| rdfs:comment
| - Even without the inevitable Human intrusion, Stanton would have been an anomaly. Boasting a wide green zone with four inhabitable superearths, the system is, from a cosmological perspective, unusual. Strictly speaking, star systems as purely inhabitable as Stanton simply don’t exist. The combination of the proper star type with the evolution of four especially large Human-suitable biospheres requiring limited terraforming is so unlikely as to strongly suggest design. Meanwhile, the divergent ecologies on Stanton’s four worlds are of significant interest to scientists of all stripes. No one is sure exactly who first settled the Stanton system. All indications are that it was discovered by a free agent trader and that word of the location and its potential riches spread slowly on the electro
|
| abstract
| - Even without the inevitable Human intrusion, Stanton would have been an anomaly. Boasting a wide green zone with four inhabitable superearths, the system is, from a cosmological perspective, unusual. Strictly speaking, star systems as purely inhabitable as Stanton simply don’t exist. The combination of the proper star type with the evolution of four especially large Human-suitable biospheres requiring limited terraforming is so unlikely as to strongly suggest design. Meanwhile, the divergent ecologies on Stanton’s four worlds are of significant interest to scientists of all stripes. No one is sure exactly who first settled the Stanton system. All indications are that it was discovered by a free agent trader and that word of the location and its potential riches spread slowly on the electronic grapevine. By the time the UEE noticed the system’s existence, all four planets had populations numbering in the tens of thousands. That notice spelled their doom. A quartet of superearths are an extremely rare find and the Empire quickly declared Stanton to be a case of eminent domain, citing a need to protect and extend nearby jump lanes. Without formal colonization papers on file, the existing inhabitants had little choice: prospectors, survivalists and other squatters have little means to protect themselves from the might of a Bengal-class carrier. The Empire was then stymied. As is often the case, wanting was a great deal more interesting than having. With a down economy in the midst of a hundred-year colonization drought, the UEE had few options for actually exploiting Stanton. UEE naval engineers conducted the small amount of required terraforming, a series of underfunded military outposts were established, and then Stanton sat unwatched for another generation. The decision was ultimately made to sell the system piecemeal to the highest bidders. Megacorporations were quietly contacted and asked to bid for their own planets. The winners are believed to have flushed trillions into the UEE economy: MicroTech, Hurston Dynamics, ArcCorp and Crusader Industries. In a remarkable lack of originality, the four worlds are now named MicroTech, Hurston, ArcCorp and Crusader. The megacorporations moved in slowly but surely, initially refusing to displace the existing inhabitants of the system (technically, they bought the land and not the people or anything already constructed there). Over the years, however, the system has become fully corporatized and the initial settlers have been (often literally) driven underground. The superearths are now dotted with factories, corporate headquarters, testing ranges, mining facilities and other company facilities. Only those working for the corporations (or anyone leasing their space) come to live in the Stanton system, inhabiting orderly company towns. Today, Stanton is a great place to travel if you’re interested in the materials produced by several of the galaxy’s most successful corporations … or if you think you can make a profit shipping these companies the goods they need to keep working.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)