The Temple Spire of Sublime Harmony in the city of Xing.
Showa is a system on the far western fringe of human space. It was the original system of the Eastern Bloc and for many years their capital.
History[]
Showa was a rare habitable planet near Arachnid space which had somehow escaped the notice of the Bugs and did not need to be cleared of them. Instead, it was signed over to the Eastern Bloc to be their new home and capital in exchange for their territories on Earth in 2198. As soon as the Eastern Bloc moved into their new home, their old home was destroyed when a Bug Asteroid hit Earth and devastated their former homelands. Refugees from Earth bolstered the original wave of immigrants and soon the planet had a thriving population of well over a billion, with hundred of millions more spreading out to the surrounding systems. But this was not to last; the Vin Shriak invasion devastated Showa, which fell to their advance in 2251. The Vin Shriak did their best to exterminate the entire human populace, but a few million guerillas managed to hide in wilderness areas and the underground infrastructure of the fallen cities until Earth Federation forces could defeat the Vin Shriak and assume control of the former Eastern Bloc worlds. The Caal invasion did not touch Showa directly, but rioting and panic killed tens of thousands until the new Terran Republic could restore a modicum of civil order.
Geography[]
Showa itself is a pleasant enough world, a little cooler than earth and a little more mountainous, but there are plenty of good lands and an ocean which covers over half its surface. The largest and capital city is Xian, on the northern continent of Hopei. Heavy fighting in the Vin Shriak wars devastated this and most other cities, but they are in the process of being resettled and rebuilt.
Season Eight Alternate Timeline[]
Showa escaped the worst of the Vin Shriak invasion, but went into economic decline when the Imperial Court was moved to Wilke's Star after the conquest of the Earth Federation by the Eastern Bloc and its alien allies.
Behind the Scenes[]
Showa is named for the reign-name of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. It means "Enlightened Peace" or something similar which Hirohito's early reign quite notably lacked.