Auberon

Auberon system · Auberon colony

A technically ambitious colony may soon break Sol's food monopoly and become the first true superpower of the interstellar diaspora.

Story so far

Auberon supplies Freehold with the agricultural material its local soil cannot provide and was the destination of the unauthorized ship that cut through Medina Station's traffic. Camina Drummer treats Freehold's punishment partly as a warning that its more powerful trading partner must not become careless or defiant.

Reports suggest Auberon is making progress on a universal polypeptide cross-generator, technology that could turn alien biological matter into human food. If real, it may end Earth and Mars's remaining monopoly on soil and farming substrates within ten or fifteen years. Drummer recognizes that this could make Auberon the new superpower of the human diaspora—or provoke the inner planets into the first interstellar war.

Appearance

A colony system not yet directly seen; its significance is expressed through agricultural exports, advanced biological engineering, and its gate connection to the wider network.

Role

Auberon is an emerging economic and technological power whose possible food breakthrough could reorder relations among all human systems.

Relationships

Freehold — Freehold depends on Auberon for agricultural supplies and uses it as a trading partner outside union schedules.

Camina Drummer — Camina Drummer sees Freehold's punishment as an indirect warning to Auberon's rising power.

Earth-Mars Coalition — The Earth-Mars Coalition could lose Sol's biological-substrate monopoly if Auberon's reported breakthrough succeeds.

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 6

A technically ambitious colony may soon break Sol's food monopoly and become the first true superpower of the interstellar diaspora.