Earth Questions/To-Do
Earth today is not a Core world. It is treated more like a preserved origin site. Its ecosystems were partially restored after centuries of abuse, but the CTA made a deliberate choice not to flood it with population again. Instead, it is used for archival research, agricultural biodiversity reserves, and symbolic pilgrimages. Its soils hold seed vaults, and its waters host controlled experiments in open-ecology recovery that cannot be replicated in stations.
The CTA frames Earth as both sacred and practical. Propaganda calls it “the first archive,” proof that a stable home can exist. However, it is not the political capital, because keeping it apolitical maintains its symbolic value. Small caretaker enclaves live there, mostly archivists, biologists, and cultural historians. The population is tiny and strictly controlled. Travel there is a privilege, especially for researchers.
Earth’s location is not hidden, but access is tightly gated by permits. In effect, it is a museum-planet and a genetic bank of biodiversity, a reminder of origin rather than an active home. To work there, you must have a high tier ranking, a sponsor from the Earth program, a purpose statement, quarantine clearance and the skills to execute tasks needed of you.
Earth survives in memory as a distant origin rather than a home. It is culturally relevant as a symbol in archives, songs, and images of coasts and fields that most citizens have never seen in person and most likely never will. There are caretakers and research enclaves, but large-scale habitation is minimal. The planet is allowed to cycle without heavy settlement because replicating a world’s ecology is a task the CTA would not claim to manage. People honor it by keeping a record rather than by returning to live.
Caretaker enclaves are low-impact modules near or around research sites that mixed teams live and work at/in.
Some carry tokens like small dirt capsules or symbolic beads thought to bring balance.