Characters / Overheaven Jupiter

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Jupiter

The largest planet. While Jupiter itself obviously can't be colonized, seeing as it's a gas giant, its moons have become home to an extensive network of colonies, all under the auspices of the Jovian Empire and their genetically-engineered philosopher-kings, the Fulmen Dynasty.

• Alternative Calendar: The Jovian calendar, not surprisingly, works very differently than any Earth calendar.
• Arc Symbol: The Jovian flag features a lightning bolt, a symbol which recurs in things to do with the Empire.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The signature color of the Jovian Empire appears to be orange. The Fulmens even have orange skin.
• Conlang: The Fulmens invented their own language, which is used primarily as a liturgical language for Jovology.
• Elective Monarchy: The Emperor is elected from amongst the Fulmen kings of the Galileans, the kings are elected by the dukes and the dukes are elected by the non-Fulmen lesser nobility. And of course, at every level there's a Parliament.
• Feudal Future: Downplayed. There are nobles and knights, but the sensibilities of the Jovians are fairly modern, all things considered.
• Fictional Currency: The Empire's currency is apparently called "bolts."
• God-Emperor: Some Jovians consider Fulmens to be divine.
• Hegemonic Empire: Run by the Fulmen Dynasty, a clan of genetically-engineered philosopher-kings. They've built a decentralized empire in the Jovian sphere, maintaining their power through good publicity and taking care not to be tyrants.
• Lighter and Softer: In-Universe example. Jupiter's moons tend to be named after people who had their lives ruined by Zeus in some way, so early Jovian colonists often rewrote or toned down the myths in question to make them palatable for their children. These altered stories eventually helped give rise to the Jupiter-worshipping folk religion of Jovology.
• Mêlée à Trois: 2158 marked the start of the Warring Moons Period, during which the moons of Jupiter all fought each other for dominance in the wake of Hell Day effectively removing Earth from the equation. It was a somewhat comical time, however, given that nobody in Jupiter was especially well-prepared for war, nor all that good at it. Eventually, it turned into a Proxy War between Mars and Luna. The Martians won, but The Federation they installed was overthrown fairly rapidly, with the Jovian Empire replacing it by 2249.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: The Thunderbolt Revolution that put the Fulmens in power is portrayed as a good thing, partly because the Fulmens actively strive to invoke The Good Kingdom and partly because The Federation they overthrew was quite unpopular with the citizenry.

Ganymede

The largest moon in the solar system. As such, it's a major focus of colonization. Eventually, the British and Indian settlers who colonized Ganymede terraform it into an ocean world. Ganymede is the focus of the Age of Aquarius update.

Ganymede in general

• Alternative Calendar: On a tidally-locked moon orbiting a gas giant (which itself takes twelve years to orbit the Sun), timekeeping has a way of getting weird.
• The Big Race: Every year, Ganymede has a seaplane race all the way around the moon. The winner gets an honorary knighthood from the King and a kiss from the Queen.
• City on the Water: All Ganymedean cities are these by 2585. The technical term for them is "pelastats," but locally they're more often called "isles," because in practice, that's what they are. Groups of city isles are called "pelarcs" ("pelastat archipelagos") and are often arranged in artful patterns. The largest pelarcs, the "grand-pelarcs," are effectively countries unto themselves. There are nine grand-pelarcs: Kumari, Shackleton, Harpagia, Thandaghar, Livingstone, Nahirmiri, Safina, the Celestial Chain and the largest of all, Greater Arkstead. Each one is a grand duchy within the Empire.
  • There's also "ecostats," which are pelastats that have been made into wilderness areas. The ecostat equivalent of pelarcs are "wolds," which are treated essentially like national parks. There are seven grand wolds: Sahasra, Ajna, Vishuddha, Anahata, Manipura, Svadhishthana and Muladhara.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The color palette of Age of Aquarius is chiefly blue. Ganymede is an ocean world, meaning it's predominantly blue, and some of its people are blue too.
• Culture Chop Suey: Indian and British Commonwealth, with some Chinese and Ahmadiyya Muslim thrown in for good measure.
• A Day in the Limelight: Age of Aquarius is all about Ganymede.
• Fantastic Racism: During Ganymede's pre-terraforming "Ice Age," terraforming advocates gene-modded their children to be aquamorphs, while those who preferred it icy gene-modded theirs to be cryomorphs. Aqua and cryo teens in the late 21st century thus often came into conflict over their parents' competing visions of the future.
  • Martians are generally not trusted on Ganymede, partly for historical reasons (the short-lived Federation the Empire overthrew was a Martian Puppet State) and partly because the Gany-Martian community is very insular. On the other hand, one of the reasons the Gany-Martians are so insular is precisely because they know the Ganymedeans don't trust them...
• Fictional Sport: Ganymede's national sport is ice cricket, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin - cricket by way of ice hockey.
  • Gany aquamorphs, meanwhile, are fond of underwater wrestling. No hits below the belt, no hits to the face, no hits to the gills.
• First Time in the Sun: The Ganymedean population as a whole underwent this during the terraforming years, as they left their ice-cave cities once the ice started melting. Notably, not an Ending Trope in this case, except perhaps The End of the Beginning, as Ganymede and its people have a grand future ahead of them.
• The Good Kingdom: It's a Kingdom within the Jovian Empire, as all the Galileans are, and it's portrayed as a pretty good place to live by 2585.
• Graceful in Their Element: Aquamorphs and uplifted cetaceans come into their own on terraformed Ganymede.
• Interfaith Smoothie: The Fuzi, an "esoteric Confucian sect of Islam" from Ganymedean orbit.
  • During the Ice Age, "Lord Jove" (less the Greek god, and more the Anthropomorphic Personification of the planet Jupiter) is syncretized by the Ganymedeans not only with Zeus, but with the Hindu god Indra.
  • Many Ganymedeans, especially the Anglo-Indian "Aquarani" ethnic majority, practice a sort of Hindu-Protestant-Jovologist fusion. Some have been known to assert that Jesus and Krishna are the same person.
• La Résistance: The "Whites," Ganymede's own anti-terraforming faction a la the Reds of Mars, albeit not as influential. They fought against terraforming for decades, but failed to stop it. Their ranks included most of Ganymede's cryomorph population, who afterwards emigrated to Europa.
• Mobile City: Since every settlement on Ganymede floats, entire towns can move around if they want to. The big cities will arrange themselves into interesting shapes when forming a pelarc.
• Single-Biome Planet: Terraforming transforms Ganymede from a frozen moon into a world that's one big ocean.
• Terraforming: The Kent Plan, the process of warming the moon and melting its ice (and evacuating everyone from the ice-cave cities), begins in 2109. By 2585, it's shown to be long since complete. The process involved trading water to Venus and Io in exchange for greenhouse gases, as well as to the Martians in exchange for nuclear bombs - which make great ice-melters.
• Underground City: The original Ganymedian colonies are buried in the ice. While the hundred-year-long "Ice Age" is a cultural golden age for Ganymede, eventually the mental health problems brought on by never seeing the sun, plus a rash of architectural collapses, bring it to an end as the Ganymedeans decide terraforming is necessary.
• Walk on Water: Ganymede's gravity is rather lower than Earth's. It's thus entirely possible to run on the ocean with the right shoes, or even ride a modified bicycle on it.
• War Refugees: Much of the Indian population of Ganymede is descended from Pravasi who, after the Punjab War, decided they needed to leave Earth and start over.

Greater Arkstead

The largest grand-pelarc. Occupies the middle of Ganymede's Jupiter-facing Nearside. Most of the Ganymedean population lives here.

• The City: Ark-1, the capital of Ganymede, at the very center of Greater Arkstead.
• Mobile City: Many of Arkstead's isles have organized themselves into a series of concentric rings.
• Non-Nazi Swastika: Sagaraputra, one of the pelarcs in the outer parts of Greater Arkstead, has one of these on their flag, used in the Hindu context.

Safina

Located to the north of Arkstead. The center of Ganymede's Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

• Dark Is Not Evil: Safina has a black flag, but is in fact an entirely pleasant and friendly place.
• Genocide Survivor: The Ahmadiyya had never really been welcome in their native Pakistan, but after Noorani tried to exterminate them during the Punjab War, they decided they had to leave, and fast. Most simply resettled in the West, but a great many made it offworld, eventually reaching Ganymede with the help of the Martian Mormons.
• The Theocracy: Safina is one in theory, though in practice the democratic Parliament holds somewhat more sway than the Caliph does. Both, of course, are ultimately subordinate to the Jovian Empire, but Safina operates as a sovereign entity in most respects.
• Start My Own: Exo-nationalism in action.
• War Refugees: Since all of them left Pakistan following the Punjab War, the entire Ahmadiyya Muslim community, including those roughly 130,000 who went to Ganymede, were considered Pravasi.

The Celestial Chain

Located to the south of Arkstead. The homeland of Ganymede's Chinese minority.

• Elective Monarchy: The Celestial Chain's leader is the "Holy Executive," a lifelong elected position.
• Friendly Local Chinatown: Eccentric Millionaire Liao Jiahao, through his company Tian Corp, set up "Chinatown" colonies all across the Solar System to make up for China's poor showing in the Space Race. The Celestial Chain is descended from one of them. It, and places like it, became the preservers of Chinese culture after the Beijing Impact wiped out China on Earth.
• Interfaith Smoothie: The dominant religion here is Chulu ("Way Out"), which is Gnostic Confucianism.
• MegaCorp: Tian Corp was one, and the "Tianese" inhabitants of the Chain still carry some remnants of the old corporate culture.
• The Remnant: Graveyard Earth showed that China on Earth was completely wiped out by the Impact, so Tian Corp's Chinatowns, the Chain included, are presumably now all that's left.
• The Republic: A "crowned merchant republic" with a sovereign vassal status like Safina's.

The Forty-Sixers

An ethnic group on Ganymede descended from the British, who have taken it upon themselves to uphold British culture post-Hell Day. They live mostly in Livingstone and Central Arkstead.

• Against My Religion: Forty-Sixers won't eat anything that didn't evolve on Earth.
• All Hail the Great God Mickey!: The Forty-Sixers have developed a new religion, "Arthurianity," which, as the name implies, centers on the worship of King Arthur as the divine avatar of all things good and British. British culture in general is spiritualized in Arthurianity: James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor are regarded as "spirits of Britain" and Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, David Attenborough, William Shakespeare and J. R. R. Tolkien are treated like saints.
• Fantastic Religious Weirdness: Fish and chips is a sacrament in Arthurianity. It is, of course, taken with tea, served from a grail.
• The Remnant: They were the very last wave of Earthling colonists to reach Ganymede, arriving in 2146 (hence the name) only four years before Hell Day. As such, they consider it their sacred duty to preserve the culture of Old Britain.

The Saura

A sun-worshipping religion. They live mostly on the Farside in Anahata Wold.

• Cargo Cult: Developed a mild one during the terraforming years, revolving around the giant solar mirrors built in orbit to warm up Ganymede.
• Holy City: They have theirs in Anahata, centered on the Flower of the Sun, a giant solar power collection array which doubles as a temple. It's located on the exact opposite end of the moon from Ark-1.
• Stern Sun Worshippers: Averted Trope. The Saura seem to be largely peaceful.
• Terraforming: Big fans of it - they arose from those Ice Age Ganymedeans who were tired of living underground and never seeing the Sun.

The Mariners

Every world seems to have its own nomads. The Mariners are Ganymede's.

• Human Subspecies: Two-thirds of them are aquamorphs by 2585.
• Ocean Punk: They fit the trope better than anyone else on the ocean moon does.
• Pirate: Not always in practice, but definitely aesthetically.
• Superstitious Sailors: Mariners, being staunchly anti-authority, take a dim view of organized religion, but they're nonetheless a spiritual people, mixing Buddhist anti-materialism with piratical superstitions like making offerings of rum to Davy Jones - whom they view as the gatekeeper to Nirvana.
• Wandering Culture: Descended from miscreants and free spirits of all stripes who took to the newly formed seas as Ganymede's ice melted. They travel about in their sailing ships, steering clear of the isle-dwellers and their rules wherever possible.

The Merlins

Two rings of habitats in Ganymedean orbit. About a third of Ganymede's population lives here.

• Benevolent A.I.: The Merlins are managed by a turingrade named Aasha. She gradually took over from the original government after it became too incompetent and too corrupt. She's a vassal of the King of Ganymede with the official title of "Overseer."
• The Engineer: Merlin I was originally inhabited mostly by engineers, whose job it was (and is) to maintain the massive generators there that are used to bolster Ganymede's magnetic field, thus protecting it from radiation.
• Merchant City: Merlin II is Ganymede's hub for interplanetary trade.
• Start My Own: Merlin II was first envisioned by and for the people who weren't especially keen on terraforming Ganymede.

The Other Galileans

Io

The innermost Galilean moon. Dry, volcanic, irradiated and generally unwelcoming - but far from uninhabited.

• Amazing Technicolor Population: Many Ionians are gene-modded for radiation resistance, and are thus black. Not black as in African - jet black. They've got black eyes and black blood, too.
• Eccentric Millionaire: Troy Hurtubise and his followers are mentioned in E!22 as wanting to colonize Io.
• Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: Io is the origin of the Bones - the aquamorph mob. Descended from Ganymedean penal colonists deported to Io, who had to work together to survive in the arid environment. Many returned to Ganymede for the water as soon as they could, and by 2585 the Bones have chapters on all four Galileans, making them the largest organized criminal outfit in the Jovian Empire. They're fiercely loyal to each other and to the Ionian-Ganymedean aquamorph community, but their criminal activities are the source of many an unfortunate stereotype of these "Ioqua."
• Penal Colony: Used to be one for Ganymede.
• Thirsty Desert: Io is the driest desert in the Solar System. Any water on the planet must be imported, usually from Ganymede. Ionian tourists visit their oceanic neighbor very often.

Europa

A moon best known for its subsurface ocean, which turns out to have more to it than meets the eye.

• Absent Aliens: Averted. There's a thriving ecosystem of alien life forms in the Europan ocean. No "Eurozoa" are known to be sentient, however.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Europans often have red, purple or blue skin tones, and some of their aquamorphs are even bioluminescent.
  • Europa's cryomorphs come in two colors: bright red or light blue. The difference is due to their gene-mods using different antifreeze proteins. The Red Cryos originated on Europa and also tend to be more muscular than average. The Blue Cryos descend from anti-terraforming Ganymedeans and have a layer of insulating body hair.
• Designer Babies: The early colonists of Europa were apparently "adventurous" in this field.
• Fantastic Livestock: Perhaps the strangest thing about the eurozoa is that many are not only edible to humans, but nutritious. Frippers and tigerspines have become staple sources of protein in the Outer Planets.
• Single-Biome Planet: Europa is a world of ice.
• Terraforming: An Averted Trope in Europa's case, as the colonists did not wish to disturb the native biosphere of the Under-Ocean. Instead, thousands of orbital rings were built around Europa, forming the "Great Shell," which holds in an atmosphere and allows Europans to live on the frozen surface.

Callisto

• The Fashionista: The overview of Jovian cultures and ethnicities in Age of Aquarius describes Callistonians as being "better dressed than you," and the example shown supports it.
• Out of Focus: Callisto is apparently going to be terraformed at some point, but not much has really been said about it.

The Lesser Moons

Amalthea

The largest of Jupiter's inner moons, and in fact its largest irregular moon.

• Culture Chop Suey: Their language is described as being a mix of German and Japanese, with a dash of Italian.
• Horned Humanoid: Amaltheans have horns, in reference to the moon's mythological namesake, a goat goddess who was Zeus' foster mother and the inspiration for the cornucopia. Amaltheans are fond of unicorn and goat imagery, but they're not goat chimeras - and they really don't like it when you imply they are.

Himalia

The largest moon of the Himalia Group, a collection of irregular moons orbiting closer than the Anankeans, but further out than the Galileans.

• Merchant City: Most cargo from other planets goes to Himalia to be loaded onto smaller rockets before being launched to Jupiter's other moons, because it's cheaper that way. As such, Himalia is a center of trade.
• Space People: Many Himalians live a mercantile lifestyle, traveling all over the Jovian Empire to trade. Since they spend so much time in zero-gravity, they tend to be tall and lanky, though not quite so much so as to be comparable to, say, the volari. Since zero-G is bad for your retinas, they also all have bionic eyes.

The Ananke Group

A collection of small, irregular Jovian moons with similar orbits and their own idiosyncratic cultures. Each one is its own duchy in the Empire, except for Ananke itself, which is an archduchy.

• A Day in the Limelight: The Ananke Group moons got a three-part series of posts about them, with images of each one and descriptions of what life is like there in 2385. This also served as an introduction to the Jovian Empire.
• Animal Motifs: Helike has a plant motif, namely the willow tree. (The mythological Helike was a willow nymph.)
• Asteroid Miners: Half of Eupheme was gradually mined away over the course of the 21st century. The remaining half now has an enormous dome-habitat attached to it.
• Clones Are People, Too: The inhabitants of the colony of Bullion, on Orthosie, certainly think so. They reproduce exclusively via cloning, since their religion asserts that enlightenment can only be attained over many lifetimes and that clones inherit the souls of the people they're cloned from.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The exteriors of habitats on the Ananke Group moons are typically painted in the colors of their moon's flag.
• Continuous Decompression: Averted - when an explosion of unknown origin blasts a rather large hole in the habitat shell of Thelxinoe, the atmosphere within and 5000 Thelxinoans are vented into space quickly and fatally. Only the timely aid of the Imperial Navy prevents the disaster from escalating further. Six years later, the Thelxinoans are still working to repair "The Breach" and reconstruct the devastated biosphere of their moon.
• Domed Hometown: The whole surface of Euporie is covered in domes of various sizes, in which a tropical forest ecosystem has been set up.
• Fantastic Racism: The four habitats surrounding Mneme all hold each other's cultures in disdain. Apparently, algorithms built into the moon's computer networks encouraged this tribalism early on in a misguided attempt to foster growth through competition. The algorithms have long since been removed by ducal order, but low-level animosity between the four remains present.
• Penal Colony: Praxidike started out as one. This makes its name a Meaningful Name - Praxidike was the Greek goddess of punishment.
• Single-Biome Planet: "Planet" is generous, seeing as it's about 5 km (3 mi) across, but Iocaste, thanks to the pressurized sphere it's been encased in, is now covered in dense forests.
• Space Amish: Euanthe has a colony of Space Mennonites, who have figured out how to harmonize their lifestyle of communal, simple living with the realities of life on a tiny, low-gravity space rock.
• Space Station: Some of the small, irregular moons in the Ananke Group have been so heavily built-up that they function almost like giant space stations. A few (namely Iocaste, Helike and Thelxinoe) have even been completely encased in air-filled shells, allowing them to be terraformed after a fashion.
• Theme Naming: Locations on and around the Anankean moons often have names relating to the Greek mythological figures the moons are named after.
• Uterine Replicator: The only legal form of reproduction on Thyone.

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