“	Rocky outcroppings punctuate fields of tall grass in a planet dominated by misty highland terrain.	„
	~ Official description

Mintoria is one of the five planets that reside within the Gellert Sector.

The planet was initially an unimportant world in the far northern galactic fringe, but its strategic positioning next to the isolated Minchir has made it a target for the socialist Automatons. Combined with the discovery of salt-rich deposits on December 2184 and, later, the discovery of the Ultramafic Mine in September 2185, Mintoria represents a crucial frontier world to be protected from the self-actuated socialist tides.

Topography and Astrography

Similar to Matar Bay, Draupnir and Varylia 5, Mintoria is a planet covered in vast green grass plains that reach far and wide all across its surface, only occasionally broken up by sporadic lakes, boulders, and rocky highlands. However, aside from giving the planet an picturesque highland charm, the rocky surface hides rich, deep, valuable salt and ultramafic mineral deposits. Alongside it's strategic position at the very border between the Gellert and Tanis Sectors, Mintoria has become a crucial target of interest for the Automaton Legion that is quickly increasing its necessity for SEAF military protection.

The majority of settlements on the planet are rural frontier outposts, however there are two Mega Cities of note: the small settlement of Seoraksan (A Tier 1 Mega City) and the planetary capital town of Gyeongseong (A Tier 2 Mega City). Mega City tiers do not affect level generation and only serve to determine a city's health pool in the galactic war map. Although small by the standards of the Galactic Federation, these are the only cities in the sector, which makes them strategically valuable this far out in the far northern galactic fringe.

The Mintoria System consists of the planet Mintoria itself and its moon, as well as atleast 2 other astronomical bodies, among which are an unknown green, rocky planet and a gas giant. Due to its rich mineral deposits, the Mintoria System represents an important economic asset for the Ministry of Expansion in the Gellert Sector, while its location on the border with the Tanis Sector ultimately represents an invaluable flank on the Valdis Sector, Cyberstan within it.

History

Second Galactic War

Operation Adamant Resolve

Mintoria was, much like the rest of the planets in the Gellert Sector, not more than just a blip in the spreadsheet of the Ministry of Expansion. Having been spared the horrors of the First Galactic War, this planet didn't see much colonization efforts after its initial settlement by citizens of upper Sector 2 Ancestry, mainly due to its remoteness and the apparent lack of resources, which allowed Mintoria a relative peace that other planet colonies could not have. In this relative peace, the colonists of Mintoria would build up their settlements with every passing generation, eventually erecting the city of Seoraksan and the planetary capital of Gyenongseong.

But if there is something that the Automatons are simply built to hate...is peace.

By October 2184, Mintoria had been disconnected from the ongoing galactic war since the very start, much like the rest of the Gellert Sector. Its remoteness and lack of colonists meant that finding itself detached from the FTL Network back in April, when the nearby Valdis sector fell, was just as unimportant and commonplace as the color of the grass on the planet.

However, in late October 2184, the Automatons would make an advance towards the Gellert Sector. Colonists on Mintoria and its' sister planet Blistica would watch in horror as bordering Zefia and Yed Prior would fall to the robots in the Tanis Sector. The colonists' worst fears would be confirmed as their peaceful lives would be shattered on October 28th when the Automatons would invade both Mintoria and Blistica simultaneously, with the robots on Zefia attacking Mintoria. Due to the then-Major Order pushing the Helldivers to liberate Matar Bay, as well as efforts to liberate Gacrux and Pandion-XXIV from the Terminids, both planets would show no resistance to the Automatons and would be easily captured by the next day.

Operation Iron Rain

As both Mintoria and Blistica would be located on the galactic fringe of the galaxy, both planets would see little to no liberation attempts for the next month. This would prove to be costly, as in the early morning hours of November 25th, the Automatons from both planets would send a combined force of 16 Battalions toward their northern neighbor, Zzaniah Prime. Zzaniah would be attacked at the same time that the Terminids launched a massive assault on Fenrir III. As a result, few Helldivers would answer the call to defend Zzaniah, and it would fall by the early morning of November 27th. This defeat would cut off Super Earth from any supply lines towards either Mintoria or Blistica, leaving both planets under the full, despotic control of the Automatons.

Operation Crop Dust

On December 5th, 2184, orders were given to liberate Mintoria, along with Blistica as well as Esker, all of which are locked behind enemy lines. Such mentioned planets were identified to contain very rich salt-mines, which was needed in order to rectify the shortage of chlorine and finally commence the production of MD-8 Gas Mines and its requisition to all Super Destroyers. However, Mintoria, along with Blistica, were not accessible due to Zzaniah Prime being under Automaton control. The Helldivers would start working to liberate Zzaniah Prime and re-open the floodgates to both Mintoria and Blistica, which would finally enable them to be liberated. The colonists trapped on both planets awaited eagerly.

Mintoria had essentially been abandoned by the Automatons, with no shipments of supplies reaching the planet and leaving its resistance rate against liberation at zero. As such, once Esker was liberated on December 8th, the Helldivers immediately moved all available manpower to Mintoria, as the alloted time for the operation was running short. Mintoria was liberated by the end of the day, allowing the Helldivers to relocate to Blistica, which showed unusual difficulty despite its light resistance rate.

Operation Wild Hunt

Mintoria would go on peacefully following its final liberation at the end of 2184. As a whole, the Gellert Sector and even the Tanis Sector would see essentially no action for the next 3 months with the shocking return of the Illuminate to the galactic stage and the Helldivers' first forays into the Gloom at Fori Prime leaving the bot front relatively undermanned. Simultaneously, the bots remained fairly quiet in the early months of 2185, opting to concentrate and rebuild their forces for future illegal expansionism.

In March 2185, the Automatons began surging across multiple sectors. On March 1, 2185, the Automatons launched 3 incursions in just 12 hours across 3 sectors. They began with a powerful 16 invasion fleets toward Meissa in the Ymir, before turning East and invading Mintoria's neighbor, Blistica, 6 hours later with a diminished yet still significant 11 invasion fleets. Then, the bots at Choohe and Penta unleashed a massive 18 battalions toward Chort Bay another 6 hours after their assault on Blistica. The Helldivers would be far too split to provide a coordinated resistance, though the bulk of the Corps concentrated on Meissa initially. Ultimately, with a split Corps and 3 powerful bot incursions, the Automatons managed to comfortably take all 3 planets with ease, putting the Helldivers and SEAF West efforts on the backfoot.

To make matters worse, the bots wouldn't just be content with those 3 planets. 2 hours before Meissa's defense eventually broke, the Automatons at Vog-Sojoth sent a nearly insurmountable 38 battalions toward Claorell to regain control of the Deep Mantle Forge Complex. Despite Claorell's colonial overseer indicating the planet could hold for about 48 hours before collapsing, the Helldivers could not drive back the resurgent bot threat on the peaceful and productive world with Claorell falling 2 days afterward. Luckily, despite fierce Automaton resistance, the planet would be re-liberated nearly 48 hours after its fall, preserving the Complex while potentially driving back the bots from adding advanced and new despotic resources to their schemes.

Following the Helldivers' grueling success protecting the Complex, High Command turned attention back to the rapidly moving Meridian Singularity barrelling toward Moradesh. Still lacking full answers as to just how the Illuminate were feeding the Singularity Dark Energy to power its movement, High Command issued an Order for the Helldivers to gather resources for a conventional Military Blockade of the Singularity to halt Illuminate efforts to transfer Dark Energy to the wormhole. For now, it was deemed that this would be the best the SEAF could do for now while scientists on Fenrir III continued to find better solutions for stopping the Singularity.

To build the blockade, the Helldivers would be tasked with exterminating high quantities of Terminids to gather E-710 while also eliminating high quantities of Automatons to collect scrap metal. The Helldivers immediately split between the two fronts, the plurality of the Corps heading to Phact Bay, Bore Rock, and Vog-Sojoth while a smaller skeleton force continued to battle the Illuminate at Gemma.

An hour after the Order was issued, the Terminids at Phact Bay sent a massive 18 million broods toward Darius II at the exact moment the recently fallen Blistica sent a vicious 15 battalions toward its neighbor, Mintoria with the bots continuing their second takeover of the Gellert Sector.

In the initial hours of the two defense campaigns, the vast majority of Helldivers elected to fight the Terminids on Darius II with a much smaller contingency of Helldivers attempting to fend off the strong Automaton incursion into the northern galactic fringe. As such, Mintoria's defenses were undermanned, and the planet fell by the very next day.

Luckily, the Automatons would find themselves unable to properly fortify Mintoria after its fall. As such, the bots essentially gave the Helldivers no resistance, allowing them to re-liberate the world 2-3 days after its fall, ensuring its peace.

Operation Jet Crusade

For nearly 4 months after its fall, Mintoria went on quietly, with the socialist Automatons leaving it alone for some time. The planet was never truly at peace in this time, as it was constantly flanked to the south by the Automatons on Zefia and to the west by the bots on Blistica. With Mintoria's only connection to other Super Earth-controlled planets being that of Zzaniah Prime and its FTL connection to the lonely Zosma, the colonists on Mintoria struggled to subsist, constantly under the threat of a possible Automaton invasion.

Even the few connections Mintoria did have were soon to end. On May 9th, the violent, dangerous subgroup of the Automatons known as the Incineration Corps had arrived at the Gellert Sector, stationing themselves on still Automaton-controlled Blistica. The Corps stationed themselves on the planet for the next 3 days, while Mintoria's colonial overseer began to fear the worst and immediately increased the readiness posture of colonial forces on the planet. Interestingly enough, this move was ultimately unnecessary as the Automaton Incineration Corps instead attacked Mintoria's northern neighbor, Zzaniah Prime. Zzaniah would eventually fall to the violent Automaton invaders by the next day, now leaving Mintoria completely cut off from the FTL Network.

Even with Zzaniah's capture, Mintoria would still make it to the end of June relatively unscathed. Unfortunately for the grassy planet, the Automatons grew ever impatient and resentful at Mintoria's lasting peace. On June 30th, amidst ongoing attacks on Varylia 5 and Ustotu, the bots at Zefia sent a massive 20 invasion fleets toward Mintoria.

With the main Helldiver fleet stationed on Ustotu, the Automatons made massive gains during the first 12 hours of the attack on Mintoria, easily taking control of several parts of the planet. Then, by the time the Helldivers and the Democracy Space Station arrived on Mintoria's surface, it was simply too late, for the Automaton invaders were too numerous and advanced in their attack to be repelled. As such, Mintoria would fall to the bots by the next day, and its fall would immediately close itself, Blistica, and Zefia off from the FTL network, leaving all 3 planets under the odious grip of the Automatons.

Operation Capitalized Industry

“	A mine extracting platinum from deep-seated deposits of igneous rock.	„
	~ Ultramafic Mine

On the 16th of September, 2185, Decrypted Automaton communications would reveal the existence of a secretive mining operations underway on Mintoria. Although the Super Earth Armed Forces had been occupied with other fronts -- particularly against the Illuminate and Terminids -- for the past several months, however attacks by Terminids and their Gloom spores would deal severe damage to Outpost Alpha, necessitating both resources and technology for repair and improvement of the vital facility.

In light of this, the technologies utilized in these mines were of high interest to the Ministry of Expansion as reclaiming and implementing them would allow the expansion of the Outpost into nothing less than a spore-proof subterranean haven. Furthermore the tech used on Mintoria was blatantly leaked by traitors embedded among Super Earth’s passionate mining contractors, whose brilliant innovations are set to revolutionize subsurface architecture. These innovations include (but are not limited to) geothermally-resistive siding panels and H1PP0 filtration systems.

As such at 15:40 SEST, Super Earth High Command declared a new Major Order, calling the Helldivers to liberate the Ultramafic Mine on Mintoria. However, before this could be accomplished a path to the world would need to be created by liberating several planets in the neighboring Tanis Sector, including Zefia and Clasa.

On the 18th of September 2185, Clasa was liberated from the Automatons, opening the way to the Zefia system, which was liberated non long after on the 19th. This in turn opened the way to the Mintoria System and its Ultramafic Mine. Not long after the Helldivers landed on Mintoria, the settlement known as Seoraksan was liberated, giving a massive liberation boost. On the 20th the town Gyeongseong was liberated, giving another boost, almost liberating the planet, boosting planetary liberation from 55% to 73% single-handedly. Finally, after days of fighting in the Mintoria System, the Helldivers achieved a decisive victory against the socialist Automatons, succesfully liberating the planet from the bots' hands and completing the Major Order. After that, the planet would enjoy 6 months of peace under Super Earth control.

Operation Belt of Liberty

In Februrary of 2186, after the Cyborgs made themselves known to the galaxy as having been the masters of the Automatons all along, they managed to repel Super Earth's assault on Cyberstan and were keen to expand their industry. As the Terminids started pillaging the Eastern galactic front, distracting S.E.A.F. and Helldiver forces, the socialist collective seized the opportunity and launched a two-pronged assault.

On March 1st, 2186, the Automatons invaded the magma planet Mox, while the Cyborgs attacked Mintoria; after forming an FTL line from Merga IV in the Valdis Sector to Zosma in the Gellert Sector, then using Zzaniah Prime as a staging ground in order to reach the planet. Unfortunately for Mintoria, the Helldiver Corps chose to prioritize Mox first; sending the Democracy Space Station to the magma planet along with most of its manpower. This was compounded by a significant portion of the active Helldiver Corps (17,000 or around 20%) choosing to attack the strategically insignificant planet of Phact Bay, drawing away even more manpower and resources.

Eventually the Helldivers and the DSS would redirect to Mintoria, but it was still not enough. By the 2nd of March, the situation was not looking good. Too many Helldivers were deploying to Phact Bay on the Terminid front, and Super Earth was on track to lose both defenses. Predictions showed that Mintoria would fall first, and when it did the planet's Ultramafic Mine would be under Cyborg control again. And Mintoria did indeed fall on the following day, March 3rd. The Ultramafic Mine was lost to socialist hands once more.

FTL Lines

• Blistica
• Zefia - Tanis Sector
• Zzaniah Prime

FTL Timeline

• February 8th, 2184: Mintoria is connected by FTL to Blistica and Minchir.
• June 13th, 2184: FTL lines to Blistica and Minchir are destroyed.
• October 28th, 2184: FTL line to Blistica is re-established, plus new lines to Zefia and Zzaniah Prime.

Trivia

• Assuming that the names of Mintoria's two cities -- Seoraksan and Gyeongseong -- are not coincidental, then the planet is culturally Korean or were originally settled by people from Korea.
  • Seoraksan seems to be named after the mountain of the same name. Mount Sorak, is the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range in the Gangwon Province in eastern South Korea.
  • Gyeongseong meanwhile was an administrative district of Korea under Japanese rule that corresponds to the present Seoul, the capital of South Korea.