Venezia

Venezia is a human Outer Colony in the Orso system. Following the war, it has become one of the most notable — and in some cases notorious — melting pots of the human and ex-Covenant civilizations.

History
Venezia's original settlers were an offshoot of the group that colonized the nearby Gao. Although the initial presence was primarily scientific, with the CAA science teams urging for the planet to remain as a nature preserve at least until it could be studied further, the discovery of rich tantalum deposits shortly afterward dashed these dreams. More settlers were attracted to the planet, and it quickly became a notable exporter of technology-critical elements. As systems beyond Cordoba, such as Elduros and Sverdlovsk were settled, Venezia became increasingly prominent as an interstellar waystation. This brought more diverse population groups to the planet over time.

The next major population boom came as a result of the migrations caused by the Human-Covenant War, and immigration has been fairly constant since the 2540s. Venezia remained cut off from the UNSC at large for much of the later half of the war, only resuming contact in the post-war era. Following the war, Venezia became a stopover between the Tempest Crossing, a former Covenant invasion route, and the Strewn Shore, a refuge housing refugees from the Covenant capital High Charity. Various peripheral elements of the Covenant hegemony, including defectors, merchants, smugglers and pirates gradually gravitated to Venezia due to its general lawlessness and economically profitable location.

Topography and ecology
A world at least two billion years older than Earth, Venezia is a terrestrial planet with a gravity of roughly 0.8G. It has shallow oceans of mostly-liquid water, frozen poles, and a multitude of fragmentary continental landmasses and islands. The planet has a long orbital period and its settled latitudes experience notably harsh winters.

While Venezia's native ecosystem appears primal by Earth standards, studies show that this has not always been so. The planet has a rich fossil record revealing that complex life evolved and thrived on Venezia around 700 million years ago before a disaster of unknown origin. Much like on Earth, this earlier phase of life has given rise to hydrocarbon-rich compounds generated as primeval organic decomposition byproducts. An asteroid strike multiple times more energetic than Earth's Cretaceous-Paleogene impact has been suggested to have been the cause of the mass extinction, though no conclusive impact point has been identified. Only single-celled organisms survived this catastrophe, but it appears that primal complex life has begun to reevolve, with the planet currently undergoing the aftermath of an equivalent to Earth's Cambrian explosion: the oceans are filled with seaweeds, algae and aquatic fauna while primitive land fauna is beginning to emerge to a terrain dominated by equivalents to mosses, fungi and early plants. While there was never a concerted terraforming effort, Venezia's natural evolutionary process has been severely disturbed by the haphazard introduction of non-native plants and animals, many of them inadvertently brought by the human settlers from various other worlds, mainly the nearby Gao. This, coupled with fauna and flora of Covenant origin have been introduced to the planet since contact, has given rise to a chaotic excuse for an ecosystem, along with disparate micro-biomes in different regions of the planet.

The algae in Venezia's oceans have a distinct small that covers much of the planet outside its windswept highland regions and deserts. Humans and many aliens widely consider the smell to be highly unpleasant, but according to Venezia's denizens, one grows accustomed to it over time. Microbial life also tends to cause allergic reactions in humans and select other species, though these are normally not severe and abate in a few days.

Governance and society
Venezia has lacked a formal, officially-recognized representative government at least since the 2530s. Since the end of the war and Venezia's growing economic importance, the various settlements on the planet have formed something of an alliance to facilitate trade and defense. Outside foreign policy, the government is very hands-off, and the rule of law is weak, making many of the communities hotbeds of activity illegal on most other human worlds. Together with several other worlds of the Via Casilina trade route, they form what is known as the Via Casilina Community. The spaceport-city of New Tyne, including the core city and a surrounding sprawl of slums and raft-cities filled with refugees, is considered by some to be Venezia's capital, though many of the other independent city-states are quick to dispute this claim.

Venezia's economy is largely based around mining its rich deposits of tantalum, ytterbium and osmium, though the post-war decades have seen the emergence of a growing industrial manufacturing sector. The planet is self-sufficient in terms of foodstuffs, with agri- and aquaculture practiced for local needs.