Columbia

Columbia is a planet orbiting the red dwarf star Providence. It is covered in both oceans and sprawling grassy plains with a few concentrated urban centers. The local flora tends to be a vibrant red as an adaptation to Providence's dim luminosity. As the planet is tidally locked to its star, one side exists in perpetual daylight while the other is perpetually night and completely covered in ice.

Columbia's extensive farmland makes it one of the galaxy's largest exporters of organically grown food. The planet's tidal locking allows for food to be grown during the entire year rather than being limited to artificial environments or during specific seasons.

History

Columbia's locals are genetically related to the Merinians, with Columbia being the older of the two colonies. During the Blackout, Columbia faced massive technological regression as without the vrNet and steady trade from other worlds, they lacked the infrastructure to maintain their higher tech establishments. However, one of the first bits of pre-Blackout information that was recovered from a virtuoarchaeological expedition was a Valerian historical record containing a snapshot vrNet world depicting the American Revolution. Recovered from the snapshot was a virtual life form depiction of George Washington who since became promoted to god machine status.

The contents of this snapshot of history, even if it was very brief, proved to be very influential towards Columbian culture. Various lifestyles and fashion choices were adopted, and perhaps among some of the most valuable documents they discovered: full text copies of the Declaration of Independence as well as the United States of America Constitution. Because of the themes of revolution and independence ingrained in their culture, Columbia was initially hesitant to join the Federation of Stellar Systems, fearing that they would repeat history. Negotiations took over one hundred years to complete before Columbia became a Federation member.

During the Virtual Wars, the Insurgency attempted to get Columbia to side with them, but they declined. It wasnt until the Insurgency chose to directly attack them that Columbia became involved in the war.