Politeia IV

Politeia is a garden world that's a little colder than Earth with a population of 21 billion people. Major cities have three tiers—Skyward, Upper-Middle, and Below—which stretch thousands of feet above ground level and help concentrate the planet's population, leaving room for wilderness and carefully maintained reserves. Politeian society is mostly fair and egalitarian, with the exception of the ruling family, the Lancestroms, who have governed the planet since before First Landing. Each governor's genetic material is used to create dozens of inheritors who grow up with foster families and compete to be the chosen heir.

Almost everyone on the planet is implanted with a wrist-comm, which is like a combination of cellphone and wallet. They use it to store the galaxy's standard currency, the credit, which can also be downloaded to credit chips, and every event of their lives is digitally tracked. Standardized testing is reserved for children; an impartial AI compiles all that data and, around their mid-twenties, Politeians can take an optional test called the Synthesis that takes their personal experience and pushes it a bit further. Passing the Synthesis is what qualifies Politeians for high office.

On the sixth day of the second month, Politeians celebrate Defiance Day, the day when Elizabeth Lancestrom deorbited the Splinter Fleet battleship Memento Mori rather than surrender her to the Federal Fleet. The designation of the members of the Splinter Fleet as deserters led to bitter resentment of the Fleet by most Politeiians until 4387 when, provided with irrefutable proof of Karen Lindstrom's orders, the Federal Fleet reinstated them and declared Fleet Admiral Lindstrom the last serving Fleet Admiral of the defunct Federation.

The capital city of Politeia is Pnyx