Ark Galactapedia

The Stanton system is a planetary system in the United Empire of Earth (UEE), discovered in SEY 2851 by navjumper Toshi Aaron. It is one of only two fully colonized systems in the UEE, and is made up of three super-Earths, a gas giant, an asteroid belt, and a G-type star. All planets in the system were sold by the UEE government to four major corporations soon after their discovery. While inhabitants are protected under UEE's common laws, they are also subject to rules imposed by the individual corporations that own each planet.

The system's star, Stanton, is a G-type main sequence star about the same size as Sol, and is roughly 4.6 billion years old. Its three terrestrial planets, Hurston (Stanton I), ArcCorp (Stanton III), and microTech (Stanton IV) all sit in the system's green band, and were terraformed to support Human life. Unique among gas giants, Crusader (Stanton II) has a nitrogen-oxygen upper atmosphere and a natural ecosystem made up of plants and animals that live their entire lives in midair. A dense asteroid belt sits between ArcCorp and Crusader.

In 2851, navjumper Toshi Aaron was scanning for anomalies in the outskirts of the Magnus system. She had spent the last decade trying to fulfill her dream of discovering a jump point, spending as much time as she could in pursuit. A week before her 49th birthday, she detected a strange signal. She noted the location, recorded all the data she could, and headed home to analyze what it could mean. All signs pointed to the likelihood that she had indeed found what she'd been looking for. A few days later, with a ship fully equipped to make the leap, she returned to the location and entered the jump tunnel. After a few harrowing moments traversing interspace, she found herself on the other side.

Aaron's discovery made waves in the UEE government. Not only were all the planets in the system located within the green band, but when UEE pathfinders surveyed the system, they found a jump point that connected Stanton to Terra. The UEE immediately claimed the system and dispatched naval engineers to determine what would be needed to make the three terrestrial planets habitable. Their eventual report brought bad news: the funds required to terraform these planets would be far more than the then cash-strapped government had available to them. While officials debated what to do, they gave the Navy authorization to construct a shipbuilding latticework on Stanton II's upper atmosphere, and allowed engineers to begin preliminary terraforming activity on the other planets.

By 2865, the UEE Senate, facing a potentially recession-causing budget shortfall, announced that it would be selling each of the planets in the system to the highest bidders. Multiple megacorporations reached out to or were contacted by the UEE government. After a long period of closed-door negotiations, four corporations emerged victorious: Hurston Dynamics, who purchased Stanton I and began major mining operations at once; Crusader Industries, who claimed Stanton II and its skeletal shipyards for the construction of their Starliners; ArcCorp, who immediately began developing Stanton III to support their diverse industries; and microTech, who considered the Stanton IV's frigid climate as beneficial for cooling their extensive network of servers.

In essence, the Stanton system is an enormous business park. While all who reside within it are protected under the UEE Common Laws, the enforcement of these laws is left up to the private security forces each corporation employs. Nearly everyone in Stanton works for one of the four corporations, or for companies that lease land or office space from them. As such, each planet is operated according to the business practices of its particular company. On Hurston, for example, Hurston Dynamics' lax environmental policy has led to a polluted atmosphere and a low quality of life for its people. Conversely, Crusader Industries' commitment to design has transformed the once sparse Navy shipbuilding platforms into beautiful live-work spaces lined with flowering trees.

The leaders of Hurston Dynamics, Crusader Industries, ArcCorp, and microTech hold the Stanton System Conference once a year to discuss system-wide issues. Commonly discussed topics include regulations on imports and exports, who has jurisdiction over what parts of the Aaron Halo (Stanton belt alpha), and strategies to deal with criminal activity.