Combat Frame Peltast 2194: Resistance Principal
Resistance Principle
The Libertad worlds have been diplomatically isolated since the end of the Pacific Arm War, after their break with ZOCU and the signing of the armistice. With few neutral intermediaries and fewer friends Libertad has been an ongoing problem for interstellar diplomacy in the Pacific Arm and with a bloated military it is not one that can be simply ignored. However, while zealously patrolling the armistice borders, Libertad has otherwise maintained a low profile on the galactic stage.
Until now.
Excis
Excis is a former corporate world in the deep Pacific Verge, a dry subterran planet orbiting the K-type star JL-5730. Originally bioformed approximately 108 Mya with a classic Toten-4 genetic assemblage, the world suffered declining fertility and eventually functional biosphere collapse roughtly sixty million years later, in the middle Eocene. Only extremophiles, aquatic bacteria and pseudolichens survived this and form what little natural biosphere Excis had as of its initial survey in 2091.
The world had a somewhat eliptical orbit that broadly coincided with its axial tilt; the northern hemisphere was pointed towards the sun during the long distal winters and away during the short proximate summers. This helped to moderate the northern hemisphere's temperatures while driving fierce climatic swings in the southern. As a consequence almost all of the eventual permanent settlements were in the northern hemisphere.
While an unpromising candidate for colonization with intent to terraform, by the turn of the century the presence of respectable dust deposits was determined with high confidence. Within a decade a multinational consortium secured rights to the system and began the initial stages of colonization. Like most 'company worlds' of the era, Excis was a originally a quasi-private partnership that included a broad cross-section of interests; core players included the mining companies themselves, equipment and support contractors and various bodies representing the eventual inhabitants. This organizational structure was (and commonly still is) selected due to the needs of a functionally self-sufficient colony; with transit times being what they were, 'problematical' would not behind to describe relying on Earthside industry for everyday consumption goods and services.
Major population growth happened in waves and like many 'private' worlds the population was a polyglot assemblage with major groups from dozens of different Earthside nations. In Excis' case the colonial demographics had a strong Indo-American basis with English as the working language. Relatively few of the immigrants actually came specifically to work in the primary extractive industries; as was typical once the colonization effort started it did not take long for it to then become self-sustaining, with increasing population demanding more services and thus creating demands for more immigrants. By the Breakdown, Excis had celebrated achieving a population of over two million.
Like many smaller colonies the Breakdown hit Excis hard. Its primary export - dust shipped to Earth - instantly evaporated and likewise its main source of precision-manufactured components - Earth - was over a century away. The retrenchment was difficult but necessary and under the Local Government Excis can hardly be said to have prospered but it did survive.