Helios Prime
by S. Mikkelsen
Up here high above the city, Hadrian can barely make out his cruiser parked at the waterfront as a tiny speck below him. He can see far, all over the Metropolitan Southside District, one of the less attractive parts of the greater metropolitan area, at least to the well-off citizens, with it being mostly gray concrete multistorey apartment blocks, seedy bars, and rundown corner shops, giving way to the occasional multistory parking complex, warehouse, or other such larger commercial buildings. The District could be described as gray and neon, but most parts of the Metropolitan area could be described as neon.
Outside of just the dusk-light bathed Southside, Hadrian could even see way out towards the edge of the terraformed zone, past the wilds and scattered farmlands on the hillsides above the metropolitan lakeside, with the windbreaks lining the horizon, as large open blinders struck into the ground along the ridge of the hills, with the dusk sun piercing through them, making them appear as if made of shadow. "Niner-Two-One, Zero-Niner, we have a warrant on 11th Astoria, Over," a monotone, scratchy voice comes from the radio, snapping Hadrian back to reality. His eyes shot open, sitting back up into an attentive posture, he yanks the responder from the cruiser's center console swiftly and determinedly, moving it up to his mouth. "Zero-Niner, Niner-Two-One, Understood, Exact address, Over," Hadrian replies in an equally flat and monotone voice. "No need, the Provos will be there, can't miss them, Over," the operator at central replied. "Understood, We'll be on the move, Out."
Geography
As a planet that original had a thin non-breathable atmosphere, which later was made breathable by terraforming, its climate does not fall into the classic belts of other inhabitable planets.
Pre-terraforming Helios had 3 climatic belts, A wide central belt, and two arctic belts at the magnetic poles of the planet. with the poles containing all the planets available water in the form of Ice.
due to the thin atmosphere of the planet, there wasn't much protection from the heat of the systems star that, combined with the lack of breathable gasses, meant the planet could not sustain any plant life. This have made the central belt into a dust and rock filled desert with tall standing crags, mountain-chains, craters, valleys and canyons. this Intern makes the winds of Helios able to create grand dust storms. Due to the tilt of the planets central axis that occurs between the planetary summer and winter. with the suns heating and returned cooling of the polar ice caps, causes a circular flow of repeatable and predictable wind speed increases. such that the planet can be said to have Duststorm seasons.
Post-terraforming Helios´ northern hemisphere changed significantly, where a new semi-arid climate arose. even though still very arid it was a lot less dusty due to the now annual thawing of the poles that caused streams of melt water to flow across the surface. with three craters forming the only bodies of permanently liquid water on the surface of the planet, as three large lakes. due to the increase of surface water, and the thickening of the atmosphere, the Duststorms became less predictable, but still stable enough to have seasons as such. with a thicker, breathable atmosphere and larger amounts of surface water, it became possible to import plant-life to the planet.
Ecosystem
Even though the Atmosphere is tainted with super-fine dust particles that will have a long term detriment to respiratory health, with acclimatization local residents will not need filters to breath in the atmosphere, outside of sandstorms and the most dusty of seasons.
Localized Phenomena
Due to the iron rich soils of Helios there is a large amount of iron oxide dust particles in the atmosphere. this causes the Sky to have a slight reddish or orange tint during the day and at dusk and dawn the twilight turns the skies blue tinted. the saturation of the colour of the sky varies by season. during the windy seasons more iron oxide dust particles are swirled up into the sky, causing the daylight sky to have a deeper red tint and the twilight sky deeper blue tint.
Fauna & Flora
All Flora and Fauna on Helios Prime, is off-word in origins due to the pre-terraforming state of the Planet. Post-terraforming, it became possible to import plant-life forms that where adapted for arid terrains, due to the mineral rich soils some thrived to the point of forming large brush and woodlands. Later came the release of animals. that together helped form the generally semi-arid nature, that surrounds the mass population centres of Helios.
Natural Resources
The planet has a rich abundance of rare metals, including: Rhodium, Platinum, Gold, Ruthenium, Iridium, Osmium, Palladium, Rhenium, Silver, Indium and Titanium.
Further more there is also very high levels of Iron and Bauxite ore on the planet, causing the dust and most rocks of the planet to be reddish in colour.
This abundance of metals has resulted in the Metals industry being one of the largest employers on Helios. with everything from mines, foundries and metal-works to armouries and orbital shipyards.
This abundance of metals has resulted in the Metals industry being one of the largest employers on Helios. with everything from mines, foundries and metal-works to armouries and orbital shipyards.
History
An old Mining planet, Helios was once owned by the "Helios Corporation" which was in turn owned by ”Ore Trust”, once one of the biggest mining related businesses in the galaxy. Helios was set up for mining with the workforce provided by "Ore Trust". The workforce: very poor people from across the galaxy tricked into working on promises of a better life and a brighter future, were put to work under miserable conditions. The company owning their lives, non-existing safety regulations, no healthcare and working for pennies. The "Helios Corporation" only provided proper living conditions for the middle and above, management and security employees. The only reason for actual terraforming to be set up was the need for proper housing of their middle management. The workforce soon got fed up with their horrible situation and inspired by the Slave rebellions, they rebelled against the "Helios Corporation". Though due to Helios´ high income for "Ore Trust", the corporation soon had heavy financial backing for auxiliary security forces, and the situation stabilized for a while. As time passed, "Ore Trust" was struck by a corruption scandal: with their holdings seized, the CEO imprisoned, and the company shut down. This led to the Helios Corporation not being able to pay their auxiliary security, and then they started leaving. With the Helios Corporation's iron grip weakened, the rebellion, now organized under the name "The Union" gained the upper hand. After months of heavy fighting the “Helios Corporation” fled from the surface. With Helios now freed and the thing that united "The Union"; a common enemy gone, the groups that made up The Union descended into Infighting. The Empire finally had enough of the instability and chaos on Helios, and decided that it was time to bring law, order, peace, and stability to Helios, for the sake of its own population. The "Imperial Peacekeeping Expeditionary Force" that was sent to Helios, quickly and without mercy, defeated the agents of chaos and instigators of instability. It was then decided that for The Empire to be able to guarantee the continued stability of Helios, Helios had to become an imperial province, for the sake of the population-excerpt from "Imperial Chronicles" Helios has since the subjugation been under Military Administration. with the military administration having been successful in bringing order and stability to Helios, it has made it possible for a civilian society to grow. with the growth of the civilian populace of Helios so has the desire for local residents to see the Administration reformed into a Civil one. this movement have seen some gradual successes allowing for the formation of an aspiring civil administration with citizen elected mayors and citizen councils and recently with implementing a metropolitan police force and an increased shift towards civil law. while the Military Administration in general, have been willing to shift some of the administrative duties on to civilian held offices. They still hold supreme power over the world and have the final say in any matters and some within the Military seek to keep it that way.
by S. Mikkelsen
UWP:
A84086D-D
A84086D-D
Alternative Name(s)
Helios
Type
Planet
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
