Belter History

As improvements on Epstein Drive Technology brings the Belt, Outer Planets, and more solar bodies into reach, there is a renaissance of exploration (and exploitation) of the vast number of resources available for the taking. Both heavily over-populated Earth and quickly growing Mars hire companies to fully... utilize everything possible. Soon, corporations are hiring individuals and even offering incentives to entire families to spend their entire lives on these new planetary bodies, working.   These "Belters" are almost exclusively the working poor from Earth, happy to take a job anywhere as long as it means they get off basic assistance. Belter culture starts to grow as more and more people from all around Earth, Luna, and even Mars bond over spending most of their time in the vacuum of space, and the next to zero-G of the belt

The Outer Planets Alliance, also known as the OPA, can trace its routes back to the first labor union on Ceres. For the vast majority of its oft-maligned history, the OPA has consisted of anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of different factions spread throughout the Belt and Outer Planets. The OPA doesn't have a singular figurehead, and is not in union with its members. While all factions fight for the interests of Belters, the means used vary wildly. Described as everything from a sociopolitical movement to a terrorist network, the OPA has cells based at every station in the belt, most notably at Tycho Station and Ceres Station.