Dia Mindus

Dia Mindus
Planet Type: Corporate, owned by Diamond

Satellites: Nium, Garnet

Status: Habitable

History
Dia Mindus is a Midrim planet currently owned by the Mindowski family, and is the headquarters of The Diamond Foundry. Originally purchased in 40EE by Shabtai and Zissa Mindowski, the planet was used for large mining operations due to its large, valuable quartz deposits. The planet was barely habitable when it was first acquired, with barely any water and extremely arid climate.

However, in 63EE, mining operations on Dia Mindus started bringing up precious metals and, most importantly for the future of the Mindowski family, silicon. With this began a new drive to transform Dia Mindus into a habitable planet. The surface was massively terraformed, with two artificial oceans being added as well as complete biome reworking.

By 120EE, Dia Mindus was a completely reworked planet, changing planet classification four times in the process.

Pre-Terraforming
Before 63EE, Dia Mindus was a rough, unforgiving planet. The entire planet's surface was barren, rocky scrub land, with an extremely mountainous terrain. It was classified as a dead planet when Terrians came to Neosol, with evidence that it had once been both volcanic and oceanic. However, scientists believe all water and seismic activity had been absent from Dia Mindus for approximately 1.4 million years by the time Terrians arrived.

Modern Dia Mindus
Presently, Dia Mindus is classified as a Habitable Silicate Planet. It has two salt water oceans that support life, one major fresh water sea, and has been terraformed to support several flora-type biomes, including Temperate Broad-Leaved Evergreen Forests and Natural Grasslands. Dia Mindus now has three major continents, covering 62% of the planet's surface. Two of these continents, Kashe and Erev, have been largely unchanged from their natural state, and are used mostly for strip mining and resource gathering. The third continent, Hitra, has been almost completely transformed. 87% of the population lives in Hitra, as it is by far the most comfortable of the continents.

Hitra is lush and green, almost startlingly so compared to the rest of the planet. Hitra is home to Dia Mindus' only forests, as well as the Zissa Sea.

The Diamond Foundry
It is nearly impossibly to separate Dia Mindus from the existence of The Diamond Foundry, more commonly known as just Diamond. As a corporate planet, the number one employer of Dia Mindus citizens is Diamond, providing jobs to 93% of working residents.

Diamond's Solar Headquarters is located on Diamond Boulevard in downtown Sterling, Hitra, and is the tallest building on the planet. Much of the workforce in Hitra is found in corporate office parks. Entire departments of Diamond are know to take up several thousands of acres worth of office parks. Perhaps most famously is Diamond's Research and Development Department, which covers roughly the same area as Earth's Los Angeles. The office parks of Hitra are often the subject of ridicule in pop culture, both on and off planet.

Realiens on Dia Mindus
The majority of Diamond's workforce in Kashe and Erev, approximately 3 million laborers, are privately owned Realiens. Diamond CEO, Cai Mindowski, is notoriously quiet about the use of Realiens for dangerous mining operations. Realieans are not recognized citizens of Dia Mindus, but rather considered property of The Diamond Foundry Holdings. They are forced to live in extremely harsh conditions and work extreme hours.

The Mindowski Family
Ever since the original purchase of Dia Mindus, exclusive rights to the planet and its holding have belonged to the Mindowski family. The current holder of planetary rights, as well as CEO and majority shareholder of The Diamond Foundry, is Cai Mindowski. Cai is the great-great grandson of Shabtai and Zissa Mindowski, and was passed the rights at the passing of his mother, Paulette, in 179EE.

Cai and his wife, Katrin (nee Reeves), along with their three children live in the family estate in Quartz Quarry, Sterling, Hitra. Their home, which sits on a 230 acre estate, sits on the coast of the Caret Ocean.