For eons, all that has been and all that would become humanity has resided in the Local Cluster. Every atom, every molecule, every cell that has made up mankind for all its existence has come from this one area of space. While the changes of recent years have ended that paradigm, the importance of the Local Cluster cannot be understated. Within its systems, over 11 billion people, the vast majority of humanity, reside. Connected to the Local Cluster are the Hyades Cluster and Arcturus Stream, both important centers of colonization. The industries of Sol, and more recently the rest of the Local Cluster, have fuelled the expansion of humanity across the stars.
SOL:
Stars: 1 (G2)
Planets: 8 (4 terrestrial, 4 gaseous)
Asteroid Belts: 2
Population: 11.7 billion
Description: The cradle of humanity, Sol contains the vast majority of the human race, alongside the majority of mankind's industry. While a large majority remain on Earth, many planets and areas around the system have respectable populations in the millions. The industry is far more spread out than the population, with the rest of Sol providing notable amounts of resource extraction and manufacturing ability, while Earth itself provides most of the minds, knowledge, and innovation.
Mercury: A small planet near Sol itself, Mercury provides a useful location for solar energy collection and resource extraction. The population of Mercury is mostly made of temporary workers, on months-long assignments to the world before returning to Earth or another world, leaving only a few thousand as permanent residents.The world and its LaGrange Point serve as the center for antimatter production in human space, leading to a relatively high military presence.
Venus: The most populous world outside of Earth, Venus was one of the main focuses of colonization in the 21st and early 22nd centuries, with millions now calling it home. Massive extractors strip valuable gasses from the planet's atmosphere, while robo-miners extract materials from its inhospitable surface. The planet's population lives on numerous floating cities and atmospheric extractors, some transitory workers, but most (over four million) there to stay, living in the skies of the hostile world.
Earth: The homeworld of humanity, upon Earth resides the vast majority of humanity. Some live in conditions greater than ever seen in human history, others with their lives not much changed from two centuries past. The greatest asset of Earth is its people, both to export to the colonies and as scientists and engineers and philosophers. While the average intelligence and education of Earthers is lower than within the colonies, there are simply so many people it makes up the difference a thousand fold. Earth's moon, Luna, is one of the industrial hearts of humanity, filled with mining bases and factories and shipyards that form the core of mankind's space based industry. While most of the work is done by people residing on Earth, enough live on Luna due to its proximity to rival the most populous worlds in Sol, and far surpass any extrasolar colony with its millions of inhabitants. In Earth and Lunar orbits, alongside the LaGrange Points between the two, the most shipyards in human space reside.
Mars: A red, dead world that has captivated the minds of Earth's children for centuries, Mars saw a notable colonization drive, though lesser to the one for Venus or Jupiter or the belt and short lived once it was realized there was little to be gained on the world. It saw a small revival after the Mars Ruins were discovered, the new tech making travel far easier and the possibility of finding more ruins too tantalizing to resist. Since then, however, Mars has become a backwater, mostly forgotten in the race for worlds beyond the boundaries of Sol.
Mars-Jupiter Belt: The center of a massive gold rush in the second half of the 21st century, the Mars-Jupiter Belt holds millions of individual asteroids, some as small as a fleck of paint, and others more massive than even the greatest mountains on Earth. The heart of the Mars-Jupiter Belt is Ceres, the largest object within it and the holder of the vast shipyards. The Belt is dotted with many small asteroid colonies, each holding anywhere from a single hermit, living alone, to tens of thousands of people, small nations all their own. Ceres itself boasts a population not far from a million people, mostly miners, workers, and prospectors.
Jupiter: The center of a miniature star system all its own, Jupiter itself has seen little colonization or exploitation due to its radiation, but its moons are a different story. While they each individually are not that impressive, with only Io and Ganymede breaking a million people, combined they rival the inner worlds in population. With the moons so close together, they are specialized, having their siblings fill in the gaps where they falter. Io is the industrial heart, holding the most factories and shipyards in the outer system, though with Titan catching up. Ganymede supplies the majority of the food and remote workers for the moons, while Europa provides the same for water and fusion fuel. Calisto provides much of the heavier elements absent in most of the outer planets, while the lesser moons also provide resources to fuel the factories and shipyards of Io. While the moons of Jupiter have fought, even warring against each other, they are so intertwined that it may be better to think of them as one world instead of dozens.
Saturn: The center of Helium 3 extraction in human space, fewer of such facilities exist outside of Saturn's atmosphere than within it. The fuel gained from the ringed world powers almost all of Sol, endless tons of He3 sent into the inner system for reactors and endless more sent to ships for reaction mass. Beyond the atmosphere of the giant resides another bastion of mankind, Titan, the frozen world proving a great location for industry, only hampered by its distance from Earth. Nonetheless, it grew quite rapidly, being used to create the infrastructure of Saturn and fabricate what was needed for expansion further into the system's reaches. This changed with mankind's expansion into the stars. With its location no longer a problem and its industry needed greatly, Titan expanded rapidly, reaching a million people in 2153 and expected to gain another by 2165.
Uranus: A gas giant of modest size, little colonization has reached Uranus, with only a few small colonies on its moons and some gas extraction in its atmosphere.
Neptune: The furthest planet of Sol, Neptune is almost silent, few people coming to the world when the rest of the galaxy has opened up to them. Almost no one calls Neptune home except for pirates and those charged with hunting them down.
Kuiper Belts: The farthest reaches of the Sol System, with only the Oort Cloud beyond it, only one area of the Kuiper Belts has any notable activity, the area around Pluto and the Charon Relay. Objects around Pluto and the dwarf itself are mined for resources and fuel due to their proximity to traffic through the Relay, with many turned into defensive installations meant to guard the Relay from without and within. Outside of the area around Pluto, only a handful of communities live in the Kuiper Belts, mostly those wishing for isolation who don't believe the Mars-Jupiter Belt provides it.
Alpha Centauri:
Stars: 3 (2 G2, 1 K1)
Planets: 12 (8 terrestrial, 4 gaseous)
Asteroid Belts: 4
Population: 1.4 million
Description: The closest star system to Sol, Alpha Centauri was also the first reached by humanity once it gained the ability to go faster than light. While lacking a true Garden World, Alpha Centauri has seen heavy colonization in the years since its exploration due to its proximity to Sol and many valuable resources. The Manswell Expedition attempted to reach the system in the 2070s, but contact with the Expedition was lost and it has never been found.
Farpoint: The first extrasolar world landed upon by humans, Farpoint resides in the orbit of Proxima Centauri, far from the rest of the system. Nonetheless, its vast deposits of heavy and rare earth metals have led to high levels of development, especially with its close proximity to Sol.
Farpoint-Delos Belt: A dense asteroid belt in the Proxima Centauri sub-System, the Belt is notable for holding large amounts of rare earth metals, leading to it holding several mining operations.
Delos: A modest gas giant smaller than Neptune, Delos is a common discharge sight for ships coming into the sub-System, which are mostly large Cargo Ships and thus can't land on Farpoint to discharge. It also holds some modest mining operations on its moons and gas extractors in its atmosphere.
Icaria: A world extremely close to Alpha Centauri B, Icaria is used as a solar collection station, though its dangerously close position to its star means no personnel operate on the world.
Naxos: A barren rock in close orbit of Alpha Centauri A, Naxos holds little of interest for exploitation, with only a few mining operations on the world slightly larger than Mercury.
Kefalonia: A very small gas giant in orbit of Alpha Centauri B, it is a point of heavy scientific debate on whether Kefalonia is a gas giant, or a terrestrial world with a very thick atmosphere. Some gas extraction facilities exist in the world's atmosphere, mostly for its oddly abundant argon, but far more important is the large eezo mining operations on its third largest moon, Krani.
Andros: A world with an atmosphere twice as thick as Earth's. Andros is home to a few mining operations, mostly on its northernmost continent. The world is in the orbit of Alpha Centauri A.
Kos: A modest gas giant in orbit of Alpha Centauri A, Kos has some gas extraction operations within its atmosphere alongside some mining operations on its moons.
Kos-Atlantis Belt: An asteroid belt between Kos and Atlantis in orbit of Alpha Centauri A, the Belt holds large amounts of eezo, leading to heavy mining. It also held several pirate havens, many of which were destroyed during an Alliance anti-piracy operation in 2156.
Atlantis: Home of a world spanning ocean, Atlantis is true to its name, having once been only covered a third in water, before a large icy body hit the world and left all but the highest mountain tops under the waves. Not a true Garden World, Atlantis only had some bacteria which fed off the world's high level of geothermal activity when the Farpoint Expedition reached it. Since then, however, several Earth aquatic species have been introduced, first starting at the bottom and slowly having large animals introduced. The hope is for the world's ocean to be as vibrant as Earth's once were by the turn of the century. Unfortunately, the inhospitable atmosphere of Atlantis precludes the introduction of any land based life. There are two main settlements on Atlantis, Atlantis itself, central base for the seeding effort, and Hephaestus, a large mining and manufacturing colony on the other side of the planet. This existence of Hephaestus has been highly contentious among supporters of the seeding effort, but no action has been taken against the colony. Most power on the world is geothermal in nature. The planet orbits Alpha Centauri A.
Kefalonia-Rhodes Belt: A modest asteroid belt between Kefalonia and Rhodes in orbit of Alpha Centauri B, the Belt holds several mining operations and pirate havens, most of which were destroyed during Alliance anti-piracy operations of 2156.
Rhodes: A Super Earth five times the mass of Earth in orbit of Alpha Centauri B, Rhodes holds several mining operations, mostly controlled from its moon Lindos, which provides gravity only slightly less than Venus and has its own mining operations.
Crete: A massive gas giant twice the mass of Jupiter in orbit of both Alpha Centauri A and B, Crete has seen some development on its moons, but not much compared to the inner system. It is the primary discharge point of Alpha Centauri for larger vessels.
Milos: A large terrestrial world half again the mass of Earth in orbit of both Alpha Centauri A and B, Milos has a thick and cold atmosphere with a surface covered in ice. The planet has seen some development, both in manufacturing and mining. In decades to come, as humanity's industry spreads out, Milos is expected to grow a large manufacturing base due to having similar conditions as Titan, but its proximity to Sol has hampered its development.
Ios: A small icy world slightly larger than Mercury, Ios is a popular discharging spot for smaller vessels, alongside a common fueling stop for those vessels. This has led to the world developing a healthy Helium 3 and Deuterium industry.
LACAILLE:
Stars: 1 (M0.5)
Planets: 3 (3 terrestrial)
Asteroid Belts: 0
Population: 0.6 million
Description: Home of the first Garden World discovered by humanity, the Lacaille System holds rich mineral resources alongside its crown jewel, but lacks any gas giants to provide fuel for vessels going to and from the system or as a discharge point, though Demeter provides all the deuterium the system could ever need from its oceans. Helium-3 is imported from Epsilon Indi, a system that was colonized almost for that sole purpose, with most large vessels discharging there too. The system's distance from Sol or any Relay (being over 10 light years from Sol) restricts colonization, but its nature as holding mankind's first extrasolar colony allows it to boast a respectable population of over half a million people.
Demeter: The crown jewel of the system, Demeter was the first Garden World discovered by humanity besides Earth. It also holds humanity's first extrasolar colony, a claim that brings pride to its colonists. The vast majority of colonization in the system goes to Demeter or one of its four moons, with only a few thousand people calling the other worlds of the system home. The population of Demeter has lagged behind those of humanity's other early colonies, with it holding a population less than half that of Terra Nova. Demeter is the holder of the Demeter Feeholds, an early independent government created by settlers on the world's northernmost continent. The Freehold ended up in conflict with the bank Wells Fargo when it declared all of its citizens free of any debt to a foreign body, including several of its major settlements that took out loans with the bank to get started. This caused a minor conflict in 2153 where Wells Fargo paid mercenaries invaded the Freeholds and overthrew the government before forcing loan payments to continue. The Freeholds still exist, but are not as confrontational as in its first months of existence.
Persephone: A large terrestrial world with notable resource deposits, Persephone has seen some mining operations set up upon it.
Dionysus: A large terrestrial world with notable resource deposits, Dionysus has seen some mining operations set up upon it, slightly more than on Persephone.
EPSILON INDI:
Stars: 3 (1 K5, 1 T1, 1 T6)
Planets: 8 (5 terrestrial, 3 gaseous)
Asteroid Belts: 1
Population: 53,000
Description: A colony of a colony, Epsilon Indi was originally colonized to supply a refueling and discharge location for ships traveling to and from the Lacaille and a close source of fuel for the colony. Since then, the system has seen some colonization due to its natural resources, though limited by the same factors that constrain Lacaille's growth.
Teff: A Luna sized world close to Epsilon Indi A, Teff has significant amounts of heavy metals, but no mining operations exist on the world yet.
Spelt: A world half the size of Earth, Spelt holds a relatively thick (1.3 atm) atmosphere. The world has a few mining operations, but not many.
Farro: The most populous of the terrestrial worlds, Farro is an Earth sized world with significant mineral deposits. Several mining operations exist on the world and its small moon serves as one of the main bases for ships mining in the Farro-Rye Belt.
Farro-Rye Belt: A relatively rich asteroid belt between the worlds of Farro and Rye in orbit of Epsilon Indi A, the Belt holds several mining operations and is mined by several vessels operating out of either Farro's moon or the large asteroid Mack.
Rye: A massive gas giant over twice the mass of Jupiter, Rye has seen relatively little development due to its high amounts of radiation, though a small mining colony exists on its largest moon, Spirit. It is the primary discharge point of the system.
Oats: A relatively small gas giant about a fifth the size of Saturn, Oats is the center of He3 extraction and refueling in the system, providing these services to the colonies of the Lacaille System alongside its own.
Millet: A small gas giant about two thirds the size of Neptune, Millet holds little of interest and has been left mostly untouched. Millet is the resting place of the Chinese Cruiser Ning Hai, which was captured by pirates while under refit in 2154. After a months-long campaign of piracy, the SSV Tokyo discovered the ship discharging into the planet. A short battle took place where the Chinese Cruiser attempted to get its systems online, but Tokyo destroyed it before it could do any significant damage.
Sorghum: A large (half again Earth's mass) rocky world in joint orbit of both Epsilon Endi B and C, Sorghum has seen no major development.
Triticale: A small (quarter Earth's mass) icy world in joint orbit of both Epsilon Endi B and C, the world has seen some attempts at ice mining, but not much, remaining almost untouched.
ALTAIR:
Stars: 1 (A7)
Planets: 4 (2 terrestrial, 2 gaseous)
Asteroid Belts: 2
Population: 0.7 million
Description: A system rich with resources, especially eezo, Altair was originally not a good colonization prospect due to its distance from any Relay. This changed with the discovery of a Secondary Relay in orbit of Lenus, originally miscategorized as a moon. This led to renewed interest in the system, and it began to be rapidly colonized. None of the gas giants in the system are useful for Helium-3 extraction due to their large sizes, leading to the system importing Helium-3 from Sol.
Intarabus: A small (0.16 Earth Masses) world far older than the rest of the system, Intarabus was captured by Altair long ago. A highly volcanic world, Intarabus holds a number of mining operations powered by geothermal plants spread across the planet.
Sirona: A highly verdant Garden World that nonetheless teeters on destruction, Sirona is covered by several super volcanoes of great power, a constant threat to life on the planet. This has not stopped colonization, with over half a million people calling Sirona home. A large amount of effort has been made in monitoring and sustaining the super volcanoes, using methods originally developed on Earth for YellowStone to ensure they never erupt. The world holds massive amounts of eezo, providing a valuable resource and leading to strange effects on local wildlife. Some colonists have claimed to have observed animals with telekinetic powers, but these sightings have been dismissed.
Sirona-Lenus Belt: A dense and rich asteroid belt between the worlds of Sirona and Lenus, this belt holds several mining operations and is an important part of the local economy. An independent colony calling itself the Altair Republic resides within the belt, providing support for local mining colonies. The Republic has come into conflict with the Alliance in the last year over jurisdiction, though they have not come to blows yet.
Lenus: A gas giant only slightly smaller than Jupiter, Lenus holds major mining operations across its many moons. More importantly, the planet holds the system's Mass Relay within its orbit, making the world the gateway into the system. The planet is a popular discharging site for large vessels due to its proximity to the Relay and large size.
Lenus-Iovantucarus Belt: An asteroid belt between Lenus and Iovantucarus, this belt holds a mixture of rocky and icy asteroids in abundance, and is mined for both varieties.
Iovantucarus: A massive gas giant almost a third larger than Jupiter, Iovantucarus holds many moons due to its close proximity to the Lenis-Iovantucarus Belt, striping the belt of errant asteroids over the eons, leaving the world's orbit cluttered with rocky and icy bodies, some of which fall into the planet's depths, never to be seen again. There has been minimal development of Iovantucarus, though that seems soon to change.