Segonia

Segonia is a small township on the human colony world of Mindoir. Incorporated by the Russian-based Snovaco Development in 2152 CE, Segonia was a commune consisting of six collective farms and a handful of municipal buildings. The initial population consisted of twenty-four families from Russia and the Balkans. In exchange for subsidized housing and utilities, all recruited families signed a contract stipulating that the town would meet specific agricultural production quotas within five-year periods.

A second, somewhat more controversial stipulation was that all the children had to undergo regular examinations by Snovaco scientists. Once a week, all the children would be rounded up and brought to the local middle school. There, they would be instructed to undress and follow instructions. Some weeks, they would be organized into a straight line, and the scientists would perform a battery of tests - examining each child's eyes, taking blood samples, recording heart rate, etc. Other weeks, the children would be asked to engage in recreational activities. At least one of the former residents recalls a day where the children, still undressed, were blasted with cold air. The purpose of these examinations is unknown - the records were all destroyed during the batarian raids - but various conspiracy theories have circulated around the Extranet. One of the more popular theories is that Snovaco was examining group dynamics - the recreational activities were an attempt to see how the children interacted when given common or competing goals. According to this theory, the ultimate goal was to get some idea of how a group of people confined in a small space - for instance, a crew on a space shuttle - would react in an environment where they had no privacy or personal space, information which would be invaluable in determining the viability of long-term, low-cost space exploration. As Snovaco folded in the wake of the batarian raids, it is unlikely that the true purpose of the examinations will ever be discovered.

The town met its initial quotas by 2157 CE, and managed to exceed the second round of quotas by 2162. By 2169, the town was producing nearly twice as many crops as were demanded, and the families all received considerable bonuses for their hard work.

Sadly, the town was not able to meet the next round of quotas. In 2170 CE, Mindoir was attacked by batarian raiders. The Segonia settlers, armed only with rudimentary weapons, had no chance of repelling the invaders, and out of a population of nearly 1,700, only 272 survived.