Kuran

Freestanding space colony considered to the "gateway to the frontier." Kuran, along with its sister colony Zelan were among the first to be built by the UEF Corps of Engineers upon their takeover of the Frontier. It is located at Lagrange Point 5 in the system of Alus. Like the Zelan colony, Kuran is a Frontier 9 model--a large cylindrical structure 7 miles long with a large pivot engine core on the aft section that moors the colony's solar panels, contains the colony's main docking days, and houses the main rotational system that powers Kuran's gravitic centrifuges.

As with all Frontier 9 colonies, Kuran's three land blocks are geared towards a specific purpose. The Industrial Block has facilities for construction, colonial systems maintenance, and areas and materiel set aside for construction projects contracted with the colonial authority. The Agricultural Block provides oxygen and atmospheric purification and 20% of the food supply to the colony's 300,000 residents, who live in the Residential Block. The use of the main elevator, or any of the sky-trains that run through the center of the ship facilitates travel to each Block.

Thanks to its large solar panels, the colony is able to effectively simulate day and night cycles, whereas smaller colonies simulate them by simply altering light levels. In addition, in the interests of self-sufficiency, the colony can also generate controlled weather systems--namely rain--to enhance its water reclamation systems.

Like any major colony, Kuran has its difficulties, specifically crime. Owing to its primacy in the Frontier and its role as a port of call for ships traveling to and from the Frontier, drugs, vice, and violent crimes are common. At present, there has been a 35% increase in crime aboard the colony, up from 18-23% in years previous. Colony police ascribe the increase to the dissolution of the Blue Dragon Syndicate--without central authority regulation and containing criminal activity, it has spread indiscriminately through the colony.

For many years of the colony's existence the Blue Dragons' maintained a presence on the colony, and under Mao Xai Jian that presence took an active role in colonial affairs, and exerted a certain amount of control on activities legitimate and otherwise. In the wake of the conspiracy that cost Xai Jian his life and the resultant leadership vacuum, and Earth's militarization of the Frontier, the Syndicate has been unable to reestablish itself. The story is ongoing.