Ceres Station
Overview
Ceres Station is the belt’s largest settlement and its de facto capital, built into and around the dwarf planet Ceres. With a population of approximately 140,000, it serves as headquarters for the major mining consortiums, the primary commercial hub, and the closest thing the belt has to a city. The station is a study in contrasts: corporate towers adjacent to worker barracks, polished transit corridors leading to improvised maintenance warrens.
Structure and Layout
- Main habitat: A rotating ring structure providing 0.3g of artificial gravity
- Corporate district: Low-gravity towers extending from the ring
- Worker sections: Higher-density housing in older construction
- Docks: A massive non-rotating structure handling constant traffic
- The Free Zone: A grey-market commercial district, loosely regulated
The rotating ring creates a slight Coriolis effect – dropped objects curve perceptibly.
Population
Ceres houses roughly 70,000 permanent residents, 50,000 rotating contract workers, and 20,000 corporate and administrative staff. The station’s ethnic diversity is striking: Nigerian, Chinese, Brazilian, and European communities maintain distinct neighborhoods, each with its own character. You can navigate by smell – palm oil, soy sauce, coffee – as much as by signage.
Governance
Ceres operates under nominal Federation authority, but effective control belongs to the corporations. Security is provided by corporate contractors. The Free Zone operates under informal agreements that no one puts in writing.
History
Ceres was the first permanent belt settlement, established in 2118 as a scientific research station. Corporate investment transformed it through the 2120s-2140s, with the current station structure completed in 2156. The strikes of the 2160s began here, and the memory of that failure still shapes station politics.
Atmosphere
Air quality varies by section: corporate areas run clean full-spectrum lighting, while worker sections breathe recirculated air under dim salvage panels. The constant rumble of dock operations travels through the hull. The Free Zone provides services the corporations won’t – from unlicensed medicine to untraceable communications.
The permanent population has developed its own culture: a practical fatalism mixed with dark humor, fierce local loyalties, and a resigned awareness that Earth doesn’t care about them.