Planet Honshu

DIAMETER: 15,201 km.

MASS: 6.12 x 10e24 kg.

TERRAIN: Oceanic

TEMPERATURE: -52°C to 40°C

ESCAPE VELOCITY: 12.02 km/sec

Settled in 56 AS, planet Honshu was the first colony in Kusari, after the initial colonisation of planet New Tokyo. It bears a number of similarities to the capital planet, mainly in that it is an ocean world with few sizeable land masses. With so little land available for farming, the settlers turned to fishing as their primary industry. Unfortunately, very few Terran fish species took to the oceans of Honshu, although tuna and salmon were among those that were able to survive. The colonists struggled to feed themselves for several centuries, until overfishing caused a catastrophic decline in the fish stocks in 250 AS, which caused most of the inhabitants to abandon the planet and seek their fortunes elsewhere. The population dropped from roughly a 1.5 million inhabitants to 250.000 over decade that followed. Most emigrated to Planet Kyushu and it's vast rice farms, but others cast their eyes on the nearby Crow Nebula and the bountiful fuel gases therein. These pioneers eventually became known as the Gas Miners Guild.

With the colonists abandoning their ancestral home in favour of the Crow Nebula, Honshu lay fallow for over 250 years. Those that remained scratched out a meager living, trading what little resources the planet had to offer with New Tokyo, and supplying the Gas Miners Guild with water and oxygen - both of which Honshu possessed plenty of. Eventually, in 510 AS, Kishiro Technologies decided that Honshu would be the perfect location to construct its main optronics production facility, especially after planetary surveys revealed the oceans to contain significant quantities of various chemicals and raw materials that were useful in the manufacture of optronics themselves. Since the optronics factories could be built at seabed or on platforms, this has left a significant amount of the available land masses for the construction of towns and cities, and the population of Honshu has climbed steadily ever since. Recent Honshu architecture closely resembles that of New Tokyo - compact, towering cities that economise on land use.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Border World Exports
* Kishiro Technologies
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Samura Industries
* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Gas Miners Guild
* RGS Shipping
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* ALG Waste Disposal
* Farmers Alliance
* Hogosha

## News

Partially as a result of the geological activity, the equatorial monsoon season produced some of the strongest tropical storms ever recorded on Kyushu since its colonisation. These storms devastated the world's agricultural sector as they blew through the most fertile tropical lowlands, destroying as much as 20%% of the planet's annual crop yield, on top of damage to infrastructure and tragic loss of human life.
Many rural communities are reported to be struggling, with some farming communities still remaining flooded ghost towns even a month after the worst of the storms abated, though smaller-scale tempests still rage around the equator. A Samura spokesperson outlined the company's intent to restore the planet and its communities to full productivity by the middle of next year, despite the ongoing circumstance.

Immediately upon learning of this, Battleship Matsumoto and its battlegroup were redeployed from Hokkaido, and within two days were poised and ready to face this new threat. Only a short few hours later, a patrol of fighters reported a warship with the transponder reading Battleship Matsuda operating in the relative open, heading for but not yet reaching the relative safety of the Seiran Dust Cloud.
Matsumoto itself departed with its escort to confront the Chrysanthemum battleship, close to the edge of the nebula. Within minutes of it coming into sensor range, bomber and fighter squadrons from both sides closed in and opening salvos were exchanged between the battleships. It didn't take long before the KNF's preparation was shown to be well worthwhile; their superior numbers whittled down or otherwise preoccupied the Chrysanthemum's fighter force leaving a variety of openings in the Matsuda's defensive cover for KNF bombers to exploit.
While the Matsumoto was withstanding a heavy beating from the guns of its older sister, it was plain that the Matsuda was slowly being whittled away as its shields began to fail and the very same engine design flaws that had rendered it immobile in KNF service were now exploited by bomber wings to once again cripple the warship.
After several more minutes, the Matsuda's escape pods began to eject from the ailing battleship, picked up by Chrysanthemum fighters as they fled deeper into the Seiran dust cloud. It didn't take long thereafter for the ship's powercore to falter and fail completely, culminating in a vast explosion that reportedly almost turned night to day on the dark side of Planet Kyushu, if only for a split second.
Matsumoto itself sustained moderate damage in the engagement, relatively untouched by Chrysanthemum bombers however still suffering the ill effects of Matsuda's anti-capital weaponry. Despite its damage, it remains deployed in the Kyushu system to continue the blockade of the cardamine trade and to serve as a show of force to any who would challenge the might of the Emperor.

However, with the recent Farmers Alliance bombing on Roppongi seemingly linked to the sudden increase in Cardamine use among Kusari's businessmen, New Tokyo's residents have expressed sympathy towards the perpetrators, speculating that the Alliance's blatant admission to such a vicious act is not to be taken as a boast or a threat, but as a sign that they will not allow their friends and families to be preyed upon by the greed of corporations that, "do not belong anywhere near our home", said Katsuyori Ichihara, Samura Industries financial consultant, and survivor of the Roppongi attack. "I don't blame them", Mr. Ichihara continued, "that vile drug destroys families."
Due to recent events, Samura Industries has taken it upon itself to act as a substitute for Interspace Commerce within the insurance market and many citizens have already expressed gratitude to Samura and their willingness to provide more financially preferable contracts than what the old management offered.

While this troubling trend is observed throughout the Sirius colonies, Liberty is bearing the brunt of the crisis among the four major Houses. Remarkably, even Rheinland, where historical data indicated low Cardamine consumption, has witnessed a notable rise in medical cases linked to the illicit narcotic. Experts postulate that the extensive black market responsible for Cardamine distribution might be facing a shortage, or worse, that Outcast factions deliberately curtail the supply to bolster demand. Regrettably, no law enforcement agency has been available for comment on these concerns.
The long-standing debate over Cardamine's controversial nature, juxtaposing its euphoric and purported medicinal qualities with the genetic alterations it inflicts upon long-term users, continues to echo. A key point of contention revolves around the plight of innocent consumers caught in this crisis. Yet, according to independent polls, a substantial majority of our viewers maintains that the substance must remain banned.
In response to this escalating crisis, Cryer Pharmaceuticals has announced a forthcoming press conference. During the event, the company intends to unveil plans for an expanded production of Stabiline, their touted "wonder drug". This announcement promises affordable access to Stabiline for all patients grappling with Cardamine withdrawal, sparking a remarkable 15%% surge in Cryer Pharmaceuticals' stock following the revelation.

Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection.
Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source.

Rear-Admiral Kato Masanori confirmed the broad facts of what happened but declined to comment further on the details which have surfaced from Samura sources.
Samura spokesperson Pak Daewon said this morning that "The terrorist group known as the Blood Dragons launched a devastating and violent attack on Camp Oku in the early hours of the night. They proceeded to slaughter their way through the camp, targeting our unarmed civilian personnel as well as our security detail. Our employees went above and beyond their calling in those stressful hours fighting against these barbarians."
Samura has since requested that the Kusari government deploy more forces to Tomioka to finally evict the Blood Dragons from their positions. It has also requested that a special licence be given to Samura to expand its security detail further making it more comparable to a military arm than corporate security.
There has so far been no official comment from the Kusari government at this time in regards to the situation on Tomioka or for what Samura has asked for.

## Rumors

* Trade Lane patrols can get very tedious for a senior person like me, but they let me spend more time at home on Honshu with my family. They used to be safe, but that has recently changed. We were ambushed by Outcasts on a routine run to Akita yesterday. I lost my partner of 10 years in a flash.

* The Blood Dragons carry on their private war with Samura on the Trade Lane from Honshu to Yukawa. Samura is always issuing some distress call. They think we are their private security service. They forget that we must also guard Kishiro and the foreign shippers.

* I drew the Chuyu Cloud patrol this week. That means one thing -- Outcasts. They attack at will within the cloud, and there is little we can do to stop them. Last week an Orbital Spa shuttle was attacked and destroyed for no apparent reason. There were no survivors. That's bad for the tourist business.

* Honshu is a challenging post for a Kusari State Police officer. The Corsairs and Outcasts have discovered secret access points into the eastern part of the system from the Crow Nebula. We are not trained or equipped properly deal with these Edge World pirates.

* We have received orders from New Tokyo to take no prisoners among the Blood Dragons. Who else will fill our prison convoys bound for Shikoku? Anyone can be rehabilitated through years of hard work in the Fuchu prison Hydrocarbon processing factories.

* The Hogosha run their Artifacts across Honshu to Tokyo from Sigma-19. We have begged them to tell us the location of their Jump Hole so that we can stop the Outcast scourge, but they will not cooperate.

* I've never been to the *Hawaii* in Sigma-19. A policeman's salary in Kusari is far too humble to afford that. I hear that they allow criminals like the Corsairs to land on their ship. Incredible! That would never be allowed in Kusari space.

* We do not need the Bounty Hunter Gaijin to do our difficult jobs for us in Kusari. The State Police has patrolled the fields and clouds of the Crow Nebula as long as anyone can remember. Our culture does not produce common criminals like the Liberty Rogues. Kusari internal problems are more political in nature.

* Honshu is our ancient homeland. I try to visit my ancestral village every chance I get. We try to maintain strong ties with our past on Honshu. After all, this is the only habitable planet that most of us have ever known.

* The Outcasts and Corsairs have entered Honshu space in recent years. This is a very troublesome development for the GMG, as the Trade Lanes through the clouds are our main arteries of commerce. The Guild is considering upgrading our shield technology to match that of the foreign invaders.

* We must bring in many supplies to support our factories here. High Temperature Alloys, Cobalt, and Basic Alloys come from Mainz.

* We at Kishiro feel a special kinship with the GMG; we share many of the same ancestors. Most of the Kishiro workers in the Optronics and Engine plants know of some distant relative that joined the Guild many years ago.

* The police is not doing enough to control the Outcast attacks in the Chuyu Cloud. Many of us feel that Samura is applying pressure to force Tokyo Command to reduce patrols in our sector of the system. They claim that the settlers in Tottori need protection, but from what? There is no border to an invader like Gallia, and no Edge World pirates like we get out here. Like before, they lobby the government in order to gain competitive advantage with their Gas from Hokkaido.

* Honshu produces all of the Construction Machinery for Kusari -- another market that Samura used to dominate but lost because of its slow pace of innovation. Now it must buy our machinery to construct ships in Yokohama.

* I'm just stopping by to visit some friends before heading on to Ogashawa in the Sigma-19 system. It's a joint–venture, gas loading facility with the GMG that I'm helping redesign to handle more ships. Kishiro and the GMG will be an unstoppable force now the system is connected to Okinawa.

* You must understand that Kusari palates are more sensitive to delicate Foods than foreigners. We can detect a great difference in quality between Kusari Food Pastes and Synth Food imports. That is why the Kusari people will pay so much more for Kyushu Food products. Now that we have extra produce from Tottori coming in, we can even compete on price.

* We are delivering a load of Junyo produced Luxury Foods. Sometimes we ship Luxury Goods or Light Arms from Tokyo. It just depends on the local demand.

* We must purchase many of our shipbuilding supplies for Yokohama here -- engine Components, Optronics, and Construction Machinery mostly. Samura once manufactured most of these Commodities, but we could not remain competitive with Kishiro in these specialties.

* Those cursed Blood Dragons harass us all the way across Honshu to the Tokyo Gate. They do not seem to bother Kishiro as much. That is suspicious in my opinion. Perhaps Kishiro is secretly supplying them with weapons and money.

* Samura still makes the daily Food run from Kyushu, but we may need to reduce it soon to bi-weekly. People are no longer eating Kyushu Rice like they did. Those Synth Food invaders have been granted landing rights on Honshu at the insistence of Kishiro. It will not last, not with agriculture on the rise in Tottori. Synth Foods is but a small asteroid along the tradelane to prosperity for our Foods Division.

* This was quite a coup, getting access to Honshu and all. We negotiated with Kishiro for months. It took a special real estate arrangement on Deshima to finally close the deal. Soon all the youth of Honshu will be converted to our cheaper products, much as New Tokyo has.

* It looks like Samura alerted the Farmers Alliance to our presence here. They've started attacking our transports in recent weeks on the Trade Lanes to the Tokyo Gate. They just never give up. One day we'll have them cornered in Kyushu; I relish the thought.

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:46 UTC*