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# System prepended metadata

title: Backgrounds

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# Backgrounds

## Human
As a human, you are most likely to have been born and grown up within the confines of TerraGov's territory. This comprises a vast swathe of varied origins from the core out to the peripheries, and everything inbetween. Alternatively, you might want to be from one of the various independent polities that surround human space.

### Core Systems Human
The core systems are generally strongly patrolled and tightly locked down by TerraGov, as well as close to the major institutions of power, resources and services. A character from the core is likely to be well educated and used to a high standard of living, as well as

They may not be rich (indeed, the core systems have plenty of people in poverty), but the conditions presented by Space Station 13 are likely to be austere in comparison to their home. Particularly notable is the generally poor supply lines to the region, which is likely to prevent them from getting many of the comforts of home.

Additionally, the distance between home and the station is a major consideration to be made here- travel between the core and the spinward sector can take upwards of several weeks and communications are possible but restricted, meaning that your character may have only limited opportunities to contact or travel home.

Core systems humans are less likely to be well acquainted with xeno species, with the likelihood of them having had extensive contact generally increasing the further from Earth they are. This may manifest as curiosity in the culture of their newly-met coworkers; or indeed, as a hatred or fear of the unknown. This is also tied to the expected wealth level of your character's origin- poorer characters may have had further exposure to xenos due to a general inequity in human society (while TerraGov may officially enshrine non-human rights, discrimination can and often does occur outside of their gaze).

#### Earth
Characters from Earth will take after their home nation- the Terran Federation is loose, and individual nation states still exist on Earth, with their own cultures. Take inspiration from the modern day makeup of the planet, but don't feel fully bound by it- culture is fluid, after all, and the advent of TerraGov has lead to a generally closer world overall.

#### The Moon
The industrial capital of the Sol System, the Moon is characterised by stratification. You might want to create a character from the dregs of Lunar society, who has broken away from the bottom of the stack cities and come to the frontier in search of a new life. Alternatively, you might play as the child of someone high up in the corporate lifestyle, who has come to the frontier to escape their overbearing parents or seek adventure.

### Frontier Systems Human
Life on the frontier of human civilisation is, in many ways, the opposite of the core: life is austere, the population trends poorer and less well educated, and technologies thought commonplace back on Earth are rare at best due to a limited capacity to spread. The industries that carry people to the core bring a diverse population, making these regions more culturally heterogeneous than the core.

This translates to a few key character traits:

Three key types of job dominate life on the frontier: raw material production, scientific research, and the military. Manufacturing and services are generally reserved for the galactic core where better infrastructure makes them more profitable- for this reason, the frontiers are generally a region that wealth flows out of. Workers are often poor, barring well paid researchers and colonial administrators. This also carries over to the environments that frontier dwellers find themselves in, with them generally being deprived of services and "sleepy". Characters from this region may have signed on to work for Nanotrasen just purely to get away from these conditions and hopefully put away a nest egg to move closer to the core. Alternatively, they may have joined up to have a profitable job relatively close-by to home (provided they're from the Spinward side of human space).

Characters from the frontier may be resentful of their less-deprived colleagues from the core.

## Lizard
Most lizards working for Nanotrasen are likely to be Terran citizens by birth, being born to prior immigrants from the Tiziran Empire or from one of the ceded territories handed over as part of the Treaty of Atrakor. A smaller subset will be Tiziran migrants who left the empire of their own accord, either as economic migrants or having been compelled to leave due to some disagreement with Imperial policy (e.g. draft dodging, disillusionment with the government). Finally, the smallest subset will encompass citizens of independent lizard polities or true independents, who have left their homeland to come to Terran territory.

Working for Nanotrasen will, in most cases, necessitate Terran citizenship (these rules may bend if your character is working "off-record"). Alternatively, they may be on a work visa from their home nation.

Your cultural ties will depend on your background.

### Terran Citizenship from Birth
As a humanised lizard, you benefit from legal protection under TerraGov law. This means that you will have had no particular barriers to education or services from a legal perspective- however, what the government can't see, it can't litigate, and given the strained relations between humans and lizards, prejudice is (unfortunately) commonly experienced by lizards residing in human space. Many lizards grow up in impoverished or deprived areas due to this. Areas further from the core tend to be more cosmopolitan, with less strain between the species.

Characters with this origin are likely to be much more human-like in mannerism. They may cling to vestiges of their mother culture- however, these may be distorted views produced by the "telephone effect" of their ancestors, and as such may cause friction with first-generation migrants who have lived in their mother nation.

### First Generation Immigrant
First generation immigrants will have held on to stronger cultural ties with their mother nation, depending on the time since they originally immigrated. Brand-new migrants may experience a culture shock, needing to adapt to how the humans operate. More seasoned migrants are likely to be more human-like in mannerism.

### Core Systems Lizard
The core systems of the Tiziran Empire are, much like the human core, tightly patrolled and close to the institutions of power. Tizirans from this region have grown up under the watchful eye of the Imperial bureaucracy. Unless rare extenuating circumstances have been met they will have completed their mandatory military service of 5 years. Note that due to the scale of the Tiziran military, this need not involve actual combat (although they will have been given general combat training), and can include service in the Peace Corps (Tizira's police force), Civil Engineering Corps, Diplomatic Corps, or really any government branch. They may have also attended higher education while serving, and indeed this is typical for anyone seeking to attend university in the Empire.
