Beylix

[Roger]

Beylix

S/2040(P/2020(34Tauri(2020)D)01)01

Orbital Distance: 0.225 AU
Rotational Period: 2.02 Years
Surface Area: 333,291,565 km2 (65.3% that of Earth-That-Was)
Population: 45,000,000
Terraformed: 2425
Affiliation: Penglai Entente

The first satellite of Penlai (which in turn is the eleventh satellite of Kalidasa), Beylix is notable as one of only two terrestrial worlds in all of 34 Tauri with planetary rings.  Beylix is also notable as the dominant member and capital of the Penglai Entente.

For much of the planet, Beylix is fairly typical as a rural agrarian rim world.  However, after the planet was terraformed, United Reclamation, a corporation from the Core, purchased large swaths of land on the planet.  Over the next century, Beylix would become the 'Verse's garbage dump first with landfills from the Core being excavated and dumped here and then with a steady supply of new garbage arriving regularly to add to the mountains of refuse.  Beylix has thus earned a reputation as a literal dump although much of the planet is not and never was controlled by United Reclamation.

As their name implies, United Reclamation not only transferred the trash to Beylix but at least performed some level of recycling there as well.  These formal operations eventually spawned thousands of informal (and illegal) salvage operations in the vast and unguarded fields of waste.  Over time these operations eclipsed the formal industrial recycling and Beylix became the place where almost anything could be found given enough time for someone to look.  The saying "one man's trash is another's treasure" was never more appropriate as a secondhand market sprung up for used or refurbished items ranging from simple tools and equipment to furniture and even starships.  "Modern art" began to grow as well as did a thriving smuggling industry, hiding goods amid trash.

Unfortunately, although Beylix's scrapyards and landfills have brought a certain kind of prosperity, they have also begun to poison the world as well.  Some decomposition is merely unpleasant and might actually have positive side effects for the soil, but many things dumped on Beylix are toxic.  In places the air, the ground, and the water have been poisoned at least to some degree and the dirty recycling and refurbishing operations that surround the dumps only further pollute.


In 2520, a rebellion began on Beylix against post-Unification Alliance control.  Beylix was not the first such rebellion, but it was the first successful rebellion.  Within a few years Beylix has won its independence and sparked a ripple across the 'Verse which would see the Alliance withdraw back to the Core.  In its wake, Beylix united its neighboring worlds into the Penglai Entente and has led that organization for the past decades.

In recent times, United Reclamation's control of the planet has waned though Beylix still welcomes the waste of the rest of the 'Verse.