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Sestris, or The Union of Sestris and Bratis, is a political entity within the Gilgamesh Colonial Confederation.
Sestris and Bratis form a system pair settled by a French colonial mission in the early days of interstellar expansion, with Sestris having claimed Bratis as a colony in the pre-GCC era. These systems were founding members of the GCC – second only to Gilgamesh in terms of political and economic power, citizens of Sestris enjoy a generally high standard of living and many can be found within the ranks of the ICCG Defense Forces.
Sestris
Amelie
Geography
Amelie possesses Earth-like gravity and a hot, dense atmosphere – surface conditions are survivable, but uncomfortable, and most settlements are climate-controlled. Within these domed cities, life is generally quite cushy: Sainte Marguerite, the first colony established in Sestris, is today a glittering metropolis and the financial capital of the GCC. Other major settlements include Chartreuse – an open-air city near Amelie’s relatively-temperate south pole, which boasts the planet’s largest botanical garden as well as several prestigious universities.
Culture
Amelie is a relic of the era of its colonization, with the Colonization project being the only to contain one old-Earth culture group. This comes across quite clearly in the modern day, and Amelians are extremely protective of their cultural identity. This most visibly comes across in the architecture of the planet: maintained over the years by a byzantine set of zoning laws, if one didn’t know any better, they would think any one of Amelie’s cities could have been on Earth, if not for the planet’s hot, dense atmosphere.
Amelians are commonly described in terms such as ‘snobbish’, ‘uptight’, or ‘having superiority complexes’. Parallels are often drawn to Luna due to the wealth present on the planet, with many across the Confederation considering Amelians to be the highest of the upper class. To many who find themselves in less fortunate economic circumstances, the appearance of an Amelian is tantamount to the arrival of the bourgeoisie.
Politics
Amelie's politics is unique within the Confederation in that most Amelians are uninterested in the GCC's broader political landscape. Amelian representatives in the Confederate Directory are often seen as isolationist pragmatists content with maintaining the status quo. Amelie's support for the militarist wing of the Confederate Directory is low compared to other GCC member states, with most Amelians preferring their tax dollars to be spent at home rather than on military efforts or foreign expansion.
Economy
Amelie is a mostly ‘white collar’ economy. The financial and insurance industries make up the majority of the planet's GDP, as Amelie is the seat of most of the Confederation’s major banks and insurance companies. The remainder is largely the service sector, with most workers not employed by banks or insurance companies working in the planet’s tourism industry or other civil duties – other sectors, such as military and agriculture, are negligible to the planet’s overall economy.
Croixcolline
Croixcolline is a grey, barren world neighboring Amelie, riddled with a sprawling network of trenches, caverns, and caves. While currently incapable of supporting life, geological evidence suggests Croixcolline once held liquid water. Sporadic terraforming efforts have been underway for the past century, though waning interest and recent economic turmoil have ensured that few stuck.
Bratis
Savoie
Geography
Savoie is an icy volcanic moon orbiting a gas giant and one of few rocky celestial bodies of any notable size in the Bratis system. Savoie possesses a large liquid ocean below its inhospitable surface, which made it an attractive candidate for colonists who sought to spread beyond Sestris in the early days of colonial expansion.
Culture
Savoie shares much of its cultural identity with Amelie, though has a notable minority population of immigrants from elsewhere in the Confederation – many of which originally coming to the system for work at Gilgamesh Colonial Naval Research Base (GCNRB) or Gilgamesh Colonial Naval Ordinance Base (GCNOB) Bratis. This, coupled with the lack of zoning laws, has resulted in a much more modern look and feeling to Savoie.
Politics
Politically, Savoie marches to Amelie’s beat in full lockstep. Although technically independent in all matters, the two are so deeply interconnected – and Amelie so vastly greater in size and population – that Savoie is quite happy to wait and see what the delegates from Amelie say, and then agree.
Economy
Savoie is a small but densely-populated colony focusing on tourism and military logistics. The Pioneer Corps maintains a research base, GCNRB Bratis, in the moon’s orbit. This outpost is dedicated primarily to geological monitoring and is considered a training assignment for recruits.