Editing Lancer: In Golden Flame (section)

=The Setting=
The Outer Rim is a section of space on the border of Union, primarily notable for a complete lack of inhabitable planets. It's a blank spot on the map. But... on the other side of the Long Rim is the Dawnline Shore, a region of space with an intense quantity of Earthlike planets which is of heavy interest to the various major players in galactic politics, especially the Karakin Trade Baronies and Harrison Armory.<br>

The Dawnline shore does not have a functional blinkgate at this time. As a result, the only way there is via sub-light travel, turning the Long Rim into a transit corridor, scattered with space junk, mined out rocks and the remnants of old battles. The primary thoroughfare for ships travelling between Rào Cỏ Station, the furthest blink gate from the Galactic Core, and the Dawnline Shore; filled with habitats and space stations established by early colonists and prospectors centuries ago. The Long Rim is beyond the Union's borders, a place of hardship and loose regulations.<br>

In Golden Flame takes place in one of these systems, Calliope.<br>

Calliope was colonized by mistake. During the initial exploration of the region, a nameless junior astronomer accidentally gave Calliope a designation of C4L-P313/GW2, indicating that two Gaia or near Gaia class worlds had been detected in orbit. Calliope’s historians often say this set the tone for everything that followed: a careless mistake leading to bad decisions.<br>

Calliope had, of course, no inhabitable planets, with the system ranging from ice balls, to gas giants to furnace worlds. For the initial colonization wave looking to take advantage othe two Gaia worlds, it was a disaster. Those who had the fuel, turned around and left. The rest had to set up stations and habitats the best they could. They lied to their sponsors to get more equipment, they jury rigged gear and they did whatever it took; establishing the Calliopean knack for building something out of spare parts and duct tape.<br>

And they survived! And even, for a time, thrived; when it seemed like Calliope would become a significant player in the Long Rim and on the route to the Dawnline shore. Money and resources flowed into the system.<br>

But, like all good things, it came to an end. The grandiose plans of the Calliope Project backers came to nothing. The big deals never materialized. The economy collapsed. Quality of life began to drop. Those who could left, leaving behind tens of millions of less fortunate people. The Pyrite Age ended and the Void Age began.<br>

Life's been hard in the two centuries since. Pirates prowl the spacelanes, conditions get a tiny bit worse every year, Impact Dynamics jacks up the price of food and water each year. A few times every decade, Trade Barony and Harrison Armory warships use the system as a battleground as they try to stop each others convoys from getting to t he Dawnline Shore.<br>

Everything in Calliope is falling apart, or close to it. These stations were built centuries ago, mostly by companies that no longer exist, using components that are no longer sold. Techs have to spend weeks or months reinventing the proverbial wheel just to print replacement parts. Half the system’s computers are reliant on a legacy codebase GMS stopped supporting twelve decades ago. There are no “permanent solutions” to technical issues out here, just patches on patches on patches.<br>

You are all members of one of the major stations in Calliope. Stygia Mining Platform is the official name, but it didn't stick. Hell's Gate did. The second largest of the Big Four settlements in Calliope, a centuries old station that's been built, rebuilt and modified countless times over the years, in order to maintain a viable platform. Built when it was thought Calliope could sell its mineral wealth to the galaxy, the heady days of optimism that accompanied its founding are long gone in the face of the reality of galactic economics. Nobody's going to travel ten light years to buy metal. The only market is the other habitats in the system.<br>

Still, there’s a sense of communal responsibility to the Gate: if nobody works the mines, if nobody runs the smelters, the whole system will grind to a halt. There are two million people living on the station, and they all need somewhere to live. People don’t have much, but they share it freely, and they pull together. There's one guarantee on Hell's Gate: That no matter what, everybody who lives there will get food, water, and a place to sleep. And even in the leanest of times, the station's been able to keep that promise.<br>