View source for Sketching the rest of Focus

I've been stumped for the longest time trying to lay out the rest of Focus, so I decided to take the Elder Scrolls approach and think of cool-sounding names and fill in the blanks from there. Just for review, I'll go over the inner system first, although as you'll soon see, dividing the system into &quot;inner&quot; and &quot;outer&quot; planets is less applicable now.

Focus: The Hearth Star. It's not very different from Sol. I'm deviating from my Anglish translation convention here for the sake of a pun, since ''focus'' means ''hearth'' in Latin, and a star is the focus of an elliptical orbit, as well as the focal point of a solar system.

Hearthside: The seat of religious government of the Bright Way, and the last remnant of the clergy's secular power. The reason why they're still in charge is because they ruled rather well. They set up a politico-economic system that emphasizes subsidiarity (things should be governed at the lowest level possible) and emphasized the right of individuals to own their own property, fending off both government overreach and corporate greed (you will own nothing and be happy).

Sweetwater: (formerly Waterworld). The second planet to be terraformed after Newhome. It's mostly a planet-wide ocean dotted with islands and archipelagos. It's unsurprisingly a popular tourist destination.

Yih: The cradle of the yinrih species, and the former seat of power of the Bright Way. Specifically, Newman's Dale, the southern bank of the equatorial river basin that the yinrih emerged in, is considered their holiest site. The clergy is initially expelled from the planet and exiled to Hearthside, but a treaty is later negotiated that allows them to maintain a presence in Newman's Dale.

Newhome: The first planet to be terraformed. The first group of terraformers starts a machine-worshipping cult.

Welkinstead: The first of the two gas giants. It has a few moons, but it's most known for its cities floating in the upper atmosphere.

The Inner Belt: The first of the two asteroid belts. Most of the independent spacer city states can be found here, moving from asteroid to asteroid to mine the metals there like perpetual boom towns.

Wayfarers' Haven: One of the above-mentioned independent spacer city-states in the inner belt. Originally a refugee camp formed from people fleeing a Partisan border expansion, it's where the ''Dewfall'' departs from, and has grown into a thriving, tight-knit little town while the missionaries were making their way to Earth. It's also the endpoint for the mass router trunk between Sol and Focus, as well as the first place humans visit outside our solar system.

''The Split Horizon'': A sister city to Wayfarers' Haven. the first human enclave at Focus, and the only orbital colony to use centrifugal gravity. It's a standard O'Neil Cylinder design with two counter-rotating toruses and a connecting axle.

Moonlitter: The second of the two gas giants. It divides the inner belt from the outer belt. It has quite a few colonized moons, hence the name.

The Outer Belt: The outermost part of Focus. It's divided in turn into the borderlands (still looking for an Anglish name) and Partisan territory. The border between the two is supposed to be the orbit of the dwarf planet mentioned in ''The Artificer's Litter'' but the Partisans claim the entire outer belt has been an integral part of Partisan Territory since ancient times. It is one of these pushes outside their agreed-upon border that initiates the formation of Wayfarers' Haven.

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This is all still pretty sketchy, but I'm happy with the results so far. Other than Hearthside and the Partisans, I haven't divided the system politically yet. I suspect Yih will have numerous independent states, Newhome will either be a single government or have two or three independent states, and so forth.


[[Category:Focus]] [[Category:Megathread Uploads]]