| Location |
Circinus Stream / Elpis System / Sixth Orbit |
| Population |
530.300 (mostly Zaalans and Relki Hiderid) |
| Capital |
N/A |
| Ownership |
Mixed |
Hestia is the sixth planet and sole gas giant of the
Elpis system. Ever since the
Hestian Rush, its thirty moons are home to nearly half a million colonists. Stations across Hestia and its rings form the primary supplier of several rare metals used in alloys across the Elpis system and keeping its peoples from losing interplanetary travel capability. More recently, most colonial powers also started to prospect here for more common resources such as hydrocarbons to avoid despoiling their home planets.
Early on in the colonization of the inner worlds of the Elpis system, all four main powers had decided to avoid large-scale planetside industrial operations. They cited a number of reasons, chiefly pointing at the lack of understanding of long-term ecological conditions on all inner worlds. In the first few cycles, many smaller factions, especially within the Council and the Domain, wished to temporarily eschew keeping a presence in space in order to focus on planetary development. Such strategies were often lumped together under the doctrine of "planned decay".
The discovery of
Thaumium on the faraway world
Zindra as well as hydrocarbons and helium on Hestia, all key resources in a modern spacececonomy, started to shift public opinion in favour of keeping minimal space infrastructure. When the
Thaumium War occured in the 10th cycle, very few people still believed in planned decay.
Nonetheless, the limited technological base of all colonies at the time severely hampered the development of space infrastructure, thus Hestia only saw essential infrastructure for nearly a century. Only at the turn of the second century, due to the
Hestian Rush, did interplanetary operations truly start to ramp up, and with it the rise of widespread spacefaring. Most of the facilities around Hestia date from this era.
Most of the stations in the Belt and around Hestia are inhabited by
Reiki Hiderid or
Zaalan spacer tribes, where the low-gravity environments outside of
diving ships (coupled with some economic factors) have caused changes in the inhabitants' physiology over time.
Key stations and moons include :
Terminus - the largest moon and a key outpost for the
Hiderid Coalition of Stars. Today, it acts as a trade hub, shipyard, and security point for the rest of the Hestian rings. The shipyards here are small but open to all for repairs and the construction of small Hestia-bound barges. A technical university, Lynne Sara Memorial Polytechnic, operates there.
Felicity - a moon rich in ice and other volatiles, prospected by several operators at such sites as
Winklehock Station or
Senna's Pride given the scarcity of water and the difficulties in transporting it from inner systems. It is often visited by the ice trawler
Rhea's Light.
Luminex - a moon named after the eponymous Coalition corporation, it acts as a hydroponic breadbasket for the rest of Hestia's facilities. It includes a large
Hodeth Alliance station merely called
Hope Orbital.
Iso Shrine - a reclusive Boshaari station and Chantry monastery.
Aglaia - a large moon coated in tholins and hydrocarbons. Its side is notably fractured, and many theorize that Aglaia and Hygeia were part of a single planetary object at one point in ancient history. Many hydrocarbon extraction facilities are present on the surface, as are a number of polymer refining factories.
Ocaleia - a small moon orbiting in resonance with Aglaia.
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