The Inner Sphere: Mica Majority

World Names: Mica II, V, VII

Star Type: K3V

Positions in System: 2, 5, 7

Times to Jump Point: 4.3 days, 4.6 days, 5.1 days

Recharging Station: Zenith

Political Ruler: Various Dome Directors

ComStar Facility Class: B

ComStar Representative: Precentor Hurlock Jamis

Population: Mica II, 45,000; Mica V, 255,000; Mica VII, 38,000

Percentage and Level of Native Life: 10%, Mammal

Descriptions:

The worlds of the Micanos star system are drab and barren wastelands perpetually covered with ice and snow and ravaged by fierce solar winds and occasional meteor showers. In such conditions, life is possible only under pressurized domes, which dot the mineral-rich Micanite worlds. These domes, varying from eight to twenty per planet, are a legacy of the Star League at its technological finest. The first Micanite settlers were involuntary laborers forcibly transferred there for their political opposition to the Kurita regime. Many did not even have the most elementary knowledge of geology or mining techniques, and most died within the first decade.

The Mica Majority consists of three mineral-rich worlds located near the Delos IV star system between the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance. Known for their extensive deposits of gold, uranium, and other precious minerals, Mica II, V, and VII each have a harsh arctic climate that makes mining operations costly. With only the thinnest of atmospheres, the Micanites must live in pressurized dome-towns, similar to the raucous Yukon-Klondike towns of Terran North America. Miners, drifters, bartenders, and assorted ne'er-do-wells vie with one another to cash in on newfound wealth (or at least live long enough to spend some of it).

Ore from the mining fields is collected at central distribution points and shipped out to the system's Jump Point every summer when scores of merchants from the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance arrive to trade with the Micanites. For several weeks and even months, thousands of miners compete against, barter with, steal from, drink with, lie to, wench with, gamble with, win from, and lose to merchants and other miners aboard the Micanite Space Center (built in the waning days of the Star League). Thus do the neighboring systems of the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance gain badly needed resources at one tenth the price asked by Inner Sphere mining concerns. For their part, the miners receive machinery and modern conveniences, clothing and chemicals, brandies and brides, all of which they need to continue their precarious existence. Given time, a more stabilized form of economic exchange may develop. For the time being, however, both sides are satisfied with the present arrangement.

Located near the system's zenith jump point is a huge orbital complex constructed in the late 2600s when the vast resources of the system became known. With only brief interruptions during the Succession Wars, large-scale barter and trade between the descendants of the original Micanite laborers and the Inner Sphere have remained intact.

For most of its history, the Mica Majority has remained free of any foreign influence, mainly because the Mican worlds provide little incentive for any potential invader. The main Mican ore deposits were already depleted when the Kurita government abandoned its claim to the worlds, and the punishing climates of the Mican worlds prevented the formation of any major cities in the system. Though the life-support domes on Mica II, V, and VII were quite impressive engineering feats when they were first constructed, they remain mere curiousities today.

The only recorded invasion of the Mica Majority occurred in 3035, when a Tortuga pirate force commanded by Paula "Lady Death" Trevaline entered the system. Within days the pirates realized that the Mican domes contained only a fraction of the wealth they had expected to find. Frustrated by the lack of plunder and unaccustomed to the frigid temperatures of the polar worlds, the pirate force abandoned the Mica Majority after a few weeks.

Mica Majority Force Listing

Unit Name                        Experience   Regiments  Homeworld    
Larsen's Loners                  Regular         0.22    Mica Majority
     (CO: Major Jesse Larsen)

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