Whinbrice, a bright blue world with fertile oceans and landmasses.

The Skovron stadium opened in Birit 4664, only days before it hosted Wind and Thunder's Claw Rock Tour. Over sixty-four thousand people attended. The stadium's unusual spired arches permit outdoor seating in good weather, but a weather-resistant force field can generate within four seconds of a drop of rain. The underside of the arches can also render holographic images, permitting all seats to have an unobstructed view of the stage.

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Enormous solar flares have upset the ecosystem near the equator, and within the past fifteen years, severe earthquakes have devastated parts of the southern hemisphere. In 4657 tradestandard, a massive quake displaced millions of Tyrans and inspired an empire-wide adoption of orphaned children. Even the elitist and separatist Kin took in a few hundred youngsters.

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The Tyran are goat-like humanoids with hooves and horns. Most horns turn upward and/or outward, but a rare few curl backward or down.

Tyran technology has long harnessed anti-gravity. However, recent studies have hinted that its use may be affecting their sun. In the last fifteen years, it has changed from a benevolent provider of heat and light to an unpredictable tyrant.

Both genders live in clutches of fifteen to twenty centered around work. Although close bonds often form between sexual partners, relationships are far from monogamous, and cohabitation of genders purely for sexual purposes is rare in the extreme. Reproduction is neither sought nor avoided.

Sports of all types interest them, and clutches made of both genders form to enjoy them. From age two, male children live in all male clutches, females in female, until they turn seven, at which time a Tyran is considered adult. Five Tyran years equal one Tradestandard year, making the Tyran age of consent thirty-five tradestandard years. Life span is over one hundred forty tradestandard years.

Art varies from painting and sculpture to high tech; their music takes all forms. One of their religions consists merely of passing newborns through the "Gates of Life. "

The FIST, the Facility for Imperial Ships and Transports is a group of stations orbiting Trien, the nearest planet to the capitol of the empire, Tarth.

Ships are modular in construction to save time when being built and during repairs.

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In the foreground, a carrier is near completion. As an indication of relative size of the two ships, a carrier holds twenty squadrons of fifteen to twenty fighters each, plus ship's company, and all support staff for the squadrons. The total crew complement is nearly six thousand people.

There is another station visible in the deep background on the other side of Trien and its moons. Many stations make up the FIST.

The Tarthian Tour Company reminds you it is UNLAWFUL to take holographic or flat images of the FIST. Limited quantities of Armada approved images are available in the gift shop.

Sanity IV is nearing completion of mining.

A sports and entertainment arena similar to a habdrill orbits the planet, and live feeds from The Virtual Dome are broadcast throughout the mining colonies and fed to the entire empire via Imperinet, the Imperial Internet.

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Miner City is a collection of domed habitats, called habdrills. Each habdrill is an independent district, populated by up to 10,000 individuals. Habdrills are transported to different worlds via a habship. When they arrive, they detach and anchor themselves to the planet, moon, or asteroid being mined. Trade secrets long held by the miners prevent explanation of the technology here.

Initially connected to each other by tubes built after anchoring, the habdrills are merely part of one larger city. No worker is actually a resident of the world where he/she works, but is an empire citizen of Miner City, an independent world of its own. So, even though one million people live and work on Sanity IV, not one of them is a resident of the planet.

Sanity IV is nearing completion of mining.

The gravity well in the Sanity system makes it an ideal jump point. Occasionally, an errant asteroid interferes with navigation. It is a myth that jumping into Sanity IV's space can trigger space time disruptions. If that were true, events would repeat at random intervals. This has never been observed. If that were true, events would repeat at random intervals.

Sanity IV is nearing completion of mining.

Qallag is a major crossroads. Seven different planets in the Tarthian Empire lie one jump away.

Without drugs, human, Tyran, and Chiasmii pilots often suffer extreme jumpsickness when "shooting the flames", a reference to the "flaming hole" left by a ship's jump engines. The Kin do not suffer jumpsickness. Stars appear blurred during the transition from hyperspace to realspace.

Below, one of the Droid Discovery ships seems to punch a hole in space during a stopover near the Qallag system.

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Qallag was colonized in 4649 tradestandard. The only other planet conquered that year by Empress Destoiya was Badledeerin, site of the famous "Last Ground War" in the empire. Qallag's citizens refused to take part in the assault.

Their protests against the devastating war were passive but effective and helped end the war early. Peaceful disruption of business by sitting or lying across entryways was called Qallaging, and was later simply referred to as lagging.