First Empire

Capital city of the planet Dunsinane. Cawdor is a large, modern city about 100 kilometers from Castle Adelhardt.

Many citizens of Cawdor take part as historical reenactors in the tourist town of Crowmarthy.

Seat of Idara Adelhardt. Built by Jerald Adelhardt, the Castle is a modern re-creation of Mad King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein.

The Castle is open to tourists every Starday and Terraday.

Ahead, the trees divide, clearing a wide, straight lane at least a kilometer long. lined with flowering trees in white and yellows and pinks. At the far end, a craggy mountain rises steeply. At its top, gleaming white against grey granite, sits Castle Adelhardt.

The vista is as stunningly beautiful as tourist literature claims. The Castle itself looks like a toy, an idealized fairy castle with soaring towers, strong battlements, intricate crenelations atop strong walls. Pennants and flags of blue, yellow, and red wave from the towers.

Up from the sward, the side of the mountain is carved into a single straight stairway, broad enough to pass a Navy cruiser. Every step is a different shade, at the base an ochre so dark it shades into infrared, all the way to eye-searing indigo at the summit—it is as if a slice of brilliant rainbow froze in the sky and landed on the mountainside.

Rikk nods. “Okay, everyone’s right. That’s a sight indeed.”

Maarten waves at the fairyland castle. “I told you old Jerald was a character. He patterned this after a real castle in Kermany, on Terra…that one’s called New Swanstone.”

Jerald Adelhardt began Birnam Wood in the early 2100s CE by planting a tree for each new member of his Family. Within a few centuries, it was a dense and trackless forest. One path, the Southern Approach to Castle Adelhardt, was always kept clear of vegetation -- it is a long, impressive, path leading from the town of Cromarthy to the Southern Stair up to Castle Adelhardt. In addition, Birnam Wood is honeycombed with secret paths known only to the members of Idara Adelhardt.

A long-settled habitat in the Tarantula Nebula, with its own mass driver and long-distance rapidtrans network. For a time, Zain was home to Tsung-Dao Wu.

Formerly Christchurch

Wolf-Rayet star in the Tarantula Nebula, Greater Magellanic Cloud.

The LMC is cleaned out, denuded of naturally-occurring tachyon vesicles. The cloud shows evidence of at least three native galactic civilizations; the last apparently mined all of the Cloud's vesicles and then fell soon afterward.

Unknown to Humans, both Magellanic Clouds are under the domination of the Gergathan. Since c. 10 million BCE, both galaxies are virtually devoid of intelligent life. The only exceptions (outside Human settlements) are a few well-hidden teleportation facilities on bases maintained by the Gergathan.

One of many settlements in Earth's Lagrangian points. L4 was notable for its adult entertainment facilities. "The fleshpots of L4" was a common expression.

Gunboat attached the Headquarters of Tarantula Prison Facility, Greater Magellanic Cloud.

The GMC is cleaned out, denuded of naturally-occurring tachyon vesicles. The cloud shows evidence of at least three native galactic civilizations; the last apparently mined all of the Cloud's vesicles and then fell soon afterward.

Unknown to Humans, both Magellanic Clouds are under the domination of the Gergathan. Since c. 10 million BCE, both galaxies are virtually devoid of intelligent life. The only exceptions (outside Human settlements) are a few well-hidden teleportation facilities on bases maintained by the Gergathan.