Famous Places of the Mindsea Empire

The Judgment Wall is all that remains of the energy temples Attequol built on every planet of the Empire. Enclosed within the imperial palace in the heart of Tetbo, the galactic capital on the planet Lal, it symbolizes legitimate authority in the galaxy. According to legend, it dropped the stone that crushed Emperor Rathax as he attempted to destroy the last of Attequol's great works. Subsequent emperors who have not been crushed can claim that the Wall has "judged" them worthy to stand before it.

The imperial palace has taken several forms across the millennia as wars and mind-duels have shattered its walls and tumbled its towers. Standing at the Western end of the capital city's main thoroughfare it is the emperors' home and headquarters for the government's Palace Branch.

Bureau Headquarters stands at the Eastern end of the Way. The Circle of Experts, comprising the Empire's top specialists in nine-hundred ninety-nine fields of study, meet within its curving walls to debate humanity's next step. The Bureaucratic Branch is equal in authority to the Palace Branch.

A broad avenue connecting the two main branches of imperial government, the Way is where things happen. Emperors ride down it for their annual "Showing." Mating Flights for the galaxy's elite race over it. It is lined by the capital's most famous shops, restaurants, and nightspots, as well as by planetary embassies and corporate headquarters.

The Academy lies beyond the hubbub of Tetbo, providing an atmosphere of detachment where students can focus of Deep-level ripples that may awaken their mindpowers. Some believe that Attequol intended the Academy to form a Third Branch of imperial government, tempering the impetuosity of the Palace Branch and the conservitism of the Bureaucratic Branch.

The Imperial Museum was established by Attequol and comprises a vast labyrinth beneath the city of Tetbo and beyond. Deep-level experiences such as historical reenactments are available within its walls.

A holdover from ancient times, the Garden of Snakes serves no known purpose beyond being one of the mandatory stops for offworld tourists in the capital. It is said that Rathax built its twisted little towers to amuse his children.

Hobbyhorse Plaza is another must-see tourist location, but no one knows why. Over the millennia, it has become the custom for people to register their wishes on the plaza in the belief that those wishes will be granted.

Once the headquarters for mind-rivers of the early Decadent Epoch, the tower was deserted when the mind-rivers moved into their new quarters within the imperial palace. Legend tells of terrible crimes committed within its premises, and neither tourists nor locals care to venture inside. It stand across the Way form the imperial palace and adjacent to Hobbyhorse Plaza.

The Temple of Inspiration is one of Tetbo's newer tourist attractions. It was built by Quintillion to celebrate the creative spirit. There is an eagle-shaped aperture in the apex of its facade, and every morning as the sun climbs through the sky, its rays cast the image of an eagle that flies up the steps toward the building.

The premier resort on Lal, Meklodi features a vast artificial lake dotted by numerous small islands where visitors can make themselves at home in delightful little cottages.

The North Desert Shuttle Station is the primary entry point for travelers arriving at the capital from other planets. Downleveling ships remain berthed at spaceport while shuttles bring passengers to the planet's surface. Pilots have their own shuttles, but passengers on commercial flights take public shuttles. There is a separate landing area for space-planes.

Patterned after the ancient energy temples of Attequol, farfling towers stand on every planet of the Empire, bringing in messages sped through the Deep. They are powered by a single Deep-six soul-gem that touches all of them simultaneously.

Tywoshak is a huge, oceanic planet dotted with numerous small islands, most of which enjoy a tropical climate. It was Attequol's homeworld.

Piatlo, a small mountainous planet, is famed for its apples and for the products they go into, especially the apple wines and fine apple brandy.

Morsamto is known as the place where everyone can indulge their secret fantasies. Several islands dot the oceans of this midsize planet, each island dedicated to a different perversion. Additional venues may be found on the planet's ten moons and on its human-engineered planetary ring. The Swallowtail Dance is just the prelude to countless varieties of intoxication.

The skyfalls of Xatme draw locals and tourists alike to put on wings and fly through the spray. Once a year, a skydiving contest is held, with those who can plunge from the top of the falls into the ocean fastest. It is also known as the "Chicken Olympics."

The huge gameboard was built during the Decadent Epoch for Emperor Xublian. It was the site of bloody contests where players could choose to do battle either on Home Level or on Deep One.

The dwi tree with its long drooping branches and yellow lozenge-shaped leaves is Wamatu's planetary tree. During the planet's golden age, they stood in the centers of every community, revered as soul-trees. The Flashing wiped them out along with other Wamatuan lifeforms, but long after the war the forests were reseeded from preserved gene specs.

Aquagol is an oceanic world whose skies swarm with flying cities, each of them crammed with shops offering cut-rate items from across the galaxy. Shoppers come from every sector of the Empire, as well as from non-imperial worlds.

The Sheriff's Office is the most famous structure on the huge planet, but it is not much sought after by tourists, who prefer to risk lizard bites and scorpion stings in the sweltering swamps or pan for gold in frigid streams running down from the black mountains.

Sinbum is a small, cold world. The Ice Spire, rising on the shore of its arctic sea, is its major tourist site. Scientists are in disagreement about its origins. Some say its structure indicates the work of an alien race inhabiting the planet before the Empire's foundation. Others think it was sculpted by a human mindsea, perhaps Quintillion.

A small world with crystal clear seas, Xibiske draws sailing enthusiasts from around the galaxy. Both air-sailers and more primitive craft can be rented. For those who choose to sail at night, a few of the planet's dozen moons are bound to be out to light their way. The Sydnew Sea is home to fishes of species that went extinct on Earth millions of years ago.

Nirke is a small planet whose larger continent is home to some of the finest forests in the galaxy. Blackwood groves produce a dense, dark wood, that, when polished, creates a sheen resembling a starry sky. This wood is the planet's largest export. At times groves have been harvested faster than they can be replenished, despite attempts by genetic and temporal engineers to speed production rates.

Shyofe is a backwards-looking planet full of ancient traditions and superstitions of unknown origin. One superstition revolves around its iconic charm tree. The fruits of the tree are said to be linked to the planet's human inhabitants, every child born on Shyofe having a fruit on a tree somewhere to foretell their future. Finding the fruit involves prayer and pilgrimage.

Mosalno is famous for its Orphan School and the Six Sages who run the school and the planet. Most of the students at the school come from families on the galactic List of a Thousand. It is called an "orphan" school because students have been known to cross timelines on the way to or from Mosalno to arrive in histories where they were never born.

The Garden of Knowledge lies in the quadrangle that has the Orphan School and the Temple of Wisdom, home to the Six Sages, along two adjacent sides.

Triermi is a large planet with many good coffee growing regions. The plantations are tended by special bioids resembling small bipedal bears. An equatorial plain overlooked by the planet's volcano alley claims to be the source of the "best of the best" beans. Rivalry between regions is fierce, but all of Triermi unites to suppress attempts by other planets to win a piece of the imperial coffee market. A woman named Poriz "Seed" Daneralo brought the first coffee plants to Triermi, and her gene specs are revered almost as much as those of her beans.

Tepak is a small planet of Sector Three famed for humming contests that take place in an ampitheater of blue stone. Champion hummers gather from all over the planet to vie with pieces that range from burning fervor to gentle whimsy.

Another of Tepak's attractions are its angelfish. Large and playful, they love swimming around human visitors, and can be enticed into a friendly game of waterball.

On Niom, a planet entirely covered by water, royalty dwell in a palace of ice—the ice protected by a thin layer of insulation—beneath the waves. Niom's oceans are divided into different regions by temperature and density. Poorer classes of citizens dwell in the darker, colder places.

Riom is a small planet, the setting for Major Horl's temporal experiments during the Ninety-sixth Millennium. A red marsh from an earlier eon filled the gap when he transported away the old planetary capital, and still remains as a silent reminder of troubled times.

Noldnei is the Empire's gaming capital. Each of its floating cities specializes in a different type of play. Some host mind-games. Others host role-playing games, many with martial arts combat and bioid steeds and companions. Still others feature sidewalk golf, equation juggling, or bioid gladiators. Every city declares one night of each tenthyear to be its game night, when all other activities are put on hold, and the entire community takes part in the city-wide competition. The capital, Oagaeygi, has a scavenger hunt on its game nights.

Zozsa, a huge planet entirely covered by water, boasts several beautiful floating cities, but foremost among them is Zozsa, the capital. Zozsa is famed for its shopping malls and its memorial to the Great War. The ocean of Halso is called the "silver sea," because one or more of the planet's seventeen moons is always there to light the waves at night.

Haslo suffered greatly during the Great War when it was taken by Maxuas and retaken by Thermeon. A crystalline sculpture rising from the ocean is dedicated to the memory of the millions who died.

Gilkay is a small planet that embraces several ancient traditions. Old growth forests, dominated by the royally appointed amber diamond trees, surround many cities. According to some, the trees provide Deep-level benefits as well as improving air quality and smoothing temperature and climate cycles.

Yohorb is a midsize planet that orbits the center of gravity of a binary star system. The suns of Yohorb always appear close together in the sky, but every thirteen Yohorbian years they reach syzygy and seem to merge together. That is the occasion for the Yohorbian Festival of Suffering, when ice sculptures in city centers are shattered, and citizens ritually stab themselves with the resulting knives of ice.

Bull-riding is the planetary sport of Koddo, a midsize world. Beginners hone their skills on bioid bulls, but the real contests are team efforts between men and women and live Earth-origin bulls. Imperial law forbids hurtful treatment of animals, and so each bovine participant is provided with an internal glowworm link that allows him to communicate his feelings and wishes to humans. Thus, if he feels unwell or dislikes a rider, he can opt out. Following ancient tradtion, he wears a decorative nose-ring, but it is not designed to cause him pain. Each team is judged on their passion and acrobatics. Cows also may participate if they wish. There is a separate division for bulls and cows that were formerly human.

Tagru's capital, Happ-Ti, is famous for having each of its districts enclosed in its own time pocket. Citizens have the choice of making time rush by if they enter the Speedy District, or creep along when they cross over to the Sluggy District. There is a Retro District for those who wish to vanish into the past, and a Reciprocal District for those who want to convert seconds to hours or hours to seconds. Happ-Ti was designed by Horl.

Bri is the site of the Empire's foremost learning center for those who would pilot downleveling ships. The cadets are divided into groups according to the deepest patternistic level they can master. Most wash out before attaining a Deep-one rating, because the Deep is so alien to the human mind. Only a few in the history of the Empire have graduated with a Deep-five rating.

Take Care is an amusement park built by Emperor Quintillion for purposes of his own. It consists of several attractions characteristic of Quintillion's whimsical—many would say warped—mind.

The Harp Building houses some of the most intense exhibits at Take Care, including "Concoct Your Own Physics" and "Fight Any War."

The black tower is the entrance to the Mini Milky Way, a vast theater where visitors can roam the galaxy as if on different levels of the Deep. Cadets from the nearby Pilot School use it for training.

Marolmo is a large planet that takes pride in its beautiful natural parklands. One such area is the amborella forest in the Green Glades section of the Seith Peninsula.

Asaotiz is a small planet with a large population residing in cities that encircle the globe with interminable tunnels and bridges. Asaotizans are known for their love of solitude. They compete for the right to reserve large wild parks for solitary vacations. The most sought after vacation spot is the frozen shore of the Retalmed Sea. Asaotizans claim this spot as the coldest place on any imperial world that doesn't require weatherdoming for life support. Several other worlds disagree.

Vork is a large Sector Six world not far from the imperial capital. Emperor Quintillion chose it as one node in the trans-gate system he was building to free the Empire from reliance on downleveling ships. Shortly after opening the gate for translations, he went planetside and discovered that his Nander gatekeepers were sacrificing Vorkian citizens on the ground as well as those seeking passage through the gate. Unable to deal with the situation, he fled in confusion.

After the disaster of the trans-gate, a toymaker named Neivor, head of the Vork Illustrious Circle of Elders, decided to memorialize his planet's grief by gentically engineering a tree species to produce fruits resembling human skulls. Skull trees can now be found on every Vorkian continent.

Thapauti is a small planet with a small population. Its capital, Arcoh-Virec, uses antigrav technology to maintain a mountain-high altitude above land or sea as it follows the sun on a daily revolution about the planet. Thapautians enjoy the constant daylight, as they never sleep for most of the year. But when their season comes, citizens leave the flying city to check into their assigned space in one of the cavern hibernatoriums, where they do their whole year's sleeping in one session.

Rugas is a small, moonless planet. Its moongroves, stands of tree-tall mushrooms, cast a gentle white glow in the night that resembles moonlight.

Pastoo is a midsize planet of Sector Eight. Its communities are formed from great halls linked together like cars of a train, each hall with its own theme and decor. The communities themselves are joined together, so that inhabitants can travel all around their planet without leaving indoor comforts.

Beyond Pastoo's long buildings, much of the planet retains its wild nature. Visitors are permitted to enter the extensive arctic Nanderland, where they can hope to catch a glimpse of fur-clad natives and their wooly thylacine partners.

Korel is a midsize planet of Sector Eight. It suffered much loss of life and habitat destruction during the Code War, but its garden cities have been rebuilt with the goal of bringing species native to each region into the city centers. To seamlessly merge the beauty of nature with the convenience of civilization is the aim of Korelian architects. Altohola is the planet's capital.

Rigre is famous for a downleveling arena where artists sketch out creatures that come to life in the Deep and do battle. The top artist becomes planetary potentate for the next year. It is said that the arena was built by Za Leit.

Medne is a very large planet covered by a very deep ocean subject to outwellings from the Deep, which appear as rainbow lights. The ocean is inhabited by a species of Deep-level whale whose shed skins provide suits for pilots and riders in Deep-level horse races. It is the location for the Empire's primary Deep-level shipyard.

Wikow is a small desert world whose only fame is its detention center, said to be the most secure fortress in the Empire. Criminals who do not respond to wonderdome treatment but who are judged to have useful qualities that rule against termination are sent there to undergo experimental treatment in an attempt to transform them into good citizens.

The city of Alonaton as well as its mindsea academy was built by Katora at the start of the Hundred-Fifth Millennium. The classes she taught at the Academy were designed to turn out enlightened mindseas to lead the Empire into a new age of brilliant insights.

The city of Tadruhemdron was located underground so that it would survive Attequol's attack. It was destroyed nevertheless, and the only native Ulonans there now are the dinosaurian pahmaks.

Capital of the Red Star planets, Rexros is a large, temperate world with vast stretches of unbroken grasslands watered by rivers and streams.

Meru-Iola is the Capital of the Code planets. It is a huge, icy world with several rocky continents bounded by icy straits and seas. Inland areas are mostly desert, but fringes of forest border the seas. When spring comes, red flowers burst out on the rikatoon trees, and the reralith bushes display pink blossoms. Meru-Iolans take a break from their work to visit the nearest beach and breathe in the warm and fragrant breeze.

Quixa built her mindsea academy in the ancient capital city of the once independent Code Empire. Her teaching placed emphasis on the nuts and bolts of existence. Students make their clothing and the furnishings for their cavern dormitories by hand and grow their own food.

The Edge is an artificial moon with a beacon to guide intergalactic traders on their way home from the Andromeda Galaxy. Famous mindseas throughout the history of the Empire have stopped for drinks at its Planet Hunters Club.