In honor of THE SPARK coming out tomorrow, here’s a list of things any tourist should know about Mandolia!

Annsfair – A small city on the Rail Straits, about a thousand kilometers southeast of First Landing. One of ten original colony sites. Noted for pleasant weather and the ferry crossing to Thyner’s Island.

Bandalee – A hot, dry district in the far south of the continent.

Burning Hill – A district of First Landing, named for the orange-red treelight that could be seen at night atop the hill when the city was first founded. Bounded to the west by the Mandol River, to the east by the starport, to the north by the northern river farms, and to the south by East First Landing and East Square.

Colony Societies – There are very few formalized colonization activities on Mandolia, so the planet is being widely settled by Colony Societies. Most of these will give colonists homes, work and land in the colony in exchange for staying with the colony for a period of years. Bailey Island was settled by a Colony Society.

Downtown First Landing – The center of the city, a very modern and new neighborhood with high-rises and lots of commercial activity. The financial and political heart of Mandolia.

East Square – Center of the East First Landing neighborhood, just off the bridge. A commercial focus of the city.

First Landing – Capital and largest city on Mandolia. Officially founded in 2090. 2120 population approximately 230,000. A little less than half of all Mandolians live within fifty kilometers of First Landing.

FLTA – The extensive transit system. Stands for First Landing Transit Authority.

Gamal Prison – A prison complex on the eastern edge of First Landing.

Horace Mandol – Founder of Mandolia. Originally the inept pilot of the cargo ship Surveyor, Mandol was making a run from New Colombia to Valen in 2089 when his ship’s guidance system malfunctioned. He crashed onto a previously documented but unexplored world, and was marooned there for a year. Colonists soon followed, and Mandol became their governor. He was removed by the Reformists in 2109, and died in 2122.

Islands – There is a large chain of islands separating the inner and outer oceans (think of Mandolia’s land as a huge circle, but on one side is a huge continent, and on the other a very long archipelago). The islands are thinly settled, though colony societies are currently planting small colonies on them. Bailey Island is one of the newer island colonies.

Joker’s Lake – So-named because land speculators convinced gullible colonists that there were valuable metals in the lakebed, Joker’s Lake is a large freshwater lake 550 kilometers north of First Landing, and is the source of the Mandol River. Known for cold winters.

Klickers – Some of the huge insect-like creatures that live on Mandolia are called Klickers because of the sounds they make. Most larger Mandolian animals are vaguely insectoid.

Local military forces – Mandolia has its own planetwide military force, called the Mandolian Guard. They uneasily coexist with local police, the Confederation Military, and Confedmilpol.

Mandol River – One of the longer rivers on Mandolia, it flows 2,184 kilometers from Joker’s Lake to the mouth of the river at Mandoliaac (which means “Mandol River Mouth” in a Räton dialect—it was fashionable to give cities Räton names for a while). The Mandol River Valley in 2122 is home to 80% of Mandolia’s population.

New Vancouver – A city on the western edge of the continent, 5,083 kilometers west of First Landing. So-named because its location and terrain reminded settlers of the Canadian city, New Vancouver is the second-largest metropolitan area on Mandolia.

Pearl Island – An island in the middle of the Mandol River between the neighborhoods of South Landing and East First Landing. Currently uninhabited. There are plans to build another bridge across the river here.

Queer life – While LGBTQ people often have a hard time in the Confederation, First Landing is something of a haven for them. Enforcement of gender and sexuality codes are lax.

Reform Square – The large open area at First Landing’s heart, just south of downtown, originally called Mandol Square in honor of the planet’s founder. Home to a subway station, the Reform Party headquarters, and many government offices. Reform Square is the focus of Mandolian cultural and political life.

South Landing – A neighborhood along the west bank of the Mandol River, southeast of downtown.

Trade – Mandolia is an interstellar trade hub, and a point of contact between humans and the nearby Rogarian Empire.

Treelight – Mandolia is known for the bioluminescent light given off by its plant life. Most plants glow at night.

University of Mandolia – An ambitious project to create a massive university north of downtown is currently being undertaken by the government. It’s behind schedule.

Vista – A news service, one of many in First Landing. Known for stories that other news services don’t dare to report.

Washington – A neighborhood southwest of downtown First Landing populated by American immigrants. One of the poorest parts of the city, and is often the scene of violence.

Xenophobia – Mandolians are not generally as hostile to offworlders and aliens as other peoples in the Confederation, though they will turn on outsiders if pressed. Mandolians on the whole tend to be open and accepting of differences, especially because most are recent immigrants to the planet.

Zoology – Mandolian animal life is largely insectoid, as noted above, but there are huge numbers of very strange fish in the sea as well. Sadly, unlike fish on Valen, they do not sing.