Terra Nova

Terra Nova was a garden world that became the second human extrasolar colony and the first settled beyond the Charon mass relay. Discovered in the first wave of Systems Alliance surveys in 2150, it grew slowly until the discovery of rich platinum deposits triggered a rush of immigration that briefly made it the most populous Alliance colony. In later years the threat of batarian attack drove many settlers away, and during the Reaper War the world fell to a Reaper landing after a brief naval battle.

Discovery and settlement#

Terra Nova was one of the Class-1 colonization prospects discovered by the first wave of Alliance surveys in 2150. It became the second human extrasolar colony and the first established beyond the Charon mass relay, a distinction that placed it at the frontier of early human expansion. The world was banded by a harsh equatorial desert, but the regions closer to its poles were temperate and habitable, and a colony took root there. The capital city was named Scott.

The platinum rush#

For its first decades the pace of development on Terra Nova was modest. That changed in the 2170s with the discovery of extensive deposits of platinum, a rare metal required in the clean burning hydrogen fuel cells that powered private vehicles. The find triggered a platinum rush, drawing immigrants and investment from throughout Alliance space and producing roughly a thirty percent rise in population over twelve years. At its height Terra Nova boasted the highest population of any formally endorsed Alliance colony.

Decline and the Reaper War#

The world's fortunes did not hold. In later years the persistent threat of batarian attack caused many colonists to emigrate, draining the population and making the name of the surrounding Exodus Cluster grimly fitting. When the Reaper War reached the colony, the Alliance's Sixth Fleet fought a brief battle for Terra Nova and then retreated, aware it could not win and hoping to regroup with allies and retake the world later. The Reapers landed and occupied the planet. Intelligence indicated that the Reaper force there was light, and debate followed over whether the world could be liberated or whether such an effort would prove futile against fresh reinforcements.