Mercury

From UNICOMP, the Universal Compendium

Mercury is the first planet in the Sol System and the second smallest. Its terrain is heavily cratered, similar to Earth's moon, Luna.

The colonists on Mercury have a very unique way of dealing with the extreme temperatures on their planet. The temperature on Mercury is only habitable on the day/night line, so the colony homes and businesses are all along this line. However, because Mercury's rotation is so slow, every few days the people move their homes in the opposite direction of the rotation to stay on the line. Unfortunately, this method of living is not very appealing for traditional colonists, so Mercury is utilized as a penal colony for the rehabilitation of the regions most notorious criminals.

The primary facility on the planet, the Delban Institute, serves as a facility for those criminals deemed mentally unstable, while the various mobile settlements utilize the labor of inmates in the harvesting of various minerals found on the planet, most notably being Chromanium, Solidinium, and Uranium.

The advent of conflict instigated the use of the extreme areas of the planet as weapon testing areas. Areas toward the equator have no atmosphere due to the limited terraforming efforts, and allow safe use of high-yield weaponry without danger of affecting anyone in the populated areas. The first test of the Solionic Particle Emitter was performed on Mercury.