Venus: Where the Great Thrive

Once the most hostile planet on the Solar System to life, Venus was largely ignored during the heyday of the Solar System’s colonization. Although its history is short, even compared to the Belt, it quickly rose from wasteland to the core of human economic and military power. Venus is home to the Cytherean Republic, the Solar System’s hyperpower, and it has enjoyed the peace and prosperity that comes with it.

The roots of human settlement on Venus started with the Cytherea Corporation, a Russian-based space colonization firm. After numerous failed ventures in the Belt, the Cytherea Corporation proposed an expensive and risky project, but one which could potentially catapult the company above their competition: terraforming Venus. This was to be accomplished primarily by blocking the Sun with a large orbital shield, while giant mirrors directed sunlight toward the poles.

The Cytherea Corporation claimed all of Venus against all of its competitors. Because international law encouraged Venusian colonization, making this declaration was possible, so long as the company committed to terraforming (and agreed to stiff penalties if they did not) and could prove its ability to do so. Construction on the solar shield began in 2472, reducing temperatures considerably and beginning the process of terraforming. The surface of Venus was still deadly to unaugmented humans, but it was at least habitable without extreme life support measures. Permanent and semi-permanent bases were constructed, as were atmospheric sites. Because corporate territory was effectively an anarchy, many were drawn by the promise of freedom and potential profit.

The corporation continued as planned until the beginning of the Gene Wars. Russia was invaded by the Second European Union during the Gene Wars, destroying the Russian economy. Russia’s defeat in the war led to major concessions to Europe, with Russian cities, highways and rivers under EU jurisdiction. Much of the Cytherea Corporation’s assets were seized by the European Union, meaning that the Cytherea Corporation no longer had the funds to complete the solar shield. These events forced the company to sell off large tracts of the Venusian surface to German and Japanese corporations. Other interests were auctioned off to various competitors, and to Orbital states. It retained a large interest on the planet where, in an effort to attract more colonists, the corporation maintained its policy of benign neglect.  Nevertheless, Venus’ population remained low, and stable, and was mostly confined to the atmosphere.

The solar shield was finally completed in 2570, a major milestone still celebrated throughout Venus. The orbital mirror project was later taken on by other companies and even some governments, but it progress was slow. Although the Cytherea Corporation technically owned the atmosphere, it allowed any who could pay rent to establish aerostats. An anarcho-capitalist culture arose in the atmosphere, where private entities owned aerostats and moved about the atmosphere as they saw fit.  The allure of “Wild Venus” led to explosive growth in Venus’ population, and the hostile environment led to the embrace of transhumanism.

Over the decades, Venus cooled. As the resources on the surface became more easily accessible, immigration and settlement of Venus exploded. “Wild Venus” became a haven for daring startup companies that wanted to escape the technological monopolies of the Orbitals, the corruption on Mars, or the poverty of Earth. By selling off mineral rights or outright territory on the surface to the Orbitals, and by collecting rental fees from the aerostat corporations, the Cytherean Corporation became extraordinarily rich. The corporation also bought out many Venusian companies, quickly expanding their business to every aspect of human life. This gave the Cytherean Corporation immense power in the Solar System, and enough resources to continue terraforming.

However, tensions would rise. Much of the Venusian surface was owned by Orbital governments, but the independent, individualist spirit fostered by the Cytherea Corporation remained on the surface. The Orbitals resented and feared the Cytherean Corporation’s power, and united as a front to demand lower rent for the use of aerostat and orbital facilities. Orbital government authority, historically thin on the ground, increased as profitability soared and more permanent settlements were established. This was core to the Cytherean Revolution, when the Cytherea Corporation reorganized itself into a state, the Cytherean Republic, and led a revolt against all Orbital presences in Venus. Although the Cythereans did not succeed in removing the Orbital governments entirely, they did succeed in seizing control of most of the planet’s surface and its orbit. The Cytherean Republic’s independence would be mostly recognized by the Solar System by 2703. The orbital mirrors would be completed in 2760, although terraforming efforts were already well underway by 2725.

Venus is widely considered to be the only terraforming success story, and some Cythereans even claim that it is more Earthlike than Earth. This is a half-truth at best. The orbital mirrors direct sunlight toward the Venusian poles, thus inverting Earth’s climatological zones: the poles are the warmest part of the planet, while the equator is the coolest. While the Venusian day is still longer than the Venusian year, the cycle of daylight and night is controlled by modifying the planet’s orbital mirrors. These are controlled by the Cytherean Republic, and providing sunlight has been used as a political tool by the Cythereans. Similarly, “seasons” are controlled by maneuvering the mirrors. The orbital mirrors are so essential to life on Venus that they are recognized as an Achilles’ heel of the mighty Cytherean Republic, a reason for why they were the target during the Sunshine Incident.

Venus is economically and politically dominated by the Cytherean Republic. Every state, apart from outliers such as the Women’s Republic, are part of the Venusian Soglasiye, Cytherea’s Venusian alliance. Most Venusians speak Russian, the lingua franca of the Cythereans, although there are sizable Chinese, Japanese, and German speaking populations. Most of Cytherea’s population has some transhuman modifications, whether they are mechanical or biological. Politically, Venusians value individual liberty, personal responsibility, markets, and material wealth greatly. For Cythereans in particular, their objectivist attitudes are legendary throughout the Solar System for their fanaticism. Venusians also tend to be insular, although this has changed since the Interplanetary War and Cytherea’s emergence as the system’s hyperpower.