Hyperion

> “
> “Tellus is a world too pristine in its image to further grow in power; Earth too over-encumbered by bureaucracy to give itself further weight...
>
>  **Hyperion**, day by day, inches closer to surpassing Earth in population, Tellus in wealth, and all other worlds in opportunity. We here have the industry, the money, and the people to accomplish anything we set our minds towards.
>
> **Hyperion**, my friends, is the beating heart of the Coalition... and I swear to make it a shining beacon of glory.”
>
>
> — *President Alexander Foulke of the Stellar Republic of Hathor on his first inauguration day in Port Bremerton, c. 2680*
>
>
>

## Physical information

### Satellites

 Icarus (moon)
 Paradise (orbital ring)

## Societal information

### Immigrated species

 *Homo sapiens sapiens*  and other Terran life

### Primary language(s)

* English
* Spanish
* Japanese
* and others...

### Government

 Coalition of Congressional Republics* Stellar Republic of Hathor
	+ Planetary Republic of Hyperion

### Major cities

Jade City
Maogang

and others...

### Major exports

Advanced machinery, commercial goods, governmental services

**Hyperion**, officially designated as **Hathor III**, is a temperate terra world that orbits the main sequence star Hathor within the Hathor star system, and constitutes the Planetary Republic of Hyperion alongside the Paradise orbital ring and moon of Icarus. One of the most populated worlds of the Coalition of Congressional Republics (excluding Earth itself) with a population exceeding 670 billion, and being the capital of the Stellar Republic of Hathor, Hyperion is one of the focal points of Congressional supranational culture and influence—holding itself as one of the Coalition's premiere industrial and service giants. Originally settled in 2090 and geared towards both shipbuilding and shipbreaking for commercial clients and the Coalition Forces Authority, the demand of materials and personnel for such tasks led to the proliferation of surface mining industries, manufacturing centers, orbital infrastructure, and transportation networks such as space elevators and space-aeroports. With its proximity to the core of the Coalition and the population pressure of an overburdened Solar System, Hyperion blossomed in power in its acting as a bridge between the core systems and distant frontier worlds, eventually evolving into its modern day form as the preeminent planetary titan of industry.

Hyperion is astrogeographically considered to be a "temperate terra" world due to the terraforming projects that were enacted upon the planet, starting in the early 2080s with the nascent Coalition's *Tomorrow Initiative* under Secretary General Edoardo Colombera. Previously a primitive water world with a thin atmosphere and only a pre-existent xenobiosphere in its oceans, it was transformed into a habitable world that sustained further terraforming even during its colonization in 2090. Over time, new continents of the planet arose in distinction, ranging from the continents of Albion to Granja and Destino, alongside that of the proliferation of Earth-based life and the near extinction of its original biosphere.

## Etymology

The origin of the name of Hyperion comes from the Titan of Greek mythology, who was the son of the primordial deities Gaia and Uranus. The planet received such a name after Coalition terraforming scouting missions noticed the world's possibility in being a candidate for the *Tomorrow Initiative* in 2079, officially removing its prior name of Hathor II from all but formal astrographical records. It is considered to be special due to indicating that the world itself, through its human habitation, has become one of the main powerful progeny of Earth.

## History

### Discovery

Hyperion was identified as a potential terraforming candidate as early as 2049 through the Combined Solar Telescope Array, possessing a primitive oxygen atmosphere within the habitable zone of its parent star, and was subsequently included in an ever-increasing list of potential colonial worlds for the overgrowing human population. However, humanity did not venture beyond the Solar System until 2078 with the start of the *Tomorrow Initiative* under the first Secretary General of the Coalition of Congressional Republics, Edoardo Colombera.

### The *Tomorrow Initiative*

Civilian survey vessels reached the Hathor system in 2079, two years after the end of the Second Martian-Terran War and using the first iterations of the Tepiltzin-Csanád Drive. While closer star systems to Sol such as Aton were already in the midst of having their planets colonized by plucky corporations and mining consortiums, it was decided that the planet of Hyperion would be subjected to a decade-long terraforming operation with minimal human interruption that would inevitably yield a world with an extremely high Earth Similarity Index value. This was due to the plan of the *Tomorrow Initiative*, which placed extreme importance on Hyperion relative to the Coalition at large as being one of the "gateways of Mankind to the rest of the galaxy". This vision would aid in Hyperion eventually becoming one of the most influential planets in all the Coalition for centuries to come, rivalling Tellus and Earth in influence and population alike.

### Initial colonization

Colonization was cleared for Hyperion in 2090 by the Coalition Settlement and Colony Office (CSCO), and its moon Icarus subsequently underwent terraforming procedures that ended in 2115 with a similar colonization clearance. Hyperion dominated colonial immigration all across the Coalition even amidst the rise of other colonies such as Tellus, Ansa, Moritaka Prime, and Narcissus, and this was due to a plethora of both public and private factors. Officially, Hyperion served as the chief crossover point between core Coalition space and all future colonial ventures to the galactic south, and had also been selected by the Coalition Forces Authority to host both the first orbital construction yards beyond the Solar System. These designations shifted an immense amount of governmental and corporate attention to the Hathor star system, flooding Hyperion with new colonists and also complementing the rise of colonization in other bodies in the Hathor system for the purposes of mining resources for the orbital infrastructure's construction.

Secretly, the government had become aware of xenoarchaeological ruins belonging to the Forefather Civilization deep within the oceans of Hyperion as early as 2080 from previous geological and hydrological surveys. Two sets of these ruins lied within the Trench of Kings region and the the Arasibo seafloor, and direct orders from the high command of the Coalition Forces Authority designated these regions as no-go zones for any civilian, corporate, and other non-cleared traffic. To the present day, the military has maintained both of these titanic-scale complexes as off-limits, and the government of the Coalition and Hyperion alike have covered their existence through feeding false rumors of "military black sites" and "weapons testing zones" as they explore these regions further.

### Industrial centralization

By 2170, it was clear to the Coalition government that Hyperion was going to dominate a significant chunk of the economy, and such was clear through the rapid urbanization and nonstop expansion of the planet's population. The Coalition Forces Authority had also brokered a major deal with the several nascent continental sub-republics that flooded the surface of the planet, in addition to private organizations such as the Chen Wu Corporation, which entailed designating Hyperion as a chief shipbreaking center for both civilian and military spacecraft. This was due to the threat of any significant spatial shipbreaking activity resulting in the possible formation of Kessler Syndrome around the orbit of other major planets in the Coalition, and in order to avoid this issue with Hyperion, all shipbroken-designated craft were expected to be landed on Hyperion's surface and properly deconstructed thereafter. This lead to the explosion in population of new shipbreaking centers such as Maogang and the further empowerment of megacorporations over the planet's economy.

## Physical characteristics

### Atmosphere and hydrosphere

#### Weather and climate

Due to a natural axial tilt, Hyperion boasts seasons similar to that of Earth...

Hyperion is notable for having developed a phenomenon of intense rain and hurricane seasons, similar to Earth, as a result of its warm oceans and atmosphere heated by its many cities and industries.

## Government and politics

### Government

Hyperion (as the largest planet within the Hathor star system) also serves as the Stellar Republic's capital world, with the central Hathorian government located in Port Bremerton. Hyperion still maintains its own subdivision of government through the Planetary Republic of Hyperion; this enables the planet to pursue its own specific policies and objectives without direct policy effect on other planemos within the star system. The planetary government also resides in Port Bremerton, and maintains close affinities with the stellar government as a whole.

Officially, the government of Hyperion is responsible for all public infrastructure and institutions on the world not directly owned by the Coalition government, megacorporation with Coalition sponsorship, or the Hathor government. This includes most penal institutions, healthcare facilities, public education, sanitation, water supply, recreation, and public safety organizations.

Politically, the planet is subdivided between multiple superdistricts - this being due to the disbandment of Hyperian independent national governments early on in its colonial history; a system that can otherwise be seen on worlds with such as Tellus and Earth. These superdistricts correspond to the continents, major subcontinents, and underwater megasprawls that currently exist on Hyperion (Atlantis-Arcadia, Albion, Granja, Khopari, Fusōdō, Destino, Puerto Estelar, Steinmeer, Gemenis, Novodon, Sacrosancto), and their leaders are referred to as **Subplanetary Governors**, or simply *subgovernors*.

The political leader of Hyperion is the **Planetary Governor**, who is elevated to their office by planetwide elections and often runs on the same election ticket as the President of the Stellar Republic of Hathor.

## Database Entry

HYPERION

The temperate terra planet of **Hyperion** is as unique as a Coalition world can get without it being embroiled in blatant insurrection. Terraformed in the 2080s and settled in the 2090s through the "Tomorrow Initiative" by SECGEN Edoardo Colombera, its position relative to the rest of colonial ventures at the time made the planet ripe as an anchorage for commercial, colonial, and military fleets transiting southward. With the rise of the Coalition Forces Authority's naval assets, the planet also conveniently played a role in shipbuilding and shipbreaking. This even extended to corporate clients, when applicable — a contributing factor to the state-versus-corpo arms race that inevitably flared up into the Corporate Wars of the 2200s.

Hyperion is one of the most populated worlds in the entirety of the Coalition — with the exception of Earth. Coming alongside a massive population of over 670 billion is also Hyperion's infamy for being one of the most corporate-jockeyed and crime-ridden planets in human space, with the CFA and Hyperion Police Department often working in concert with private security corporations to keep some semblance of peace on the megapoli streets. Still, its one of the Coalition's heavy money-makers, being a center of shipbreaking, shipbuilding, and manufacturing for most of the southern Coalition as a whole.

The world serves as the capital of the Stellar Republic of Hathor, and has a natural moon named **Icarus**. Of course, where money is generated, money is also spent; a large ring station named **Paradise** also orbits the world, hosting the one-percent-of-the-one-percent for all of the Hathor star system. Hyperion's surface and seafloor being blotted by urbanization means that most food is imported, and the bulk of the world's food supply is shipped in from the nearby planet of **Archangel**. Food riots have occurred multiple times in the past, with none of them ending particularly well.