Lovell City or Lovell is a major city on Luna and its de facto administrative capital. The New Hague United Nations complex is located there.
Description[]
Luna’s largest settlement and de facto capital, Lovell City, spreads out around the primary lunar spaceport.
Little of the city is visible from the surface. Just like its sister cities on Earth, Lovell City contains warehouses, commercial centers, office complexes, shipyards, convention centers, hotels, prisons, residential areas, and schools. Pedicabs carry passengers on short trips through the city’s tunnels, but mass transit tube stations are scattered throughout Lovell City, connecting its farther-flung districts.
Spaceport facilities[]
Lovell City’s spaceport is almost unique in the system, its ancient docks having been dug out of the lunar surface. Tugs guide vessels in and out of Aldrin Docks[1], which are large enough to house entire ships within them. And unlike in the spin stations of the Belt, where vessels sit in vacuum while docked, Luna’s docks have retractable seals, allowing them to be filled with air so maintenance and repair crews can comfortably work on the parked ships.[2]
The waiting area for the terminal is housed in a large false dome designed to impress tourists. The whole structure is underground, but the massive chamber is covered floor to ceiling in high-definition video screens showing the outside view.[3]
New Hague[]
New Hague is a district in Lovell City that contains Luna’s United Nations complex, including administrative offices and courts. This provides availability for people unwilling or unable to travel to UN main headquarters in New York City can conduct government related business in the district instead. The United Nations Science Service is based in New Hague as well.
The science service has had a presence on Luna since the days of the original moon base, and constructed the first broad-array telescope on the Moon, free from the distorting effects of Earth’s atmosphere. Over the centuries, however, the frontiers of science have moved to the outer planets such as Triton on Neptune, leaving the UN science service a shadow of its former self.[4]
Events[]
“You can't go home” — During the Eros incident, various UN government and military officials were evacuated to Lovell City, evading the loss of the United Nations government in case of Eros impacting Earth. Arjun Avasarala Rao was also located in New Hague at the time, communicating with his wife, Chrisjen Avasarala, back in New York City.
Prior to the Free Navy Conflict and after the election of UN Secretary-General, Avasarala was appointed a member of the United Nations Ring Emigration Commission (UNREC), the position assigned to by Secretary-General Nancy Gao herself, in New Hague.
Amos Burton also arrived at Lovell City with the Lazy Songbird, intending to then charter a domestic flight down to Earth and his destination Baltimore. However, he was apprehended by UN Luna security at the Aldrin Docks, and escorted to Chrisjen Avasarala's office in New Hague, having a brief personal talk. Instead interested in the security of Earth despite her current position and the stygma surrounding that topic in Gao's government, Avasarala continued investigations on Marco Inaros and his faction with the help of UNN Admiral Felix Delgado, commanding UNN Luna Home fleet from Lovell City. Suspecting a major terrorist attack by Inaros, Avasarala tried to persuade Gao and her government to act, but failed to reach any attention.
With the Bombardment of Earth, the devastation of New York and the death of most of Gao's cabinet with the crashing of UN One after the third impact, Lovell City became the de facto capital of the United Nations. UN Secretary of Transportation David Paster was sworn-in as Secretary-General as the most senior surviving member of the government, and relocated his office to New Hague; he assembled his provisional cabinet and Security Council, and directed policy from Luna.
The destruction of large regions on Earth triggered a wave of mass migration to Luna and Lovell City, while family members of politicians, such as Ashanti Avasarala were evacuated to New Hague. After Paster ordered the UNN strike on Pallas, his cabinet resigned in protest, and the provisional UN General Assembly was scheduled to hold a vote of no-confidence against him. However, elements of Paster's government preferred to delay the snap elections resulting from the vote, and Chrisjen Avasarala was unilaterally appointed as acting Secretary-General in Lovell City. After being sworn-in, she declared a nation-wide state of emergency and envoked exclusive political rights in accordance with the UN Charter.
Later, Burton and the crew of the Rocinante and Razorback arrived at Lovell. Avasarala was notified of a Free Navy strike on the Sol ring blockade, and the UN Security Council was convened to respond to the engagement. There they witnessed the destruction of the fleet and the defection of a MCR faction, both entering the Sol gate.Trivia[]
- Lovell City may be named in honor of James A. Lovell, Jr., former astronaut and Spacecraft Commander, of the Apollo 13 space mission, which failed on route to the moon due a malfunctioning cryogenic oxygen system. Due to his quick thinking, and the efforts of his crew and ground controllers, they were able to survive the rigors of space, and return to Earth. Lovell City may also be named after Lovell crater, suggesting that this is where the city might be located.
- Aldrin Docks are named in honor of Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr, former astronaut and fighter pilot. Aldrin was the pilot of the Gemini 12 mission, and the lunar module pilot of the Apollo 11 mission. He and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two humans to land on the Moon.
- The “Armstrong complex” has been mentioned before and is believed to be the name of the large surface domes.[Citation needed]
References
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Nemesis Games - Chapter 49: Amos
- ↑ The Expanse Roleplaying Game, chapter 8 - Earth
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Nemesis Games - Chapter 7: Amos
- ↑ The Expanse Roleplaying Game, chapter 8 - Earth