I wish to see the manager.

[WesternPeregrine]

Evening folks. In these times of hampered capacity to follow stuff on the forums, people turn into other readings to pass the time. Today, @xiphos pointed out an interesting and unannounced change to a commodity.

H-FUEL

H-fuel is the basic fuel used for engine propulsion everywhere in the colonies. A mix of elemental hydrogen, deuterium (H2), and helium-3 (He3), H-fuel can also be mixed with oxygen in fuel cells to provide water (via "cracking") and electricity for smaller ships, space stations, and other facilities. H-fuel production is almost totally monopolized by the Kusari who obtain their supplies from the Gas Miner's Guild before shipping it to storage depots and distribution facilities throughout the colonies

A bit odd no? GMG does a lot for H-fuel, almost reaching monopoly levels, but it was not the sole provider in the universe.
Sensing something was amiss, I went to check the infocard for Sapporo, the known Samura exploration base for Hokkaido h-fuel extraction efforts, which were always secondary to the Sigmas. Even more so when the mining fields were removed from player usage.

Constructed by Samura after the completion of the Jump Gate linking Hokkaido and New Tokyo, Sapporo Station was intended to act as a local base from which Samura could survey the surrounding systems for mineral resources. For a time, the station was repurposed to house the DSE construction crews working on the Chugoku Jump Gate, but since it's completion, the station has slowly returned to its original purpose, which is the exploitation of resources in the Hokkaido system. Ever since Kishiro and the GMG signed an agreement in 801 A.S. to open up Sigma 19 for exclusive exploitation, Samura found itself all but locked out of the H-Fuel markets, despite the majority of their fuel having previously been stored at Osaka Storage Facility.

Realising that GMG's reliance on Osaka would rapidly wane, Samura restarted it's own gas mining operations shortly thereafter, something they had been forbidden to do under the terms of their terminated prior agreement with the Guild. The Gas mining operations continue to meet strong resistance from the unlawful elements of Hokkaido, particularly the Golden Chrysanthemums who have a base hidden somewhere in the Shiden Cloud. Despite this, with a recent influx of funds from the late Osaka's insurance policy, Samura have been stepping up their operation to extract the valuable H-Fuel gases that are abundant in the southern part of the system. Undergoing almost continual upgrades, Samura hopes Sapporo Station will one day anchor a vast network of Gas Miners as Kusari seeks to exert dominance as a major player in the H-Fuel Industry.

That is a quite a steep change from the Lore of Sapporo, Hokkaido, and Samura history. Strangely, it mostly passed unaware by Samura peeps.
Who has developed this new scenario for Samura, if they were not informed or consulted with? Are more places suffering changes to their established lore without being announced in the updates?

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SIGNATURE

Kusari Former Mastermind

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