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GalacticRenaissanceAquila was first discovered as a planet incredibly rich in a rare type of mineral that was an essential component in the manufacture of early space drives. This meant that it was developed as a mining planet. It rapidly became a very rich (although uncultured) environment. The then government (composed of the main mining families) began spending their wealth on ostentatious displays of culture; they also began spending money on equipment to terraform the planet (as at that time Aquila, although inhabitable by humans, cointained a lot of native plants that were unable to be used by humans, and thus Aquila was wholly dependent on imports). The goal was that Aquila should become self-supporting. This had barely been achieved when catastrophe struck. Developments in space drives rendered obsolete the material that Aquila is so rich in ... almost overnight, its value collapsed on galactic markets. And Aquila, now self-supporting and rich in the cultural artefacts that had been created and imported during the boom years, sank into being a backwater. The expensive equipment imported for terrraforming was used until it wore out. Then, with no money ... the old crude methods of slash and burn were resorted to, and Aquila fell back into a more primitive age. Basic space travel links the planet with three others in nearby systems ...but imports are expensive and rare. There is a certain pride in surviving alone ... In the five centuries since these events, the society of Aquila has codified and hardened, and it is now very different from the raw mining planet it began as. In these years, the Empire of Divis Mal has grown up, and now Aquila is a tiny, half-forgotten colony on the edge of the Empire. Because of its long-ago importance, the planet can still claim a seat on the Empire's Ruling Council ... So Aquila remains ... unless its rich mineral should acquire a fresh use ... and thus the planet acquires value ... or if it should find itself in the way of a large scale galactic war ... For more information see: This page may have a more recent version on pmwiki.org: PmWiki:GalacticRenaissance, and a talk page: PmWiki:GalacticRenaissance-Talk. |
