Founded in the year 1 AS, Manhattan was the first human colony established in the Sirius Sector. Over the last eight centuries it has grown into a teeming world of 220 million people who live and work in a single city that covers the vast majority of the planet. Nearly the entire population is dedicated to the manifest destiny of the Liberty free market, and today Manhattan is the hub of a vast commercial network that stretches into almost every corner of Sirius. While "going to Manhattan" has become a commonly accepted phrase for leaving home to seek your fortune, the cost of living on Manhattan itself is extravagantly high. If a trend is new and exciting -- and expensive -- then it almost certainly originated here.