The galaxy: stars, wonders and the dark between.

The layout

The galaxy is laid out in sectors, each 20 light years across. Each sector holds up to three stars, and the same universe always gives the same stars in the same places. Home's star sits at the middle, and every other star lies a few sectors out. Within a few jumps of home, the galaxy always holds a dying star and a black hole, so you will find them.

Every star has its own system: planets on their orbits, moons round some, and a gas giant or two. Systems are built by the same generator as home's own. Each planet is a world you can visit, with a station, rock fields or wrecks depending on what is there.

Star kinds

Star	How common	What it is like
Red dwarf	Most common	A dim red star. Keeps fewer planets, and its close worlds are cool.
Yellow	Common	A star like home's, with the usual number of planets.
White	Less common	A bright white star.
Blue	Rare	A large, hot blue star, drawn big on the chart.

Wonders

Now and then a star is a wonder instead. Each one changes the worlds round it, and nothing living is found round a black hole or a pulsar.

Wonder	What it is	What it does to its worlds
Dying red giant	A swollen, dim red star many times the size of home's.	A few worlds are left, hot close in. The giant churns in the sky.
Dying star	A star shedding its shell in glowing gas.	Its gas fills the sky with flares and colour. One is always found within a couple of sectors of home.
White dwarf	A small, fierce white star in the cloud it blew off.	A few worlds, lit by a small bright sun.
Pulsar	A spinning star whose beams sweep round.	Only a few scorched, frozen or bare worlds. The worlds carry radiation.
Black hole	A star's dead core, whose disc bends the starlight.	Only scorched, frozen or bare worlds. The black hole's shadow fills the sky. One is always found within a few sectors of home.

Wonders are rare, and the chance of each is set by the universe you are in. See the multiverse for how universes differ.

Worlds adrift with no star

Some systems have no star at all. Their worlds drift in the dark, lit only by far starlight, and they are frozen to the bone whatever their air. Nothing lives on them, and their sky shows a faint cold-blue sun. A rogue system shows on the chart as a dim, small smudge. Its worlds are rock, ice and gas giants.

Finding your way

• The Star Chart shows every star you know of, what kind it is, and what its worlds are.
• Stars you can reach by a jump are within 15 light years of where you are. Further stars need several jumps.
• Each system is a chart of its own. Travel from one landable world to another there is cheap, and across the system it costs more the further apart the orbits are.

To go between stars, read the Gate and the Vector Drive. For the worlds you can land on, read Planets and habitability.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.