Galactic Atlas

Alcanti
Said to be the homeworld of the ur-draknir and the birthplace of the Sublime imperium. Alcanti is widely recognised as the centre of galactic politics. A lush red world of deep teal seas and architecture reaching to the skies. The planet is the paradise draknir of all eras are said to have carefully managed.

Chief among the great metropoli that spread themselves along the surface, the megapolis of Dranlathos sits cradled in the mountains of the planet’s northern climes. A teeming metropolis where all aspects of imperial society from the most esteemed praetors to the most humble pilgrims seek out a place on Alcanti to call home. Beyond the shining cities, the wealthiest and most powerful of the Imperium cultivate lavish estates centred around mighty mansions. While in orbit, stations and starships challenge to outnumber the stars in the sky. As the great ring encircling the planet’s equator serves the go to point of arrival and departure for anyone visiting this sacred world..

Araveene
Often referred to as The Silver City, Araveene is the great financial capital of the Imperium. Situated orbiting a gas giant, the moon was originally a mining colony for rare materials and an anchor point for gas harvesting. During the Interregnum, when the Era of Diamonds faded into history, Araveene was one of the early worlds to emerge from the darkness.

The vast majority of Araveene’s inhabitants can be found living in the enormous network of spire arcologies that ring the coastline of the moon’s only supercontinent. Its nickname of The Silver City comes from the many hab-towers dotting its surface, the oldest and grandest (known colloquially as the Five Towers) dating back to the Era of Diamonds and showing it with their flowing ivory-white constructions that dazzle in the light of the system’s the distant star.

Befitting a world where information is more valuable than platinum, Araveene is also known as the City of Secrets. An infamously opaque financial system may keep the Imperium wealthy, but clandestine acts are rife and everything comes at a price. It is from this great wealth that the controversial Grand House Khaxvis supports itself. Who claim to have risen Araveene from the fog of the Interregnum to create the commercial republic that gave the planet power in the early years of the Imperium. Even today, there’s no place as open for business - clean or not - than the Silver City.

Oberion
Legend has it that thousands of years ago, the ur-draknir struck a pact with a spirit of the Aether to transform the desolate planet of Oberion into a verdant paradise. Whether that story is true or not, Oberion was indeed described as a thing of beauty in ancient chronicles: one of the most biodiverse planets of the Imperium, where all sorts of exotic creatures could be found. Its most striking feature were its spire-mountains: rising many kilometers in height thanks to the planet’s low gravity, they boasted a unique biosphere of its own, dominated by mighty reptilian predators reminiscent of the ur-draknir themselves. That was millenia ago. Now, Oberion is home to the klaxa of the Principality, the Imperium’s most brilliant engineers and fabricators; under their watchful eye, the nature of this vibrant world has been swept away, its vast resources harnessed in service of progress and industry.

The modern face of the mountainous planet is a far cry from the pristine garden envisioned by the Old Dragons, but it is perhaps beautiful in its own unique way. The ancient groves of Oberion may have become polluted wastelands

Vencortium
The paradise jewel of Grand House Valocanus has a not-undeserved reputation as an eden. Like many core worlds of the Imperium, Vencortium is a planet that has been delicately cultivated into a paradise. Lush carefully managed forests ring cities clad in brilliant white stone or silvered steel. Legend has it there were ur-draknir so fond of the planet for reminding them of Alcanti they seeded it with a drive in all things to become like them. At least, that is the story its local aristocracy tells to explain the architecture reminiscent of monuments dating back to the Era of Diamonds.

More than just a resort for the nobility, Vencortium’s place along the Core Circuitway grants it a direct link to the commerce of the crown. Travellers from anywhere between Sanctuarium and Alcanti are likely to pass Vencortium on their journey, giving it - and in turn House Valocanus, one of the mightiest grand houses barring the royal family - extraordinary commercial opportunity. Thus despite the modest size of the Vencortian Praetorate, the fortunes of Mandate, Vencortium and Grand House Valocanus are said to be intertwined. The wealth of either one is the wealth of all three.

Despite the legends the ur-draknir were inspired to drive the planet into mimicking the ancient origin-world, Vencortians hold a certain bitterness to be compared to the Imperial Capital. “neither mimics the other” they say “we are both the highest all the imperium should aspire to!” Firmly proud that Vencortium is a close second to the capital largely on its own merits.

Vhar Imeris
Perhaps the largest artificial structure in the know ngalaxy. Vhar Iremis is an enormous orbital built at the height of the Era of Diamonds to serve as a galactic capital to the Old Imperium and showcase its grandeur. Across several interlocking stellar rings are meticulously crafted mountains, forests, lakes, oceans, jungles and plains. Plants and animals from across the galaxy, and of all colours, can be found across its surface between extensive country villas and shining silver cities. All iconic examples of the Era of Diamonds.

All of this splendour lies haunted. Some time before the end of the era, Vhar Iremis was struck with a great curse, the distinction between the real and the Aether was dissolved by an unknown cataclysm, Blurring the distinction between reality and fiction to the point of impossible and rendering almost all the structure unfriendly for sentient habitation. Cities of phenomenal size now lie empty to be gradually reclaimed by the diverse range of flora. Both plant and animal twisted and warped by the will of the Aether’s strange powers. In some areas, the environment is now recognisable, while in others the Aether has preserved a location to be as pristine as its glory days.

Some parts of the station are still habitable. Good parts of Vhar Iremis’ outer rings escaped the cataclysm and act as popular staging points for expeditions looking for relics and history deeper into the structure. The Old Imperial Palace has become a site of pilgrimage for paragons undergoing coronation, looking for the consent of their progenitors to rule the modern Imperium. Haunted by echoes of the past or not, the construct continues to capture the galaxy’s imagination.