Mica Majority
Sarna News
The Mica Majority consists of three mineral-rich worlds located near the Delos IV star system between the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance. [1]
- World Names: Mica ll, V, Vll
- Star Type: K3V
- Positions in System: 2, 5, 7
- Times to Jump Point: 4.3 days, 4.6 days, 5.1 days
- Recharging Station: Zenith
- Political Ruler: Various Dome Directors
- ComStar Facility Class: B
- ComStar Representative: Precentor Hurlock Jamis
- Population: Mica ll, 45,000; Mica V, 255,000; Mica Vll, 38,000
- Percentage and Level of Native Life: 10%, Mammal
- Descriptions:
- The worlds of the Micanos star system are drab and barren wastelands perpetually covered with ice and snow and ravaged by fierce solar winds and occasional meteor showers. In such conditions, life is possible only under pressurized domes, which dot the mineral-rich Micanite worlds. These domes, varying from eight to twenty per planet, are a legacy of the Star League at its technological finest. The first Micanite settlers were involuntary laborers forcibly transferred there for their political opposition to the Kurita regime. Many did not even have the most elementary knowledge of geology or mining techniques, and most died within the first decade.[1]
- Located near the system's zenith jump point is a huge orbital complex constructed in the late 2600s when the vast resources of the system became known. With only brief interruptions during the Succession Wars, large-scale barter and trade between the descendants of the original Micanite laborers and the Inner Sphere have remained intact.[1]
Known for their extensive deposits of gold, uranium, and other precious minerals, Mica II, V, and VII each have a harsh Arctic climate that makes mining operations costly. With only the thinnest of atmospheres, the Micanites must live in pressurized dome-towns, similar to the raucous Yukon-Klondike towns of Terran North America. Miners, drifters, bartenders, and assorted ne'er-do-wells vie with one another to cash in on newfound wealth (or at least live long enough to spend some of it.[1]
Ore from the mining fields is collected at central distribution points and shipped out to the system's Jump Point every summer when scores of merchants from the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance arrive to trade with the Micanites. For several weeks and even months, thousands of miners compete against, barter with, steal from, drink with, lie to, wench with, gamble with, win from, and lose to merchants and other miners aboard the Micanite Space Center (built in the waning days of the Star League). Thus do the neighbouring systems of the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance gain badly needed resources at one tenth the price asked by Inner Sphere mining concerns. For their part, the miners receive machinery and modern conveniences, clothing and chemicals, brandies and brides, all of which they need to continue their precarious existence. Given time, a more stabilized form of economic exchange may develop. For the time being, however, both sides are satisfied with the present arrangement.[1]
In addition to more traditional ores, the Mica jump station has become a hub for small scale traders, lostech prospectors, and drifters of all kinds. Among this varied band, Clan Diamond Shark representatives have been spotted. It is speculated that they may want to add the Mica station to their Periphery trade network in order to take advantage of the recent mineral finds in a nearby system, which have quintupled the Majority's trading profits since 3064.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Periphery (sourcebook), p. 136
- ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 10