It Feels Redundant Describing the Planet You're Standing On

Lollunia, home of the mani, was one of two states to form the galactc conglomerate alongside The Centri States of Alkon. It's primarily known for its psychics, who carry the power of precognition and the ability to manipulate elements of the astral plane through their dreams. As such, the Lollunian government is generally placed on a particularily high pedastal within the Galactic Conglomerate. Further, its location within the Orion Arm is very central (at least, concerning contacted states) giving it a significant presence within the galactic community.

The planet orbits a G-type main sequence star and generally carries basic similarities to that of planet Earth in terms of climate. It has one of the larger populations within the Orion Arm and has the most multi-cultural background compared to other states. Its massive influence on the rest of the conglomerate brings it a reputation of being a sort of media powerhouse. As such, it is a good thing The Planetesimals got started here

My Second Home

My best approximation of what Alhella would look like to those that have never been would be to imagine San Francisco's rolling hills and annoyingly steep streets, make the weather actually warm, and drop in the aesthetic appearance of one of those old city concepts on the cover of sci-fi pulp novels from the 70s. It's a remarkably loud city, with never-ending nightlife and many people who don't realise night-time means sleep-time. They say you can't walk ten feet in Alhella without bumping into a celebrity or other, everyone knows a guy who works in the film, music, or modelling industry. The days are blisteringly hot, which still makes me ask Nik how they manage to be alive in such a place wearing all of that black. I, personally, love it here. Despite the big-city atmosphere, it feels cosy and easily navigable. Definitely a good choice for any space-tourists out there.

Our Ship

We call our flying saucer 'The Atomic'. It's a decently sized hunk of junk that manages to fly well enough throughout the stars that we aren't in any danger of instant death by astral plane. Yeah, we get a couple laughs in the space-ship parking lot if we attend anything remotely high-profile, but she does the job. The layout of your average Lollunian flying saucer is similar to that of a wheel. In the centre of the Atomic you will find the foyer, where aperture blades open up to quite literally beam the passengers up or down when needed. Upstairs is the bridge, a couple chairs sit in front of a console typically managed by one mani and an ai assistant (you may replace the mani with several two-armed folk). Other rooms on the Atomic include the kitchen (has very own replicator, fridge, and freezer), dining area (with whiteboard, weather channel, and news station on the wall), lounge space (location for board games and movie night), several bedrooms (each colour coded), laundry, and that extra really crowded room we use for practice while we're on the road.

The Worst City In the Galaxy

I hate Penneck. Most of all, I hate Penneck Hills Music Festival.

Listen, I imagine it's a decently nice place to be, maybe, but my experiences with the city have been a chaotic nightmare. My first year at the festival was completely awful and I believed it may have soured my image of the place a little bit. The city itself sits way out in the desert, about a ten-eleven hour drive out from Alhella. It is built upon a man-made oasis, where intricate waterways weave through the city providing obstacles for lost Planetesimals and stupid drunkards who like to fall in constantly. The Festival itself is hated by many people. Residents dislike the takeover of the city by musicians and concertgoers alike, where their primary objective is to make a bigger mess than they did last year, every year. As such, a small district near the big park they use for the festival grounds every year has slowly grown into an area people like to call 'the slums'. It's basically any old overpriced tourist district that tends to leech off its underpaid (local) workers for survival all the while pricing them out. Unfortunately, if you don't want to spend several days inside of a tent that may suddenly get nicked from under your nose while you are out performing (yes, that happened to The Planetesimals in their first year), you'll have to stay in a place within the slums. You physically cannot escape the city without having a tankard of beer dumped over your head at least once and maybe if you're lucky you wont get wrapped up in any fanatic cults that seem to be roaming the place. Have fun!

You May Know It as Proxima Centauri

Orbiting an M-type red-dwarf star, Alkon is a dark planet. Landing on it for the first time, I was confronted with an environment that felt well and truly alien. Because of its dark sun, all the vegetation on the surface of Alkon shares a similar dark palette. To humans, a bunch of blood-red and deep purple plants may give the environment an aura of unexplainable evilness. However, if your blood was blue like the centri, wouldn't you think our flesh-green plants and blood-coloured sky is a bit evil as well? What I want to say is that despite the blood red sky and occasional storms which rain precious metals in the coastal regions, Alkon is a decently fine environment. Where trouble really comes in is its government. Alongside Lollunia, Alkon was the first state to form the Galactic Conglomerate and they've been riding on that high ever since. They carry a sense of responsibility for 'educating' and controlling the less-developed societies within the Orion Arm. Please read my chapter on Delta Achro III or my chapter on Earth for more details. Basically, they're really bad at it and it never ends well. Yay.

The Worst City In the Galaxy, According to Nik

First thing a tourist sees in the city of Gett is its magnicifent space elevator. The complex resides in the heart of the city, shooting up into the sky and ending at a space station that I consider to have the comfort level of an airport. The city itself is extremely confusing. Its all high-rises and the road level constantly changes depending where you look, so none of the floor numbers on any buildings mean anything. You could enter a building on the 9th floor, walk to the other side, then walk out onto a balcony on the 33rd. With minimal aircraft regulation and the prevalence of monstrously tall buildings, your average stay in a Gett hotel room provides you with the lovely experience of being in constant terror that someone is going to miss a turn and smash their deluxe starcruiser right into you.

Nik says that Gett was the first city they ever stepped into. Not city in space, city city. Imagine living in the woods and then stepping out of a spaceship one day to be greeted with that. I would hate it too. One thing it does have going for it is that it was 1. the place where Michael and Nik first met and 2. has some absolutely wild crowds during our concerts.

I Imagine Some of the Science is Interesting

Hod is a station beyond our dimension as we know it. Eris has described this place to be situated within a 'pocket dimension', where a smaller dimension has glommed onto the side of our own. As such, Hod is only accessible by traversing through the Astral Plane into the 'pocket', also referred to as The Nisit Rift. Hod itself was built by a fringe group of Centri scientists intent on discovering the mysteries of the universe. These scientists are so dedicated to their craft they've essentially separated themselves from their previous lives in our dimension forever. Why? Well, the issue with traversing through dimensions via the Astral Plane is that time is wonky in the spaces between realities. The longer you spend within the Astral Plane, the faster time speeds up. You could be in there for a couple minutes and have skipped thirty years in real life. Hod naturally synchs up to whoever has most recently fallen in. So, the residents have gotten used to sudden forward spurts in time, accepting that if they go back, society may be unrecognisable. It is advised that if you are unable to pass back into the main dimension while jumping through the Astral Plane is to steer your ship towards the Nisit Rift as quickly as possible so one does not skip too many years. Any specifics on the experimentation on Hod are unclear, as our only previous residents (Nik and Alexander) were kept way out of the loop, sorry! Just know they were probably horrible.

Some Call It a Lesson on Why We Need the Prime Directive

The third moon of the planet Achro (Delta Achro III) is more commonly known as The Kingdom of Lyeland. Yes, kingdom. Back about two hundred human years ago, a group of centri thought it would be funny to land down there, still stuck in what could be compared to the european 'dark ages', and give one little kingdom all the futuristic weaponry and healthcare they wanted. Want to know what would happen if a medieval army had laser guns and was immune to the plague? The Delaney Dynasty.

The moon orbits a gas giant, of which orbits a G-type main sequence star. Lyeland is known for its low temperature. Though still liveable to any species in the galaxy, you'll regularly find achronian tourists complaining about the heat when visiting other worlds. Everything is in monochrome black-and-white (aside from the sky, but its cloudy enough that it doesn't matter) and therefore is a bit bland to look at. I like the old buildings and the big ringed planet up in the sky, but its not remarkable, really.

The Architecture is Nice?

Denora is the capital city of Lyeland. You may know it for its cobbled streets, the pristine fjord it sits within, or the huge ridiculous palace that was dropped right in the middle of it. Its freezing. When I visited, we were stuck right at dusk before the city dropped into two weeks of perpetual darkness. Buildings in Denora are very cute. They are small, built on tight streets and look magical in the snow. The low ceilings in these establishments give a sense of cosiness that makes you want to curl up and read a book by the fire. A society built for people my height? I loved it. On the flip side, Nik hit their forehead on so many door frames they were momentarily convinced they'd made a permanent dent there.

That Pale Blue Dot You're Probably From

My journal is pretty human centric, so, if you're a human reading this, this is probably redundant.

Earth's brief life within the Galactic Conglomerate started in late 2019, when the late king of Lyeland Ambrose Delaney historically flipped the vote in favour of Earth to yes for the Achronians. It's still unclear precisely why he did such a thing. I don't want to say it had anything to do with me, but I accidentally visited him in a dream the night before. I like to think he was thinking about Nik and I as humanity was on his mind, for my own sanity. We do know that he knew Michael's identity and life within the Planetesimals, so its not a far stretch to think he paid attention to his brother's bandmates. Anyhow, Earth never became a 'proper' state within the Conglomerate, sitting only as a contacted state with visitation to and from the celestial body permitted. Basically, we don't get votes except on things that concern us. It sucks, but honestly what do you expect.

2/4 Planetesimals Don't Recommend Growing Up Here

Okay, I didn't really grow up in Falmouth. I spent most of my teenage years here. Nik, similarly, spent their childhood and a tiny chunk of teenagedom in this hellpit. You'd think its nice, a little town nestled in the mountains of British Columbia sounds nice on paper, but people only visit to hike or ski for a reason. We're not even the most optimal place to stay, just the secondary spot for people who like to lower their standards for accommadation and drive an extra thirty minutes to the ski hill. Back when Nik was around, Falmouth was literally nothing, which is why aliens managed to live there undetected...

Besides outdoor activities, Falmouth is known for the mysterious disappearances of its townsfolk, yay! Turns out it was those centri scientists from Hod abducting people. If you haven't been abducted from Falmouth, you've probably had your memory erased. Nik's father was going around erasing memories to keep people off his back for being immortal, driving his child out of the planet for being a dick, and other nonsense he got into. Don't live here.