Uvars (System)

Uvars (Known in Galia as Chutov) is a system of joint ownership between the Republic of Laelia, and Empire of Galia. The system was among the first colonized in the region and quickly thrived thanks in part to the hospitable nature of its two habitable worlds. During the Avelanian war, however, the system received the heaviest damage of any with the planet Chutov in particular suffering from the conflict. Today the world of Uvars serves as the system's capital and only major population center, the exact status of the world in heavy dispute as both the Empire and Republic lay claim to it and engage in active recolonization programs.

History
Uvars was first surveyed by Terran warp-scouts in the year 2325, and was quickly marked as a system of high interest thanks to its two habitable worlds Chutov and Uvars. Colonization of the system began in the 2350 with two initial groups of 40,000 settling both habitable worlds. Uvars quickly grew over the following decades and became a major hub for the region. Though the system would become a critical industrial hub thanks in large part to its high population and the abundance of metals found on the molten world Kroton, Uvars was quickly overshadowed by the growing regional powers in the Galia, Akari, and Avelania systems. By the late 2500's Uvars officially joined the Galian Systems Alliance, and growing network of economically and militarily linked systems in the region.

Uvars would continue to serve in its role as a major industrial hub, and the defacto capital of the eastern band of the GSA. By the 2700's the status quo in the GSA had begun to shift however, and the Systems Alliance experienced a rapid decay into Autocracy. The leadership of the Uvars system, along with most of its population rose in revolt, seeking to maintain the historically democratic institutions of the Systems Alliance. Ultimately the First Galian Civil-war would prove futile for the people of Uvars, as the GSA's collapse into autocracy proved too popular, and the democratic forces resisting the slide were ultimately unable to overpower the growing powers of the new Galian Empire. Throughout the 2700's Uvars saw its position as the premier power in the eastern Empire erode, as much of its wealth was siphoned off toward the financial capital of Akari, and newly burgeoning colonial hub of Laelia. Despite this, Uvars saw itself become central to the Avelanian war, a decade long conflict between the Galian Empire and Avelanian Principality. The war took a serious toll on the Empire, which allowed for separatist elements in Uvars to again rally around the cause of democracy, though this time rather than restoring it to Galia, they sought to establish their own new independent state, in the form of the Republic Chutov.

The Republic of Chutov would be short lived, as an increasingly desperate Avelanian Principality lashed out against the Republic, launching a vicious bombing campaign on Chutov, baking the planet under immense explosive firepower, and leaving an immensely lethal layer of radiation over the world, killing the entirely of its 14 billion population. Similarly the world of Uvars faced a dire fate, as a specially engineered fungus was seeded onto the planet, quickly spreading and rendering the worlds atmosphere toxic, killing a further 8 billion. The few survivors who managed to escape fled to Laelia, and formally established the Laelian republic, which survives to this day. In the aftermath of the destruction of Chutov and Uvars, the Galian Empire and Laelian republic, enraged, launched an immense counter attack which ultimately ended the war. The system of Uvars, now entirely depopulated was named an international zone two years after the end of the war in the Orochi-Gerulfing Accord, which formalized relations between the Empire of Republic.

Today Uvars has only just begun being repopulation, as the joint Imperial-Republican restoration effort of the world of Uvars was begun to bear fruit, and the surface of the world has been again rendered inhabitable. Despite these great strides, the restoration of Chutov remains out of reach, and growing animosity between the bitter rivals Galia and Laelia have ratcheted tensions between the multi-national colonists of the system to a new level of intensity not yet before seen.

Government
The Uvars system is officially an international zone, meaning it has no official governing body responsible for it. Instead, presently Uvars is administered as both an Imperial Duchy (Though the world of Chutov is considered a vacant Arch-Duchy), and a Republican Viceroyalty. The Imperial government under the command of Duke Ellis Rigal (Head of the Galian Great House Rigal) is centered around the city of New Chutov (Population 2 million), the Imperial capital on Uvars. The Planets Kroton and Sienna are organized as Counties, and are under the control of Counts Andrew Kemp and Lothar Von Rosenhain respectively. These worlds are further divided into Counties (Only on Uvars), Baronies, and Lordships which are distributed to individuals for the purposes of habiting, and exploiting local resources. The Galian government operates a pseudo-official military base on Sienna named Station Chione.

The Laelian government is led by Viceroy Joseph Lemann, and are based out of the city of Uvars Prima, largest city in the system with a population of over 4 million. The planet of Kroton is officially led by Governor Nicolas Rohr, who oversees much of the Republican mining effort on the valuable magma world. Officially the world of Sienna is led by Governor Karsten Ehman, however due to the world's low value, and the presence of Galian military assets, the appointment has been made largely ceremonial, as the world has mostly been ceded to the Galians. The 'Uvars International-Zone Security Agency' is a nominally international security agency created by the Terran Federation to provide security for international assets in the UIZ. UIZSA is based out of Uvars International, and has a presence in both New Chutov and Uvars Prima. UIZSA primarily provides security for foreign dignitaries, diplomats, and prominent political leaders, however the organization has been known to provide protection to refugees -- particularly Villein fleeing persecution in the Galian Mandates. These actions have fed into concerns among Galian-aligned interests of UIZSA's compromised neutrality, with many in the Empire viewing the organization as little more than a Terran proxy being used to unfairly assist the Laelian settlement effort.

Stellar Geography
The star Uvars is a G-type main sequence star with a diameter of 1.22 million kilometers. Four planets orbit the star, with the first of which being Kroton, a magma world orbiting extremely close to its star, and featuring no moons. The second world is the systems only currently inhabitable one, Uvars with a single barren moon; Caes. The third world in the system is Chutov, an irradiated world destroyed during the Avelanian war. It has two moons, the barren Tamarov and Ariaza. The final world in the system is the ice world Sienna, with no moons.

The Uvars system features a thin asteroid belt between Chutov and Sienna, which is home to minor mining operations, but has long been largely depleted of its most valuable minerals. There are two stations in the system, Uvars Orbital, which is an international space station which serves as a orbital security post, and orbital settlement over the planet Uvars. Additionally there is the international station Chutov Orbital, which is largely responsible for the ongoing terraforming effort of Chutov. The nearest systems to Uvars are Alka (~1.25 Parsec), Erilia (~1.5 Parsec), Machinum (~2 Parsec), and Saliv (~2.15 Parsec). The system has a total population of 25,850,000, with the vast majority of which living on Uvars.

Kroton
A resource rich Magma-world, Kroton was very quickly marked as a world of interest by the Galian Systems Alliance. The rapid growth of the Uvars and Chutov colonies owe much to the immense wealth that could be extracted from Kroton. Even after the near total destruction of civilization in the system, Kroton remained populated and in fact hosted the last human settlements in the system until the recent recolonization of Uvars.

Today Kroton is home to several largely automated mining colonies, but is especially heavily populated by the Republic, for whom Kroton is one of their most resource rich worlds. Despite this, the Imperial Mining consortium Hela Resource Ventures, and the upstart Oskar Heavy Industrial have begun expanding their local presence, as part of the larger Imperial effort to secure a foothold in the newly competitive system. Many resources mined by Republican corporations such as Dineus Republic Industrial are funneled back to major manufacturing worlds such as Dineus, and Lobiria, and are vital to the growing military-industrial complex in Laelia. Imperial agencies, however, mostly redirect ores to Uvars, in an attempt to leverage them to subsidize and rapidly grow local industrial concerns. Approximately 75,000 people live on Kroton at any given time.

Uvars
Similar to Chutov, Uvars was a habitable world which saw substantial early settlement. With a largely dry savannah climate (barring temperate regions on the coast) the world wasn't as suited to agriculture as Uvars, however resource rich mountains helped spur initial colonization of Uvars. The planet quickly became an immense industrial hub, importing metals mined from Kroton in addition to those locally harvested, and creating industrial and military equipment. It was this immense industrial capacity that turned Uvars into a critical engine for the Galian Empire, and eventual Republic of Chutov during the Avelanian war. Though smaller than its sister world, Uvars would eventually see a population of just over 8 billion live on it during the heights of the Avelanian war. When the conflict came to the Uvars system, it ultimately met a similar fate as Chutov, however rather than through intense irradiation and bombardment, Uvars was misted with an extremely virulent and deadly genetically-engineered fungus, which over several weeks took root across the world, and filled the world's atmosphere with lethal toxins, killing nearly all complex life on the world.

Since the war, Uvars has been subject one of the most complex multi-national cleanup efforts in history, with the Galian Empire, and Laelian Republic working jointly to restore the world to a state habitable for humans. After several hundred years of effort, the world was again declared habitable, and is now host to more than 25,000,000 people of both Galian and Laelian nationality. The uneven distribution of human populations, and mixed nationality has led to growing tensions on the world, as Galian settlements importing Villein are frequently the subject of abolitionist raids from neighboring Laelian communities. This has in turn led to an increased militarization of Galian farming communities, as the local populations seek to protect themselves from what the Duke of Uvars has deemed "Radical Liberationist Terrorism". The government of Laelia officially opposes these acts of terrorism, but has been accused by the local Galian government of ignoring the issue when it is convenient, and doing little if anything to prevent future acts of terrorism.

Chutov
Once the capital world, and crowning jewel of the Uvars system, Chutov now serves as a cautionary tale, and rallying point for the Galian and Laelians who claim it as a lost homeland. The world was once a habitable continental world, much like its sister world Uvars. Chutov was host to the system capitol and at its height nearly 7 billion people. During the Avelanian war the world became one of the front lines of the war, acting both as an important industrial hub, but also a front line base for the Galian, and eventual Laelian forces. During the war a faction of republicans declared independence from Galia, declaring themselves 'The Republic of Chutov', which eventually grew into today's Republic of Laelia. Later into the conflict the front line was brought to the Uvars system, and the desperate Avelanians, straining under Laelian and Galian industrial might decided the total destruction of the worlds of Chutov and Uvars would serve a critical blow to their enemies industrial capacity, and secure favorable terms in an eventual treaty.

Chutov was subjected to weeks of nuclear bombardment, with the surface of the world being rendered to glass, and virtually all of its 12 billion inhabitants perishing with the world. Today nothing remains of the former jewel of the Empire, beyond decaying ruins, and radioactive seas. Since the war, the Empire and Republic have operated a joint clean-up operation, seeking to restore the world to habitability. Unlike the largely successful efforts on Uvars however, Chutov's destruction is far more total, and poses a much more long term prospect for both if the world should ever be brought back to a state where it may again be inhabited.

Sienna
Sienna is an Ice-world that has received little attention until recent years. In the early history of the Uvars system, Sienna served as a communications hub for the Galian Systems Alliance, which utilized the planet's frigid temperature to assist in the climate control of high temperature communications and computing equipment. Beyond this, Sienna's inhospitable climate where temperatures can drop lower than -150°c and relative resource scarcity (At least compared to the bounteous Kroton) have rendered the planet of little real interest.

Following the recolonization of Uvars, however, Sienna has seen a sudden resurgence in interest. Officially military installations in the Uvars system are banned by the Orochi-Gerulfing Accord, which establishes the Uvars system as an international zone. The accord makes away for planetary defense forces, independent of any national command in addition to local police forces however. As such the Galian Empire established a military outpost in the form of Station Chione, despite there being no permanent population to protect. This defense force has grown in recent years to include dozens of Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, and most controversially the new addition of the Izuna-class Heavy Cruiser 'North Wind'. Approximately 775,000 people currently live on Sienna, primarily military personnel.