Has anyone incorporated this into their fiction? This is fantastic.
I very much appreciate it but as far as I know no. Except for me of course.
The History and Traits of the BeltersSince the 20th century humanity has had at least a transient population of people who choose not to live their whole lives on a habitable rock. Since the late 21st century there have been permanent populations living in the narrow passages of spacecraft, rendering megatons of asteroid rock into space stations, or burrowing deep into ice to make it their home. The life of a Spacer (for those that live aboard spaceships obviously) or Belter (those that live within asteroid habitats or distant, dark space stations) is not an easy one but like any niche people and their organisms have exploited it to their own benefit. Centuries of divergence, isolation, and no small amount of genetic engineering has created a population that has adapted to this alien environment as much as any of the Clan phenotypes but so much more.
Many of the original Belters were recruited from populations on Earth with promises of hazardous but high paying jobs by the Terran Alliance. The ones from high altitude areas as diverse as the South American Andes, Swiss Alps, and the Himalayas of Southern Asia thrived through a complex series of cultural and biological factors. Although these are the oldest populations, they are not alone, and others were or have been supplemented by the same germ line genetic engineering first employed in the 23rd century. Some were even incorporated into the Clan’s Aerofighter phenotype and found in the native Tanite populations prior to the Clan’s conquest of them.
This engineering increased resistance to radiation induced cancers and reconfigured some genes related to vitamin and salt processing, reduced hair formation, better cardiac and blood health, and fine-tuned muscle, and bone formation for zero-g. Belters ingest a wide variety of supplements to augment their otherwise very healthy diet of aquaponically grown fish, fruit, algae, and vegetables and mandated exercise. Some of which is shared with the fruit bats they keep as pets and to trigger proper immune development in an otherwise very clean environment. Among these is a bioavailable form of strontium which replaces some of the calcium, also heavily supplemented, in their bones artificially increasing their density and reducing the risk of breaks.
Artificial selection on such a wide scale and some engineered solutions such as the expanded use of grav decks for pregnant women dramatically improved the viable birthrate and lifespan among Belter populations. The Belter population rapidly expanded, increasing the manpower their TA sponsors could call upon. Other supplements are used in their small security forces to ensure the small but mighty Belters, who maintained the Warrior traditions of their native populations particularly the Gurkha, can serve as an equal to the ‘Common Dirtbag.’
Some Belters served in the Terran Alliance’s Colonial Marines and alongside their Spacer counterparts in Alliance Global Navy. They were rarely incorporated into the feudal mostly ground-bound militaries of the Great Houses. With the Free World League’s Clan related expansion of Aerospace production, they found a place as pilots and marines equal to any among the Clans. Though none fought the Clans directly instead fighting alongside the Nova Cats and 2SLDF in limited numbers. Post-Jihad the 2SLDF prefers the more reliable Belters and Clanners for operations finding the new groups of Post-Warlord era Great House soldiers ‘troublesome.’
The Age of Exploration was not kind to the Belter populations as new virgin worlds were constantly being settled and their resources exploited at lower cost. With access to so many resources their mineral extraction and processing industries suffered. The engineering and artisan craftsmanship they would later be known for were still restricted by the Terran Alliance.
The Ryan Ice Ship Cartel, formed by a Spacer entrepreneur, grew rich and cut into the Belter’s profitable ice mining operations that fueled colonization and terraforming drive. Spacers enjoyed the advantage of gravity and natural sunlight and required no major adjustments to retain normal human function. Spacers ferried colonists and soldiers throughout the ever-expanding Human Sphere growing rich enough to begin purchasing their own ships and investing in shipyards to expand their number.
When the Terran Alliance fell to be replaced by the Terran Hegemony Belters were further reduced in prominence as Hegemony troops were more numerous than even the growing population of Belters. Belter crews served on the early Warships of the Hegemony but rapidly found themselves sidelined by higher prestige colonies.
With little need for terrestrial resources or a drive for growth with all of space at their fingertips Belter populations faded into the background forming Communities among themselves while the Star League rose to power aided by its vast fleet of Warships. These Communities formed greater Confederations that existed principally as medium to exchange culture, information, and ‘genes’ and lacked any kind of supreme executive. This was particularly true in the Outworlds Alliance that resisted Star League aggression only to be occupied by AFFS troops under the orders of the SLDF.
Stephan Amaris’ coup created a crisis for the Hegemony’s Belter Confederation. Amaris had been working with groups of Belters in the Periphery. These would interestingly form the nucleus of what would later become the Canopian Pleasure Circus and contribute to the Taurian Far Looker movement principally among the Adaptor, Inheritor, and Arcologist faction. However, there was no mistaking his intentions were not in their Communities interest. Lacking any kind of native defense industry or a large military they remained neutral and hiding along the system edges far from the recently activated Caspar SDSs.
When Kerensky liberated Terra and cut a deal with the Minister of Communication Jerome Blake to form COMSTAR there was finally some hope for the Terran Belters. It was only during this period when Terra was restricted but before it was fully locked down that the Confederation covertly acquired and spread its engineering skills.
With the breakdown of the Star League and its associated industries the Scavenger Days and Succession Wars came. Interstellar and Interplanetary craft were abandoned or mothballed in droves more valuable as sources of spares than functioning machines. Planetary industries were destroyed along with the once great shipyards that had enabled humanity’s expansion beyond its initial pale blue dot. This suited the Belters just fine who were mostly self-sufficient and with their support of the Blessed Order safe from ROM.
Many Belters served COMSTAR over the centuries of its existence although few fully brought into the Toyama mysticism that gradually expanded among its ranks. It is likely, though unconfirmed, that they operate a limited but parallel HPG network to communicate among themselves as they rarely come within thirty light minutes of a settled world. Whether this was disabled during the Blackout is equally unknown and Belter Captains are not forthcoming with any answers. Much Belter history among the Succession Wars is unknown as no one bothered to travel out to the outer planets they congregated at and those that did often reported that Belter’s were uncharacteristically unwelcoming.
Sporadic reports of diseases spread from and hostilities with fellow scavengers turned them off to outsiders. That is not to say that Spacers were not rescued and treated well by their Belter counterparts if they suffered a system failure in the deep black. This mutual respect is observed between those in extreme environments throughout history regardless of ethnic or national differences. Those cultures and the Belters are not exempt and often share gifts between groups even something as small as new holovids is greatly appreciated.
Belter craftsmen create the finest specimens of precision metalwork (the Hyades Community) and delicate jewelry (the Trznadel Community) in the Inner Sphere due to sheer access and to gain foreign currency enabling further expansion. The liquidity crisis post-Jihad was a huge boon to the Terran Community as large stores of silver, gold, and platinum rounds stockpiled over centuries and hidden from Amaris and ROM could be quickly made available to the Second Star League.
What they received in exchange remains unknown, but because of this the Second Star League was able to prevent the complete collapse of the Inner Sphere’s economy. With the future of the C-bill (now Communications) in doubt until every HPG can be brought online other Belter communities have been providing banking services with their very secure and increasingly well-guarded, by surplus Power Armor, Assault Dropships, Aerospace Fighters, and curiously a few Celestial LAMs, metal stores.
