Mercury


 * Diameter: 4880 km
 * Mean Distance from Sun: 57,910,000 km
 * Day Length: 59 days
 * Orbital Period in Earth Days: 88 days
 * Major Cities: Longshore, Undercity , Darkways , Akirenko , Tambu , Threelands , Mayama , Fukido

The planet closest to the sun is Mercury, and it is the fourth world to be terraformed. Unlike those previous, however, its surface is not inhabitable. Rather, while the surface of Mercury is bleak and lifeless - baked on one side by the sun, cold and dead on the other - it has shielded starports located along the Terminator Line between "dayside" and "nightside", which provide access to a vast underground network known as the Webway, which connects artificial subterranean biospheres known as Underworlds.

The Webways are massive tunnels built to a unique Mishiman design linking all the cities and outposts. A constant stream of motorized carts, pedestrians, and pilgrims use these tunnels. Roadtrains carry goods while the Rocket Train (an impressive elevated railway) is used by the military, the greatst of nobles, and the Lord Heir's personal couriers . Traffic is stopped every ten miles at checkpoints to collect passes, travel permits, and tariffs.

Mercury is the domain of Mishima, and its insular nature means that others have had very little success in encroaching upon its domain. The largest Underworld - and the base of Mishima's operations - is Longshore, Mishima's primary starport (nicknamed the "never sleeping" city). Longshore is located at the bottom of an enormous crater in what is known as The Underground Ocean. The Underground Ocean is approximately 30 feet deep with thousands of islands, but the taint of Dark symmetry has polluted the waters. The crater itself is shielded by an ancient wonder of technology known as the Celestial Shield - a plastic dome that keeps air in and radiation out, but which allows starships to pass through, and then knits itself back together once they have passed. The shield is approximately 200 miles wide with a ceiling approximately 2 miles above the surface of the Underground Ocean. The shield polarizes to simulate night and day as it sits on the Terminator line of the planet in a constant state of "dusk". The tallest buildings of Longshore barely reach above the rim of the crater. Longshore is situated on the largest of the islands and in the middle of the city is a huge basin harbor split in two by a 100 meter wide runway that stretches 2 km into the water. At the end of the runway/pier are two gigantic statues of the Lord Heir Moya and his spouse. Although Mishima is not on the best of terms with the Brotherhood, the Longshore Cathedral can be found here, the Brotherhood's only base of operations on Mercury.

The other major starport is Fukido, which is basically the Mercurian equivalent to Hong Kong in some respects. Due to a bit of a bungle on the part of the Mishimans, Imperial managed to secure a lease to 99% of the properties in Fukido, which is located directly opposite Longshore. The lease only lasts for 99 years, and is bound to expire in a few years, but Imperial has operated it as a nearly anarchistic capitalistic free enterprise city, and various entrepreneurs have flocked here despite the lack of long term security, and the ever present danger that Lord Moya (the Mishiman Lord Heir that oversees Mishima) might just get fed up with Imperial's antics, break the agreement, and drive the foreigners out of the city.

Although Longshore is Mishima's largest city, its official capitol is Yamato, located in yet another, less accessible underworld, though not far from Longshore underneath the surface.