The World of Miner's Mettle
Miner's Mettle is set in the 28th Century. Humankind has spread across the stars, to a handful of planetary colonies. Despite many advancements, space travel continues to be slow, dangerous, and expensive. Most live and die on the planet they were born on, and faster-than-light travel remains an unattainable goal.
A consortium of corporations, nations and other organizations build and spread survey satellites, one of which discovers a distant planet, designated Pentum. Wracked by constant severe weather, Pentum is uninhabitable but rich with valuable minerals. Delighted with this haul, the consortium has territory assigned to each member by an arbitrator, and they each send teams and equipment over to extract and process their resources.
Upon landing, preparations begin. The quickest and most economic way is believed to be industrial trains; they can survey the land for resources while being able to mine and haul them in as well. Soon train tracks criss-cross the planet as operations begin.
A mining team stumbles upon a new mineral, and samples are sent back to civilization. A few months later, stunning news is brought back upon one of the mining barges that ferry minerals to the colonies. Preliminary testing suggests the mineral may be the missing key to, and the fuel source for faster-than-light space travel.
The news spreads across the planet and it's mining communities like wildfire. The planet could hold the key to accelerating Humanity's advance by centuries... as well as make the fortunes of anyone lucky enough to hold stakes on Pentum. But the mineral isn't distributed equally across the planet. Some areas are rich in the mineral, while others have none at all. Some consortium members hold vast territory with almost no Pentum at all, while others seem to be drowning in the stuff. Rumours fly that some have taken to demanding fellow miner's minerals at gunpoint.
As the value of the mineral explodes by the day, previously friendly neighbours look at each other with mistrust and try to secure their borders. They will be rich beyond their wildest dreams, if only they can show their mettle...
A consortium of corporations, nations and other organizations build and spread survey satellites, one of which discovers a distant planet, designated Pentum. Wracked by constant severe weather, Pentum is uninhabitable but rich with valuable minerals. Delighted with this haul, the consortium has territory assigned to each member by an arbitrator, and they each send teams and equipment over to extract and process their resources.
Upon landing, preparations begin. The quickest and most economic way is believed to be industrial trains; they can survey the land for resources while being able to mine and haul them in as well. Soon train tracks criss-cross the planet as operations begin.
A mining team stumbles upon a new mineral, and samples are sent back to civilization. A few months later, stunning news is brought back upon one of the mining barges that ferry minerals to the colonies. Preliminary testing suggests the mineral may be the missing key to, and the fuel source for faster-than-light space travel.
The news spreads across the planet and it's mining communities like wildfire. The planet could hold the key to accelerating Humanity's advance by centuries... as well as make the fortunes of anyone lucky enough to hold stakes on Pentum. But the mineral isn't distributed equally across the planet. Some areas are rich in the mineral, while others have none at all. Some consortium members hold vast territory with almost no Pentum at all, while others seem to be drowning in the stuff. Rumours fly that some have taken to demanding fellow miner's minerals at gunpoint.
As the value of the mineral explodes by the day, previously friendly neighbours look at each other with mistrust and try to secure their borders. They will be rich beyond their wildest dreams, if only they can show their mettle...