The Asteroid Belt
Description
The asteroid belt is not a whirling maelstrom of tumbling rocks in constant collision that the films and SF dramas would have you believe. Rather it is extremely spaced out with tracts of empty space between one tumbling rock and the next though some collisions do occur resulting in minor ‘asteroid families’ with several components orbiting together, surrounded by dust clouds. The largest object in this region is Ceres, with a 950 km diameter and the smallest ranges down to microscopic dust particles. The region is not dangerous to space traffic but it is nigh uncharitable and stands between the inner solar system and the outer solar system, a barrier between Mars and the gas giants. As such the asteroid belt has become a sort of ‘no man’s land’ with only individual rocks claimed by a particular government or corporation. Private groups such as cults, radical political groups, communes and others have also raised the capital to cap, seal and pressurize asteroids as homes for themselves as well, far cheaper than building a space station, far safer and far enough away to do whatever they wish there without interference. The criminal element has not passed up on the opportunity either and while piracy is rare it does occur as does illicit industry, illegal experimentation, gambling, prostitution and innumerable other rackets that are entered into to claw back the original investment and to sucker the money from the industrial concerns and asteroid miners that work so far out.
Government
The asteroid belt is an anarchy of different governmental systems with no overriding law. International law, while unenforced in most instances, is the only applicable law and few naval vessels of any kind bother much with the asteroid belt. Some loose alliances between similarly minded cults, criminal cartels and radical groups have emerged for mutual defense and support in case of emergencies but most of the time the laws and customs vary so widely from asteroid to asteroid that no common sense can be made of it.
Geography
Most asteroids are small in size, smaller than 400km in diameter, the size of the largest asteroids and planetoids that are all claimed by the larger industrial companies. Indeed most of the ones claimed by the various groups are much smaller, perhaps only one or two kilometers in diameter, sizeable enough to hold their populations but small enough to be manageable. The asteroids themselves are quite safe and secure, spun up for pseudo-gravity, their occupants hidden from cosmic radiation behind electromagnetic screens and meters and meters of rock. The sharp curve of the walls can make living in an asteroid a somewhat surreal and unsettling experience to those used to living in a stronger gravity well and the pseudo-gravity of the spin is always weaker than Earth gravity. Everyone on board an asteroid habitat is also acutely aware of the need for neatness, tidiness, recycling and how to deal with pressure leaks or a failure of the electromagnetic screens.
Starport quality
D, Scout
Size
0
Atmosphere Type
0
Hydrographic Percentage
0
Population
8(?)
Government Type
5(4)
Law Level
2
Tech Level
A
Price Multiplier
2.25
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