic and bureaucratic governments, though there is a growing class divide in Merovin and the FAAS.

Oddities are the presence of a Hobbit colony, the strange monument Icehenge on one of the outer worlds and the presence of plenty of New Age space-hippies.

The New Age lot are a very mixed bunch and can be traced back to a number of odd semi-cultic groups who founded mostly failed colonies in the more far off parts of the world. Odinism is popular, as is Druidism, and the magic crystal mines do a roaring trade. There is a Scientologist presence, though they are officially banned from Onika after a nasty financial scandal, and even an 'Institute of Psionics', where rich fruitcakes sit about doing pseudo-yogic exercises and claim to be able to read people's minds. Even the staid and religiously conventional Eagle Khalifate has got in on the act, with the first new Sufi saint in centuries, Dmitri Alikiran, attracting hundreds of followers. Offworlders say there's something in the water, while Ayatollah Isidri accuses all of them of being seduced by the devil, who is, of course, French!