Petra
From FABT
 
| |
|---|---|
| Location: |
Nineteen Pillars of Ascension / Milky Way Galaxy |
| System(s): | |
| Relay(s): | |
| Population: |
Roughly 10 million |
| Species: | |
| Affiliation: |
Systems Alliance |
| Tier: | |
| Capital: | |
The Petra Nebula is a cluster located towards the southern edge of Alliance space, near Hegemony space, and the chosen seat of the Systems Coalition. In the asari cycle, the Petra Nebula was targetted by the Asari Republics and Salarian Union for colonization due to its helping of suitable garden worlds, but were prohibited from doing so by the Treaty of Etamis, with the Petra Nebula located firmly within the Skyllian Verge, and thus part of the Attican Traverse buffer zone. Following the end of the Quarian-Batarian War, the Batarian Hegemony would later make numerous territorial claims to clusters within the Skyllian Verge, among these claims being the Petra nebula, but did not immediately colonize them due to concerns of Council sanctions if they violated the Treaty of Etamis again, like they did prior to the Pragian war.
Following the first phase of colonization by the Systems Alliance prior to the First Contact War in the 2150s, humanity began its controversial second colonization wave, expanding into the western vector of the Skyllian Verge and colonizing the Petra nebula. This outraged the batarians, who declared the claim illegal under interstellar law, although the Council did nothing to stop it. One of the Alliance's largest colonies would be founded on Elysium, and many of its military installations and infrastructure would be established in and around the cluster. However, tensions between the Alliance and Hegemony would mount until breaking point in 2176 CE, when the Hegemony launched an invasion into the Petra nebula, striking at Elysium itself. The attack was repulsed, and the Alliance would win the Skyllian Blitz in three months. The cluster would be invaded and occupied by the Reapers during the Reaper War, and later would become the chosen seat of the Systems Coalition following the construction of Epitaph Station over Elysium. The cluster would be briefly invaded by the New Council during the Post-Apocalyptic War, and many engagements occurred between loyalist and separatist forces in the Vetus system during the Dominion Civil War. Since then, the cluster has remained the core of the Systems Coalition.
The cluster is named after the Ancient Nabataean city of Petra, now located in modern-day Jordan.