Locations
Version 0.7 - This is derived from the Zoonbats Production Guide and may contain spoilers.
Locations
The Ansimh Planetary System
The Ansimh system consists of four moons, which orbit the planet Ansimh:
The main characters all live on the third moon, Shinma.
Ansimh
Ansimh is a large rocky planet that is inhabited, although its population is no greater than those of Minsha and Shinma. While there are polar ice caps, the vast majority of the planet is a hot, sandy desert, with narrow verdant bands north and south of the arid equator that give the planet two strikingly distinct green stripes. Much of the population of Ansimh lives within these temperate strips, but the planetary government is based near the South pole. Some nomadic cultures live in the desert areas between the temperate zones and the frigid poles.
The Koroum people are said to have originated from the temperate zones of Ansimh, and the Z’jurundu are believed to have come from the far southern regions near the poles.
Much of the lore of Ansimh is as yet undefined, but Toast says that Ricardo Covington claimed to have serenaded the triplet princesses of an ice kingdom on the south pole of Ansimh. (Chapter 1, p. 70). The princesses are depicted as being similar to Z’jurundu, but lacking the fibrous antennae and with the addition of long, cat-like tails.
Ansimh has 24-hour days and a year that lasts 333 days. The moons have slightly different day lengths that can vary based on their positions in orbit, and their years are much shorter. But since Ansimh is the seat of the planetary system government, all moons follow its calendar for coordination of government and business.
The Year and Calendar
The lunar year is 333 days long and divided into 11 months. The months are:
Space Travel and Cultural Impact
Though space travel between Ansimh and its moons has been routine for thousands of years, it remains expensive and challenging. A cataclysmic event in the distant past has left societies disconnected from many of the advanced technologies that were once commonplace. This loss of knowledge shapes the culture and technological development of the inhabitants today, with people in different walks of life choosing belief systems based on science, religion, spirituality, superstition, or a mixture of all of these.
The Moons
The moons are listed below in order of their orbital positions:
1. Minsha
The first moon of Ansimh, Minsha is inhabited by humans, and its capital city is Minsha City. Some details about its geography and local governments are not yet defined, but we do know that Bloom is from there and her father continues to live there, working in some capacity for the corporation Genesys, a member corporation of the BTC (revealed in Chapter 4, pp. 166-169). A temperate moon that tends to be colder than Shinma. Minsha has temperate and subarctic regions, with forests, mountains, and tundra near the poles. The challenges of the environment on Minsha may revolve around resource scarcity due to colder temperatures, possibly leading to higher reliance on technology for farming or heating. Minsha has a pale blue appearance when observed in daylight in the sky of Shinma, and the lighting of its cities is visible from Shinma at night.
2. Nhasim
Nhasim is the second moon of Ansimh. Mostly uninhabited by humans, it does have an atmosphere and is designated as a nature preserve. It has wild, untamed landscapes, from dense forests to rocky terrain, supports a variety of flora and fauna. Its forests are primarily hardy trees that grow fairly low to the ground and are permanently windswept, similar to some windy coastal biomes on Earth. This foliage proliferates across much of the surface, giving Nhasim a dark green appearance in the sky when observed from Shinma. The harsh conditions include things like extreme weather patterns and dangerous wildlife that would make human settlement impractical. Currently, only specially trained researchers, conservationists, or select visitors are allowed to visit Nhasim. There are rumors about small human settlements and/or criminal hideouts connected to the moon's remote and dangerous nature, perhaps where abandoned spacecraft or illicit operations exist in “wind shadow” areas protected by natural variations in the landscape.
3. Shinma
Shinma is the third moon in Ansimh’s orbit. There are two main continent-nations, Zom and Sil. Also orbiting the planet at an altitude of about 1,000 feat is a floating island city, Niana. Overall, a temperate moon that tends toward hot and humid conditions, although there are seasonal and longitudinal climate variations.
Shinma’s Orbit and Day Length
Shinma’s orbit around Ansimh results in days that vary slightly in length. The shortest days are approximately 24 hours, while the longest stretch to 25.5 hours. This is due to the combined effects of Shinma’s own rotational spin and its orbit around Ansimh.Apparent Size Changes of the Planet and Moons, and the Effects on Shinma Life and Culture
The changing sizes and positions of Ansimh and the other moons significantly influence life on Shinma.Retrograde Motion and Astrological Significance
The moons' differing orbital speeds cause occasional retrograde motion, where they appear to slow down or even reverse direction. This is a scientifically understood phenomenon but is rich with superstitious beliefs.Shinma's Countries, States, and Cities
Shinma has two continents, with each one also being a nation: Sil, and Zom.
Sil
The continent-nation of Sil is divided into four states that are largely autonomous - coordinated, rather than strictly governed by, a central national government. The states and their major cities are:As the story goes on, it’s gradually revealed that Shinma is being held under an embargo organized by the BTC, under pressure from member corporations based on Ansimh and Minsha. That embargo is specifically intended to pressure each of the state governments of Sil to outlaw organic agriculture and use only imported bioengineered food products created by corporations off-moon. At the time of the story, in 3331, Ceb, Disan, and Sunnh have acquiesced and outlawed organic agriculture after a brutal campaign waged locally by an organization called Silnai Domestic Security, including the burning of organic farms and the murder of their owners and caretakers - an event that incidentally resulted in the disruption of Wayne Molly’s tutelage in the Vsai Kuranai orthodoxy of mystical drummers in his early childhood. As a young adult, Wayne researches the history of these events and in so doing, learns that the state of Ruma is the last remaining holdout in Sil where organic farming is still legal.
Ceb
The smallest of the four states, Ceb is an island located on Shinma’s equator in east-central Sil. Ceb has three major cities: Kira in the east, Kannat in the west, and Eunil in the north. Eunil is one of the four cities in Sil that is an access point to Niana as it passes over the continent (the others being Zizi and Majal in Disan, and Ujan in Ruma.
Eunil, Ceb
Eunil is the destination of Bloom, Toast, and Wayne. In Chapter 1 (pp. 3-4), Toast expresses his belief that Inaara is heading towards Eunil in a possible attempt to get to Niana and then off the moon, although he doesn’t know why. Bloom suggests that Wayne meet with them at the Checkmate Club in Eunil in an attempt to help recapture Inaara. Later in Chapter 7 (pp. 294-295), Wayne meets three young Fauna Festival enthusiasts who are heading to Eunil to participate in protests against the Biotech Superium-sponsored Fromage Festival.
Kira, Ceb
City in Northwest Ceb. A ferry runs across the channel to Usy.
Kannat, Ceb
City in Northeast Ceb.
Disan
Disan is the largest of the four states of Sil, extending a considerable distance north and south of the equator, and also the farthest to the west. Its four major cities are Haquel in the southwest, Usy in the southeast, Zizi along the equator on the west coast, and Majal along the equator in near the center of the state.
Disan’s central region is a mixture of desert highland and rocky desert with tall mesas. It contains two notable locations that we’ve seen so far in the story: the groundbreaking site of The Grand Interchange, and the Disan Plains Rail Yard (Chapter 4).
Haquel, Disan
The three main characters (Wayne, Toast, and Bloom) live and work in Haquel. Wayne moved there at the age of 5 and was primarily raised by his Granma Moira. Toast moved there at the age of 18 after having grown up in Rina Rina. And Bloom moved there at the age of 19 after having grown up spending time at her father’s home in Minsha City, Minsha, and her mother’s home on Shinma’s “sky city,” Niana.
Haquel is a large port city in a humid subtropical region south of Shinma's equator, in the state of Disan. Haquel typically has a long hot season that is partially mitigated by cool fog that rolls in during the late night hours. Haquel's winters are short but can include brief freezes.
Haquel's main industries currently include maritime trades related to ship-building as well as seafood harvesting, processing, and distribution; tourism; and manufacturing (particularly of timing/measuring devices such as clocks and scales).
Haquel is composed of many districts. So far in the story, two of them have been defined: the Fishscale District in East Haquel, and the Timekeepers’ District in South Haquel. Although the districts haven’t been fully defined and mapped yet, we know from Wayne’s statement to Myra Fine in Chapter 3 (p. 120) that it would take a 35-minute train ride to get from one district to the other. Based on the addresses and street numbers we know (e.g., the Belladonna Theatre is on 850th St. S near the docks), we can infer that Haquel is an absolutely gigantic city. However, some of that growth may have been vertical (new streets and buildings on top of old ones, e.g. Seattle’s underground) rather than sprawl.
Haquel's Districts: The Fishscale District
Located in East Haquel, The Fishscale District contains many of the city’s ports, as well as wholesale and retail seafood markets, seafood processing centers, ship-building and repair facilities, as well as general retail and service industry areas and dense urban housing in brick and stone masonry buildings ranging from 3 to 20 stories tall. Defined locations in the Fishscale District:
The Belladonna Theatre
The Belladonna Theatre is a large 3-screen movie theater with architectural influences of Streamline Moderne and Art Deco. Located at 85096 Carver Ave. between 850th St. S. and the K’jalil Expressway, Bloom’s friend and co-worker Caitrin describes its location as “down here near the docks in the historic and aquatically-scented Fishscale District in East Haquel” in issue #2 of her arts and culture zine “The Carver Ave. Review.” It’s been in business for at least 42 years, based on photographs of glamorous old premieres attended by movie stars that were found by Bloom and Kel (p. 239). However, its best days are clearly behind it, as the two of them lament that “This place used to host really famous stars and world premieres of movies! Now all we host is dust mites and four-month-old flops.” An opinion shared by the rest of the staff, and described in more detail in Pazil, Marli, and Nora’s movie reviews in “The Carver Ave. Review,” e.g. in issue #1 in the review of a movie called “The Freezer” in which Pazil states “Like every movie we get here at the Belladonna, this one has been showing for way too long. It’s not our fault. All of these movies are imported from Minsha and the distributors can’t get them here fast enough. They might even be stolen.” (This also alludes to the embargo situation that they are living under - movies from Minsha would have to be smuggled into Shinma.) On p. 214, we can see the movie poster one sheets of the movies playing at The Belladonna: “The Freezer,” “By Hook or By Crook,” and “High Rollers in Outer Space,” with each one having a handwritten note taped to it saying “Held Over!”
Employees:
- Horvalus Vickerts - Manager (since at least 3289, except when Murray was interim manager)
- Murray Sepulveda - Interim Manager (from Autumn 3329 - Spring 3330)
- Yura - Assistant Manager (her name tag says simply Ass. Man.)
- Bloom Banks - Concessions/Box Office
- Kel Cole - Concessions/Box Office
- Caitrin - Concessions/Box Office
- Pazil - Projectionist
- Marli - Projectionist
- Nora - Projectionist
Locations seen in and around the theater include:
- the parking lot
- the front entrance
- the Grand Lobby
- the Concession Lobby
- the employee breakroom (located under the stairs leading the the mezzanine)
- a service hall leading to the manager’s office and the manager’s office itself
- an area behind the screen of Auditorium 2
- a hidden courtyard found through a door behind Auditorium 2
- a storage room in the mezzanine containing old photographs and many boxes
- “big empty room number 14” - one of many empty storage rooms found by Bloom and Kel
- “The Lost Boudoir of Horvalus Vickerts” - a strangely fancy storage room containing boxes and a wardrobe that holds many of Mr. Vickerts’s signature corduroy blazers; whether or not it was ever really used as a “boudoir” is unconfirmed
- The mezzanine of Auditorium 3
Crescent Druggists
Located next door to the Belladonna Theatre at 85098 Carver Ave., Crescent Druggists is on the ground level of the 7-story-tall Hotel Haquel building. No longer a pharmacy, the Crescent is actually now a bodega owned by the family of Kina, the woman seen working the counter in pp. 212-213. Likewise, the Hotel Haquel is no longer a hotel; it has been converted to efficiency apartments for low-income tenants.
Pliskens Restaurant
Located somewhere near the Belladonna, Pliskens is an all-night diner.
Employees:
- Stu - Manager
- Ricardo Covington - Kitchen Manager/Line Cook
- Toast Duerr - Line Cook
- Doe - Dishwasher
- Ria - Server
Locations seen in and around Pliskens include:
- Outdoor seating on front patio
- Entrance lobby with host station
- Dining room
- Kitchen with grills and dishpit
- Service hallway
- Parking lot/garage with grease collection bins
Liquor 24
Located next door to Pliskens, Liquor 24 is an all-night retail liquor store where Wayne Molly worked prior to his leaving to go to work in the henchberry orchards in the Northern Lands in Ruma. Glimpsed in Chapter 3 (p. 105), we can see a break area behind the back door where Wayne and Toast sometimes meet up on breaks from their respective jobs.
Bloom's Apartment
Toast's Apartment
Haquel's Districts: The Timekeepers' District
A large district in South Haquel known for its large concentration of Vsai Kuranai people, an orthodox religious sect that Wayne was once part of as a young child, as well as its old-fashioned cobblestone streets. A sizeable population of secular musicians has also grown in the neighborhoods around the temple.
The Conveyance Bridge
Seen in Chapter 3 (pp. 117-122), the Conveyance Bridge is a small cobblestone footbridge over part of the Haquel River on the edge of the Timekeepers’ District. This is the place where Wayne Molly first met Myra Fine. Later, it was the place that he returned to following the trance induced by Myra’s performance of “The Djiurna.”
Timekeepers' District HIT Station
Seen briefly in Chapter 3 (p. 132), Myra Fine is shown about to catch a train back to her place from this location. HIT stands for Haquel Intercity Transit, a system of elevated trains and subway tunnels.
Wayne's Place
At present in the story, Wayne lives in the Haquel Clockworks Building (a former skeleton watch factory) with about a dozen other squatters. The building is four stories with rooftop access. On top of the roof is a music venue called Off-Moon. Wayne’s space is a large section of the fourth floor, which is largely open space that the squatters have divided using various curtains, shelves, stacks of crates, etc. His space hasn’t been shown yet but we do get a glimpse of the view from his rooftop in Chapter 4 (p. 180), showing his proximity to a large Z’jurundu settlement on the rooftops across the street.
Central Disan Highlands: The Grand Interchange
A major interstate highway system known as The Grand Interchange was planned in the late 3290s and early 3300s. The Grand Interchange was intended to streamline logistics throughout Sil by introducing a network of high-speed interstates that could rapidly move goods to and from port cities in the north and south, to and from the four major ports where Niana passes over Sil. It would have greatly increased the amount of shipping traffic, and the speed at which it could travel, with 10-14 lane interstate highways that would have replaced many of the outdated 2-4 lane highways that had been in use until that era. Its construction was scuttled soon after groundbreaking as part of the attacks on 17 Zunnual. Bloom and Toast stumble upon the fenced-off remains of the site of this attack in Chapter 4 (pp. 162-171).
Central Disan Highlands: Disan Plains Rail Yard
A large freight train center in central Disan that primarily serves as the last major hub before freight originating from the central and southern cities is directed to the more remote northern cities. First seen in Chapter 2 (p.64) while Bloom drives past it, she tells Toast that she’s hopped trains there on a previous journey she made from Majal to Rina Rina. Later in the chapter when Toast’s modification to use Bloom’s entire car chassis as a broadcast antenna for his Signal Disrupter causes her car to break down, Bloom suggests they backtrack by foot back to the rail yard and attempt to catch a train there. Eventually, with the help of Oaizmi Iona, they arrive back at the rail yard (Chapter 4, p. 189), where they break in and then wait for the opportunity to catch an express train - later revealed to be a type of biomechanical flying creature called a “locodragon.”
Majal, Disan
A city in central Disan. Majal is one of the four cities in Sil that Niana passes over every two weeks.
Usy, Disan
A city in eastern Disan. A ferry runs from Usy to Kira, Ceb.
Zizi, Disan
A city in western Disan. Zizi is one of the four cities in Sil that Niana passes over every two weeks.
Ruma
Ruma is the northernmost state of Sil, and second largest by land mass. Consisting of two major regions, Ruma’s Western region (called “Kura”) is mostly flat and swampy, with several large rivers that flow northerly. Ruma’s Eastern region (called “The Northern Lands”) is a large peninsula with much higher terrain that terminates in tall rocky cliffs to the north and east. A network of huge circular lakes divides the Western and Eastern regions.
Ruma is the only state in Sil where organic agriculture remains legal, in defiance of the embargo. The other three states, Disan, Sunnh, and Ceb, have outlawed organic farming. Due to this discrepancy in the laws of the states, traveling into and out of Ruma requires a complex set of permissions. In Chapter 7, Wayne briefly explains to Irena that he told the border agency a story that he wanted to travel to Ruma to spread the ashes of a deceased elder; Irena advised him to remember to stick to the details of his cover story as he exited Ruma as well.
Wayne notes in his call with Toast and Bloom at the beginning of the story that people in Ruma are “uptight Northerners” who “don’t want to give a ride to a dangerous reptile like me.” (Chapter 1, p. 4) Kuranai are actually mammals like all other people in the Ansimh planetary system; “reptile” is considered a racial slur in reference to the Kuranai peoples’ alligator-like appearance, so Wayne is actually commenting on a notable prevalence of bigotry in the Northern Lands. Koroum settlers have displaced Kuranai in the Northern Lands and there has been tension between those peoples for hundreds of years, mitigated somewhat in recent years by their shared resistance to the embargo.
Hamal, Ruma
Hamal is the westernmost major city in Ruma. It is located on the coast, on a slightly higher elevation than the swampy wetlands that comprise most of Western Ruma.
Ikuma, Ruma
Ikuma is the northernmost major city in Ruma, located in the “Northern Lands” in the upper regions of the Eastern Ruma peninsula.
Miya Bay, Ruma
A small town in the Northern Lands of Ruma. Wayne Molly apprenticed at a henchberry orchard in this area and is hitchhiking near here as the story begins.
Ujan, Ruma
The large port city Ujan is on the southernmost tip of Eastern Ruma, and it is notable as one of Sil’s four ports that allow access to Niana.
A ferry runs from Ujan to Eunil.
Eastern Ruma: The Echalona Cliffs
A long straightaway along the east coast of the central area of Eastern Ruma. Murray feels confident that the straightaway gives him plenty of time to pull 7 shots of espresso while away from the wheel.
Eastern Ruma: The Superknights Travel Center
A large truck stop (full name: Superknights Super Trucking Supercenter) along the Turquoise Coast region of Eastern Ruma, about two hours north of Ujan. One of the sites of the attacks on Xunnual 17, the Architexpand was partially contained, freezing the building in a bizarre fractalized shape. Certain areas were allowed to remain actively affected by Architexpand, periodically “reactivating” during rain storms, so that visitors can see those parts of the building continuing to grow to the point of collapse repeatedly as a reminder of the events of that day.
Sunnh
Sunnh is the southernmost state of Sil. Dotted with several huge circular lakes, its landscape has the most dramatic variations in elevation and biome of any of the four states, with low-lying wetlands in huge valleys between jagged mountain ranges.
Katu, Sunnh
Katu is a large port city in Southeast Sunnh. Murray tells Wayne, “In Katu, there are four million people. Most are on food stamps. They’re all hungry.” (Chapter. 1, p. 19) In the background of Murray’s story in this chapter, we can glimpse textile factory buildings and livestock feed warehouses.
Keis, Sunnh
Keis is a city located on a narrow strip of land between the ocean and a huge lake in Southwestern Sunnh. Due to the rugged terrain to the east, consisting variously of jagged mountains and swampy wetlands, Keis is logistically important as a hub linking Katu and Imaso to the rest of Sil.
Imaso, Sunnh
Imaso is the Southernmost city in Sunnh.
Rina Rina, Sunnh
Rina Rina is the Easternmost city in Sunnh. Prior to the embargo, it was a wealthy city whose favorable tax breaks attracted many business owners to settle there on the tall rocky coasts of the bay across from Haquel.
Uoira, Sunnh
Uoira is the Northernmost and most populous city in Sunnh. Its central location makes it an important hub between the other cities in Sunnh and various cities in Disan and Ceb.
Niana
In order to travel from Shinma to any other moon or the planet, travelers must first pass through the “sky city” Niana - a floating island city that completes a full orbit of Shinma about once every two weeks, at about 20 miles per hour, at an average of 1,200 feet above the surface, traveling from city to city roughly along the equator.
Niana, often referred to as "the Sky City," floats in a bi-weekly orbit near the equator of Shinma, but making deliberate diversions slightly north and south to arrive at specific cities. Niana's navigation is not controlled by people. Although there is an extensive staff of people who work on Niana in maintenance roles (traditionally, mostly Z'sasoun people), its navigation systems are believed to be automatic and Niana is generally regarded as some sort of organic/mechanical hybrid. Depending on who you talk to, some believe it is a living organism and others believe it is a machine, as it seems to contain elements of both. As a result, maintenance workers on Niana have formed different factions, with some being religious in nature while others are secular engineers. Some people argue that the maintenance people are actually superfluous, and that Niana would continue to function just the same without them. Others assert that their function could be likened to gardeners and groundskeepers maintaining an arboretum.
Niana’s function as a space port
As for why it is the one access point to space on Shinma, it's because it links to space elevators whose lower terminals are suspended 1,200 feet above the surface of Shinma, at the altitude that Niana floats. These space elevators likewise consist of biomechanical attributes, seeming to be both natural and technological in composition and function, and certainly ancient in origin. The space elevator terminals are hanging from orbiting terminals outside of the atmosphere of Shinma. Niana does not stop moving as it passes by the terminals, so people wanting to board the space elevators ride on small flying shuttle craft from Niana to the terminals. It’s against the law to board the elevators any other way.
Niana’s appearance
Visually, Niana appears to be roughly circular, with a diameter of about 2 miles. Its underside is rough and rocky, with giant pointed protrusions reminiscent of stalactites in a cavern. A few spherical bubble-like protuberances are sometimes visible, which are reservoirs for Niana’s primary energy source, Radiant. Its top surface is mostly urban, built on a hilly terrain with winding streets, with many tall buildings in various architectural styles ranging up to 15 stories tall. Many of the buildings are hotels and restaurants and retail accommodations for travelers, while another significant segment are temples and religious sites. The remainder of the urban structures are housing for the city’s permanent residents, most of which are noticeably more humble than the rather more ostentatious tourist-oriented businesses. Aside from a few modest-sized parks, there isn’t much undeveloped surface area. It’s as though a section of a larger city somehow floated out of the ground.
Zom
Zom is the other continent-nation on Shinma. Believed to be the region where the Djinai people originated, Zom is considerably smaller than Sil. It is an island continent, similar to Australia in the sense that most of its central land is wilderness, with a few large cities on its east and west coasts. Ravaged by decades of internal strife, Zom’s various factions have been unable to coalesce into a position of political and economic influence and thus have just been swept along into the embargo. A significant number of Zomnai Djinai have emigrated to the four major cities of Sil (Zizi, Majal, Eunil, and Ujan) where they have been able to get undocumented work on the land-side ports to Niana.Imsahn
Another uninhabited moon, fourth in Ansimh’s orbit, it does support scattered wildlife and, like Nhasim, it is also designated as a nature preserve. With its challenging conditions, Imsahn is known for its harsh environments, such as torrential rain, deadly electrical storms, or a lack of resources. Imsahn has a dark appearance due to the abundance of (what type of minerals?), and its electrical storms are visible to skywatchers on Shinma. There are deep, vast chasms carved across vast floodplains, making it difficult for life to thrive. While uninhabited by traditional human societies, Imsahn is rumored to have remnants of old human settlements and crashed ships, perhaps piloted by fugitives, serving as intriguing locations for stories of exploration and legendary treasure hunts. Imsahn is the farthest moon from Amsinh, making it the least often visited by researchers.
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