The Main Belt

Popularly known as the Asteroid Belt, the Main Belt is nowhere near as crowded as popular space-opera would have one believe. One can stand on almost any asteroid and not see any other asteroids without using a telescope, barring Fen interference.

This relative isolation of each Main Belt object, combined with the relative ease of travel between them as a group, makes the Belt an ideal location for minor factions and rugged individualists to establish homelands away from the 'Danelaw and the largest factions. Most of the largest factions also maintain bases in the Belt for the convenience of their members travelling through the area. And while nobody would call the Potterites "minor", they have chosen to place their main base in the Belt.

Places of Interest in the Main Belt

There are literally tens of thousands of known asteroids in the Solar System; far too many to list here. While most of the first five thousand asteroids discovered have names, many don't yet have even a token presence. The asteroids that have been settled were chosen either because they're large (although 511 Davida and 704 Interamnia, two of the six largest asteroids in the inner Solar System, still haven't been settled permanently), or because they have names that caught someone's interest.

A Word of Mod

At some point the future all, or almost all the named rocks here will have seperate FenWiki pages for themselves. Watch this space for updates.

1 Ceres

Main article: 1 Ceres

Ceres is the largest body in the Main Belt. No one faction has control over Ceres; instead, it's administered by a democratically-elected council.

2 Pallas

Main article: 2 Pallas

Pallas is home to the Principality of Laputa.

3 Juno

Like Ceres, Juno is home to a well-known "truck stop and diner" facility. Unlike Ceres, Juno City is inhabited primarly by Belters; not the ones who mine asteroids, but those who provide services to the miners.

4 Vesta

During the early days of Fen expansion into the Solar System, the Browncoats and Heinleinians argued over who was entitled to Ganymede, based on their fandoms' pre-handwave fiction. (The Fivers eventually got the two groups to share.) The Asimov fen saw this, acted quickly to claim Vesta as their own, and built the first post-secondary educational institutions in space: the Vesta Institute of Biochemistry and the Vesta Institute of Robotics teach the two scientific fields most associated with Prof. Asimov. Well-known Senshi geneticist Leda Swansen graduated at the top of the first class through VIB's genetics program in 2010.

10 Hygiea

This is the busiest asteroid in the Main Belt, thanks to the Wizards choosing it as the home for their main facility, Hogsmeade.

36 Atalante

Operation Great Justice established a base here early in the Boskone War, originally to support the activities of the Magnificent Midnight and the Roughriders. After the war, the base was awarded to the Roughriders, and still supports their Blackbirds.

74 Galatea

It's an open secret that the Metropolis Project is headquarted on Galatea. This homeland for AIs is protected by the Space Patrol.

125 Liberatrix

A very few victims of the Catgirling Machine have been able to return to their old lives. Others have chosen, or been forced, to leave everything they ever knew on Earth and take up residence in space. The single largest expatriate catgirl colony is Liberty, on asteroid 125 Liberatrix. As yet, the severe gender imbalance (biologically, 100% female) has not caused problems, but many Trekkie and Potterite sociologists fear that it's only a matter of time before the Interwave echoes with the cry "Liberatrix Needs Men!"

253 Mathilde

Site of a March 2013 battle between OGJ forces and the Boskonian warship Dr. Crippen, in which the alleged ghost ship the USS Eldridge played a key (if possibly accidental) role.

342 Endymion

The Senshi have maintained an official outpost on Endymion since SOS-Con. There have been unofficial Crystal Milennium outposts in the Belt for years (such as the one on 2462 Nehalennia), but this is the one where all travelling Senshi can be sure of a warm welcome, no matter their subfaction.

388 Charybdis

This asteroid has yet to be settled permanently, but it served as the staging point for the last major offensive in Operation Great Justice.

476 Hedwig

The Potterites' most noticeable contribution to the Interwave communications system is Hedwig, the single largest communications node in the Solar System. The station covers over half the surface of 476 Hedwig, with private residences and a small dock covering the rest of the asteroid's surface. The station's power plant is buried deep within the asteroid's core. Hedwig was never attacked during Operation Great Justice, most likely because both sides used it to relay heavily-encrypted battle plans.

498 Tokio

Temporarily known as Rockhounds Space Rock #7, and better known as the Village of Hidden Asteroid or Seijutaigakure no Sato, Tokio is the Ninja faction's home base. It's also home to two restaurants listed in the Fenspace Travel Guide: Ninjaburger and The Dancing Shinobi.

519 Sylvania

Rather than risk widespread ecological catastrophe from experiments gone horribly wrong, the Belters decided to give title to a single asteroid to The Jason, on the understanding that he wouldn't experiment on any of their rocks. 519 Sylvania is the asteroid they chose. Rumors say you can already see "bonsai sakura" on the asteroid's surface if you look hard enough.

991 McDonalda

When a 'Daneside entertainment company claimed 4017 Disneya, Fenspace's preeminent fast-food chain decided to prevent what they thought was an obvious threat to their operations. The Ninjaburger Drive-In was established as "a preemptive strike against dishonorable gaijin competition" on 991 McDonalda, and has grown to become the largest single fast-food outlet in the Solar System. Rumors that there are vast soy plantations (or beef cattle ranches) hidden within the asteroid's interior, or that most of the traffic to and from the asteroid is made up of delivery-genin instead of paying customers, are neither confirmed nor denied by Ninjaburger.

1130 Skuld

There is absolutely nothing on Skuld, except a single marker beacon claiming the entire asteroid as Sora Hasegawa's private property. This claim is enforced for various reasons by the Belters, the Senshi, the Space Patrol, the Stellvians, and the VVS.

1186 Turnera

Nobody could believe that the sexist white-supremicist "Sons of Turner" Boskonians could be so blatantly obvious as to put their home base on 1186 Turnera. They were wrong. Turnera was captured during Operation Great Justice, and its commanders arrested, by the all-female task force Tango Shoes.

Other than an occasional and very temporary use as an emergency landing point for vessels in distress, the domes on 1186 Turnera have been abandoned ever since while the remaining Sons of Turner try to regain possession of them.

1247 Memoria

All factions have agreed that nobody shall ever live on Memoria. The entire asteroid has been set aside as a memorial park, first to commemerate those who fell during Operation Great Justice, and later for all others who have passed on while in space.

1405 Sibelius

The Dandelions have a number of outposts throughout space, but the one on Sibelius has become the largest and most-often-visited.

1625 The NORC

This asteroid is home to the 'Danelaw base furthest Out. The Stingray and her sister ships have a resupply and logistics base here, which includes a computer complex informally called "New NORC".

Civilian traffic is occasionally allowed to land on The NORC at the discretion of base Commander McHale, but usually traffic is restricted to USN vessels.

2090 Mizuho

Most Belters realize the importance of a good education, and this is where they chose to locate their first high school. 2090 Mizuho is home to Kizaki High School, the first Japanese-style high school in the Main Belt. Kizaki High School is open to all students aged 15 to 17, and many of its graduates continue their education at one of the Vesta Institutes.

2138 Swissair

The 'Danelaw corporation that lent its name to this asteroid have claimed and colonized it, using it as a mass-transportation hub. There isn't yet enough traffic to make the Swissair Spaceport profitable, but the corporation has decided to take the long view, hoping that being the first to provide this service will give them an advantage in future decades.

2244 Tesla

The Foglios maintain New Hong Kong, a travellers' aid base found on 2244 Tesla. The resident population is split evenly between the faction's Buck Godot and Sparks subgroups; the former are New Hong Kong's public face, while the latter maintain the base's systems. Unlike many such bases, New Hong Kong is open to anyone regardless of faction (or lack thereof); visitors are warned that There Are No Laws On New Hong Kong.

The Sparks also maintain an emergency slip for the Sol Bianca on Tesla. It is unknown whether The Professor has ever used this facility.

2277 Moreau

2277 Moreau is better known as Monster Asteroid, after the theme park it hosts.

The Kahiki Tiki Supper Club is Monster Asteroid's best-known restaurant. It has received a three-star listing in the Fenspace Travel Guide.

2309 Mr. Spock

The Trekkies know that this asteroid wasn't directly named after one of their source fiction's characters. They don't care; it's too good a name to pass up. The Starfleet Academy Main Belt Campus, the FedFen's advanced-piloting-techniques school, is found on 2309 Mr. Spock.

2462 Nehalennia

The Black Senshi have had a small, insular settlement on Nehalennia since before the founding of Crystal Tokyo. They claim the other Senshi are too pollyannaish for their tastes, and they prefer to be left alone.

2579 Spartacus

While Spartacus is uninhabited, it is often treated as a minor and unofficial Artemis Foundation base because OV-103 Discovery keeps visiting it.

2700 Baikonur

The Soviet Air Force maintains a "theoretical concepts research center" codenamed Black Mesa on this asteroid. Exactly what theoretical concepts are being researched, by whom and to what end the VVS has been extremely close-mouthed about.

Space control around 2700 Baikonur is extremely strict. Non-Soviet spacecraft can only dock under emergency circumstances, and even then only for as long as it takes to resolve the emergency. During Operation Great Justice several attempts to take the habitat were made by Boskonian raiders, only for the raiders to vanish without trace. The Central Committee refuses to explain this.

2709 Sagan

The Handwavium Propulsion Laboratory (Artemis Foundation's main research base) and shipyard Ley (Artemis' main shipbuilding facility) share space on 2709 Sagan. Satellite campuses belonging to Harvard, CalTech, Oxford, and Queens (Kingston, Canada) are also found here; they all specialize in astrophysics studies. The remainder of the asteroid's surface is covered with residential and agricultural-use domes.

3325 TARDIS

The Timelords have claimed 3325 TARDIS as their home base. Unfortunately, they lack the resources to develop it properly, and so the single dome on the surface is not very roomy.

3869 Norton

Rumor has it that the Erisians have a major base on or inside of asteroid Norton. Nobody ever admits to finding any structures there, though.

3990 Heimdal

The White Tower, headquarters of the Space Patrol, takes up approximately ten percent of the surface of asteroid Heimdal and has expansion plans on file for most of the remaining ninety percent. (The remaining surface area is set aside for liason offices to allied factions such as the Watch.) Heimdal is one of the safest places in the Solar System.

4017 Disneya

While this asteroid is still undeveloped, it has been claimed by the Disney Corporation.

4860 Gubbio

This asteroid, named after one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Italy, is owned by historical-reenactment fen and home to their Renfaire theme park.

6565 Reiji

Pirate Island is the home base of the Space Pirates, and was a major staging point for anti-Boskonian operations throughout Operation Great Justice.

One of Pirate Island's best-known drinking establishments is The Drunken Harlock, the Belt's only authentic dockside bar.

Stations

Asteroids aren't always found where somebody wants to put a facility. These ships and stations are usually, if not always, found in the Main Belt.

• Fateful Lightning
• Hephaestus
• Prometheus Forge
• Artemis Foundation Research Station Chawla - 120° forward of 2709 Sagan
• Artemis Foundation Research Station McAuliffe - 120° behind 2709 Sagan

Gnarlycurl is also found in the Belt on average four months of the year.