System: Ruchbah

Ruchbah’s surface is dominated by a single landmass and dotted with inland seas. Most of this landmass consists of rolling grasslands, hills, and tundra, ideal for grazing animals. Lit by a small subdwarf star, Ruchbah is a relatively cool world and its higher latitudes suffer bitterly cold winters, forcing both domesticated and wild herds to migrate annually. Because so much of its population follows the animal herds, the population of Ruchbah’s capital, Rook, and other towns varies widely depending on the season.

When first settled, Ruchbah’s native military consisted of little more than horse-mounted cavalry, which allowed the neighboring Tikonov Union to take control of Ruchbah in 2228. When the Tikonov Union joined the Capellan Confederation 150 years later, Ruchbah was one of several worlds that requested the protection of, and was eventually integrated into, the Terran Hegemony.

After the fall of the First Star League, the Federated Suns claimed Ruchbah, although the Capellan Confederation briefly held Ruchbah during the Third Succession War. The word was hit hard during the first two Succession Wars thanks to its status as a particularly prosperous former Terran Hegemony world. The heavily industrialized planet saw a nearly unstoppable cascade effect of interdependent companies wink out of existence when a few of the largest corporations, which either depended on other industry on the world to supply it with products or that supplied other companies with their own products, were outright destroyed.

[3067] Michaelson Heavy Industries may be a newcomer to the Federated Suns’ military-industrial complex, but it has long been a productive member of the nation’s civilian industry. Various subsidiaries can trace their origins back to the Star League era, though the company as it is known today did not come into being until the last half of the 29th century.

The city of Michaelson, a center for manufacturing on Ruchbah, was hit particularly hard. Unemployment was higher than it had ever been and factories sat fallow, leading the city’s government and corporate leaders to a radical solution — at least for citizens and companies that had long operated successfully and freely under the Hegemony. They socialized the city, rebuilding their industrial infrastructure and ultimately putting both the people and the factories back to work. Within short order, this new Michaelson Heavy Industries assumed complete control of not only business within the city but also the city itself — which, since everyone but the politicians in the city worked for the company anyway, passed without significant opposition.

Michaelson continued on in that way for another century, manufacturing a wide variety of products, but even when operating as a miniature socialized nation the company could not continue indefinitely without outside aid. In the late 30th century the company went public, bringing in much needed investment capital that it immediately put into repairing its factories. That move, controversial since it would force the company officers to report to an outside board of directors, allowed Michaelson to survive the Succession Wars and once again become a corporate powerhouse.

For the last sixty years, Michaelson Heavy Industries has had great successes in the civilian sector. It is the one of the largest manufacturers of heavy construction equipment, and its popular lines of tools are sold throughout the Federated Suns. Likewise, its aircraft business saw great success. But following the Clan Invasion, Michaelson’s directors saw an opportunity to grow business even more. In 3051 it presented the AFFS with a number of prototype combat VTOLs; within a year it was churning out its first military vehicle, and by the end of the decade it was mass-producing four more.