Parallax: The World

Every story conveys a sense of place and time. Some stories may take place in a single room or place while others may involve an entire town, continent, planet, or star system. The extent of the story world depends on the needs of the story and to a lesser degree, the ambition of the writer.

Today’s discussion involves Parallax’s Story World, which comprises a 100 Light-Year diameter sphere with Earth at its center. It doesn’t take an astronomer to realize that 100 LY is a pretty large area to have characters and actions going on in. I can’t guarantee that there won’t be spoilers here so the warning is implied though I would hope that many of you have availed yourselves of the opportunity to read the book. Now, without further ado, let’s talk about some of the scenic locations featured in Parallax. Note, for obvious reasons, these are not in corresponding order to how and when they appear in the book:

1. The M42 (Orion Nebula): The opening scene takes place in the Gorashto System near the edge of Union/Stellar Alliance Space. Gorashto (codenamed Watershed by the Alliance) consists of a twin binary stars and a small collection of 4-5 terrestrial planets. Gorashto is known by another name among the Locknar Hegemony and is unique because it is the place where the war first started due to unintentional colonization and terraforming by Terrans. At the time of Parallax, three years have passed since the initial confrontation and the story begins on New Year’s Day 2223.

2. Mixton: A border system approximately 7 LY from the current battle lines, Mixton is a contradiction of strategic importance and functional neglect. Rich in mineral resources but low on defensibility, the Mixton System relies on a small detachment of Militia and volunteer support to defend it from Locknar raiders and the occasional pirate that may wander through.

3. Planet Chaos: A volcanic world located at the extreme southern end of the Locknar Hegemony, the planet is covered by moving lava seas and extreme temperatures that make it unsuitable for colonization efforts. The Locknar use it as one of their primary sources for metal ores and have maintained a floating mining station on the surface and an orbital Import/Export Control Station. Harvesting is done though the use of large mining drone robots that resemble very large arachnids with the capability to leap over obstacles using jump jets to mine minerals.

4. Mitalum: The Capital World of the Locknar Hegemony and where a major percentage of the Locknar reside. It is a beautiful planet with a constant light show in the skies due to an atmospheric interaction with the nebula. It is roughly similar to Earth in terms of gravity and living conditions and boasts an extensive variety of flora and fauna. The Locknar have lived on this planet for at least 65 million years after being forced from their original homeworld by ancient alien invaders.

As you can see, I put a lot of time into developing the story world and more areas will be revealed when I write Books 2 and 3. It is a trilogy after all because I couldn’t contain so much in one installment without turning it into War and Peace and I wasn’t having that…hehe. Anyway, thanks for your time. 🙂

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