Domain of Inari (Jupiter's Dawn)

The Kingdom of Jupiter is a polity in Juubi-K's upcoming fanfiction 'Gundam SEED: Jovian Dawn', set in the Cosmic Era timeline.

Territory
The Kingdom in theory holds dominion over Jupiter's entire gravity well, though control is patch in some areas. The main population centres are the Galilean Moons, with Europa having the greatest population and highest level of development. Colonies also exist on smaller moons and larger asteroids.

History
The story of the Jovian colonies began on Earth, during the 21st century AD. The expeditions to Jupiter took place during what would later be called the Second Space Age. Space travel in that time largely consisted of expeditions to the asteroid belt, in search of new elements and useful substances. Despite the great hopes invested in them, and the scientific and industrial usefulness of what they brought back, the expeditions were unable to live up to their intended purpose. Strategic resources on Earth continued to dwindle, bringing the superpowers to the brink of war. When this was combined with environmental degradation, deadly new diseases, and violent conflict in the economically deprived regions, many Terrans saw no future on Earth, and some of them decided it was a good time to leave. Mars was conveniently close, but for that same reason it had been slated for extensive exploration and colonization by the superpowers, making it unsuitable for those who wanted to escape Earth's reach. The eyes of many would-be pioneers fell on Jupiter, with its many moons and abundant natural resources.

The Kingdom of Jupiter is a polity in Juubi-K's upcoming Gundam SEED fanfiction 'Jovian Dawn.' It exists in the Cosmic Era timeline.

The leaders and financial backers of the expeditions cooperated to a limited extent, referring to themselves collectively as the 'Founders.' They applied similar labels to those whom they recruited, dividing them into two broad categories. Those possessed of vital skills and knowledge, able to bargain their place in the heirarchy, were dubbed 'Factors' to symbolize their necessity. The other category consisted of those who possessed no such abilities, and as such had little bargaining power, the deluded and the desperate. Having neither money nor skills enough to earn a place, they were dubbed 'Freelaunchers', destined to earn their keep through grunt labour. For a time, they would form the three social classes in the Jovian colonies. The attitudes and desires of the Founders varied considerably. Some, like the legendary Europan Founder Scirocco, were selfless and heroic. The Founders who would colonize Callisto were brought together by admiration for the ancient Roman Republic, on which they would model their new civilization. Many of the Europan Founders, with the notable exception of Scirocco, followed a philosophy based on rationalism, materialism, enlightened self-interest, and agency. In short, they believed that every person capable of working for themselves should enjoy the products of their labour without limit or compromise, and that every person possessed absolute free will, with only themselves to congratulate if they succeeded and only themselves to blame if they failed. They would go on to dominate Europan society through the institutions of the Houses.

The colony ships departed between 2034 and 2036 A.D., arriving on average four years after departure. The main focus of the colonization efforts was the Galilean moons; Callisto, Ganymede, Io, and Europa. Many smaller moons and larger asteroids were also colonized, in some cases by expeditions intending to go further, but forced to make planetfall for some reason. With less radiation to contend with, Callisto and Ganymede developed most rapidly, Callisto drawing further ahead because of its unified government. Ganymede, by contrast, amounted to a loose confederation of city-states, each with its own culture and policies. Callisto was the first to build its own spaceship, in the year 44 After Landing (A.L.), or 2082 AD, marking the beginning of what Jovian historians would later call the Expansion Period.

Europa and Io were considerably less fortunate. Both were subjected to far higher levels of radiation, resulting in far higher mortality rates, and forcing the colonists to spend a greater proportion of their resources on radiation shielding. Though both were securely established by A.L. 50, radiation poisoning had nonetheless taken its toll, rendering many otherwise healthy colonists unable to have children. The only obvious solution was to keep female colonists with healtyh wombs inside areas with the strongest radiation shielding, requiring them to bear continuously in order to make up the shortfall. This would have the effect of seriously limiting the ability of said women to contribute to society. Fatefully, the Ionians chose this very path.

Europa's ruling Founder Houses sought a solution in technology. Their diets included meat, grown from cells in gestation chambers, and it was wondered by many Founders if those same chambers could not provide an alternative to radiation-damaged wombs. In accordance with their values, all the Houses engaged in their own separate projects. After ten years of work, and the sacrifice of countless embryos, House Argiope produced a functional artificial womb, capable of bringing a human embryo safely to term. The technology was sold to all the other Houses, gaining the Argiopes considerable wealth. The problem of radiation-induced childlessness was thus solved, but that was not the end of the matter. The Houses found that the gestation chambers could be built and maintained in large numbers, the only real limit being the availability of embryos. The result was the full-scale manufacture of human beings, providing the Houses with an endless supply of labourers to fill the depleted ranks of the Freelauncher class. So long as the new Freelaunchers were not genetically deprived of free will in the process, their philosophy offered no objection. The outcome in practice was almost invariably servitude. Given only enough education to allow them to perform the simple tasks allotted to their class, the Freelaunchers lacked the mental wherewithall to improve their situation. They became serfs, condemned to brief lives of unceasing labour and radiation poisoning. The upshot was a veritable population explosion, rising from the tens to the hundreds of thousands, and later millions, as new workers were grown in accordance with the long-term plans of the Founders.

The Jovian Wars
Low-grade warfare existed in Jovian space right through the Expansion period. The use of telepresence-controlled drones meant that combat between warships was a cautious, avoidant affair. If a ship found itself disadvantaged in a drone clash, it could break off and escape long before its opponent could enter weapons range. Fighting tended to take place over the allegiance of the smaller bodies, which generally lacked the resources to act as players in their own right. In practice, the asteroids and smaller moons tended to give allegiance to whomsoever had a functional warship in closer proximity. Callisto proved the dominant power throughout the Expansion period, possessing the greater number of ships and the most advanced drone technology. Such was its power, Callisto was even able to force its will on some of the Ganymede Confederation's city-states. Callistan dominance remained unchallenged until A.L. 90, when Europa showed what it was capable of.

The Europan Concordium, as the Founder Houses sometimes called themselves, had been looking for a solution to Callisto's military dominance, preferably one that built on the manpower advantage accorded by their unlimited use of gestation chambers. The answer would come in the end from House Zeus, a powerful House known for its willingness to diverge from the Founders' philosophy if it brought results. The Zeuses solution was to replace the drones with human-piloted combat spacecraft, dubbed 'battlepods' in the interceptor role. Without a datalink to be degraded by jamming, and able to outsmart the backup AI of even Callistan drones, living pilots gave the Europan Defence Force the edge it desperately needed. They proved their worth in the Battle of Metis, in A.L. 90, when the Europan cruiser Cadmus defeated the Ganymede cruiser Unity and Peace. The loss was a serious blow for an already weakened Ganymede Confederation, sparking off the 1st Jovian War as they attempted to retaliate.

A seminal event in Jovian history took place in A.L. 94, or C.E. 22, when an unidentified ship approached Europan territory. When met by the cruiser Ino, it identified itself as the Tsiolkovsky, seven years out of Earth, piloted by George Glenn. Ino's Captain, faced with a vessel claiming to be from Earth, and considerably larger and more technologically advanced than his own, understood the gravity of the situation. He led the Tsiolkovsky to a secret asteroid base belonging to House Zeus, to whom he had connections. Glenn would spend the next four years as a guest of Solomon Zeus, the patriarch of House Zeus, who claimed to be the grandson of the legendary hero Scirocco. What passed between them is known only to those present, beyond that Glenn assisted House Zeus with a number of its research and development projects. His reward was a perfect Europan whale fossil, a treasure of House Zeus, which he took back to Earth with him in A.L. 98. In that same year, the first of House Zeus' new helium-3 fusion reactors was brought successfully online.

The coming of the King
Solomon Zeus died in A.L. 104, aged 74, leaving control of House Zeus to his 18-year-old son Nathan. Nathan did not believe himself worthy, and arranged to swap inheritances with his 21-year-old older sister Selene, who was considered the more capable of the two. In return Selene granted him governorship of the Demeter colony, an O'Neill Island-3 cylinder belonging to House Zeus. It was there that he saw firsthand the suffering of the Freelaunchers, crammed into a poorly-shielded quarter of the cylinder, paid a pittance, and living in unimaginable squalor. Having been given a free hand by his sister, Nathan took decisive action, reorganizing the colony interior in order to provide the Freelaunchers with decent living conditions, raising their salaries, and ensuring access to Zeus-controlled public services, which included education and healthcare. Amounting to a social revolution from above, his actions sent shockwaves through House Zeus. Many of the higher-ups objected, not simply because of the expense and reduced productivity, but because it went against the doctrine by which they had lived and prospered. They also pointed to the terrorism Nathan had to contend with from hardline revolutionaries, who saw his reforms as scraps from the table. However, such behaviour robbed the hardliners of popular support, and the House security force was able to bring them to heel.

Selene refused to curtail her brother's activities, for she secretly approved and understood his reasons. An attempted coup failed miserably, for the security force was loyal to her personally, leaving her in unchallengeable control. She began transferring Nathan from colony to colony, having him do the same with them as he had done with Demeter. Though the transition was initially expensive and disruptive, the long-term economic benefits made up for it, as did the gratitude and devotion of the liberated Freelaunchers. But House Zeus was not operating in a vacuum. Word got around, and the other Houses began to notice what was going on. Fearing revolt by disatisfied Freelaunchers and Factors, in A.L. 113 (C.E. 41) a coalition of Houses led by House Argiope denounced Nathan before the Founders' Assembly, the nearest thing Europa had to a legislature, and demanded that House Zeus reverse its reforms. Nathan defied the coalition, declaring them to be devoid of human compassion, faltering only when Abas Argiope, House Argiope's elderly patriarch, threatened the use of force. Selene then weighed in, declaring her support for Nathan's altruism, and that the Founders' lack of compassion made them incapable of governing. This sent Hajine Argiope into a rage, bringing on a fatal heart attack. His son Nilus swore vengeance as the Zeuses stormed out.

As Selene prepared House Zeus for war, Nathan went on a tour of the Zeus colonies, seeking to reassure his supporters. The coalition launched its attack sooner than either of them expected, only three days after the fiasco in the Assembly hall. With the EDF sitting on the fence, House Zeus was alone against the small force of armed freighters assembled by the coalition. Upon discovering that Nathan was at Demeter colony, Nilus Argiope split the fleet, sending half to Demeter and half to Chione colony, where Selene had established her HQ. Faced with defeat and death, Selene gave the order to unleash her secret weapon. Throughout the colony were around a hundred Atlas bipedal labour machines, there ostensibly to assist with the reconstruction. As the coalition ships approached, technicians attached armour plates, activated hidden software, and readied weapons that looked to have been made for giants. Each Atlas was thus transformed into House Zeus' newest achievement, the Humanoid Armoured Battlepod (HAB) 01 Talos. Though a crude and unfinished weapon, it proved a match for the coalition's battlepods, defeating the attacking fleet in three tense hours. Meanwhile, Nilus Argiope had succeeded in trapping Nathan inside Demeter colony, despite losing two of his four freighters and most of his battlepods to a desperate defence by the colony's guns and battlepods. Thousands of House security troops swarmed into the colony, with orders to kill everyone accept Nathan Zeus. Awaiting them were a few hundred Zeus troops, assigned to protect Nathan, and a populace determined to resist. The battle raged for several hours, wreaking terrible damage on the colony interior, until Talos' sent by Selene arrived to assist. Nilus Argiope's bullet-ridden body was found near the colony harbour. The Europan Concordium, and the Founders order, died along with him.

Word of the Zeus victory spread through the Europan colonies like wildfire. Selene and Nathan moved to take control of the defeated Houses' holdings, met wherever they went by rapturous crowds. A 'people's assembly' was hastily convened, and soon found itself divided on the issues it faced, most importantly the matter of how Europa was to be governed. Outside, the masses were calling for Nathan to lead them. After weeks of deliberation, they voted overwhelmingly to offer leadership of Europa to Nathan, but not in the way anyone had expected. Their request was that he should be no less than King of Europa. Nathan reacted with bewilderment, even when the defence forces pledged their support. It was Selene who eventually convinced him, advising him to leave the name of Zeus behind, and embrace a greater destiny. 27-year-old Nathan accepted the crown, taking the name of his ancestor Scirocco, thus becoming King Nathan I of Europa. The EDF was renamed the Royal Europan Space Fleet (RESF), Royal Europan Army (REA), and Royal Europan Space Marines (RESM). Selene surrendered the Zeus holdings in obedience to Nathan's decree disbanding the Houses, reorganizing her personal property into a vast corporation named the Zeus Concern. The remaining Zeus soldiers were combined with volunteers among Nathan's followers to become the Royal Guard.

Bitter Rain, and Bitter Tears
The establishment of the Kingdom of Europa was not welcomed by the Callistan Republic. The Callistan Founders were nothing like as abusive or exploitative of their Freelaunchers as the Europan Founders had been, but nonetheless felt threatened by their overthrow. The Callistan senate issued a statement denouncing King Nathan, demanding that he abdicate and restore the Founder Houses. With seemingly universal popular support and a confident military, Nathan refused. The Callistan senate's response was to declare war, never knowing that they were setting the stage for their own destruction.

More to come