Aerilon

For the version of this colony depicted in the Dynamite Comics, see: Aerilon (alternate).

Colors and symbol of Aerilon

Note: some of the information below is taken from Beyond Caprica - A visitor's pocket guide to the Twelve Colonies

Aerilon was primarily an agricultural world, known as the "food basket" of the Twelve Colonies.
Despite this, Aerilon was considered to be one of the poorest Colonies (TRS: "Dirty Hands"). Aerilon also
had tylium mines, and Promethea, one of the larger cities on the planet, was founded as a mining town (Blood and Chrome, deleted scenes). Its capital city was Gaoth.

Government

Aerilon's government goes on record as unwilling to support social infrastructures like health care, education, or anything that could be relied upon by the people. On the other hand, Aerilonians seem to accept that the police has remarkably broad powers to detain, imprison, and even torture people on the slightest pretext.

Economy

While Aerilon's soil isn't very fertile and requires intensive cultivation to achieve plentiful harvests, it was primarily an agricultural world. The capital, Gaoth, started as a prairietown on intersecting cattle trails and houses Aerilon's prime educational institution, the University of Aerilon. The mining boomtown of Promothea, situated at the edge of the Badlands, is home to a second university named Promethea A&M. (Blood and Chrome, deleted scenes)

History

Fifteen people died when President Richard Adar, for reasons unexplained, sent the Marines to Aerilon (TRS: "Water").

Culture

While imprisoned on Galactica, Gaius Baltar talks extensively about Aerilon, confirming that it, not Caprica, was his birth world. He imitates the speech mannerisms of a stereotypical native, a farmer who likes to work with his hands, and "go down to the pub for a pint" and have a fight at the end of the night. In doing this, Baltar puts on a strong raspy "Aerilon" accent (TRS: "Dirty Hands"). Other basic rules for Aerilonian arts apply. Music should be simple enough to hum during a fistfight, and go about farming, hunting, or hunting on a farm. Paintings should be in primary colors, and depict family members, heroic men, or cattle. Sculpture is also frowned upon, unless it is made by hand, out of wood, with a pocket knife, and results in a pointed weapon.

Other

The only visual depiction of Aerilon.

• The professional Pyramid team from Aerilon played against the Caprica Buccaneers in one of the last games before the Cylon attack. They apparently won (TRS: "Resistance").
• A photo of a grief-stricken soldier staring out at the ruins of Aerilon's capital hangs behind President Roslin's desk and on the bulkhead of a pilot ready room on Galactica. The pilots touch the photo for luck and in a sign of respect as they leave the room. This photo of Aerilon gives viewers one of the few visual depictions of life on a colony other than Caprica.
• Aerilon Crystal table salt is used by Racetrack in the Salt Line Ceremony (TRS: "Exodus, Part I").
• Aerilonians boost the fact that several of the Colonies' greatest artists, writers, and statesman came from the planet. That every single one of them had to leave Aerilon to achieve anything seems entirely beside the point.

Natives

• Saul Tigh (alleged, actually a humanoid Cylon)
• Sekou Hamilton, presumed, as he is an editor of the Aerilon Gazette (TRS: "Colonial Day").
• Socinus, presumed, as he has an tattoo of the zodiac sign of Aries on his arm (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I", deleted scene).
• Gaius Baltar, who left for the more sophisticated Caprica after his eighteenth birthday, turning his back on his family and heritage.
• Alisander Asiel, Aerilon's representative to the Quorum of Twelve (TRS: "Colonial Day").
• Coker Fasjovik, a Colonial flight officer during the Cylon War. (Blood and Chrome)

Publications

• Aerilon Gazette

Locations

• Cuffle's Breath Wash
• Euclid River
• Promethea
• Gaoth

Notes

• The spelling of this colony is sometimes inconsistent in the Re-imagined Series' official cast and crew notes and episode content, in the same way that the Original Series had inconsistent spellings of "Centurion" and "Centurian". The colony is spelled "Aerilon" in the episodes "Home, Part I" and "The Son Also Rises" in official Colonial documentation, as well as placards from "Colonial Day" and various Season 4 episodes. Further research into this has lead Battlestar Wiki to choose the more prevalent spelling that appears on various props in the series, as well as spellings from the scripts: "Aerilon".
• Socrata Thrace and Galen Tyrol pronounce the name as "Air-lon", while Baltar pronounces it "Air-e-lon".