Mica Majority
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Mica Majority is a Periphery state in the popular sci-fi universe BattleTech owned by WizKids Games Inc.
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[edit] History
The Kurita government abandoned its claim to the worlds when the main Mican ore deposits were already depleted, and the punishing climates of the Mican worlds prevented the formation of any major cities in the system.
Though the life-support domes on Mica II, V, and VII were quite impressive engineering feats when they were first constructed, they remain mere curiosities today.
The Mica Majority consists of three mineral-rich worlds located near the Delos IV star system between the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance.
Known for their extensive deposits of gold, uranium, and other precious minerals, Mica II, V, and VII each have a harsh arctic climate that makes mining operations costly. With only the thinnest of atmospheres, the Micanites must live in pressurized dome-towns, similar to the raucous Yukon-Klondike towns of Terran North America.
Miners, drifters, bartenders, and assorted ne'er-do-wells vie with one another to cash in on newfound wealth or at least live long enough to spend some of it.
Ore from the mining fields is collected at central distribution points and shipped out to the system's Jump Point every summer when scores of merchants from the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance arrive to trade with the Micanites.
For several weeks and even months, thousands of miners compete against, barter with, steal from, drink with, lie to, wench with, gamble with, win from, and lose to merchants and other miners aboard the Micanite Space Center, built in the waning days of the Star League.
Thus do the neighboring systems of the Federated Suns and the Outworlds Alliance gain badly needed resources at one tenth the price asked by Inner Sphere mining concerns.
For their part, the miners receive machinery and modern conveniences, clothing and chemicals, brandies and brides, all of which they need to continue their precarious existence. Given time, a more stabilized form of economic exchange may develop.
For the time being, however, both sides are satisfied with the present arrangement.
[edit] Succession Wars
Located near the system's zenith jump point is a huge orbital complex constructed in the late 2600s when the vast resources of the system became known.
With only brief interruptions during the Succession Wars, large-scale barter and trade between the descendants of the original Micanite laborers and the Inner Sphere have remained intact.
[edit] War
For most of its history, the Mica Majority has remained free of any foreign influence, mainly because the Mican worlds provide little incentive for any potential invader.
The only recorded invasion of the Mica Majority occurred in 3035, when a Tortuga pirate force commanded by Paula "Lady Death" Trevaline entered the system.
Within days the pirates realized that the Mican domes contained only a fraction of the wealth they had expected to find. Frustrated by the lack of plunder and unaccustomed to the frigid temperatures of the polar worlds, the pirate force abandoned the Mica Majority after a few weeks.
