Tan'Shakar is a small world, about 2000 miles in diameter, but with a surface gravity the same as the Earths. It has three moons: Tela'Gan (reddish, about five times the diameter of Earth's Moon in the sky), Tanla'Kesh (greyish, also about five times the diameter of Earth's Moon in the sky) and Zalmar'Din (reddish and about the same diameter as Earth's Moon in the sky). Tan'Shakar orbits around two suns, both about the same diameter as Earth's sun in the sky, one of which, Alzak, is a green-gold colour and the other of which, Pankel, is orange-yellow. The sky (when not overcast) is a pale pinkish-mauve colour during the day, and at night has a vast number of multicoloured stars, some of which are bright enough to cast faint shadows, arranged in vast swirls across the sky.
About half of the surface of Tan'Shakar is covered by oceans of varying depth with a number of large coral reef systems. The land surface is entirely forested, apart from very close to the poles and where it has been cleared by man, and in terrain type varies from rolling hills to large mountains. There are no sizeable flat areas. Climate varies from subtropical at the equator to arctic at the poles. The people of Tan'Shakar are a mix of all human racial types. The total population of the world is about 120 million.
Until about 280 years ago the history of Tan'Shakar was one of conflicting nations and city-states. There were no great collapses of civilisation, and no Arthurian-type legends deriving from them, just a gradual evolving of civilisation, with the small size of Tan'Shakar leading to reasonable contact between all parts of Tan'Shakar and a fair degree of cultural homogeneity. The conflict and competition between various nation-states drove the general technological level of Tan'Shakar to about that of Earths 1950's, though over a considerably longer period of time as for some reason science never emerged as an organised pursuit; knowledge was generally pushed back by innovators and inventors working alone (though there was no shortage of engineers to apply new inventions).
About 380 years ago a new political system was devised in one of the city-states, Intalgan. This preached a meritocratic form of government, with the best and most able in charge. Thanks to the efforts of this systems inventors, public support for it grew and Intalgan was taken over by the meritocrats in a fairly bloodless coup. Over the next few years the meritocrats revolutionised Intalgan, pushing it to the forefront of Tan'Shakars nations. At the same time their agents were at work in the other nations of Tan'Shakar, preaching the benefits of meritocracy there. A number of other nations became meritocracies, usually allied with Intalgan, but a number of nations violently opposed the new system. 'Border disputes' and 'Police actions' grew between the two power blocks, the meritocrats and the Freedom League, and eventually war broke out. The war was long and brutal, but eventually the meritocrats were able to defeat the Freedom League by a lucky advance in their nuclear weapons program; three of the Leagues cities were destroyed and they surrendered unconditionally. The meritocrats extended their regime over the whole of Tan'Shakar.
Although initially some fairly harsh measures were necessary to maintain control, as time passed the meritocrats brought peace and prosperity to all of Tan'Shakar and the controls were relaxed, so that by 265 years ago the entire world was united into one nation, with the capital at Intalgan. Since then conditions on Tan'Shakar have improved slowly but steadily.
Most of Tan'Shakar is still densely wooded and full of wildlife (all practically identical to that of Earth); only as much of the forest as is necessary for cities and agriculture has been cleared. Cities are large and clean, built of concrete, stone, glass and steel in a variety of bright and pastel colours. Cities are linked by electric railways for cargo, dirigibles for transporting people and jet aircraft where speed is of the essence. There are few roads outside of cities. Most people own a helicopter for personal transport (like a car on Earth), and there are extensive public transport systems within cities. Electrical power is provided by hydroelectric power stations attached to dams, with a few nuclear power plants in polar areas. Nuclear weapons are known, but since the end of the war 280 years ago they have only been used for a few very large engineering/demolition projects.
Tan'Shakarian society is divided into two levels. First there are the meritarchs, the rulers. These are selected from the populace as a whole by tests taken throughout adulthood (after the age of eighteen). Each area is ruled by a council of local meritarchs who each send representatives to the High Circle (ruling council) at Intalgan. The highest ranking meritarch is known as the First, and is selected by lot from the High Circle on a two-yearly basis. Each meritarch on each council has responsibility for a particular facet of society; this again rotates on a two-yearly basis.
Secondly, there is the bulk of the population. All are equal under the law and society is entirely egalitarian with no poverty or discrimination, little disease, universal literacy and medical care, free education for as long as a person wishes, and no military. All citizens of Tan'Shakar carry guns (usually pistols or small SMG's), and are trained in their use. This is for several reasons : as a tradition from earlier days, the best way (as far as they were concerned) to keep crime under control, and as a precaution against the various wild beasts which still roam the woods. Hunting is a widely-practised recreation, so that in addition to the use of sidearms most people know how to use a rifle, shotgun, bow or crossbow. People are generally free to choose their own employment, but all are obliged to spend a certain amount of time performing the tasks which no-one really wants to do but which are essential to keep society running (street cleaning, collecting rubbish etc.). Society is generally atheistic, but most people have a degree of respect for and care of nature.
Tan'Shakar has no army, although it does have a police service (usually confined to investigative work given the armed populace) and a combined fire/rescue/ambulance service, the Saviours, who also act as forest rangers.
Clothing styles have varied with time on Tan'Shakar, but in general there is little difference in style between the sexes. Apart from changes in style most people wear a variety of jewellery and prefer brightly coloured and patterned clothing when not working or hunting. There are few nudity taboos. The Tan'Shakarian people are in general very liberal and tolerant of different opinions and lifestyles.
The symbol of the meritocracy and Tan'Shakar in general is a stylized circular map of Tan'Shakar in green and blue on a background of fine diagonal rainbow-coloured stripes.