The Inner Sphere: Herotitus

World Name: Herotitus

Star Type: G3IV

Position in System: 2

Time to Jump Point: 8.52 days

Recharging Station: Nadir

Political Ruler: Gabriel Fur' Seng-Gang, President of the Council of Herotitus Libertines

ComStar Facility Class: B

ComStar Representative: Precentor Maxwell Klanis

Population: 240,000

Percentage and Level of Native Life: 20%, Reptile

Description:

Herotitus lies athwart the trade routes of the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat. Prior to the Reunification War, both governments organized a joint settlement there in a rare example of mutual development. Left largely to themselves, the inhabitants developed a stable agricultural community until philosophical dissidents from the Taurian Concordat arrived in 2997. These New Hedons conquered the planet, which quickly became a mirror image of Canopian pleasure planets. Though contested by the Magistracy, the Concordat, and the Capellan Confederation, the planet remains mostly untouched by the ravages of the Succession Wars. None wish to destroy one of the few remaining centers of pleasure left in the Periphery.

In what is now heralded (by those possessing excellent hindsight) as an early indication that the Taurian Concordat and Magistracy of Canopus would someday cooperate in much larger vantures, Herotitus was jointly colonized by those two realms in the late 2600s. Though situated in a prime position on the routes traveled by traders from the Concordat and the Magistracy, the planet Herotitus passed through the various conflicts fought in the Periphery untouched; because neither realm fully claimed it, the agricultural world held no strategic value to the various powers who sought to control the larger states.

When the New Hedons, philosophical dissidents from the Taurian Concordat, arrived on Herotitus on 2997, they quickly took over the planet's minimal government. Firmly devoted to the belief that only those things that give pleasure possess intrinsic value, the New Hedons established governmental initiatives to create an industry providing the widest possible variety of physical and spiritual indulgences. Revenues from the "pleasure industry" and heft trade tariffs support the expanded government required to administrate the resulting interstellar traffic, immigration laws, and necessary law enforcement personnel.

Because the Hedonists concentrated their industry in a limited number of locations, most of Herotitus maintains the simple agrarian lifestyle established by the first settlers. A separate branch of government provides law enforcement, a judicial system, and social services for the portions of the population not employed by the pleasure industry. Because no single group dared disrupt the status quo on Herotitus for fear of reprisals from across the Periphery, freedom from war and other conflicts allowed the planet's citizenry to prosper over the centuries. They currently produce sufficient marketable items and crops to support a modest trade in exports, and the revenue from this commerce is earmarkes specifically for the nonindustrial part of the society.

Herotitus has the dubious distinction of being the center of the New Hedon movement, one of several Periphery philosophical sects that have sprung up in the last 75 years. Located between the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat, Herotitus is one of the few worlds in the Periphery that does not support a standing military. Instead, the inhabitants of Herotitus, the New Hedons, support a simple philosophy of "eat, drink, and be merry and let some other fool die fighting." In the decades since its founding, the entire planet has been given over to here-and-now enjoyment of earthly pleasures. Though not as elaborate as the Canopian Magistracy worlds in their prime, Herotitus is an oasis of sensual pleasures, which are supported by heavy trade tariffs and duties. Though occupied more than once in its history, Herotitus has remained untouched by the ravages of time and Inner Sphere conflicts. Meanwhile, the popular adage is still true: "On Herotitus, anything goes, and usually does."

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