Introduction
Lythios 43-C is the sole habitable planet in the Hadii's Folly system. Located in a patch of relatively empty space, Hadii's Folly and its sister systems were originally owned by the People's Republic of Adhomai. The planet's frigid atmosphere and harsh climate were not so dissimilar to conditions on S'rand'mar, which made colonization efforts relatively straightforward for the Tajaran-based initiative. After years of governmental mismanagement and public scandal, the PRA sold the system rights to NanoTrasen, touting its pre-built facilities and adjacency to a stable hyperlane. A former Central Command Adjunct assigned to the sale at the time authorized the purchase without fully performing their due diligence, resulting in an infamously rocky start at the facility.
Geography
Lythios 43-C orbits the external rim of its parent star Lu'marr's habitable zone. Geological studies and some astrophysics models suggest that Lythios was once seated comfortably in the center of the zone millions of years ago. However, Lythios' orbit gradually accelerated due to unknown factors, drawing it out to the edge. As a result, the planet's biosphere experienced a punctuated extinction event that very few creatures survived. Pushed into a prolonged ice age, the planet's water supplies have long since consolidated into mammoth glaciers. Faults in the planet's thin mantle result in near-constant volcanic eruptions and open fissures. The release of steam and heated air from these breaks pushes liquidized water up into the atmosphere, where it quickly freezes and falls back to the surface as snow. This provides Lythios with an admittedly novel water cycle.
History
In 2525, the Confederate Commonwealth announced ‘joint survey efforts’ involving the great powers of Adhomai. With the stated goal of locating worlds fit for Tajaran colonization. Among the chosen candidates surveyed by the PRA are Motov'maal, Miaphus'irra, and Lythios 43-C. By 2535, the PRA had confirmed the commencement of solo colonization efforts across all three systems containing these habitable locations. After ten years of surveying, provisional construction, and logistical management, ground was broken in secret on PRA Black Site XXXX, which would later become the NSB Atlas. According to official records retrieved after the fact, the facility was finally completed after two years of construction. Colonel Namar Lii'jar of the People's Republic of Adhomai was listed as the administrator of the facility at this time.
The site itself did not attain the notice of the Public until 2557, when an unregistered reactor operating inside the facility experiences a catastrophic meltdown. Over one hundred Tajaran crew perish in the event. Discovery of the black site and knowledge of the resulted in a wave of backlash and a public outcry from Adhomai. Embarrassed, the PRA vowed to shut down the facility. After three years of very public procedure, the last PRA assets on Lythios departed from the facility. After a lengthy investigation, the PRA laid the blame for the reactor's failure on Colonel Lii'jar. Stripped of his rank and under criminal investigation, Colonel Lii'jar fled the Republic and expatriated to Mars.
In an attempt to distance itself from the scandal, the PRA, at the behest of Adhomai, sold the Lythios facility - as well as Motov'maal and Miaphus'irra; both embroiled in their own periods of upheaval - to NanoTrasen in 2563. Marketing the planets as habitable worlds with pre-built facilities within a conservative jump of the nearest Hyperlane, the PRA successfully concealed the faults inherent in the Lythios facility from the NanoTrasen liaisons sent to officiate the deal. Almost immediately upon dispatching Engineering teams to the site, Central Command discovered significant signs of malfeasance on the parts of both the PRA and their own diplomatic team. The NanoTrasen diplomats in question were summarily dismissed and their NDAs invoked. However, the purchase had already been legally recognized, leaving NanoTrasen with ownership of three frontier systems.
Upon further investigation, NanoTrasen learned that their diplomatic team had been advised of the reactor failure, and had accepted the facility as-is under the provision that they would be granted a significant discount. Initially, NanoTrasen teams buried the problematic reactor facility in the snow, in the hopes that it would prevent discovery. Commencement of repairs and refurbishments concluded swiftly, and NanoTrasen christened the facility the NSB Atlas. Constructed concurrently with the repairs below, Central Command's new headquarters - the NTS Demeter - took over local operational control. A few months after opening the facility, NanoTrasen dispatched fresh teams to investigate the buried reactor complex. Upon its unearthing, NanoTrasen discovered a far darker truth. What had been sold to them as a functional complex with a faulty reactor instead housed a sophisticated nuclear weapon. Intent on keeping the situation under wraps, CentCom dispatched senior ERT units to penetrate the facility and assess the situation. After some study, the device was confirmed to be a Cobalt Salt Bomb - a form of dirty nuke capable of showering the entire region in lethal fallout for the next several decades.
Aware of the imminent threat posed by this device, CentCom has put out a strict mandate to secure the facility and find an avenue for disarming the weapon. This discovery has likewise tipped off Central Command that the PRA were likely hiding other truths about the nature of this facility - truths that will likely only come out as they expand and dig further into the glacier itself. The current consensus is that the obfuscation of these facilities was both deliberate, and surreptitious. Regardless, NanoTrasen has invested too much time and money to abandon their holdings on the ground.
Notable Wildlife
Horing - Horned quadrupeds, distinct for their shaggy fur and the razor-sharp horns protruding from their crests. Irritable and solitary, Horing are considered endangered - although they may just be rare.