The Belter Amalgamate

The [name] system was blessed with very extensive mineral deposits scattered throughout the myriad moons, asteroids, and other celestial bodies that orbit its sun. The exploitation of these resources was well underway by the time of the Day of Isolation. As the power of the Imperial Governor waned and was replaced and absorbed by the planetary monarchy, friction began to arise between the planetary establishment and the various Trading Houses and unions of miners who lived and worked amongst the moons and belts.

On the one side, the Belters (as the miners and mining Houses were known to the planetary population) wanted profits. On the other side, the Leadfoots (as the planetary populace were known in Belter slang) wanted lower mineral prices. Ultimately, the Leadfoots held the upper hand, as the Belters had a greater need for food than the Leadfoots did for minerals, and the Belters could not generally act as a united front.

All this changed when a prospector ship from Odaggins Minerals Trading House registered a very dense mineral source in an asteroid and, on investigating, found The Ship. Later surmised to be a vessel from as far back as the Age of Technology, The Ship provided little in the way of functional devices, but it did yield up a treasure trove in the form of several printed and near-perfectly preserved books on the topics of electronics and computer science.

Odaggins Minerals (led by their founder, Benadro Odaggins) hid the existence of The Ship at first. Using the knowledge they could glean from the books they'd found, they began to improve their electronics and computer capacities, which in turn improved their mining and manufacturing capabilities. Within only a few years, Odaggins Minerals became a major player amongst the Belter industries, and then Director Odaggins turned his thoughts toward his next step: the unification of the nearly half a billion Belters.

Over the course of several years, Odaggins began a campaign of politico-commercial campaign to bring the many Belter corporations and unions together. The major breakthrough came when he signed a deal to merge Odaggins Minerals with the Rodigez Mining House, forming them into The Belter Amalgamate - a single politico-commercial entity that represented more than half the Belter Houses and Unions with Benadro at its head as Supreme Director. Politically, the Belters now had the unity to act against the oppressive legislation of the Leadfoots, but remained hampered by their dependence upon the planetary supplies of food and water.

Meanwhile, the technological improvements engendered by the finding of The Ship were being spread secretly throughout the Belts. Navigation, communication, industry... all were being very quietly improved to levels far beyond the norm of Imperial technology. Most of the hardware in use remained the same, but the application and efficiency of that equipment was being multiplied by advanced automation and networking techniques.

Now two more major players entered the stage: General Mar Santin and Commodore Rane Coche of the Amalgamate Security Forces (ASF), pointed out that the Leadfoots had no idea of the technological advantages available to the Belter paramilitary forces, and, if those forces were sufficiently expanded, the threat of their use could ensure Belter independence from the planet's grip.

This plan galvanized the Amalgamate. A rapid expansion of their paramilitary forces began and a top secret training facility was established on and around one of the most outlying planets of the system. As the military trained, the General, the Commodore, and the Supreme Director planned their moves. The result, a little over a year later, was Project Granary.

Project Granary was a stunningly ambitious plan to capture more than a dozen massive agricultural stations orbiting the planet and its two moons. Posing as ore carriers, the destroyers and cruisers of the ASF approached these stations and simultaneously boarded and took control of them. Security forces aboard several stations resisted but were quickly suppressed by the ASF boarding parties. Nearby orbital defense stations, unprepared for the attack, could only watch as the guns of the ASF flotilla deterred them from taking any action.

A large fleet of Amalgamate ore barges grappled the 14 agri-stations and began to two them out of the planetary orbit, heading for the two main Belter facilities in the outer system. However as they withdrew, the Planetary Defense Force, despite the growing distractions of unexplained plague and rioting on the surface, were finally able to concentrate their ships and attempted to intervene. The PDF forces outnumbered the ASF ships significantly, but the technological disparity turned the running battle that developed into a bloody slugging match. Over the course of two weeks, PDF forces made repeated attacks upon the slow-moving ore barges, and despite losses of more than 3:1 from the ASF ships, no less than four agri-stations were destroyed or so badly damaged that they were cut adrift. But by then the PDF space forces had shot their bolt, and the remaining 8 agri-stations were soon producing at full capacity.

Three weeks after the beginning of Project Granary, the Belter Amalgamate declared its independence from the planetary government, fully expecting that the monarchy would recognize the fait accompli and both Belters and Leadfoots could begin building their economic ties as political equals.

The monarchy, however, did not give in.

Apalled by the increasingly violent rioting across the planet, the slow spread of a mysterious plague, and the bloody defeat of their space forces by the ASF, the planetary government declared the secession an illegal and immoral act, and vowed to bring the so-called Belter Amalgamate to heel...