Alkaid_Overview

        Alkaid, like many worlds immediately coreward and anti-spinward of Terra, such as Skye and Caledonia, was initially settled largely by Irish and Scottish colonists during the first wave of human expansion into space. A pleasant world of mild seasons, fertile soils, expansive seas, and thick vegetation on its three large temperate-zone continents, Alkaid was quickly established as an agricultural world. Settled only a few months after Thorin, the Alkaid colonial government looked to their neighbor world for a guide and adopted similar zoning laws to contain industrial expansion and maintain the natural beauty of their world. Declaring the northeasternmost continent, Shamrock, as the industrial “zone,” and limiting its close western neighbor, Ridgeway, to a mix of mineral mining and agricultural concerns, the colonists defined the southern continent of MacArthur as a low-technology “zone” similar to Thorin’s continent of Freda. These zoning laws and their immediate effects shaped the way Alkaid’s population developed their world, and even today a distinct difference can be seen between the cities and towns on each of the three continents.
        Shamrock, the most populous and industrialized, is also home to the planetary capital of New Dublin, and the large primary spaceport of Calenaton. Ridgeway, by comparison, has smaller towns dominated by granite- and ore-mining operations or large agricultural communities and ranches.
Meanwhile, the virtually untamed wilderness of MacArthur is home to a few small farming, logging, and fishing communities, but remains dominated by thick jungles untouched by humankind. The few Star League Castles Brian placed during the reign of the Terran Hegemony were destroyed during the Amaris crisis or soon after the fall of the League, but thankfully very little collateral damage was done, preserving much of Alkaid’s native splendor and its people’s way of life. However, rumors of a Star League research facility deep in the jungles of MacArthur still send prospectors into the unknown—many never to return.
        Under the banner of the Lyran state, Alkaid continued to prosper, upset only by the occasional raid by Combine or Free Worlds forces during the Succession Wars. During the Jihad, Blakist forces launched a heavy strike on Altairto cripple its infrastructure, partially destroying the capital and several major cities, as well as many surrounding townships, before allied forces beat them back. Though a few tactical nuclear weapons were used, the majority of the damage has since been repaired and memorials to those who fell defending the planet against the Word of Blake now stand in New Dublin, Calenaton, Port MacArthur, and Mechanicsburg.