Kessel  

Star Type: G0V
Position in System: 2 (of 9)
Number of Moons: 2 (Kiev, Svoboda)
Days to Jump Point: 10
Surface Water: 81%
Atm. Pressure: Standard (Tainted)
Surface Gravity: 1.21
Equatorial Temp: 42� C
Highest Native Life: Mammals
Population: 2,013,000,000
Governor: Oscar Lanskey
Planetary Legate: David Schrock
Under the sway of the Federation of Skye, known for shrewd business practices and a preponderance of heavy industrial might, Kessel was already a valuable manufacturing center even before the dawn of the Lyran Commonwealth. It therefore comes as little surprise that the Draconis Combine, a poor realm�economically, if not militarily�would covet such a prize so close to their border, when the Star League collapsed and war broke out across the Inner Sphere. House Kurita captured Kessel almost incidentally, during a drive toward Skye itself, and though the forces of House Steiner ultimately succeeded in driving back the Combine invaders, they never managed to reclaim several lost planets, including this one. The Combine saw great untapped potential in this mineral- and metal-rich world, with its many mining, refining, and manufacturing complexes that produced everything short of BattleMechs and DropShips. Thus, as Steiner forces continued to hit back over the centuries, making several failed attempts to retake worlds such as Kessel, the Combine took advantage of their possession, loosening industrial standards that protected the environment to increase output for their military needs. Freed of the constraints found on other former Isle of Skye worlds, or any other industrial/corporate niceties, for that matter, the industries on Kessel turned to such questionable practices as strip mining and chemical dumping. Worse still, these practices also attracted the attention of the yakuza, the dominant underworld force of the Draconis Combine. Over the centuries, the results of these trends were a poisoned biosphere and a poisoned society. Crime was rampant, and might made right, except in those areas where the well-armed and equipped nobility resided. Visitors to this world are still cautioned to keep respirators on when outside their vehicles and buildings, to protect against the still-lingering toxins in the local air.
Kessel became a prefecture capital under Combine rule. Though it was raided several times, major corporations continued their operations on this world unabated, attracting even Inner Sphere-renowned manufacturers, such as Diverse Optics, producer of everything from home entertainment systems to military-grade laser weaponry.

During the Jihad, Kessel�s productivity and administrative importance drew the Blakists� attention, but fortunately an allied fleet spearheaded by Combine WarShips interdicted the fanatics� attack. Only a handful of Word of Blake troops made planetfall on Kessel, but that handful was enough to hit several large cities with neutron bombs in a suicide run that killed over ten thousand Combine citizens. When this world was ceded to The Republic, Devlin Stone offered a slight increase in the landhold grants given to citizens on Kessel in exchange for a guarantee that such citizens would work to improve the planet�s quality of life. Since then, even though the air and water of this world remain tainted, environmental indicators have shown their first improvements in over 200 years.
Kessel�s capital city is Sverdlovsk, located on the northwestern continent of Novgorod. The southern continent, Gershtad, is home to the planet�s largest spaceport and AtmoClean Enterprises, a recently commissioned, prototype air purification plant. Northeast of Gershtad is the Lobopov continent, home to what little remains of Kessel�s untamed wilderness, and several defunct strip-mining operations.
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