7.4 Korund · Full communism · Central planning

Aspect	Design
Inspiration	Single-leader communist states with planned economies (the brief cites North Korea and Cuba): leader for life, rationing, uniform dress, information control. Presented as a stylized system, not a portrait of any real people.
Land & climate	Cold granite mountains and high plateaus; fortress cities carved in stone; rich in Ironroot ore and stone.
Capital	Stonehearth.
Currency	Labor Note (LN) paid as wages, plus weekly ration coupons that expire; non-convertible – foreign trade only via the State Trade Bureau (barter or earned Tessera). Holding foreign cash is illegal; a black-market street rate for LN is a gray-market activity (Section 12.9).
Religion	State atheism: all faiths are banned in public and private; the official doctrine is scientific collectivism, and civic rituals (anthems, Production Drive rallies, the Chairman’s portrait) fill the calendar. Worship survives only underground (Section 14.6). A holy site of the Quiet Path lies inside Korund’s mountains – closed to pilgrims unless the Chairman grants access.
Government	The Chairman rules for life, advised by a Presidium (5–9 seats) of the Workers’ Party. Succession only on the AI Chairman’s scripted death (old age), incapacity, voluntary retirement, or a Presidium purge (Section 10). The People’s Congress meets to approve, not to choose.
Economy	Five-Year Plans (5 game years = 150 real days) with quarterly quotas per city and job; all firms state-owned; ration cards for food, clothing and goods; assigned housing and jobs; no private market. A gray market exists illegally (risky, profitable).
Freedoms	Minimal: state media only, foreign news and most of the world map hidden (information fog), uniform clothing (cosmetics restricted to rank insignia and earned medals), travel permits, assigned jobs (with a preference request).
Strengths	Highest baseline security: nobody starves if the plan works; no unemployment; massive mobilization (fastest monument and army building); highest stability; no inequality of income.
Weaknesses	Plan failures cause shortages; low innovation; informer networks; rule by one person – good or bad.
Aesthetic	Government: monolithic party architecture, giant mosaics of the current Chairman, loudspeaker plazas. Climate: carved mountain halls against snow and granite. Currency: stamped coupon books and plain state stores with queue rails. Religion: no temples – only civic altars of labor; hidden shrines exist only inside homes. Palette: ochre, slate grey, rust red.

Why you’d choose it

Total belonging: guaranteed work, food and a place in a grand collective project. Rise through loyalty and merit badges, compete in production drives – or dare the gray market and smuggled foreign radio.