Eden Prime – Exodus Cluster, Utopia System
Colony Founded: 2152 CE
Population: 4.2 million
Capital: Constant
This idyllic verdant world was one of the first human colonies established beyond the Charon relay. Discovered roughly at the same time as Terra Nova, the planet's fertile biosphere and unusually accommodating environment drew heavy immigration from Earth and attracted significant development shortly after its establishment. As a consequence of its reputation as a paradise, immigration remains strong, especially among Alliance veterans in early retirement who have settled there in farming plots promised for their military service. Although not as developed as other of the 'Extra-solar Giants', the economy of Eden Prime has consistently shown robust growth, with agricultural ventures and tourism being the pillars of its economic base. The colony's administration has famously limited resource extraction and manufacturing activity to a bare minimum, and enacted measures ensuring sustainable and organized growth - no doubt to preserve the world's status as a pristine refuge.
Eden Prime was the target of a coordinated geth attack in 2183, notable for being the first sighting of geth outside the Perseus Veil in more than three centuries. The events were spearheaded by the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius, with the aim of recovering a functioning Prothean artifact that had been unearthed some days beforehand. The attack killed 2,108 people, injured some 5,000 others, and caused an estimated 15 million credits in property and infrastructure damage. The resultant outcry over the incident led to significant political backlash, with various colonies banding together to demand that the Alliance more seriously commit itself to the defense of human settlements. In response, the Alliance made assurances that it would revise its military strategy to be more accommodating of current factors; to immediately allay fears, it dispatched the Seventh Fleet to the Exodus Cluster, and offered generous aid- and reconstruction packages to the colony.
In 2185, the planet was named a "culturally significant site" by Earth's Council for Preservation of Human History and Culture. The Eden Prime Memorial & Museum - established on the site of the attack -, along with a memorial park commemorating Commander Shepard, have both become tourist attractions in their own right.
Elysium – Petra Nebula, Vetus System
Colony Founded: 2160 CE
Population: 8.3 million
Population (Orbital Stations): 224,000
Capital: Illyria
Discovered in 2157 by the Alliance's Naval Exploration Flotilla, the subsequent legal battle for the planet's colonization rights among Earth's nations became famous for its fierceness and intensity, topped only by the furor that would occur five years later in regards to the colonization of Watson. The Alliance eventually granted the rights to the United North American States (UNAS), although several other nations would continue to formally protest the decision for years, alleging corruption and conflicts of interests. The reason for this competition was not only Elysium's status as a garden world (and a pleasant one at that), but its strategically-important location at the nexus of several primary and secondary mass relays.
The colony is divided into 34 administrative divisions, which are referred to as 'themes'. Its population of 8.5 million makes it the Systems Alliance's most populous colony; in addition, with almost half of its population being non-human (41%), the colony is host to the largest permanent alien population in Alliance space, making it a diplomatically valuable world. By nominal GDP, it boasts the Alliance's largest economy, and its high population grants it considerable clout in the Arcturus Parliament. Its capital city of Illyria is the largest metropolitan area outside of Earth, with a population of roughly 3.1 million and growing. The planet is the sole colony in the Systems Alliance to host two separate municipalities with populations exceeding 1 million: Illyria, and Galatia (with a population of 1,002,031).
Unsurprisingly, Elysium is widely considered to be humanity's most successful colony. It ranks highly in several measures of socioeconomic performance, which has attracted significant amounts of immigration from the rest of Citadel space. Because of this, the planet is held to be a 'melting pot', with its eclectic mix of various human and alien cultures, which has often been held as a shining example of humanity's ability to successfully integrate to the greater galactic community.
Economy:
The early 2160s in Elysium were marked by instability stemming from frequent pirate and slaver raids that continually disrupted economic development, leaving the world lagging behind the leading colonies and their economies. During this period, the colony was mostly dependent on off-world aid from both the Alliance and the UNAS. The government used this money to accomplish a self-supporting economy, launching the popularly-dubbed 'New Community Movement' in order to develop rural areas. The strong leadership of the government figures, as well as the successful colonization recruitment drives served as catalysts for the growth of the Elysian economy.
Following the resultant stabilization, Elysium invested heavily in its manufacturing sector, with a strategy of import substitution. With the government showering generous incentives on industrial and manufacturing activities, electronic and chemical industries flourished. The increased output provided by industrial activity also allowed Elysium to develop a diverse and sophisticated services industry; furthermore, its position at a nexus of the mass relay network enabled it to become a major exporter and a hub of interstellar logistics and commerce. The late 2170s saw further development as resource extraction operations established themselves on the various bodies of the Vetus System to exploit the readily-available materials there: helium-3 from Joppa, nickel and cobalt from Gilead, and strategic metals from Sidon. Because of its high turian population, Elysium has also become the Alliance's largest producer of dextro-amino foodstuffs.
Over the twenty year period from 2165 to 2185, Elysium's economy grew rapidly. These decades of economic prosperity combined high productivity with high average wages and high consumption, and were also characterized by a well-developed system of social benefits. According to various studies, the real purchasing power of the average colonist's salary went up by 188% between 2170 and 2180, while over-all private consumption increased by 200% in the period 2170-82. The Elysian standard of living, which had been damaged by intermittent attacks and the general instability of the Skyllian Verge, became one of the Alliance's highest. The population also became far more urbanized towards the end of the 2170s; many rural themes experienced population declines while the larger metropolitan areas grew considerably, especially that of Illyria.
By 2181, Elysium's growth rate of 9.7% had earned it a place as one of the 'Extra-Solar Giants'; in 2183, it overtook Bekenstein as the largest economy in the Alliance. Moreover, the world is noted for its self-sufficiency: a military-affiliated think tank in 2186 released a report detailing the Elysian's economy ability to meet its own needs in the event of a massive disruption of the mass relay network.
Military:
The colony's location in the volatile Skyllian Verge has historically made security a primary concern. In its early years, the world was subject to frequent attacks that made long-term growth prospects bleak. As a result of these and the perceived inadequacy of the small Alliance garrison on-world, the colony's government enacted reforms that allowed it to create and maintain an official militia, formally known as the 'Elysium Territorial Defense Reserve'. The establishment of a competent military force served to stem the raids, which became less common after 2165 (by the time of the Skyllian Blitz in 2176, attacks had become rare occurrences). To date, the Elysian militia is one of the better-equipped and trained colonial forces, wielding space-flight capability in order to defend Elysian outposts on the moons of Joppa and settlements on Sidon.
During the events of the Skyllian Blitz, it was the persistence of the colonial militia – and the prompt arrival of the entire Arcturus Fleet – that routed the assorted band of slavers, pirates, and batarian warlords.
Following the well-coordinated attack – and in response to the colony's undeniable importance to the Alliance –, the decision was made to station the Alliance Navy's Second Fleet in the vicinity of the Elysium. Although its primary missions are conflict deterrence and providing regional security, the Second Fleet has – in the event of a general war – the capability to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in the Skyllian Verge, in accordance with the Alliance strategy. Since 2176, there have been no subsequent raids.
Aside from the significant Alliance presence and Elysium's well-organized colonial militia, the planet's defenses are bolstered by an array of orbital defense cannons (installed in 2180) and various listening outposts on strategic locations. All of these have contributed to making the Vetus System one of the most heavily-guarded – and secure – systems in Alliance space, with the obvious exclusion of Arcturus and the Solar System.
Education:
As is typical in Alliance worlds, education at the primary and secondary level is supported by the colonial government. Elysium is considered somewhat of an academic and intellectual center, owing to the presence of two educational institutions of note. The first is the prestigious Jon Grissom Academy, which is hosted aboard an orbital station at the planet's (L1) Lagrange point. Founded in 2176, it educates more than 2,100 pupils, aged 13 to 20 years. According to the commercially-published 'Educational Review Guide', the school "arguably imparts the finest, most in-depth, education to its students out of any other institution in the Alliance". The Academy also famously caters to biotic individuals, with programs aimed not only at training students in effectively harnessing their abilities, but also on providing philosophical and moral guidance on the ethical use of these.
The second institution of note is the University of Elysium. Established in 2173 and boasting a student population of 40,103 (2185), it is one of currently only two human institutions of higher education located beyond the Solar System. Unlike its counterpart on Bekenstein, the University offers a more comprehensive set of courses and degrees, although it is especially noted for its programs in history, political sciences, and (xeno-)archeology.
The University was infamous for its 'student activism' during the 2170s, which often resulted in protests and riots that usually pitted human students against non-human ones. As expressed by a visiting asari lecturer: "[The human students] affirmed that the turians were tyrannical and cruel, as well as stupid, owing to their stereotypical inability to succeed at business without the aid of the volus; meanwhile, the turians alleged that the humans were effeminate, cowardly, and weak, pointing to their inability to defend their outlying worlds from the third-rate batarians. After such insults from words they often came to blows." To counter this, the University instituted the 'nations' system in 2179, establishing regional corporations of students holding limited responsibility over aspects of housing and disciplinary action (i.e. the human nation oversees the human students, whereas the turian nation is responsible for the turian students; an asari nation was established in 2182).
