Jacinto

"The damaged jewel of humanity, standing tall among ashes and glass."

- Anonymous, 2553.

The Collective Commonwealth of Jacinto, (CCJ) usually referred to as Jacinto, formerly named Hyacinth δ, is a terrestrial world located in the Inner Colonies and one of humanity's most successful settled planets. Vast untapped resources and fertile land for agriculture provided settlers with the necessary capabilities for rapid growth, and to develop into a major economic hub for the well into the 2550s. Jacinto is the third planet in its solar system and required very little terraforming as the planet was already suitable to human habitation as well as having an array of native and exotic lifeforms.

Jacinto was officially settled in 2370 under a joint Greco-Portuguese effort spearheaded by the colony ships UEEV Stellar Horizon and the UEEV Saint Ovidius. When the colonists arrived at the world, they found out it was perfectly habitable, and required very little to no terraforming at all. The colony soon expanded rapidly and exploded in development, with cities being erected all over the planet. Unchecked economic growth for nearly thirty years after it was first settled would make Jacinto a thriving colony and one of humanity's most treasured worlds for the next two centuries.

Following the end of the war, Jacinto would establish an inter-species trading network between the humans,, , and Yonhet. However, cross-species tensions still remained high on the colony as the planet was besieged by Covenant forces in 2551 with it finally being lifted in 2553 with the. The Covenant had sent a small but formidable invasion force to Jacinto to capture the planet for its valuable Helium-3 and Platinum deposits. The resulting invasion lasted for two years with sustained fighting on the surface and in orbit before a ceasefire was declared.

Discovery
The discovery of Jacinto was not one of intention, it was simply an accident while attempting to survey the distant Universe. In 2019, the James Webb Space Telescope attempted to capture high-resolution infrared images of the galaxy MHC10-151030 which had been first discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in October 2015. However, the positioning of the JWST was off by a few meters after a temporary blackout lasting only 1.013 seconds. This blackout would never be fully explained but once the telescope had come back online, it had focused on a star system within the Milky Way galaxy and took 15 photos of the system. A star system previously undiscovered and only 33.4 light-years away from Earth.

This star system was later named JWST-190424 and was one of the telescope's first major discoveries. With the images compiled, scientists at the Mauna Kea observatory and the Kepler space observatory began studying the system and soon confirmed that JWST-190424 was home to over seven planets. Revealed in 2021, two of the seven planets were confirmed to be within the habitable zone of JWST-190424 by Greek-American astrophysicist Rylie Thorne and later renamed JWST-190424 to Hyacinth α after a hero in Greek mythology. Hyacinth δ, the third planet in the Hyacinth system would later become known as Jacinto. The other potentially habitable planet was also named Hyacinth ε.

Colonization
Beginning in 2295, four years after the creation of humanity's first thanks to the efforts of Doctors  and, the Unified Earth Government began cataloging all known potential worlds to be colonized within a 100 light-year bubble around the Sol system. However, it would not be until 2362 when humanity would begin colonizing outside of their home-system.

Jacinto was colonized in 2370 by people of Greek and Portuguese descent from the colony ships UEEV Saint Ovidius and Stellar Horizon. While it was a joint and good-natured effort, the colonists of the two ships established too separate settlements. With the Ovidius establishing Cedros, and the Stellar Horizon founding the settlement of Vidaes. Both colony ships were dismantled to be used as materials for the construction of the two settlements. Three years later, three more colony ships arrived in the Hyacinth system. Two of the ships would go on to Jacinto while the third turned its sights on the world of Hyacinth ε.

By the turn of the century, Jacinto was a sprawling colony. With a population of little over 3,000,000 by 2400 and at least eight established cities, the colony was doing very well. However, tense cultural strife erupted between the Jacintans over establishing the colony's capital city. Colonists of Greek ethnicity designated the city of Vidaes to become the colonial capital while those of Portuguese descent demanded Cedros become the capital and economic center of the planet. This petty feud almost devolved into open conflict, this feud even found its way back to Earth, which got the attention of the United Nations and Unified Earth Government. Both governing bodies of humanity later intervened made a compromise. The city of Cedros would become the capital of Jacinto, and the city along with Vidaes would become designated major economic hubs and trading centers between intertwining colonies. Feeling satisfied that Portuguese-Jacintans would not be reaping economic benefits and creating an ethnic wealth gap, Greek-Jacintans later pulled back their threats and would continue to live in peace as Jacinto entered its golden era, and with it the ethnic barrier soon faded away. It is believed that if the UN and UEG to not intervene and compromise, Jacinto would not be the major economic powerhouse it is in the 26th Century.

The Golden Century
The 2400s was an era of Jacinto's history that saw massive economic growth. During these years, many corporations and factions came into existence on Jacinto, most notably CybCell Incorporated and the iniCom Corporation which produced unmanned ordnance for the UNSC as well as being leading developers of artificial intelligences for both civilian and military sectors. However, during the 2400s, Jacinto was not immune to economic recessions and depressions. Thw worst occurring in 2461 which severely crashed the stock market and cause an unemployment increase of 12.4% before re-stabilizing in 2465.

It was in this century, that Jacinto had seen the most of its growth. Colonists from Earth, mostly from Portugal, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, Spain and Brazil immigrated to Jacinto. By the mid-2400s, some colonists were even emigrating from other colonies to rebuild their lives on Jacinto, due to its massive and emerging job market and vast unclaimed fertile lands ripe for agriculture and city development. When this happened, the population of Jacinto was nearing 250 million.

Jacinto reached its peak in 2490, four years before the outbreak of the Insurrection. Jacinto also took its place as being the third strongest human world in terms of economy and gross domestic product. At it's peak, Jacinto's total nominal gross domestic product numbered at 79 trillion credits. For comparison, the same year Earth's nominal GDP numbered around 147 trillion credits, and Reach's GDP being 86 trillion credits.

At the beginning of the 26th century, and the increasing tension and intensity with the outbreak of the insurrection, Jacinto experienced a 14 year recession due to terrorist attacks decreasing stocks and the 100 year rapid growth causing a rise in inflation, which nearly crippled the colony's economy almost forcing to default in 2513. Thankfully, in 2515 as the Insurrection began to become more and more isolated and less destructive to colonial infrastructure, along with inflation rates decreased due to temporary policies increasing interest rates, higher taxation eventually allowed the economy to heal

Founding of CybCell

 * Main Article: CybCell Intelligence Systems

Rise of Crimson Siris

 * Main Article: Crimson Siris

Human-Covenant War

 * Main Article: Siege of Jacinto

Jacitan Colonial Defence Force

 * Main Article: Jacintan Colonial Defence Force

After being colonized, Jacinto did not establish its own self-defense force or request the establishment of a UNSC garrison on the colony. The only military personnel present on Jacinto for a time were the 1,000 soldiers that had gone with the colonists. However, by 2415 as Jacinto was becoming one of humanity's most successful and powerful colonies coupled with virtually unstoppable economic growth, the Colonial Governor established the Jacintan Colonial Defence Force (JCDF) in 2420. The JCDF would be privately funded through the colony itself and would be allowed permits to license ships from SinoViet shipyards. By the time the Insurrection began in 2494, the manpower of the JCDF numbered at 300,000 active personnel with an additional 150,000 in reserves. The JCDF had also acquired a small fleet of thirty-five ships of frigate and destroyer classification.

UNSC Garrison
In 2508, an insurrectionist cell sprouted up on Jacinto. Numerous terrorist attacks were taken out on UNSC military complexes, including severely damaging a shipyard as well as causing serious damage to Jacinto's industrial sectors, crashing their economy in 2509 which would cause a ripple effect across the rest of the colonies as stocks plummeted. Action was finally taken later that year in 2509 when the UNSC sent a garrison force of 10,000 to assist with JCDF operations and ensure the security of UNSC and ONI structures. When this insurrectionist cell was defeated in 2511, the UNSC sent another 5,000 men and women to strengthen the garrison. Since the founding of the JCDF, Jacinto had largely defended itself, but now the UNSC had planted its feet on the colony, which would soon aid the Jacintans against their defence of the colony against the Covenant in 2551.

Police and Security
Many of Jacinto's cities have police departments, the largest being the Cedros Metro Police Department, which played a major role in the defense of the city during the Covenant siege of the colony. In 2551, the total number of law enforcement around the planet numbered at 34,600.

With such a low number for a heavily populated colony world, many police departments purchased '''Draco Mk. III police drones''' from the iniCom Corporation. These drones could police areas of cities that officers could not. Also, without infringing on the personal and private rights of a city's denizens, these drones could respond swiftly to any situation deemed a hazardous threat to police or pedestrians, effectively disabling criminal vehicles, or aiding police forces that are engaged.

The Draco Mk. III drones faced heavy criticism and fears that everyday citizens would be watched day and night by the police and government. Many protests were held every few years to ban the usage of these drones, claiming they infringe on people's personal lives, and cast a 1984-esque shadow upon the cities they were deployed in. When the Covenant attacked, these drones proved valuable to city police forces who did not have the firepower to combat the Covenant. It is believed this drones saved thousands of lives, buying time for police to consolidate their manpower to aiding in the evacuation of cities. After the war, the Draco Mk. IV drones entered service and became very popular with other clients such as the United Nations Space Command, Office of Naval Intelligence, Crimson Siris, as well as police departments across Jacinto and on other colonies.

Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence had seeded itself on Jacinto as early as the first settlements in 2370. At least four bases had been established on Jacinto by ONI by 2551. The Delta-Nine Facility was the first ONI building on Jacinto, located in the capital of Cedros and constructed in 2385. RHODES Base was the second facility constructed in 2402 outside the city of Vidaes. The third base was constructed in 2460 into the side of Jacinto's second highest mountain range, Serra da Guarda for which is is named after, GUARDA Base. And the fourth base constructed in secret, known as Camp Yankee which conducts classified studies on Forerunner artifacts found on the colony in 2510 beneath the Ayance Canyon.

Other Defences

 * Numbers are estimated from reports dated 2550-2553.
 * Active Manpower: 825,600
 * Civilians available for service: 482,765,877
 * Civilians fit for service: 391,444,320
 * Total land assets: 33,210
 * Total naval assets: 90 ships (2550); 182 ships (2551)
 * Total air assets: 5,420
 * Serviceable airports: 823
 * Serviceable spaceports: 16
 * Defence budget: cR. 18,450,230,000 (2550); cR. 22,170,000,000 (2553)

Politics
The Jacintan Colonial Parliament is located in the city of Cedros and is made up of eight parties. The parliament is is consisted of 551 representatives. Out of the eight parties, there are three major parties that have more than 80 representatives in parliament that take up more than half of the Jacintan government. The three major parties are the democratic socialist-leaning Social Democrat Alliance, the conservative-leaning Collective Unionist Party , and the secessionist Western Alliance Coalition.

The Western Alliance Coalition has gained popularity in the early 26th Century with the outbreak of the Insurrection. The party refused to support local insurrectionists but also condemned the UNSC for failing to keep their colony safe, despite the fact that Jacinto had its own standing military that was already fighting the insurrectionists. The party soon lost membership as well as most of its seats in Parliament but eventually rose in the polls and regained their former seats in the 2540s when the war against the Covenant went public. The party claimed that previous history when conflict arose on Jacinto, the UNSC failed to protect it. The party later used fear tactics stating that if the Covenant invaded, the UNSC would not help Jacinto, and that Jacinto must become an independent state in order to save the lives of millions. After the war, the party gained even more popularity and surpassed the Unionists as the second largest party in Parliament after the 2554 elections, with having only 13 less seats than the Social Democrats. The Coalition also became largely xenophobic when the Inter-Species Commerce Agreement was signed.

Ethnicity & Language
Jacinto's people are largely descendants of Portuguese and Greek origin. The languages are the largest and most spoken among households across Jacinto with Greek holding a slight majority. Since its colonization, several other settlers of European and African descent emigrated to Jacinto. Business is conducted in English, which after some generations, all if not, most Jacintans speak English fluently as a second language.

Religion
Christianity, Islam, Judaism and several other "New Age" religions have traveled the stars and found its place on the colony of Jacinto. Despite humanity having become largely more secular in the 26th Century, religions of the "old world" and the "New Age" religions still have a large place among humanity, and with the outbreak of the Human-Covenant War, many of Jacinto's residents looked to religion for hope and faith in a time of stress and fear.

Notable Geographical formations
Jacinto's surface features three distinct supercontinents, with several smaller subcontinents surrounding them. However, another continent exists on the other side of the planet that is not pictured above, this continent has been largely closed off from the public which is maintained by the UNSC and ONI.

Approximately 42% of the planet is comprised of landmasses with the rest being massive bodies of water. Jacinto has four named oceans, two of which separate the three heavily populated supercontinents Pharos, Seulon and Ibis.
 * Pharos
 * Serra da Guarda mountain range
 * GUARDA Base
 * Aelburn province
 * Cedros (city)
 * JCDF Headquarters
 * Parliament building
 * Cedros police department
 * Cedros spaceport
 * Delta-Nine Facility
 * Old Haven province
 * Vidaes (city)
 * Vidaes police department
 * Vidaes spaceport
 * RHODES Base
 * Seulon
 * Emborió province
 * Ovidius mountain range
 * Emborió (city)
 * Ibis
 * Winterdell province
 * Rhodes (city)
 * Eyora
 * Ayance Canyon
 * Camp Yankee
 * Krosov Testing Facility