Hi, Ric here and this is the final part of a three part series marking out the layout
of the ‘Verse, the solar systems of Firefly. So far, we’ve covered the inner colonies,
known as the core worlds, where the rich and prestigious live under the Union of Allied
Planets. We then looked into the Border planets that are separate solar systems that orbit
the White Star, don’t ask me how. Then there is the first of the two Rim systems, Kalidasa.
The Border and the Rim mark areas of space with less of an alliance presence which is
both a blessing and a curse. Whereas the Alliance is seen as meddlesome
and forcing its will on others, the colonies could benefit from more of the Union’s resources
and protection for it receives little of either. But the last Solar system to explore may make
you question the wisdom of having a strong Alliance presence. I feel like I should issues
a spoiler warning for the film Serenity here, even though it’s not exactly current but
there are people out there who have seen Firefly and not the film and because it wraps up a
lot, well spoilers? I guess. Outside of even the orbital path of the Kalidasa
system, lies the final star, the furthest system with human inhabitants; Qing Long,
the Blue Dragon system also called the Blue Sun. This system orbits at a tilt because
reasons. In 2420, Meridian was terraformed as well
as its moon, Burnet so only around 98 years before the start of the show. The next planet
out from the centre is New Canaan. It is a ringed planet orbited by Ugarit and Lilac.
Lilac was the moon seen in Serenity that was attacked by the Reavers during the Firefly’s
bank heist and like many of the other border and rim worlds, is rather barren. Muir is
the third planet with two moons, Arminius and Shepherd’s Mission. Shepherd’s being
a name for a type of priest or monk from the Firefly lore suggesting this may be a point
of some significance, then again We’ve seen names like Bob and Godfors Aken, so it could
be named ironically. Then there is a gas giant called Fury that
has not been helioformed. It has nine moons, Coldstone, Blackwood, Ataraxia, Seventh Circle,
Nipmuc, Genae, Iscariot, Katarina and Sakura, three of which are inhabited. There is then
an expansive asteroid belt, called the Uroborus, named after the snake that eats its own tail
forming a ring around 1.5 AU thick. Highgate is the next planet and has two moons. Perth
and Stonewall, the latter of which is connected to Highgate by a space elevator, the only
one in the ‘Verse. Then there’s a second gas giant, Dragon’s
Egg, with five moons, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva and Glynis.
Next was the planet Deadwood, which was the location of the Heart of Gold Brothel. Orbiting
Deadwood was Haven, which bore home to the community Shepard Book settled down on. His
settlement (and possibly others) was massacred on the Alliance Operative’s orders in 2518.
Pour one out for the lost. Then there was this systems only Protostar,
Burnham. Orbiting this unnatural star is a completely insignificant planet called Miranda,
with nothing important it’s a failed terraformed planet that never worked out take my word
for it, don’t go check. It had one moon, Caliban.
Surrounding this planet is a flotilla of vessel and derelicts occupied by the Reavers who
raid the rim and occasionally border from the space surrounding this furthest point.
The Reavers are savage once-humans who act out on instinct and primal violence. They
have memory and reason enough to be able to fly their ships and operate technology, but
lack the foresight or desire to maintain them. This leads to them constantly pillaging for
food and resources as their current vessels fail.
They mutilate their ships and themselves with the remains of their prizes and favour any
weapon that leaves a mess. Sufficed to say, these horrors quickly became the subject of
nightmares and rumour among the ‘Verse with many in the core and some in the Alliance
not even believing in their existence. Of course it turns out the Miranda is the
origin of the Reavers, due to a failed and immoral Alliance experiment where after the
Unification War, the Union of Allied planets looked for a way to placate a population and
tested a gaseous compound on Miranda. It killed all its inhabitants but drove 0.1% of the
population insane. Therefore, Miranda is a quarantined planet with the cover being spread
of a failed terraforming incident. Failed terraforming can be disastrous and is not
an uncommon occurrence as seen in the last part, especially this far from the core, with
even successful conversion producing a myriad of unforeseen quirks. No one ever was able
to confirm this however, due to the Reaver presence.
These five systems mark out the known ‘Verse as well as numerous space stations along trade
routes run by the alliance and independent companies.
There are also a number of terraformed planetoids in key positions that act as relay stations
for the Cortex, the ‘Verse spanning information network. It is on one of these that the self-termed,
Mr. Universe lives and sells his extracted information. These planets are surrounded
by energy fields caused by the intense flow of information and signals that can cause
a navigational nightmare and interfere with long range scans but can be safely traversed.
There are four in Boarder space and eleven orbiting the White Star at the same range
as the Kalidasa system for coverage into the Rim. Despite this however, connections are
spotty, even in the core with even planets such as Osiris having blackout zones, but
most common drop outs were experienced during deep space travel. Beyond all this is the
edge. Just more space, as Jayne Cobb puts it, but it’s from that edge that mankind
originally emigrated. So that is they layout of the ‘Verse according
to Official Map and as you can see, there’s plenty of space for numerous stories and locales.
The inner systems, known as the Core are older and far more stable with fewer worlds with
extreme climates while the Border and the Rim worlds have a far harsher, often dryer
climate. While you don’t have to deal with alliance patrols in the rim as often as they
aught, you do run the risks of Reaver attacks which many agree is far worse.
But there we have it. The star cluster was picked for its high number of planets while
even more moons and such were discovered as they approached the systems. It all orbits
this singular White Star, the Core system, hence the name. Thanks for watching this vid
it took a very long time to put all this together and I hope you can see why I didn’t want
to cram this all into one video and rush through it. So thanks for making this journey with
me and until next time, I’ll see you all around. Have a shiny day, Cap’ns. Goodbye.