St. Albans

[Roger]

Saint Albans
P/2027(34Tauri(2020)C)04

Orbital Distance: 10.65 AU
Rotational Period: 34.76 Years
Surface Area: 490,873,852 km2 (96.2% that of Earth-That-Was)
Population: 40,000,000
Terraformed: 2290
Affiliation: Independent

St. Albans is what some would call the result of poor terraforming.  At the most basic level there is nothing terribly wrong with St. Albans.  The soil is reasonably fertile, there are rich deposits of ores, the atmosphere is stable, etc.  But beyond that there are two chief problems with the planet.  Although within the habitable range, St. Albans is one of if not the coldest planet in the 'Verse.  Winters are long and harsh and except for a thin equatorial belt the majority of the planet doesn't really experience any seasons.  Summer snows are common although far less severe than their winter counterparts.  St. Albans is also notably mountainous thus negating the effect of good soil by making any large scale farming operations difficult (even assuming the weather wouldn't kill off crops before harvest).

Thus, the vast majority of St. Albans has turned underground forming mining communities to tap some of the richest veins of base ores (iron, coal, zinc, lead, copper, etc.) in the entire 'Verse.  It's hard dangerous work, but the mines are often warmer than the surface and on a planet where the only other major industry is goat herding, there are little options.

The communities of St. Albans tend to be small and spaced out here and there in the valleys between mountains.  They are tight knit groups that can be difficult to get to know, however, a friend to one is a friend to all and the same goes for enemies.  St. Albans has become a sort of self imposed penal colony for some, finding friends in one of these remote towns and blending in where the law won't find them and even if it did everyone would lie and say they'd lived there all their life.