Stella Nauta is a fictional universe set ten thousand years in the future. Humanity has burst the confines of our home planet and spilled out into the stars.
Faster than light travel has proven impossible and yet we strive for ever greater subluminal speeds to carry us across the chasms of void between the burning lanterns of civilization.
A total of seven star systems make up the burgeoning interstellar empire of humanity. Colonized over a period of thousands of years they have each evolved into separate sovereign entities tied together by cooperation and trade but separated by vast distances that enforce autonomy.
This is a future neither utopian nor dystopian, but far stranger and more beautiful than we ever could have imagined.
As humanity filled the earth and gradually but inevitably merged into a single people, united and whole, we finally looked to the stars; Not with the curiosity of our youth, but with something altogether new: hunger.
We found shining jewels circling stars much like ours and cast ourselves at them with reckless abandon. Our failures were legion. Untold millions were lost in the gaps between stars. We never even considered stopping.
Among these new worlds there are four that match the beauty and magnificence of Earth. Together with our home these are called the Crown Worlds.
Sol is the bar by which we measure everything we know. Through wars, cataclysms, and environmental collapse we have clung to Earth and its inhabitants now number 33 billion. Earth is one of the five Crown Worlds and this combined with its obvious importance to humanity give it great weight in interstellar affairs.
In 2067 the first permanent colony was established on Mars and that has grown to a current population of 783 million. Numerous space-stations, moon colonies, and industrial complexes are spread throughout the system.
Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri) is our closest neighbor at 4.4 lightyears from Earth and the first extrasolar star-system explored and colonized. It consists of a binary system and a wide orbiting companion red dwarf. Because of the close orbit of the binary stars there are only 3 terrestrial planets.
The only habitable planet was colonized in 3122 and named Artemis in the old tradition of naming celestial bodies after ancient deities. Today Artemis has a population of 359 million and houses the headquarters of the Federation of United Systems.
Durre Menthor (Tau Ceti) is located 11.9 lightyears from Earth and is an old star slightly smaller than Sol. The inner-system is crowded with large terrestrial planets and the outer reaches are filled with a dense debris ring.
The fifth planet was our first terran class exoplanet, colonized in 4381 and named Horus; it is the most densely populated planet in the Federation with 37 billion. Horus is one of the five Crown Worlds and the leader in synthetic lifeforms.
The fourth planet, a very large sub-terran named Anubis, was colonized in 4612 and is exclusively populated by Synthetics. Setesh, a sub-terran moon of the massive gas giant Ra was colonized in 4733. Their populations are 504 million and 67 million respectively.
Keid (Omicron2 Eridani) is a small orange star located 16.5 lightyears from Earth. It is orbited by a binary pair consisting of a white dwarf and a red dwarf. The system is relatively small and dependent on imports for many resources as it has no gas giant, only an ice giant.
A single sub-terran planet named Coyopa was colonized in 5272. It has a population of 670 million.
Achird (Eta Cassiopeiae) is a binary system located 19.4 lightyears from Earth. The primary star has a compact system of planets due to it's companion but is not lacking in resources.
Inari is a beautiful terran planet that was colonized in 6460 and boasts a healthy population of 29 billion that bask in it's lush and temperate ecosystem. Inari is one of the five Crown Worlds.
A neighboring sub-terran named Raiden is a stark contrast to the beauty of Inari. It is a world ravaged by turbulent electrical storms that was colonized in 6549 and is the birthplace of a divergent sub-race of digital intellegences. It has a large population of 1.2 billion.
Alsafi (Sigma Draconis) is a small, young star located 18.8 lightyears from Earth. It is a system rich in resources but lacks a terran class planet.
The second planet is a sub-terran called Brahma that was colonized in 8185 and has a population of 936 million. There is also a sub-terran moon named Rudra orbiting Vishnu, an enormous ringed gas giant tipped on its side. Rudra was colonized in 8318 and has a population of 48 million.
Chara (Beta Canum Venaticorum) is the youngest and farthest colonized system at 27.3 lightyears from Earth. It is also the richest solar system yet encountered, even surpassing Sol.
In 9754 the first colony was established on the planet Thor, a large and fertile terran with three moons locked in resonance that serve to create extremely stable conditions across most of the planet. Its population has thrived, not only growing to 19 billion but also feeding the other Crown World located in the system.
Loki is a terran class moon slightly smaller than Earth that orbits a brown dwarf named Odin, thirteen times the mass of Jupiter. Loki was colonized in 10192 and has quickly grown to 7 billion inhabitants despite it's unique conditions. Being tidally locked to the gas giant, Loki has a hot and a cold pole and the population lives in a temperate ring of eternal twilight that runs north and south along the axis of the moon.
Loki is the birthplace of yet another form of divergent human life. Because of it's unique and hostile conditions, the population of Loki has been forced to adapt and over many generations of genetic manipulation have developed into an entirely different race of Posthumans.