Systems — Sun Chronicles compendium¶

Karnos region¶

Karnos System — hydra; seven beacons, six functional¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 42

— FH ch. 4

Karnos is a former independent dynastic territory, now a buffer frontier between Chaonia and the Phene imperial core. All seven beacons are named — each for the system it links to: Tarsa, Na Iri, Windworn, Sleepless, Aspera, Hellion Terminus, plus a dead seventh whose paired system is unknown. That is exactly the "seven total / six functional" split: the dead beacon is the non-functional one. Two of the functional beacons — Sleepless and Windworn — lead directly into Phene imperial space; an attack window discussed in FH ch. 4 favours entering via the Na Iri and Tarsa beacons instead.

Sleepless System — janus; the old imperial frontier, one drop from Karnos¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 33

A janus system (two beacons). One beacon → Karnos; the other opens the run toward Anchor, deeper into the Phene Empire, via Sandbank → Haymarket → Cut Stone. Long the leading edge of the old imperial frontier. Cross-ref: from Karnos's side, Sleepless is one of the two beacons leading "directly into imperial space" — the two accounts agree.

By Furious Heaven the Phene had heavily mined the Karnos-facing Sleepless beacon, and the minefield held off the Chaonian advance: an attack through the "extensively mined beacon" destroyed the Vermilion (FH ch. 84). In the climax Sun broke through it herself so the reserve fleets waiting in Karnos could enter imperial space —

— FH ch. 86

This is the Sleepless counterpart to Windworn (whose mined beacon Capt. Angharad Black forces open): by the end of FH both Karnos→imperial gateways are broken through.

Aspera System — the Chaonian foothold one hop from Karnos¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 6

— US ch. 24

A staging system on the Troia → Aspera → Karnos approach; Aspera is one of the systems a Karnos beacon links to (the "Aspera Beacon"; FH ch. 4). Chaonia seized a toehold here ~5 years before US and built it into a forward base; FH opens with a Phene drive to retake Aspera and the Hatti region. Connects to Troia (one hop) and Karnos.

Chaonian core¶

The Chaonian core: Chaonia, Molossia, Thesprotis — a mutually-linked scylla triad (Tinker-Evers-Chance convergence)¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 4

The republic's "triple heart": three scylla systems (five beacons each, though not all operable) that are each directly beacon-linked to the other two. A mutually-connected triangle of systems is a Tinker-Evers-Chance convergence — rare and strategically rich. That interconnection drove them to ally and ultimately unite as the Republic of Chaonia under the first queen-marshal. (Chaonia↔Molossia is shown explicitly in US ch. 8; see Molossia, below. Capital city Argos lies in Chaonia System.)

Molossia System — scylla; six planets, five beacons, the republic's main staging ground¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 4

— US ch. 8

Six planets, five of which anchor a beacon (scylla). The second planet Yǎnshī anchors the beacon to Troia — the war's main staging route toward the front; the fourth planet is Molossia Prime. A beacon transit from Chaonia drops into Molossia (its "sibling" system; US ch. 8), confirming the Chaonia↔Molossia edge of the core triad.

Thesprotis System — scylla; third member of the Chaonian core¶

Tier: canon

The third of the three mutually-linked scylla systems forming the Tinker-Evers-Chance convergence (see "The Chaonian core", above, for the quote and topology). Five beacons (not all operable), directly linked to both Chaonia and Molossia; a founding core system of the Republic of Chaonia. No Thesprotis-specific passage beyond the core description has been logged yet — named beacons and planets remain thin.

Troia System — cerberus; the gateway bottleneck guarding the Chaonian core¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 3

— US ch. 6

A cerberus system — three beacons; US ch. 42 names Troia as the type example. It is the choke point protecting the Chaonian core: traffic from Karnos or the Hatti region toward Chaonia must pass through it. Held by Chaonia since the Phene withdrawal (retained by Great-Grandmother Metis). Its three beacons connect to Molossia (inward, toward the core), Aspera (one hop outward toward Karnos), and the Kanesh route into the Hatti region.

Argosy heritage at Troia. The system's gas giant Colophon has seven inhabited moons, named after the seven auxiliary ships of the (historical) Mopsos Argosy — Ekwesh, Peleset, Shardana, Shekelesh, Teresh, Tjeker, Weshesh (US ch. 41). Tiana's father is from Tjeker. The Mopsos Argosy itself is referenced only in past tense in canon — apparently dissolved generations back, but leaving these onomastic traces in Chaonia's frontier system.

Kanesh System — Chaonian-held gateway into the Hatti territories¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 11

Taken by Chaonia ~20 years before FH in a grueling weeks-long battle (FH ch. 11); it opens a beacon route into the Hatti territories and onward toward Karnos (the Troia → Kanesh → Hatti axis). Capital Kanesh Prime (the Iridescent Sea; the war-scarred Esplanade). Formerly under Phene rule, now under Chaonian military governance overseen by Tiger Marshal Tomyris Vata. Its parliament is indigenous — Kanesh's own body, shut by the Phene ~100 years ago and reopened by Eirene (FH ch. 11); like the Larissan Senate it sends "comity" envoys to Chaonia. Five beacons were charted before the collapse, only three functional now (FH ch. 11) — a scylla degraded to three live beacons.

Chaonian outer rim¶

Odrysa System — janus → terminus; the Phene picket Sunbird's posting; Apsaras-collapse casualty¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 12

A Chaonian frontier system, terminus today, formerly janus. Two planets named on-page: Odrysa Prime (anchor of the surviving Pselkis Beacon) and Odrysa Sept (anchor of the dead beacon — "a terrestrial world with a sluggish white-and-pink cloud cover filled with toxins", FH ch. 12; the cloud toxicity is canonical evidence of the dead-beacon "garish-aura" infection that ruins anchor planets). The surviving Pselkis Beacon anchored at Odrysa Prime "led back into the heart of the republic" — so Odrysa is Chaonian, not Phene as the Sunbird's "ass end of nowhere" posting descriptor might first suggest.

Site of Makinde Bō's picket-cutter command (Sunbird, FH ch. 12) — where the Argosy-wreck plot opens. Also a date-anchor for the deep-history: a knnu anchor laid by an Argosy fleet last seen here "during Queen-Marshal Metis's reign" (~94 yrs pre-FH) still sits at Odrysa's heliopause.

Apsaras-collapse casualty. "Eight hundred years ago, parts of the beacon network had collapsed for reasons no one understood. Many beacons had failed. This was one of those. No ships would ever enter or exit this beacon again. An aura of garish colors shimmered inside its coil and spilled outward… Whatever had killed the beacon had infected the previously habitable planet" (FH ch. 12). The dead beacon's paired system is unnamed in canon — recorded as count-only (not as a severed edge, because we have no named pair to render to).

Pselkis System — Chaonian-inward beacon partner of Odrysa; site of the Pselkis Campaign¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 12

— FH ch. 47

A Chaonian system on the Odrysa→republic route; surfaced in canon as the destination of Odrysa's Pselkis Beacon and as the locus of the Pselkis Campaign ~45 yrs pre-FH — Queen-Marshal Jīnzhā (Sun's uncle) was "knifed through the eye into the brain by a banner soldier during a boarding action" there. Pselkis was also a recent flashpoint ("in the wake of last year's battle", FH ch. 12). Beacon class is not stated; the two beacons we can infer are (a) the Odrysa Beacon at Pselkis (pair of Odrysa's Pselkis Beacon) and (b) the inward link "back into the heart of the republic" — so Pselkis is minimum janus (prime-rule) but could be larger.

Mishirru / deep-interior systems¶

Tsurru System — three beacons on every map, but a hidden fourth (and a forced fifth)¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 66

Charted everywhere as a cerberus — three beacons: one to Meli, one to Kumbala, and a dead beacon anchored to Tsurru Prime. Persephone discovers an undocumented fourth beacon and reasons that, because beacon counts are always prime, a fifth must also exist — making Tsurru a concealed scylla. This independently reconfirms the prime-number rule and establishes that beacon maps can be incomplete: beacons can be hidden or omitted. The discovered fourth beacon is itself dead/inert (a "big dead" artifact with no aura).

Two distinct dead beacons in Tsurru System: - The Tsurru-Prime-anchored dead beacon (one of the three on every chart, FH ch. 66). Its pair-end is unnamed in canon; Persephone (FH ch. 61) speculates "For all we know, it linked directly to She Who Bore Them All" — Gap-bound is the strong inference. - Libertalia — the 4th, undocumented dead beacon, anchored at a Tsurru ice-giant moon and discovered by Persephone in FH ch. 66. Not a separate lost destination system: on the beacon's surface sits the in-system conurbation also called Libertalia ("cocoon-like habitats… tens-of-klicks-long conurbations", FH ch. 66). See the Libertalia entry below for the corrected modelling.

Both dead beacons are modelled as severed Gap-bound stubs from Tsurru (pair-ends unnamed in canon). The Apsaras Gap topology entry in history.md sets the canon framing.

Landfall — terminus; first Argosy haven and end of the Mishirru janus line¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 42

— FH ch. 70

The first planetary haven of the Argosy fleets fleeing the Celestial Empire — settled long before beacons existed. Now a terminus (single beacon; a dead end by beacon drive) at the far end of a long single-stage janus line running from Mishirru's capital out to Landfall. See history.md for the founding sequence (~3,000 yrs ago).

The post-Landfall haven extended to five marginally habitable planets — "Landfall, Arafel, Cataract, Scepter, and Alabaster, each of which had a marginally habitable planet" (FH ch. 71). All five are now on the Mishirru core line; Destiny (further along the same string) was the fully habitable destination that became the queendom capital. The Alabaster Argosy is named after Alabaster System and remains the diplomatic-treaty Argosy with Chaonia (FH ch. 13; see polities.md).

Yele region¶

Yele System (Yele Prime) — eleven-beacon capital of the Yele League; one of only two left¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 15

— FH ch. 60

Yele System is the eleven-beacon capital of the Yele League — the unnamed 11-beacon class (see travel-tech.md, US ch. 42). After the collapse it is one of only two surviving eleven-beacon systems, the other being Anchor in the Phene Empire. That hub status is the source of League power: member systems must route through Yele to reach one another, controlling trade and movement. Of the eleven, three are dead and eight working (FH ch. 90). Of the eight working, three routes are identified: to Nalanda and Sankore (each a three-beacon run, FH ch. 60) and to Chaonia (a three-beacon run, FH ch. 58 — whose Yele-adjacent first hop is the named Larissa; see the Chaonia–Yele frontier section below). The remaining five working beacons have unmapped destinations; four named League members (Takshashila, Al-Quaraouiyine, Gondishapur, Padua — US ch. 48) are candidates without asserted beacon links (see entry after Nalanda & Sankore).

On the 3 dead beacons. Persephone notes the symmetry explicitly — "Of Yele's eleven beacons, three are dead, which, curiously enough, is the same number of dead beacons in Anchor's eleven-beacon system" (FH ch. 90). The most parsimonious reading is that both eleven-beacon hubs lost their inner-radial connections toward She Who Bore Them All in the Apsaras collapse — Yele and Anchor are the two survivors of the original Apsaras hub class, both lost an identical 3 to the collapse, both face the central Gap topologically. Not canonically stated; strong inference. See the Apsaras Gap entry in history.md and the open question on dead-beacon directionality in open-questions.md. The pair-ends are unnamed in canon — recorded as count-only, not as severed edges.

Yele Prime — capital planet; the Glorious City and the Celestial Shrine¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 15

Yele Prime, capital of the Yele League, hosts the Glorious City (a tiered "urban mountain" of four terraced levels) and the Celestial Shrine, which displays famous artifacts/relics of the lost Celestial Empire (US ch. 2). It also has a governmental Congress moon and hermitages of the seers of Iros (see polities.md).

Nalanda & Sankore — Yele League systems; each three working beacons from Yele Prime¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 60

Two Yele League member systems, each reached from Yele Prime by a three-working-beacon route (a route hop-count, not their own beacon complement — counts unstated). Both sit a short knnu gap from Meli (a Trinity Coalition system), forming the back-door corridors Meli →(knnu)→ Nalanda / Sankore →(3 beacons)→ Yele Prime that let Phene/Trinity traffic reach the League bypassing Chaonia. In a Chaonian show of force the fleet split at Yele — Sixth Fleet to Nalanda, Ninth to Sankore (FH ch. 65; see history.md). No planets or native detail given for either.

Nalanda ↔ Sankore are not directly linked (inference, strong) — three converging passages: Zàofù's fleet split at Yele to send the Sixth to Nalanda and the Ninth to Sankore (FH ch. 65 — if a direct Nalanda↔Sankore link existed, the split wouldn't need Yele as the pivot); Meli's knnu reaches "either of two Yele League systems" (FH ch. 65 — two destinations, not a chain); and the general "members must travel through Yele to get to the other League systems" (FH ch. 15). Each is reached only via Yele Prime.

Takshashila, Al-Quaraouiyine, Gondishapur, Padua — four further named Yele League member systems¶

Tier: canon

— US ch. 48

Four named League member systems, surfaced via merchant-freighter registries. Their beacon-link status to Yele Prime is not asserted in the text — they are explicit members but no route is specified. They are candidates for some of Yele's 5 unmapped working beacons (see Yele System entry above). All four (with Nalanda and Sankore) echo real-world historical centres of learning — onomastic flavour, not lore.

Not rendered on the map. Each is recorded here as a canon List entry, but with no asserted beacon link and no other geometric anchor, any rendered position would be arbitrary (the map's force-directed layout has no signal to place them, and a layout_near pin to Yele would either overlap all four at a single point or scatter them across the map depending on configuration). They will be added to the topology block — and rendered — once a beacon link to them is established in canon. They are also listed in polities.md under Yele-League membership.

Phene core¶

Anchor System — eleven-beacon imperial capital of the Phene; eight functional, three dead¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 15

— FH ch. 86

The Phene Empire's eleven-beacon capital — one of only two surviving eleven-beacon systems (the other is Yele, above). Persephone's network-vision counts the beacons on-page: 8 functional, 3 dead, 11 total — a firmer datum than Yele's (where only the total is stated). Anchor is the seat of the Rider Council and the "heart of the empire," and one of the three founding Triple A capital systems — Anchor, Auger, Axiom (see polities.md). Capital planet Anchor Prime. Reached from Karnos along the Sleepless corridor (below) and, in FH's climax, invaded for the first time in Phene history (see history.md).

On the 3 dead beacons. Persephone flags the identical-to-Yele symmetry as "curiously enough" (FH ch. 90). Most parsimonious reading: both 11-beacon survivors lost their inner-radial connections toward She Who Bore Them All in the collapse — each 11-beacon system was structurally a primary Apsaras hub, and both face the central Gap. Not canonically stated; strong inference. See history.md Apsaras Gap entry. The 3 dead pair-ends are unnamed in canon — recorded as count-only, not as severed edges.

Haymarket System — intact cerberus crossroads on the Karnos→Anchor corridor¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 84

A cerberus (three beacons, all functional) and a crossroads on the corridor from Karnos into the Phene core. Its three beacons: Refuge (toward Jorsha/Mishirru), Sandbank (toward Sleepless → Karnos), and Cut Stone (which is "a single drop from Anchor"). This pins the corridor: Karnos → Sleepless → Sandbank → Haymarket → Cut Stone → Anchor (corroborated from the Phene side: "a straight shot through four systems to Karnos," FH ch. 18).

Auger & Axiom — the other two Triple A capitals; seven-beacon hydras¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 86

— FH ch. 96

The two founding Phene capitals beside Anchor (the Triple A; see polities.md). Both are seven-beacon hydras — "crucial intersections," firmly below the eleven-beacon tier (which is only Yele and Anchor — this passage also re-confirms that). Capital planets Auger Prime (landmark: the plain of triple-headed Cyclops) and Axiom Prime (the restricted "floating concourse," US ch. 42). Anchor has a direct beacon to each ("the Axiom and Auger Beacons," secured inside Anchor System), so the three capitals form a tightly-coupled cluster — though a direct Auger↔Axiom link is not stated (see open-questions.md).

Trinity Coalition¶

The Trinity Coalition is a second Tinker-Evers-Chance convergence: Meli, Kumbala, Tsurru¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 60

Meli, Kumbala, and Tsurru are mutually beacon-linked — a second confirmed Tinker-Evers-Chance convergence, distinct from the Chaonian core (above). The text calls TECs "rare" but never asserts only two exist; the Anchor / Auger / Axiom triangle (the Phene's "Triple A" capital cluster) has confirmed Anchor↔Auger and Anchor↔Axiom beacon links (FH ch. 94, "we can get to Auger or Axiom Beacons" from Anchor) but Auger↔Axiom is never explicitly asserted — so a third TEC is not ruled out (see open-questions.md). The three Trinity members are physically distant but each sits one short knnu gap (50–70 days) from a different external trade node, giving the Coalition three Argosy routes facing three powers: Meli → Nalanda/Sankore → Yele, Kumbala → Harahuvati → Destiny (Mishirru/Phene), Tsurru → Hellion (→ Karnos). (Builds on the existing Tsurru entry, whose beacons to Meli and Kumbala are already recorded.)

Meli System — Trinity member facing the Yele League; seat of the Matrone¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 55

The Trinity system whose external knnu route faces the Yele League (via Nalanda or Sankore). Capital Meli Prime; holds the Matrone's Hive and the Trinity treasury. Beacon-linked internally to Tsurru and Kumbala (count/class unstated). Taken by Chaonia in the FH Trinity Campaign (see history.md).

Kumbala System — Trinity member facing Mishirru/Destiny; seat of the Magava¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 60

The Trinity system whose external route — the "Jewel Road to Destiny" — faces the Phene Empire via Mishirru: a short knnu gap to Harahuvati, three beacon drops from Destiny (heart of old Mishirru, now a Phene provincial seat — see the resolved Destiny question in open-questions.md). Capital Kumbala Prime, site of the Magava's Grove.

Hellion (Hellion Terminus) — degraded janus→terminus; the back-door mouth from Karnos¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 58

A single-beacon terminus reached from Karnos (Karnos's sixth/Hellion beacon). Formerly a janus, now a terminus — a degraded system (beacon-class can drop over time; cf. Odrysa, FH ch. 11). Not a dead end but a back door: a six-light-year knnu tow reaches Tsurru in the Trinity Coalition, opening the Phene↔Yele bypass around Chaonia. A smuggler haven, outside Chaonian reach pre-FH.

The dead Hellion beacon is a visible Apsaras-collapse casualty. "It had originally been a janus system but was now a terminus because its second beacon had died in the Apsaras Collapse. She'd seen that beacon up close, stained with a glorious neon-glow aura in the shape of spiny starburst, an artifact of the cascading failure" (FH ch. 41). The dead beacon's paired system is not named — but its destination is canonically toward the Gap (Hellion sits on the Gap's outer rim — see Apsaras Gap entry in history.md).

Libertalia — Tsurru-internal conurbation on the 4th hidden dead beacon¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 67

— FH ch. 66

Libertalia is the 4th, hidden beacon of Tsurru System — discovered by Persephone in FH ch. 66 when her ship is sent to a destination charted as a moon and arrives to find "a monstrously large spiral artifact with a dull ceramic surface". The beacon itself is dead and inert (no aura, unlike the broken Hellion Terminus beacon). On its surface sits the in-system conurbation that the Trinity calls Libertalia: "the surface of the beacon is pitted by growths… cocoon-like habitats connect to each other by sealed freight-ways… tens-of-klicks-long conurbations lit by sparkling lights" (FH ch. 66).

Correction to the earlier model. Libertalia is not a separate (lost) destination system reached via a Tsurru beacon. It is a place inside Tsurru System, sitting on the surface of one of Tsurru's own dead beacons (the 4th, undocumented one — separate from the 3rd-charted dead beacon anchored at Tsurru Prime). The beacon's pair-end (where the 4th beacon's twin sits, in some now-disconnected star system) is unnamed in canon.

Map model. No separate libertalia system node. Tsurru's two dead beacons (the 3rd-charted Tsurru-Prime one + the 4th-hidden Libertalia one) are rendered as two severed Gap-bound stubs from Tsurru — see the Tsurru topology block above. The prime-rule-inferred 5th beacon (FH ch. 66, "there must also be at least a fifth since beacons always appear in star systems in prime numbers") is not rendered: its existence, state (working / dead), and destination are all unknown.

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 60

Beyond its beacon topology (above): Tsurru is the Trinity system facing Karnos/Chaonia via a six-light-year knnu gap to Hellion, and it is the Coalition's political capital — Tsurru Prime (already noted as the dead-beacon anchor) holds the Karsh's Grand Sanctuary (see polities.md). It was the first system Chaonia's fleet entered in the Trinity Campaign.

Mishirru Province¶

The Mishirru core line — a single beacon string, Landfall ↔ Destiny¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 76

Old Mishirru's core systems form one ordered beacon line (the janus line of the Landfall entry, US ch. 42, seen end-to-end). Order, terminus → capital: Landfall – Arafel – Cataract – Oasis – Scepter – Alabaster – Destiny. Seven are named, but the queendom is the "core eight" (a shrine mural shows eight systems) — one core system is never named on-page. The modern province is larger: "Mishirru's fourteen star systems" (FH ch. 78). Note: "Alabaster" the system is distinct from the Alabaster Argosy (a knnu fleet) that shares the name.

Destiny — seven-beacon hydra; capital of old Mishirru (holy city Everlasting)¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 86

A seven-beacon hydra and the capital end of the core line — the same place as "Mishirru's glorious capital" from which the janus line runs to the Landfall terminus (US ch. 42); they are the two ends of one line, not distinct points. "The heart of the old queendom of Mishirru and now the seat of a provincial government under the empire" (FH ch. 60) — a cultural/political capital, now a Phene provincial seat (see polities.md). Holy city Everlasting.

Cataract — janus; the brown-dwarf "cataract" waypoint chain¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 76

A red-dwarf janus (two beacons) on the core line, between Arafel and Oasis. The region is named for a run of brown dwarfs that, pre-beacon, let knnu fleets island-hop the long Cataract→Oasis gap — five named waypoints, each with an orbital habitat: Tomb, Spring, Pool, Temple, Oracle (Oracle last). The single Cataract–Oasis Beacon now skips the whole chain; only religiously-controlled Crow-class ships still service the (outsider-banned) habitats. (Confirms the unverified "Cataract route / brown-dwarf waypoints" lead, with names.)

Oasis, Arafel, Scepter, Alabaster — named core-line systems (thin)¶

Tier: canon

Four core-line systems with little beyond their place in the line (FH ch. 76; ch. 71). Oasis is a bare K-class star (no settled planet — it is absent from the ch. 71 list of systems with "marginally habitable" planets). Arafel sits Landfall-side of Cataract; Scepter and Alabaster sit between Oasis and Destiny. No beacon counts given individually.

Harahuvati — annexed (outside the core eight); the Trinity↔Mishirru knnu hinge¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 76

Not on the core line — annexed "outside the core eight," now part of Mishirru Province. It is the knnu hinge between the Trinity Coalition and Mishirru (the "Jewel Road"): a short knnu gap from Kumbala (Ousoos Argosy), then three beacon drops to Destiny (FH ch. 60). It also sits on the Belt of Jewels Road — the beacon route out to the super-distant terminus Belt of Jewels, and the approach Sun's fleet took to enter Mishirru (FH ch. 70). A knnu-in / beacon-out transit node — extends the existing Kumbala entry.

Mishirru ↔ Phene heartland — two beacon paths, via Sena and Aila (refutes "Destiny→Axiom")¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 78

Mishirru reaches the Phene core through two frontier crossings, Sena and Aila (the Phene-side border systems are Jorsha and Alternity). The climactic invasion routes: Sena → Jorsha → Agate → Old Spiral → Refuge → Haymarket → Cut Stone → Anchor, and Aila → Alternity → Hunger → Rake → Gardens → Anchor. There is no direct Destiny↔Axiom beacon — the lead's claim is refuted; Axiom is several hops deep in the Phene core.

Sena — the "official" Mishirru/Phene boundary; mouth of the Sena prong¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 76

One of the two Mishirru→Phene crossings and the official boundary between the two. Capital Sena Prime (a terraformed world); the system holds the Jorsha Beacon (the crossing into the Phene border system Jorsha) and the orbital complex Port Khayzuran. It was Chaonia's staging system for the Sena invasion prong.

Aila — the second Mishirru/Phene crossing; mouth of the Aila prong¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 82

The second Mishirru→Phene crossing; holds the orbital complex Port Shivakiar. Mouth of the Aila invasion prong (Aila → Hunger → Rake → Gardens → Anchor). Beacon count unstated.

Jorsha & Alternity — the Phene-side border systems facing Mishirru¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 83

The Phene-side pair facing Mishirru's Sena/Aila — exactly two, per FH ch.83. Jorsha is Sena's partner (the Jorsha Beacon) and the first Phene hop on the Sena prong (→ Agate). Alternity is Aila's partner — the first Phene hop on the Aila prong, between Aila and Hunger. The Chaonian briefing in FH ch.78 ("He will proceed via Hunger, Rake, and Gardens Systems to Anchor, fighting all the way") abbreviates the Aila prong by listing the forward fighting locations after the border crossing; "drove forward from Aila into Phene territory" IS the act of entering Alternity (the border), so the narrator doesn't redundantly name it. This reading makes FH ch.83's "the two border systems" exact (Jorsha + Alternity) and the Chaonian briefing's three named fight stops (Hunger / Rake / Gardens) coherent.

The Rider Manishtusu seats at Jorsha; the Rider Arakamani took refuge at Alternity after Sun's fleets reached Destiny (FH ch.83) — refuge, not residence, fitting a border system that wasn't a primary battlefield (so omitted from the briefing's fight-list).

Anchor-corridor pass-through systems (Agate, Old Spiral, Refuge / Hunger, Rake, Gardens)¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 84

Six systems known only as ordered hops on the two Anchor prongs; no beacon counts or planets are given for any. Sena prong: Jorsha → Agate → Old Spiral → Refuge → Haymarket (Refuge is Haymarket's Mishirru-facing neighbour via its "Refuge Beacon"). Aila prong: Aila → Hunger → Rake → Gardens → Anchor. The two prongs are disjoint between Mishirru and Anchor (they converge only at Anchor; the Sena prong also passes Haymarket).

Outer-rim caravan route (Harbor / Tranquility)¶

A second deep-interior corridor off the Karnos front — a back door to Chaonia (not Yele; the Yele back door is the separate Trinity route). It runs the long way around the rim of beacon space, mixing working-beacon legs with knnu Argosy gaps across dead-beacon breaks.

Tranquility Harbor (T-Harbor) — a station in Harbor System; the rim crossroads¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 77

Correction to the lead: T-Harbor is a station (shipyards, wharves, a cylinder habitat) at a gas-giant L-4 in Harbor System — not itself a system, and distinct from the Tranquility System its beacon points at. It is a chokepoint: all traffic to/from Tranquility transits it. Its three directions: inward to the Phene core (T-Harbor → Anchor), outward to Tranquility → Sogdia Limit, and back along the caravan route toward the Hatti region / Hesjan space / Chaonian space.

Harbor System & Tranquility System¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 77

Harbor System — big-red-star system hosting T-Harbor; its gas giant "the Sea That Has Become Known" anchors the beacon to Tranquility; reachable by both beacon and knnu; no habitable worlds. Tranquility System — the fourth-most-populous in the Phene Empire, the only known system with two Destiny-class planets ("Destiny-class" = the top habitability/population tier). Reached only through T-Harbor; beyond it lies Sogdia Limit.

This is Phene proper — but the empire's far periphery, not its heartland. A deep dive (FH ch. 17, 20, 77, 83) confirms sovereignty: Tranquility-born Apama places it inside the empire ("the Tranquility Harbors of the empire", FH ch. 17), her mother describes Phene Rider service-pod postings there ("Tranquility has strategic significance for the empire", FH ch. 20), and the Phene high command treats T-Harbor as one of their outer systems (FH ch. 83). The imperial core is the Triple A (Anchor / Auger / Axiom); the Tranquility arm is its far rim. It is not a separately-named province like Mishirru — the books give the Phene outer rim no administrative name (see open-questions.md). So the phene tag is correct; the far-rim "arm" is a real core-vs-periphery shape, not a missing region.

The caravan route — heterogeneous beacon + knnu corridor¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 58

Karnos → (Na Iri & Tarsa beacons) → the Hatti region → Hesjan-controlled regions → the Skuda Reach → (broken beacon lines bridged by knnu gaps) → T-Harbor → Tranquility. Gap count is given loosely (3, "4 incl. the Proxima haul," "four knnu hops," "4–5") — the Proxima haul is the fourth, sometimes-uncounted leg. A ~2-year round trip, operator changing at every stage (a regional Argosy per gap + corsair escort), through territory raided by Skuda raiders, Gatoi brigands, and Hesjan corsairs. Order now largely recovered (FH ch. 53, ch. 57): Karnos → Na Iri → Kaska → Hatti → Samuha (last Chaonian-held system) → Rosetta (where cartel/Hesjan space begins) → Nusrat Quince → [first of ~4 knnu hops] → Orfeo → … → Segovia → T-Harbor → Tranquility. Inner legs are confirmed beacons: Karnos → Na Iri (Na Iri Beacon @ Karnos Terce) → Kaska (Kaska Beacon @ Na Iri Terce, FH ch. 52).

Chaonia–Yele frontier¶

Larissa System — Yele-origin world on the Chaonia↔Yele chain; modeled as the Yele-adjacent hop¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 27

The only system the text names on the Chaonia↔Yele axis. Culturally Yele (the "Larissan Yele" dialect, FH ch. 84; the Larissan Centaur Division counts among "allied Yele League ships", FH ch. 4) but assimilated by Chaonia early in Eirene's reign as a strategic asset (FH ch. 27). Its Larissan Senate sends comity envoys to Chaonia — the Yele-facing analogue of Kanesh's parliament on the Hatti front (FH ch. 31). Larissa Prime is also an academic centre — the Larissa Institute of Technology and Dialectic is named as a prestigious faculty posting (FH ch. 10). No beacon count or class is ever given — silent in text, not merely un-mined.

Polity / control model: following the Hatti precedent, Larissa carries polity: yele_league (regional/cultural identity) and control: chaonia (current holder). Per CONVENTIONS.md: "polity = region/identity; current CONTROL (if different) goes in control:".

Position on the 3-hop chain — modelling choice, not canon. The books place Larissa "on the route" but never pin its slot. We model it as the Yele-adjacent hop — direct beacon yele ↔ larissa, then route larissa → chaonia with hops: 2 (one unnamed intermediate remains). Reason: Larissa is culturally Yele, so placing it nearer Yele in the layout preserves spatial intuition. The middle-slot and Chaonia-adjacent alternatives are not ruled out by the text (see open-questions.md).

Eel Gulf — the knnu waypoint between the Kanesh/Hatti frontier and Yele¶

Tier: canon

— FH ch. 18

A short knnu hop to Yele; historically the Phene/Hesjan side's best trade-and-diplomacy route to the Yele League. The route ran from the Phene/Hesjan side through Kanesh's sphere to the Eel Gulf hop and on to Yele — so Eel Gulf sits topologically between the Hatti/Kanesh frontier and Yele. Chaonia's capture of Kanesh (~20 yrs pre-FH) cut off the Phene's access (it holds the chokepoint), forcing Phene traffic onto the Trinity back door — a key reason the Trinity became FH's prize. Note: the Phene lost access; the knnu link itself isn't depicted as physically destroyed (Chaonia, the Yele's ally, now controls the chokepoint). Also the site of the war-deciding Battle of Eel Gulf (see history.md).

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