The Mercantile

The Mercantile is a cylindrical space-station stretching for thirty kilometers in length and eight kilometers in diameter. It is the home to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people; it’s hard to get a proper headcount due to the chaotic nature of society aboard it. It was devised by the Pykes, and constructed in AY 2112 with the help of the Kugraw, Nox, Irvagaleni, and Cell.

Districts
The Mercantile is separated into districts, each of them roughly five by ten kilometers in size, and running along the interior of the station. Due to gravity pulling all people and constructions towards the hull, this allows space for up to fifteen districts. Some are wealthier than others, maintained by the richer communities living in them; Dolgot, for example, is among the more slum-like districts where crime is common and markets aren’t as enforced.

The districts themselves are almost set up like mini-cities, complete with their own apartment complexes, schools, markets and even skyscrapers. People can live out their entire lives on the Mercantile, and they have. However, since the Mercantile is supposed to be neutral ground for all races and not owned by a government body in particular, the question of who enforced the laws and rules aboard the station was one that needed to be answered quickly. To that end, a senate was composed of elected representatives from each of the districts to maintain order and provide leadership on the Mercantile as well as communicate its needs and requests to the Hegemony and Empire if need be. The representatives serve for a cycle (a single revolution of the Mercantile around the galactic core, which takes an average of two years), and then their seats are opened again. There is no limit to how many terms a representative can serve, so long as they are continually elected.

The Scrubs
Between the districts and the outer hull is a thick layer of maintenance tunnels, machinery, and ventilation shafts that house the station’s CO2 scrubbers. The devices work to remove the excess carbon dioxide exhaled by the citizens of the Mercantile and replace it with oxygen, venting the waste CO2 into space. Known as ‘the Scrubs’, this is where the lowest of the low are forced to live; outcasts from society, people with no money to afford a proper living space of their own, all are only welcome in the Scrubs. As it is not intended to have people living in it, the Scrubs’ living conditions are almost nonexistent. One misplaced step can send someone falling to their death, a wrong turn can lead them into the spinning blades of a ventilation fan, or they might succumb to the toxic puddles of mold and grime that grow in the moist air.