Editing The Broken Shard Cluster (section)

= Qing - System B =
{| class="wikitable"
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! Statistics !!
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| style="width: 50%;" | '''Qing (B)''' 
'''T -1''' (Atomic power) Qing has advanced information technology, but lags elsewhere.<br>
'''E 0''' (One garden world (perhaps additional barren worlds))<br>
'''R +3''' (Multiple exports)

'''''Aspects:'''''
* Colonial Conflicts
* Shadow Wars
* The Only Source of Werve
|| [[File:B_-_Qing.png|center]]<br>
''Source: https://longislandweekly.com/the-future-was-here-the-1939-worlds-fair/''
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|}

As a world rich with resources, but where the natives have not yet achieved anything but the most primitive space travel, Qing has been carved up into spheres of influence by the major powers of the cluster, in a situation reminiscent of China in the late 19th century C.E. on Earth That Was. There are a number of major polities, with various forms of government, ranging from democracy to autocracy. All of them remain formally politically independent. In practice, most are dominated by some power from outside the system, seeking to exploit the world for its rich resources. Representatives of these foreign powers have immunity from local law enforcement and will often use their own troops to enforce their will alongside the local police and military, always under the fiction of helping the local government maintain order. Members of Qing's upper classes may receive an off-world education in one of the colonial powers' universities. This colonialism has not gone unchallenged, with many different anti-colonial movements active, with a range of philosophies from religious fundamentalism to democratic socialism, and a range of methods from terrorism to nonviolent protest.


One distinct aspect of Qing's history of which its people are proud is that they have not fought conventional open wars. Instead, they have fought what are known as shadow wars, relying on methods ranging from propaganda and psy ops to assassination. The people of Qing see this as superior to the open warfare seen elsewhere in human history, as this rarely results in civilian casualties, only involving those actually wielding power. Some of the outside powers have recruited Qing psy ops specialists and assassins to work for them in the rest of the cluster. Even the nonviolent anti-colonial movements make as much use of psy ops as they do of open, mass protest.


Werve - the miracle drug. Probably not naturally occurring, it's just too useful. If it's engineered, though, its creators are long gone. The plant itself is rare, near impossible to farm, while it will grow on other worlds or in controlled environments, it won't produce the compound everyone loves it for. ingesting even small amounts of werve regularly slows aging, fights cancer, and induces a mild euphoria that doesn't get in the way of your work while being very pleasant. Qing has many resources to export, but werve is probably the most valuable, and conflicts between polities can result from finding a rich patch of the plant.