The Reavers led by Admiral Pranee Roydon had sacked at least eight worlds of the Terran Mercantile Community before turning spinward in -1457. When her rag-tag fleet entered the Minsk system she expected to find easy pickings. Instead, she found her doom. —The Savage Main: Dark Nebula and Magyar Sectors, 3rd Ed. Farstar Publishing (Marlheim: 1095).
Minsk (Magyar 1512 C7319BB-C). Amber Zone. High Population, Non-Agricultural, Poor. Capital of the New Slavic Solidarity, a member-state of the Solomani Confederation.
Minsk has successfully defended itself against would-be raiders and conquerors for over 3,000 years of recorded history. The inhabitants are notably stubborn, independent, and wary of outsiders—but also industrious, innovative, and fiercely loyal to their friends. The Slavs generally do not hold to the racial prejudices common within the Confederation, and non-Solomani travellers should find Solidat worlds relatively safe and accommodating destinations.
System Data
The Minsk system is located in the Minsky Cluster, an astrographic grouping of twenty-six systems located in Eery (B), New Town (F), and Voyager (G) subsectors of Magyar. The Cluster is located entirely within the borders of the Solomani Confederation.
Primary Mati. Spectral Class F2 V. Mass 1.48 M☉. Stellar Radius 1.67 R☉. 100 Diameter Limit 1.55 AU. Luminosity 6.0 L☉. Absolute Magnitude +2.793.
| Orbit | Name | UWP | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Mati | F2 V | |
| 1 | Pirsi | YDB0000-0 | Tz |
| 2 | Zodino | YA30000-0 | |
| 3 | Grodno | Y901000-0 | |
| 5 | Minsk | C7319BB-C | Hi Na Po Cp Pz |
| 8 | Aposni | YDB5000-0 | |
| IS Form 11 | Star System Data | ||
The Minsk system has no planetoid belts or gas giants; the mainworld is the only significant source of fuel and the only inhabited planet. This allows Minsk defense forces to concentrate on defending a single world. Belters work the distant Kuiper Belt for supplemental sources of water, and fuel tankers regularly shuttle between the mainworld and the extreme outer system.
Minsk has a small, irregular moon, Kameshek, approximately 97 km in diameter with a striking red color due to the presence of sulphur on the surface. The moon has a highly eccentric orbit at approximately 27,000 km. Minsk maintains a small planetary navy base on Kameshek with a fuel depot and repair facilities.
The Minsk-Mati L4 Lagrange point, popularly known as Witness Point, serves as a grim warning to any travellers entering the system. Over the centuries the Slavs have towed the shattered hulls of all felled raiders and invaders to this location, which is now filled with ancient wrecks, swirling junk, and desiccated corpses.
Planetary Data
Mean Orbital Radius 382.97 million km (2.56 AU). Period 768 days 14h 53m. Rotation Period 16h 50m 24s. Axial Inclination 16° 19′ 12″. Diameter 10,658 km. Mass 0.60 M🜨. Density 5.7 g/cm3. Mean Surface Gravity 0.86g. Escape Velocity 9,474 m/s. Surface Atmospheric Pressure 0.345 atm. Composition Very thin oxygen nitrogen. Hydrographic Percentage 12%. Mean Surface Temperature 6.42° C.
Minsk is a cool, dry, medium-sized planet with only a very thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. There is no native life and most Terran plants can only be grown in domed habitats.
The planet’s major waterbodies are all grouped in a single hemisphere. The largest waterbody, the Severny Sea, is located in the northern hemisphere while the smaller Yuzhny and Vuzki seas are in the southern hemisphere.
Most settlements are clustered around these waterbodies. Because water is relatively rare within the system, Minsk has extensive water recycling systems onworld. The dry hemisphere, known as the Minsk Outback, is largely uninhabited beyond scattered mining settlements.
| World Map Grid | |
| World Name (and UWP) Minsk C7319BB-C | Subsector and Sector Location of World New Town/Magyar |
| Date of Preparation 113-1102 | Hexagon Scale (km) 1,005 |
 | |
| IS Form 8-G | Size 7 World Map Grid |
Socio-Political Data
Total World Population 4.43 billion. Primary Cities Tsentr, 232 million; Korolya, 159 million; Fedorov, 67 million; Kir, 53 million; Yermolai, 47 million. World Government Non-Charismatic Dictator (Minsk Implementing Committee). Law Level Extreme (rigid control of civilian movement). Tech Level Average Stellar (C). Primary Trade Goods Raw ores and crystals, processed metals, and manufactured parts, durables, and consumables.
Terran émigrés from various Eastern European nation-states, fleeing the cultural hegemony of the Terran Confederation, first settled the Minsky Cluster during the Interstellar Wars. These unsanctioned and unsupported colonies initially struggled with harsh conditions and relatively low technology levels, but eventually stabilized and began expanding to new systems. By -2000 Minsk was colonized by the neighboring garden world of Ogorod (Magyar 1411) and soon grew into an industrial center for the Cluster.
During the Long Night, Reavers and Aslan terrorized the Cluster with threats of devastating raids. Fortunately, the worlds of the Cluster had retained a small fleet of jump-capable ships and organized themselves into a mutual defense and trade coalition. The coalition proved highly effective at staving off raiders and developed a reputation for its unwavering defense of Cluster worlds—a reputation that remains intact today.
This coalition was formalized in the landmark Minsk Treaty of -1377, which laid out the constitutional foundations of a Slavic multi-world polity. The principal architect of the Treaty, Zoya Gorodok, is widely considered the mother of the modern Solidarity.
The coalition preserved trade and cultural links that gave rise to an entirely new Neoslavic identity, an amalgamation of disparate Eastern European cultures and languages. Slavic culture exhibits an extremely high level of social cooperativeness and emphasizes self-sacrifice and civic duty.
The Slavs emerged from the Long Night as the Neoslavic Bloc, a multi-world polity strong enough to stand against the Aslan clans or other Magyar states. The Bloc, valuing its hard-won independence, spurned overtures from both the Third Imperium and the reinvigorated Old Earth Union. While the Slavic worlds never joined the Imperium, they would become signatories to the Solomani Charter of Confederation in 871: the Slavs considered the Confederation an important counterbalance to the Aslan clans to spinward and the Imperial megacorporations to trailing.
The New Slavic Solidarity was established in 892 with a constitution that preserved the independence of member worlds as well as its citizens’ civil liberties. The Solidarity has generally rejected the racial policies of the Solomani Movement and welcomes non-Slavic, non-Solomani, and even non-Humans into their communities. The Solidarity also extends protections to clones and synthetics.
The Solidarity is wary of increasing interference by the Solomani Confederation government in Solidat internal affairs. While the Solidarity maintains strong relations with the Wuan Technology Association, they have clashed repeatedly with the neighboring Dootchen Estates. Despite the Solidarity’s smaller population, its higher technology level and superior organization have generally allowed it to hold its own in these conflicts. The Solidats are repelled by the Estates’ use of chattel slavery and have provided safe haven to escaped bondmen.
As of 1100 Minsk is the Solidat capital and contains approximately 60% of the Solidarity’s population. Like all Solidat worlds Minsk has an exemplary civil defense system, able to quickly respond to military invasions as well as natural disasters ranging from viral pandemics to earthquakes to asteroid strikes. General Secretary Wolfe reportedly used Minsk as his model for the Solomani Home Guard system.
Minsk civil authorities are engaged in near constant planning and drills in anticipation of various emergencies. The entire planet is honeycombed with fortified shelters said to be stocked with enough food and medical supplies to sustain the entire population for years.
The Solidats are extremely wary of electronic communication systems, and use only hardened, distributed networks that are resistant to hacking or datacaster attacks. These relatively primitive systems also limit the ability of Solomani Security to monitor Solidat citizens.
Although not classified as an industrial world, Minsk has abundant deposits of ores and crystals and remains a manufacturing center for the Solidarity. Approximately 7 million tons of cargo and 300,000 passengers pass through the Minsk starport per year; most of this traffic consists of Solidat flagged ships. The Class C highport, Lida Station, contains a Solidat museum commemorating the most storied defenders from Minsk history.
Minsk is ruled by an overwhelmingly popular Implementing Committee, which directs the agencies of the world government. The mainworld has a relatively high law level that can feel constraining to outsiders: even minor anti-social behaviors can incur civil penalties ranging from fines to incarceration. Minsk citizens are generally able to navigate these regulations without significant problems, but the mainworld has an Amber Zone travel advisory to alert unwary travellers.
The Congress of the New Slavic Sodality is located in the city of Tsentr. The current Premier of the Solidarity, Tamara Mironova, is a charismatic leader who has held the office since 1098.
Military Data
The Solidarity has a long and distinguished military tradition that stretches from the Long Night to present day. As a loyal member-state of the Confederation, the Solidarity is allowed to maintain and direct the combined military forces for all sixteen Solidat worlds. The Army of the New Slavic Solidarity, with headquarters on Minsk, consists of four TL9 field armies, three TL11 field armies, and two TL13 field armies, along with approximately three times that number in Home Guard Army reserve units. These forces generally remain within Solidarity space unless activated by the Confederation. Minsk also hosts the Solidat Military Academy for Planetary Actions.
Minsk sponsors two Solidat armies as well as six Home Guard armies. With assistance from the Solidat and Confederation governments, Minsk maintains all of its military forces at TL13, the median level for regular Confederation units. The mainstays of the Solidat armies are the Bucephalus grav armored infantry fighting vehicle and the Ziska medium grav tank. In 1096 Minsk armored units began employing the TL13 Kolesnitsa light grav tank. Designed and manufactured by Roblig Military Industries, the Kolesnitsa is relatively cheap to produce at a common Solomani technology level and as such has drawn the interest of Confederation Army planners.
The Minsk Combined Arms Army includes the 404th "Double Eagle" Armored Infantry Division and 280th "White Star" Rifle (lift infantry) Division. These elite units are backed by 14 lift infantry divisions, 3 grav tank divisions, and 2 armored infantry divisions.
The Minsk Tank Army comprises the 331st "Mother Bear" Armored Infantry Division and the 176th "Blue Banner" Tank Division. These elite units are backed by 9 lift infantry divisions, 8 grav tank divisions, 2 armored infantry divisions, and 1 lift cavalry division.
The four elite Minsk divisions also double as regular Confederation Army units, with approximately half the troops drawn from across the Confederation—with many originating from the non-Solidat world of Ekar (Magyar 1018 C7839DE-8). The Confederation Army maintains its New Town subsector headquarters on Minsk.
The Solidat Navy consists of five TL13 squadrons, largely composed of Rim War-era ships. The Minsk Squadron is anchored by 4 Minsk-class heavy cruisers and 6 Tau Ceti-class destroyers, plus support ships. Although the ships are old they are extremely well maintained and each carries a long and illustrious history of service.
The Minsk Home Guard Navy consists of twenty wings of Viper-class fighters, four wings of Orekh-class 300-ton SDBs, two wings of Oplot-class 600-ton SDBs, and twenty Valiant-class 3,000-ton monitors.
Any invasion force that overcame Minsk’s naval defenses would then have to contend with the planetary Close Orbit and Airspace Control Command (COACC), which is largely controlled by the Minsk Home Guard Army. The Home Guard is divided into four lift infantry armies and two grav tank armies, with two divisions on active duty at all times.
Minsk COACC forces include four wings of Orekh-class SDBs, two wings of orbital patrol fighters, and scores of Strazh-class robotic orbital battle stations. COACC units also man Minsk’s numerous deep meson gun sites and mobile laser and plasma gun batteries, as well as the mainworld’s formidable missile defense system. The Solidats have developed deadly TL12 Strelka kinetic kill (KK) missiles that utilize kinetic rather than explosive energy, and are able to destroy even heavily armored targets in far orbit.
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