MercurySeveral areas of the Solar System, in the Belt and around the Earth, have been rendered impassable by debris and anti-matter dust. These areas are gradually expanding as gravity perturbs this material into wider and wider orbits.
All areas of the Solar System have huge numbers of destroyed and/or abandoned settlements, and the number increases continually as Humanity is slowly whittled away by the Hounds.
All estimates of the total population of the Solar System as a whole, and specific areas in particular can never be completely accurate as the continual Hound raids mean people are frequently killed or displaced from their homes. However, it is estimated that the total population of the Solar System in 2335 is 225 million sentients, divided between 180 million normal humans, 20 million superhumans and 25 million AI's.
All settlements are much smaller than they once were; the largest now only house tens of thousands of people whereas before the War settlements of millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions were common. This is partly due to the decline in the numbers of humanity, and partly for safety - many small settlements are considered safer than the same number of people concentrated in one place.
Every body of significant size in the Solar System, out to beyond the orbit of Pluto has at least one navigation/sensor/communications relay buoy orbiting it. Every inhabited body has at least two such satellites, as communications relays and 'address' beacons.
The following is a list of all the areas of the Solar System for which there is information:
Click on the section headings to return to the top of the page.
MercuryPresent population of about 200000 sentients, mainly of various superhuman types, but also about 8000 AI's in one of their independent societies. Pre-Hounds population was roughly two billion. About half of the current Human inhabitants are members of the Cult of the Angel who live on Mercury so as to be as close to their deity as possible, while most of the rest are involved in Mercury's huge mining industries, mainly descended from workers who settled on Mercury from a number of different nations and corporations, mining the heavy elements which are found in greater abundance on Mercury than anywhere else in the Solar System, though at very great depths. Because of this much of Mercury's surface is scarred by mining, either tailings from the deep tunnels or by the huge pits (excavated by bomb and energy beam) created to expose the mineral-bearing layers. The population is concentrated in a number of sites including the capital Pittsburgh Dva (Pittsburgh Two, originally a joint US-Russian mining colony, now a major mining/industrial complex for the General Systems corporation) and New Detroit, both of which are in the Caloris Basin. Other settlements include Caloris City (also in the Caloris Basin), Petrarch, Scarp City (centred on one of the cracks criss-crossing Mercury's crust), Fortune, Mother Lode (both sites of very rich mineral strikes) and Glacier City (built into the ice of one of Mercury's permanently-shaded polar craters). Mercury was also proposed as a site for an artificial high-temperature eco-system, but because of the arrival of the Hounds this project was never started.
VenusLike Mercury, a sparse population of about 100000 sentients, mainly superhumans, with a few thousand AI's, many of them involved in saving what they can of the severely damaged Venusian terraforming program live in the 480 degree celcius heat and 90 atmosphere pressure under Venus' overcast skies. The pre-War population was approximately thirty million. Other local industries included mining (e.g. in the Rhea Mons and Theia Mons, and in mountainous areas where the peaks are capped with metal, high in the element tellurium, condensed from the Venusian atmosphere), and high temperature and pressure chemistry. The population is widely dispersed among nearly one hundred small (populations vary from about 100 to about 10) semi-independent city-states including Nuevo Libreville (the overall administrative capital and largest city of Venus, population about 1800, located in the Ishtar Terra region), Neuvou Ogaluville, Mirador (the second city of Venus, on a hill East of Beta Regio, looking across the Guinevere Planatia) and Promesa, plus a few airborne balloon-cities. Many settlements are powered by lightning, which on Venus is more than one hundred times more frequent than on Earth, and which is captured by tall lightning rod structures on or around each settlement.
The people of Venus are descended from West Africans, dissident Turks looking for somewhere harsh to hone their spirits and Hispanics from the SAU, the Chilean Empire and what was the USA.
EarthPresent population zero; pre-War population of over sixty-five billion. A dead world, with its very geography altered by large-scale use of strategic weaponry and the fall of the four orbital towers it had before the coming of the Hounds (three complete, one under construction). The atmosphere now consists of fairly low-pressure water vapour since the original atmosphere was blown off in the first day of the war. Debris from the hundred thousand plus settlements of the Terrasphere which were in near-Earth space before the Hounds arrived (with a population of two billion in addition to that of the Earth itself), mines and anti-matter dust make space impassable to within about 150000 kilometres of the Earths surface (about halfway to the Moon). This volume is slowly expanding as gravity and collisions perturb the orbits of the particles. The constant collision of anti-matter particles with interplanetary dust and gas surrounds the Earth with a huge twinkling halo. The Earth also undergoes a continual bombardment by debris and anti-matter (although all anti-matter particles are fortunately destroyed when they hit the upper atmosphere).
What seems to be some kind of large mechanical ecosystem of unknown origin has grown up in the vicinity of what was Cuba in recent decades.
The MoonPopulation totalling 16 million sentients, divided among 1 million AI's, 13.5 million normal humans and 1.5 million superhumans, in several hundred settlements across the Moons surface. The pre-Hound population was about three billion people of all kinds. Several AI societies make their homes on the Moon. Most of the inhabited parts of the Moon are on the hemisphere facing away from the Earth as the near side receives an almost continuous rain of debris and anti-matter dust perturbed away from the Earth by the Moons gravity, and also still show massive scars from the impact of fragments of the Earths orbital towers in 2241. Even so all Lunar settlements are underground, and most also protect themselves with force shields. It is possible that at some point in the future the Moon may have to be evacuated as the Earth's debris cloud expands far enough to reach it. Even so, the Moon is a major mining site.
The Moon is home to New Mecca, present centre of the Muslim faith. Other major cities include Lunograd (a Soviet-founded city), Tycho City, Earthview, Imbrium, Serenatis, and Darkside (which also houses the head offices of the corporation Tranter Expediters).
Earths Trojan Point asteroids (L4 and L5)Both Earths leading and trailing Trojan points have settlements built up from thousands of potentially Earth-hitting asteroids whose orbits were adjusted for safety, starting in the 21st Century. The leading Trojans are known as the Praxis Archipelago (pre-War population fifteen million; current population roughly 80000). The trailing Trojans are known as the Tailchaser Archipelago (pre-War population eight million; present population about 40000). Haganah, one of the Tailchaser Islands, is home to a major set of Valiant-White Feather facilities.
Originally located in the Moon's L5 position. A total population of 35 million sentients, divided between 5 million superhumans, 25 million normal humans and 5 million AI's. Although severely damaged in the early days of the war, StarHolme is one of the few places to have rebuilt itself almost to its pre-war state and maintain most of its pre-Hound technology. In fact, it has built itself into what is essentially a huge warship. After its rebuilding, StarHolme was moved and now lies in the L2 LaGrange point which places the Moon between it and the Earth.
Because of StarHolme's retention of pre-Hound technology, although its output is not large StarHolme is one of the most highly regarded industrial centres in the Solar System. StarHolme is continually protected by a large force shield against the small but significant danger of collision with anti-matter particles spiralling out from the Earth.
Starholme also houses the central offices of the MBB corporation.
MarsPopulation of approximately 1 million sentients, divided between about 100000 superhumans, 20000 AI's and 880000 normal humans. Pre-War population of about 1.2 billion. Although severely set back by Hound activity, the Martian terraforming project gradually moves ahead, being careful to preserve the pink skies and blue sunrises and sunsets of the planet. This project includes adapted dinosaurs and lizard-men. Prior to the coming of the Hounds Mars possessed two orbital towers, but these were rapidly disassembled at the start of the War, before the Hounds could drop them on the planet.
Mars' inner moon, Phobos, contains the New Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic church. Its outer moon, Deimos, is the site of a major UN Naval base. Both of these moons orbits were altered to allow the building of the Martian orbital towers.
Major settlements include Rockettown, the first US settlement on Mars and former capital of the Martian Republic, Xianhongshan (Scarlet Mountain), the very first Martian settlement, Olympia (near Olympus Mons), Labyrinth City (in the Noctis Labyrinthus), Chaos, Tharsis, Mariner City (in the Valles Marineris), Ius, Tithonius and Coprates.
Before the coming of the Hounds, Mars was a single nation, the Martian Republic, mainly descended from Americans (who had seceded from the UMNA after the second American revolution) and Chinese (originally from the Xianhongshan settlement). Its flag, which is still occasionally seen (and is shown below), was a scarlet rectangle with a royal blue diagonal cross and an emerald green circle in the centre (red for Mars, blue for water, green for life); its military was MARSDEF (MArtian Republic Self-DEfence Force) and its warships were given the prefix MRS (Martian Republic Ship).
Mars is also home to the Cogema mining corporation, and the Tokugawa Biologicals corporation.
The Asteroid BeltThe most populous area of the Solar System, with a total population of about 114 million sentients, divided between 90 million normal humans, 10 million superhumans and 14 million AI's. It pre-War population was roughly fifteen billion sentients. The Belt's population is divided among thousands of inhabited rocks of various sizes, but the largest asteroids, such as Ceres and Vesta, which were among the first settled, tend to have the largest populations. The Belt is the Solar Systems major industrial centre. Several areas of the Belt have been rendered impassable by debris, mines and anti-matter dust released in the first days of the war.
Ceres, the largest asteroid, is home to the headquarters of the UN. Ceres' main city is Freeport, located directly adjacent to Hamada Landing, the largest remaining spaceport in the Solar System (named after the first person to land on Ceres), which extends for tens of kilometres over and under the surface of Ceres and includes the UN's largest naval base. Buried deep in the heart of Ceres, and reachable only by teleporter, is the War Room, the most heavily guarded location in the Solar System, from where the UN central command co-ordinates and runs the war against the Hounds. Only the finest and most trusted minds, of all kinds, are allowed inside; even so, there have been near misses.
Ceres is also home to the Great Sky Road transport/shipping company, the Thyssen-Farben corporation, and the Unity Communications corporation. The asteroid Vesta is home to the head offices of New Nippon Steel, while Pallas houses the central offices of Nogawa-Ashpool. The asteroid Juno is home to the General Systems corporation.
There are many settlements in the belt. Some of them are listed here.
JupiterHuman population zero, Hound population estimated to be more than 500 million, more than half of which is thought to live within the atmosphere of Jupiter itself. The pre-War population of Jupiter and its moons was roughly a billion sentients, including those who had colonised the atmosphere of Jupiter itself. Although several areas of the Jovian system, particularly around the moon Callisto, which actually had parts of its surface layers melted in the early days of the war, were rendered almost impassable by debris, mines and anti-matter dust this does not seem to bother the Hounds at all. In addition to the facilities on all of Jupiters moons, several large facilities are known to exist within the atmosphere of Jupiter itself from their emissions of heat and hard radiation. The largest of these facilities is thought to be within Jupiters Great Red Spot. Telescopic observation from long range has revealed large numbers of Hound 'nests' floating in the Jovian atmosphere. These appear to be gauzy constructions of cobwebs and pale foam, often kilometres in extent, which drift with the wind.
IO
Jupiters Trojan Point asteroids (L4 and L5)Current population of about 22 million sentients, consisting of 18 million normal humans, 2 million superhumans and 2 million AI's; pre-War population of 50 million in the leading Trojans, and sixty million in the trailing Trojans. As in the Belt this population is distributed between a large number of inhabited rocks, and also like the Belt these asteroids are a major industrial centre.
The capital of the trailing Trojans is the Russian-descended asteroid Vatutinburg; other asteroids in the trailing Trojans include Glasnost and Peristroika (a close binary pair).
The settlement of Winchester, in the Leading Trojans, houses the head office of the Valiant-White Feather corporation, while Four Solitudes, also in the Leading Trojans, houses the HQ of Hitachi Nanonics.
Saturn and its moonsPopulation about 3 million sentients, of whom roughly 2 million inhabit Titan, a few thousand (exclusively superhumans) inhabit the clouds of Saturn itself and the rest are spread across Saturn's many other moons (including Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Telesto, Calypso, Dione, Helene, Rhea, Hyperion, Iapetus and Phoebe), plus some who live within Saturn's ring system itself. The population includes about 250000 AI's, most of whom belong to the 101 AI society and who inhabit the moon Tethys, 300000 superhumans and 2.6 million normal humans. The pre-Hound population of Saturn and its moons (not including Titan) was roughly 1.6 billion sentients.
TITAN
TETHYS
ChironThe largest of many asteroids, most of which were once inhabited but are now abandoned due to the coming of the Hounds, whose orbits lie entirely in the outer Solar System, forming what is known as the Kuiper Belt. Chiron is the home of the Gestalt society, founded in 2195. It is an amalgam of over fifty thousand of all types of sentients who are attempting to evolve themselves into a single collective consciousness, which they believe will be greater than the sum of its component parts. All members of the society are continually mind-linked to all of the others and experiment with different types of mental disciplines in their attempts to bring about their merging. All children born to the society make a choice when they reach adulthood of whether they wish to join the society or not. Those who do not usually leave for other settlements, while those who do join (the majority) tend never to leave Chiron again. Although the society has achieved some success (and provided a great deal of information to psychologists) it is still far from completion, and problems still exist in areas such as the integration of personality without the overall loss of initiative, invention and adaptability. However, it is seen by some as the ultimate in democracy, allowing members free access to all information held within the society at any time, and consensus among the society to be reached on almost any subject within minutes. All members of the Gestalt society refer to themselves as 'We', and are considered quite strange by outsiders as they often become distracted (or more accurately literally absent-minded) due to their interacting with other members of the society.
Uranus and its moonsPopulation about 1 million sentients, spread fairly evenly across the five major moons (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon), with smaller settlements on the other ten minor moons (Puck, Belinda, Rosalind, Portia, Juliet, Desdemona, Cressida, Bianca, Ophelia and Cordelia) and in parts of the Uranian ring system. About 100000 of the people are superhumans, 50000 are AI's. As with Saturn, a few thousand superhumans actually live within the Uranian atmosphere. The pre-War population of Uranus and its moons was roughly 200 million people.
Uranus's third moon, the 1110km diameter Umbriel, was the home of the Virek Umbriel Reserve University (VURU), an independent AI society specialising in research into deep fundamental physics. It was originally a UMNA government research station with close links to many UMNA universities. In 2146 it became independent by consensus, with the aid of donations from Gunter Virek, a German industrialist, and continued it's course in deep physics. VURU continued to study deep problems in physics (one of the few places in the Solar System which continued to do so after the coming of the Hounds) until 2324, when it was destroyed, with only a few survivors, in a major Hound attack.
Neptune and its moonsLike Uranus, a population of about 1 million sentients, divided between about 800000 on the major moon Triton and the rest spread evenly across Nereid and the other ten minor moons (including Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa and Proteus), with a few more in the Neptunian ring system (including the three rings named Adams, LeVerrier and Galle). About 200000 of the population are superhumans, 400000 are AI's forming several separate AI societies, and 400000 are normal humans. The pre-Hound population was more than 250 million people.
A project to give Triton an eco-system was in its first stages when the Hounds attacked, and has had to be abandoned.
Pluto and CharonA small population of about 100000 sentients, half of whom are superhumans, and half of whom are AI's, divided fairly evenly between Pluto and Charon. The pre-Hound population was slightly more than twenty million sentients.
Many of the sentients on Pluto and Charon are involved in attempting to save the Plutonian eco-system project which, because it was at an earlier stage of development than the Titanian eco-system (though older than that on Triton, around Neptune), was much more severely damaged when the Hounds first attacked.
The Cometary HaloThe total population of the Solar System's cometary halo is estimated to be about 12 million sentients, spread over a volume thousands of times greater than that of the Solar System out to Pluto, and living on scattered cometary bodies. The population is divided between about 10 million superhumans and about 2 million AI's divided between various AI societies, with a small scattering of normal humans. The pre-War Halo population was estimated at roughly ten billion sentients.
Because of their great separation from each other and the inner solar system, contact between the various settlements and the rest of the UN tends to somewhat intermittent. This great separation of settlements made them very vulnerable to the Hounds in the first days of the War; many were destroyed, or simply vanished. The Halo is now very sparsely populated, and what settlements there are tend to cluster together for safety and mutual defence, usually according to common pre-War interests. The Halo also contains the Hope Project, although the location(s) of this is a very closely guarded secret. The most distant Halo settlement is nearly a light year away from the Sun.
In addition to the above, before the arrival of the Hounds there were a number of asteroid settlements which were mobile and moved around the Solar System at will. However, since the arrival of the Hounds they have proved very vulnerable to attack and their numbers have shrunk almost to zero as they either settle down somewhere within a defensive perimeter or are destroyed.
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Or, for more on the real Solar System, go to the Nine Planets page.