Ceres and the Asteroid Belt
Ceres was the first celestial object noticed by a theory which later noticed the asteroids which are members of it's celestial neighborhood. It was a place which held possibly the most hope for finding extraterrestrial life, and it was the place which was forgotten the most over time. Despite being discovered before Neptune, many schools didn't even bother to teach of Ceres' existence within the Asteroid Belt, or it's status as a Dwarf planet. It was a forgotten Gem, a place of possible expansion of humanity's realm, just out of reach of conventional spacecraft.
Because it had fallen out of popular teaching, not everyone knew about the planet Ceres when the cataclysm that occurred on Earth, which brought humanity the tools to escape and explore the further stars, but which also brought devastation to thousands, and the destruction of many of the great cities of humanity, bastions of Freedom.
Through the miracle of the Gatestones, it seemed as if humanity's chances for freedom, liberty, and life were restored. It seemed that things would come to a happier stance than they otherwise were at.
The hopes were wrong, as many of the survivors from the planet Earth colonized Mars and Venus, and the grip of humanity slowly spread out. The grip did not spread to poor, forgotten Ceres, so long waiting to hold some of humanity in her embrace.
Humanity focused on those planets, and humans from two nations in particular took prevalence in their society, corporations ripping the freedom one might expect from Mars directly from it, those corporations acting as a new age feudal state, in mockery of the ancient god whom the planet they resided on was named after.
Collateral damage was looked to be contained, but wasn't always, and Corporate greed in combination with the damage caused by fire fights between rival corporations and their agents made things horrible for some of the people, to the point that a man running for his life, hid atop Mount Olympus, or as high as he could get with the Oxygen Suit he had 'borrowed'.
There, he saw in an almost dream like delirium brought on by the low amount of Oxygen he was receiving, the asteroid belts, and the promise of a haven. Somehow, he survived, and somehow, he was able to get a hold of the old Astronomical books that were out there. He studied, and found out as much as he could about the Asteroids.
This man was known as Johnathan Piazzi, and he though some quirk of fate was able to get some others to listen to him. He found a few benefactors, and after discussing with them funding, and with some scientists exactly what an endeavor such as colonizing the Asteroid Belt would require and possibly reward, he found other people tired of their lot, some first generation Martians who were former citizens of the once proud states of North America, and several European and Latin American groups. They pooled their money together, and bought the supplies they needed, including the ships which had been built by the benefactor of Piazzi. They left in exodus, not bothered by the Corporations of Mars simply because if they succeeded, they would just open more markets for the corporations, and if they failed, they'd be far enough away to ignore the graveyard field the asteroid belt had become.
It took time, around nine years, but Piazzi and his Pioneers arrived in the Asteroid Field. They arrived, and to the surprise of them all, noticed a beautiful little jewel of a planet to call home. As some individual family's went on to colonize the larger asteroids or to build their own homesteads within the asteroids, Piazzi went on toe Terraform Ceres, and despite his low amount of experience with the technology he was using, was able to do it. He and his direct followers made a beautifully terraformed little baby of a planet, which quickly became the 'capital' of the Asteroid Belt, which had built a Warpgate nearby itself, financed by the Benefactor of Piazzi primarily to give the Benefactor a quick means to get the the asteroid belt and to give him full control over the trade route that the Warpgate provided.
Ceres Blossomed, it's capital, Piazzi, growing from a small hamlet to a sizable town, in no time at all. It became the undeniable capital of the asteroid belt in that sense, and it was the primary exporter of organic goods to the other celestial objects in the Asteroid Belt, and the Mining camps there.
As the Benefactor, one Edward Climes, noticed this beautiful little planet, he came to a simple decision. Because he was the investor, and the primary reason why this group had even made it this far. He was the reason they weren't all dead somewhere in a ditch, and with the money he had loaned them and the interest, Ceres was his personal fiefdom and planet.
The Asteroid Belt's inhabitants had lived in their home for six years by that time, and had begun transporting a very special material that was found to be in existence in the field, the 'Gatestones'. They were fairly self-sustaining, but had no chance of standing against the might of Mister Climes and his corporation, as well as the favors he could call in. There was whispers of the thought that they would all be dead or peasants within no time, but that was when the fact that Gatestones could be mined in those areas was revealed to the corporations of Mars and the Mafias of Venus, and that was when the tables turned.
As the ships of Climes came out of the Warpgate, they were met by colonist's ships, which though older, were armed to the teeth, and in a battle that was both bloody and quick, the 'Non-Affiliated Settlements of Piazzi's Belt' became uncontestedly freed, and the fact that they had fought to a man and not spared a single corporate employee of Climes that had been sent made the other corporations realize better than trying to take any heavy interest in the area, especially with the fact that they quickly realized that it could become a haven for their own agents, when they were not participating in corporate warfare or otherwise being of use.
The money that flowed in from the Corporate Agents made many natives much richer than they had been before, and bought them better equipment and thereby a better chance at the 'life, liberty, and happiness' they all pursued, and with the fact that a number of small 'asteroid cities' (Pallas and Vesta), primarily made the 'Non-affiliated Settlements of Piazzi's Belt' care little about deaths and the like caused by corporation's agents or outlaws, so long as they cleaned up their own mess and didn't break native's stuff in the process, which would only lead to a shotgun being leveled their way.
