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Location: Milky WaySerpent NebulaBoltzmann System Second planet

Prerequisite: Dossier: The Master Thief (Mass Effect 2)

Description[]

The recipient of the first wave of Earth's colonization efforts, Bekenstein's founders had a decidedly less agrarian plan than Eden Prime. The mission of Bekenstein's first colony was to become Earth's off-planet manufacturing base, ingratiating humanity into galactic culture by producing needed goods. Meeting with mixed success for the first generation, Bekenstein then leapfrogged its competition by producing high-quality luxury goods that went straight to nearby markets via the Citadel. Today, Bekenstein is known as "the humans' Illium," a place where new-money tycoons flaunt their wealth and the have-nots are rarely spoken of.

Codex Entry[]


"More glittering than diamonds, more expensive than surgery," is how travel agents describe this planet behind closed doors. Given the opportunity to colonize planets after the First Contact War, the Systems Alliance chose Bekenstein to be their trading arm, producing goods to be sold on the nearby Citadel. Cracking the vast galactic marketplace proved difficult -- the first human products sold on novelty alone, then lack of demand hit Bekenstein's economy hard. Only in the second generation of colonists did the planet find a sustainable niche in high-quality entertainment and luxury goods. Once brand awareness sunk in, aliens flocked to Bekenstein's many spaceports. The planet today boasts more millionaires and billionaires per capita than any other human colony.

Though its crime tends to be white-collar and nonviolent, Bekenstein is not without its dark side. Both its suicide rate and inflation are extremely high compared to other worlds. Unemployment is artificially low because few people immigrate to the expensive planet without having a job lined up, and the cost of living is so great that unemployed workers typically leave for kinder planets after just a few months. Those who stay see themselves as tougher, sharper, and more skillful than the rest, as well as capable of getting respect and employment on any lesser planet. As a popular song says, "If you can make it on the Bek, you got 'em by the neck."


Additional Information[]

Late into the war with the Reapers, Diana Allers mentions that Bekenstein is attacked and destroyed by Reaper forces because of its industrial infrastructure, even though the factories there only produce commercial items such as binoculars. Instead of landing ground forces to harvest Bekenstein's organic population, the Reapers choose to bombard it from orbit.

Missions[]

Mineral Deposits[]

Initial Scanner Result: Depleted

Mineral Amount Approximate Value
Palladium Low 2,700
Platinum Low 2,170
Iridium Low 3,600
Element Zero None 0

Trivia[]

Panoramic view of Bekenstein
  • The planet is possibly named after Jacob Bekenstein, a theoretical physicist who has contributed to the foundation of black hole thermodynamics and to other aspects of the connections between information and gravitation.
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