Statistics:
Astronomical Name: Deseret
Class: Class-E
Radius: 6417.2 km
Mass: 6006.7×1024 kg
Atmosphere: Oxygen-nitrogen
Population: 1.7 billion
Political Information:
Polity: Compact of Humanity in Assembly
Status: Core World
Government: Republic
Deseret was a core world originally founded by the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day Saints. Within fifty years of its founding, it welcomed all variants of Mormonism the parent church recognized, though not necessarily with approval. Once established, the budding colony opened itself up to all comers. The world derives its name from an early name for the regions of Utah, Nevada, and easter California prior to the US Civil War in the 1860s. The planet as a whole, with the exception of the polar ice caps, has every climate found in that region of Earth. The original settlers found the world to be fertile with a more stable climate than even Earth or Tian.
When the Compact formed, Deseret abandoned its theocratic pretentions and used the parent LDS Church as a model for its government. It had a president and a legislature called the Quorum. Its first president was Jewish while several legislators came from same-sex unions. However, because of the acceptance of some fringe sects, polygamy is legal though highly regulated to prevent abuse. Additionally, coffee is controlled much the same way liquor is on other worlds. (Ironically, it is easier to buy ale or intoxicating herbs on Deseret than coffee.)
One of Deseret’s colonies, Goshen, gave rise to a radical sect that believed in forced Polygamy. This was ignored when the practice stayed among its own followers under the belief such a sect would fizzle. Instead, the sect overthrew the colonial government to spread the practice across the planet. This became the first of three Polygamy Wars. The second began when the Goshenites, as they came to be called, spread their crusade to other Deseret colonies and eventually the homeworld. When Goshenites began kidnapping women, particularly teenage girls, from spaceports, the Compact intervened. Once pacified, Goshen became a protectorate.
Appearances:
Goshenites No Marigolds in the Promised Land, Suicide Run