Verbena

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Population: 78 million
Starport: Class B (several class C and D)
Verbana is a lush world of thick forests., making the land difficult to clear and farm, though several fruit-producers have done well with large orchards. It boasts three large continents that are presently in a state of turmoil. The northern continent is the most heavily populated and have the main Starport in the city of Resurrection. The world was largely underdeveloped until the Alliance made it a centerpiece of its “rejuvenation after Unification” campaign. Government incentives funded new construction, including a factory to supply parts for military vehicles. The factory seemed a promising start for Verbena, but that ended when a former Independent soldier-turned-terrorist (Dust-Devils) bombed the factory, killing hundreds of people and destroying the structure. The bombing sent the world into an economic depression and—far worse—created an atmosphere of paranoia, fear, and hatred for Browncoats and the Independence movement. There were riots, lootings, burnings, as both sides lost their heads.

The Alliance has pledged to help the people of Verbena, but the appropriate legislation and resolutions are trapped in parliamentary committees. The world is low on the government’s list of priorities. Some folk have fled, hoping to find a better life elsewhere. Many more would like to leave, but don’t have the means, and so remain trapped. Alliance military have been replaced with a small corporate security force (funded primarily by Interstellar Hardwoods) which is more or less permanently stationed on Verbena. While ostensibly there to guard against more terrorist action, it is really there to watch a restless population.

  • Resurrection - Effective Capitol of Verbena
  • Potterville - Small Timber settlement - Company town run by International Hardwoods.
    • Crew rescued a dozen women from forced prostitution here, include Lanie.
  • Renton - Small logging town

The Central (equatorial) found itself home to many of the Independence leaning people (especially after the rioting and purges of Browncoats in the north). Here a number of successful rebellions have made the center home to lively if semi-official independent country. The people here face considerable better equipped forces in the North, so tend to live away from the major settlements and make money in the less legal side of things.

  • Del Marin - Further inland navigable port on the Rio Bravo, center for relatively thriving mill town.
  • Lockmyre - Central fruit selling center for the Central continent.

In the South, there are fewer people, and since they never really got the incentives to join either side, they are for the most part neutral.

  • Darwin - Small college town.

Verbena is home to the only "gene-bank" outside the Core. The Darwin Nucleic-Acid Archive, or DNA, is housed in a vast cave network in the the southern continent just outside the city (also named Darwin). It houses samples of genetic material from every species brought in the arcs from Earth-That-Was. The DNA is operated by the Oxford University (on Londinium) with a sizable grant.

  • Summer 2522- Ongoing battles between the Southern and Northern continents have reached the stage of open combat. The exchange of ballistic missiles in a recent combat took the lives of over a hundred people. No sign of a clear victor in that exchange.




Lassek (foreground) Verbena (background)

Lassek

Population: 1.2 Million
Starport: Class C
The first moon of Verbena was set aside during colonization as a massive nature preserve. The moon is one vast natural park with several different climatic regions, though most of the planet falls under the general tropical appellation. The moon is thick with fog, heavy rains, and steamy jungle heat. It is home to much of the tropical wildlife brought back from Earth-that-Was.

The planet's only major city is New Kinshasa (population 800K); the remaining people of Lassek are scattered throughout the moon. The planet was originally planned to have three major continents resembling regions from Earth-that-was (Amazon, Congo, Burma) but inadequate attention to detail in its terraforming resulting in a hodge-podge of land and sea masses. The results of this have allowed for species to move from one region to another, particularly plant life (during the original seeding). It is not unusual therefore to see tigers in the same region as jaguar and lion, or Orangutans in the same areas as Gorilla and Howler Monkeys. Naturalist do their best to monitor the planet and preserve species lest they fall to competition.

Originally an Alliance cruiser orbited the moon and well armed game wardens patrolled the planet ensuring that poaching was not permitted, however since the war, this duty has fallen to the local authorities who are more corrupt and allow a certain amount of poaching if the price is right.

  • Lassek is where the crew left the Hyper Intelligent Apes and picked up Rick Allen.





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Mutineers
Firefly-RPG