Eugales system - Pegeler Constellation - Placid Region
The rapid expansion of Gallenteans pioneers into Placid, partially fueled with the recent contact with the Intaki civilization, made the discovery of the Eugales system a simple matter of opening stargates and moving on. Instead of becoming a place to settle it just served as transit point. It's F3 VI white sub-giant star along with inhospitable planets and moons did not help very much to change that fact for the next 300 years.
The situation changed around the foundation of CONCORD, given the new requirements and space activities being developed, the need to harvest resources in bulk and not worry about environmental issues or local population, made Eugales a prime target for prospecting minerals deposits. A small space-based corporation named Fougalt-Mestiner Excavations found an extremely large and highly exposed deposit of Titanium in Eugales VII - Moon 9, making it a prime spot for large strip mining operations.
The news spread quickly and not surprisingly Material Acquisition [MA] took over the discovery with an aggressive purchase of Fougalt-Mestiner Excavations securing all rights and permits from the Federal Administration. Construction operations began merely a few months afterwards to prepare the needed facilities and machinery. Almost overnight, Eugales became a boomtown with most of the workers, engineers and officer staff coming from distant locations in Everyshore and Essence regions, including Intaki, Brutors and Mannari.
By YC3 the numbers spoke for themselves and the executives in Material Acquisition knew the project was success, but realized the logistical problems in maintaining the working population happy inside the housing facilities and managing material shipments out of the system.
A partnership with FedMart [FM] was the answer. On the next year the first Space Station of Eugales system was built, a Fedmart retail center aimed to become a trade post for raw materials and basic products harvested system wide, but also a heaven for casinos, resorts, pleasure hubs, brothels and any kind of entertainment the hard workers of Moon 9 needed.
This situation spurred a wave of business development in the system, with small planetary ventures in Eugales IV exotic storms. Regardless of all this, local population never reached more than a million citizens system-wide, as it was impossible to terraform any of the planets or moons available and technology only allowed minimal planetary activities in the hostile enviroments.
For the next 35 years, Eugales was one of the most profitable ventures in the Pegeler constellation, but the bubble eventually broke and economic downturns created the first crisis in the system history; [MA] suddenly had an oversupply of Titanium and no buyers.
On the first attempt to inform employees of the planned layoffs and cuts in benefits, massive riots took place and caused widespread chaos in the moon facilities, ending in an unfortunate rupture of Moon's Biodome 5, and a death toll of 4000. Regardless of the accident, smaller scale riots continued for the following days until [MA] declared martial state and enforced emergency powers based on corporate laws for remote outposts.
With a permanent population of 200.000 workers living in Moon 9, and a highly sensitive economy on the [FM] station, it was quite clear this would not be an easy matter to resolve. Very quickly the news of the riots became public on The Scope feed, and a team of Federal administration representatives was swiftly dispatched to audit Material Acquisition and oversee the negotiation process with the syndicate of workers.
After 3 months of intense negotiations and the involvement of several lobbyist politicians from the Pegeler district, an agreement was reached.
The most important aspects of said agreement considered the representation of the population with a local elected major and be annexed as part of the Pegeler district. The elected local body will reside and operate out of the [FM] station with a direct connection to the Federal Administration regional coordinator. [MA] proceeded to offer layoffs with a special severance bonus for those who accepted such choice in the first programmed cuts. For those who did not accept the terms, and were not considered to continue working in Moon 9, re-allocation options were offered. In all cases, the worker benefits programs were reduced, and payment rates adjusted.
Albeit discrepancies were reported, the final result was praised by the media and politicians alike, the great majority of workers were compensated and treated fairly. Material Acquisition evaded a multi-billion isk fine from the Federal Administration and operations resumed at a sustainable pace.
Just a year prior to this, the neighboring system of Aubenall became the nearest terraformed planet the workers could visit during their R&R rotation shifts, and althought the station provided all sorts of options for those who sought comfort, many took the trip to enjoy open skies and admire the young grass plains. The end of the Moon 9 crisis created a noticeable influx of colonists as they left Eugales and began a new life there.
Eugales and its Moon 9 outpost faded from the newscasts for several decades, until the year YC107 when capsuleers became the prime customers for moon resources. The [FM]-[MA] partnership survived during the less than profitable times and were in the best position to expand out of this new market opportunity. Instead of increasing their operations in Moon 9, the corporation established smaller and more technologically efficient moon operations throughout the system, exploiting deposits of Titanium, Hydrocarbons, Silicates, Evaporite Deposits and Atmospheric gases, with small scale reactions added in the mix. FedMart station remained as the neuralgic center for its local population, which slowly began to rise near it's former historical records.
Two last major shifts have changed the importance of Eugales in the Placid region. On YC110 a new war broke between the Federation and the State, although the CONCORD militia war enactment prevented it to be an all out annihilation conflict, the dangers of being within the contested zones created a difficult position for the local population. A new space station was built in orbit around Eugales V, a Federal Defence Union Assembly plant [FEDEF], making the system a key logistical post for militia fighters and Navy personnel.
This of course brought increased demand for resources of various kinds, and an increased role for [FM] in providing shipping and trade services for [FEDEF] and [MA].
The 2nd Eugales crisis has been a recent and vivid experience, triggered by the failure of the [FEDEF] to stop the advancement of the State Protectorate; against all odds the system fell and became property of Wyrkomi Megacorporation. Abruptly all [MA] moon operations ceased to operate, most colonists who could afford it, fled the system. The ones that couldn't were relocated to the space stations in Eugales or other locations that were out of the reach from the Caldari Megacorps. It was a dark time for the citizens of Eugales. There were no riots, no public demonstrations, just the sheer fear of being sucked into the corporate greed and loss of identity for those who wished to remain and continue the mining profession.
By the year YC111 Federation loyalists and militia forces pushed back the Caldari occupation, returning control of the system to the Federation. However the unease of the population was evident, as the past presidential elections excluded them using a constitutional loophole many considered treacherous. There was also no assurance from Material Acquisition about resuming activities in the mining outposts as the Caldari made sure to scrap as much as possible before leaving.
This uncertainty quickly dissolved as the Federation Navy signed a massive deal with [MA] to supply raw materials and construction alloys for the Placid Fleet, which was sustaining heavy losses against Caldari Capsuleer loyalists in the area.
Although the new contract spurred activity and made it possible for the inhabitants to return to kind of life they were used to, it wasn’t until YC112 and the opening of the CONCORD planetary legislation that Eugales experienced a full economic revival. Technology now allowed colonizing and profiting from even the most brutal environments. Floating cities in the gas giants of Eugales V and VII, metallic domes in the Plasmatic Eugales I, and other such exotic locations were now being used by enterprising capsuleers & businessmen looking to profit from all kind of manufactured goods and resources. Of course FedMart station capitalized on this as much as anyone else, and pleasure hubs quickly re-opened offering the most varied array of entertainment services for the workers to spend their money.
To this day, Eugales remains a prime spot to harvest natural resources, and as such, has always maintained its feeling of fringe town, but throughout history gained enough notoriety to become a key part of the geo-political environment in the Pegeler constellation.
Workers who have taken a tour of duty in Eugales VII - Moon 9, are nicknamed "Niners". And everywhere across mining stations in Placid, being known as a niner is a sign of respect.
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Disclaimer: English is not my first tongue, therefore there are possible many mistakes in my writing, if you happen to notice any, i'll be quite happy if you PM me the details so i can correct the text.
The above is my first attempt at creating some Fiction, Eugales has been a system i've been using a lot lately to run, and therefore i was quite familiar with it. Just recently i mapped the moon goo there and used it as the basis of the story above, curiously enough it all fitted nicely.
Let me know what you think.
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Topic: [SYSTEM] Eugales (Read 2428 times)