[TML] AWAD: Sprechenhaltestelle

[Brad Murray]

[BJM: bonus points to grognards who recognize the name-- man you're old]

Sprechenhaltestelle

0501 C58AAA7-C
Gas Giants present

Sprechenhaltestelle is what every great world should be: powerful,
independent, and generous. It has become a diplomatic center for
communication between Vilani, Solomani, and Vargr and has mediated
between subsets of those larger cultures. Currently it is most famous
for housing the government-in-exile of the Davidian Concord, though it
is not clear that that particular committee will ever again be
relevant.

The world proper is a small (about 50% standard gravity) water world
with a dense but very breathable atmosphere. The substantial
population (tens of billions of people) are well distributed amongst
thousands of structures built in the shallows of the world and rising
to great altitudes. Any given habitable space might be anywhere from
hundreds of meters underwater to thousands of meters in the air and
the architecture is fantastic mixture of sparkling domes amidst the
waves studded with vast tapering spires that pierce the clouds. Travel
is mostly by air in private grav vehicles manages by an automated air
traffic control system.

The government of Sprechenhaltestelle is run by one man — Fafnir Braat
— a Solomani rogue with a past marked by piracy, imprisonment,
extensive psychological treatment, rebellion, riches, poverty, contact
with aliens, military command, and underworld connections. He is a
huge bearded brute of a man, quick to laughter and with a speaking
voice that quiets entire cities when his addresses are made public.
Most of the population would die at his command. The Imperium has
never managed to established any kind of hold here and there is no
interest in the Pax Imperium — Sprechenhaltestellians (Sprechers for
short) believe that their destiny is only upward to greater and great
levels of technology. They intend to rival the Ancients and even go
beyond.

Certainly the system has the resources to make their dream plausible.
It is rich with heavy metals, pure water ice, and gas giants full of
exotics. Consequently the system is riddled with industrial and
agricultural stations and perhaps half or more of the total population
lives in space plying some trade there.

Despite its enormous population and unconventional leadership,
Sprechenhaltestelle is only moderately constraining for the private
citizens — knives and swords are commonplace in cities and, though
firearms are strictly illegal, obtaining a license to carry one is not
terribly onerous. The police force is small for the population and
crime is low partly because of a tendency to decriminalise anything
they cannot reasonably stop.

Sprechenhaltestelle is a popular setting for Vilani and Solomani
entertainment holos, especially ones dealing with interstellar
intrigue thanks to the reputation for subsector-spanning affiliations.
Indeed, embassies for every major government in the sector are present
here, some representing governments that no longer even exist. Not all
of the intrigue, as it turns out, is fictional and the preference of
the population for loose loudly coloured clothing, amusing hats, and
swords at their side make for great television, whether fact or
fiction.

Sprechenhaltestelle has allowed no official Imperial presence other
than diplomatic — no ISS base exists in system and certainly no naval
base is present. Sprechenehaltestelle herself maintains a substantial
system defense navy and tolerates the presencee of several private
fleets, most of whom would happily go to war at the request of the
local government. Even the small Vargr corsair fleets that regularly
pass through the system conduct themselves with aplomb and any piracy
that occurs does so with an apology and a tip of the hat.

With he popular support of nearly everyone who comes into contact with
it, Sprechenhaltestelle is largely immune to external interests. It
remains to be seen, however, just how this grand experiment will play
out.

Aspects
Diplomatic hub
Fiercely independent from man to world
When Fafnir speaks the world pauses

-- 
Brad Murray (halfjack)