System: SolPrimary: Sol (G2V)
Mainworld: Earth/Terra (Sol c)
System Population: (2074 census)
Earth/Terra (Sol c): 2,449,180,000
Mars (Sol d): 53,000,000
Nereid (Sol h-8): c. 750,000
63 Ausonia (Main Belt Asteroid): c. 700,000
3 Juno (Main Belt Asteroid): c. 600,000
Titan (Sol f-10): c. 550,000
Triton (Sol h-7): c. 350,000
126 Velleda (Main Belt Asteroid): c. 250,000
TerraThough we now know that Terra is no longer unique in the universe either in terms of supporting humans or giving rise to sapient lifeforms, it remains the home to 97% of Alliance citizens, and will remain the capital and hub of Alliance activity for the forseeable future. The human race has recovered well from the horrors of the Great War, though it is still well below the pre-war population level of around 7.2 billion. Industrial growth on Terra has slowed significantly in the last decade, and unemployment continues to be a concern, hovering around 10.8%. Mining activity has decreased 47% from the founding of the Alliance, as critical trans-Newtonian deposits have been exhausted. The only major mining facility still in operation is the Trans-Baikal vendarite mining complex. It is projected to exhaust its supply of ore in the next 10-12 years.
Significant locations:New York (commercial hub)
Xinguangdong (manufacturing hub)
Osaka (research hub)
Military shipyards:Guangzhou Shipyards, Shenzhen
Alexandria Shipyard, Alexandria
Wartsila A/B Oy yards, Helsinki
Everett Shipyard, Everett
Ground forces:1st Division, 3rd Brigade
1st Engineering Command, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Engineer Corps
1st Volunteer Division
2nd Division
2nd Volunteer Division
3rd Division
Terran Home Defense Divsion
Star Marine Expeditionary Force
93rd Civil Security Regiment
81st Reserve Regiment
Total combat strength: 97 regiments
Planetary Defense Facilities:Canfield ASFB (also HQ to Terran Aerospace Command), CO: RADM Chamunda Bose
Nellis ASFB, CO: FCDR Wei Wen Song
Aerospace Squadrons:4th Fighter Squadron "Golden Eagles" - 10x F-34 Comanche, CO: CPT Haimati Gholkar (Nellis ASFB)
Raider Groups Blue and Yellow - 6x G-5 Corsair, CO: RADM Russ Amano (Canfield ASFB)
Additionally, the battle squadrons of the fleet maintain Earth orbit when not actively deployed on training or deep-space operations. At the time of this entry, all three battle squadrons are in Earth orbit.
MarsOver the last 50 years, the Terran Alliance has turned the long-standing dream of a human colony on Mars into a reality. Over 53 million people now call Mars their home, many of them miners in the vast Tharses Montes complex. Though heavily terraformed, Mars is still not yet habitable without technological support. The atmospheric pressure is still low, the partial pressure of oxygen still lower than that at the top of Mt. Everest, and the average temperature of the planet is a frigid -21.8C. As such, Martians live in pressurized, heated facilities and use insulated excursion suits with integral oxygen masks when venturing outside.
One item of note: many visitors to Mars will comment on the remarkably deep, rumbly voices of long-time colonists, even females. This is due to the use of
sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) in atmospheric terraforming. Despite air filtration and frequent use of oxygen boosters, some SF6 does get into the air supply. SF6 is a noticeably dense inert gas which results in lowering the vibrational speed of the air surrounding the vocal cords, in a similar but opposite effect to helium. Longer exposure to the Martian atmosphere results in a buildup of SF6 in the lungs and tracheal air column, resulting in a deeper voice. Although this can be debilitating long-term and oxygen remediation is recommended to flush SF6 from the lungs, many Martians are proud of their deepened voices and use them as a way to distinguish "Reddies" (local population) from "squeakers" (recent arrivals or visitors from Earth). Thus, many of the earliest colonists refuse oxygen remediation, because their very deep voices accord them a great deal of respect in the Martian community as a status symbol.
Mining activity accounts for 42% of economic activity on Mars. In the early days of the Mars colony, this was significantly higher. But as the population has grown, a significant service and commercial sector has grown to meet its needs. Mars now trade in a wide variety of goods, notably the export of plastics and the import of fur and textiles for the crafting of Martian excursion suits.
Significant Locations:
Tharses Montes (mining complex)
Broken Hill (population hub, on the western slope of Pavonis Mons)
Galle (secondary colony and spaceport, Argyre Planitia) -- locally known as "Big Happy", due to the shape of the
Galle crater.
Military Shipyards:
None.
Ground Forces:
1st Division, 1st Brigade "Big Red One"
Total combat strength: 4 regiments
Planetary Defense Facilities:
None
Aerospace Squadrons:None
Other LocationsThe remainder of human settlements in the Sol system are corporate mining concerns. Roughly 3.2 million civilians work at the six CMCs in the outer system. Of note is that Sorengaard-DeKlerk reports that it expects to close its facility on Nereid in the next two years due to dwindling returns. There has been no official statement yet as to whether the workers there will be relocated to other facilities or whether Sorengaard will apply for a permit for a new facility.
Venus is home to a large Alliance automining complex and is strictly off-limits to civilian personnel, both due to the environmental hazards and its frequent use as a live-fire hostile environment training area by the Army and Star Marines.
Six
Summit-class asteroid miners are deployed in the Main Belt. Currently, they are:
Carpathian (193 Ambrosia)
Etna (112 Iphigenia)
Everest (Halley's Comet)
Fuji (193 Ambrosia)
Himalayas (no current assignment)
Kilimanjaro (59 Elpis)