Holstein was ignored for centuries until the government decided that it would be politically advantageous to develop the planet as a hedge against encroachment by the Gas Mining Guild (GMG). However, the 80 Years War doomed the project before its completion; Holstein was rendered marginally habitable, if not pleasant. However, Daumann engineers performing a routine survey recently discovered the presence of large amounts of valuable mineral salts in the oceans and a small extraction facility was constructed planetside.