Stoyben

Stoyben is home to a very large body of platinum and osmium ore, and is mined by companies from nearby Petrarch. Mining is made difficult by the permafrost conditions that make the local rock resistant to mechanical excavation, and explosives and mining lasers are used to blast large areas of the surface. The world is pitted and scarred by such strip mining operations, and large areas are unsafe to traverse on foot or in ground effect vehicles. Because the entire world is essentially a working mine, movement across the surface is heavily regulated by the Colonial Council. Permits are required for any movement beyond the downport or the adjacent communities, and trespassing or illegal ownership of explosives are severely punished. The scout base on Stoyben is used by RISS as a training facility for planetologists and surveyors, who use played parts of the surface for hands on training in their demanding fields.