Byzantium is an amazing place. The planet, not the old city name. She’s ringed by orbiting space stations that do nothing but trade and buy and sell stuff. It’s like a giant outlet center in places. In other places, it’s warehouses as far as the eye can see. Even mine. Anyone who ships goods into the Core Worlds has been there. Me, a lot of times. She’s the mother of all trade worlds, and there’s truly no place like her anywhere.
Independence is the symbol of progress in the Pleiades Sector. The oldest and richest colony, all expeditions to the sector have passed through her space on the way out to their final destinations. Even the Alcyone Expeditions stopped there to resupply. The trade routes flowing from Independence link the Inner and Outer Colonies in an economic web that unites them with bonds far greater than mere common heritage. Common interest.
Not all of the family left France after the Revolution. Some of them lived common enough lives that they escaped the notice of rabid revolutionaries. Some very few others were such integral and positive parts of the local communities that the villagers protected them. They chose to remain, throwing away all vestiges of noble privilege, and they and their descendents survived the dozens of revolutions that have plagued France in the centuries since.
When Constantinople colonized Arcturus, they were looking far into the future. It was the farthest colony from Earth at the time, on the edge of the interstellar dust cloud that slows travel around Earth and the other nearby star systems. Any ship that made it to Arcturus could refuel, resupply, and then move out far faster than they could anywhere else, and it became a port of call and center of trade for long-range starships. They named it Byzantium.
Independence is a small world, with thinner air and lower gravity than Earth. Despite this, it is a very comfortable world to live on, with large oceans comparable to Earth’s. It is rich in easily accessible minerals that make it a prime location for factories of all kinds, and the locals are very friendly to anything that involves boosting their local economy. Independence is the richest colony outside The Wall. Of course, it was also the first.
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