Widely known as the port city of the Asteroid Belt, Ceres Station is one of the largest
and most prosperous human colonies in the solar system, playing host to a permanent
population of six million settlers, with over a million additional visitors arriving or
departing the station’s docks at any given time.
Ceres itself was placed into an artificial spin by the famous Tycho Corporation, using
arrays of colossal reaction drives constructed over the course of ten years, once this project
was completed, the many levels of Ceres Station existed in artificially sustained spin gravity
at 0.3g, and even decades later this remains one of humanities greatest accomplishments.
As a natural result of Ceres centrifugal gravity, it’s docking facilities are located at what
might be called the ‘bottom’ of the station, vessels docked at the installation hang from
their clamps above the colossal aperture below, and on most days anything from eight hundred
to one thousand ships can be seen docked at Ceres Station, the dock level is almost entirely
dedicated to the mooring stations themselves, but the facility also hosts several cargo
warehouses, a wide range of loading waldoes, and a number of administrative facilities
for the dock’s logistics crews and traffic control staff.
Immediately above the dock level, and therefore slightly deeper into the asteroid itself,
the Ceres Midtown Level is comfortable and upmarket, hosting numerous bars and retail
establishments, most of which are tailored toward the crews of visiting ships.
The Midtown level features much of the station’s most expensive and luxurious accommodations,
as well as the headquarters of its Star Helix Security Complement, and the government facilities
that house the station’s leadership.
The primary habitat of the Midtown level features an artificial sky generated through digital
projection, this feature not only serves as a comfort to the Ceres inhabitants, but also
as an effective means of maintaining the station’s day/night cycle.
Above the Midtown district lies the Medina Level, a tightly packed cluster of winding
streets that houses the many thousands of impoverished belter workers comprising the
majority of the Ceres Population.
The Medina is considered to be a dangerous slum, and is largely avoided by the richer
and more affluent residents of Ceres Station, but it’s many bars, brothels and gambling
establishments will often draw the crews of visiting cargo vessels.
Criminality is common in the Medina, with extreme poverty forcing many belters to commit
theft or engage in violent riots, and as a result the station’s Star Helix force is
dispatched to police the Medina Level far more often than any other district.
Travel between the levels of Ceres Station is facilitated by an extensive tube train
network, with the diameter of each level decreasing as they reach deeper into the asteroid.
The highest and therefore deepest levels of Ceres Station have the smallest spin radius,
subjecting their occupants to the full force of the Coriolis Effect, the effect can cause
extreme dizziness and nausea, especially for individuals who have not had prior experience
living in such an environment, but many humans have slowly adapted to the effect over many
years of subjection.
As a protectorate of the United Nations and by far the most crucial port in the Belt,
Ceres station has become a vital keystone in the various trading networks of the solar
system, it’s prosperity has brought wealth to Earth and the UN for many years, but it’s
deeper levels hide destitution and violent crime, born from the persecution and maltreatment
of its Belter residents.
Though the station is home to a great deal of poverty and corruption, it’s worth as
an engineering accomplishment cannot be overstated, continuing to represent one of greatest feats
of spaceborne construction and scientific ingenuity in human history.