Galax

Galax
Galax 3151.svg
System Information
X:Y Coordinates283.632 : -124.547[e]
Spectral classF5III[1][2]
Recharge time176 hours[2]
Recharge station(s)Zenith, Nadir[1][2]

The Galax system was home to at least one habitable world, Galax IV, and as of 2750 was located in the Markesan Operational Area of the Crucis March within the Federated Suns.[3]

System Description[edit]

Galax is located near the Numenor and Torrence systems[4][5] and consists of at least four worlds orbiting a class F5III primary. Recharge stations were in place at the system jump points for the majority of Galax's era as a colonized system.[1][2]

System History[edit]

The Galax system was colonized at some point during or shortly after the First Exodus from Terra.[6] Galax was removed from maps during the Jihad, indicating that the system had been abandoned or depopulated.[7][8]

Political Affiliation[edit]


Galax IV[edit]

Galax IV
Galax Flag.jpg
Astrophysical
System positionFourth[1][2]
Jump Point distance14.94 days[2]
Moons1 (Malabar)[2]
Geophysical
Surface gravity1.13[2]
Atmospheric pressureStandard (Tainted)[2]
Equatorial temperature33°C (Arid)[2]
Surface water32%[2]
Highest native lifeReptile[1][2]
History and Culture
Population1,048,278,320 (3067)[2]
Government and Infrastructure
Noble RulerDuke of Galax
Political LeaderPresident Simon MacCreedy[1]
HPG ClassA[1][2]
HPG RepresentativePrecentor Justin Yovas (3018),[32]
Precentor Douglas Selv (3025)[1]

Galax IV, more commonly known simply as Galax, is the fourth planet in the system and has a single moon named Malabar. For much of Galax's history it was a strategically significant world due to the high level of industry on the planet and the nearby Federated-Boeing Interstellar shipyards, located at Lagrange Point Delta.[1][2] Galax was considered one of the "Golden Five" worlds by citizens of the Federated Suns.[33]

Planetary History[edit]

Galax wasn't initially a tempting prospect for colonization when surveyed in the twenty-third century.[2] Galax's large moon kept churning the atmosphere disruptively, which was already tainted; this kept away all but the staunchest colonists, although the discovery of huge quantities of oil, as well as every conceivable kind of mineral, gemstone and metal on the planet encouraged a wave of colonists. Fortunately, Galax's close proximity to New Avalon allowed New Avalon to provide Galax with enough food to support the burgeoning population, which had quickly grown well beyond the planet's ability to support.[1][2]

The Star League[edit]

During the Star League era the Davion family funded[1] a Star League project by name of the Climate Restructuring and Adjusting Project, in an attempt to make it easier to exploit Galax.[1][2] Running from 2721 to 2733 engineers from the Project used chemicals and heat generators to alter the planetary atmosphere, filtering out the more toxic chemicals while increasing the oxygen content.[1] When the atmosphere was finally tamed in 2733, a new wave of colonization was triggered,[1][2] and the project was considered such a success that firms from across the Star League began opening factories on Galax.[1]

During the twenty-eighth century the Federated Suns and the Terran Hegemony worked together to develop a large Boeing Interstellar manufacturing facility at Galax to produce naval craft. The plant was still under construction in 2765, but estimates made by the Star League Defense Force IntelCom indicated that when the plant was finished, it would be producing more than a quarter of the total naval craft manufacturing in the Federated Suns.[34]

Boeing Interstellar began looking for an alternative manufacturing site outside the borders of the Terran Hegemony in 2781, after the regime put in place by Stefan Amaris was overthrown; various planets from the other member states of the Star League submitted bids, but Galax's resources and conditions made it the preferred choice. Galax winning the competition was a political coup for First Prince Paul Davion at a very useful time, given the internal and external pressures he was under; as the Star League dissolved, the political unrest often looked as it would derail construction of the new facilities, but both the Davion family and Boeing were determined to see the construction completed. The Galax Megaplex was finally completed in December 2786.[35]

First Succession War[edit]

Despite being ready to begin manufacturing in 2786, the Galax Megaplex stayed idle as the Draconis Combine invaded the Federated Suns; the CEO, Frewsol Grevers, was adamant that he needed orders from the Boeing head office on Terra before he would begin fabrication. Despite repeated efforts by the government to persuade him to begin construction, Grevers wouldn't budge, and orders would never come from the head office as the remainder of Boeing Interstellar had already been destroyed. Prince Davion finally ordered the military to seize the Galax facilities, removed Grevers and installed the loyal McCorkendale family. The remaining Boeing Interstellar assets in Federated Suns were seized, and the new Federated-Boeing Interstellar was born. Production began on Galax on the 9th of February 2788.[35]

Frewsol Grevers had joined the AFFS at Prince Davion's suggestion, and died with the rest of his company on Galtor; for reasons known only to the Prince, he had a gold plaque hung in the Federated-Boeing headquarters in honor of Grevers.[35]

During the First Succession War the AFFS constructed the Armstrong Flight Academy on Galax to train DropShip and JumpShip crews; the decision to construct the Academy on Galax was based on the presence of Federated-Boeing Interstellar on (and around) the planet. By the end of the Third Succession War Federated-Boeing were providing all of the teaching staff for the Academy, and the Academy graduates were considered to be some of the best spacecraft crews in the AFFS.[36] Federated-Boeing were heavily involved in the history and structure of Galax; the Duke of Galax in 3025 was Aleksandr McCorkendale, President and CEO of Federated-Boeing.[35]

Third Succession War[edit]

The Galax facilities would only be directly attacked once during the first three Succession Wars, when Kuritan commandos attempted unsuccessfully to raid the plant in 2810. The greatest reduction in production was due to technological decline, rather than damage; by 3025, ten different classes of DropShip were being produced on Galax, just two-fifths of the number designs that had originally been built. Despite that, Galax was the single most productive DropShip manufacturing site commonly known to exist in the Inner Sphere at this point.[35]

The Federated-Boeing spaceport at Auburn City on Galax was the site of the final testing for DropShips manufactured in the shipyards, part of a testing regimen that also includes landings on Galax's sole moon, Malabar.[35]

The greatest threats to Galax at the end of the Third Succession War were the effects of any disruption in the supply of food from New Avalon, and the recent discovery by NAIS meteorologists that the atmosphere was becoming toxic again, at a worryingly rapid pace. A reversion to the early days of the colonization efforts, where everyone on the planet had to wear environmental suits, could have prompted a massive exodus among the population to more hospitable worlds.[1]

In the closing years of the Third Succession War Countess Nelitha Green-Davion, Countess of the Gold Isles on Galax was appointed Minister of Administrative Services for the Federated Suns by First Prince Hanse Davion, who was exasperated with the poor performance of the Ministry. The First Prince gave Countess Green-Davion five years to improve the performance of the Ministry when he appointed her.[37] Countess Green-Davion wasn't the only noble from Galax to be holding a senior office at this point; the Federated Suns Ambassador to the Capellan Confederation in 3025 was Edwina Sanders, Countess of the Yuler Mountains.[38]

The population of Galax was noted by ComStar as being among the most difficult in the Federated Suns to win over to standard ComStar doctrine during this period, although this apparently made the local population somewhat less skeptical than the average Lyran.[32]

Clan Invasion[edit]

In 3053 the famous Floating Tower, Federated-Boeing’s corporate HQ, was raided by an unknown force. Shortly after Irian Technologies began producing an identical upgrade of the Leopard-class DropShip. Federated-Boeing filed protests with the Federated Commonwealth and ComStar, but nothing came of it.[39]

The facility was nearly destroyed in March 3056 when Woodlake Associates employee Timothy Barnes sabotaged the solar array's energy storage systems to explode when power levels reached 95%. The sabotage was discovered before the station was destroyed. While the motive was unknown, Barnes was a native of Syrma making a Skye separatist motivation seem likely.[40]

FedCom Civil War[edit]

During the FedCom Civil War, Archon Katherine Steiner attempted to persuade Galax to support her regime, using her control over the food supplies from New Avalon as a means of exerting pressure on the population of the world. This could have caused potentially fatal hardship on the population of Galax, as the planet still had no agricultural base; fortunately for the population, even as supplies of food from New Avalon became erratic, other nearby worlds stepped in, generously supplying food to sustain the world.[2]

Thanks to the dramatic increase in technological knowledge across the Inner Sphere that began in the 3030s as a result of the discovery of the Helm Memory Core Galax had become home to the most advanced terraforming concerns to be found anywhere by 3067. While Galax was already a massive industrial center with an expansive tech industry, the terraforming concerns developed out of the clear need to continue work to keep the environment capable of supporting life, rather than reverting to the inhospitable and uninhabitable environment present before the Star League terraforming project three centuries prior.[2]

While Galax was still noted at this point for being the location of one of the "Gilded Halls"—a select group of universities that could claim to have been operating continuously for five hundred or more years[41]—during a survey of university performance against various criteria conducted by the New Avalon Post in 3059, learning institutions on Galax appeared in the top five of two different categories out of the eight polled. The Armstrong Flight Academy was rated as one of the top five military academies within the Federated Suns, while Galax Tech, located in Canaveral City, was voted the second best party school.[42]

The technological renaissance that allowed the development of terraforming concerns on Galax also had a dramatic effect on Federated-Boeing Interstellar and the Galax Megaplex; Federated-Boeing expanded into additional markets and expanded through acquisitions and partnerships with a number of companies on various worlds, and as it acquired the rights to produce other products or developed new lines, production at the Galax Megaplex expanded. By 3067, more than twenty different DropShip models were produced on or above Galax, mostly based around nine major classes, along with more than a hundred civilian and commercial aerospace craft and the Fox-class WarShip.[43]

While Federated-Boeing remained the largest and most visible manufacturing concern on Galax, at least in military terms, Galax Launch Systems and Satellites continued to manufacture civilian satellites and launch systems on Galax, shipping them across both Federated Suns and Lyran space to customers, as well as spinning its military concerns off into a semi-autonomous subsidiary, Sorcerer Technologies.[44] There were also rumors that the heavy traffic back and forth from various remote military outposts on Galax were due to secret aerospace fighter production lines on Galax belonging to Lycomb-Davion IntroTech.[45]

Jihad[edit]

The Word of Blake struck at Galax on 12 April 3069, the same day they attacked the Lyran Alliance world of Alarion, evidently targeting systems capable of manufacturing WarShips. The Blakist forces didn't only use WarShips to demolish the shipyards in the Galax system and seize every vessel capable of jumping for their own purposes; they also poisoned Galax's ecosphere with an intensely powerful bioweapon. Unlike the attack on Alarion, no vessels survived to escape the Galax system.[46][47] The destruction of the Galax shipyards was the single biggest loss of military manufacturing capability for the Federated Suns in the entirety of the Jihad.[48] This devastating attack was aided by a partnership between Armstrong Flight Academy and Federated-Boeing Interstellar with Kensai Holographiks (now known to have been under Blakist control) to create a Recreational Hologram Environment sensory environment of near space around the shipyard and extending to within a handful of kilometers of Galax’s surface which was ostensibly to create a final examine scenario of a full-scale invasion for AFA Cadets.[49][50]

Military Deployment[edit]

3028[edit]

3067[edit]

Planetary Locations[edit]

  • Auburn City: a city on Galax and site of a large spaceport operated by Federated-Boeing Interstellar[35]
  • Armstrong Flight Academy[36]
  • Canaveral City: a city on Galax and location of Galax Launch Systems and Satellites[44] and Galax Tech[42]
  • Daira Gul: the location of the General Motors main facilities on Galax[53]
  • Long Island City[54]

Industrial Centers[edit]

Local Fauna[edit]

Homeworld of the Galax Beefalo[57]

Notes[edit]

  • Galax was mentioned in the apocryphal 1989 video game MechWarrior as having a population of 3,527,000,000 in 3025.

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 44 systems (41 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Torrence 8.6 Numenor 17.0 Steeles 19.1 Belladonna 20.8
New Avalon 21.9 Augusta 25.5 El Dorado 26.7 Quimper 28.7
Ipava 31.0 Paulding 31.7 Manassas 31.8 Leipsic 31.8
Argyle 32.2 Delavan 32.4 Remagen 32.6 Saginaw 33.0
Coloma 37.2 Bastian 38.0 Vecchio 38.0 Reisterstown 40.4
Odell 42.8 Ferrara 45.9 Arcadia 46.8 Antietam 48.8
Freisland 49.0 Northfield 49.2 Maison 50.7 O'Fallon 51.0
Cahokia 51.9 Fincastle 55.2 Waxell 55.6 Montcoal 56.5
Streator 57.0 Lynchburg 57.2 Kirklin 57.3 Korvitz 57.9
Strawn 58.5 Dirk's Gulf 58.6 Chakachamna 59.0 Petrolia 59.5
Sodus 59.5 Huron 61.3 Chebanse 62.4 Dol 62.4

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 194 (PDF p. 196): "Brief Atlas" – Galax entry
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 Handbook: House Davion, p. 94: "Galax"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Era Report: 2750, p. 37: "Inner Sphere - [2750] Map"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Era Report: 3145, p. 39: "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  5. 5.0 5.1 Field Manual: 3145, p. VI: "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Handbook: House Davion, p. 18: "Federated Suns at their Founding - [2317] Map"
  7. 7.0 7.1 Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 64: "Inner Sphere - [3075]"
  8. 8.0 8.1 Field Report: AFFS, p. 21: "Federated Suns Armed Forces Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  9. Handbook: House Davion, p. 48: "Federated Suns after Age of War - [2571] Map"
  10. Historical: Reunification War, p. 159: "Inner Sphere - [2596] Map"
  11. Field Manual: SLDF: "Inner Sphere - [2764] Map"
  12. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11: "Inner Sphere - [2765] Map"
  13. Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 29: "Federated Suns Armed Forces Deployment Map - [2765]"
  14. Handbook: House Davion, p. 54: "Federated Suns after First Succession War - [2822] Map"
  15. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, pp. 122–123: "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  16. Handbook: House Davion, p. 60: "Federated Suns after Second Succession War - [2864] Map"
  17. House Davion (The Federated Suns): "Federated Suns Map - [3025]"
  18. Handbook: House Davion, p. 70: "Federated Suns after Third Succession War - [3025] Map"
  19. Handbook: House Davion, p. 72: "Federated Suns after Fourth Succession War - [3030] Map"
  20. Handbook: House Davion, p. 76: "Federated Suns after War of [3039] - [3040] Map"
  21. Historical: War of 3039, p. 133: "Inner Sphere - [3040] Map"
  22. Era Report: 3052, p. 11: Inner Sphere - [3050] Map
  23. Era Report: 3052, p. 23: Inner Sphere - [3052] Map
  24. Era Report: 3062, p. 11: Inner Sphere - [3057] Map
  25. Handbook: House Davion, p. 78: "Federated Suns after Operation Guerrero [3058]"
  26. Era Report: 3062, p. 29: Inner Sphere - [3063] Map
  27. Handbook: House Davion, p. 82: "Federated Suns after FedCom Civil War - [3067] Map"
  28. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 43: "Inner Sphere - [3067] Map"
  29. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 63: "Inner Sphere - [3081] Map"
  30. Field Manual: 3085, p. vii: "Inner Sphere - [3085] Map"
  31. Era Report: 3145, p. 11: "Inner Sphere - [3135] Map"
  32. 32.0 32.1 House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 166: "ComStar and the Federated Suns"
  33. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 168: "Consumer Goods"
  34. Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 6: "Infrastructural Integrity"
  35. 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 35.5 35.6 35.7 House Davion (The Federated Suns), pp. 169–170: "Federated-Boeing Interstellar"
  36. 36.0 36.1 House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 156: "Armstrong Flight Academy"
  37. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 106: "Ministry of Administrative Services"
  38. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 109: "Capellan Confederation"
  39. Technical Readout: 3057 Revised, p. 12
  40. BattleSpace, p. 5: "Current Events"
  41. "Handbook: House Davion, p. 140: "Universities"
  42. 42.0 42.1 "Handbook: House Davion, p. 143: "Top Five Federated Suns Universities"
  43. "Handbook: House Davion, pp. 165–166: "Federated-Boeing Interstellar (FdBoin)"
  44. 44.0 44.1 44.2 "Handbook: House Davion, p. 166: "Galax Launch Systems and Satellites (GLSS)"
  45. "Handbook: House Davion, p. 167: "Lycomb-Davion Introtech (LyDavIn)"
  46. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 46: "The Jihad In Review"
  47. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 47: "The Jihad In Review"
  48. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 97: "Crucis March"
  49. Handbook: House Davion Color Palette 8
  50. Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 79
  51. NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1, p. 85: "Menkalinan"
  52. Field Manual: Updates, p. 139: "Federated Suns Deployment Table"
  53. 53.0 53.1 "Handbook: House Davion, p. 171: "General Motors (GenMo)"
  54. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 186: "Nelitha Green-Davion profile"
  55. Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 27: "Congress D (Frigate)"
  56. "Handbook: House Davion, p. 168: "Universal Air (UniAir)"
  57. "Handbook: House Davion, p. 193: "Galax Beefalo (Bison Cibus Galacus)"

Bibliography[edit]