Hera

 GEOGRAPHY

Despite its historic stature in the War for Unification, Hera is still struggling to regain its economic, social and environmental footing. The war was devastating, and the military action leveled at Hera during the closing days was overwhelming.

The basic necessities of life - food, water, and shelter - are still in great demand on Hera, and according to most experts, the planet is still decades away from feeding its own population again, let alone exporting crops to the other worlds of the Alliance at prewar levels. The current focus is solely on Hera's rich ore supply.

Huge amounts of ruined and unusable military hardware make for an extremely lucrative scrap trade, even though many of the areas where the hardware is located remain restricted by the UAP.

Parliament is evaluating the possibility of reinstalling modified atmosphere processors (both ground-based and orbital) to help speed recovery. If this action is taken, Hera should see an explosion of jobs, trade and new investment.

Hera was a largely agricultural world in it's prime, similar to Earth-that-Was. Food was grown, processed and packaged on Hera. The planet is also the home of the infamous Serenity Valley (the valley itself was once sparse and rocky with little vegetation), where the bloodiest battle o the war was fought.

Lying midway between the Core and the outer planets on a major shipping lane, Hera was of great strategic important staging ground for both sides. Taking Hera was a key to winning the war, and Serenity Valley became the turning point for the conflict. The war devastated Serenity Valley. Six years past, the valley is still blackened and charred by the fire storm that swept through it. 

The only landmark is a graveyard on the hills next to the valley. Over half a million men and women - Alliance and Independent alike - are buried here, each with his or her own small identical headstone. Some have names. Most don't.

The graveyard is located on the opposite side of the valley from the town of Serenity View. Families and friends of the fallen come to Hera to visit the graves, which bloom with flowers, photos and mementos. Even the unmarked graves have their share. Plenty of families never saw their children return, and many have picked an unnamed grave and honor it, hoping someone else is doing the same for their son or daughter.

Serenity graveyard is one of the most hallowed and sacred pieces of ground in all the 'Verse.