Named after the one-hundred nations that formed the First Communion, Centarion is the birthplace of humanity, the cradle of the Communion and the foundry of both empire and revolution. This world has dominated for thousands of years and will do so long into the future, regardless of what fate has in store for it!
Once teeming with biodiversity and ecosystems, ranging from vast oceans to humid jungles around the equator, gentle snow-capped mountains to deserts and verdant plains, Centarion now exists as one of the few, and notably the first, citified planets, with only carefully reconstructed aspects of nature existing within glass domes.
There is not a portion of its surface not covered over with metal. The Great Resurfacing, a politically-charged movement lasting millennia, saw a planet-wide super-surface installed. This was in an effort to stabilise the ever-growing sky-breakers, but it also created social divide – those that lived above and those that lived below. The surface that one sees is, in fact, many hundreds of metres above the ground, and in the darkness poverty rules.
The last frontier to be tamed but hardly conquered was the ocean; this realm which still exists has been all but forgotten by the Centari people, despite its tides powering much of city above.
The undercity was the significant, yet rarely acknowledged, by-product of the new surface – a realm flung into perpetual darkness. The majority of the planet’s working class live down here, operating and maintaining the pipes and other machines that allow the rest of the populace to exist.
Just as many in the undercity express no interest in seeing the light of the sun, the affluent surface-dwellers show no desire in knowing what goes on beneath to keep them alive. This divide is most poignant in the Capitol – the most densely populated and important site on the planet.
However, in both business and leisure, the undercity and the surface do cross over. Many start-up companies can only afford undercity premises but still trade with surface firms, seeking to rise floor by floor until they too are on the top. The Club Diaspora further punctuates the mixing of Centarion’s populace, finding no division in its incredibly diverse and mostly shady patronage.
Naturally, the undercity lends itself to criminal networks, the most notorious being the Gorgons – an extremely powerful gang, its leaders, more clandestine than shadow – and the deeper down one goes, the rifer crime becomes. But in the very deepest levels, not even crime can exist; there is little life down there where once all life lived. The true surface is dark and cold, home to only the most deformed creatures and a mysterious species of plant called hunger moss – which is fighting a war in itself, against the darkness of humanity.
The Capitol Square houses two of the most significant sites in human history. The Parliament House, of the Parliament of Man, sits nestled amidst sky-breakers at one end of the Don’a’rue – the road of man. Every single part of the Communion is represented by a member of parliament, and their many flags can be seen waving in the grounds. The Speaker of the House is the symbolic leader of the Parliament, but no true Communion has ever had a true leader.
At the other end of the long road stands the Tower of the XA (Xarinthian Alliance). The significant, circular plane, which serves as a landing area for their fleet of ships, makes it hard to miss the tower despite its relatively diminutive size. During the Great Resurfacing, this space was cordoned off so all could be reminded of whose diplomacy, again and again, kept the Communion intact. During a certain period in the mornings and evenings, the tower and its landing area beam with light as if they were extensions of the sun and therefore extensions of the will of the Universe.
Such symbolism is not unwarranted, as all throughout history the XA have fought for unity above all else and have led the universal faith of humanity. During even the darkest of times, the XA have been a beacon, guiding wayward souls back towards the Communion and into the light of the will of the Universe.
From their tower, the XA led humanity out of the First Schism, an era of warring nations called countries, and into the first global civilisation which became the First Communion.
Upon the advent of interplanetary space travel, and the subsequent scattering of humanity in the Second Schism, the XA worked tirelessly to restore a Second Communion under the banner of Centarion. This period became humanity’s golden age, leading to the start of the Great Resurfacing, the construction of the metal moon (Centar’don), the recognition of sky-breaker status, the rise and fall of mega corporations, and the wider development of the Centar System (sometimes referred to as the heart).
When interspace was finally discovered by the Olympus Corporation, the Third Schism came in full force. The Communion faded into antiquity as humanity reached for the stars and formed new nations. However, Centarion remained very much alive and entirely perturbed. For a few thousand years, the separation endured, but then Centarion started to reclaim her people – no longer under communion but under empire. Small wars between independent systems and the Empire of Centarion ensued for at least one millennium. Eventually this culminated in the The Great War of the Third Schism (which is not commonly referenced in modern times). This conflict lasted only a decade but brought an end to thousands of years of history, which had seen numerous star systems flourish under independence.
It was these independent nations that banded together to form the Third Communion, not Centarion (as is commonly misunderstood). Under this alliance reborn, the warmongering Empire of Centarion was vanquished and consumed by the new Communion, who at once reclaimed the Parliament House, restoring democracy and issuing in the first galactic government of humanity – the Third Communion – which has existed in equilibrium, until now…