Hello all, Ric here with an additional index video from the Expanse universe.
The state of the Belt and its colonies changes vastly over the time of the Expanse so for
the sake of brevity and not rehashing the whole plot, I will be focusing on its status
nearer to the beginning of the series and only touching on some key elements where they
relate later on to their society and form of governance.
In the Expanse, there is a deliberate attempt to shy away from an exact date of their setting,
but it is at least set in the 24th century, probably around the 50s according to common
fan speculation and references in other media surrounding the franchise.
For this video however, I will be going with the dating system BXT to give a timeline of
events.
Around 129 BXT, when the colony of Mars had been established and Earth was looking to
retain its hold over its colony, Solomon Epstein accidently invents the Epstein Drive, a method
of faster interplanetary travel within the solar system.
Although he died on the flight, his technology was recovered by his wife and sold to Mars
which then traded it to Earth to secure its independence.
With both Earth and Mars now having faster and more efficient methods of travelling,
the solar system was opened up to them for colonisation and with it came the demand for
resources.
So it was that asteroid mining became more common place and the Belt was the prime territory
for works seeking to supply the two worlds of Sol.
In time, this working class, charged with the hazardous task of mining, hauling and
breaking rocks settled some of the larger ones and formed their own culture, their descendants
becoming the Belters.
Immediately we can see the beginning s of issues for the Belters, because they were
working class and performing a dangerous job all while the people of the two planets were
living in comfort and benefitting from the resources that the Belt provided.
This was only made worse with time, as the community of the Belters grew, they became
more distinct and isolated from the others, referring to them collectively as the “inners”.
Their own language developed based on those they brought with them and their own culturally
significant styles and activities drawn from the shared experiences of the hardship of
living in such a barren place.
Not only were the asteroids home to the Belters, but many of the moons of the outer planets
became synonymous with the term.
Although this paints a uniform picture of Inners and Belters, just as Mars and Earth
are different cultures, the Belters themselves are spread across multiple factions and groups
with pretty much every station or outpost answering to its own overseer and each crew
having a captain.
There have been efforts to gather the separate factions, colonies and crews and the most
notable of these movements was the Outer Planets Alliance or OPA that began as a formal attempt
at a worker’s Union of the Belters, allying them together to push back against the exploitative
governments of Mars and Earth.
Over time it evolved into a flag under which the different groups of Belters could rally
and solidify their individuality as a Belter but with the diasporic nature of their organisations,
the OPA came to embody different things for different people.
Unfortunately some opted to respond to the tight control of the Inners through violence
and became extremists, despite the official stance of the OPA being non-violent.
These actions did much to further escalate the tension between them.
Essentially, while the OPA gave some unity and structure to the Belters, the myriad of
different leaders interpreted and acted in their own interests, for good or ill.
So when people describe the OPA as both a group for advocating rights and a terrorist
organisation, it really depends on which faction you are dealing with, a distinction not every
Inner (nor Belter) makes.
Generally, Ceres is considered the capital of the Belt, but this is simply because it
is the largest colony and most populated outside of the Inner planets but this is not official
from what I can gather.
The station has a gravity of 0.3 G from an inflicted rotation and is mostly underground
tunnels inhabited by 6 million people with further traffic of another million.
Initially, the planetoid was a protectorate of Earth, with UN security managing affairs,
however Mars has also had its hooks in the station, exporting most of its ice water to
aid its own terraforming efforts.
This has left Ceres at the whims of imports and trade from the Inners and in a constant
state of water rationing.
Just one of many grievances that the Belters have attributed to the Inner worlds.
Although even on Ceres, the cost of living can vary significantly and there are differing
levels of comfort to be found.
Belter technology is naturally derived from the same gear as Earth, but is often in a
far more run down state, from ships to water reclamation facilities.
This is generally a symptom of the neglect imposed upon the belt by the Inners and has
forced them to make do with what they have, often jury-rigging, repairing or stealing
what they need just to keep going, as seen most prominently in their ships.
The Belters generally have a distinctive look to them, being taller and gaunter than most
regular bodied humans, although this is a generalisation.
This stems from the low gravity environments that they grew in as their bones elongated
but became far more brittle.
Likewise, their muscles are only adapted for such micro-gravity worlds as is the rest of
their body and they find living in Earth Normal gravity exhausting and dangerous.
There are ways to offset this loss of mass, that being quite simply exercise to build
that muscle as well as supplements and steroid use to allow for adaptation.
The level of micro-gravity acclimatisation varies as much as there are locations in the
Belt with some being able to endure 1 G quite well while others cannot even stand.
It is common and generally expected for Belters to adorn themselves with tattoo markings of
various symbolic and individual value.
The most commonly seen tattoo however is the ring around the neck design which is a stylised
geometric pattern.
This is done to resemble the seal of a space suit helmet as in the early days of Belter
colonisation, faulty suits were common.
This led the seals to heat up and even burn the wearer, leaving scars on the neck which
younger Belters emulate though tattoos as a sign of respect and a nod to the troubles
of Belters that came before.
Aside from these, the tattoos are as varied as any other human’s denoting affiliation,
significance or simply personal taste.
Their spoken language is known as Belter Creole or Lang Belta and derived from the original
languages of the Belt settlers as phrases and words were mingled.
In real life its origins are a mixture of English, Chinese, Persian and Hebrew languages
as well as many of the words simply being abbreviated or reverting into a shared phonetic
slang, the most obvious example being the words Belta for Belter and Inya for Inner.
This has led to the emergence of a unique accent to accompany it which again, completely
varies depending on where in the Belt the person originates.
Those from metropolitan hubs such as Ceres have a less pronounced accent, while those
who spend most of their time on remote ships may have a stronger one.
Another addition to this language is the addition of hand signs and gestures that are unique
to the Belters.
These evolved from the need to communicate in space, often in periods where communication
signals had failed or were not warranted.
Such necessity drilled these motions into the Belters who now share them alongside their
parlance.
These distinctions of culture and appearance have made it easy to discern and alienate
Belters further from the Inner dwelling humans and led to the continuation of prejudices.
From the Belters side, many of their resources are stripped and fed towards the inner planets
while they eke out a living on the harsh colonies and ship board life.
They view the Inners as soft, uncaring and selfish, growing complacent of the abundance
of wealth they possess and throwing scraps to the Belt.
For the Inners part, they see the Belters as responsible for getting their own act together
and treat the acts of extremism from a few factions to justify their attitude of indifference
or resentment.
Unfortunately, while such views are also accompanied by softer voices of compassion, both sides
have cause to have these opinions.
The concerns of the Belters are rarely met by the Inners and all too often, conflicts
erupt between the sides, alienating them further.
The OPA was an attempt to provide a united government for the Belters, something for
the other powers to negotiate with, but the fact that the right hand never knows what
the left is doing breaks that idea pretty quickly.
What the Belt needs is a unifying voice for all who live there and once of the ways to
stabilise it is for a leader to rise up among them.
However the Belt is going to be reliant on trade with the planets, even if it goes independent,
so the spirit of cooperation needs to be maintained.
But that is easier said than done because at the end of the day, Belters are just humans
too and prone to all the same flaws.
Thanks for watching this Index on the Belters, as this was a one off, the next one will be
on the voted for topic and will continue as normal after that.
Thank you for watching this one and let me know if you want me to cover more Expanse
lore, despite the series’ current end point.
I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you next time for another lore video.
Goodbye!