Paradeisos

To those familiar with the merciless fascists on Aureate or the colonial masters of Faraway, the Dodonan Tribunal’s home in the Pearlescent Expanse is unrecognizable: Paradeisos, the garden perfected. Impossibly large domes cover the planet’s surface, each holding a wholly intact and distinct ecosystem - here desert, here freezing arctic, here tropical jungle - while the natural forests and warm seas are left intact beyond their massive spans, a tribute to the beauty of the natural world. Paradeisos is heart and hub of what is an empire in all but name, though few of its citizen-scientists would ever use a term so grandiose; their lives are comfortable, long, and largely pleasant affairs, with bountiful resources and an abundance of automated labor. To live on Paradeisos is to debate philosophy over cups of spiced akakafi in rolling green spaces, to endeavor in the curious pursuit of the galaxy’s mysteries, and to know that the Tribunal is a marvel of civilization.

They still have no voice in government, of course, with the planet’s Dikastes chosen algorithmically (and perhaps in thanks to secret deals, beyond the public eye), though they are known public figures and often well-regarded. “Superstition” is still banned, though rebellious academics indulge themselves with studies on the religions of others - the subject of much gossip. Any Taimu who live on the world do so under intense pressure to blend in culturally, or else be the subject of chilly, intrusive questioning by those who few them as a living novelty. Outsiders are generally not permitted on the planet at all, stopped at the edge of the system or at the lunar checkpoint, and those few who do must remain in restricted areas for a matter of days at most.

There is a degree of delusion involved in the populace of Paradeisos. Word cannot help but escape of the Tribunal’s experiences in the broader Pearlescent Expanse; of war, of oppression, of tyranny and persecution. Such things are too often viewed as outlandish hyperbole or excused as messy steps on the road to matching Paradeisos’ own splendor - but many Dodonans are smart people, and know on some level that spilled blood pays for their lives of bliss. That’s to say nothing of those who work in the various Roots, doing everything from designing bigger, better killing machines to coordinating counter-insurrectionary offenses on worlds they will never see. While the Canopy rarely resorts to outright imprisonment (or worse), those who rock the boat too much will see themselves transferred to poor assignments as punishment, or find their proposals rejected and their projects defunded. Spirited debate is healthy; critique of the state is not.