Earth Ring Station

Vital Statistics

Name: The Earth Ring Station

Other Names: Ring Station, ‘Earth’

Location: Built in geo-synchronous orbit around Earth

Permanent Population: 5 billion

Transient Population: 10 million to 100 million souls

Imports: Food, Raw materials both organic and non-organic, prefabricated starship components, entertainment.

Exports: Medical supplies, Weapons, Starships (both sub-luminal and super-luminal).

Description

It consists of three massive rings that intersect at perpendicular angles to one another, perfectly quartering the planet. At each intersection of these tubes is a massive node where megacities have been built, each capable of housing hundreds of millions of people.

The megacities are each self-sufficient with the exception of food production. While they grow impressive amounts of food themselves in hydroponic gardens, it is not nearly enough for them to support their entire populations. As such the primary import of the Earth Ring Station is food.

Power is generated through a combination of fusion generators, photovoltaic cells on the surface of the station, and a unique fluid system that generates power by circulating fluid throughout the rings of the station by the heating/cooling convection action of the sun on the surface of the station.

The rings of the station are used for the dual purpose of docking ships, both large and small, and fabrication/industrial activity, as well as additional housing, mostly for transients although many permanent residents choose to live in the rings as well since that allows them to stay closer to their work.

The normal, permanent population of the Earth Ring Station is in the neighborhood of five billion, making it by far the most populace center for human habitation in known space.

Each of the megacity nodes is equipped with everything anyone could want including housing, schools, recreation, shopping, public parks, and anything else a person might need. An additional, long-unused feature of each of these cities are the six orbital elevator shafts that were once, more than five-hundred years ago, used to efficiently move large and small payloads from the surface of the Earth to the ring station. Most people no longer even remember the existence of these facilities, let alone where they might actually be located.

Features/Places of Note

Neo-Tokyo (Indian Ocean)

Beier Ikhaya (African)

Renchi-kas (Gulf)

Xaman-Otoch (Arctic)

Lintang Kampong (Pacific)

På-rymi (Antarctic)

The Rings

Government

History

The Earth Ring Station was constructed over the course of two centuries, before the war that nearly destroyed the planet Earth itself.

Spoilers

Status: