Twelve Colonies - Society and Homeworlds

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 before the date of the Second Cylon War, in order to face the threat of the First Cylon War as a united entity. 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 born and raised on Aerilon. However, the inhabitants of the Twelve Colonies have only been living under the united federal government for fifty years, and thus ethnic Sagittarons and Aerilonians 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, called the Sacred Scrolls of Kobol.

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 a troublesome colony; even under the new unified federal government, Tauron remained strong enough to frequently buck the government's larger authority. 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 (a half-Tauron born on Caprica) 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:

• Caprica - capital, pseudo-United States/Great Britain
• Tauron - one of the wealthy colonies, and a troublesome member of the federal government. Caprica's great rival, Tauron is described as a repressive pseudo-Soviet Union to Caprica's United States.
• Sagittaron - exploited, oppressed colony that is discriminated against
• Gemenon - religiously fundamentalist
• Aerilon - poor agrarian breadbasket 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 establishes 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 dialects. At least one archaic language, Old Gemenese, is referred to by Colonial lieutenat Kendra 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 Gua'trau 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."