Canceron

Canceron, known as "The Largest Democracy," was a planet in the Cyrannus star system orbiting the star Helios Delta, and one of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. It was named after the Cancer tribe who had resided on Kobol. Canceron shared its orbit with Aerilon and Hestia, occupying the L4 and L5 Lagrange positions. It held the largest population of any of the colonies, yet remained economically behind, its great cities ringed by extensive slums. (Battlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies)

History#

Canceron was colonized at some point before or during the eleventh century and governed itself as a democracy for a thousand years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. It was largely ignored by the imperial superpowers Virgon and Leonis, and its distance from the other major worlds left it economically behind. The development of faster-than-light propulsion proved a boon, allowing Canceron and neighboring Aerilon to profit from the extraction and shipping of minerals from their own worlds and from the gas giant Ragnar. Following the First Cylon War there were signs of an economic upturn. (Battlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies)

Canceron was hit by nuclear weapons in the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, and the liner Pyxis was one of the last ships to get away from it as the attack began. After the Fall, Robin Wenutu sat as Canceron's delegate to the first Quorum of Twelve. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "Colonial Day")

Geography#

Canceron was a temperate world with extremely large cities. Its remoteness from the other major colonies may have contributed to its long inability to establish a large-scale industrial, military, or tourism economy, leaving slums around several of its great urban centers. Its fertility supported a vast population, which reached some 6.7 billion at the time of the Cylon War. Its capital was Hades, and the Ruby Range was among its landmarks. (Battlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies)

Culture#

Canceron was founded as a constitutional democracy. Its government was a planetary congress representing some eighty-eight regional states, an arrangement that endured for the thousand years preceding the Fall and earned the colony its epithet, "The Largest Democracy." Its patron god was Hephaestus. (Battlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies)