Aerilon

Aerilon is primarily an agricultural world, known as the "food basket" of the Twelve Colonies. Despite this, Aerilon is considered to be one of the poorest Colonies ^{(TRS: "Dirty Hands")}. Its capital city is Gaoth.

Government

Aerilon's government provides little or no support for health care, education, or other social infrastructure services. However, Aerilonians accept police with broad powers to detain, imprison, and torture suspects.

Economy

Although Aerilon's soil is not very fertile and requires intensive cultivation to achieve plentiful harvests, it is primarily an agricultural world. The capital, Gaoth, started as a prairie town on intersecting cattle trails. Aerilon also has tylium mines, and Promethea, one of the larger cities on the planet, was founded as a mining town on the edge of a region known as the Badlands ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome" deleted scene)}.

Script Version Details

The pre-production script for Blood and Chrome provides additional information about Aerilon's character and its residents. The script describes Promethea (spelled in the scrip as "Promethia") as a "mining boomtown" that represents a different side of Aerilon from the agricultural stereotype. The script reveals that not all Aerilonians are farmhands, as Coker Fasjovik notes when correcting assumptions about his background. Promethea is portrayed as a place where major tylium companies operated, providing employment for mining engineers and supporting the University of Aerilon as well as its rival educational institution, Promethea A&M.

The script also suggests that despite Aerilon's reputation for rural simplicity, it produces individuals with diverse backgrounds and aspirations. Coker's father worked as a mining engineer for "a couple of the big Tylium companies" before becoming a professor at Promethea A&M, while Coker himself left Aerilon to pursue artistic studies at the University of Aerilon, initially hoping to become a playwright and musician. This portrayal bucks the common perception of Aerilon as simply a backward agricultural world.

History

Fifteen people died when President Richard Adar, for reasons unexplained, sent the Marines to Aerilon in the years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies ^{(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")}.

Likewise, the musical and visual arts of Aerilon are informed by simple, harsh agrarian and working-class sensibilities.

Education

Aerilon's prime educational institution, the University of Aerilon, is located in Gaoth. It is known for producing artisans, such as writer Mark Bailey whose works became well-known circa 58 BCH (42YR) (The Caprican: "The Bottom Five Backtalk Guests").

Its rival, the Promethea Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M), is based in the mining boomtown of Promethea ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome" deleted scene)}.

Other

The only visual depiction of Aerilon ^(TRS: "33").

• 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, at least until Caprica came along ^(TRS: "33").
• Aerilon Crystal table salt is used by Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson in the Salt Line Ceremony ^{(TRS: "Exodus, Part I")}.
• Several of the Colonies' greatest artists, writers, and political leaders came from the planet, although their fame was almost always achieved after leaving Aerilon.

Natives

Pre-First Cylon War

• Julius Baltar
• Coker Fasjovik, Colonial flight officer during the Cylon War ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}.
• Mark Bailey
• Saul Tigh

Post-First Cylon War

• Gaius Baltar, moved to Caprica and changed his accent to hide his true origins ^{(TRS: "Dirty Hands")}.
• Alisander Asiel, Aerilon's representative to the Quorum of Twelve ^{(TRS: "Colonial Day")}.
• Sekou Hamilton, presumed; editor of the Aerilon Gazette ^{(TRS: "Colonial Day")}.
• Socinus, presumed; the zodiac sign of Aries is tattooed on his arm ^{(TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I" deleted scene)}.

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".