General Information: Vevienne

Vevienne is historically known as the first near failure of the Lestaria colonization project. A massive planet on the very outskirts of the solar system, it was eyed as the fourth candidate after two resounding successes with Maia and Guares. While it was in a similar state as Maia, the freezing conditions of the planet were far more extreme due to its mass and the large amount of permafrost that coated the lands.

Nevertheless, no one wanted to accept it was impossible, and so space heaters were deployed to warm the planet and stabilize the ecosystem in 2694 P.C.

Nearly a thousand years later, there was little change. The surfaces remained coated with frost in many regions, with only a few parts of the land in any state of defrost. Overcrowding had become a problem on Amieres, and as attention shifted to Javen as another candidate, funding was cut to the point where the space heaters were forced to lower their power to preserve what little land was livable. Bubble colonies were created, though they were dependent on a constant flux of outside resources.

It took another few centuries for manufacturing companies to create factories capable of operating and withstanding the cold using high tech heating systems and underground tunnels. Workers received a generous wage in exchange for spending most of the year working in company factories to create parts and machines along with processing precious metals. Though the majority that live there only do so to support their families, it has a sizable population of workers desperate for any kind of living.

Cultural Differences and Customs, Demographics

In terms of differences, many people are donned in thick coats year round outside of factories, in which coats are discarded for plain and unfashionable tank tops to cope with the hot temperatures from machinery. A loan word 'Shlev', from an unknown dead language is used as a slang term to greet others in a friendly and casual manner. Those that have adapted themselves to be furry or have thicker, blubbery flesh are common here, though that trait has slowly died out over the past few thousand years due to the amount of cheaper coats produced and sold throughout the empire.

Climate Patterns and Ecosystems

Due to the distance from the sun, Vevienne remains incredibly cold. The reason it remains hospitable to Lestarians is due to the sale and proliferation of heaters. Placed under the soil, indoors, or within homes, people are able to live semi-comfortable lives, and even establish some cities where the ecosystem resembles a more normal weather pattern. This doesn't mean the planet is absent of flora and fauna though--merely that it has adapted to the cold weather. Creatures that bear thick coats thrive and hunt in the places where the ice breaks easily to reveal fatty, large fish.

However, it's the plants that are the strangest of all. Many take on thick, elongated shapes to keep in warmth, and have biological functions with essentially allow them to flare up and burn in order to melt the ice, before extinguishing themselves moments later. It's said they do this by accumulating debris and absorbing nutrients from the rich soil until they're able to 'burn' the energy enough to ignite a quick fire. The cold temperatures help, too, to control the flames and stop them from burning the plant completely.

Significant Historical Events

The First Worker's Revolution, which took place over the span of months in 1842, was a cataclysmic even in Lestarian history that called for the outlawing of various languages and codes in order to avoid a repeat of these tragic events. It shut down the blossoming manufacturing industry for half a year and devastated the economy across the entire empire, as workers on Vevienne shut down and tore apart the factories from within, saying the cheap living costs and dropping wages stuck families there for generations while sucking in those in poverty from other planets, desperate for anywhere to call home. Various laws and regulations were passed in response to these complaints, though the median income of Vevienne residents continues to be the second lowest in the empire.