Ecology and Basics

Aetna is a marginally habitable moon orbiting around the planet Catania in the Sicily system. Based on its position within the system, Aetna could easily have been a rock surrounded by a thick methane crust of ice, but as the inside moon of the system its position created a large number of active volcanoes that melted the methane and water on its surface, creating a thick atmosphere the holds the heat of the volcanism and contains the building blocks for a teaming marine ecosystem that lies between its thin icy surface and its warm interior. Over time, photosynthetic life in these waters created an oxygen rich atmosphere.

Aetna’s icy surface can marginally support human life with temperature being the greatest difficulty. Temperatures range from -80c at the poles to near 0c on the warmest days near the equator.

Aetna’s position within the Sicily system makes it an important strategic location for commerce. It provides an easy place to offload cargoes for large container vessels without having to travel too deep down the system’s gravity well. An orbital was actually the first human habitation near the moon. Its abundant water makes hydrogen based fuels easy to manufacture on its surface and soon a small manufacturing industry developed on the surface.

Aetna is home to 60,000 citizens, with 30,000 of those living in its only town Utopia. However, volcanism makes life on the surface of Utopia tenuous at best. At times huge Tsunamis of water melted by an eruption will wash at speed across Aetna’s surface. There is a team of scientists dedicated to monitoring this activity and keeping Utopia safe. All the buildings in Utopia are built with treads and are capable of moving across the planet to avoid a catastrophe. In the event of a disaster, all of the buildings are also designed to float if necessary. This reality has limited the height of buildings on the surface to no more than twenty stories.

Besides fuel manufacture, submarine based fishing is the only other industry of not on Aetna.