back to the Atlas

The Shurata system lies about 500 light-years from Earth.

The planet Shurata is nearly entirely covered by water; icecaps cover about 1/3 of the surface, however. A few relatively-young volcanic islands are the only dry land. The air is cold and contains too much carbon dioxide for humans or ara-humans to breathe it safely; filter masks are required outside of sealed environments. There is a busy ecology, though the equatorial oceans are becoming sadly polluted; all life on the planet is imported.

The planet has no moons; it has a diameter of 14,400 kilometers, and local gravity is 0.125 G.

A long-established ara-human colony, conquered hundreds of years ago by the Glarrik. Millions of inhabitants toil in deplorable conditions for the Glarrik industries. Human (and alien) minds being what they are, a small proportion of the non-Glarrik inhabitants work willingly for the Glarrik, keeping the others in line.

The main settlements are on islands near the equator, or on platforms in the ocean.

Production of food, repair of spacecraft, and production of ship fuel are the main industries. An orbital shipyard is used for final assembly of spacecraft, and attachment of weapons -- the Glarrik don't allow spacecraft weapons to be built on Shurata.