Hasdrubal

### Atmosphere

Thin nitrogen-oxygen-carbon dioxide atmosphere; breathing equipment required for long periods of exposure (longer than about an hour), otherwise carbon-dioxide poisoning sets in.

### Hydrosphere

30% surface water, mostly found in small lakes. Highly active, with powerful planetary storms and regular rainfall.

### Climate

Hot and damp , with rapid and frequent changes in conditions. Violent storms and strong winds are common.

## Demographics

### Resources

talantium, aluminum, titanium and various other ores.

### Facilities

Planetary spaceport for small craft and cargo loaders; orbital ore-processing station with docking facilities for larger ships. Mass drivers transport materials into orbit for retrieval and processing.

**Hasdrubal** was an M-class planet in the Beta Quadrant, and the site of a Romulan mining colony in the 24th century.

With a rough frontier environment, the planet's small population of miners was largely made up of malcontents and outcasts from Romulan society, many of whom chose life on Hasdrubal over difficult circumstances or criminal charges on their homeworlds. The colony was relatively peaceful, though rougher, and perhaps more violent than the norm throughout the Empire. Romulan military personnel enforced order and a military governor oversaw the colony, ensuring that it remained productive and law-abiding. Beyond that, the Empire was not concerned with the planet or its populace and the colonists were allowed to handle their own affairs.

The colony was centered around Hasdrubal City, a mid-sized settlement near the equator, which oversaw the mining and mass driver operations, and the planet's sole, small spaceport. Away from the city, the planet featured high mountain ranges and deep valleys created by ancient seismic activity which had stabilized eons before the Romulans came. Such locations were the sites of most of the mining operations, as they exposed the largest veins of usable minerals nearest the surface.

Hasdrubal's primary interest to the Empire was as a source of talantium, a metallic ore used in the construction of warbird hulls and other military applications. Large deposits of aluminum, titanium and various other minerals and ores were present as well. The Romulans used advanced strip-mining techniques, tearing away and pulverizing the planet's crust to extract the desired materials. The ores were then shot into orbit using mass driver systems located near the equator, aided by the planet's own rapid spin. The orbital station would then collect and process the ore for shipment out of the system. With no other use, the Empire planned to abandon the planet once its resources were exhausted.

During the excavation of a new mine in the northern hemisphere, Romulan miners uncovered an unusual artifact: a metallic obelisk, some three meters high, covered in alien writing and iconography that did not match anything in Imperial records. The obelisk appeared to be made of refined talantium, using technology of at least Level Six development. Its composition was resistant to sensor scans, possibly indicating a core or inner layer of a much denser material. Its origin was a complete mystery, as the planet bore no other signs that it had ever supported sentient life, and it was estimated that the obelisk was buried by a volcanic eruption more than 250,000 years earlier.

The planetary governor ordered the obelisk transported to the orbital station for evaluation, and alerted the Romulan Star Navy of the discovery. While the next mining ship to dock was planned to take the obelisk to a research facility for further study, rumors began to circulate among the miners that the obelisk was a piece of advanced alien technology or that it bore an ill omen for the colony.

## External links

* Hasdrubal article at ***Memory Beta***, the non-canon *Star Trek* wiki.