You Are Jupiter Jones [RAR-and spoilers]

[Crossroads Inc.]

For those unfamiliar with the visually stunning, but financially floptastical movie "Jupiter Ascendent" some context might be needed..
Here is it's Wiki ENTRY
Here is it's own internal wiki site
And here is some of the freaking awesome concept art. for any idea of what your getting into.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

For those that want a more condensed version of the events of the movie...
The world of the movie is one filled with an immense, spawning billion year old civilization in which "Humans" evolved first and are the dominant species in the known universe. (there is mention that there are numerous other sapients, but none are named in the movie)
Worlds such as Earth, are kept in "exclusion zones" and are purposefully kept isolated from the rest of Galactic civilization (for purposes we learn later)
This vast civilization has reached a point where resources are abundant, and families of "Super Duper" rich people own whole planets in a vast galactic industry. The most powerful of these families is "Abraxis" The elders of the family are dead living three heirs.
The oldest son is a ruthless corporate dick with basically no redeeming features. He runs the bulk of "Abraxis Industries" and looks after a vast Trust which Earth is a part of.
The middle, daughter, keeps to herself and lounges on a vast garden planet.
The youngest, son, is a pleasure seeking hedonist of the first order and puts out Charm by the giga watt.
All of these siblings by the way are at youngest 14,000. Yup! seems the chief product of the families company is a miracle substance that reverse agin and restores a body to a point of "Optimum physical state" basically making you both younger AND smoking hot.
But we soon learn the dark secret of the substance, and while so many worlds like Earth (isolated from Galactic affairs) exists.
IT'S PEOPLE!!!

Yup, like good ol silent green, to make the miracle, you have to harvest people, in this case whole planets of em! And Earth is next on the list to be harvested!

Enter the Hero!
Our Heroine, "Jupiter Jones" is born into a world of Scrubbing toilets and living with her huge Russian extended family in Chicago. One day she finds herself trying to be both kidnapped and killed by rival goons. Why? apparently she is a sort of reincarnation of the Abraxis Queen Mother, and legally entitled to the huge Trust of planets, which Earth is a part of.

The events of the movie take place with her first regaining her title and gaining ownership of the Trust (and Earth) then avoiding a sleazy marriage to the youngest Son who tried to con her, and then avoiding getting blackmailed into giving up her Trust and power by the oldest son. By the end of the movie, the youngest has been public humiliated and ruined by Jupiter. And the oldest brother ends up getting killed and loosing one of his largest factories. Jupiter meanwhile returns to earth to apparently live "The simple life" with some Space loving on the side...

SO yeah, thats the "short" version...
And where you ask is the RAR in this? Well... as stated, YOU are Jupiter Jones! Or, at least your life is substituted over hers in the movie.
Basically one day you discover it is YOU who are the heir/reincarnation of the Abraxis fortune, and the subsequent events of the movie take place.
The question is, NOW WHAT?

The single biggest philosophical question of the movie, what to do about Silent Gree-, Oh I mean the Regen substance, is ignored by the movie.
SO what would YOU do? Do you try and change the system? A Galactic spawning industry that has been around for millions of years? DO you try and ignore it and let your Super Duper wealth let you indulge your vices? Or do you try and block the events and go back to what ever life you had on earth?

[Simon_Jester]

Try to maneuver myself into a relatively secure position- the competition is fierce and Jupiter barely survived the conflicting plotting of the Abraxis siblings.

Try to reintroduce the practice of producing "essence of rejuvenation" or whatever we call it from clones raised in tanks without brains. There's got to be a way to do this more safely without massive plague outbreaks, if we observe proper procedures for containment.

I can justify it by saying that we can always start killing off planets full of people later if the cloning facilities don't work out (as they apparently failed in the past, or so we were told).

Also, taking the missus along, because I promised her that if I ever get to go to space I'm taking her with me.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I always took the "clones don't work" line to be a very convenient excuse..
Personally I took it being easier to harvest people grown planets rather than machine grown clones...
I will say trying to change the establishment is going to be hard as fuck. We are told the company had been doing this for millions of years... There are going to be a GREAT DEAL of people interested in keeping the status quo. Positioning yourself into a secure and safe situation is key.

[Simon_Jester]

They actually came out and said that a mass epidemic broke out among the cloning facilities some time in the decent past and destroyed large parts of their rejuvenation infrastructure. This is why "clones didn't work;" it wasn't just a handwave, there was an actual technical problem, or at least the people in the present day who ought to know what happened believed such a problem had arisen.

Given the aeons-deep inertia of the system, I might have to resign myself to changing the system slowly- say, by opening up a line of cloning-tank produced rejuvenation product offered at a lower price. Given the utterly immense costs apparently associated with the stuff, being able to offer a product that is just as good at a 10% discount might very well allow me to effectively shut down my "murder whole planets" version of the product in short order.

[Purple]

I would approach the three siblings with a simple offer. The source of their wealth is mine now. Mine to do with as I see fit. And I see fit to let them keep running things business as usual. The only concession I ask for is to be given access to the life extending stuff and a small part of the vast fortune for me and my earth family so we can move to that paradise planet and lounge there like that smart girl already does. Also like for about a year or so worth of time to use that wealth to evacuate earth of its art and most deserving individuals (great artists, philosophers, scientists etc.) to take with me to my new palace as exotic pets. Also like maybe a small zoo or something.

[Khaat]

Study-up on the Code and demand that my cat-girl Legionnaire/bodyguard is on my arm at all times (as long as we're gender swapping the lead, why not the splice and her animal component?), Titus doesn't get to space her for betraying him.
Use every legal-wrangling excuse to press for immediate Aegis resolution to threats ("These agents of Balem Abrasax have taken my family, damaged my property, and trespassed under Balem's orders. This is an act of piracy. Intercept the craft and return my family and property now.), and always carry my own gun: state of technology being what it can be, it won't look (or scan) like a gun. Being one of the Elite should grant me some lee-way in blowing away thugs and minor functionaries threatening my safety or property. If this results in the loss of my Earth family... well, shit. I guess I go Viktor Soza. Or Batman. Always go Batman.
Burn down Balem. Constituent atoms. After delivering a massive, massive beat-down. Tax grievances for the abductions, damage, theft, trespass, and anything else I can find in the Code (for step 2 operating capital.)
Every near-assassination will be taken as a direct attempt on my life or freedom, and will be prosecuted fully.
Spend ZERO TIME getting dressed-up for the ball, Cinderella!

Post The Movie (Step 2):
- Learn to fly/drive anything I can't already.
- Unless there is a component of metaphysical in the... serum, why haven't there been alternative paths developed to create it? Novelty? Love of thinly-veiled symbolism? Writer fiat? Begin the techno-archaeology required to find what worked, what didn't work (and why, very specifically), and get the alternatives underway immediately, even if of a lesser quality. Unless it's at a loss, it's an option. (Because Jupiter ended up with the Earth, but no cash, capital, or future earnings. Unless there were "tax grievances" actually filed against Balem's estate and whosits, the other son.)
- Explore alternatives: instead of "resetting cells to their best-case", explore life extension treatments so they don't break down over time; regular maintenance rather than (overly expensive) restoration.
- Flood the market, cause great turmoil, and destabilize the human plutocracy across the universe as the basis of their wealth becomes obsolete. [Yeah, I know, it's fighting Big Oil with alternative energy, but I've got time, now.]
- Also develop an underground for trans-humanism, so those who chose to can push in different directions (I imagine "full upload" and other ideas of alternative-to-serum-stasis have been systematically squashed to maintain the dominance of Serum throughout human space.)
- Found/find & strengthen a religion/death cult (through a series of proxies across space) so people can stop using wanting the Serum.
- Find and "seed" near-harvest (within a century or two) worlds with appropriate advanced tech so they can fight back. (In case the common tech is based on some material or element they may not have, drop alternative tech they can use/develop with what they have.) Put "anti-minders" in place, drawn from other harvest worlds. Let the revolution build.
- Oh, and set my lawyers loose on who will inherit once the Abrasax vampires are put down, and sweep whomever they might be under my "protection". (Yes, I'm going to end up the villain in the sequel.)

[Solauren]

Step 1 - Balen kidnapped my Earth family? Send the AEGIS in, now.

Step 2 - Transmit to all House Abraxus facilities, the charges he's facing, the fact the AEGIS is on the way, pardons for all involved, and a nice bounty on top of that.

Step 3 - Have Balen arrested on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder, conspiriacy, trespassing, and murder.
Demand all his assets are turned over to me as compensation for emotional duress.

Step 4 - Have Titus arrested. Charges are Kidnapping, attempted murder, conspiracy.
Demand all his assets are turned over to me as compensation for emotional duress.

Step 5 - Have Klique arrested. Kidnapping.
Demand all her assets are turned over to me as compensation for emotional duress.

Step 6 - Liquidate all assets that are over-indulgent in nature. Titus's ship that doubled as a Gothic Cathedral comes to mind....

Step 7 - Contact all the worlds I now own that have a minimum of 1970s tech. Explain the situation. I am Willing to leave them alone if I can get a genetic sample of every citizen. Willing to start the process of tech-uplift for them if they bow down to and support their new Emperor.

Step 8 - Set up "cloning" facilities. First generation will be clones of my subjects from Step 7. However, instead of cloning them further, I'm taking their sexual reproduction cells (eggs, sperm), and mixing them. The offspring will be grown, reproduced in the same manner, and then harvested.
Any of the worlds that wanted to be uplifted will have these facilities built on them.

Step 9 - Rule my new Empire for the next 100,000+ years, building up until I rule the universe by default.

[Crossroads Inc.]

A quick clarification before thjngs get too out of hand..
The events of the movie have ALREADY happened.
Balem is dead.
Your family is back home with no memory of events.

That will be all... At least till I get home from work and can type more

[Purple]

So wait we basically don't get any say in the events of the movie at all and are stuck on earth with her decision to live a peaceful life?

[Crossroads Inc.]

A quick clarification before thjngs get too out of hand..
The events of the movie have ALREADY happened.
Balem is dead.
Your family is back home with no memory of events.

That will be all... At least till I get home from work and can type more

[Crossroads Inc.]

No...
Your stick with the events of the movie...
But what comes NEXT is totally up to your choice.

[Purple]

No...
Your stick with the events of the movie...
But what comes NEXT is totally up to your choice.

Aren't all things essentially wrapped up at that point so that almost all actual options are denied to us? Like the option to leave the people who know how to run things in charge of running things.

[Q99]

Nothing says she's gonna *stay* on the planet indefinitely, only that she returned home. I mean, she's learning skills like gravboot flying, and getting to know her boyfriend better, while going back to her old life (which has to be downright relaxing compared to what came before), but that's not saying that she couldn't take off in a year or two to forge her way.

Aren't all things essentially wrapped up at that point so that almost all actual options are denied to us? Like the option to leave the people who know how to run things in charge of running things.

As-of this point, you own Earth, but you could potentially have a lot more sway in space. Only one sibling is actually out of the picture, and what happens to his holdings may be in question. There's also other rivals in the planet-harvesting business out there. You have, at this point, probably two legionnaires loyal to you, whatever property comes with Earth, and friends in the Aegis, the non-corrupt space police, at minimum. And while Titus was lying about it, there is the 'undermine the trade in lives,' idea he mentioned.

Jupiter retreating to Earth for a bit makes a lot of sense to me- she could use the time to get a better feel for situations and the political landscape. The movie showed she was a fast learner, but obviously it takes some time to adjust. So, she could spend some time there and, with the help of her legionnaire friends and Aegis, go out back into space with a lot more of her own goals once she's studied up and is no longer running on adrenaline in direct conflict with other members of the royalty.

One big issues is, I'm not sure what kind of wealth aside from Earth she has. Owning Earth gives her potentially great collateral, which she need not directly touch but could use to gain a lot of wealth and thus influence. I assume her genetic-predecessor probably left her some 'pocket cash' too. Becoming massively wealthy by conventional standards shouldn't be hard (Titus is apparently pretty poor by their judgements!), though wealthy by planet-dealer standards is more tricky.


Also, a big question is: Do you, as Jupiter, use life extension, thus ensuring the long-term safety of Earth even knowing where the life comes from, or do you not, leaving it in potential risk and the fate of Earth up to heirs?

Step 3 - Have Balen arrested on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder, conspiriacy, trespassing, and murder.
Demand all his assets are turned over to me as compensation for emotional duress.

Step 4 - Have Titus arrested. Charges are Kidnapping, attempted murder, conspiracy.
Demand all his assets are turned over to me as compensation for emotional duress.

Step 5 - Have Klique arrested. Kidnapping.
Demand all her assets are turned over to me as compensation for emotional duress.

The laws are a bit too royal-friendly for that. Balem owned Earth. He kidnapped Jupiter's family, then *invited* her as part of a trade. Jupiter's family are Earth humans, he's legally allowed to harvest them if the planets his, and if it's not, the charges are probably more 'theft/poaching,' with a fine (piddly by his standards) attached. Grabbing Jupiter once she's invested would be kidnapping, but he didn't quite do that. Emotional duress likely doesn't figure in to royal vs royal laws.

Titus, note how after grabbing her, she demanded immediate transport to where she wanted according to a specific law, and his response was, "Of course." So no 'kidnapping,' on the grounds that once contact was made he followed all official legal requirements and conducted her towards a destination. Then he ran a hustle on her, which is legal, and he never actually got around to attempting to commit murder. So, while we know he was going to, and that no doubt affects his rep some if leaked, only that bit is technically illegal and it was more at the 'and he figured he'd do it,' stage which is not exactly prosecutable.

Kalique, she can make the argument she was moving to protect her 'mother,' and be fairly solid in making that claim, it's arguably even true. Also, Jupiter was not invested with her title at the time, which means she may have been more limited in her protections at that point.

The only one you really have anything on legal-wise is Balem, who, well, you kill for it anyway. It *does* raise the question on whether you can make claims on his property for his actions, or whether the fact he's dead and cannot contest events would make that difficult. Kalique seems the one most likely to be able to move on Balem's holdings, and she seems at least nominally well-disposed to Jupiter (in that Jupiter was an ideal tool for screwing over Balem, but still).

Now, an important thing to note is, *you* have that kind of legal status too. There is not that much that's actually illegal for you now I'd say, most of it related to dealing with other nobles, and even then, it's a careful game and pretty hard for them to do much about you without hard proof. Earth humans are property, though must be treated 'humanely' (which does not preclude harvesting). Splices are lower-class and can be killed for relatively minor offenses against nobles. Space citizenry *may* have somewhat more protection. But as one of the space royalty, your predecessors have spent millions of years etching their power into the legal system.

The world of the movie is one filled with an immense, spawning billion year old civilization in which "Humans" evolved first and are the dominant species in the known universe. (there is mention that there are numerous other sapients, but none are named in the movie)

We do see one, the dragons.

[Purple]

Also, a big question is: Do you, as Jupiter, use life extension, thus ensuring the long-term safety of Earth even knowing where the life comes from, or do you not, leaving it in potential risk and the fate of Earth up to heirs?

That's easy. Do I use life extension? Yes. Do I use it to keep earth safe? That depends on if that aids or hinders my pursuit of eternal hedonism and orgies.

[Simon_Jester]

Purple, please stop doing the "lol I'm a sociopath" troll; it got old years ago and we're all smart enough to give up lecturing you on how stupid and sad and loathsome it is. I'll leave it at that, to avoid disproving my own claim.

One big issues is, I'm not sure what kind of wealth aside from Earth she has. Owning Earth gives her potentially great collateral, which she need not directly touch but could use to gain a lot of wealth and thus influence. I assume her genetic-predecessor probably left her some 'pocket cash' too. Becoming massively wealthy by conventional standards shouldn't be hard (Titus is apparently pretty poor by their judgements!), though wealthy by planet-dealer standards is more tricky.

The tricky point here is that I'm not going to be treating Earth as expendable, and it seems like these planets have economic value mainly because of their potential value as sources of immortality serum. So using it as collateral on a loan or something is not acceptable, because of the risk that some misfortune results in the collateral being used up and destroyed.

I mean, I suppose there's some kind of Daenerys-esque* ploy I could live with like covertly arming Earth with an arsenal of weapons, then 'selling' the planet to someone who tries to harvest them only to get their asses kicked, but realistically that sort of thing isn't going to end well.

I'd be... almost as reluctant to write off other planets as Earth, assuming that Jupiter's fortune consists of multiple planets. I don't know if it's actually possible to stop the trade in lives with a hard cutoff under the circumstances, though, which presents a hell of an ethics problem. What do you do, if your plan to stop the extermination of worlds in the long run requires the extermination of three or four worlds to keep your own operations running while you stop the overall galactic extermination machine?
_______________________________________

*As in, the character's double-cross at Astapor in Game of Thrones.

Also, a big question is: Do you, as Jupiter, use life extension, thus ensuring the long-term safety of Earth even knowing where the life comes from, or do you not, leaving it in potential risk and the fate of Earth up to heirs?

Jupiter's at most twenty-five. By the time she needs life extension it will probably be possible to find it from a relatively cruelty-free source.

[Crossroads Inc.]

One big issues is, I'm not sure what kind of wealth aside from Earth she has. Owning Earth gives her potentially great collateral, which she need not directly touch but could use to gain a lot of wealth and thus influence. I assume her genetic-predecessor probably left her some 'pocket cash' too. Becoming massively wealthy by conventional standards shouldn't be hard (Titus is apparently pretty poor by their judgements!), though wealthy by planet-dealer standards is more tricky.

The tricky point here is that I'm not going to be treating Earth as expendable, and it seems like these planets have economic value mainly because of their potential value as sources of immortality serum. So using it as collateral on a loan or something is not acceptable, because of the risk that some misfortune results in the collateral being used up and destroyed.

I'd be... almost as reluctant to write off other planets as Earth, assuming that Jupiter's fortune consists of multiple planets. I don't know if it's actually possible to stop the trade in lives with a hard cutoff under the circumstances, though, which presents a hell of an ethics problem. What do you do, if your plan to stop the extermination of worlds in the long run requires the extermination of three or four worlds to keep your own operations running while you stop the overall galactic extermination machine?

THIS!
The question of just how much liquid Cash you have on hand is rather key here. As mentioned, Titus was commented as having squandered "most" of his fortune, and was seen as the poorest of the three. But that wealth was enough to build him a 3000 meter sized 'Pleasure Clipper' just for his personal enjoyment, which is a hell of thing.
We are also told that Earth is worth more than all the rest of Titus holdings put together. This is an interesting statement as it puts a somewhat quantifiable number on Earth vs other planets. Unfortunately we are not told how many other planets Titus owns... But if the measure of 'Value' is just population. Well Earth has around 9-Billion people, we would assume however many planets Titus holds, their combined population is less than 9-Billion.
One wonders if the reason for Earths 'value' is pure population. I mean, if the average population of other 'Farm Worlds' is say 1 to 3 billion, then a world of 9 billion is a hell of a thing.

So the ultimate question is, can you change things using only your liquid cash on hand?

I am going to make a few assumption, and say yes for the following reasons...
Harvesting planets as income. Growing a population of even 1-billion takes time, on Earth the rise in tech to civilization took around 20,000 years or so. We are told that Earth was seeded about 100,000 years ago in the movie. That is a HELL of a long time. Given the average age of the siblings is 14,000. Seeding and harvesting planets is a very VERY Long term investment. If it takes 100,000 years for a planet like Earth to go from seeding to harvesting, and you live, lets say 50,000 years. Then you may be looking at Harvesting planets VERY slowly.
Taking this into account, one would image that in terms of raw wealth you can make the following assumption.

The cash holdings of Abraxis are so immense that you can live comfortably from them for at least several thousand years.
That harvesting even a single planet provides a vast amount of wealth.

SO the question of having the cash on hand to change things, I think is not a problem. Just how much TIME it takes

[Purple]

Purple, please stop doing the "lol I'm a sociopath" troll; it got old years ago and we're all smart enough to give up lecturing you on how stupid and sad and loathsome it is. I'll leave it at that, to avoid disproving my own claim.

It's just common sense. Think about this for a moment. And think realistically.

The universe is full of mean people. Really mean people. The kind that commit planetary genocide for a quick buck. And you just caused a disturbance in their stock market. At best they are going to ignore you until such a time that they feel the need to screw you over. At worst they might be miffed. Either way they have the assets, the skills, the experience and you have none of those.

Well, almost none. You have just been granted ownership of earth and maybe a few other planets too. Not sure. Have not seen the movie. The sum total value of this new property in the galactic stage is equivalent to how much magical life extension serum you can make using them. If you refuse to use it for this purpose than your net worth is exactly zero. Well zero plus what ever you manage to eek out of the life extension serum company before it collapses due to a lack of raw material. So if you play this nice at best you are buying your self and earth some time before the whole thing is liquidated and gets sold off.

So your options here are:
1. Play the good guy and screw your self and others over.
2. Set up some sort of sustainable farming of humans.
3. Screw everyone over but at least save your self and the legacy of earth-humanity in some way.

I opt for #3.

[FedRebel]

I'd do my best to play the younger siblings against the senior brother, while the oldest brother is distracted by the 'family games' I have time to research.

How's Regen, sold and regulated. Does the universe at large know about the source "livestock", etc. Kind of important details before I attempt the soylent chant.

At the least, I'm thinking that the "family" is hording and embezzling Regen to control prices and doing Scrooge McDuck things like swimming in large pools of the stuff.

I'd Bring down the House by testifying to the government, I'd secure a plea agreement so that the Sol Sector remains protected and is never harvested (given how 'weird' the interstellar bureaucracy is...betting that as inheritor I'd likely be held liable for something.)

The Abraxis House loses it's station and holdings, the family members in chains. At the minimum I retain Abraxian property in the Sol Sector.

Here's where things get off script...

Jupiter was born in international waters to an illegal immigrant family...limits options

I however am a native born American, playing by that....focus my self into the political theater, using what alien tech I can get away with to secure every advantage. Become President....at the end of my first term, "mi casa es su casa". I have the 'deed to the star system that predates all treaties (and human history), interstellar recognition of legitimacy, etc.

My second term is having the US consolidate the "gains" that I provided, backing out the Outer Space Treaty, etc. getting colonies started, etc. My second term ends with me formally transferring the Sol System to the US government additionally a 'respectable sum' of interstellar recognized liquid capital...in exchange for a few hundred Billion dollars. (why retire in a galaxy I know nothing about as a low level aristocrat when I can be the richest dude on Earth.)

...of course if we stick more closely to the narrative, I'm stuck with scrubbing toilets until I decide (and determine the legality per interstellar law) to become "God Emperor of Mankind!"

[MKSheppard]

If I find myself in Jupiter Ascendant, I basically immediately kill myself.

(Had the unfortunate pleasure of watching this movie)

[Simon_Jester]

Hey, the iffy plot is over already; if you want a better plotline you just have to make it.

The argument that the Abraxas siblings must have utterly vast reserves of raw wealth given the time it takes a planetary population to grow to maximum size is fairly compelling. If any one planet is a significant fraction of their wealth, they're harvesting worlds a millenium or more apart.

Another point is that the immortality brokers (there are probably many families of such, not just Abraxas) themselves collectively own virtually all wealth in the galaxy. It's pretty much stated in the movie that large fractions of the galactic population are prepared to sell almost everything they have for a new lease on life. So over the long haul you'd expect the people selling immortality serum to wind up in control of virtually all wealth, save for whatever is temporarily in the hands of whoever the immortality brokers are buying things from.

There might also, for instance, be numerous corporations and businesses that are owned in part or in whole by immortality-broker dynasties, but which do not directly sell immortality serum; they're just places for the immortality brokers to invest their money over the long haul.

So while Jupiter 'Abraxas' and her share of galactic wealth may not be that large in absolute terms given that there might be dozens or hundreds of immortality-serum producers, she almost certainly has enough money to keep any normal expenditures going for centuries or millenia.

[Solauren]

The laws are a bit too royal-friendly for that. Balem owned Earth. He kidnapped Jupiter's family, then *invited* her as part of a trade. Jupiter's family are Earth humans, he's legally allowed to harvest them if the planets his, and if it's not, the charges are probably more 'theft/poaching,' with a fine (piddly by his standards) attached. Grabbing Jupiter once she's invested would be kidnapping, but he didn't quite do that. Emotional duress likely doesn't figure in to royal vs royal laws.

Actually, the Earth belonged to Jupiter. Balem needed her to wave her inheritance so it would transfer to him, so he could harvest it.

Therefore, he was trespassing.
Since Earth is not his property, and therefore no one on it was his, kidnapping.

Mute point since he'd dead, I'll admit, but still, useful for bringing charges.

[Simon_Jester]

Exactly what is the point of pressing charges against him? He's dead. Is the goal to sue his estate and ensure his property forfeits to you?

[Q99]

I'd be... almost as reluctant to write off other planets as Earth, assuming that Jupiter's fortune consists of multiple planets. I don't know if it's actually possible to stop the trade in lives with a hard cutoff under the circumstances, though, which presents a hell of an ethics problem. What do you do, if your plan to stop the extermination of worlds in the long run requires the extermination of three or four worlds to keep your own operations running while you stop the overall galactic extermination machine?

The only planet Jupiter has is Earth, but it's noted as being *particularly* valuable.


Presumably there's other ways to make money other than melting people, but that seems to be the greatest way since it's the most valuable thing. You may be able to make a comparative pittance using the Earth for industry or tourist destination or something...

One possible angle- Titus, even though he sucks, would probably be up for joining in partnership for a scheme he thought would get him money. So you may able to get seed money and such by routes akin to that too. Working with Kalique is a possibility, she's friendly, but it could land you in her debt...

Jupiter's at most twenty-five. By the time she needs life extension it will probably be possible to find it from a relatively cruelty-free source.

I wouldn't count on that... even if she lives to be a hundred ten before needing extension (just from good genes and normal medicine), R&D for replacing it may be a very slow process, for all we know.

But if the measure of 'Value' is just population. Well Earth has around 9-Billion people, we would assume however many planets Titus holds, their combined population is less than 9-Billion.
One wonders if the reason for Earths 'value' is pure population. I mean, if the average population of other 'Farm Worlds' is say 1 to 3 billion, then a world of 9 billion is a hell of a thing.

They commented on Earth humans being high-grade stock. So I think it may be, some worlds are only good for making lower-grade nectar (some stuff is used more for medical purposes but won't youthify you), while the most effective comes from worlds like Earth. Titus may have a few small worlds who's genetics didn't go as well as earth for harvest purposes, or such.

Well, almost none. You have just been granted ownership of earth and maybe a few other planets too. Not sure. Have not seen the movie. The sum total value of this new property in the galactic stage is equivalent to how much magical life extension serum you can make using them. If you refuse to use it for this purpose than your net worth is exactly zero. Well zero plus what ever you manage to eek out of the life extension serum company before it collapses due to a lack of raw material. So if you play this nice at best you are buying your self and earth some time before the whole thing is liquidated and gets sold off.

A funny thing about economics, if you sit on a big enough bank account, you can often use it as a way to get money even if you never intend to open the account. Get loans for relatively safe investments, perhaps.

Time between harvesting seems like it can be *really* long, so it could be quite some time before anyone realizes you might never do so, to boot (they talked about how Earth could use more time to ripen, iirc at least a century, before harvesting to get maximum value, Balem just wanted to rush it to avoid losing it/deny it to Jupiter. But it took them taking samples to judge even that, since you own the planet you could make up that it's still a long way from optimal).

At the least, I'm thinking that the "family" is hording and embezzling Regen to control prices and doing Scrooge McDuck things like swimming in large pools of the stuff.

Not so much. The Family is basically royalty. Each member is independent. As they and other royalty control the trade of the regen nectar, they can do pretty much whatever they want. Accumulate it, use it, waste it.

As Royalty, you do not report to anyone. You have some peers in other royalty, you have some laws you must follow (enforced by the pretty straight-shooting Aegis. Jupiter made friends with one of the Captains), and you have very little restrictions beyond that. Embezzling isn't really a concern, your holdings are *yours*, in the feudal sense.

How's Regen, sold and regulated. Does the universe at large know about the source "livestock", etc. Kind of important details before I attempt the soylent chant.

It's controlled by various royalty- not *just* the Abraxas family but Balem was one of the richest nobles (Kalique also quite substantial. Titus kinda a joke). The universe knows about the source except for the uninformed harvest worlds, and the regulations include stuff like harvesting must be done 'humanely.' It's sold how it's suppliers want it to sell (we don't see normal sales, but it is quite clear the royals have complete control), and people will perform great services to gain life extension. We don't know the market price, save that a few canisters were enough to get bounty hunters to risk their lives to go after a target protected by a Legionnaire, the biggest badasses around.

I mean, I will say, aside from life-extension, there was not a lot of scarcity around. Some repair-bots on Earth were reconstructing shot-up skyscrapers overnight. Basically with life extension, you can get people to do things that they wouldn't do for anything else, and many will go to extreme measures to gain a few centuries.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Exactly what is the point of pressing charges against him? He's dead. Is the goal to sue his estate and ensure his property forfeits to you?

This is actually a valid question, in terms of 'what exactly happens to Abraxis Industries after Balem dies'.
It is stated that he pretty much ran the company, but how much of it he 'Owned' is unknown. The real question is weather or not he had one of those "Recurrence Trusts" set up like the Queen mother. As in, does the bulk of his funds and assets get set aside for some future reincarnation? Or do they get liquidated and passed down to Kalique and Titus? In either case, the industry itself will continue on I imagine unchanged. I doubt Balems death would have any big impact on the actually company, shoot even the loss of the Jupiter Refinery might be a drop in the bucket. (or not, who knows)

One possible angle- Titus, even though he sucks, would probably be up for joining in partnership for a scheme he thought would get him money. So you may able to get seed money and such by routes akin to that too. Working with Kalique is a possibility, she's friendly, but it could land you in her debt...

Titus main motivation was simply to try and grab Jupiters inheritance for himself to out do his Brother who had a nasty rivalry.
With Balem dead, his motivation drys up somewhat I would bet. Now, considering he would have happily killed you/Jupiter to achieve this, I wouldn't want him as an 'Ally' but it is safe to say you would not need to worry about him as being a direct threat anymore.

Kalique on the other hand I might actually worry about if she got wind I was trying to eliminate the Regen Nectar Industry. Kalique seemed obsessed with regeneration and the 'mythic' aspects of recurrence and such. I mean she bathed in a giant POOL of the stuff after all.
I would probably approach her privately and inquire about 'alternative methods' to producing regeneration nectar, but make it absolutely clear I have no plans to eliminate it.
Personally I think she may have been the sneakiest of the bunch. After all, by helping You/Jupiter gain the inheritance, she helped events to transpire to A: publicly humiliate her younger brother, and B: kill her older brother. Not bad...

The only planet Jupiter has is Earth, but it's noted as being *particularly* valuable.

You know I need to watch that part of the movie where the specifically mention the Inheritance and the trust.
I find it hard to believe that the supposed Ex-Queen Mom of the Galaxy left to her future self 'Only' one planet (even if it is *particularly* valuable)

I wouldn't count on that... even if she lives to be a hundred ten before needing extension (just from good genes and normal medicine), R&D for replacing it may be a very slow process, for all we know.

True...
For all we know it could take hundreds of years to fully realize our hopes of eliminating the need of farming planets to make the substance...
I'd put off using it for as long as possible. Shoot I would mostly like spend my first 100 years going through a 'natural' life, just because id like to sped that time with my family on Earth as THEY age... But when push comes to shove, I may have to swallow some of my morals and use the stuff to avoid death.
After all, once I do die, who is left to protect Earth?

As Royalty, you do not report to anyone. You have some peers in other royalty, you have some laws you must follow (enforced by the pretty straight-shooting Aegis. Jupiter made friends with one of the Captains), and you have very little restrictions beyond that. Embezzling isn't really a concern, your holdings are *yours*, in the feudal sense.

You know, when discussing possible allies and friends... I find the Moral and un-corrupted nature of the Aegis simply astounding.
You would think in a setting like this, with the levels of wealth such as they are, any police force would be rotten ot the core. And who knows, while there may BE corruption among the Aegis, from what we see in the movie, they carry themselves around with Captain Carrot levels of honesty and un-corruptibility!
If their leadership is as pure of heart as we those we see in the movie, it would be a safe bet they would back you in your efforts, as well as provide much needed 'Trustworthy' protection against your own personal safety.


..

[Simon_Jester]

I wouldn't count on that... even if she lives to be a hundred ten before needing extension (just from good genes and normal medicine), R&D for replacing it may be a very slow process, for all we know.

True...
For all we know it could take hundreds of years to fully realize our hopes of eliminating the need of farming planets to make the substance...
I'd put off using it for as long as possible. Shoot I would mostly like spend my first 100 years going through a 'natural' life, just because id like to sped that time with my family on Earth as THEY age... But when push comes to shove, I may have to swallow some of my morals and use the stuff to avoid death.
After all, once I do die, who is left to protect Earth?

Good reason to have new heirs- as I understand it, Jupiter is free to designate new heirs to her own fortune, and is not required to will her planet(s) to the existing Abraxas siblings.

Also, I will note that at least one method of producing rejuvenation serum (making it from the bodies of brainless clones in vats) should be something we can implement at least on a small scale within a period of a few decades. After all, we're explicitly told that such cloning was in use millions of years ago. If one wanted to spend time and effort recreating a production mechanism for 'cruelty-free' rejuvenation treatments, this method could be revived at least on a scale sufficient to preserve the lives of oneself and select others.

[This would also tie well into plans to undercut the market for genocide-extracted rejuvenation treatments by selling cheaper ones derived from clones.]