The Orion Arm

The Orion Arm is a tendril of the Milky Way Galaxy that’s home to Earth, birthplace of the human race.

It is divided into three major territories: the Earth-centered Stellar Consortium, the Nall-dominated Parallax, and the criminal empire known as Fagin’s Riches.

The trans-universal rift leading from the Orion Arm to the Ancient Expanse is relatively close to the planet Tomin Kora, headquarters of Lord Fagin the Pirate King. This puts Fagin in the crossfire between the Parallax and the Consortium as they angle to control access to new resources beyond that rift.

ORION ARM WORLDS

STELLAR CONSORTIUM CASTOR A heavily forested planet that’s got cities built into the trunks and branches of massive trees, inhabited by the bear-like Castori. CENTAURI A frigid world in the Alpha Centauri system, home to the sentient crystalline jellyfish known as Centaurans who spin elegant cities of glass and revere the preservation of information. DEMARIA A savage desert world that’s home to the feudalistic society of the felinoid Demarians, whose noble houses are often struggling against each other for dominance – most times through intrigue, but sometimes through violence. EARTH The birthplace of humanity and central seat of power for the Stellar Consortium, which has its headquarters in the megalopolis of San Angeles on the Pacific coast of the North American Territory. LUNA Earth’s moon of domed cities, adopted homeworld of the Lunites, who are descended from Specialist clones who fought for their liberation in the 22nd Century. MARS The first colonists settled on Mars in the 22nd Century, traveling aboard a corporate-run ship called Mayflower. In the centuries since, domed cities have developed, along with a burgeoning adventure tourism industry. True native descendants, radical outdwellers in small colonies outside the big cities, call themselves Aresan Blood. PHYRRIA The toxic environment of this world, aftermath of an ancient apocalypse, became the heart of a sentient mechanoid civilization known as the Phyrrians in the sprawling capital of Task Matrix Central. QUAQUAN A verdant colony world settled by Native Americans from many different tribes, including Navajo, Apache, Cherokee, Hopi, and Seminole. SIVAD A human colony originally settled by Western Europeans, this watery world of archipelagos is much influenced by old world British civilization. VAL SHOHOB A temperate world on the outskirts of Consortium space, which is home to the cryptic prophets known as Shohobian Mystics. PARALLAX GRIMLAHD A heavily industrialized planet with sprawling factory cities that produce many of the armaments used by the Clawed Fist Fleet military of the Parallax. Homeworld shared by the reptiloid Grimlahdi and Zangali. IST’THOL’MEK This chilly planet of the insectoid Mekke features shimmering ice sheets, unpredictable snowstorms, and spiky forboding tors. Provides many of the technological wonders employed by the Parallax. LEBAL A dusty desert world with scattered oases, such as the mountain fortress of the Vox Nalia Temple, religious heart of the Parallax. NALHOM Humid jungles and volcanic mountains dominate the landscape of this planet that sits at the heart of the reptiloid Nall-controlled Parallax territory. VOLLISTA Lush forests and mountain ranges honeycombed with city caverns are key features of this homeworld of the tall, human-like Vollistan Light Singers. Powerful psionicists, the Light Singers are pressed into service as interrogators by the Nall. FRINGE ANTIMONE Tumultuous weather and constantly shifting continental plates have helped shape the Timonae mentality about the role of random chance and the whims of fate through the millennia. They’ve evolved a civilization around the premise that nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant. Each second may be your last. ODARI Snow-capped mountains and ragged chasms stretch across much of this world, home of the insectoid Odarites. Despite the often inclement weather, cities here, such as the capital of Ikikir, are powerful centers of merchant commerce for the Fringe. TOMIN KORA A deathly cold, rocky, largely uninhabitable world in the depths of the purple and blue Tomin Nebula. Nonetheless, a populous domed city called Freewheeling acts as the de facto capital of Lord Fagin’s massive criminal empire, Fagin’s Riches. UNGSTIR Originally a temperate world settled by Eastern European colonists from Earth, this planet was shattered by a Nall Coreseeker missile when the inhabitants refused to surrender to the Clawed Fist Fleet. Now, three major chunks remain, with most Ungstiri dwelling in the largest, Ungstir Prime.

ORION ARM RACES

STELLAR CONSORTIUM OR FRINGE CASTORI Bear-like psionic aliens with an affinity for gadgets and technology who dwell in tree cities that dominate the heavily forested planet Castor. Their native traits include Furred Skin and Telepathic Potential. CENTAURAN Floating crystalline jellyfish-like creatures with dangling tentacles. Extremely cold shells, which are also very brittle. Asexual creatures that spawn their own offspring every seven years. Their native traits include Superior Psionics, Telepathic Potential, Inorganic Life-Form, Telekinetic Potential, Spinerettes, and Levitation. DEMARIAN Bipedal cat-like people who dwell in a feudalistic society ruled by a Senate and several noble houses. Prone to intrigue and battles of honor. Their native traits include Superior Resolve, Claws, Inferior Academics, Superior Agility, Fangs, Furred Skin, and Prehensile Tail. G’AHNLI Fish-like people who travel among airbreathers in water-filled hovertanks. Commerce is their life and their government. Their native traits include Scaled Skin, Functional Gills, and Telepathic Potential. HUMAN Originally from Earth, these resourceful bipedal sentient creatures have managed to spread across the stars to colony worlds such as Luna, Mars, Sivad, Ungstir, and Quaquan. No native traits specific to this species. ODARITE Bug-like people with four arms and two legs, spawned from a queen, and heavily focused on mercantile dealings. Their native traits include Superior Resolve, Superior Agility, Superior Management, Superior Endurance, Inferior Perception, Inferior Academics, Inferior Husbandry, Multiple Arms, Functional Wings, Claws, and Carapace. PHYRRIAN Mechanoid lifeforms built under the careful observation of the Overmind, the master intelligence that dwells in Task Matrix Central on Phyrria. Their native traits include Mechanical Life-Form, Superior Science, Superior Engineering, Superior Endurance, Superior Computer, Superior Agility, Inferior Persuasion, and Inferior Husbandry. SHOHOBIAN MYSTIC Cryptic seers of prophecy from the planet Val Shohob. Their native traits include Telepathic Potential, Psychic Potential, Telekinetic Potential, and Superior Psionics. TIMONAE Cousins of the Shohobian Mystics who come from a society that puts much less faith in prophecy and more on random chance. Their native trait is Lucky. ZANGALI Hulking lizard-like bipedal creatures who stand about seven feet tall on average and have an intense code of honor. Their native traits include Claws, Scaled Skin, Superior Strength, Inferior Persuasion, and Inferior Agility. PARALLAX GRIMLAHDI Cousins of the taller and fiercer Zangali, these lizard-like bipedal creatures average about five or six feet tall and vowed fealty to the Nall to avoid slaughter. Their native traits include Superior Persuasion, Superior Endurance, Superior Academics, and Inferior Agility. MEKKE Distant cousins of the Odarites, these flightless insectoids are a servant race of the Nall and develop many weapons used by the Clawed Fist Fleet. Their native traits include Multiple Arms, Carapace, and Telepathic Potential. NALL Velociraptor-like bipedal creatures, most no taller than three feet, who worship a goddess named Nalia and seek to compensate for their small stature by conquering everything in their path. Also driven by a strong sense of honor. Their native traits include Claws, Fangs, Scaled Skin, Fearsome Presence, Superior Resolve, Superior Agility, Inferior Persuasion, Inferior Performance, Superior Strength, and Superior Unarmed. VOLLISTAN LIGHT SINGER Cousins of both the Timonae and the Shohobian Mystics, averaging seven feet in height and capable of generating a colorful aura that reflects their mood, those enlisted by the Nall as interrogators are commanded to subdue those auras. Their native traits include Telepathic Potential, Telekinetic Potential, Luminescent, and Superior Psionics.