Firma, also known as Virma, is the third planet in the Firmahi system, orbiting the star Mahi. It is an inhabited terrestrial world, and the original home of the Firman species, which evolved over the last several million years. An Octave world, it was the first planet to be contacted by humans, with contact being made either March 16th or August 23rd of 2039, depending on whether the Corning Disaster or Berlin Gate is considered the first purposeful contact between species. Firma borders Kala, Etauli, Earth, Shwt, and 'Osu in higher space, though it has the lowest planar pressure with Earth.

Firma is a small terrestrial planet, orbited by three small moons, which do not heavily impact its tides. However, their effects have acted to stabilize the axial tilt of Firma, which is much smaller than Earth’s. The planet's habitable regions are characterized by a thick, oxygen-rich atmosphere, conducive to the life-sustaining conditions found elseward across the Octave. The majority of this atmosphere is nitrogen and argon.

With lower seasonal variation and higher average temperatures than Earth, Firma's habitable surface lacks the seasonal variation present on many other worlds. The planet exhibits a large latitude and elevation variation between regions, with a unique climatic system used to describe regions based on average temperature and humidity alone. Weather patterns are relatively consistent within these bands, with intense fluctuations in climate due to the thick atmosphere.These distinct climate bands are highly impactful on the living conditions in Firma's present.

The Firman civilization is dependent on their planet for natural resources, and their industrialization has slowly shifted the climate. However, due to a lack of carboniferous deposits, the planet's slow industrialization was primarily based around the acquisition of other forms of power, and, as such, it lacked the degree of climatic distress other planets experienced during industrialization. Today, the transition to fusion power has begun to stabilize these climactic shifts.

Geological History

Firma, along with the rest of its system, is believed to have formed around 3.8 billion years ago, making it significantly younger than the Earth. It underwent a heavy bombardment period approximately 3.6 billion years ago, in which its two outer, silicate-heavy moons, Vaanit and Tiv, were created. Its third moon is believed to have been captured in the last billion years from a Near-Firma asteroid. 

Although Firma is originally believed to have had an atmosphere rich in argon, methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide, it transitioned to one primarily based in nitrogen, argon, and oxygen. It is posited that early Firman life developed its ability to produce and break down bioplastics in this pre-oxygen environment. Firman animals and plants are notable for using many materials considered plastics on Earth, and many bacterial species on Firma, including some within the gut flora of Firmans, are specialized in breaking down plastics. The introduction of these species to planets such as Earth and other worlds provides a potential solution to plastic pollution, but also endangers the long-term stability of other materials.

Genetic analysis of Firman organisms shows that their last universal common ancestor, as predicted by the rate of genetic divergence, would have to have existed at least 100 million years before Its late heavy bombardment. This, alongside the genetic links between animals on other planets, provides evidence that Firman life developed on another planet originally. Most scientists believe that all life on the Octave started about 4.2 billion years ago, on the moon Etauli.

A layer of high quantities of bioplastics, alongside heavy metals, is noticeable in Firman rocks dating to 65 million years ago, marking a divide between Firma's Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods at a time almost identical to that of Earth's Cretaceous mass extinction. Less is known about Firma's evolutionary past, as the plastic-heavy skeletons of Firman organisms are easily broken down. It is believed by some that the mass extinction event represented by this line was a previous intelligent civilization, due to the thick bands of metal found in this line, and the higher quantities of radioactivity present in the bedrock. There is little data to support or refute this. Despite misconceptions, the large and famous metal-rich impact crater surrounding the Miruqi basin is not from this extinction, and is believed to be at least 520 million years old.

The smaller planet of Firma has had simpler tectonic activity than Earth, the most comparable world. With lower rates of volcanism and a slower plate structure, the geographic history of Firma is mostly defined by a series of alternating supercontinents and fringe continents; unlike Earth, which sees periods of supercontinents and fractured continents, Firma typically sees one supercontinent accompanied by several small outer cratons. The supercontinent of Aevar, currently nearing the peak of its unity, was created by the fusion of a large number of cratons, comprising the majority of the Balnurian, Thojarain, Eirrazi, and Vrihian plates, which align with cultural regions of the supercontinent. Two small landlocked plates, the Talgrae and Miruqi, are the remnants of an ancient ocean which once spanned between West and East Aevar; these zones are characterized by bowl-like, endorheic basins. Aevar was formed by the collision of Eirrazi with the other Aevar plates, after it broke apart from the Eastern continent of Qeauleq. The small island continent of Amina is also a fragment of the older supercontinent Qeaumirazi, comprising Amina, Eirrazi, and Qeauleq, torn apart by the formation of the Mayet plate.

Geography

Equatorial regions of Firma are typically humid, with powerful tropical cyclones affecting coastal regions. These regions traditionally were the most agriculturally rich, yet were poor for the majority of the world's history, their development hindered by natural disasters, especially the hyperactive tropical cyclone systems of the World-ocean. Counterintuitively, the equatorial regions of Thojarain were also the first to industrialize, owing to a religion which prizes technological progress. Middle latitudes are characterized by dry, mild conditions, and were typically controlled by powers which dominated based on trade; these regions were the main spreaders of industrial technology. The boreal regions are characterized by rainy, humid, and snowless climates. Without a summer, these regions developed societies based around subsistence agriculture and individualist practices, and were the fastest to adopt industrialization in full, owing to their small populations willing to adapt in the face of a hostile climate. The polar regions, where snowfall is common, remain all but uninhabited.

Firmans see continents as poor indicators of culture, due to the majority (68 percent) of their population living on one supercontinent, which has massive internal differences with regard to culture and religion. As a result, they divide Aevar into several subcontinents used for categorizing societies. Typically, the continent is divided into two regions: "Inner Aevar," which is primarily Eirrite, dry in climate, and more egalitarian, and "Outer Aevar," which is smaller, wetter, more hierarchical, and more populous. Outer Aevar is also commonly subdivided into Wadjelrain and Thojarain, based on the predominant religion. Similarly, the regions of South Aevar are often broken off into the Vrihian and Terati subcontinents, characterized by their continued practices of folk religions, with the remaining Eirr majority regions often called Eirrazi. Qeauleq is often divided into three regions, with the Northern region being humid and Eirr following, the south being mild, dry and Zerinu-following, and the Eastern mountains being arid and practicing animist polytheistic faiths.

History and Technology

Firman organized society began approximately 4000 Earth years ago, approximately 2000 years after when agriculture began in the endorheic river valleys of inland Eirrazi. Prior to this, the majority of Firmans consisted of nomadic groups in increasingly complex ajau (blimp-like flying fish) hunting parties. These first settlements are near what is now Miruqi, which is often stated to be the first ever city in Firman history. However, there is evidence that older cities have been abandoned, and other nearby small towns may have been settled several centuries prior. Without as much emphasis on years to produce annual crops, the majority of Firman agriculture was done via perennial fruit producing plants for much of their history, with species such as gayna, adri, and naj becoming the backbone for much of Firman caloric intake. As well, a species of plastic-sheathed river reed known as abrej was domesticated for livestock feed, fueling the meat-heavy diet of the Firman species; many believe abrej was the first plant to accidentally be domesticated. Today, these crops do not resemble their natural forms, with abrej now a resource rich crop used by Firmans for sustenance. Agriculture rapidly spread across the planet from this source, with some of the first sedentary societies beginning in Ziqeva, Gelerna, Graazdai, and Albarra.

Unlike on Earth, which saw the industrial revolution emerge as a dramatic shift in technology, Firma underwent a long and slow period of industrialization. During this period, lasting from c.1000 CE to the present, innovations in energy and manufacturing began to permeate Firman society, spreading rapidly due to the more interconnected nature of the planet. During this period, the Thojarain was the leading center for scientific research, due to cultural and religious factors cementing innovation as a cultural necessity.

The first recorded use of steam power was dated to c. 1250, when the first use of wind turbines combined with an aeolipile-like device in order to produce rotary motion was developed; this invention was eventually introduced, in further refined forms, to produce the first industrial shipping. This revolution in shipping brought further food and resources to the boreal regions of Firma, allowing the expansion and development of pagan and monotheist groups against Eirr-based trade kingdoms, which had based themselves on the arid middle latitudes. The alliance between Thoja and Theist areas on the fringes of the continents grew over the course of the 1800s, as the old  Wadjelu and Eirr trading states on the inland of continents declined. 

Later into the industrial transition, the former states in the Wadjelu-Eirrite regions, especially those of Qeauleq, became more autocratic as their merchant class was lost to the industrializing rim regions. This autocracy started a feedback loop leading to demographic collapse, as Firmans migrated away from failing states. This demographic collapse, partnered by a breakdown in relations and the increasing technological capabilities, triggered the Firman World Wars, a series of conflicts from 1898 to 1947 in Earth years, occurring alongside the rapid wave of military-industrial expansion. Unlike many human wars, which are motivated by ethnic tensions, Firman wars are primarily driven by resource acquisition; states are less reluctant to go to war, owing to fear of demographic collapse, and typically only do so if victory is assured. In this regard, the Firman World Wars are an oddity, never seen before or since. These wars, unlike those of Earth, ended in total stalemate; Firmans, lacking the cultural pressure of national loyalty, fled warring regions, leading to a series of devastating underpopulation crises and economic collapses. By the end of the warring period, which saw as much as 190 million deaths due to war and starvation, all major powers had collapsed.

The now balkanized Firmans sought a policy of reconciliation, made easier via the Firman rejection of the concept of national sins. In this time, the creation of the Firman auxiliary language, uniting the dialect continuum into one spoken form, now used for business and learning. In this time period, Miruqi was revitalized as an international neutral zone, becoming the headquarters of a world spanning-government for the organization of limited resources and the facilitation of Firman rights. In the aftermath of the war, equatorial regions of Thojarain were slower to recover, as their frequency of natural disasters made it easier to reestablish manufacturing in the middle latitudes. 

The majority of modern Firman states have economies based on services and industry, although agricultural exports have expanded since the opening of the Octave. Pre-contact, the Firmans had a network of technologies similar to those of human states in the 1950s, with exceptions being a heavy understanding of renewable energies, plastics, and analog computing, with a lack of knowledge in transistors and nuclear weapons. Today, no individual state on Firma has nuclear weapons, although the planetary government does possess them for self-defense purposes. Traditional means of analog computing are still practiced, although the permeation of digital devices is increasing.

Political Geography

Much like Earth, Firma is organized into countries as the primary building blocks of society, with states having defined borders and legal codes. However, the way these countries are organized varies wildly from that of other planets. Firstly, and perhaps the most striking when viewed from a human perspective, is the lack of state sovereignty on Firma. Firmans do not consider the state, whether as a nation-state or a multiethnic state, to be the highest level of sophont organization within the global order. Rather, they see states as just one step on a global hierarchy, and as one layer in an interconnected political system. Whereas humans tend to view states as fundamentally independent actors who can choose to work together, Firmans find the notion of states refusing to submit themselves to higher global authority as bizarre as a human may find the concept of a province unaccompanied by the state it subdivides. As well, they do not view states as one concrete layer, to the degree that humans do; their system of political organization can be best described as one of cladistics, wherein the only legal constant is parent and subclasses. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to identify where states become intergovernmental organizations, and vice versa. Another consequence of this system was the Firman acceptance of interplanetary cooperation as necessary; to the present, while Earth is often seen as a center of octave trade, Firma is often seen as the most diplomatically inclined planet, willing to encourage compromises of sovereignty in order to facilitate cooperation and peace. 

This system, often called “cladistic sovereignty,” can be seen to have emerged from two sources within Firman society: the freedom of movement the planet has continually experienced, and the unique development of “Free-Movement Feudalism,” which has informed many Firman social norms. 

Being a flying race, the Firmans have never respected fixed borders; with movement made easy by their biology, the species never sought to restrict access to this movement, save for several failed authoritarian experiments. As a result, the Firman world maintained a degree of globalization that has only recently emerged on planets like Earth, in which all parties have been capable of executing diplomatic relationships with one another. The idea of fixed borders has never been successful on Firma, and many take it for granted that there is a universal right to live and work wherever one chooses. Moving between countries is seen as as big of a commitment by modern Firmans as moving between states might seem to an American, or moving between provinces a EuroFed citizen. With no linguistic borders to divide them especially after the increased postwar adoption of the Firman Auxiliary, and no recognition of ethnic groups as “nations,” they see no reason to oppose any such movement. 

This ease of movement also led to the planet’s historical development of a unique form of Feudalism, one in which peasants maintained the right to leave their lord, shattering contracts in exchange for the loss of protection. Within this system, the serfdom seen on other planets was made impossible; as any contract binding one to land could be broken with a simple flapping of wings, it was well established in Firman society that contracts binding one to an organization were both voluntarily made and disavowed. This sentiment was far more popular among the peasantry of Firma, as it encouraged lords, and eventually nations, to pursue what was best for their people, or face crippling depopulation.  

Unlike on Earth, where western nation-state democracies emerged from the overthrow of Monarchy and Feudalism, before spreading their ideology worldwide, the popularity of the Firman model of Feudalism, which encouraged states to act in the best interest of their subjects, has lead to remarkably low revolutions occurring on their planet. Rather than resist oppressive states, the average Firman believes it is just to starve them of manpower, sucking them dry of labor supplies until they rot and collapse under their own weight. The few revolutions against feudalism have occurred in large, mountain-guarded states, where the average Firman could not easily flee their feudal lord. Today, these states, such as Yadvijqaen (The Burgundian Republic), and Argdinzag have become some of the world’s dominant republics. For the vast majority of Firmans, however, the Feudal system still remains, albeit in a state almost unrecognizable to a Human.

The old domains of lords and kings have made up the framework of the modern cladistic sovereignty present on Firma, wherein states, provinces, and intergovernmental organizations meld together into little more than a branching tree of government. At the head of this planet-wide structure is the Planetary Emperor, a figurehead who, since the Great War, has been chosen by a panel of electorates from every Firman state- though even this has its nuances and exceptions. This Emperor’s position is not inherited, and a new Emperor is chosen as an egg based on a series of complex and highly ceremonial rituals. The council of electorates, seated in Miruqi, acts as the highest body on the planet, acting alongside a much larger assembly, with all urban areas and their greater metropolitan zones providing electorates. However, this democracy is the exception, not the rule. For the majority of cases, Firmans live in systems where rule by law is the norm, but rulers are kept in check by the paranoia of their population’s ability to desert them at a moment’s notice. In this manner, while Firmans do not directly vote on their leaders, they often vote with their wings, moving to locations they see as best for quality of life. The international system may be described as a free market view of international relations, rather than the anarchic one common on Earth. 

The majority of Firman “states” are small, with little individual power. As a result, the planet cannot be truly said to house any global powers. However, regional powers, such as Gelerna, Zhemenar, Yadvijqaen, the Mirzdai (Salt) Union, and Gethir, often act as mediators between small states, and their lords are often public figures with much cultural admiration, similar to the former monarchs of the British Empire. War has been rare in the post-Great Calamity order, as most Firman leaders know war would drive a mass emigration, crippling their economies. The most significant recent war was the breakup of Valtauaa, a Thojarain state who saw approximately half of its population leave the union after an economic/population collapse.