JUMP TO... SETTLEMENT WAVES AND TRENDS | CORPORATE ASSIMILATION | THE HARBINGERS | SETTLEMENT GOVERNANCE | CULTURAL MARKERS | RELIGION | FOOD

SETTLEMENT WAVES AND TRENDS

Nirvana is a colony still deeply influenced by its Waves of settlers and the rocky assimilation of a corporate employee population. First Wave settlers are the elders now, and to a person educated, highly-trained, and anxious about the delicate balance of habitability Nirvana inexplicably maintains. Second Wave settlers are scrappy, practical people for the most part, very open to new experiences, useful mutations, and making use of the abilities of the Frühjahr-touched. Third Wave settlers are still fairly new and somewhat alienated, as they were invited to fill the void left by the Harbingers. Still, those who decide to stay on Nirvana tend to be adventurous, adaptable, or part of a specific group or subculture that have an easier go of things on a strange colony.

People tend to dress in line with their settlement Wave, with First Wavers still mending and wearing offworld fashions and utility suits. Second Wavers tend to wear clothes from various sources, repurposed industrial garments, and things they make themselves using local materials. Over time, however, a cultural mix happened between First and Second Wavers, and smelted trinkets and carved jewelry being worn can be found on retired scientists, while old EVA suit helmet rings and acid-resistant latex pieces are worked into outfits by farmers. Third Wavers have the most jarring fashions as most are from off-world and newer, with brighter colors, stranger materials, and impractical flourishes. These styles are unfortunately threatened, like many things, by Moce.

Nirvana has a vibrant musical scene, in part thanks to the Observer, who seems to particularly like moving to a beat. Popular recently is a new synth-heavy techno using scrounged industrial equipment emerging that trades on old colony aesthetic tastes; dubbed “Foundercore,” much to the irritation of First Wavers.

CORPORATE ASSIMILATION

A group in a strange cultural position are the corporate refugees who joined settlements on Nirvana after the Second Regenesis Incident. They aren’t a monolith any more than the settlement Waves, but their primary split remains over company loyalty, rather than background or age. The majority consider themselves separated from Regenesis as their employer, and do not follow dress code or endeavor to live in the prescriptive way the corporate enclave was operated. A minority have made homes in the aging Genesis 4 Memorial Campus and still consider themselves employees. They follow dress code the best of their abilities, maintain company equipment, and apparently still do work supervised by Mr. Melrose on the orbital station.

Those who moved into Garvock-2 often overcompensate for feeling like outsiders by intensely adopting the fashions, vocations, and religions of their neighbors. Settlers sometimes joke about their loyalist counterparts still being around in case they “get homesick,” a joke that hits close to home for many, who may have spent their entire lives in training to work for Regenesis. Those sequestered at the corporate campus struggle to square bartering for essentials with the economic system Regenesis pay insists on, and have little to offer even as a token for charity; though some have taken up writing poems or stories “as a hobby,” which they can print on company paper for a nominal fee and then use in “gift exchanges.”

FRÜHJAHR-TOUCHED AND THE HARBINGERS

Following on from every group of people who came to Nirvana from afar are the generation of people born on the colony. There is a 1-in-4 chance that any such birth will result in a child who is Frühjahr-touched to a greater or lesser extent. All share certain similarities—reflective eyes, an unusual scent, patterns of bioluminescence on the skin—but the moderately affected usually exhibit only those traits, while the strongly affected can perform improbable feats. Frühjahr-touched people have been documented coaxing plants out of their way with gestures, modulating gravity, speaking to others telepathically, and transmuting one type of matter into another.

Societal reaction, both positive and negative, marked the Frühjahr-touched apart even in loving families, but it wasn’t until the shared dream of the captured sun in 257 SFE that they began to truly feel like a separate population. Details are sparse about what makes someone Frühjahr-touched specifically a “Harbinger,” what being a Harbinger portends, or what Argent promised those who first followed him off Nirvana to Jahti.

Those who’ve returned share very little about what it was like to be on the planet or why they’ve returned. Their physical traits, abilities, strange title, diasporic moment, and inexplicable return are a recipe for isolation. The leadership council of Garvock-2 has made a point of asking the community to fight that isolation by involving Harbingers and young Frühjahr-touched in gatherings, projects, and conversations any time they can. This initiative has had mixed success.

SETTLEMENT GOVERNANCE

Nirvana initially operated under a set of temporary settlement guidelines, but in the wake of the First Regenesis incident there was a push towards actually creating a government, treating Garvock-2 as a community and not something temporary. The settlement has no specific national or corporate ties, and the moon’s legal status is in contention, so it lacked an initial model for governance structure. The early settlers decided on having a leadership council composed of nine representatives, each selected by the community via consensus democracy.

No one is allowed to nominate themself or “run” for a council seat. Instead, settlers nominate each other, give a specific reason why the person would be a good fit on the council, and other settlers can endorse that choice or nominate another. People are not notified if they are nominated and do not see themself listed until voting begins. This was previously done in-person at a whole settlement gathering, but now is conducted via communication stations, with gatherings coordinated only if a nomination is too contentious for remote consensus to be harmoniously achieved.

CULTURAL MARKERS

Most of the settlements on Nirvana either don’t have sponsors or were abandoned by sponsors, so there aren’t necessarily institutional markers of success, or much of a support system. As a result, the greatest marker of success in Garvock-2 is low reliance on out-system trade and a specific kind of self-sufficiency. It is an achievement for the community for a new settler or a young person moving out on their own to be able to conceivably survive entirely alone, having the basics covered and the means to continue indefinitely taken care of. Larger marks of success are augmenting self-sufficiency through people pooling their resources to purchase a new platform, a ship for planet delves, or a relay in the debris field to enhance communication.

Some Earth holidays are observed alongside the highlight of the calendar, Founder’s Day, a community celebration akin to Thanksgiving where people come together to share food, remember those lost in the colony’s history, and use the tools the founders would have. During Founder’s Day the settlement is lit by chemical lights instead of regular electricity or candles, and lessons are given on how to use “old technology,” creating a continuity of basic skill with computers and off-world devices.

“Payment” for most things is rendered in barter, with trades made between artisans and hunters, scientists and delvers, cooks and farmers. The use of out-system credits is highly specific. Regenesis loyalists still use them to access goods from the campus’ various automated facilities, or to place out-system orders. Families or community groups tend to maintain credit accounts with an out-system bank via communication relay for the purchase of big ticket items like platforms, space craft, or orbital fixtures. While Aquila was a major cash crop, more people than had previously been the case placed orders for smaller off-world tech and luxuries, but that has tapered off.

RELIGION

A number of Earth-origin faiths are practiced on Nirvana, the most common being the Theravāda and Zen schools of Buddhism, but also the more recently popular worship of Samin, the Unceasing Life and the Saints’ Collective. The prevalence of Buddhism gave the moon and the planet their names; as people settled there and saw how the terraforming on the moon was going, they settled on Nirvana as a name both aspirational and ironic. As theories spread about the planet possibly being the origin of Frühjahr, Jahti meaning “birthplace” was registered for it.

Worship of Samin, the Unceasing Life, is either an animist or a theist religion depending on which temple you visit. Some worshippers regard “Samin” as a title referring to every plant and animal in the Samin Rainforest, each to be treated with equal respect. Others say “Samin” is the name of an entity that lives in the rainforest specifically, which may be connected to why the settlement was renamed. Both sects practice various rites of reverence and respect for the rainforest, including a coming of age rite that requires delving into the jungle alone, which due to the recent loss of a child is now performed at age 13 instead of age 10. Other rites include christening babies by “planting” their name in the rainforest, taking group sojourns to specific sites within it, and the production of a sacred alcohol used to sanctify objects and places.

Worship of the Saints’ Collective began pre-SFE as global mourning when news broke that the first FTL spaceship and its crew to be launched from Earth had been lost. The event gained religious tenor when the ship was recovered, but no evidence was found of the 124 registered crew or where they might have gone. In the time since, an additional 23 space travelers have vanished in incidents faithful regard as apotheosis, making for a total of 147 Saints of the Black honored at any Saints’ Collective spaceport shrine or colony church. Casual worship of the Collective is more common than devoted worship, with most space travelers praying for the Saints’ protection before boarding a ship. Itinerants of the Collective (akin to monks) follow a more prescriptive doctrine towards achieving the same ascended state as the Saints.

FOOD AND DRINK

Most people on Nirvana are either vegetarian or vegan due to the abundance of plants, lingering cultural practice, and the relative lack of domesticated (or even baseline normal) wildlife. Any conventional meat has to be imported at great cost. Less potent Aquila derivatives are popular brewed into alcohols or teas. Some people attempted to eat Moce when it was found to be a problem, but this went very poorly and necessitated organ regrowth.

A typical meal is a side of assorted roasted root vegetables and a large, raw water chestnut-analogue sliced into wedges, liberally seasoned with spices only found on Nirvana. These spices actually introduced a new taste akin to umami, called harjar, which is of course very difficult to describe to anyone who hasn’t been to Nirvana and experienced it.