wu_zetian

From orbit, Wu Zetian was a dust ball topped by purple smears at its poles. Only on these purple smears is the planet's temperature tolerable enough to live on without more extensive life support. Still, that was a thousand times better than the other barren rocks in the system. It made one wonder if naming the planet after the empress was a compliment or a result of sexism centuries past.

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Wu Zetian, at the global scale, is divided into four large regions, established as their own States and Commonwealths within the Federation of Celestial Territories (Colloquially Shen Zhou), further divided into provinces and special districts.

The largest of which, and also the poorest, is the Da Sha (Grand Sands) Commonwealth, occupying 70% of the global longitudes, over 80% of the landmass. Most of this territory is hot and inhospitable desert. Almost all of the population huddle towards the poles, with migrational populations dispersed across the rest of the area with an even greater population of drones, maintaining solar array fields such as those in the Hun An (Soul Rest) Sea, and key transportation infrastructure, namely the North-South General Pipelines. It's also estimated that there are tens of thousands of Aos Si scattered across the desert, hiding in underground caves next to aquifers, content on being left alone.

The next largest, and drastically richer, is the United Provinces of Jin Huan (Golden Ring), which consists of all the provinces and cities along the equator. Even more environmentally hostile than Da Sha, civilians in the Jin Huan provinces have no good access to water but an excess of heat and solar power. They dwell in cities dug into plateaus and mountains. They rely on mining exports for food and water, but their most important asset is their location. Plateaus along the equator form the foundation of most of the all economic, civilian spaceports on the planet, the most notable of which is Hong Yan (Red Rock) Spaceport, situated on the Hong Yan Plateau along with the city of the same name. The equatorial location makes spaceflight much cheaper compared to those originating from the poles.

At the northern pole of the planet is the most important economic and political region in the entire Shen Zhou system: The Bei Zhan (Standing North) State. Here, the temperature is cool enough for liquid, surface water, aided by the Dao Jian (Dao Tip) Mountain Ranges, which surrounds the north pole, helping to retain the water in the form of large lakes. Bei Zhan supplies a majority of the manpower and food to the rest of the star system. Here is where Ri Li is located, capital of Shen Zhou, military capital of the entire HFR. Naturally, the highest end military academics and research institutions are also located here.

The Nan Zhan (Standing South) State is not as blessed as Bei Zhan, unprotected, its water running free into the deserts North to be evaporated. Nonetheless, Nan Zhan does retain usable pools of water, and with human geoengineering, is also rich in life and resources, its wealth only second to Bei Zhan in the Shen Zhou system. Secondary strategic locations are located in Nan Zhan: databanks, planetary communications, underground bunkers, government institutions, barracks; all ready to serve Shen Zhou in the event the North falls.

Connecting the regions of Wu Zetian globally are the North-South General Pipelines, an all encompassing, complex web of aqua ducts, power lines, fuel lines, communication cables, roads and railways, some plainly out in the open, much buried underneath concrete, shielding them from the desert heat. There are four primary bundles of infrastructure, two that run from Bei Zhan to Jin Huan, two that run from Nan Zhan to Jin Huan. Secondary bundles wrap around the equator and connect the power fields in Da Sha to the primary bundles that run North to South.