Kalais

Fourteenth moon of Halix, Kalais is a Stage 3-HR terraformed world that would likely be completely barren and uninhabited under normal circumstances.

An accident in the initial comet seeding in AC 93 caused a mining asteroid in orbit to break apart and decimate most of the surface. A small debris ring still remains from the event. Though thousands were killed, it was discovered afterward that the core of the asteroid had been rich in phosphorous. This, combined with the original surface's nitrogen content made the world perfect for plant life. Core magnetization was attempted in AC 95 but only produced modest returns. Kalais's magnetic field is weak as a result and solar radiation is high. Geothermal cracking was started in AC 120, and was continued beyond the standard time frame to allow more greenhouse gases to develop.

The world was briefly colonized in AC 183 by the Out-World Security Authority, with research into UV and radiation-resistance crops yielding only partial success. This lead to famine and abandonment of several colonies. Almost 20 years later those colonies that did survive were marooned by Governor Ron Kimal when he commandeered all space faring vessels and left to participate in the raging Out-World Wars.

Agricultural improvements elsewhere brought fresh colonists back starting in AC 266, and a brief shooting war was fought between “originals” and “independents.” With better supplies, the new colonists either defeated or assimilated the natives and continued to flourish for two generations.

In AC 318 the fledgling Kalaisian nations appealed to the Belt Confederacy to take control of the world and negotiate an end to their various border conflicts. However, in AC 322 the confederacy could not stop the outbreak of the Kalaisian Troubles, a total war between the world's two largest nations. Both sides tried to draw confederate support, but with its aversion for local politics, Kalais's position on the outskirts of confederate territory, and the fact that the war interrupted tithing, the confederacy left the world altogether.

The troubles' formally ended in AC 354 with the creation of the Kalaisian League- a world diplomatic organization that negotiated the remaining disputes and brought a sense of normalcy. The next 25 years saw a population and agricultural trade boom that brought the first real prosperity to the world since it's colonization.

In AC 388 system food prices crashed, and in the response the Kalaisian League negotiated a series of price controls with the Inner Sphere Union in exchange for cheap labor for union mines. Nations of the league eventually agreed and unionist “recruitment ships” became a consistent sight over the next decade. Glorified slavers, the unionists caused ever-severe revolts against the established nations.

In AC 395 Jan Nordis begins his successful campaign against the unionists and eventually founds the Nordis Republic. His forces are initially seen as liberators, and while Nordis becomes increasingly authoritarian by AC 398 his regime controls all major starports and the Inner Sphere Union treaty is nullified. Although export revenue falls as the price controls are lifted, the introduction of imperial escorts to nearby trade routes open up new markets to Kalaisian food and keep the economic recession short.

Jan Nordis dies in AC 406 to an assassin's bullet, causing worries of a second round of Kalaisian Troubles as his son Zachary Nordis tries desperately to keep his father's empire from breaking apart. By AC 409 it is clear that the Nordis Republic will survive Jan's passing without major war, but it loses a regional starport to the Kalais Federation who negotiates access with other smaller nations to provide a counter-balance to the Nordis trade monopoly.