The construction of the Cerysian Colonization Fleet, abbreviated to CCF, began in late 159, and took nearly ten years due to other projects taking priority over the design and assembly of the fleet's colony ships. While each ship was a relatively simple design derived from common civilian cargo ships, the content of the fleet's cargo bays was a more complex endeavor. Instead of relying on a fleet of shuttles to ferry goods and colonists from the fleet to a planet's surface, the CCF's ships instead used specialized modules designed for atmospheric re-entry and safe landing on the surface, acting as singular buildings once landed. This enabled the CCF to quickly deploy and operate moderately sized outposts and settlements much faster than with traditional means, lowering the overall costs of setting up those outposts and settlements.
Initially planned to grow over time as the demand for supplies would increase, the CCF was made of 12 ships, with some additional 24 planned. Unfortunately, the high development costs of the modular drop pods used by the CCF eventually forced Mobius Group to give up on the additional 24 ships and instead rely on the initial twelve to perform regular supply runs to the Ceryx system. As the colony grew, these supply runs slowly turned into conventional trade routes, exchanging takenium and minerals for other goods. This saw the disappearance of the CCF nearly thirty years after its creation, with the individual ships sold to other companies to be used as conventional cargo haulers.
The first mission of the CCF was to establish a single, nearly self-sufficient settlement to support the establishment of more outposts and settlements in the fleet's subsequent missions. In order to do this, six months of supplies were loaded in the fleet's cargo holds, as it would take at least two months to travel between Auriga and Ceryx. Numerous facilities were also brought onboard to enable the initial colonists, who were all Mobius employees, to sustain themselves with basic supplies like food, water and fuel. After years of preparation and months of travel, the first settlement of New Calypso was founded in late 169. Housing roughly a hundred thousand colonists in rudimentary but robust modular buildings, the first stepping stone of the Asterian colonization, and the colonization of Ceryx as a whole, had been laid.
As the CCF continued to ferry supplies between Auriga and Ceryx, the colonists of Asteria began their work of prospecting the surrounding lands and expanding their colony and its capabilities. One of the priorities were the construction of an airfield, and later spaceport, to better support the flow of shuttles, though buildable land soon became scarce in the vicinity of New Calypso. After some valuable rare earth metals were located on a plateau further up the Viridian river, Mobius Group sent a new wave of colonists to establish a mining town, which would become the city of Amber Hills. As the settlements grew, the civilian population quickly overtook the number of employees sent from Mobius, leading to various small establishments and corporations to operate through licenses given by Mobius.
Despite the growing population of the colonies on Asteria, every building and goods sold were technically the property of Mobius, as even new corporations and small businesses established on the planet were only operating under license from Mobius. This resulted in a poor economical environment for innovation and many citizens not affiliated with Mobius felt the weight of the corporation in their every move. As all buildings belonged to the corporation, home ownership was fundamentally impossible, and renting was the only option available for both civilians and employees. Similarly, products found on Asteria generally weren't sold, but rented, making physical possessions rather scarce among the population.
As the Asterian colony grew, Mobius sought to colonize the rest of the Ceryx system, but required further funding to do so. Initially relying on the mineral exports of Asteria's fledgling industry, Mobius eventually put in place taxes on sales performed within the colony, before eventually taxing all life essentials as well as residential rent. This slowly but surely had its effects on the local population, with only Mobius employees being spared the brunt of the new taxation. While this created a renewed interest for careers within Mobius, it also created a much larger movement of distrust and hate towards the select few who could join Mobius' ranks.
Discovered early on during the colonization of Asteria, the large deposits of Takenite crystals found in some remote areas of the planet sparked a very strong interest from Mobius, who immediately set out to establish mining outposts and refining facilities to extract the precious crystals. Initially thought to have originated from asteroid impacts like on Vesta, the size of the deposits made it clear that the source of the mineral was the planet itself, making all previous assumptions on the material's origin invalid in the eyes of the scientific community. Nevertheless, Mobius continued to extract large quantities of Takenium every year, selling it at a ludicrous price to Vestan corporations for further processing, making it the most profitable activity performed in the Ceryx system.
Naturally, Takenium was not the only resource available on the planet, and even less so in the Ceryx system as a whole. With the raw minerals provided by Asteria, Mobius established mining outposts on Pyrrhus as well, further increasing the exports of the megacorporation. Space mining and refining began to appear, similarly to what occurred in the Aurigan system decades earlier. What occurred for the first time, however, is the study and exploitation of local wildlife, harvested and monetized like mere consumer goods, threatening the careful balance of Asteria's ecosystem. Massive farms and fisheries were built to reduce the impact on the wild species, but the damage was already done. Several species went extinct, while other adapted to aggressively hunt for humans and their constructions.
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