[X] Pursue the black market: Significant quantities of essential supplies are disappearing off of trains from Helghan's few fertile regions and are appearing on the black market. Hunting down the criminals responsible will ease the food-security situation, but risks angering many. [Not possible if turning a blind eye]
[X] Decontaminate the Pyrrhus City ruins: Evacuated of civilians and nuked by the most devoted followers of Scolar Visari during the darkest days of the 2nd Extrasolar War, the ruins of Helghan's capital are a stark reminder of the costs of war. Splattered with pockets of irradiated Petrusite and other deadly materials, Pyrrhus must be detoxified before it can be rebuilt. [This is a long-term project with an unclear end date]
[X] Fund Medical Research:
[X] Fund Irradiated Petrusite Research: Irradiated Petrusite brought you here, now it's time to find out how it can get you back to Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, it seems that during the chaos of the transitional period, Jorhan Stahl's research into the mysterious substance was largely destroyed by the vying factions and we'll have to begin again.
Number of voters: 8
StarkDemise, ebolasos, Captain.Cat, Faceless Goon, Just Some Guy, Captain Hunt,Mathen57, TheRevanchist131
[X] Pursue the black market.
Heedful of the lessons learnt last year; the Helghan government elects to build a task force for anti-black market operations from the ground up. Made up of police and counterintelligence officers whose loyalties are beyond question, the creation of the task force is met with immediate success as arrest rates skyrocket and more food shipments make it to distribution centres planet-wide. As a result, the risk of communities going without food due to interruptions to production drops measurably, and the increase in stability almost outweighs the dissatisfaction of those whose money allowed them to benefit from additional foodstuffs and luxury goods.
Effect:
- Corruption Reduced
- Stability -5%
- Risk of famine reduced
- Gained 1% popularity
[X] Decontaminate the Pyrrhus City Ruins
With the toxic and irradiated ruins of Pyrrhus City having blighted the surface of Helghan for over seven years and the newly reconstructed Tharsis Refinery providing some breathing room, the Helghan Republic unanimously decides that it's long past time for the city to be restored to its former glory and then some.
Allocating a significant fraction of Helghan's planetary budget and multiple mobile factories to the task, the initial work of demolishing the outlying --and relatively unirradiated-- sections of the city progresses at a rapid pace. As the editor of the Arbetaren put it "Like corpse-beetles scuttling around a battlefield, the multi-story tall mobile factories inch their way across twisted fields of metal and broken concrete --toothed buckets the size of some apartments and ten-meter tall metal blades ripping up both with equal ease."
Effect:
[Action Locked Until Completed]
[X] Fund Medical Research
With additional funding allocated to them by the government and a mandate to focus on diseases rather than battlefield trauma, research hospitals and universities across Helghan make great strides in improving the state of Helghan medical knowledge. Throughout 2367, cures are found for several debilitating illnesses that had long vexed Helghast doctors, and the average quality of life begins to tick upwards for the first time since the Visari regime seized power.
Effect:
- +5% stability
- +0.2% population growth rate
[X] Fund Irradiated Petrusite Research
With work beginning on the reconstruction of Pyrrhus city, it becomes vital to understand just what Irradiated Petrusite is, what it can do, and how to handle it safely. With that in mind, a task force is created with a directive to research the strange substance --all such efforts occurring in a specially constructed research base located just south of the Pyrrhus ruins. Without much fanfare --after all, it did shove you 500 light-years from Earth and led to increasing oppression at home--, work begins on understanding the unique material… Before immediately halting when a kilogram of Irradiated Petrusite detonates in a research lab killing dozens and disrupting operations for months.
Amongst the chaos and panic of the disaster, you do learn several interesting --and terrifying-- facts about Irradiated Petrusite. Firstly, exposure to the substance causes chemical, radiation, and thermal burns almost instantly; the resulting mix of injuries being extremely lethal if not treated quickly. Secondly, it reacts to electrical fields with extreme prejudice --survivors describing how it would preferentially attack electrical conduits and machines. Thirdly, it appears to be motion sensitive with off-site security footage showing multiple instances of the material chasing those who attempt to flee and making no extraordinary efforts to interact with the unconscious or dead.
====================
Events and Rumors:
As if taunting your failure with Irradiated Petrusite, the Visari Corporation's efforts go much more smoothly. Indeed, within three months of their research program beginning, they publically announce the development of an Irradiated Petrusite grenade with hints of more to come in the future. Based on the Teslite grenade currently used by your forces, this grenade model makes use of Irradiated Petrusite to provide extremely deadly area denial for several minutes.
Artists in Konstantine and several other cities have begun a new artistic movement they are calling Helghan Expressionism. Making heavy use of symbolism --especially of that banned during the Visari and corporate era of government-- artworks of this movement typically focus on anti-war and anti-authoritarian themes.
The sheer amount of petrusite flowing from Tharsis refinery --and the resulting plummet in the cost of electricity-- has resulted in something of an industrial boom in several regions. As a result, the recession still gripping Helghan lessens slightly.
Recession -15% Stability -> Recession -10% Stability
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STATS UPDATED
