Name of Station: Heritage Terminal
System: Gjallarhorn
Year Initially Settled: 2105 (as Station 14), abandoned 2255, renamed and resettled 2302
Affiliations: Neutral
Governmental Style: Representative Council -- Representatives are chosen from the Merchant, Mechanic, and Agriculture Unions. The Coalition Defense Guard has a small detachment stationed on Heritage Terminal to assist in protecting it from pirates, raiders, or other outside threats. Internal policing is handled by the Unions. There are rumors of Shadow Investors who run the criminal enterprises on Heritage Station and bribe the right people to ensure that the Coalition and Independent planets alike both don't try to arrest anyone on Heritage Station.
Primary Languages: English, French, Japanese
Primary Industries: Trade, ship maintenance, supplies.
Current Leaders/Figures of Note:
Kathria Warders is the Merchant Rep, and her enforcers are fierce when it comes to ensuring trade is conducted in a satisfactory manner. She doesn't care so much what is being traded on station, but rather that the products sold match the descriptions provided. If you're selling drugs, and you're upfront about their property, she looks the other way no matter whether they're legal or illegal. If you lace them with some substance to stretch your supply, don't tell your clients about the addition, and the drugs start killing people, that's when she intervenes. Also, pay your damn taxes.
Andren Thilly is the Mechanic Rep, originally from Goibniu, gifted with heavy telekinesis. They are very up-front about the fact that they will not allow repairs on any ships even remotely suspected in being involved in human trafficking. The Mechanic Union will not sell parts or provide services or access to repair bays for any such ship. Otherwise, Andren keeps prices fair, keeps the tolls for using the Terminal Gates reasonable, and they're generally considered a reasonable individual. Just, be mindful of the fact that Andren can crush you with their mind.
Raoul Ryante is the Agriculture Rep, originally from Asphodel Meadows. He swears he isn't a vampire. Seriously. He's one of the majority who's normal. Promise. That's just fine red wine in his glass. While the Mechanics Union and Merchant's Union deal with security and deals with outsiders, Raoul and the Agriculture Guild are focused on internal conflicts and internal stability. If someone is murdered, or something is stolen from a personal residence, the Agriculture toughs are the ones you'd call on to report the crime. The Agriculture Union prioritizes the sale of fresh produce to locals and restaurants. Union Outlets sell to outsiders at a surcharge--but sometimes it's worth it for Heritage Strawberries.
In-Play Characters from this Location: None.
Human Mutations: None to speak of. The original residents of Heritage Station had a surprisingly low rate of cancer in comparison to other stations, ships, and planets, but the new residents are all a mix of people from many different planets. They bring their mutations with them.
Geography/Biodiversity: Heritage Terminal is an ancient once-ghost-station brought back to life. It has a symmetrical design with a massive biodome at each end and four inhabitable rings connected to the central lift system. Each ring and biosphere is designed such that they can be isolated in the event of an emergency.
Each biodome has three tiers of descending size that form a donut around the central access lifts. The lower-most level is dedicated to food crops--grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes all. The middle tier is dedicated to livestock, especially dairy cows and chickens. The topmost tier is dedicated to herbs, spices, and flowers for beekeeping. The Agriculture Union has spent the last thirty years bringing these biodomes up to modern specs, and while they still aren't exactly state-of-the-art, each one is a precious gem in the vast cold lifeless void of space.
The Top and Bottom Station Rings, also known as the Residence Rings, have private docking bays for use by residents with authorization only. These rings are where the local residents of the station live and can only be accessed if you have a residence on the station itself. These rings also contain food processing facilities and some basic manufacturing factories to produce small batch orders of products like repair parts or tools. Each Residence Ring has its own internal economy with restaurants, stores, and groceries intended only for Heritage Resident use. Residence Ring taxes and surcharges are significantly lower than guest taxes, and Residents rarely shop in the Guest Rings because of this.
The Central Station Rings, also known as the Guest Rings, have public docking ports and repair bays, as well as restaurants, markets, and supplies for guests. Taxes and docking fees are a smidge steeper than Coalition stations, but that steeper charge comes with laxer rules and regulations in terms of what can be bought, sold, and traded and access to both the Independent and Coalition markets. Plus, the fresh produce can't be beat.
Heritage Terminal calls itself a terminal because owns and operates a small but growing Gateway Honeycomb.
History: Station 14 was one of the original space stations placed to aid in the original terraforming project. It wasn't anything particularly special, more of a waystation between the worlds for colony ships to refuel and make repairs as they continued on their way to their actual destination planets. Once the planets had been settled, Station 14 became more and more of a side-note--almost like towns along Old Route 66, an echo of times past, maybe a draw for the nostalgic, but not a necessary place to visit. It had a stable internal economy, at least, even if things had a tendency to break down as the centuries passed and more and more repairs were necessary.
When the Civil War broke out, its proximity to the battlefields and its old age combined to be reason enough for the station to be wholly abandoned--or, more or less wholly abandoned. Sometimes smugglers and thieves would use it, and there were a handful of individuals who refused to leave their homes and would rather stay and die if the war came to them.
So, for a few decades, Station 14 was a ghost station, with no one calling claim to it. Then, some intrepid entrepreneurs saw an opportunity in it. If they could reclaim it, refit it, rebuild it to its former glory, they could call it Heritage Terminal and sell it as a destination waypoint. Sure, you don't need to swing by Heritage Terminal, but if you want to experience a piece of history and high quality services, fresh produce, and access to trade on both sides of the line--Coalition and Independent--why not stop by?
Its founders and shadow investors negotiated neutrality with both the Independent and Coalition Planets. No extradition of criminals. No pursuing or enforcing Coalition or Independent Laws. Permission to rule independently, but payment of some Coalition taxes and full payment of the Defense Guard stationed on the new Terminal.
Heritage Terminal is comparatively new, but it's grown into its stride in the last 30 years. It didn't become a clean, pristine tourist destination for upright historians. Rather, its stance on free trade and its open market to both sides have created a safe venue for minorly-questionable dealings. Its dream of building up a Gateway Honeycomb has been achieved quite recently. The first three Gateways just opened, and Heritage Terminal is seeing some new traffic as a result.