Far Away

From Peter F Hamilton

Far Away was settled around 2200 and, as of 2380, is the furthest planet established from Earth. Far Away has 40% standard gravity, which gives the planet unique characteristics. The capital is Armstrong City.

A wormhole was established to the planet around 2200 after Far Away's star gave off a massive flare. The flare was triggered by an alien species, referred to as the Starflyer by the Guardians of Selfhood, to send a message and caused almost all of Far Away's native life to be wiped out. The remains of an alien spacecraft (named the Marie Celeste as it was apparently abandoned) were discovered on the planet and an institute was set up by the Halgarth family to reserch and investigate it.

Far Away is home to the Guardians of Selfhood and is the true wild world of the Commonwealth. Due to the low gravity and lack of tectonic plates on Far Away, the planet is home to the largest volcanoes in the known galaxy. These three volcanoes are called the Grant Triad and consist of Mount Zeus (17km high), Mount Titan (23km high and the only active one) and Mount Herculaneum which is the largest (711km across its base and a twin-caldera summit 32km high).

The planet has no cybersphere and no modern communications outside of Armstrong City and the larger towns. Satellites were sent into orbit but were destroyed by the Guardians of Selfhood. Radio is the only method of communication in the countryside but the turbulent ionosphere doesn't help it at all.