Also, bear in mind that this is written from the perspective of the Signal's time frame, and references events that happened after the Unification War.
Planetary Guide - Overview
Planetary Guide - Core Words
Planetary Guide - Middle Worlds
Planetary Guide - Rim Worlds
Planetary Guide - Space Stations, etc.
Planetary Guide - Overview
In the opening of the Serenity movie, we find out that all of human civilization resides in one, vast solar system with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons--or, rather, a compound solar system, where several stars orbit one larger star. (Put another way, imagine that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were all stars, and had planets orbiting them. Now imagine there's a crapload more of them.) I've expanded on that idea here and extrapolated from the information in the show to create this rough guide to the Firefly planets. Much of this comes directly out of the canon, some of it I had to give my best guess on, and other things I flat out made up. I've also used the Serenity Role Playing Guide as a reference for this work, as it was written with the help and approval of Joss Whedon. Please note that many of the worlds featured on the show were unnamed, and in those cases I provided one of my own. I indicate non-canon planets created for the use in this game by an asterisk next to their names. I'll update this list as I learn new information about the canon or we invent new planets in the game.Also note that while the show often uses "planet," "moon," and "world" interchangeably, for the sake of this guide, "planets" are defined as objects that orbit a sun and have been pulled into a spherical shape by the force of their own gravity. "Moons" are the same thing, only orbiting another planet. A "world" is a teraformed planet or moon. Worlds basically come from three places:
Terrestrial Planets: Solid, rocky worlds. These orbit relatively close to the sun and therefore close to the star's natural zone of habitation, making these planets easier to teraform. They often have one to three moons in orbit which are too small to hold an atmosphere, but often service as refueling stations for cruisers too large to land on worlds. Local examples: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Gas Giants: The largest of all planets, these enormous worlds are made almost entirely of gas and are completely unsuitable for teraforming of any kind. They do, however, have dozens of moons each, ranging in size from large asteroids to Earth-like proportions. The larger moons can be teraformed, but never with the same success as most terrestrial planets. Local examples: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Cubewanos: A large Kuiper belt object. The Kuiper belt is the solar system's leftovers from creation and generally floats at the edge of the solar system. The Kuiper belt contains everything from dust particles to planet-sized rocks, the latter of which are called cubewanos. Cubewanos sometimes get knocked into a closer solar orbit, becoming planets. Using inertial dampening technology similar to the systems that propel spaceships and allow artificial gravity, cubewanos can also be towed further into the system and pushed into orbit around a gas giant, creating yet another moon suitable for teraforming. Local examples: Pluto, Varuna, Quaoar, and 2003 UB313 (the "tenth planet").
Black Rocks: These are uninhabitable planets due to teraforming mishaps or other disasters. Local examples: Earth. (Wait a couple of centuries.)
Planetary Guide - Core Worlds
Asterisks indicate a non-canon world.Note: All core worlds are restricted landing zones and require an order of business or a permit to land there--although these things can sometimes be dodged, bribed, or forged.
Mizar*: An F-Class star, very similar in many ways to Sol, serves as the central star in the cluster, around which everything else orbits.
New Earth*: The first planet humanity attempted to teraform and its first black rock. Inexperience with the then experimental technology caused a series of problems that left the planet completely unsuitable for human life. The Alliance has since made many attempts to “fix” the planet, with limited results. The project has become something of a joke within Parliament, where a wasteful bill is often described as a “New Earth measure.”
Sihnon: The first successfully teraformed world in the system, Shinon is the the heart of the Buddhist religion and home to its most sacred temples. It is also headquarters for all the guilds; for instance the city of Chang'Pei is owned entirely by the trade administration. Shinon's capital is Lu'Weng. While legally Sihnon is a restricted fly zone, so much trade comes through the world that traffic is nearly impossible to regulate. Landing passes are easily bought or forged.
Londinum: The second teraformed world, and generally considered to be the most Earth-like of all the worlds. Londinum's culture is more in line with the United States and Europe than China. It is the home of the Alliance Parliment. Londinum is a restricted, no fly zone. Unauthorized transports will be shot down with no warning given.
Manhattan*: Despite its urban name, Manhattan's economy is largely agricultural, providing food to much of the core worlds and beyond.
Bernadette: This was the third planet to be teraformed by humanity and is the traditional launching point for settlers en route to the new colonies. As a result, Bernadette is also a major hub for the underground slave trade, and also, strangely a major religious hub for faiths of all kinds.
Osiris: Home to the Alliance Judicial branch and the finest universities in the core. Blue Sun also maintains its corporate office, although no one enters any of its complexes without a background check. Really, you'd have an easier time getting a landing permit on Londinium than a pass into Blue Sun HQ. Like, don't even try. I'm not kidding.
Qing-Jao*: A heavily industrialized planet, its name means "gloriously bright," and rightly so: The cities have horrible problems with light pollution.
Ariel: Yet another wealthy and advanced planet, Ariel is well known for its museums, theatres, and bioluminescent lakes. It also has some of the most advanced medical facilities in the system, as well as the best resturants. The core's wealtier citizens are sometimes known to holiday on Ariel for the food alone.
Planetary Guide - Middle worlds
An asterisk indicates a non-canon world.Bellerophon: One of the great terafroming success stories, Bellerphon has a temperate climate and landscapes that rival some of the core worlds. Thus, Bellerphon is a favorite retreat for the galaxy's wealthiest inhabitants, often on private floaty islands.
Santo: Prior to the war, Santo was one of the most beautiful worlds in the system and host to hundreds of resorts and hotels. The war devistated the world's economy, even though the planet itself pulled through mostly unscathed. Its resorts turned into brothels and its hotels into casinos. The world remains a hot tourist spot, but for a somewhat different crowd.Paquin: "The Gypsy Planet," Paquin is home to innumerable carnivales and fairs, not to mention the famous Opera House, which rivals any theatre in the Core. Paquin is the cultural center of the rim world, and even rivals Sihnon in that regard--not that the Sihnonese will admit this. This makes Paquin a mecca for artists and performers throughout the system.
Beaumonde: Heavily industrialized, Beaumonde is a major manufacturing hub for the system, and home to several (very secure) Blue Sun factories. While most of the world is heavily polluted, its capital of New Dunsmuir is a beautiful, thriving tourist attraction. The moon's large merchant class makes the world a major waypoint for interplanetary trade.Persephone:
A largely agricultural world, its aristocracy is mainly made up of the landholding elite. Persephone also plays host to a robust criminal subculture, particularly when it comes to Persephone's famous horse races, which are somewhat similar to the Kentucky derby of today. Mal often has dealings on this word and has many contacts here, such as Badger and Sir Warrick Harrow.Boros: Ares, one of Boros' moons, is home to the Iskellkian's primary military ship yards, with an average of five cruises under construction at any given time. While the moon is restricted, the planet is not, and is the best place in the system to aquire a ship or pick up spare parts. Note, however, that the Alliance maintains a strong military presence here.
Newhall: A newly terriformed planet covered mostly in water. Its inhabitants mostly live on island chains and export water to other planets still in the teraforming process.
Boca:* A top vacationing spot, known for it's beaches, fine dining, and relaxed atmosphere, Boca is home to the 'verse's largest Jewish population. Benefiting from supporting unification, the moon is home to one of the best med-acads as well as one of the top law-acads (which might explain the high rate of lawsuits filed on the moon). The majority of the population enjoy their wealth, though not everything is pleasant. Under the pastel brightness is a slowly churning conflict between the orthodox and unorthodox sects of the people here. Homeworld of Mr. Universe (supposedly) and Will Trubald.
Verbena: The Alliance made this world the test case for its "rejuvenation after Unification" effort by building factories and encouraging economic growth, but its efforts so far have been stymied by sabotage and terrorism from rogue Independents. It remains to this day a hotbed of resistance.
Hera: A largely agricultural world, Hera is considered the breadbasket of the system. Its key location between the core and the outer planets on a shipping lane made it a critically stragetic location during the war, leading to the Battle of Serenity Valley. The Independents suffered a crushing defeat there and is generally considered the turning point in the war. To this day Serenity Valley is barren and uninhabitable, home only to an immense graveyard, most of its tombstones unmarked.
Ninsei:* While not often acknowledged in the history books, the founding of Shinon was not without it's cultural speed bumps. Once the initial threats to survival were overcome and civilization was once again taking root on these new worlds, the old national rivalries began to flair up, most notably between the politically dominant Chinese and the Japanese minority. After decades of strife, Japanese investors pooled their resources to fund a colony on a newly teraformed world. Since then, Nensei has become a cultural and economic touchstone of the system, and a welcome host to people of all races--so long as they pay homage to the world's Japanese roots.
New Melbourne: A planet covered almost entirely in ocean, save for scattered islands. It serves as a layover point for nearly every planet on its side of the system. New Melbourne's economy is based on fish and fish-related activities.
Planetary Guide - Rim Worlds
Names of planets/moons are in bold. Stars are italicized. An asterisk indicates a non-canon world.Georgia: A F-class yellow-white star. Its satellites compose much of the Burnham quadrant.
Ezra: Most of Ezra's population gets by through mining, although the fumes from the process react badly with the lingering chemicals from the teraforming process, causing widespread cases of Bowden's Malady. Niska's Skyplex space station orbits this world.
Lilac: Xuantong Teraforming marketed Lilac as an Eden of perpetual springs, and many who have to live on the world wonder if the people who wrote those adds ever visited the planet. It’s suitable for little other than substance farming and to add insult to injury, it’s right on the edge of Reaver territory.
Wintermute Asteriod Belt:* Speculated to be the debris left over from a planet torn apart by Athens' gravity, this asteroid belt lies between the orbit of Lilac and Athens. Contrary to popular depictions in science fiction, most of the asteriods are the size of dust or pebbles and pose no hazard for navigation, however many of the planetoids are seveal miles long. The larger asteroids are commonly host to manned mining stations which strip the rocks of their valuabe ores before moving on. The two largest mines currently in operation are both owned by the Minear Corporation and are located on the asteroids Nemesis and Prize. Special landing clearance is required for most corporately owned colonies.
Athens: A Jupiter-sized world, its atmosphere is rich with several rare elements, which are harvested from low-orbit space stations in the upper atmosphere.
--Three Hills: This moon is well known for two things: High quality potatoes and the annual goose-juggling tournament. While their competitions are open to anyone in the galaxy, the treasured title of Top Juggler has yet to be held by an outsider.
-- Haven: A small mining moon, Haven’s residents have not struck it rich yet, but that hasn’t made the world any less appealing to corporate interference. The Corone Consortium recently sent representatives to try to acquire the mining rights, and returned somewhat worse for wear. The miners have since invested in a series of surface to air cannons to discourage any more foreign incursion onto their world, remaining one of the few economically independent worlds in the system
--Whitefall: A rough little moon. Its government and economy are mostly controlled by Patience, although Mal has other contacts there. Former Agent Laurence Dobson also lived here for a time.
--Reno:* One of the richest moon's of Athens, which isn't saying a whole lot. Officially, the largest industry on Reno is exotic lumbers, genetically modified by the Laurentus Corporation to grow in Reno's wet, yet unforgiving climate. Unofficially, prostitution and black market dealings drive the economy here, leading to one of the highest murder rates in the system.
Miranda: According to official Alliance records, Miranda is a black rock in the Burnham quadrant where teraforming failed and killed its population of 30 million. However, recent information has gone public suggesting that the world was subject to a failed experiment, and that it was the chemicals released by the Allaince and not the teraforming itself that killed the population. No concrete evidence exists to prove this and successful attempt to explore the planet is unlikely, since a large fleet of Reaver ships are known to occupy the area. It likely serves as a home base for the Reavers, perhaps even a "home world."
Odin*: A K-class orange star in the Cherokee* quadrant.
Dyton Colony: Dyton's settlers trace their roots back to the British colony ships that first colonized Londinum and have a pronounced dedication to their ancestral culture. Badger was born here.
Beylix: While the planet has many large farming communities, Beylix is best known as the system’s “reclamation and recycling center,” or more colloquially, “garbage dump.” United Reclamation runs most of its operations out of Brylix’s scrap yards and refuse centers, which supports a bustling economy of junk dealers and rebuilt spaceships. Monty was once arrested here on smuggling charges.
Juno*: A large gas giant that masses at four and a half times the size of Jupiter. Juno is best known for its large subsystem of moons and its vibrant red colour.
-- Jia Li*: Whomever named this place probably never set foot there. Good and beautiful is far from the truth of this little moon. First populated for the mining rights, it soon gave way to factories. Most of the inhabitants are indentured workers or slaves. Life is dull and tedious here. The last big thing to happen was an uprising at the Tao Industries in which the owner of the factory was murdered. This caused the security measures to be reinforced. Getting clearance to land on Jia Li is difficult and getting a chance to talk to any member of management at the factories is near impossible. Far too often strangers on the moon are shot on sight without questioning. No one wants another riot, afterall. Fiona Tao was raised here.
-- Kamchatka*: Heavily polluted from years of intense industrial waste, many parts of this world are uninhabitable. The rest of the planet is largely dedicated to manufacturing, mostly heavy machinery.-- Barton: Originally serving as an agricultural moon, Barton was farmed by a pacifist commune of workers, who set up their own Alliance-sponsored medical facilities, primarily engaged in the purification of plant-based. However, whether it was a fault in the original terraforming or the Alliance pressing for more and more supplies during the War of Unification, the crops rapidly became exhausted, and the moon turned into a virtual dust ball. Though most of the Alliance members left after the war, some stayed, many of whom were dissatisfied with how their government was run, or who had put down roots in the community. These days, Barton is run by a small, but powerful upper class that makes their money renting out the last remaining farmable land to those who, for whatever reason, need to scrape out a living. On many of the worthless parts, there are scrap yards and forges, where antiquated technologies are melted down and sold back to the Alliance and anyone else who can pay. At the top of this heap is Mrs. Belinda Burgess, Rance Burgess’ widow. (Note: The canon does not provide a name for this planet.)
-- Silverhold Colonies: Another moon settled under a special religious charter from the Alliance. Unlike other colonies of its kind, its charter religion of Mahāyāna Buddhism (大乘, Dàshèng) did not take to the general population. However, the unique conditions of the charter allow certain scientific enterprises that are illegal on other worlds. Silverhold's many scientific institutes make the moon surprisingly affluent compared to its neighbors.
Eris*: The oddball of the system, Eris is a planet roughly the size of Saturn, however astronomers more often compare it to Uranus due to the radical tilt of its axis. Eris rotates perpendicular to the normal plane of the system, causing its satellites to orbit on the same direction. Eris' unusual situation makes the vast majority of its moons unsuitable for habitation.
--Hermes: Its thin atmosphere and artic climate make Hermes an unpopular world for colonists, however a few have chosen the moon as their home for its unique quality; Eris' intense electromagnetic field surrounds the moon in a dense, nebulous ion cloud that magnifies all ambient radio, cortex, and ansible transmissions, which allows receivers to pick up (and broadwave) signals from across the entire system with little effort. Recent reports of a large military confrontation here are unconfirmed. (Note: The canon does not provide a name for this planet.)
Tian-Wang*: A B-class blue-white star in the Dravidian quadrant.
Hemmingway*: Originally deemed a failure of teraforming, most life forms never took to Hemmingway despite its rather mild climate, leaving the majority of the world one vast, uninterrupted desert. However, it was later discovered that the planet’s deserts were rich with certain minerals not commonly found on other worlds, which are useful in manufacturing. Settlement is still sparse, though, owing to the unusually high rates of neurological disorders among the world’s inhabitants. Cause remains unknown.Dekane*: The smallest terrestrial planet in the system, Denkane is on the edge of what can support a sufficient atmosphere for human life. In fact, teraforming wasn't so much an event here, as a continual process to keep the planet habitable. The effort is more than compensated by the rich ecology of the planet's oceans, which account for four fifths of Dekane's surface. Ironic, perhaps, as surface salination has reduced most of world's sole continent into desert.
Greenleaf: This world possesses a large tropical belt with vast jungles and rainforests, thus Greenleaf hosts major pharmaceutical laboratories to take advantage of the many life-saving drugs available in the local flora. Rather than work for the corporations like most of the population, some of the local residents prefer to smuggle drugs off world as part of a very lucrative black market. The Alliance recently acquiesced to corporate pressure and declared Greenleaf a restricted landing zone, although the new security measures are still loose and too weak to put much of a dent in smuggling.
Potmos*: A gas giant. In the early days of settlement in the rim, Potmos was considered a worthless subsystem, lacking any satellites of sufficient mass for teraforming. When technology later advanced so that it was possible to tow cubewanos into the solar system, Blue Sun invested in the teraforming process of a series of artificially created moons, each covered in large bonanza farms that form the cornerstone of the corporation's vast agricultural empire. The farms are automated, sleek, and efficient operations, requiring very little human supervision, so these moons have very low population density and see little commercial traffic outside Blue Sun's cargo haulers.
-- Teleute*: Blue Sun employees have creatively nicknamed this moon "One."
-- Morpheus*: Otherwise known as Two.
-- Aponoia*: Otherwise known as Three.
-- Epithumia*: Otherwise known as Four.
-- Mania*: Otherwise known as Five
-- Olethros*: Just recently moved into Potmos' orbit, Olethros (a.k.a. "Six") is the most recent addition and still in the early stages of tereforming.
Sparrow*: A gas giant about twice the size of Jupiter and host to a large sub-system of moons:
-- Harvest*: Due to unusual tectonic plate activity that’s just within the legal guidelines for habitable planets, Harvest is known for two things: Large mountain ranges and frequent ground tremors. While the unsteady ground is a mite unsettling, the moon’s snowcapped vistas are breathtaking, and its valleys are unusually fertile—hence the world’s name.
-- Ramin*: An unremarkable agricultural moon. Chief exports are mostly lumber and restless youths in search of their fortune in the Core. The moon does maintain its century-old tradition of festivals in the autumn.
-- Graeae*: A relatively small moon, Graeae was one of the first massive failures of terraforming in the Rim planets. Something in the chemical processing polluted the moon's natural water and air. This continued for years before the situation was remedied through purification systems, and there are still areas where the pollution cannot be treated. Though those who live here still manage to eek out their livings through farming and other trades, half of all children born on the planet have some sort of mental defect, and it isn't unheard of for a perfectly healthy adult to begin suffering from dementia and symptoms akin to Alzheimer's disease with no warning.
-- Haung He: A miserable ball of dirt run primarily by a Magistrate Higgins. The moon's primary exports are mud, clay and ceramics. (Note: “Haung He” is a name I created, because the canon does not provide one.)
--St. Albans: A barren hunk of rock that can barely support human life. Its citizens scrape an existence out of what they can mine out of its rocks. Tracy's family lives here.
-- Feng Du*: A penal colony, rumored to be one of the harshest worlds in the system, and not technically teraformed. Officially, the Alliance reserves this punishment only for those convicted for life sentences without parole, but overcrowding in the other penal colony sometimes forces the Alliance to house prisoners here for lesser offenses.
Báihuà*: A K-class orange sun, this system has a reputation as a hotbed of Independent sentiment. It is located in the Narang* quadrant.
Sturges: Best known as the site of the Battle of Sturges, the second bloodiest battle in the War of Unification. Pilots should note that a large debris field surrounds the planet, posing a serious hazard to navagation.
Shadow: Shadow was one of the first worlds to mount an organized resistance to the Alliance, and serves as the unofficial capitol for Independent forces. A thriving prairie world of grain farms and cattle ranches, the bulk of the economy is agricultural, although there is a strong manufacturing sector.Ita: Founded under a special charter from the early Alliance Parliament, Ita is a religious colony, populated almost entirely by orthodox Mormons. Its economy is largely based on shipbuilding and salvage.
Prospero*: A gas giant the size of Neptune, easily recognized by its brilliantly coloured rings.
-- Dodge*: Little more than a collection of farms and ranches, Dodge appears on the surface to be little more than another generic border moon. Alliance military intelligence has recently identified Dodge as a hotbed of Independent activity, and may be one of their main bases of operation.
-- Jiangyin: A backwards moon, with no local government to speak of and virtually no Alliance presense. Some of its locals are known to kidnap people, mostly tradesmen and women.-- Guilder*: While every planet has its quirks of teraforming, Guilder takes the cake. In the biological seeding stage of
planetary preparation, a still unidentified error occured, resulting in a significantly higher mutation ratio. The bulk of the planet's complex lifeforms failed to develop at all, however a small percentage of abberant species resulted, which makes Guilder a favorite point of study for biologist. Word to the wise: Don't swim in the ocean.Heinlein: A gas giant roughly the size of Saturn. It’s moons include:
--Triumph: This moon has little to offer than a few scraps of land worth farming, making it of little interest to “civilized” folk, thus the world has become a haven for those that want nothing to do with society, primarily Amish-like religious communities.
--Coyote*: Formed under a special Alliance charter, Coyote is a haven for the surviving tribal cultures of Earth that was. The moon's local government consists of a loose confederation of tribes, including the Inuit, Cherokee, Dakota, Aborigine, !Kung, etc.
--Tara: One of the newest worlds in the system, Tara was not opened for colonization until after the war, which made it an ideal candidate for rejuvenation after Unification program. Many of the guilds were given special tax breaks to open branches on Tara and gain a foodhold in the rim. The world is known for its beauty, but not always peace; the political nature of its colonization sometimes makes it a target for rogue, independent terrorists. (Note: The canon does not provide a name for this planet, so we made it up.)
--Anjìng*: The first moon to be opened for colonization after the end of Unification War. While its foundation was the cause of much promotion and fanfare, the moon has sense faded in obscurity as yet another small, agricultural moon.
Planetary Guide - Space Stations, etc.
An asterisk indicates a non-canon addition.Skyplex: A space station privately owned and operated by Adelai Niska. Skyplex serves as his base of operations for his numerous criminal enterprises.
Samudaya Station*: In a solar orbit between Verbena and Hera, Samudaya was first established by the Corone Consortium of Sihnon to take advantage of the titanium rich asteroid belt in the area. The belt is long since exhausted but the station remains a major waypoint for ships passing from core to rim. Samudaya first made a name for itself in the war, where it served as a hub for freelance ships ferrying supplies to both sides of the war. It nearly became the target of an Alliance assault in an attempt to cut off supplies to the independents. The attack was called off however when it was discovered that General Nigila Porras of the Seventh Fleet was currently on station, visiting the famed Companion House Aukana. At this time, Samudaya remains a bustling trade center and serves as a unique cross section of life in the Allied Worlds, as wealthy merchants and Companions work and live next to criminals and whores.
Zhongwen Space Bazaar: A space station that serves as a waypoint and refueling stop for transports on their way from the core to the rim. The bazaar has a solar orbit in the Georgia system between Lilac and Athens. Serenity's crew picks up their post here. (Name not provided in the canon.)
