World
Discover the various settings found in the novel on this page.
Alpha Centauri
At a little over 4 light years away, Alpha Centauri is the nearest star system to Sol. After Gliese 581, Alpha Centauri was the second extrasolar system visited by humans and the first settled.
The planet of New Mars orbits Alpha Centauri B, the brightest of three stars in the system.
Aryana
Aryana is a super-Earth class planet that orbits Fomalhaut A, a star about 25 light years from Sol. At present, the colony of New Jodhpur is the most
distant human settlement from Earth. Simple life such as radiation-hardened bacteria and mold grow on the planet. Aryana is covered by a gigantic
ocean with many island chains but no major continents.
Callisto
Jupiter's eighth moon in terms of distance from the planet and second larget moon after Ganymede.
Callisto is home to multiple colonies, including New Galilei, and was the first moon settled in the Jovian system back in the mid-twenty-second century.
Dolus
A dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt. Dolus is the location of Thule, an IEF base of operations and starship construction facility.
Epsilon Eridani
The Epsilon Eridani star system is located 10.5 light years from Sol.
Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut is a trinary star system located approximately 25 light years from Sol. Aryana orbits Fomalhaut A, a big blue star that's one of the brightest in the night sky on Earth.
Gliese 581
A red dwarf star a little over twenty light years from Earth's solar system. The fourth planet circling the dwarf is home to the Penphins, a seemingly-benevolent
race of exobeings. The Gliese 581 system was the destination of the New Horizons mission.
Hilda asteroids
The Hilda or Hildian asteroids are a group of asteroids in a 3:2 orbital resonance with Jupiter. In other words, the Hildas are located on the opposite side
of the sun from Jupiter but within Jupiter's orbital path.
Hues colony
The largest human settlement on New Mars, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system. New Mars is the location of one end of the interstellar phase gate.
Hyperspace
The higher dimensional space ships and travelers pass through during a phase shift. Hyperspace is incomprehensible to humans, but engineers have implemented phase
shielding to reduce the sight of the strange realm to a pinkish hue distorted and filled by mind-boggling shapes.
Jovian System
The planet Jupiter, its rings, its moons, and the elements of human civilization found there.
The Galilean moons of the Jovian system are home to millions of people.
Scientifically speaking, the Jovian system extends all the way out until the gas giant's gravity becomes negligible.
Kuiper Belt
The Sol system's second asteroid belt. The Kuiper belt extends from the orbit of Neptune to the edge of the Sol system and
is less densely packed than the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pluto is a Kuiper belt object (a very large asteroid) and
a dwarf planet, not a regular planet. The Kuiper belt is home to hundreds of dwarf planets, some bigger than Pluto (Eris) and
others smaller (Dolus). Thanks to phase tunnels, numerous small human colonies have taken root on various Kuiper belt worlds.
Luna
The proper name of Earth's moon. Centuries ago, people referred to Luna as The Moon because it was the only moon that mattered or that
humans knew. As humankind branched out into the solar system and settled many different moons, the term "moon" became ambiguous.
Thus, the people of the future refer to Earth's moon by its actual name, Luna. Relatively speaking, Luna is heavily populated
in the 23rd century and a key phase tunnel junction.
Mars
The red planet needs little introduction to science fiction fans. With hyperterraforming of the world having reached the final stages,
the billions of inhabitants are able to roam freely without the need for environmental gear. After Earth and Triton, Mars has the third
most habitable climate.
MAVEN (IEF Base)
An IEF base of operations on the planet New Mars in the Alpha Centauri system.
New Galilei
The first and largest colony settled on Callisto and in the Jovian system. Named after the astronomer Galileo Galilei as well as the
Galileo probe sent by NASA to study Jupiter and its moons in the late 20th century.
Hyperterraforming progress made in the last seventeen years has allowed the open-air colony to do away with its domes.
In the last few years, New Galilei has earned a reputation as a city with an exciting night life.
New Mars
New Mars is a planet that orbits Alpha Centauri B in the Alpha Centauri star system and the location of Hues colony. One end of the interstellar phase gate and IEF Base MAVEN
reside on New Mars.
Sol / Sol system
Sol is the proper name for Earth's sun. As humankind ventured to other solar systems, referring to the star orbited by the Earth as "the sun" became ambiguous
(and quite frankly seemed a little egocentric).
Therefore, at some point in the 23rd century, people started calling Earth's sun by its proper name, Sol, to distinguish it from the suns in other systems.
The Sol system is therefore the proper name for Earth's solar system.
Thule (IEF Base)
An IEF base of operations and starship construction facility on Dolus, a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.
Triton
Neptune's largest moon and home to the Interstellar Expeditionary Force bases and research facilities. After the so-called extrasolar threat fled the moon at the end of the
invasion (in book 1), the technology they left behind helped to advance human science considerably. They also spent over a century hyperterraforming the moon before vacating it,
leaving Triton with the most Earth-like climate in the solar system after the blue marble itself.
Don't confuse Triton with Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
Urusilim
A city on Earth in the distant past.