ETI: Mercury

Two settlements exist on Mercury; "Dar-ul-Muraqab" on the northern pole, and "Chandra" on the southern pole.  These two very different colonies have maintained peace by keeping to themselves, though Chandra is definitely the more outward looking of the two.

Once thought to be tidally locked to the Sun, with a light and dark side, it is now understood that Mercury's entire surface is exposed to the sun's heat at certain points. remain cool enough to make settlements possible. Mercury was colonized in the early 2300's by groups fleeing the consolidation wars on Mars. 

Chandra was established in 2305 by the "Chandra Enterprise", a major Martian business entity which stood to lose much of its power and influence under UMA rule. To avoid this Chandra simply relocated all of its industrial operations, facilities, staff, and families to the south pole of Mercury. It has taken advantage of almost limitless free solar energy and the ample resources of Mercury's crust to become the single largest industrial concern in the solar system. Chandra has a population of about six million people, half of whom are employees of Chandra or its many subsidiaries. Chandra is run as a corporate concern, regarding itself as the bastion of free enterprise and the inheritor of the American can-do spirit. This attracts a wide range of people from throughout the solar system, though they often find life here to be more difficult than they imagined. 

Dar-ul-Muraqab, located on the north pole, was founded in 2320 by a group of Martian dissidents, Sufi Muslims who refused to accept rule by what they saw as UMA's Mareekhi apostasy. Rather than submit and blend in, or be exterminated in pointless warfare, they opted to resettle offworld with Belter assistance. Unwilling to join with the secular humanists of the Free Luna Soviet, they eventually chose Mercury. On Mercury, they immediately created a Sufi community run according to Sharia law. While Dar-ul-Muraqab is self-sufficient in energy and metals, it relies on foreign trade to supply food and most organic materials. To this end, many residents work in conjunction with Chandra on solar power grids, mining, and operational support. There are currently about two million colonists at Dar-ul-Muraqab, which has become a center for religious scholarship. In addition to Sufi Islam, members of traditional Christian and Jewish groups find Dar-ul-Muraqab to be a suitable place to practice their own faiths, due to its very traditionalist approach to life and religion.

Hekate Station is a large mining colony located in the "Weird Terrain", a rough region opposite Caloris Basin, well-positioned for accessing rich veins of minerals deep in the planet's crust. Founded by independent miners and funded by a coalition of private investors, the settlement operates on the fringes of legality. It currently has a population of about 150,000. While the major corporations of Chandra frown upon Hekate's presence, the settlement has survived through the sheer ingenuity of its inhabitants, who barter their rare metals with Belter traders for food, tech, and protection. Hekate is known for its fiercely independent spirit and a culture that leans into smuggling and black-market dealings.