A map of mine from my heavily Ursula K. Leguin influenced Tianxi universe.
In this universe, humanity launched a series of large slower then light vessels to colonize inhabitable star systems. Derjuo-Zi was one such planet. Like many of those sent on the later ships (The settlers only launched in the 2300s), they left as a group of political and genetic dissidents. Calling themselves 'the Rememberers', they had genetically engineered themselves to be able to pass on memories in the form of genetic information. It was a technical triumph for the biologists of the late 2300s, but among the wider population it never caught on. The Rememberers were able to take memories from both parents, and combine them into the gametes combined to produce a child. Thereby the child may remember events from both of his parent's life, an ability which gradually develops until he/she reaches adulthood. The Remembers managed to get themselves a colony ship from among the hundreds that were being built at the time by the World's Government. However they left only 20 years before the last ship was built, and did not know of the major neural damage caused by cryo-sleep.
It took them until 2830~2850 to arrive on Derjuo-Zi. Awaking they found themselves heavily disabled, much of their higher neural functions eaten away by the bacteria responsible for keeping their body alive for such a long time. They were lucky. The ship and higher functioning crew were able to land them on the larger continent, and they managed to survive. Few of the outer colonies, as the area of space they had settled in became known, survived as well as they did.
By the time agents of the Tianxi (the confederation established in the 3600s after the collapse of the Directorate, responsible for trying to unite all of the worlds populated by Humanity) arrived in 3846, the peoples of Derjuo-Zi had established a complicated series of governments, philosophies, and cultures, each of them inextricably bound to their Genetic memory. This map is meant to show general societal patterns for Genetic Memory, and would probably be found in a Human-Clade Studies Class at the high school level.
Their are two traditional patterns, established before c. 3600, and probably present from the initial rebuild of society after the first landing. These are:
-Caste: Caste societies are built on the idea of genetic specialization, through the inherited memories of the worker. For instance, when you go down to by a vase from a local potter, in a Cast society, he would have the memories of his father, and his father's father etc. of making vases, thereby gaining the equivalent of hundreds of years of experience, even though he may only be 16. This extends to all levels of society, so that a Bureacrat would be able to examine how his great-great-grandfather handled a water crisis similar to his, and a soldier would be raised with the knowledge of his ancestors on how to fight. These societies however, generally have extremely limited social mobility, and less creativity then other societies, as the cost of such extreme specialization.
-Generalist: Generalists societies take the opposite track from that of Caste societies, emphasizing that each and every member of the society have a large base of genetic memories allowing him or her to fill in a large number of possible roles. So, even though a man may be a farmer usually, he probably also remembers how to forge a horseshoe, track an animal, or sow clothes. These societies tend to have much more mobility and equality then Caste societies, at the expense of the expertise wielded by Cast societies.
It is difficult to predict which societies will take which pattern. Generally though, Generalist societies are found in harsher environments, like the south Pole, and more sparsely populated environs, while Cast societies are always found in Hydraulic Empires, and more developed areas. These are not hard and fast rules, but general patterns developed across the history of Derjuo-Zi.
After 3600, and explosion of philosophical thought was found throughout the planet, emphasizing new forms of thought and memory inheritance. These ideologies found their home in the Northern Semi-Continents, unsettled until late in Derjuo-Zi's development. Using the newly developed technologies of
-Internationalist: These nations believe that the problems of Derjuo-Zi are caused by the fact that memories create too many grudges. It is too difficult to convince a family to lay down arms when they can remember exactly how they're great-great-great...aunt was mas murdered. It's ven harder to get entire nations to work together when all of them can remember at least one battle where your ancestor's best friend was killed. This is why there are so many little nations on Derjuo-Zi, although loose confederacies are more common on Derjuo-Zi then normal Human worlds. The Internationalist movement seeks to remove this problem by removing the nationalist memories of the people in their state, and replacing them with memories of universal brotherhood. Ironically, the Internationalist states, although the oldest of the radical patterns, is one of the least successful 9in terms not only of effect on it's populace, but effect on the world), and with the greatest dissent among it's supporters.
-Nationalist: Nationalist's take the opposite track; they work to destroy any loyalty to the family unit and unite their own nation with memories of their glorious past. They reached a high water mawk in the 3700s, before the radical Statist offshoot and their warmongering habits combined to diminish their power.
-Statists : Currently the smallest radical philosophy with a nation, the Statists believe (in the words of one of their manifesto) that "the main reason for the injustice of the world is the immorality of the world!" Therefore, they seek to remove the immorality, by making sure that all people are moral, by force and manipulation of their memories. In statist societies (ideally) all children will be born with the same memories, chosen by the government to re move any immoral tendencies and turn them into model citizens. The statists nations are young and concentrated in the backwater nations of the eastern edge of the Great Continent, so as of yet there are few people born under this regime. The first generation is nearing a million now, a million born with the same memories, and (so their leaders hope) the same thoughts.
-Consciousist: Believe that "No man is a free man with the memories of another," Consciousists work to remove any and all national and family related memories. In their place, knowledge is meant to be placed, to create a more creative and discriminating society, and allow each person to form his own mind on every issue. So far, they seem marginally successful, having created the largest radical nation on Earth, the Gvareb Conscious Union (GCU), to unite all consciousist nations. They have also taken a lead in science and technology, and work to frustrate the other powers to no end. They've had marginal succes on the Great Continent, taking Zanysmer and other nations, which are affiliated with the GCU.
In general, the Internationalist and Consciusist powers are squared off against the Caste, and Statist societies, with Nationalist societies scattered among the two camps, and the Generalist societies forming a more neutral side.
The Tianxi currently has 6 consulates graded on a scale of 1-4, with four being a consulate in a full member nation, 2 being a major consulate for possible members, 3 being Tianxi representatives for a large area, and 4 a consulate responsible for research, or nations that have officially declare they are not joining. The Tianxi society is deeply troubled by Derjuo-Zi, with the level of control on the minds of the citizens of many nations being deeply troubling, but it has continued to operate consulates on the planet. The most succesful are the class 2 consulates in Zherguo and Pharuntsu Confederacy. Zherguo appears to be interested mostly as a way to continue it's position as the most powerful state on Derjuo-Zi, but the Pharunstu Confederacy appears to be more interested in joining due to the fact that they see the Tianxi as something like a larger interplanetary version of themselves (a loose confederation of states united for common interest), and the fact that it's 'Emperor' is deeply interested. The Emperor isn't exactly an Emperor, it's merely the translation preferred by the Pharuntsu themselves, as he lacks any power; he's more like the First Rememberer. He contains memories of the initial landfall, and of the thousand years after that, during which his family has continued to record the memories of the people in the land.
Technology is very different then on our world, most of it being based off the sheer expertise created by the populace. It lacks many 'breakthroughs', like the Internal Combustion Engine, Atomic Power, or plastics, but the people of the planet have become experts at using technologies like steam engines, mechanical devices, and primitive electricity to achieve similar ends. Since most craftsman have the equivalent of hundreds of years of experience under their belts, Derjuo-Zi is famous for the beauty, skill and ergonomics of it's creations. When you ask a watchmaker to build a watch, he knows exactly what kind of watch would be best for your situation, exactly how each part would fit together, and has done something like this probably a hundred times before.
The Tianxi currently has Derjuo-Zi on probationary contact, with all technology strictly limited to those aproved by all governments of the planet and the Tianxi parliament, although cultural informations is allowed to flow freely. Due to the deep concern with the memory manipulation practiced by many nations, admitance of pharuntsu and Zherguo has stalled in the Parliament.
