Wiki
Lore, characters, and worldbuilding.
Belt Labor Contracts
The legal and economic machinery that traps hundreds of thousands of workers in debt bondage while maintaining the fiction of voluntary employment.
Belt Technology
Technology in the belt is advanced but not magical -- the limiting factor is rarely what's possible, but what's available, affordable, and permitted.
Belt Worker Culture
The values, practices, and identity forged by three generations of isolation, exploitation, and shared survival in the asteroid belt.
Cade Brennan
A veteran mining foreman with fifteen years in the belt, trying to finish his contract and go home.
Ceres Station
The belt's largest settlement and de facto capital -- a city-sized station built into the dwarf planet Ceres, where corporate towers stand beside worker barracks.
Dieter Thiel
Director of Security for the Terran Resource Consortium -- a belt-born enforcer who believes the system is broken but necessary.
Director Geoffrey Ashby
A TRC board member and architect of the belt's contract labor system -- a man who sees human beings as variables in an equation.
Dominika Horak
Refinery supervisor at Vesta Processing -- a pragmatic operator who reads the pressure and positions herself accordingly.
Extraction Platforms
The front line of belt mining -- smaller installations attached to productive asteroids, where the actual work happens.
Hal Dresner
A veteran union organizer and de facto leader of Hygeia Station, carrying the scars and memories of the belt's last failed labor movement.
Hygeia Station
An officially abandoned colony turned free settlement -- the belt's closest thing to a community outside the contract system.
Lieutenant Cara Engel
A TRC security team leader whose professional competence makes her one of the belt's most effective enforcers.
Raul Medeiros
A veteran blaster and demolitions expert whose loyalty to his crew is absolute, even when his faith in everything else is not.
Senator Ruth Ashford
Senior Federation Senator and chair of the Commerce Committee, whose decades of policy decisions have shaped belt labor law.
Seren Varga
A former Terran Navy pilot turned belt miner, known for her moral clarity and tactical precision.
Terran Commerce Authority (TCA)
The governmental body responsible for regulating space commerce -- a captured regulator whose effectiveness is limited by design.
Terran Resource Consortium (TRC)
The dominant corporate entity in the solar system -- controller of 60% of belt extraction and the infrastructure that keeps workers alive.
The Belt
The asteroid belt -- humanity's industrial frontier, where immense wealth and immense desolation exist side by side.
The Contract System
The socio-economic model governing belt labor -- presented as fair exchange on Earth, experienced as a trap in the belt.
The Independent Operators
The belt's non-corporate workers -- haulers, prospectors, and service providers who exist outside the contract system, surviving on knowledge, mobility, and mutual obligation.
The Scatter
The hundreds of smaller mining platforms and habitats spread across the belt beyond the major stations -- isolated, dangerous, and ungoverned.
The Terran Federation
The governmental authority over Earth, Luna, and the belt -- nominally democratic, practically a corporate-influenced oligarchy.
Tobias Kone
A belt-born systems technician whose belief in the power of truth drives him to uncover what others would rather stay buried.
Vesta Processing
The belt's primary refinery complex -- dirty, dangerous, essential, and the birthplace of belt-born culture.
Vesta Station
The belt's second-largest settlement -- more industrial, more working-class, and more independently minded than Ceres.
Ace
Hovering AI sphere with secrets older than the Confederation. Robert Fannec's partner and conscience.
AI Systems
From simple automation to sapient consciousness, artificial intelligence shapes every aspect of Confederation life.
Akamai
Ma'Tak's AI-enhanced companion. Small, clever, and surprisingly useful in tight spaces.
Brightrock Belt
Abandoned asteroid refinery serving as Robert's hidden base. Home in a hostile universe.
Cabo Gimba
Leader of the Thepolian resistance. Commander who has watched his people scattered and refuses to let them be forgotten.
Colonel McAllister
Captured Confederation officer with knowledge of Project Renewal. A source of intelligence---and moral complexity.
Commander Marcus Kane
Most decorated SLPS officer. Hunting Robert Fannec has become personal---and complicated.
Communications
How information travels across the galaxy. From personal comm links to interstellar relay networks, communication shapes everything.
Consul Torvek
Amphibian diplomat representing the Outer Colonies Collective. Believes change can happen without burning everything down.
Director Enna Kess
Head of Confederation counter-insurgency operations. The person responsible for hunting Robert Fannec.
Dr. Werner Holt
Former Friengels researcher who defected with knowledge of Project Renewal. His expertise is invaluable---his conscience is complicated.
Fold Drives
Faster-than-light technology enabling galactic civilization. Without fold drives, the Confederation couldn't exist.
Frank Harmon
Smuggler captain who's been fighting the system longer than Robert's been alive. Brings experience, contacts, and hard-won wisdom.
Friengels Corporation
Biotech megacorporation with Parliament connections. Their research facilities hide terrible secrets.
Galactic Infrastructure
The invisible framework that makes galactic civilization possible. Stations, networks, and systems spanning thousands of stars.
GreenNet
Hacker network exposing Confederation corruption. Robert Fannec's digital identity and symbol of the resistance.
Indrilum
Scaled engineers who think in generations. Famous for their technical expertise and multi-limbed dexterity.
Kroptsovians
A collective-minded species whose philosophy of absolute equality has evolved into something that looks suspiciously like subjugation.
Kylaxians
Merchant species with galaxy-spanning trade networks. They'll sell to anyone---neutrality is good for business.
Lieutenant Vera Kane
Commander Kane's daughter with her own complicated loyalties. A lieutenant questioning everything she was raised to believe.
Ma'Tak the Fourteenth
Indrilum engineer carrying thirteen generations of legacy. Chief engineer of the Acus'Rube.
Matriarch Cyrene
The oldest and most powerful member of the Parliament. Has ruled from the shadows for centuries.
Medical Technology
Advanced medical technology can heal almost any wound---if you can afford it or access it.
Minister Felda Shleak
Xylasian minister with centuries of experience. Architect of Project Renewal and the face of Parliament's cruelty.
Mool
Impoverished mining colony where Robert Fannec grew up. Where the disappearances began. Where everything started.
Morathi
Amphibian diplomats known for patience and long-term thinking. The negotiators of the galaxy.
Pete
Homeless mentor who helped Robert Fannec when no one else would. Some debts can never be repaid.
Picobots
Nanoscale machines that can disassemble anything. Highly restricted, incredibly dangerous, disturbingly useful.
Project Renewal
The Parliament's most closely guarded secret. What is Project Renewal---and what does it require?
Rail Guns
Magnetic acceleration weapons that dominate Confederation combat. No energy beams here---just physics made lethal.
Robert Fannec
Former drone technician turned revolutionary leader. The most wanted man in the Confederation.
Security Systems
From biometric scanners to surveillance networks, security technology protects---and controls---Confederation citizens.
SLPS (Sub-Lunar Protective Service)
The Confederation's primary law enforcement arm. They enforce the law---and the Parliament's will.
Spacecraft
From personal shuttles to massive battleships, the spacecraft of the Confederation define how civilization moves through the stars.
SSS (Syndicate of Silent Service)
Thepolian assassin guild. They train the deadliest killers in the galaxy---and enforce contracts with lethal precision.
The Acus'Rube
Robert Fannec's salvaged freighter. Home base for the resistance crew. The only place they can truly relax.
The Black Market
The shadow economy of the Confederation. Where you go when legal channels say no---and you're willing to pay the price.
The Core Worlds
The wealthy heart of the Confederation. Where power concentrates and the privileged live in comfort built on distant exploitation.
The Outer Colonies
The frontier of the Confederation. Less oversight, more exploitation. Where people go to work, struggle, and sometimes disappear.
The Parliament
Shadow rulers of the Confederation. Immortal oligarchs who have controlled galactic civilization for three centuries.
The Voices
Fragmented consciousnesses that whisper in the digital spaces. What remains when consciousness transfer goes wrong.
Thepolians
Stone-skinned survivors of a harsh volcanic world. Displaced by the Confederation, fighting to reclaim their future.
Thetis
Human colony world with better conditions than most fringe settlements. Industrial rather than purely extractive. Where Robert's extended family lives.
Tianmao
Avian scholars and archivists. Officially extinct---but the records may be incomplete.
Trade Routes
The invisible highways connecting the galaxy. Trade routes enable commerce, communication, and civilization itself.
Transponders
Ship identification technology the Confederation uses to track every vessel. Essential for legal travel---and a liability for those who'd rather not be found.
United Confederation
Galactic government spanning hundreds of worlds. Bureaucratic, corrupt, and controlled by the Parliament.
Wido
Former Parliament assassin turned resistance fighter. Thepolian operative with a deadly past.
Xylasians
Purple-eyed reptilian species occupying many positions of power. Cold-blooded in multiple senses.
Zmetek Beta Station
Neutral space station on the edge of lawful space. A haven for those who prefer to operate without oversight.
Zorath
Diverse trading hub where species and cultures mix freely. If you need something, Zorath probably has it.