The Belt

Overview

“The Belt” refers to the main asteroid belt, a vast, diffuse ring of rock and ice between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In the year 2180, it is humanity’s industrial frontier – the source of 80% of the rare metals and minerals that fuel Earth’s advanced economy. It is a place of immense wealth and immense desolation, a scattered archipelago of tiny pressurized habitats in an ocean of vacuum and radiation.

Geography

The Belt is not a dense field of rock. It is mostly empty space. Travel times between major stations are measured in days or weeks, even with efficient fusion drives. The total area is enormous, making centralized control difficult and creating gaps where independent operators can exist.

Environment

The environment is unremittingly hostile:

Vacuum: Any hull breach is instantly fatal.
Radiation: Solar flares and background cosmic radiation require heavy shielding. Exposure is a chronic health issue for workers.
Zero-G/Low-G: Most work is done in zero gravity. Long-term exposure leads to bone density loss and other health problems. Even large, spun-up stations like Ceres provide less than standard Earth gravity.
Isolation: Distances create significant communication delays (10-40 minutes to Earth) and a profound sense of psychological isolation. Help is never close.

Major Locations

Ceres Station: The largest object in the belt, converted into the administrative and commercial hub. The “capital” of the belt.
Vesta Station: The second-largest settlement, home to shipyards and manufacturing. The belt’s shop floor.
Vesta Processing: The primary refining and processing complex. An industrial workhorse.
Extraction Platforms: Hundreds of smaller, often mobile stations attached to mineral-rich asteroids, where the raw work of mining happens.
The Scatter: The hundreds of smaller sites beyond the major stations – isolated, dangerous, and loosely governed.
Hab-Ships: Aging, mobile habitats that house and transport crews between extraction sites.

History

Large-scale exploitation of the belt began in the early 22nd century, driven by the depletion of rare resources on Earth. The Terran Resource Consortium led the charge, establishing the initial infrastructure and the Contract System that would become the standard for labor. The belt was framed as a place of opportunity, but quickly became a place where people went for a five-year contract and often never returned.

Current State

The belt in 2180 is a mature industrial complex operating under a quasi-feudal system. Corporations act as lords, providing housing, food, and “protection” (life support) in exchange for labor. Workers are effectively tied to the company by debt. A small independent class exists on the fringes, but they are increasingly squeezed by corporate power.

Tensions

Corporate vs. Labor: The defining conflict of belt life.
Independents vs. Corporate: Small-time miners and haulers struggling against monopolization.
Belt-born vs. Earth-born: A cultural divide between those who have never known Earth and see the belt as home, and those who are just serving time.
Humanity vs. Environment: The constant, low-grade war against vacuum, radiation, and the sheer emptiness of space.

Sensory Details

The ever-present, low-frequency hum of life support systems, air recyclers, and machinery. The sudden, terrifying silence of a power failure. The metallic clang of tools on hull plating. The overwhelming blackness of space, punctured by the brilliant, sharp-edged light of the distant sun or the harsh glare of a work lamp. The subtle wrongness of low gravity. The constant, low-grade chill from imperfect heating. The vibration of a ship’s drive felt through the deck plating. Air that’s always a little too dry, a little too stale.