Serenity Map Helps You Plan Your Conquest of the Verse

The universe of Joss Whedon’s short-lived television series Firefly and movie Serenity contains 215 terraformed planets and moons. Although only a handful of locales could be explored in 14 episodes and one feature film, a new map plots out the entire Serenity Verse. It not only offers details about the multiple star systems contained in the Alliance, but also offers insight into how the politics and history of Serenity may have been influenced by its geography.

The Complete and Official Map of the Verse was created by science fiction artifact creators Quantum Mechanix. Quantum Mechanix employed astrophysicists, designers, and members of the fan community to develop a map based on information contained in the television series, movie, comics, role playing game, and even fan fiction. The mapmakers considered not only where planets and systems seem to be in relation to one another, but also how the geography of the Verse could have influenced its history:

We also considered the politics of The Verse in constructing the map. We tried to answer questions like why Hera was so important that the loss of a single battle there could end the war decisively: Turns out Hera orbits a protostar (along with Shadow and Sturges) that rides the inner edge of The Border and is an ideal jumping-off point for travelers going to The Core or out to The Rim. In combination with Persephone – which orbits a stellated gas giant on the outer edge of The Core – Hera/Persephone form a kind of “airlock” between The Core and the rest of the Verse, making it a target of great strategic importance.

The map get its full debut at the Creation Serenity Convention taking place this weekend in Burbank, and will later be available on the Quantum Mechanix website. In the meantime, you can take a peak at the lo-res images Quantum Mechanix has released: