Jaeter

"Jaeter. The place for the haunted, the hunted, and the lost."

- Sylvia "Poet" Farkas

Jaeter, sometimes called Creogli Landing, is an independent colony world located among the former Human territories known as the. Established at the edge of colonized space and just before the, Jaeter managed to avoid the interest of the for over twenty-two years. It wasn't unitl that a Covenant battlegroup stumbled across Jaeter, looking for artifacts belonging to the ancient.

Avoiding total destruction, Jaeter has since become a waystation for those few colonists desperate to return to their old homes and begin anew. With many Outer Colonies completely glassed, most of these desperate pilgrims return to Jaeter and settle down. Even former Covenant species, primarily the have come to Jaeter looking to expand their clans and to find new purpose with the Covenant. Stuck between the and the newly-established Sangheili nation, the, Jaeter and several other key worlds have become flashpoints of tension tied to complex interspecies politics. This region of space, referred to as the, is teeming with pirates, criminals, and Covenant remnants. While not officially affiliated with Jaeter, it is because of these potential dangers that the has established a presence on Jaeter and led to the birth of the Jaeteran Defense Forces, the colony's own militia. Just before the, the colony has been making significant successes in building a more stable society for themselves.

Colonial History
"This is home."

- McKenzie Seyer

First Colonists
Discovered late in Mankind's search for habitable worlds and well into the era of rapid colonization, known as the, the planetary system that included Jaeter and its three moons was the find of a lifetime. A small-survey corporation, responsible for the find was unwilling to relinquish the unique discovery on their hands - a colonial find of unknown proportions.

Besides Jaeter, which already came with an existing biosphere and a breathable atmosphere, Jaeter's largest moon, named Harvest, also came with a breathable atmosphere and dense jungles. It was the find of a century and unwilling to let other colonization corporations, already established in the colonization market, to take the advantage away from them - the company sold fast and charged high for the opportunity to call this new star system home. The deed went out in and a small population spread itself across Jaeter, sporadic communities that brought the planet's population up to a minimal three thousand residents. Even with the prime real estate, Jaeter was the definition of a colonial backwater, unknown and forgotten.

The first colonists were led by a simple man, named McKenzie Seyer from Germany. In Jaeter's colonial history, he is remembered as the colony's founder - Jaeter's capital city, Seyerton, is named after him.

Jaeter was colonized just years before the when the  was still knee-deep in fighting the, an undeclared civil war between the Unified Earth Government and their UNSC military forces against this multi-front insurgency. Jaeter was colonized during this war period and prospered shortly after with little fanfare. On Jaeter, many colonists were apolitical about the Insurrections, Jaeter was just too young to develop a unique communal culture of its own, therefore, the planet avoided becoming a front in the greater conflict. Jaeter was sparsely populated and received little interstellar traffic from the rest of Humanity's interstellar empire. When the Human-Covenant War broke out following the destruction of the agrarian colony world of Harvest - coincidently sharing the same name as Jaeter's largest moon - in, the remoteness of Jaeter meant that it was overlooked by both the Covenant and the rest of Humanity for the majority of the conflict. Cutoff and isolated, the colonists of Jaeter made do on their own - developing their own indigenous industries and establishing their own indigenous government.

For twenty-two years, this fragile peace remained. Separation from the promoted self-reliance among the colonists, even developing into a short-term colonial independence movement. The communal success of Jaeter was halted in with the arrival of a  battlegroup. Deployed by a, the Covenant forces glassed one of the minor communities on Jaeter before they began surveying the neighboring worlds in the Creogli star system. Due to the sporadic and remote placement of Human settlements on Jaeter, conflict with the Covenant forces was mostly avoided. Eventually, the Covenant broke off and retreated as their Empire collapsed from within due to infighting and the. While some Covenant forces were stranded on Jaeter, the star system quickly fell back under Human control. The leftovers of the Covenant forces either found ways off-world in the months that followed the end of the Human-Covenant War, while others deciding to settle into society opposite of Jaeter's original colonists. The Great War's end was the beginning for a decade of uncertainty and new introductions as former Covenant species and Humanity attempted to rethink their relationships from enemies to trading partners all across colonized space, Jaeter among them.

Population Explosion
The Covenant forces that came to Jaeter during the Human-Covenant War, known to the colonists as "The Prophet's Will," were not the first nor last aliens to come to Jaeter. It was eventually found out that Jaeter and its orbiting moons were a treasure trove for artifacts. The Covenant were led there at the request of a Minor Prophet and guided by a reverse-engineered to Jaeter without ever realizing that Jaeter was a human colony world. This revelation was earth-shattering and would change the social landscape of Jaeter forever.

The revelation that Jaeter was the host of an intact installation constructed by the Forerunners, an extinct space-faring species that once held domain over the, the discovery systematically changed the significance of Jaeter in galactic politics overnight. Jaeter populace's attempted to keep the truth under wraps, however, it wasn't long till both the newly formed and the Unified Earth Government caught wind of the discovery. With both and  now fully interested in the artifacts hidden on Jaeter and its moons, many Human and former Covenant factions were suddenly traveling to Jaeter motivated by dreams of fame and fortune. Boomtowns rose out of the unexplored wilderness in a matter of months and a population explosion quickly followed as thousands flocked to Jaeter, bringing with them the best and worst society had to offer. Interspecies racism. Bad blood from the still-smoldering grudges of the Human-Covenant War. Significant increases in criminal activities especially organized crime. Jaeter's average standard-of-living even reached a historic low due to the sudden population influx. Among the worst criminal elements to arrive on Jaeter - LEGION and the Cortez Cartel are considered among the worst and most prolific. Even groups like the and  had local chapters on Jaeter or maintained local presences.

Since the Great War, Jaeter has become a part of the region of space located Swords of Sanghelios and the Unified Earth Government known as the. Unlike the rest of Human space, the Joint-Occupation Zone is known for its multi-species populations and heavy militarization by both factions and  factions along this shared border-region. As of, Jaeter hosts a population nearing a million intelligent lifeforms, at about 910,000 recognized individuals. The percentage split is defined by a Human majority of about 400 to 500 thousand people, making up about fifty percent of the colony's populace. The largest minority is the Sangheili community, making up about thirty-five percent. Other species make up for a collective fifteen percent. Most of these other species include and, other species that once took part in the Covenant mega-theocracy. Jaeter's culture and government are still very Human-centric which has created something of a divide in the population, culture-wise. The Sangheili are among the most vocal - wishing that Jaeter's society adopt a system of government and society similar to that of the, similar to Sanghelios and many other Sangheili worlds. There is a smaller but equally expressive minority among the Sangheili that wish to adopt a caste system on Jaeter - similar to the dissolved Covenant Empire. While this belief is not unique to the Sangheili - it is not as popular with Humans or Unggoy. The Kig-Yar are generally split on the issue. Even as the population and culture trends begin to shift and Jaeter's overall political nature begins to meddle between Covenant and Human practices, the future of Jaeter's society is still an unknown. The current system remains a rudimentary form of Representative Democarcy built around a colonial council. These Councillors then pick a head-of-state, referred to as a "Lord Marshall," a sort of middle-ground between Sangheili-cultural titles and Human leadership positions.

The economy and social structure on Jaeter is greatly diversified by legacy systems from both the original Jaeter colonists and the former Covenant species. Due to Jaeter's current political landscape - the government has little to no power to regulate the economy and has become a haven for runaway capitalism and free-market theory. Vendors and traders are free to sell and buy at whatever price they deem appropriate. This lack of regulation has even led to the colonial government to become its own business and service center. Jaeter's government does tax its citizens, even though population data remains questionable at best. Legitimate taxes on Jaeter are primarily on alcohol, land occupation and use, a domestic vehicle tax, a firearms tax, civilian tax based on population and basic needs, and a corporate tax on businesses. Due to the fragile state of the government, Jaeter's population is taxed fairly little to avoid upsetting the population. Due to the small size of Jaeter's government - some communities have developed a counter-industry based on tax evasion. The colonial government has been attempting to shut it down, however, their small size and their fragile state have prevented them from taking much action.

The colonial government makes up for the low tax rate by becoming its own business - buying up some companies and developing monopolies in several local industries. Jaeter's government is only legitimized by the colony's original charter, age, and the lack of any major counter-government factions to challenge them. On Jaeter, money, and violence still has more power than words and policy. This lack of regulation allows groups like the Cortez Cartel to overwhelm local gangs, beginning a social and economic campaign to delegitimize the current colonial administration. The lack of regulations also allows some smaller alien communities to practice the Covenant caste system within their own streets and neighborhoods. While all these issues are social issues, the status quo for the last few years has yet to show any cracks and it seems most factions on Jaeter - with exception to some external groups and anarchic organizations that wish to see society flipped and changed. Such processes like societal reform or political reform are mostly invisible at this point or too slow to be noticed. For most, the system they currently have now is relatively fair, as long as there aren't any major conflicts of interest. Peace through ignorance and contentment defines the political and social nature of Jaeter's populace.

Even as the United Nations Space Command established a base and active presence on Jaeter, the majority of Jaeter would prefer to remain the way they are - free, unregulated, and undisturbed. A practice that has kept Jaeter's population alive and thriving for almost thirty or forty years.

Jaeter's Geography
"One thing you'll immediately notice while on walkabout, mate, is the lawlessness of those southern highlands. We can't root those outlaws out, not completely, but the universal plains means that we'll always know when they've popped their bloody heads out. When you're in the bushland, keep away from the trees unless you can see someone's in trouble - we get enough incidents with the wildlife as it is."

- Edmond Dahm, briefly describing the dangers of Jaeter to a class of new recruits.

Characterised by its single super-continental landmass flanked by three smaller landmasses, on a whole Jaeter is rather hilly with a lush level of vegetation. All of the major mainlands are typically dominated by some type of woodland biome, although currently, the southwest continent, Kurthra, is an exception having been partially glassed by the Covenant. Despite this, each has their own unique quirks, depending on the location, height, and climate of where they are found. Polar ice caps stretch across the northern and southern seas, connecting hemispheres together. The ice sheets of Jaeter are far more expansive and thick than those on Earth.

Easily the most varied is the super-continent of Auvix, thanks to its drastic differences in height and its sheer size. The south-east portion of the landmass is a large series of mountain ranges which spread all the way from the city of Vlosa to beyond Bartolomejev Kanal in the south. While typically barren, lower regions are home to pockets of semi-dry alpine forests, becoming denser as it reaches the slopes until they merge with scrub bushland at the base. Because of its difficulty to traverse, the Militia's inability to keep regular patrols into the region and the dangers presented by the native wildlife, this has become a haven for small-time bandits and pirates. In the north-east around Seyer's Bay, the heat brought by deep ocean currents and regular rainfall ensures that humid coastal forests are able to flourish, with the gentle slopes ensuring the rich building resources can be reached with ease. Unfortunately, these are in a state of decline thanks to uneven development centered around the planet's two major cities, as large regions are being cleared to support Jaeter's industrial expansion. Within the west, two semi-volcanic mountain ranges exist beside a deep ocean trench right on the coastline. These only block a small portion of moisture from breaching the interior, so massive rocky rainforests are able to establish themselves across large expanses.

At the center of Auvix, the continent has a flat, expansive desert known as the Auvix Expanse. Characterized by semi-seasonal sandstorms and hot, dry summers. Nights are typically freezing cold but not unlivable. The Office of Naval Intelligence has cataloged hundreds of reports of unusual events occurring across the sandy waves of the desert. The possibility of Forerunner activities under or around the desert is immediately suspect, however, all options are open for consideration on this mystery and of the other strange occurrences across the Jaeter planetary network.

The continent to the southwest of Auvix is Kurthra, a smallish tropical continent. The Tri-Islands, a large archipelago situated on a submerged tectonic plate split from Kurthra and continues to drift by inches every year to this day, the tectonic separation has been occurring for an estimated forty thousand years. Kurthra was once used by the terraforming corporation that first discovered Jaeter and settled the planet as a mega-farm run by mass automation and technical systems on several facilities that spanned miles. Jaeter's early production yield of crops - while not nearly comparable to the Human colony of was quite substantial, making up a portion of a percent on Mankind's overall food production across all colony worlds. These farmlands were however glassed upon the arrival of the Covenant and remain mostly unpopulated to this day.

Eibesh in the northern hemisphere, a colder continent, it has one of the smallest population sizes of all the continents on Jaeter. A Covenant remnant force, the Prophet's Will, once occupied the territory, a group stranded on Jaeter during the initial arrival of the Covenant expeditionary forces in 2548. Due to the Great Schism, these forces were left stranded on Jaeter and decided to take up residence on the opposite side of the planet of the Humans. Due to the successful theft of the Covenant's CPV-pattern Destroyer, renamed the Jaeter's Redemption, the Covenant faction was quickly routed. Following a series of heavy engagements with the Militia, the Covenant forces were finally defeated. Most of the Covenant remnant either were killed during the fighting or were exiled from Jaeter for the inky black and unknown of space. To this day, Eibesh remains underdeveloped and scarcely populated. The Covenant structures still remain scattered across Eibesh - the continent is treated as a sort of memorial park to remember the costs of the Great War and their struggle to establish themselves, for themselves in an ever-hostile galaxy.

The final continent to the southeast is Edruth, it is sparsely populated and known for having inhospitable weather. Large storm plains and mountain ranges stretch across the land. Due to its long geographical appearance, it is considered the origins for much of the dangerous weather that has been known to approach Auvix from the south only to dissipate before it can make landfall. Winter storms and hurricanes, all failing to touch. It is believed of all the places on Jaeter, Edruth has the highest concentration of Forerunner sites, however, the weather, again, has prevented determined explorers from pushing forward and mapping the land. The longish continent remains a mystery to most of Jaeter's population to this day.

Jaeter's Climate
The climate of Jaeter is inherently complex and not quite understood. Weather patterns follow irregular cycles that contradict any traditional understanding of meteorology that has come to pass in Humanity's experience with weather on both Earth and many other colonies visited or occupied by Mankind. The presence of four planetoids in the same planetary network around a single star, the Jaeter planetary network, however, is just as unheard of in terms of gravitational stability. Based on recent findings pertaining to the ancient Forerunners and other extinct civilizations that inhabited the Milky Way Galaxy, it has become clear through the study of xeno-archeology that there is a good chance that Forerunner technology is the culprit for these unusual events and patterns among the star system and Jaeter's network. However, while the working knowledge and the extent at which the Forerunners have influenced Jaeter's development - few know more than the Office of Naval Intelligence, however, they have proven unwilling to share their findings with the locals due to continued hostilities between the UNSC and the new Jaeter buffer-state.

Due to the proximity of multiple planetoids in the forms of Akara, Harvest, and Scion - of which Harvest is actually a planet behaving like a moon due to artificial means - these planetoids create extreme gravity wells that drag on each other in irregular ways. While under natural circumstances, these planets should destroy each other, they maintain a binary-planet system with two moons that orbit the two worlds. The presence of the star, Cregoli, is also supposed to create further gravitational pressure on Jaeter and its weather patterns. The greater gravitational effects have led to some places on Jaeter receiving higher or lower presences of gravity, however, these effects are minuscule at best and go unnoticed by the planet's biosphere and inhabitants.

Water still follows natural laws of gravity creating extreme tidal patterns on Jaeter's coastlines. Rogue waves are especially common on Jaeter's seas. The weather patterns on Jaeter are unusually tame given the presence of the odd gravity distortions and the way that Jaeter's terrain is warped. ONI research and some research by Jaeter's Militia has discovered that much of the tame weather on Jaeter - comparable to Earth weather cycles with hurricanes and tornadoes - are managed and placated by advanced Forerunner terraforming technology and techniques. Jaeter has thirty-known Weathermen Towers, Forerunner weather towers that manage and pacify the weather cycles on Jaeter and prevent the storms from getting out of hand. Climate-wise, Jaeter is relatively stable and comfortable for Humans primarily. Temperatures rarely fall below zero except near the poles. Much of the weather and atmosphere is typical of a Human colony world, even if it was found the way it was, rather than terraformed to Human parameters.

Orbital Anomalies
Jaeter and its binary companion, Harvest, both exceed the relative masses to retain a stable binary system whilst harboring a habitable surface environment. Not even accounting for the two smaller moons in. Based on the highly improbable nature of Jaeter's habitability and structural integrity compared to later findings, some researchers have concluded Jaeter and its companion bodies are either synthetic or part of a highly manipulated-and-controlled planetary system. If not for Akara and Scion enacting some level of assumed-geomagnetic influence over the between Jaeter and Harvest, the system would hypothetically collapse into itself. While gravity-manipulating structures created by the Forerunners have been witnessed, it remains both mystifying and worrying that the scale of the technology being implemented on the Jaeter system exists and how it's being operated as the installations for this technology has yet to be uncovered.

Harvest Moon
Jaeter's first moon is not actually a moon, but rather, a smaller planet caught up in Jaeter's gravity well - unable to escape. About two-thirds massive as that of Jaeter, Harvest retains a lighter gravity than its more populated brother across the space between worlds. Harvest is named for the once fertile colony world of Harvest which became the first casualty in the Human-Covenant War. Ironically, Harvest does not feature airdable land like its namesake and is besieged by unpredictable weather and geological activity. This includes extreme thunder and rain storms along with constant earthquakes and magma ruptures from beneath the planet's surface with many shield volcanoes. Harvest is extremely humid compared to Jaeter and features dense jungles across its surface. There are few residents on Harvest and no known towns or cities on the planet. The only known organization to take refuge on the planet is a cult-like military organization that doubles as a private-military corporation that travels around on a decommissioned fuel ship. Not much information is known about this organization.

Scion
Named by former Covenant species, not much is known about this moon since it seems to be in a constant storm. Large gas clouds obscure its surface and constant lightning threatens to destroy dangerously-close starships that approach near Scion. In reality, it is the portal entrance for a minor Dyson sphere world similar to many Forerunner shield installations. The inner world is extensive and as diverse and populated as that of Jaeter's wildlife and biosphere. There is no intellligent life within as far that is known and is maintained by Forerunner sentinels. The Forerunner facilities and networks across Jaeter and its moons are all controlled from a control room deep within Scion. The station's monitor is 907 Obfuscating Luminescence.

Akara
Named by both Humans and other Species, it is a dusty red moon with a very thing atmosphere. There is nothing quite attractive about the world and it is the smallest planetoid among the four worlds of the Jaeter planetary system. Jaeter's Militia maintains satellites around the moon as part of their survelliance and early warning systems.

Communities
The two major cities on Jaeter is Vlosa and Seyerton. Seyerton is Jaeter's capital and home to about half-a-million people. It was named for McKenzie Seyer, the first mayor of Seyerton and the historically-recognized founder of Jaeter. While still not economically viable currently, government policy has established that there will be no significant orbital installation-construction in the presence of Seyerton or any other city on Jaeter due to the suspected dangers presented by space debris and which occurred many times across Human space during the Human-Covenant War. Plans for a referred to as the Seyer Space Tether would be expected to be built near the sea and away from any settlements on Jaeter.

The current method of traveling between space and Jaeter's surface is a, paid for by a small fortune provided by Jaeter's colonial government as a public service that includes a set toll price. Jaeter also includes a few decades-old satellites that have been repurposed as orbital habitats and waystations.

Seyerton, as a city, has a mix of and. Sections of the city maintain for different species due to the dangers of inter-species racism and crime. While the central sections of Seyerton are very cosmopolitan and occupied by species of all type. The edges of the city, mostly farms and smaller urban communities, are less diverse and - mostly Humans and Sangheili territories. Aliens are historically more welcome in the Sangheili territories due to grudges still present from the Great War, however, humans are considered an exception in these no-travel zones occupied by a Sangheili majority. The opposite applies to the rural human communities of Jaeter.

Vlosa, Jaeter's second metropolis, is a major town still under construction and bankrolled by select groups from the Unified Earth Government with some input from former Covenant species. The city features a mix of human and Covenant species architecture. While expected to become the major economic power on Jaeter - Vlosa is still very much deserted in terms of population, around 40,000 people. The streets are empty most of the time, even more so in the dead of night. Entire housing districts are empty and some of the earliest facilities have already begun to be overwhelmed by nature once again due to the inability of the city to attract new residents. While Vlosa is populated and a relatively thriving community, this lack of new residents is economically and politically concerning for many economic backers and Jaeter's colonial government. The crime rates in Vlosa are substantially lower than that of Seyerton, however, and lacks the species-divide that Seyerton suffers from.

Based on ideological divides, Vlosa is far more pro-UNSC than Seyerton is. Seyerton's of species and the plethora of social issues - it's hard to place down what kind of political ideology and culture that Seyerton produces overall. It's as the residents say, a "clusterfuck."

Government
Jaeter's colonial government is a self-constructed, rudimentary representative democracy where the leaders are voted in by the People. So far, any adult is capable of being voted into office - Jaeter has no prerequisite or to limit potential leaders. Until the population of the planet grows a few more generations, it has been determined that Jaeter will not implement any further restrictions.

Everyone is free to vote, even youths. The limitations on Jaeter, however, is the management of voting. Jaeter uses paper-based voting systems, however, due to the lack of proper population data. Voting booths can only be handled with Vlosa and Seyerton and thus, only about half of Jaeter's population can actually vote with some unique exception to those who are able to travel a long distance from smaller communities to make it to the cities. Due to this, vetting can only really apply to city folk and individuals who have voted in the past. The colonial government is still trying to develop a workaround in the meantime.

The head of state for the Jaeter colonial government is decided by a council of publically-elected officials, the State Council, made up by a column of nine individuals. The head of state, known as the Lord Marshall, is the head of affairs on Jaeter. The role of Lord Marshall is to execute the law when necessary. The Council serves as advisors and decision makers on major policy decisions - the Lord Marshall executes these laws. In this way, the Council serves as the legislative body while Lord Marshall is the executive. There is also a series of local judicial courts that serve as decision-making bodies for issues of the personal nature. As part of the Executive, and beyond the role of the Council, the Lord Marshall has the opportunity to establish themselves a cabinet of advisors, each serving as director of a department of government. Due to the lack of development on Jaeter, there only exists four departments on Jaeter. The Department of Defense. The Department of Commerce. The Department of Public Services. The Department of Foreign Affairs.

The current Lord Marshall is the Sangheili warrior-turned-politician, Ryto 'Tungam. Under his recent tenure, Jaeter's government has focused on increasing the security apparatus of the colony, establishing multiple local police forces and a Colonial Civil Police that serves as a reserve and support element to the existing Jaeter Militia, the Jaeter Defense Forces, led by Major General Greta 'Kovum, Ryto's military advisor - the Minister of Defense.

While there is a mutual trust between the Militia and the Police Forces, there is also an inherent organizational rivalry for funding and performance. While the Militia has traditionally been looked upon as a gung-ho, however, positive presence in the Jaeter community, the same cannot be said about the Police. Seyerton's twelve precincts are considered the worst on Jaeter - underequipped, understaffed, and sullied by bad press, reputation, and an underlying racism between species. The Seyerton Police Department, spread out over twelve precincts is commonly recognized by its acronym, (SPD). The Vlosa Police Department with its own three precincts can be recognized by its acronym, (VPD).

Companies
With the influx of people in the post-Great War era and the local economy increasing expanding at an exponential rate, the government has made it a habit of acquiring federal companies to control local industries - establishing local monopolies. Some companies are bought out by the government while some others are government contractors. A few notable corporations associated with the colonial government include Jaeter Defense Munitions, Tammy's Orbital Fabrication Corporation, Vlosa Motor Productions, and Grassner Tailoring Services. Ther government has also shown interest in acquiring or building unique contracts with other defense contractors - primarily for the development of capabilities involving atmospheric craft, watercraft, and spacefaring technology. Besides these organizations, Jaeter is home to another nineteen notable businesses and trades with another hundred or so from off world.

Jaeter Defense Force
The Jaeter Defense Forces are the security wing of the colonial government on Jaeter, established under the original colonists for local policing and security purposes, the organization was undermanned and underequipped even into the Human-Covenant War. Many members of the Defense Forces, previously known as the Jaeter Militia were killed during excursions with the Covenant forces on Jaeter from 2548 till 2552. At that time, the security forces were exclusively human. Following the Great War, however, with the population explosion of refugees and aliens alike - the organization became more diverse and reflected the new population that had come to call the planet home.

The organization around the time of 2554 came under the command of Major General Greta 'Kovum, previously known as Greta Singer, an off-worlder. Previously served in the UNSC Marine Corps and even took part in the Battle of the Ark, Greta is a well-rounded veteran with expertise in modernizing the Militia into a decent fighting machine. It was under her leadership that the Militia grew to over ten thousand personnel and equipped themselves with surplus gear recovered from military wreckage or off of UNSC stockpiles. These include aircraft, tanks, jeeps, trucks, and all manners of combat platforms. Jaeter's weapon inventory is also quite diversified - if more Human rather than alien. Plasma weaponry comes in a limited form for the Militia due to the complexity of building an industry to support such weaponry. Over time, they have made progress in building up domestic industries to support such activities and much of Jaeter's Militia is self-supplied and equipped by the government's own defense contractor, Jaeter Defense Munitions. At the current time, the Jaeter has tangled with a number of different adversaries - remnants of the Covenant Empire, Human supremacists, interstellar crime lords, and even a few Forerunner automatons.

The Jaeter Defense Forces are known to operate a Covenant known as the Jaeter's Redemption. The Militia is characteristically trigger-happy and very loose on protocol given a history of officers and individual members taking actions into their own hands or as its been described by UNSC forces, "trigger-happy vigilantes who might light you up with a rocket for looking at them the wrong way." Jaeter's Militia is also cautious toward foreigners - primarily the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence due to the organization's shady and sinister reputation. That said, it is somewhat of an open secret among higher-ups that there are active or retired members of the UNSC, even ONI, operating among their ranks. The ONI operative, Sylvia Farkas, commander of the Militia's Air Wing contingent is a prime example.

Every species has been able to fight in the Militia to defend their new home. A lot of the members are former military from the Covenant and UNSC, but there have been fresh recruits with no prior fighting experience to take up arms and help protect their planet. The Militia goes by both the nickname "The Militia" and Jaeter Defense Forces.

Myrcan Islanders' War
On a remote archipelago in Jaeter's South Howling Ocean, known as the Myrca Islands, the remnants of an Outer Colony world's colonial population had established a series of constructed from recycled materials and metallic waste. Compared to the rest of Jaeter, the suspected in the Myrca Islands is significantly lower. Due to unknown circumstances, believed primarily to do with lacking funds and poor morale, the population of some few thousand has descended into a. Due to the remoteness of the islands, little information has made its way back to Seyerton or any of the other major settlements on Jaeter. Most information about the current circumstances on the Mycra Islands can be traced back to raging-alcoholic sailors regulated to pubs drinking late into the night - not unlike the rumors spread by throughout human history. It is due to this lack of confirmable information that the current circumstances of the Mycra have been simply written off as "legends, rumors, and myth."

Due to the remoteness of the archipelago, Jaeter officials have been slow to survey the islands. While the Jaeter Defense Forces certainly have the capabilities to investigate the rumors, without the permission of the colonial government and a mutual distrust between the Mycrians and the original Jaeter residents, the two factions have remained blissfully ignorant of each other's state of affairs. The UNSC strike group on Jaeter maintains a similar policy on the Mycra Islands. While continuously surveying Jaeter in the interest of public security, the UNSC Navy has been slow to report any evidence of a civil conflict erupting on the islands for reasons that remain unknown. For now, the Mycran Islands Civil War remains just that, rumors.

Jaeter's Forerunner Origins
Following Covenant excavation-activities on Jaeter beginning in 2548 and ending in 2552, rumors of a historical presence on Jaeter has systematically increased. To a privy few, such rumors have only been confirmed, proven true. According to local xenoarchaeology-junkies allied with Jaeter's colonial government, the Forerunner presence on Jaeter is so substantial that it shows all the signs of not being a minor facility in any regard. Not much is known about the original Forerunner intention was for Jaeter and its satellites, however, the lack of research facilities so far seen on Jaeter and Harvest seems to prove a lack of orientation toward said scientific study. This prognosis, however, lacks credible conclusion when Jaeter and its fellow planetoids remain mostly unexplored. Several recovered Forerunner sites suggest that Jaeter may have at one point been used as a way station, a staging point, or a storage facility. This is warranted following the discovery of storage-like hangar facilities located near the Deugert Island Chain in subterranean caverns. Massive in size, the main facility is so large - it is capable of fighting several human military-capital ships in its maw. How the caverns and the hangar have not collapsed in on itself over thousands of years remains unknown. The massive hangar in the Deugert Island Chain is located on a remote island known only to key personnel among Jaeter's Defense Forces. While the structure is considered a depot-turned-refuge for the Militia, it serves as a hiding place to store the military force's growing space fleet of starships and freighters. The Forerunner artifact which allowed the organization into the facility's halls has yet to yield further uses.

Overall, it was previously considered that some greater space-faring civilization had tampered with the orbital system of Jaeter and its moons as it seemed they were tidally-locked that made them habitable. Under most circumstances, Jaeter and its moons should have shaken each other to pieces and would be impossible to house life and yet they manage to remain stable. The rumor of a Forerunner presence only strengthens this theory of alien intervention. Researchers and investigators have proposed the Jaeter's planetary system may have been a staging ground for biological experiments, evolutionary studies, and terraforming methods including weather and climate control. At this point, these theories and speculations remain shots in the dark with Jaeter remaining an alluring jewel.

Forerunner Teleportation Grid
Similarly to many other Forerunner installations known to the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Jaeter planetary system seems to feature a teleportation network allowing for near-instantaneous translocation capabilities between many locations throughout the planetary system. Interestingly, the Central Control Facility for the network exists on Scion rather than the systems largest body, Jaeter. The portal system is believed to be accessible below Jaeter and Harvests' surfaces within cavernous chambers and a few surface installations dotting the planetoids. drones in Security and Custodian formats have been identified operating in many of the lesser-populated regions across Jaeter, however, they have yet to show any interest in survey teams that approach the Forerunner installations they guard.

Interestingly, Jaeter is also said to feature time-dilation Fields within its underground chambers similar to the Forerunner known as the. A prime relay station below Jaeter's surface teleported Militia investigation teams beneath the surface of Scion, thus, planting them within a. The teams were within walking distance of a Forerunner Cartographer, a type of Map or directory room. Here, the teams discovered an active network of teleportation relay points across Jaeter and across the planetary system. It was from this discovery on Scion that the Militia was able to locate a large Forerunner hangar and access it using an ill-understood Forerunner access key. There is some evidence, that before it was repurposed by the Milita, the hangar and depot was being built as a refuge of some kind. From what and for what reason remains a mystery.

Appearances

 * Jaeter's Protectors