Daily Life in the Horizon

Life for the inhabitants of the Third Horizon is governed just as much by the Icon faith as it is by location and situation. Most people share roughly the same daily routines and the division of the day into four watches: morning, day, evening and night. The morning and day watches are devoted to work and the evening watch to one’s family, the Icons, or leisure. During the night watch, decent people sleep, but the party life continues for the privileged, students and criminals. True believers start each watch with prayer, but visits to a chapel or shrine usually take place at the end of the day watch or during the evening. In the larger cities and on Coriolis, life is rather easy in regards to supplies, food, entertainment and information, but the lives of colonists, stationaries, nomads, and slummers are harder as one or more of these resources may be scarce.

A DAY IN THE COLONY

Planetside colonists struggle each and every day. Keeping the colony safe requires constant work on domes, survival tents, or longhouses. Resources must be gathered and stockpiled, regardless of whether it is lumber, xenoanimals, minerals, or artifacts. The day usually starts with communal breakfast and prayer before the arduous labor begins. There is hardly anything in the way of entertainment, apart from what can be imported by free traders – holo stories, news or, at best, macro tags with some Bulletin shows. The night is spent guarding the colony against external threats.

A DAY ON THE SPACE STATION

A day in the life of the stationary is similar to that of the colonist, but is centered on the space station’s endless cycle of docking, loading, repairs, and service. The cold of space, vacuum, radiation storms, and many other threats force the stationaries to live and work in shifts during all watches. When one group begins their morning watch, another group crawls into bed. The lack of space onboard means that food and supplies must be rationed. Perishable goods, other than what can be grown in the hydroponic greenhouses onboard, are rare luxuries. The supply of news and entertainment such as holo dramas is usually good, unless the station is very remote.

A DAY IN THE SWARM (Nomads)

For the nomad, every day is a journey, or so the saying goes. The nomads work just as hard as the colonists and stationaries, but enjoy the freedom of waking up to new valleys, oases, moons, or systems, depending on how the group travels. The day is not structured around the watches like that of other people, although the care for the life support, the hydroponics and the reactors is very strict. The available entertainment is often indigenous to the swarm, such as leather ball, storytelling, dancing, or tarrab performances. News and information are acquired at stops along the way, and “what you don’t know, you don’t know”, as the smiling efrite would say.

A DAY IN THE CITY

In the cities, your social status determines everything, from the slummers at the bottom of the ladder to the privileged at the very top. In between the two live the plebeians, the entrepreneurs and the bureaucrats. A day in the life of a slummer is a naked fight for survival. Whether it is about finding food, shelter, or a safe place to sleep, it never ends. Alms from the faithful make it easier, but never easy.
The slummers’ perfect opposites are the privileged – rich business owners, emirs, factionaries, and high-ranking officials who live off their savings – for whom a day is usually spent trying to expand one’s personal wealth, power, or influence. The privileged are the only ones in the Horizon who have proper leisure time, perhaps devoted to hunting, racing or just partying. Some of the privileged apply themselves to studying, research, or exploration, although usually as patrons for others who are less well off.
Between the two extremes are the “plebeians”, the day laborers, those who make sure the wheels keep turning. From the lowliest factory worker, the carriers in the jungles and mountains, and the palace cleaners, to plantation workers, light globe divers, and dockworkers – they are the ordinary people of the Horizon’s cities. Their days are filled with hard work from morning to evening, interrupted only by short breaks and silent prayer. Sleeping is everyone’s favorite hobby, with holo dramas and drug use being the runners up.