NEW ROME  B837866-B                Rob Dean (robdean@access.digex.net)

     Population:  720 million.  New Rome has been occupied since  pre-
Imperial  times,  at least according to local  tradition.   The  truth 
cannot  be proven, but in fact the planet was settled by Solomani  via 
Darrian  (by a splinter group having some political dispute  with  the 
majority).  In recent years the planet has generally been  self-suffi-
cient, and an Imperial Navy base was established in 826.  In 1042  the 
planet  was divided into six nations corresponding to the current  ad-
ministrative districts.  A major war broke out over control of  seabed 
mineral deposits north of the Latium continent, and the Imperial  Navy 
was forced to intervene to protect the base.  The regional populations 
are too strongly differentiated to combine successfully in a planetary 
government, and the current administration by Glisten MinCol is  still 
officially  termed "interim".  The New Rome Peacekeeping Force is  the 
only authorized planetary armed service, and was set up as an interna-
tional organization in a deliberate attempt to provide contact between 
countries  and thereby ease tensions.  The results to date  have  been 
disappointing, and low level violence and subversion remain  problems.  
The extranational ConTech enclave was formed primarily to protect  the 
commercial  starport,  and  its existence remains a  sore  point  with 
nationalist activists.