Twelve Colonies
Encyclopedia
The Twelve Colonies of Man are fictional locations that constitute the principal human civilization in the original Battlestar Galactica
television series
, the "reimagined" series of the same name in 2004
, and in the prequel series, Caprica
. The names of the tribes and the planets they lived on were borrowed from the Zodiac
.
The Twelve Colonies were established by tribes who left their homeworld Kobol
, the alleged birthplace of humanity. There were at one time thirteen tribes, but one went to a planet called Earth. In the 1978 series, the thirteenth tribe were humans but in the reimagined series the thirteenth tribe were biological Cylons. The humans of the Twelve Colonies (around 28.5 billion according to the official map released) were virtually exterminated by the Cylons on the onset of both series, called the Second Cylon War. Fewer than 60,000 survivors managed to escape in a small collection of civilian spacecraft that survived the Cylon invasion, guarded by the Battlestar Galactica
. The concept of twelve tribes alludes to the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
1978 original series=
, published in 2003, just prior to the release of the reimagined series, the colonies were in one star system called "Cyrannus". The name "Cyrannus" was used in the original series episode "The Long Patrol"
, but was used by the character Starbuck
as the name of the galaxy, not a single star system, although as with most SF shows of that era, much of the terminology used is obscure and self-contradictory. It appears as if the authors were themselves frequently unclear as to what the difference between a solar system and a galaxy was, though "star system" could refer to a cluster of stars that were in relatively close proximity to each other. The name "Cyrannus" has not been used in the reimagined series, but appears on a map produced by the writers and producers of the show.
In the 1978 series, the Colonies were very obviously set in a binary star system, and distinguished between "Inner" and "Outer" colonies. "Inner" colonies orbited the primary star in the system, and "Outer" colonies orbited the other one, though both appeared to be G2 class stars
from what little information was visible onscreen. The inner colonies - including Virgon, Sagitaria and Caprica - were attacked first. By the time the Galactica arrived, the Cylons were already launching their first wave against the outer colonies.
(sometimes called the "Council of the Twelve") is the main governing body of the Twelve Colonies. There are twelve members, each representing one colony. There is a president of the Twelve Colonies, who acts as the head of state. There is also a Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The President and civilian government lead the Colonies, unless martial law is declared. After the death of President Adar and the death of the Quorum of the Twelve, the Colonial remnants, under the protection of the Battlestar Galactica, were placed under martial law by Commander Adama, the last surviving member of the pre-destruction Quorum. Count Baltar
, a member of the Quorum who survived due to his treachery, was presumably stripped of his rank in absentia for his gross betrayal of humanity. The Quorum has the power to repeal martial law itself, but after a disastrous attempt at reestablishing civilian rule in the "rag-tag fleet", such matters were dropped for the present.
There is no death penalty, even for treason. The maximum punishment is life imprisonment. Officers of the court in criminal proceedings include 'Opposers' (prosecutor
s) and 'Advocates' (defense attorneys).
s in the fictional Cyrannus galaxy
within a 12 light-year
distance from Earth. Since Earth is also in this galaxy, it is clearly the Milky Way galaxy.
The 2004 has never clarified their relative positions in space; however, Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore
has stated that all the colony planets are in the same star system, as described in the original series. This was also hinted at several times in the pilot episode
.
Tweets
from Serge Graystone, SyFy's official twitter site for Daniel Graystone's robot Serge indicate that all 12 colonies are on planets within a cluster of 4 stars.
In the re-imagined series, the Cyrannus Star System is actually a stellar cluster: two pairs of binary stars that orbit a common barycenter
at a distance of .16 light year from binary barycenter to binary barycenter. Kobol is located 2000 light years away.
The first pair is "Helios Alpha" and "Helios Beta", orbiting the barycenter at 63 astronomical units.
The second pair is "Helios Delta" and "Helios Gamma", orbiting the barycenter at 70 astronomical units. The gas giant Ragnar (moon: Sigurd) orbits the binary system about the barycenter at 110 astronomical units.
Season One established that Caprica is the capital planet, "the seat of politics, culture, art, science, and learning". Season One also established that Sagitarron is the poorest planet, economically and politically dominated by the other eleven Colonies for centuries. Various puppet governments have been installed by the other Colonies to rule Sagittaron over the generations, even in the recent decades of the united federal government. As a result, local insurgencies are endemic on Sagittaron, led by terrorist leaders such as Tom Zarek. Season Two established that Gemenon is religiously fundamentalist, following a strict literal interpretation of their religious liturgy.
In Season Three, a broader description was given that Gemenon, Sagittaron, and Aerilon are regarded as "poor colonies" where most of the inhabitants worked in harsh blue-collar
jobs while the colonies of Caprica, Tauron and Virgon are the wealthiest, containing a more elite and educated social class who worked administrative and professional white-collar
jobs. Caprica, being the capital of the Colonies, is especially cosmopolitan, and the cavalier religious attitudes of Capricans (generally secularized but religiously tolerant) are in stark contrast with those of Gemenon and Sagittaron, who take their faith very seriously. Sagittaron, in contrast to literal and fundamentalist Gemenon, is also quite devout but embraces many local folk practices and variants on the mainstream colonial polytheistic religion. Tauron is also established as the major rival of Caprica, with the two superpower
s dominating the politics of the rest. Even under the new unified federal government, Tauron remained strong enough to frequently buck the authority of the federal government. Capricans and Taurons disproportionately dominate the officer corps of the unified military of the Twelve Colonies. Most officers portrayed in the series are either Caprican, like William Adama (born on Caprica, retconned to be half-Tauron) and Lee Adama, or Tauron, like Admiral Helena Cain.
Aerilon is primarily a farming colony and is referred to by Gaius Baltar
as the "foodbasket" of the Twelve Colonies. When portraying Baltar's "native" accent, James Callis
adopts a Yorkshire accent
as it is an accent that can be stereotypically associated with people who come from a working class background and thus fit the image that his character was trying to project of life on Aerilon as an isolated agricultural planet. In the original series outline, Baltar was supposed to be a poor farmer's son from Sagittaron, who abandoned his past when he left for university on Caprica and re-invented himself into a world-renowned scientist. Due to the dropped "Sagittaron Storyarc" in Season 3, the creators had to slightly tweak Baltar's backstory so that he was still from a poor farming colony, but not Sagittaron. This ultimately resulted in rounding out the story of Aerilon's agrarian society, and that Baltar was from there.
The 2004 series only developed the defining characteristics of these five out of the twelve Colonies:
The "Caprica" prequel series set the goal of trying to round out and further develop the culture of all Twelve Colonies.
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
states that Leonis has plains, Scorpia has jungles, Virgon is forested, Libran is dedicated to the Colonial judiciary, Tauron has pastures, both Picon and Aquaria are largely covered in water, and Canceron is known for its beaches. No mention is given of Sagittaron, with the television version mentioning temples on Gemenon, reinforcing the strong religious fabric on the planet.
Many colonials speak the Caprican language, but apparently have different accents
or dialect
s. At least one archaic language, Old Gemenese, is referred to by Colonial Lt. Shaw. Baltar mentions that he has an Aerilon accent. In the series Caprica
, Taurons are heard speaking a separate language resembling Ancient Greek
. The Tauron word Ha'la'tha means "Always faithful to the soil" quoted by the Guatrau in the episode "False Labor" of Caprica.
In Caprica
, Joseph Adama states that Tauron has no flowers growing on it; also it has suffered a civil war. It is also the home of the Ha'la'tha organized crime
syndicate. Taurons also use Roman names for the gods such as Jupiter
and Mars
. Prior to the 1st Cylon War, Capricans took a racist view of Taurons, with one Caprican government official privately stating that "deceit is in their DNA
."
The people who live on these twelve planets share their origins with a common location, that being Kobol
. However, each planet has developed cultural differences to each colony. The flag of the Twelve Colonies is a vertical banner of alternating red, white, blue, white and red, where the red and white stripes are of equal width while the central blue stripe is wider than any of the other stripes. The central blue stripe is divided into light blue (top) and dark blue (bottom), with the light blue section forming a triangular finish pointing downwards. The emblem of the colonies is placed on the light blue portion of the flag. The flag of the Twelve Colonies is the source on which all other Colonial flags are based.
More information was included in a published guidebook, released in summer 2010, called Beyond Caprica: A Visitor's Pocket Guide to the Twelve Colonies.
In January 2011, Jane Espenson
and Kevin Grazier made public a map of the Twelve Colonies that the show creators worked from. This map reveals that Picon, Caprica, Gemenon and Tauron orbit Helios Alpha; Leonis and Virgon orbit Helios Beta; Libran, Scorpia and Sagittaron orbit Helios Gamma, and Aerilon, Canceron and Aquaria orbit Helios Delta. It also reveals the names of gas giants, minor planets and moons in the Colonies' solar system (the Cyrannus system) and includes cultural details on each colony.
While the first planet colonized in the system was Gemenon, for most of their 2,000 year history the Twelve Colonies were dominated by the two major colonies of the Helios Beta system, Virgon and Leonis. The two rival imperial powers conquered and dominated the colonies of the Helios Alpha and Helios Gamma systems at one time or another. Particularly long and bloody struggles were fought for control of their colony-worlds Picon and Tauron (in Helios Alpha), and Sagittaron (in Helios Beta) which frequently changed hands along with its lightly populated neighboring colonies Scorpia and Libra. The Helios Delta system - containing agragrian Aerilon, poor and overpopulated Canceron, and barely populated Aquarion - was regarded as a backwater and largely ignored by the imperial powers of Virgon and Leonis. The centuries-long rivalry between Virgon and Leonis eventually led to the exhaustion and decline of both, starting roughly 850 years ago when Tauron successfully fought a war of independence against them, and culminating roughly 200 years ago, around the time Picon achieved independence from them. Virgon and Leonis were replaced by rising Caprica and Tauron as the superpowers dominating the politics of the Twelve Colonies. The allegiances of the other colonies shifted from the old Virgon-Leonis rivalry to fit into new powerblocks centered on the Caprica-Tauron rivalry. This was the state of affairs for the next two centuries, up until the time of the First Cylon War.
Capricans live a very cosmopolitan life with a prosperous economy and have access to the latest technological conveniences. They appear to be accepting of just about any lifestyle, and with few reservations, seem to live and let live. According to Doctor Gaius Baltar, Caprica was the "seat of politics, culture, art, science and learning". He considered being Caprican to be prestigious in itself. The official language of Caprica is Caprican, which is similar to modern English
and is spoken throughout the Colonies. The national anthem of Caprica is Caprica Abides.
Taurons are a people who have been hardened by battle, having lived with war and death for a very long time. Periods of civil unrest on their home world, has instilled a degree of 'Trojan' battle hardness & practical no nonsense attitude to life in general. Taurons are loyal, but are seen to never forgive a betrayal or any form of treachery. The patron gods of the Taurons are Jupiter, Diana, Mars, and Venus. The Tauron government is a Democracy, with Ha'La'Tha leaders installed within. Taurons primary source of income is the cattle trade, and a Tauron steak is considered the best in the Colonies. The native Tauron language is similar to Ancient Greek
, although some traces of Modern Greek are present.
Picons are a close-knit people, but they're also friendly and hospitable to Capricans, and enjoy a low crime rate. Picons tend to believe in an overall sense of balance, which is indicative of their zodiac symbol of two stylized fish circling each other, suggesting balance. Picons are also very good athletes and enjoy a good fight and a pint of ale. The Picon government has made available health care, education and affordable housing to all inhabitants, asserting that it is a basic human right.
Gemenese culture is influenced by strict interpretations of the Sacred Scrolls. Schoolchildren know the names of every god, and won't hesitate to correct you if you get one wrong. The government is a republic led by the Prime Minister. They have a Guardian Council which presides over all moral issues, while the lower house called the House of Councilors handles the administration of the laws. Gemenon is one of three colonies other than Caprica known to have an official language, Old Gemenese. Old Gemenese is similar to Romanian
.
Virgons tend to revere the "finer things" such as ornate country gardens, elaborate laced garments and the ability to distinguish vintages of Leonan wine. Virgon government was at one time a true monarchy, which changed to parliamentarian. The royal family remain, but are figureheads. Virgons pride themselves on their ability to determine where someone new they meet originally came from due to the accent spoken.
Leonans are similar to Virgons in that they enjoy gourmet food and fine wine. Leonan women are known for being beautiful and thin, no matter what they eat. Beauty is defined uniquely as "being in one's own hour". Leonis was once an empire, ruled by a powerful set of royals who protected their rule by insisting on a millennium of inbreeding. Eventually the Leonan empire came to be ruled by a leader who was descended from one great-great grandmother, Johanna the Mad, no fewer than fourteen different ways. Leonan government changed to a democracy and the royal family did not continue. Leonis is one of three colonies known to have an official language other than Caprica, Leonese, which printed material in the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide :Beyond Caprica travel guide on Leonis resembles French.
Sagittarons have a profound distrust of advanced science, and most treat illness and even broken bones with herbal medicines, faith healing, mojo bags and prayer. Due to the rugged and isolated terrain, they tend to be comfortable being alone and being self-sufficient.
Scorpians place family happiness as paramount on Scorpia. The people consider themselves deeply pious, but to other cultures like Capricans they're actually very tolerant and flexible. If an eccentric lifestyle makes someone happy, then it's alright with them. Scorpians are also very athletic like Picons and are very devoted to their favorite sports teams. The government is a democracy, where torture is legal and institutionalized and conducted at the Central Detention Facility in the capital of Celeste. Locals regard the police as walking angels of death. However, tourists are seen as a source of national income and will kill to protect them. Other colonial governments have been known to dispose terrorists, dissidents and other undesirables on Scorpia.
Libran is a culture devoted to law, and as such has little history or culture of its own. Streets near the courthouses are named for gods and great leaders. If you are a lawyer sent to Libran, it probably represents the pinnacle of a career in law. The government is administered by a local council elected by everyone assigned to the planet in a direct democracy funded by the other colonies.
Canceron has a large multitude of diverse dialects, religions, epic poems, cuisines, music, theater, and literature, yet Canceron's own people rarely know much outside their own subculture. The government, due to its massive population, proclaims itself the largest democracy of all the colonies. At its planetary Congress it has more than 2,300 representatives from 88 states that speak at least 19 distinct dialects, that are answerable to the 88 state congresses. Terrorism is a basic fact of life to young Cancerons.
The Aerilonian idea of self-reliance without a central government is strongly adhered to. As a result, the Aerilon Parliament and the Prime Minister have publicly stated that the government will not attempt the funding of health care, schools, or anything that could be relied upon by the people, unlike the government of Picon. The Aerilonian people have granted the police remarkably broad powers to detain, imprison, and even torture people on even the slightest pretext. The people are very much into spending time outdoors, and value plain speech, hard work and trust in one's neighbor above everything else, except for the worship of the gods. Like Picons, Aerilonians enjoy a good fight and a pint, or two. Paintings are suspect unless they are of family members, heroic men, or cattle. Primary colors are recommended, Sculpture is also suspect, unless it is made by hand, out of wood, with a pocket knife, and results in a pointed weapon. Artists who desire to become famous will find themselves leaving Aerilon for another colony, such as Caprica, Leonis or Virgon to do so. Agriculture is the foundation of planetary economy. Doctor Gaius Baltar, a native of Aerilon, described his homeworld as "a drab, ugly rock, condemned to be the food basket of the Twelve Worlds".
Aquarions are highly educated, liberal, tolerant, and peaceful and think nothing of paying for services rendered with a painting, a song, or a good story, and will accept such payment just as casually. The society is small enough for individuals to remain fully accountable, so the system usually works very well. The colony was founded as a utopian outpost for those who prefer not to be bothered with gods, planetary identity, politics, or other sources of division. As a result, they have developed a strong self-perception as a place where the human spirit and its creative expression can reach their maximum potential. Anyone who disrupts the social balance will find themselves permanently banished to another colony with a simple two-thirds vote, usually finding themselves on Scorpia, or on trial on Libran, never to come back.
Only Troy was mentioned within the 2004 TV series. Espenson and Grazier's 2011 "Map of the Twelve Colonies" goes into some more detail, stating that minor colonies were located on four planets or moons in the star cluster:
Some of the moons of the gas giants in the star cluster are stated to have atmospheres, but whether these atmospheres are breathable is not clear. Moreover, it is not established if any of these moons were large enough to be inhabitable, atmosphere or not. If that is the case, of the four known "outer colonies", none are located in the Helios Gamma/Helios Delta binary star system, one (Tauron's moon Minos) is located in Helios Alpha, and three (Troy, Pallas, and Virgon's moon Hibernia) are located in Helios Beta.
The exact legal and political status of the inhabitants of the Outer Colonies is not clear, and may have been vague within the fictional universe as well. The Twelve Colonies only shifted to a unified federal government 50 years ago, and before that defined their political allegiances along ethnic lines to each of the "Twelve Tribes" that controled an entire planet, like Caprica or Virgon. The falsified identity that the Number Eight Cylon on Galactica presented was that she was the child of colonists from Aerilon who were living on Troy (while her cover story was fake, what is relavent is that others thought it was a believable background). Its not clear if miners on marginally habitable planets like Troy would still retain absentee-citizenship with their mother-planet like Troy; its possible that so few colonists were actually born and raised on minor colonies like Troy that they never developed a group or cultural identity, even on worlds like Troy whose resources had been fought over for centuries. Permanent habitation of these minor colonies seems to not have occurred on a large scale. Again the one major exception to this is the mention that the Celtans of Virgon's habitable moon Hibernia actually strove to assert their independence but were forced into submission by Virgon; it is plausible that they strove for equal representation in the new unified federal government.
, while the lowest cabinet post in the US line of presidential succession is only 18th. There is a death penalty, and executions for treason include being vented into space, a punishment implemented by President Laura Roslin and continued by President Tom Zarek during his brief term. The military conducts execution of its personnel via firing squad. Local government includes mayors, of whom President Adar
was one before his first term as President of the Twelve Colonies. The Colonial Government appears to include some form of civil religion
as noted by the presence of clergy such as the priest Elosha
in seasons 1 and 2 of the series. In his blog, Battlestar Galacticas producer Ronald D. Moore
indicated that the Colonial government presumably included a larger, still unnamed representative body (most likely the People's Council mentioned in Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II
) and an independent judiciary system, as well as another (also unnamed) religious body with an advisory function.
The Quorum of Twelve
does exist in the series (an interim one is established a month into the exodus) but its structure and purpose is different. The Quorum's sessions are presided by the President of the Twelve Colonies, who may cast a vote in case of a tie. Each Colony gets a single vote. The functions of the Quorum of Twelve include taking nominations for and electing the Vice President - whether this is common practice or an emergency attribution in the case of a vacant Vice Presidency is not known. Quorum members may run for the Vice Presidency, but must resign their Quorum seat if elected. Given that the Colonies used to be independent nations until a few decades before the Cylon Attack, Ron Moore describes the Quorum of Twelve as a mixture between the United States Senate
and the UN Security Council. The Quorum has the power to remove the President from power via a vote of no confidence.
The Colonies appear to operate on a party system, and at least one party is mentioned in the series. When Tory Foster
becomes president Laura Roslin
's Chief of Staff in episode 17 of Season 2, she mentions that she was a member of the Federalist Party. It is unclear however if the government of the colonies is made of of one or several parties, as parties do not appear to play an important role after the fall of the colonies.
It is unclear if free passage throughout the Colonies was guaranteed for Colonial citizens, although the most likely scenario is that it was not. In season three Gaius Baltar
mentions that he got one of his lab assistants from Gemenon a visa, presumably to live and work on Caprica where he was based. Also, throughout the series various passports appear, and although they are all in the same format they are issued according to the colony each citizen is from, similar to the passports of the member states of the European Union.
The differences in Colonial government in the 2003 remake stem from the fact that Cylons were created by humans as servants and soldiers. The production team has established that the Cylons were used as soldiers in wars among the Twelve Colonies. Indeed, while the Exodus from Kobol was 2,000 years before the final Cylon defeat of the Twelve Colonies in the TV series, the "Articles of Colonization" are stated as being only 52 years old, framed in the early days of the First Cylon War, which went on for another 12 years. In the time of the TV series Caprica
, set 58 years before the Cylon holocaust, the Twelve Colonies do not yet have a united government.
Due to a lack of a police force within the fleet, both Colonial Fleet and Marine personnel also serve as law enforcement officials as necessary. According to Ronald D. Moore
's own podcast commentary for the episode Kobol's Last Gleaming, the plainclothed Presidential Security Force is intentionally separate from the military, with its members culled from any and all surviving police officers within the fleet.
in that the twelve worlds were united in a monetary union before the creation of the Twelve Colonies as a federal state. Unlike in the original series
, cubits appear both in paper and metal form. Throughout the reimagined series, banknotes with the value of 100, 500, 1000 and possibily 10 cubits can be seen. Gold and silver coins are also used. The banknotes are square in shape and the coins are rectangular.
Before the fall of the Twelve Colonies some worlds were highly industrialized, such as Caprica and Virgon, whereas others were more dependent on agriculture, most notably Aerilon which is also nicknamed "the foodbasket of the Colonies". Prior to start of the First Cylon War, the economy of colonies such as Caprica were highly mechanized, but it is assumed that following the war the fear of Cylons
had an impact on the economy of the Twelve Colonies. It is known that child labor is prohibited in the Twelve Colonies and that manual labor is the backbone of the refugee fleet's economy.
Following the complete destruction of the Twelve Colonies it is made clear by Tom Zarek that a currency-based economy is not functional in the refugee fleet that survived, but the government of Laura Roslin
moves to address this issue.
Trade union
s appear to play an important role in the lives of the working class in the refugee fleet and the settlers of New Caprica, and a strike was organized on the fleet's only tylium ship by the trade union. President Roslin
takes the trade union's suggestions into consideration, but it is unclear whether trade union
s played such an important role in the Twelve Colonies prior to the destruction or if they were created out of necessity during the colonists' stay on New Caprica. Although one day before the destruction of the colonies the teachers were on strike, President Adar
does not seem to pay much attention to their demands.
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, the "reimagined" series of the same name in 2004
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
, and in the prequel series, Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...
. The names of the tribes and the planets they lived on were borrowed from the Zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
.
The Twelve Colonies were established by tribes who left their homeworld Kobol
Kobol
Kobol is the name of a planet in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe.Within the context of both Battlestar Galactica stories, Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies on other worlds...
, the alleged birthplace of humanity. There were at one time thirteen tribes, but one went to a planet called Earth. In the 1978 series, the thirteenth tribe were humans but in the reimagined series the thirteenth tribe were biological Cylons. The humans of the Twelve Colonies (around 28.5 billion according to the official map released) were virtually exterminated by the Cylons on the onset of both series, called the Second Cylon War. Fewer than 60,000 survivors managed to escape in a small collection of civilian spacecraft that survived the Cylon invasion, guarded by the Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (ship)
The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons, whose battleships are...
. The concept of twelve tribes alludes to the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
1978 original series=
- Given the name's negative connotations, the word "Cancer" was never used as a colony name, and in its place was the frequently-mentioned colony of "Orion".
- Count Baltar was the representative of one of the colonies - it was never revealed which one was his home - prior to his betrayal. The script for the first episode states that he was from the colony of "Orion", however this mention never made it to the screen. (The telefilm novelization, however, says he was a wealthy rare items trader whom the Cylons first approached to sue for peace, and whose title of Count was self-awarded, but all this information has to be regarded as somewhat apocryphal as none of it was ever mentioned in the series.)
- In either version of the show, many colonies spoke different languages. For example, in the original series, Gemonese was spoken in several scenes (in the Terra arc, 'Terra' is said to be the Gemonese term for 'Earth').
- In the original series pilot (and novelization), Adama remarked that Sagitara had "the best defense systems in the Colonies".
- In the novelization for the telefilm, several Colonies were mentioned: Virgon, Sagitara, Caprica, Scorpia, Taura, Piscera and Gemini.
- In the novelization, one planet is called Aeriana, yet in the episode "The Long Patrol", it is pronounced Aeries.
- In a deleted scene from "Experiment in Terra", Apollo mentions Sagitaria, though it was called Sagitara in all other references.
- In "The Magnificent Warriors", Orion is mentioned a few times and it is stated that it was not one of the Colonies, but a nearby planet.
- In the novelization for "The Young Lords", the planets Aquarus, Scorpia and Virgon are mentioned.
- In the novelization of the pilot for the 1978 series, the Twelve Colonies are referred to as "The Twelve Colonies of the Three Suns".
Relative locations (1978)
In the Battlestar Galactica video gameBattlestar Galactica (video game)
A number of video games have been released based on the various incarnations of the Battlestar Galactica franchise.-"Space Battle" & "Space Attack":...
, published in 2003, just prior to the release of the reimagined series, the colonies were in one star system called "Cyrannus". The name "Cyrannus" was used in the original series episode "The Long Patrol"
The Long Patrol (Battlestar Galactica)
"The Long Patrol" is an episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot synopsis:The Galactica leads the fleet through a void of asteroid dust into another galaxy, leaving the galaxy in which the Twelve Colonies once existed...
, but was used by the character Starbuck
Lieutenant Starbuck
Lieutenant Starbuck of the Colonial Service, played by Dirk Benedict, is a fictional character in the 1978 science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. Starbuck is a Viper starfighter pilot, gambler, womanizer and smoker of "fumerellos," or cigars. He is involved with Lieutenant Athena...
as the name of the galaxy, not a single star system, although as with most SF shows of that era, much of the terminology used is obscure and self-contradictory. It appears as if the authors were themselves frequently unclear as to what the difference between a solar system and a galaxy was, though "star system" could refer to a cluster of stars that were in relatively close proximity to each other. The name "Cyrannus" has not been used in the reimagined series, but appears on a map produced by the writers and producers of the show.
In the 1978 series, the Colonies were very obviously set in a binary star system, and distinguished between "Inner" and "Outer" colonies. "Inner" colonies orbited the primary star in the system, and "Outer" colonies orbited the other one, though both appeared to be G2 class stars
Stellar classification
In astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. The spectral class of a star is a designated class of a star describing the ionization of its chromosphere, what atomic excitations are most prominent in the light, giving an objective measure...
from what little information was visible onscreen. The inner colonies - including Virgon, Sagitaria and Caprica - were attacked first. By the time the Galactica arrived, the Cylons were already launching their first wave against the outer colonies.
Colonial Government (1978)
The Quorum of the TwelveQuorum of Twelve
The Quorum of Twelve is a fictional governing body of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol on the two Battlestar Galactica television series. In both series, it was composed of one representative from each colony.Series creator Glen A...
(sometimes called the "Council of the Twelve") is the main governing body of the Twelve Colonies. There are twelve members, each representing one colony. There is a president of the Twelve Colonies, who acts as the head of state. There is also a Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The President and civilian government lead the Colonies, unless martial law is declared. After the death of President Adar and the death of the Quorum of the Twelve, the Colonial remnants, under the protection of the Battlestar Galactica, were placed under martial law by Commander Adama, the last surviving member of the pre-destruction Quorum. Count Baltar
Count Baltar
In the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, Count Baltar was a leading antagonist character who betrayed the human race to its enemy, the robot race of Cylons...
, a member of the Quorum who survived due to his treachery, was presumably stripped of his rank in absentia for his gross betrayal of humanity. The Quorum has the power to repeal martial law itself, but after a disastrous attempt at reestablishing civilian rule in the "rag-tag fleet", such matters were dropped for the present.
There is no death penalty, even for treason. The maximum punishment is life imprisonment. Officers of the court in criminal proceedings include 'Opposers' (prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
s) and 'Advocates' (defense attorneys).
Military (1978)
The combined Colonial armed forces are called the Colonial Military, or the Colonial Service. This is divided into at least three branches:- The Colonial Fleet is the first line of defense against Cylon invasion. This force of Battlestars and VipersColonial ViperThe Colonial Viper is the primary fighter spacecraft type used by the human protagonists in the Battlestar Galactica fictional universe. Appearing in both the 1978 original series and the 2003 reimagined series, as well as various derivative works, the single-pilot spacecraft are carried aboard...
has held the Cylons at bay and can easily outwit superior Cylon numbers with human ingenuity; Fleet personnel are renowned for their bravery and prowess in warfare in the Colonies and beyond. The various divisions of Fleet personnel are as follows:- Starship officers, such as Commander AdamaCommander AdamaCommander Adama is a fictional character in the 1978 movie and subsequent ABC television series Battlestar Galactica and its continuation series, Galactica 1980. Adama is the commander of the great military vessel Battlestar Galactica, commander of the refugee fleet and military commander of the...
and Colonel TighColonel TighColonel Tigh is a fictional character in the original 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica, played by Terry Carter. He is the Executive Officer of the titutlar ship. In his early years, he flew a Viper in the same squadron as Commander Adama. Tigh at first appears to be strictly by-the-book and a...
, who are outfitted in blue uniforms with silver trim and black boots. - Enlisted starship crew typically dress in light brown jumpsuits with darker brown boots.
- Colonial Warriors, the Viper pilots and ground troops of the Colonies, wear light brown uniforms with darker brown uniform jackets and dark brown boots. These are specially designed to protect them from g-forcesG-forceThe g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...
experienced in Viper launch operations.
- Starship officers, such as Commander Adama
- The Colonial Marine Corps
- Colonial Security Forces, also called Council Security personnel, are officers clad in black, who form a catch-all police force, under the direct control of the Quorum of the Twelve. Their jurisdiction appears to cover both civilian and military police roles. They are nicknamed "blackshirts." There appears to be some animosity between Colonial Warriors and the security forces, whose personnel also carry the same pistols as Colonial Warriors, especially when security officers attempt to force Warriors to adhere to Council edicts that the Warriors believe to be ridiculous or naive.
Economy (1978)
The currency used by the Twelve Colonies are "cubits", which take the form of square-shaped gold ingots. They are still used in the refugee fleet led by Galactica, and are often seen when Starbuck is gambling.Star system (2004)
In the original series, the twelve tribes settled on twelve different planetPlanet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s in the fictional Cyrannus galaxy
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
within a 12 light-year
Light-year
A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
distance from Earth. Since Earth is also in this galaxy, it is clearly the Milky Way galaxy.
The 2004 has never clarified their relative positions in space; however, Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
has stated that all the colony planets are in the same star system, as described in the original series. This was also hinted at several times in the pilot episode
Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...
.
Tweets
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
from Serge Graystone, SyFy's official twitter site for Daniel Graystone's robot Serge indicate that all 12 colonies are on planets within a cluster of 4 stars.
In the re-imagined series, the Cyrannus Star System is actually a stellar cluster: two pairs of binary stars that orbit a common barycenter
Barycentric coordinates (astronomy)
In astronomy, barycentric coordinates are non-rotating coordinates with origin at the center of mass of two or more bodies.The barycenter is the point between two objects where they balance each other. For example, it is the center of mass where two or more celestial bodies orbit each other...
at a distance of .16 light year from binary barycenter to binary barycenter. Kobol is located 2000 light years away.
The first pair is "Helios Alpha" and "Helios Beta", orbiting the barycenter at 63 astronomical units.
- Helios Alpha: Spectral Class G2V, Mass 1.0.
- Planets: Icarus, Picon, Caprica & Gemenon (binary planets orbiting a barycenter), Tauron (moon: Minos), the Erebos asteroid belt, the gas giant Zeus (74 moons, including Hebe and Nike), and Persephone.
- Helios Beta: Spectral Class K1V, Mass 0.79.
- Planets: Troy, Leonis, the Ouranos asteroid belt, Virgon (moon: Hibernia), the gas giant Hera (29 moons, including Iris and Euboea), and Pallas.
The second pair is "Helios Delta" and "Helios Gamma", orbiting the barycenter at 70 astronomical units. The gas giant Ragnar (moon: Sigurd) orbits the binary system about the barycenter at 110 astronomical units.
- Helios Delta: Spectral Class K2V, Mass 0.74.
- Planets: Phoebe, the Aeolus asteroid belt, the gas giant Hestia (17 moons, including binaries Rhea and Kronos) with Canceron & Aerilon at Hestia's L4 and L5, Aquaria, and Styx.
- Helios Gamma: Spectral Class G9V, Mass 0.89.
- Planets: Thanatos, the Acheron asteroid belt, Scorpia, Saggitaron, Libran (moons: Herse and Pandrossos), and the gas giant Ophion (14 moons).
Society and homeworlds
The 2004 Re-Imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series established the social and political distinctions of several of the Twelve Colonies. Each of the Twelve Colonies was originally its own independent state for two thousand years, with various shifting alliances. They only finally united into one all-encompassing federal government for all Twelve Colonies fifty years ago to face the threat of the First Cylon War. Thus for hundreds of years, being a "Caprican" meant that someone was ethnically part of the "Caprican" tribe, which controlled its own independent planetary state. Under the new federal government this shifted to a residency system, thus Gaius Baltar was able to be elected as Quorum of Twelve delegate for Caprica, even though he was ethnically a Sagittaron. However, the inhabitants of the Twelve Colonies have only been living under the united federal government for fifty years, and thus ethnic Sagittarons registered as citizens of Caprica still face a degree of discrimination.Season One established that Caprica is the capital planet, "the seat of politics, culture, art, science, and learning". Season One also established that Sagitarron is the poorest planet, economically and politically dominated by the other eleven Colonies for centuries. Various puppet governments have been installed by the other Colonies to rule Sagittaron over the generations, even in the recent decades of the united federal government. As a result, local insurgencies are endemic on Sagittaron, led by terrorist leaders such as Tom Zarek. Season Two established that Gemenon is religiously fundamentalist, following a strict literal interpretation of their religious liturgy.
In Season Three, a broader description was given that Gemenon, Sagittaron, and Aerilon are regarded as "poor colonies" where most of the inhabitants worked in harsh blue-collar
Blue-collar worker
A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance, technical installation and many other types of physical work...
jobs while the colonies of Caprica, Tauron and Virgon are the wealthiest, containing a more elite and educated social class who worked administrative and professional white-collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
jobs. Caprica, being the capital of the Colonies, is especially cosmopolitan, and the cavalier religious attitudes of Capricans (generally secularized but religiously tolerant) are in stark contrast with those of Gemenon and Sagittaron, who take their faith very seriously. Sagittaron, in contrast to literal and fundamentalist Gemenon, is also quite devout but embraces many local folk practices and variants on the mainstream colonial polytheistic religion. Tauron is also established as the major rival of Caprica, with the two superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
s dominating the politics of the rest. Even under the new unified federal government, Tauron remained strong enough to frequently buck the authority of the federal government. Capricans and Taurons disproportionately dominate the officer corps of the unified military of the Twelve Colonies. Most officers portrayed in the series are either Caprican, like William Adama (born on Caprica, retconned to be half-Tauron) and Lee Adama, or Tauron, like Admiral Helena Cain.
Aerilon is primarily a farming colony and is referred to by Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
as the "foodbasket" of the Twelve Colonies. When portraying Baltar's "native" accent, James Callis
James Callis
James Callis is a British actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
adopts a Yorkshire accent
Yorkshire dialect and accent
The Yorkshire dialect refers to the varieties of English used in the Northern England historic county of Yorkshire. Those varieties are often referred to as Broad Yorkshire or Tyke. The dialect has roots in older languages such as Old English and Old Norse; it should not be confused with modern slang...
as it is an accent that can be stereotypically associated with people who come from a working class background and thus fit the image that his character was trying to project of life on Aerilon as an isolated agricultural planet. In the original series outline, Baltar was supposed to be a poor farmer's son from Sagittaron, who abandoned his past when he left for university on Caprica and re-invented himself into a world-renowned scientist. Due to the dropped "Sagittaron Storyarc" in Season 3, the creators had to slightly tweak Baltar's backstory so that he was still from a poor farming colony, but not Sagittaron. This ultimately resulted in rounding out the story of Aerilon's agrarian society, and that Baltar was from there.
The 2004 series only developed the defining characteristics of these five out of the twelve Colonies:
- Caprica - capital, pseudo-United States
- Tauron - Caprica's corrupt chief rival, pseudo-Soviet Union
- Sagittaron - exploited, oppressed colony that is discriminated against
- Gemenon - religiously fundamentalist
- Aerilon - poor agrarian breakbasket world
The "Caprica" prequel series set the goal of trying to round out and further develop the culture of all Twelve Colonies.
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is a made for television movie set in the reimagined version of the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe. It consists of newly filmed material as well as a compilation of footage from the TV series and miniseries....
states that Leonis has plains, Scorpia has jungles, Virgon is forested, Libran is dedicated to the Colonial judiciary, Tauron has pastures, both Picon and Aquaria are largely covered in water, and Canceron is known for its beaches. No mention is given of Sagittaron, with the television version mentioning temples on Gemenon, reinforcing the strong religious fabric on the planet.
Many colonials speak the Caprican language, but apparently have different accents
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
or dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. At least one archaic language, Old Gemenese, is referred to by Colonial Lt. Shaw. Baltar mentions that he has an Aerilon accent. In the series Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...
, Taurons are heard speaking a separate language resembling Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
. The Tauron word Ha'la'tha means "Always faithful to the soil" quoted by the Guatrau in the episode "False Labor" of Caprica.
In Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...
, Joseph Adama states that Tauron has no flowers growing on it; also it has suffered a civil war. It is also the home of the Ha'la'tha organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
syndicate. Taurons also use Roman names for the gods such as Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. Prior to the 1st Cylon War, Capricans took a racist view of Taurons, with one Caprican government official privately stating that "deceit is in their DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
."
Semi-canon Information
During the production of the prequel series "Caprica", the production team released several online bonus materials such as faux in-universe media publications or star maps which provided more information about the culture and society of all Twelve Colonies.The people who live on these twelve planets share their origins with a common location, that being Kobol
Kobol
Kobol is the name of a planet in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe.Within the context of both Battlestar Galactica stories, Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies on other worlds...
. However, each planet has developed cultural differences to each colony. The flag of the Twelve Colonies is a vertical banner of alternating red, white, blue, white and red, where the red and white stripes are of equal width while the central blue stripe is wider than any of the other stripes. The central blue stripe is divided into light blue (top) and dark blue (bottom), with the light blue section forming a triangular finish pointing downwards. The emblem of the colonies is placed on the light blue portion of the flag. The flag of the Twelve Colonies is the source on which all other Colonial flags are based.
More information was included in a published guidebook, released in summer 2010, called Beyond Caprica: A Visitor's Pocket Guide to the Twelve Colonies.
In January 2011, Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
and Kevin Grazier made public a map of the Twelve Colonies that the show creators worked from. This map reveals that Picon, Caprica, Gemenon and Tauron orbit Helios Alpha; Leonis and Virgon orbit Helios Beta; Libran, Scorpia and Sagittaron orbit Helios Gamma, and Aerilon, Canceron and Aquaria orbit Helios Delta. It also reveals the names of gas giants, minor planets and moons in the Colonies' solar system (the Cyrannus system) and includes cultural details on each colony.
While the first planet colonized in the system was Gemenon, for most of their 2,000 year history the Twelve Colonies were dominated by the two major colonies of the Helios Beta system, Virgon and Leonis. The two rival imperial powers conquered and dominated the colonies of the Helios Alpha and Helios Gamma systems at one time or another. Particularly long and bloody struggles were fought for control of their colony-worlds Picon and Tauron (in Helios Alpha), and Sagittaron (in Helios Beta) which frequently changed hands along with its lightly populated neighboring colonies Scorpia and Libra. The Helios Delta system - containing agragrian Aerilon, poor and overpopulated Canceron, and barely populated Aquarion - was regarded as a backwater and largely ignored by the imperial powers of Virgon and Leonis. The centuries-long rivalry between Virgon and Leonis eventually led to the exhaustion and decline of both, starting roughly 850 years ago when Tauron successfully fought a war of independence against them, and culminating roughly 200 years ago, around the time Picon achieved independence from them. Virgon and Leonis were replaced by rising Caprica and Tauron as the superpowers dominating the politics of the Twelve Colonies. The allegiances of the other colonies shifted from the old Virgon-Leonis rivalry to fit into new powerblocks centered on the Caprica-Tauron rivalry. This was the state of affairs for the next two centuries, up until the time of the First Cylon War.
Capricans live a very cosmopolitan life with a prosperous economy and have access to the latest technological conveniences. They appear to be accepting of just about any lifestyle, and with few reservations, seem to live and let live. According to Doctor Gaius Baltar, Caprica was the "seat of politics, culture, art, science and learning". He considered being Caprican to be prestigious in itself. The official language of Caprica is Caprican, which is similar to modern English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and is spoken throughout the Colonies. The national anthem of Caprica is Caprica Abides.
Taurons are a people who have been hardened by battle, having lived with war and death for a very long time. Periods of civil unrest on their home world, has instilled a degree of 'Trojan' battle hardness & practical no nonsense attitude to life in general. Taurons are loyal, but are seen to never forgive a betrayal or any form of treachery. The patron gods of the Taurons are Jupiter, Diana, Mars, and Venus. The Tauron government is a Democracy, with Ha'La'Tha leaders installed within. Taurons primary source of income is the cattle trade, and a Tauron steak is considered the best in the Colonies. The native Tauron language is similar to Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, although some traces of Modern Greek are present.
Picons are a close-knit people, but they're also friendly and hospitable to Capricans, and enjoy a low crime rate. Picons tend to believe in an overall sense of balance, which is indicative of their zodiac symbol of two stylized fish circling each other, suggesting balance. Picons are also very good athletes and enjoy a good fight and a pint of ale. The Picon government has made available health care, education and affordable housing to all inhabitants, asserting that it is a basic human right.
Gemenese culture is influenced by strict interpretations of the Sacred Scrolls. Schoolchildren know the names of every god, and won't hesitate to correct you if you get one wrong. The government is a republic led by the Prime Minister. They have a Guardian Council which presides over all moral issues, while the lower house called the House of Councilors handles the administration of the laws. Gemenon is one of three colonies other than Caprica known to have an official language, Old Gemenese. Old Gemenese is similar to Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
.
Virgons tend to revere the "finer things" such as ornate country gardens, elaborate laced garments and the ability to distinguish vintages of Leonan wine. Virgon government was at one time a true monarchy, which changed to parliamentarian. The royal family remain, but are figureheads. Virgons pride themselves on their ability to determine where someone new they meet originally came from due to the accent spoken.
Leonans are similar to Virgons in that they enjoy gourmet food and fine wine. Leonan women are known for being beautiful and thin, no matter what they eat. Beauty is defined uniquely as "being in one's own hour". Leonis was once an empire, ruled by a powerful set of royals who protected their rule by insisting on a millennium of inbreeding. Eventually the Leonan empire came to be ruled by a leader who was descended from one great-great grandmother, Johanna the Mad, no fewer than fourteen different ways. Leonan government changed to a democracy and the royal family did not continue. Leonis is one of three colonies known to have an official language other than Caprica, Leonese, which printed material in the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide :Beyond Caprica travel guide on Leonis resembles French.
Sagittarons have a profound distrust of advanced science, and most treat illness and even broken bones with herbal medicines, faith healing, mojo bags and prayer. Due to the rugged and isolated terrain, they tend to be comfortable being alone and being self-sufficient.
Scorpians place family happiness as paramount on Scorpia. The people consider themselves deeply pious, but to other cultures like Capricans they're actually very tolerant and flexible. If an eccentric lifestyle makes someone happy, then it's alright with them. Scorpians are also very athletic like Picons and are very devoted to their favorite sports teams. The government is a democracy, where torture is legal and institutionalized and conducted at the Central Detention Facility in the capital of Celeste. Locals regard the police as walking angels of death. However, tourists are seen as a source of national income and will kill to protect them. Other colonial governments have been known to dispose terrorists, dissidents and other undesirables on Scorpia.
Libran is a culture devoted to law, and as such has little history or culture of its own. Streets near the courthouses are named for gods and great leaders. If you are a lawyer sent to Libran, it probably represents the pinnacle of a career in law. The government is administered by a local council elected by everyone assigned to the planet in a direct democracy funded by the other colonies.
Canceron has a large multitude of diverse dialects, religions, epic poems, cuisines, music, theater, and literature, yet Canceron's own people rarely know much outside their own subculture. The government, due to its massive population, proclaims itself the largest democracy of all the colonies. At its planetary Congress it has more than 2,300 representatives from 88 states that speak at least 19 distinct dialects, that are answerable to the 88 state congresses. Terrorism is a basic fact of life to young Cancerons.
The Aerilonian idea of self-reliance without a central government is strongly adhered to. As a result, the Aerilon Parliament and the Prime Minister have publicly stated that the government will not attempt the funding of health care, schools, or anything that could be relied upon by the people, unlike the government of Picon. The Aerilonian people have granted the police remarkably broad powers to detain, imprison, and even torture people on even the slightest pretext. The people are very much into spending time outdoors, and value plain speech, hard work and trust in one's neighbor above everything else, except for the worship of the gods. Like Picons, Aerilonians enjoy a good fight and a pint, or two. Paintings are suspect unless they are of family members, heroic men, or cattle. Primary colors are recommended, Sculpture is also suspect, unless it is made by hand, out of wood, with a pocket knife, and results in a pointed weapon. Artists who desire to become famous will find themselves leaving Aerilon for another colony, such as Caprica, Leonis or Virgon to do so. Agriculture is the foundation of planetary economy. Doctor Gaius Baltar, a native of Aerilon, described his homeworld as "a drab, ugly rock, condemned to be the food basket of the Twelve Worlds".
Aquarions are highly educated, liberal, tolerant, and peaceful and think nothing of paying for services rendered with a painting, a song, or a good story, and will accept such payment just as casually. The society is small enough for individuals to remain fully accountable, so the system usually works very well. The colony was founded as a utopian outpost for those who prefer not to be bothered with gods, planetary identity, politics, or other sources of division. As a result, they have developed a strong self-perception as a place where the human spirit and its creative expression can reach their maximum potential. Anyone who disrupts the social balance will find themselves permanently banished to another colony with a simple two-thirds vote, usually finding themselves on Scorpia, or on trial on Libran, never to come back.
| Zodiac | Constellation | 1978 Series | 2003 Series | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Name | Flag | Capital | Population | Pyramid Teams | Patron God | Nickname | ||
 |
Aquarius Aquarius (constellation) Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, situated between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name is Latin for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", and its symbol is , a representation of water.... |
Aquarus | Aquaria | None officially, major city is Heim | 25,000 | None | Hermes Hermes Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and... |
The Ice Colony | |
 |
Aries Aries (constellation) Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac, located between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. Its name is Latin for ram, and its symbol is , representing a ram's horns... |
Aeries | Aerilon | Gaoth | 1,200,000,000 |
|
Demeter Demeter In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society... |
The Food Basket of the Colonies | |
 |
Cancer Cancer (constellation) Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Its symbol is . Cancer is small and its stars are faint... |
Orion | Canceron | Hades | 6,700,000,000 |
|
Hephaestus Hephaestus Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Gods - or else, according to some accounts, of Hera alone. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes... |
The Largest Democracy | |
 |
Capricorn Capricornus Capricornus is one of the constellations of the zodiac; it is often called Capricorn, especially when referring to the corresponding astrological sign. Its name is Latin for "horned male goat" or "goat horn", and it is commonly represented in the form of a sea-goat: a mythical creature that is half... |
Caprica | Caprica | Caprica City | 4,900,000,000 |
|
Apollo Apollo Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology... |
The Capital of the Colonies | |
 |
Gemini Gemini (constellation) Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Its name is Latin for "twins", and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology... |
Gemoni | Gemenon | Oranu | 2,800,000,000 |
|
Hera Hera Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her... |
The First Colony | |
 |
Leo Leo (constellation) Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for lion. Its symbol is . Leo lies between dim Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east.-Stars:... |
Leonis | Leonis | Luminere | 2,600,000,000 |
|
Artemis Artemis Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"... |
The Heart of the Colonies | |
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Libra Libra (constellation) Libra is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for weighing scales, and its symbol is . It is fairly faint, with no first magnitude stars, and lies between Virgo to the west and Scorpius to the east.-Notable features:]... |
Libris | Libran | None officially, major city is Themis | 2,100,000 | None | Athena Athena In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is... |
The Colony of Justice | |
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Pisces Pisces (constellation) Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, and its symbol is . It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east... |
Piscera | Picon | Queenstown | 1,400,000,000 |
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Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon... |
The Ocean Colony | |
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Sagittarius Sagittarius (constellation) Sagittarius is a constellation of the zodiac, the one containing the galactic center. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow... |
Sagitara | Sagittaron | Tawa | 1,700,000,000 |
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Zeus Zeus In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus... |
The Lone Colony | |
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Scorpio Scorpius Scorpius, sometimes known as Scorpio, is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for scorpion, and its symbol is . It lies between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east... |
Scorpion | Scorpia | Celeste | 450,000,000 |
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Dionysus Dionysus Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete... |
The Playground of the Colonies | |
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Taurus Taurus (constellation) Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is a Latin word meaning 'bull', and its astrological symbol is a stylized bull's head:... |
Taura | Tauron | Hypatia | 2,500,000,000 |
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Ares Ares Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and... |
The Old Colony | |
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Virgo Virgo (constellation) Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky... |
Virgon | Virgon | Boskirk | 4,300,000,000 |
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Hestia Hestia In Greek mythology Hestia , first daughter of Cronus and Rhea , is the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum... |
Imperial Virgon | |
The Outer Colonies
The Outer Colonies are a scattered assortment of a few marginally habitable planets or moons within the double-binary Cyrannus star cluster, which are the site of some human habitation. According to Ron Moore in a blog post, the "Twelve" Colonies are the only human colonies in the system of any significance: they do loosely maintain a few scientific outposts, military bases, or mining outposts on some of the uninhabitable moons or asteroids in the system, but none of them are fully functional or in any way self-sustaining, and few if any have been terraformed. Moreover, even the combined population of all of these "outer colonies" is so low - 1.4 million, compared to the total 28.5 billion population of the star system as a whole - that they have little social or political significance, and are truly more "outposts" than "colonies". Nonetheless the mining resources of several of airless rocks, or Tylium mining operations in asteroid fields, are vital enough that different colonies have fought interplanetary wars over them.Only Troy was mentioned within the 2004 TV series. Espenson and Grazier's 2011 "Map of the Twelve Colonies" goes into some more detail, stating that minor colonies were located on four planets or moons in the star cluster:
- Minos - a moon of Tauron, located in Helios Alpha, and the largest moon in the entire star cluster. While it lacks an atmosphere, it is the location of several scientific outposts and domed mining colonies. More of an extension of Tauron than a world in its own right, and like Tauron it was fought over by Virgon and Leonis during their old imperial wars.
- Troy - a small but but metal rich planet in Helios Beta, whose material resources were fought over for centuries by nearby Virgon and Leonis. Troy's mining outposts required sealed domes, indicating that it either doesn't have an atmosphere or that it is toxic to humans.
- Pallas - a MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
-like planet whose atmosphere gradually leaked away into space over millions of years, located in Helios Beta. Today its dry, barren, desert-like surface has an atmosphere that is too thin to breathe, and terraforming efforts have failed. It is nonetheless the site of several domed colonies and a military research station. Although marginally more habitable than Troy, and fought over between Virgon and Leonis as it was, Pallas does not have the rich metal resources of Troy, and thus the planet was not as heavily contested between the two powers as Troy was.
- Hibernia - a marginally habitable moon of Virgon, settled centuries ago by the Celtans, an ethnic group fiercely opposed to Virgon rule. Along with Virgon it is located in Helios Beta. Although easily the most habitable of the Outer Colonies (the others all require domed habitats), its small population combined with centuries of domination by nearby Virgon have precluded it from ever being considered close to an equal of the main "Twelve Colonies".
Some of the moons of the gas giants in the star cluster are stated to have atmospheres, but whether these atmospheres are breathable is not clear. Moreover, it is not established if any of these moons were large enough to be inhabitable, atmosphere or not. If that is the case, of the four known "outer colonies", none are located in the Helios Gamma/Helios Delta binary star system, one (Tauron's moon Minos) is located in Helios Alpha, and three (Troy, Pallas, and Virgon's moon Hibernia) are located in Helios Beta.
The exact legal and political status of the inhabitants of the Outer Colonies is not clear, and may have been vague within the fictional universe as well. The Twelve Colonies only shifted to a unified federal government 50 years ago, and before that defined their political allegiances along ethnic lines to each of the "Twelve Tribes" that controled an entire planet, like Caprica or Virgon. The falsified identity that the Number Eight Cylon on Galactica presented was that she was the child of colonists from Aerilon who were living on Troy (while her cover story was fake, what is relavent is that others thought it was a believable background). Its not clear if miners on marginally habitable planets like Troy would still retain absentee-citizenship with their mother-planet like Troy; its possible that so few colonists were actually born and raised on minor colonies like Troy that they never developed a group or cultural identity, even on worlds like Troy whose resources had been fought over for centuries. Permanent habitation of these minor colonies seems to not have occurred on a large scale. Again the one major exception to this is the mention that the Celtans of Virgon's habitable moon Hibernia actually strove to assert their independence but were forced into submission by Virgon; it is plausible that they strove for equal representation in the new unified federal government.
Government (2004)
In the 2003 re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, the Colonial government is somewhat different. Referred to officially as "the United Colonies of Kobol", the government was established under the Articles of Colonization. There is a Presidency, and a "Political Cabinet" (which include the ministries of Defense and Education), with each ministry headed by a secretary. This cabinet appears to be quite extensive even in comparison to modern real-world governments, as its Secretary of Education is the 43rd in the order of successionOrder of succession
An order of succession is a formula or algorithm that determines who inherits an office upon the death, resignation, or removal of its current occupant.-Monarchies and nobility:...
, while the lowest cabinet post in the US line of presidential succession is only 18th. There is a death penalty, and executions for treason include being vented into space, a punishment implemented by President Laura Roslin and continued by President Tom Zarek during his brief term. The military conducts execution of its personnel via firing squad. Local government includes mayors, of whom President Adar
Richard Adar
President Richard Adar is a fictional character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Colm Feore. He was President of the Twelve Colonies before the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies by the Cylons...
was one before his first term as President of the Twelve Colonies. The Colonial Government appears to include some form of civil religion
Civil religion
The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator...
as noted by the presence of clergy such as the priest Elosha
Elosha
Elosha is a fictional character from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series.Elosha is a priestess who follows the religion of the Lords of Kobol. After having a troubled childhood, a young Elosha turned to religion and studied the scriptures inside and out, probably on the colony Gemenon...
in seasons 1 and 2 of the series. In his blog, Battlestar Galacticas producer Ronald D. Moore
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
indicated that the Colonial government presumably included a larger, still unnamed representative body (most likely the People's Council mentioned in Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II
Lay Down Your Burdens (Battlestar Galactica)
"Lay Down Your Burdens" is the two-part second season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on March 3, 2006; Part 2 aired on March 10, 2006 as a 90-minute special.- Part 1 :...
) and an independent judiciary system, as well as another (also unnamed) religious body with an advisory function.
The Quorum of Twelve
Quorum of Twelve
The Quorum of Twelve is a fictional governing body of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol on the two Battlestar Galactica television series. In both series, it was composed of one representative from each colony.Series creator Glen A...
does exist in the series (an interim one is established a month into the exodus) but its structure and purpose is different. The Quorum's sessions are presided by the President of the Twelve Colonies, who may cast a vote in case of a tie. Each Colony gets a single vote. The functions of the Quorum of Twelve include taking nominations for and electing the Vice President - whether this is common practice or an emergency attribution in the case of a vacant Vice Presidency is not known. Quorum members may run for the Vice Presidency, but must resign their Quorum seat if elected. Given that the Colonies used to be independent nations until a few decades before the Cylon Attack, Ron Moore describes the Quorum of Twelve as a mixture between the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and the UN Security Council. The Quorum has the power to remove the President from power via a vote of no confidence.
The Colonies appear to operate on a party system, and at least one party is mentioned in the series. When Tory Foster
Tory Foster
Tory Foster is a fictional character from the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Rekha Sharma.-Character biography:Tory, like the other members of the Final Five, was originally from a planet called Earth...
becomes president Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
's Chief of Staff in episode 17 of Season 2, she mentions that she was a member of the Federalist Party. It is unclear however if the government of the colonies is made of of one or several parties, as parties do not appear to play an important role after the fall of the colonies.
It is unclear if free passage throughout the Colonies was guaranteed for Colonial citizens, although the most likely scenario is that it was not. In season three Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
mentions that he got one of his lab assistants from Gemenon a visa, presumably to live and work on Caprica where he was based. Also, throughout the series various passports appear, and although they are all in the same format they are issued according to the colony each citizen is from, similar to the passports of the member states of the European Union.
The differences in Colonial government in the 2003 remake stem from the fact that Cylons were created by humans as servants and soldiers. The production team has established that the Cylons were used as soldiers in wars among the Twelve Colonies. Indeed, while the Exodus from Kobol was 2,000 years before the final Cylon defeat of the Twelve Colonies in the TV series, the "Articles of Colonization" are stated as being only 52 years old, framed in the early days of the First Cylon War, which went on for another 12 years. In the time of the TV series Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...
, set 58 years before the Cylon holocaust, the Twelve Colonies do not yet have a united government.
Colonial Military (2004)
The Colonial military appears to be made of at least two branches.- The Colonial Fleet operated a force of about 120 Battlestars and several support vessels. The Colonial Fleet was organized around "Battlestar Groups", such as Battlestar Group 75 (from which Galactica receives its BSG-75 designator). These groups were possibly composed of a single Battlestar protected and supported by smaller vessels, including, but not limited to, Viper and Raptor squadrons. The Colonial Fleet has a mixed Navy/Marine Corps rank system: AdmiralAdmiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
; Rear AdmiralRear AdmiralRear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
; CommanderCommanderCommander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
; ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
; Lieutenant ColonelLieutenant colonelLieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
; MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
; Captain; LieutenantLieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
; Lieutenant, j(unior) g(rade)Lieutenant, Junior GradeLieutenant is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Merchant Marine USMM, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade...
; EnsignEnsign (rank)Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
. Non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel also have a mixed Navy/Marine Corps rank system, referred to as a "Naval-style rank system" as detailed by Ronald D. Moore (a former Marine Option MidshipmanMidshipmanA midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
) in his blog: Master Chief Petty OfficerMaster Chief Petty Officer- Master Chief Petty Officer :U.S. Coast GuardMaster ChiefPetty OfficerCap & Collar deviceU.S. Coast GuardMaster ChiefPetty OfficerinsigniaGood conductRating badgeMaster ChiefPetty OfficerCap & Collar Insignia...
, Chief Petty OfficerChief Petty OfficerA chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...
, Petty Officer 1stPetty Officer First ClassGood conductvariation,12 years or moreof good conductPetty officerfirst classinsigniaU.S. Navy &U.S. Coast GuardPetty officer, first class is the sixth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and U.S...
and 2nd ClassPetty Officer Second ClassGood conductvariation,Petty OfficerSecond Classinsignia&U.S. Coast GuardPetty officer second class is the fifth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and U.S...
, SpecialistSpecialist (rank)Specialist is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the U.S. Army, just above Private First Class and equivalent in pay grade to Corporal. Unlike Corporals, Specialists are not considered junior non-commissioned officers...
, Deckhand and Recruit. - The Colonial Marine Corps, a specialized ship-based ground force operating onboard the ships of the Colonial Fleet. Marines are used for strike actions and for security purposes such as repelling boardings and maintaining a ship's brig. The role the Marine Corps may have played in planetary defense is still not known, or even if there was a separate Colonial Army for that role. Marine non-commissioned and enlisted personnel use regular Marine rank titles; whether their officers use the same mixed rank structure as Colonial Fleet officers is not certain as only two Marine officers, an unnamed lieutenant in the episode Escape Velocity and Lieutenant Terry Burrell in Sacrifice, have so far been shown.
Due to a lack of a police force within the fleet, both Colonial Fleet and Marine personnel also serve as law enforcement officials as necessary. According to Ronald D. Moore
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
's own podcast commentary for the episode Kobol's Last Gleaming, the plainclothed Presidential Security Force is intentionally separate from the military, with its members culled from any and all surviving police officers within the fleet.
Economy (2004)
In the 2003 series, the official currency of the Twelve Colonies is, again, the Cubit (abbreviated cb in the reimagined series banknotes), which has been used since at least 58 years before the fall. It is similar to the euroEuro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
in that the twelve worlds were united in a monetary union before the creation of the Twelve Colonies as a federal state. Unlike in the original series
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
, cubits appear both in paper and metal form. Throughout the reimagined series, banknotes with the value of 100, 500, 1000 and possibily 10 cubits can be seen. Gold and silver coins are also used. The banknotes are square in shape and the coins are rectangular.
Before the fall of the Twelve Colonies some worlds were highly industrialized, such as Caprica and Virgon, whereas others were more dependent on agriculture, most notably Aerilon which is also nicknamed "the foodbasket of the Colonies". Prior to start of the First Cylon War, the economy of colonies such as Caprica were highly mechanized, but it is assumed that following the war the fear of Cylons
Cylon (reimagining)
Cylons are a race which appear in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series and its prequel Caprica. They have several forms, some of which resemble and even mimic the behavior of humans, while others are mechanical in appearance and function.In the first DVD, one of the show's creators...
had an impact on the economy of the Twelve Colonies. It is known that child labor is prohibited in the Twelve Colonies and that manual labor is the backbone of the refugee fleet's economy.
Following the complete destruction of the Twelve Colonies it is made clear by Tom Zarek that a currency-based economy is not functional in the refugee fleet that survived, but the government of Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
moves to address this issue.
Trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s appear to play an important role in the lives of the working class in the refugee fleet and the settlers of New Caprica, and a strike was organized on the fleet's only tylium ship by the trade union. President Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
takes the trade union's suggestions into consideration, but it is unclear whether trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s played such an important role in the Twelve Colonies prior to the destruction or if they were created out of necessity during the colonists' stay on New Caprica. Although one day before the destruction of the colonies the teachers were on strike, President Adar
Richard Adar
President Richard Adar is a fictional character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Colm Feore. He was President of the Twelve Colonies before the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies by the Cylons...
does not seem to pay much attention to their demands.