Places

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Places described below are located within the Milky Way, widely dubbed the Spiral Galaxy (QD-2)

Similarity across Worlds

“Amazing how similar everything is, really,” Erik mused. “We’re on another new planet, nearly a thousand lightyears from Homeworld, but we could be anywhere. Trees, birds.”

“Sentient species are selective,” Pram reminded him. “Worlds like this are one in ten thousand systems or less. But jump technology allows us to pass all the mostly inhospitable worlds by. And so we congregate on worlds that are actually very rare, yet it seems to us that those similar worlds are everywhere.”

“And evolution’s practical,” Trace added. “From a physics point of view, there’s only so many ways to do things efficiently. If you want to fly, there’s only a couple of ways to do that in atmosphere and gravity. Any life form doing it the less effective way will be out-competed by the more efficient, and so you get flying things that look similar anywhere in the galaxy. Similar environments will produce similar life, it’s just physics.” (Croma Venture ch 15)

Places A-L

-Alphabetical listing of cities, planets, moons, asteroids, stations, systems, etc

• Amakti Los lab / temple — a biological lab in underground Qalea on planet Eshir, in reeh empire . It dates to immediately before the Event Horizon, more than 8,000 years ago. (QD-24). Info in the lab helped Styx to locate the ceephay queen’s sealed temple: "The reeh sealed it in, look at these supports!" Pointing to several tall steel pillars rising from the temple floor. "It must have held something valuable." (QD-30)
• Apilai —  Populated planet in Heuron System. “fifteen thousand years before, the fourth and last of the rocky inner worlds had been settled by the tavalai. It was pretty and green, but tavalai were picky, and found the atmosphere too thin, and the gravity too low. Many tavalai born on Apilai, as they called it, migrated to more exciting worlds in the tavalai heartland...” (R-22) Humans may have changed its name to Heuron V (RS-1) ?
• Argitori System - in human space, it contains many asteroids. Styx and her drones nested in Argitori Rock, a hollowed out asteroid. See Renegade
• Balise System - human space, where Homeworld is located, and the city Shiwon, with Fleet HQ and Fleet Academy, and Erik Debogande’s home (R-1). Homeworld also includes a geopolitical region called Belsen Sector, of which Sirota is the capital. (H-24)
• Brehn System — in parren / House Harmony space. Lots of rocks, debris, asteroids, with a mining population. "a late-stage proto-planetary disk — a solar system in formation, and still several hundred million years from maturity.” (D-7) Brehn System held Mylor Station until all 46,000 parren of House Harmony were killed by deepynine biological attack, and the station itself v-dumped (D-17-19)
• Cal’Uta — big city on planet Dul'rho, the capital world of clan Croma Rai in Croma territory. Erik Debogande and his group are allowed to stay at a big ranch on the outskirts of Cal’Uta. ‘It was not an enormous city by Spiral standards, but with a population of eight million, it was large enough.’ (RS-3)
• Casa'Ro System — in croma space near Reeh border. “Casa'Ro was right on the edge of croma space, a part of what was informally known as the Croma Wall. The planet Desh'ula is in Casa'Ro system” (CQ)
• Cason System - parren territory, House Fortitude. It includes Pashan and its moon Cephilae. Old ancient name was Eldorat System. Part of Dofed Cluster, which is off-limits (KV-33)

• Cephilae - a moon in parren House Fortitude territory. Drakhil hid the data core here. Cephilae is a moon with aquatic life, orbiting the planet Pashan, in Cason System, in the Dofed Cluster. Fascinating marine species that remembers binary codes forever. Phoenix Company called them toulies (D)
• Chara - the moon Kamala has a floating security facility at Chara and a fortified vault on the surface. In Kantovan System (KV-10)

• Cherichal System - in tavalai space; uninhabited except by miners (KV). “ UFS Phoenix had arrived at Cherichal System ten days ago, a nearly-uninhabited place, used by tavalai Fleet primarily as a mid-point between strategic locations. There she’d met the tavalai cruiser Podiga and two other warships, members of the rebel tavalai Fleet faction that had assisted Phoenix in her raid on the Kantovan Vault.” (D-1) 30+ ships clustered around UFS Phoenix at Cherichal System. Rebel Fleet ships: Podiga and Kanamandali, with rebel Fleet Admiral Janik.  Also, Toguru, a State Department vessel, and Tantotavarin, a warship under Captain Kaledramani. Human Fleet knew him as ‘Killer Kaled’

• Croma Wall -- out on the galactic rim, in Do'Mela solar system and beyond. Near the Reeh worlds. The Croma Wall supposedly keeps the unfriendly Reeh out of the galactic interior, but in reality it keeps Corbi in reeh space, and outsiders out. The wall is linked via beacons. “A vast line spread between the star systems, like a great, red wall. Identifying the English nametags helpfully affixed to some, Erik quickly recognised it — the Croma Wall. It was a myth, of course — walls could no more exist in space than plants, but it described the rough boundary between croma and reeh territories. Croma liked to pretend that it had always been there, solid and immovable as all the croma’s preferred fortifications. The reality was far more disturbing — a slow and inexorable backward slide, leaving many dead and captured worlds in its wake. (QD-2). The Tavalai paid the Croma to maintain the wall, according to the corbi (Rando Splicer).
• Cygnax - in the Reeh empire. Chion, the ceephay queen, grew sprawling crystaline memory formations on Cygnax, until she was recently evacuated to Gachibari.
• Defiance - a moon in deep space, flung far from its solar system when an early machine-race conducted an experiment. The moon is difficult to reach, due to small dark-mass points and spidery nebula, but access is possible via Lusakia System. The moon is missing a big chunk, and "that colossal hole, nearly five hundred kilometres wide, had been filled in with a steel city. Low gravity and exposed to vacuum, but a city” (D-15)
  • Defiance orbits a much smaller planet. Gravity on that planet is maybe 500 Gs. A singularity? “Sir, we don’t have the data to calculate it precisely, but to me it looks like the gravitational gradient is more likely cubed, not squared. So our moon is sitting on a more moderate plane of G, and from there it just falls into a bottomless pit" (D-25)
• Desh'ula - a planet in Casa'Ro System, in croma space near the reeh border. Old temple Tegu'ru — “it was once called Jirisun, in Porgesh, then Tegu'ru, after the parren left. It was once famous in all croma space." “Casa'Ro was right on the edge of croma space, a part of what was informally known as the Croma Wall.” The planet Desh'ula is sparsely inhabited due to ancient airstrikes, being near the war zone (CQ). "Croma'Jukun is in charge. Technically. But really, there's no one here. Government's based in Dagi'jo, that's the other side of the planet from here. Whole planet's population's about a million, now." (CQ-10)
• Doma Strana — ancient parren temple, now in tavalai territory, on Stoya 3 planet, in Stoya System. See Kantovan Vault chapter 1. The temple is huge, built into a mountain at 30,000 meters, and riddled with hidden spy tunnels. See image

  

• Do'Mela -- sun and solar system in Croma Space, with a counter-productive assortment of 1,346 defensive fire stations scattered around "in a bristling array of red dots." They are perhaps status symbols, given that they're named after Clan families, and some are ancient. (CV-12). Do'Mela contains Croma planets Do’Ran, Dul'rho, Homeworld, etc..

“Do’Mela was enormous. The star was a big F-class, bright-white and stable, with a neighbouring gas giant that Erik guessed would have been twice its current size when this system first formed, having been blasted down to something smaller by the solar wind. Do’Ran was the fourth planet, plenty further out from its sun than Homeworld, but still in the habitable zone thanks to the sun’s size. Further out were bigger giants, including one of the largest rock worlds Erik had ever seen, and a huge crowd of outer-system traffic on Scan —big stations, surface bases, no doubts lots of mining and industry, everything a major system of a wealthy, successful space-faring species should be." (CV-12)

• Do'Ran — planet in Croma space, in Do'Mela system. Ro'Gana. Home to Clan Croma'Dokran. "Do’Ran was the fourth planet, plenty further out from its sun than Homeworld, but still in the habitable zone thanks to the sun’s size." (CV-12)

• Dul'rho - a planet in Croma space, in Do'Mela solar system. Clan Croma Rai's capital world.
• Elsium — a planet in parren space, with the city of Chirese, where Aristan and Major Thakur engaged in a knife duel, a catharan. Phoenix shuttle landed in front of the Chirese Otuga (government building, parliament). See book 4, Defiance.
• Eshir — planet in the reeh empire, in Keijir System. A solitary moon orbits Eshir (QD-29). It contains the ancient city of Qalea, which was the site of the long-gone Amakti Los secret society (see Qalea Drop)
• Faustino — A moon in Heuron System. Professor Stan Romki lived at Faustino mining camp near Crondike Wellhead Seven (R-30).
• Fleet Academy — on Homeworld, in Shiwon, in Balise System
• Gachibari — a planetoid /moon in the Tridez System, which is located in the Nikala Cluster of the Reeh Empire. Gachibari is covered with an outer shell of armored steel. The planetoid contains a secret military research and development center on antimatter, superconduction, neural uplinks, etc. Gachibari's steel surface is a mass of construction surrounding some old lunar core far below. The planetoid is defended by intense solar radiation, energy pulses, etc etc. Chion, queen of the lost civilization of Ceephay , went from Cygnax to the planetoid Gachibari. (CQ-27)
• Gamesh — The biggest free city on planet Konik, in Kantovan Space. Home to varied species, including “Old Tooganam” a retired tavalai Karasai Djara /sergeant. (KV) "Gamesh is a central control and supply node for the entire Kantovan system, more than any other Konik city, and operates many of the Tsubarata’s security functions from the ground. The Tsubarata (planetoid /asteroid parliament) is in geo-stationary orbit directly above Gamesh.” (KV-10)
• Gogi System — Barabo space, bordered by sard space. It includes Leechi Station, an asteroid mining base, where UFS Phoenix found a repair shop. “Systems like Gogi were places where those who did not wish to be found came to hide." (R-32)
• His'do — A Croma planet where Corbi settle “temporarily” after the Rando evacuation. "His'do was different from Rando -- roughly the same gravity, similar air... But even the warmer regions of His'do were not as warm as Rando. It rained more here, the nights were darker..." (QD-34)
• Heuron - a yellow sun solar system in territory humans won from tavalai, close to sard and alo space. Includes Hoffen Station and Fleet HQ, with the sitting Supreme Commander.

  “Heuron was an M-class star, sedate and golden yellow. To humans it was remarkable, because it reminded them of the home they’d lost a thousand years before. A similar sized sun, four rocky inner planets, then some big gas giants in the middle orbits. For Fleet, the giants were where the action was, big lunar systems with lots of mining and settlements. But fifteen thousand years before, the fourth and last of the rocky inner worlds had been settled by the Tavalai. It was pretty and green, but tavalai were picky, and found the atmosphere too thin, and the gravity too low. Many tavalai born on Apilai, as they called it, migrated to more exciting worlds in the tavalai heartland...” (R-22) Apilai is well-populated.

  • • Heuron Dawn is a political group in Heuron System, Apilai, a Worlder Congress hotbed debating Spacer and Worlder rights. (R-22)
  • Heuron V - green and verdant planet in Heuron system. Heuron Station orbits Heuron V. (RS-1)
  • Hoffen Station — Busy and large space station in Heuron system. Office of Fleet supreme commander. Major strategic deployment center during war. (R-22)
  • Welcome — moon in Heuron system, where The Burrow is located underground. “Welcome was the innermost-orbiting spherical moon of Heuron V. It was where Alpha Tech worked, the secretive wing of Fleet Research and Development in charge of exploiting alien technologies.“ (Homecoming)

• Homeworld - a moon in Balise System, in human space. City of Shiwon. Fleet HQ and Fleet Academy is there, and Erik Debogande’s family home. Belsen Sector’s capital city is Sirota.
• Human sphere— includes human space and the space belonging to all species that border human space
• Joma Station - under construction in Kazak System, in barabo space. Formerly protected by tavalai. Close to sard space. Drone attack. " Joma Station was under construction. It had been under construction for the last fifty years, a near two-jumps from recognised tavalai territory. Kazak System was rich with potential, filled with joint barabo-tavalai mining and industry, and a busy transit point between barabo and tavalai space. Fifty years ago, the tavalai had begun to build Joma Station to replace all the minor stations that decentralised Kazak’s logistics industry, and local barabo government had put some funds in also. But with the war going badly, the tavalai had progressively withdrawn scarce funds and manpower to the point that Joma Station was largely a barabo project… and like all barabo projects in Outer Neutral Space, it was now only three-quarters finished, and messy. Phoenix was assigned Berth 18...”(DL-12)
• Kalax Facility — deep in reeh empire space, home to the sentient Raka Fleet. A red gas giant dominated the battlespace, a huge gravitational presence. Kalax Facility orbited at nearly two million kilometres, with a conflicting confusion of lunar fields and radiation from the planet. ..Kalax main facility was a giant rock, nearly a planetoid, thirty-two kilometres in diameter, torn and cratered by natural and unnatural forces. Across its surface were multiple clusters of settlement, administration and maintenance for various fleet squadrons, ships nestled into sheaths in the rock like animals in their burrows. Further out were free-floating maintenance docks”(CQ)
• Kamala - uninhabitable moon orbiting the planet Konik, in tavalai space, Kantovan System, with floating facility at Chara and a fortified vault on the surface of Kamala. (KV-10)
  • “There was trouble on the hothouse moon of Kamala. Where the great Vault of Secrets is reputed to be located.” (KV ch. 33)
  • "The big hologram zoomed out from the Tsubarata, to show the red-brown world of Konik about which it orbited, and the outer moon of Kamala. “All vessels landing at Kamala must first land at the floating facility of Chara. Its location in the upper-atmosphere of Kamala is unknown at any given time. . .. clearances are given and received for each vessel to progress from there, down to the surface, and the Kantovan Vault." (KV-14) See Kantovan Vault
• Kantovan System — busiest system in tavalai space, and perhaps busiest in entire Spiral. “Kantovan has a single G1 Class star, and three middle-distant gas giants with some enormous industrial operations—those three between them account for two-thirds of all the system traffic, there’s nearly a hundred million tavalai in those facilities alone.“ (KV-10) Kantovan System includes the great Tsubarata Parliament, the Chamber of Species, which is located on a planetoid in orbit about the terraformed world of Konik. Kantovan System also includes the moon of Kamala, with floating facility at Chara and a fortified vault on the surface. (KV-10)

Kantovan Vault setting

• Kazak System — in neutral barabo space. contains “Joma Station, a near two-jumps from recognised tavalai territory. Kazak System was rich with potential, filled with joint barabo-tavalai mining and industry, and a busy transit point between barabo and tavalai space. Fifty years ago, the tavalai had begun to build Joma Station to replace all the minor stations that decentralised Kazak’s logistics industry, and local barabo government had put some funds in also. But with the war going badly, the tavalai had progressively withdrawn scarce funds and manpower to the point that Joma Station was largely a barabo project… and like all barabo projects in Outer Neutral Space, it was now only three-quarters finished, and messy. Phoenix was assigned Berth 18..." (DL-12)

• Keijir System — in Reeh empire territory, home to planet Eshir and the ancient city Qalea (see Qalea Drop)
• Kichana — a planet in reeh empire, home to about two billion, comprised of mixed races. The planet includes a prison complex, an orbiting shipbuilding complex, and the Naksuto archipelago of islands. “Kichana Shipyards -- kilometres of interlocking steel framework built around pressurised modules, amidst clustered warships in their bays. Captured ships, the humans and tavalai said. Taken from various enemies of the reeh, many previously unknown to humans and tavalai, and gathered here for study and refit.” On Kichana, Naksuto and the Medrafi people are key to the plot. Some of the inhabitants are secretly linked to a Virtual Reality uploaded via the Ceephay Queen, Chion (see book 8, CQ)
• Kolabu System —in Barabo space, embracing Tuki Station and the beautiful blue planet Vieno.
• Konik- planet in tavalai space, in Kantovan System, with about 30 free cities. "Species from all across the Spiral can emigrate and settle if they choose. There’s about thirty of them on Konik, countless smaller settlements, total population about a billion, barely a fifth of them tavalai. The biggest city you’ve probably heard of is Gamesh, right here on the temperate fringe.” (KV-10) The uninhabitable moon Kamala orbits Konik, with it’s inaccessible secret vault. The Tsubarata planetoid / asteroid orbits Konik, too (KV)
• Lusakia System - in parren space; the moon Defiance is accessible via Lusakia System

Places M-Z

• Merakis — a moon with sacred temples built by the Ancients, and by every premier galactic species except Machine-race
• Mylor Station — House Harmony in Brehn System. The deepynines killed 46,000 parren by biological attack, and v-dumped the station itself to bits. Deepynine Queen left a message demanding that UFS Phoenix give up Styx (D-17-19)
• Naraya -- in Parren space, a House Fortitude planet -- "Naraya was the capital world of all House Fortitude, and this, Shonedene, was the ruling complex of House Fortitude, their equivalent of what the Kunadeen on Prakasis was to House Harmony. On this world there were somewhere in the vicinity of five billion parren." (CV)
• Pashan - planet in Cason system, held by parren House Fortitude. The moon Cephilae orbits Pashan (KV-33, D-8-13)
• Ponnai - the single inhabited world of Tontalamai System. Tavalai heartland, dating back 30,000 years or more. Over 12 billion tavalai live on Ponnai, and numerous stations orbit it. Captain Debogande and Major Thakur of UFS Phoenix went there to meet with officials from the Pondalganam legal institution, which has oversight on the Tsubarata (KV-11)
• Prakasis - parren planet where Lisbeth first met Timoshene, Semaya, Gesul, and Tobenrah. House Harmony. The Kunadeen is on Prakasis — the seat of Harmony power — all denominations. (KV-11) The Kunadeen was destroyed three times and rebuilt anew.” (Kv 13). “The Domesh Temple is new, but built on the site of a far older, Tahrae structure that was destroyed when the machines fell” (D-8)
• Pratali — ‘Pratali was the tavalai homeworld -- a population of fifteen billion and a hardly 'remote'. (QD-24)

• Qalea — ancient city on planet Eshir in Keijir System — in reeh empire territory, home to discarded remnants of species, including lestis, dogreth, tanifex, humans, etc. (QD) Site of Amakti Los event, described in Qalea Drop. “Amakti Los happened in the first of these ages, perhaps seven and a half thousand years ago. It was a secret society, of sorts. Many non-human species participated, but the lestis, the tanifex and the trento were most prominent. They existed for perhaps four millennia before the reeh finally tired of them, and had them annihilated.” (QD- 10)

• Rando -- Corbi homeworld, behind the Croma Wall, now Reeh space. Overtaken by reeh splicers, it’s now a laboratory for genetic manipulation. Several million corbi and numerous resistance fighters still live on Rando, but many have taken the fight to space. See Croma Venture
• Ron’chep — “Ron’chep is a high-gravity world, by your standards.” Ron’chep, Erik knew, was the croma homeworld, far from here. (RS-20)
• Shonedene -- "Naraya was the capital world of all House Fortitude, and this, Shonedene, was the ruling complex of House Fortitude, their equivalent of what the Kunadeen on Prakasis was to House Harmony. On this world there were somewhere in the vicinity of five billion parren." (CV) Gesul (Lalia, Lisbeth, Timoshene, etc.) unearthed an ancient hidden horrifying secret here.
• Stat'cha - city of 14m on Croma planet Dul'rho, Clan Croma Rai's capital world. The election, or Tali'san, is held there. The Tali'san Council meets in Stat'cha as part of election process.

• Stoya III - planet in Stoya System; formerly parren, with House Harmony temple Doma Strana. Now in tavalai space.
• Tartarus - old drysine shipbuilding base built by machine-race eons ago. Recently a battleground in Drysine Legacy. Some believe it a ghost story or myth: “tales of a battle between Phoenix and some unidentified enemy near the sard and barabo space, with a great Dobruta warship as your partner.” (KV-33)
• Tivorotnam Station - where UFS Phoenix and Dobruta met with tavalai Fleet rebels: Admiral Janikanarada, Captain Delrodaprodium, Captain Toladini and Captain Panditatama. For human convenience, you may call them Admiral Janik, Captain Del, Captain Tol and Captain Pandi.” (KV-9)
• TK55 - peanut shaped planetoid in Oran System, built aeons ago into a drysine Machine-race research station /lab, etc. Recently used by sard squatters and others. Tavalai call it TK55 and Dobruta is concerned about the sard presence (KV-22)
• Tonchalda System — belonged to parren House Harmony / Tahrae denomination about 25,000 years ago. Then the chah'nas took the System. Legendary tavalai scholar Cheliratanga found Drakhil’s diary here — a 25-stamp-job (KV-8)
• Tontalamai System — planet Ponnai is here. Tavalai heartland, dating back 30,000 years or more. Over 12 billion tavalai live on Ponnai, and numerous stations orbit it. Captain Debogande and Major Thakur of UFS Phoenix went there to meet with officials from the Pondalganam legal institution, which has oversight on the Tsubarata (KV-11)
• Tridez System — in Reeh space. Tridez is just one system in the Nikala Cluster. The armored and heavily guarded planetoid Gachibari is located in this system, supported by numerous defenses. (CQ-27)
• Tsubarata — in Kantovan System, tavalai space. "The great Tsubarata parliament in orbit about the desolate-but-habitable world of Konik, the vacant seats for humanity in the great Chamber of Species left empty since Earth’s destruction a thousand years before. " (KV-10) “The Tsubarata, of course, is in geo-stationary orbit directly above Gamesh.” The holographics zoomed on the small planetoid. It looked like a big rock wrapped about its girth with a pair of giant, metal bands. “The rock itself is about eighty kilometres in diameter. Those twin bands are habitation rims, as on any space station, but on about ten times the scale, running on magnetic rails about the rock." (KV-10)
• Tuki Station - orbits blue planet Vieno in neutral barabo space in Kolabu System. First depicted as bustling, colorful and friendly. "Tuki Station was the System's biggest station, fifty primary berths, nearly three kilometres wide, a great wheel rotating to generate most of one human G. Half-a-million population at maximum capacity.” (Homecoming ch 1) Tuki station is where Erik Debogande got money from mommy -$13.6mil, via Jigo Trade, Ben Guring (DL-3). The Worlder ship Grappler docked at Tuki Station (DL-7).
• Vieno - pretty planet in neutral barabo space, Kolabu System, where Charlie Platoon of Phoenix Company bought seafood in bulk. Tuki Station orbits Vieno. Major Thakur thinks the Corbi would like Vieno, and could defend it. (QD)
• Vola Station - in neutral barabo space, where Lieutenant Dale and an Alpha squad escorted Officer Karle to buy vipers (missiles), and where Supreme Commander Chankow took refuge
• Welcome — moon in Heuron system, where The Burrow is located underground. “Welcome was the innermost-orbiting spherical moon of Heuron V. It was where Alpha Tech worked, the secretive wing of Fleet Research and Development in charge of exploiting alien technologies.“ (Homecoming)
• Zondi System - Out past Corbi territory, behind the Croma Wall, long since overtaken by Reeh. "...Zondi’s nameless moon. The splicer was in polar orbit, and the moon itself went around a large mid-system gas giant...(CV-20)
• Zondi splicer station — A genetic lab and a species trap, employed by the Reeh empire.
  • Built for the reeh by duplicitous Croma'Rai chieftain. "Croma traded with the fucking reeh!”(CV 20)
  • "The splicer itself was a standard model rotary station wheel —— twin rims about a single axel...holding anything up to five million people if fully loaded.” About ten kilometers across (CV-20)
  • "The interior was full of trees. Trace had never seen anything like it on a space station before." (CV 20)
  • "This hallway had large containers built into the walls, vertical cylinders, fed by thick tubes through the walls. Something about it set her nerves on edge...those tubes looked organic. Creepy...” (CV-20)