Update
Opt 1: 3B, 4C, 1A
Opt 2: 6B 2C
The overwhelming decision of the council is to both abstain from colonization and exploration on this death trap of a planet, beautiful though it may be.
The ship fires up it's drive again, propelling itself out into the void and leaving the mysteries of this place far behind. With only minimal time spent around the planet and no public feeds of it's beautiful surface discontent from the lack of colonization has only increased marginally. You return to your cryo chambers lost in daydreams about your next planet, the paradise you are sure you will soon find. After all, you don't have to wait decades. It's only a few weeks for you.
The council has been awoken to resolve a dispute between members of the cultural board. During the long years of travel, new cultural trends have began to emerge amongst the new generations on board. Strange new-fangled slang and a general familiarity with ship-board life. The cultural board is divided into two camps;
The traditionalists, and the
"Expansionists" as they call themselves.
The traditionalists argue that the new culture threatens to become ubiquitous in the colony, erasing the living legacies of many of the cultures we fought so hard to bring aboard in the first place. Sure, they concede, the information on these cultures is backed up in the data banks, but without living members and with only one perspective to view these from we will be limited in how much we can actually take from these records. They propose that communities implement cultural histories education for the youth, and certain precautions be taken against deviations in the culture; for example, standardizing language in formal communications to prevent slang and cultural drift from becoming entrenched.
The
Expansionists on the other hand argue that this "expansion" of culture is a necessary and good thing. Culture derives from the environment, and a culture derived from living on a spaceship will be beneficial to those that do so. Some within this school of thought also support a non-intervention approach on the grounds that government direction of cultural norms is a gross misuse of power, and still others argue that if all cultures have value, then this new culture has value as well and should be allowed to develop.
The options are:
A: Support the traditionalistsThis will preserve your cultural scores, but cause some mild discontent
B: Support the expansionistsThe new culture will greatly reduce discontent generated by delaying colonization and improve morale a bit, but your cultural scores will take a hit.