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Planets of the Earth Alliance

Text written by Larry King

Planet lists compiled by I. Marc Carlson, Larry King, and others

Babylon 5 trademarks belong to J. Michael Straczynski and Warner Brothers



Contents:



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Introduction


The "Earth Alliance" is a federation headed by Earth. Until 2260, it included Earth, the human colonies within the Solar system, and all significant human colonies outside the Solar system. However, it is not clear whether very small human settlements were in any real sense part of the Earth Alliance.

How many worlds are in the Earth Alliance? Well, on 23 December 1994, J. Michael Straczynski posted:

but more recently, an episode of Babylon 5 referred to "24 colonies in 14 systems". Presumably JMS's original post is no longer canon, but perhaps there are just different ways to count "colonies" involved here.

(For example, not every small military base should necessarily be called a "colony". In particular, 14 colonies in 12 systems means no more than THREE in the Solar system – and we certainly know of more than three military bases and mining outposts in our system!)

In this document, I have listed all colonies mentioned in the Babylon 5, Crusade, and Legend of the Rangers episodes and movies. References from the novels are placed at the end – but I don't claim to have included every colony mentioned in the novels. Under each colony's entry I have listed every reference made to it – except for Mars (where only the major references are mentioned) and Earth (which has only a brief entry, for obvious reasons.)



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Human Settlements in the Solar System




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Human colonies involved in the B5 Story




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Human colonies mentioned in passing




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Planets which are probably human colonies




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Space Stations




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Colonies in the B5 Books


Worlds listed both in the Babylon 5 novels and in the television series are covered above; see Arisia 3 and Antares, for example.

Betelgeuse 6 appears in Voices, and Betelgeuse Four appears in Blood Oath (both by author John Vornholt). Beta Orionis, better known as Betelgeuse, is a red giant star (type B8 I) which is around 900 light-years from Earth.

S.M. Stirling's novel Betrayals mentions a Japanese-settled world called Nippon (which is, of course, the real name of the island which Europeans call "Japan").

The Babylon Project, the role-playing game written by Joseph Cochran, lists some (but not all) of the above-mentioned colonies on its map. It also adds New London Station, Canton I Colony, Canton III Outpost, Kandhi III Colony, Berlin II Colony, Delphi IV Colony, and the Myoto VI Outpost, all of which sound like "national" colonies. The Cooke II Colony, Cooke III Colony, Dakota I Colony, Dakota II Outpost, Dakotat Colony, Leonis V Colony, and Leonis VII Outpost are also named. Further worlds take their names from the stars where they are located: the Sirius III Mining Outpost, Sirius Transfer Station, Kapteyn's Station, Ceti Station, Ceti II Colony, Tau Ceti IV Colony, Wolf V Colony, Signet Station, Ross IV Outpost, Eridani III Colony, and the vanished Procyon II Colony. Oddly, The Babylon Project places this "Altair Transfer Station" at the star Ross 154, not at Altair. In a similar vein, it places the Vega Colony at Ross 248, not at Vega – it gives the Minbari control of the real Vega system.

In our Solar system, The Babylon Project adds the Venusian Orbital Station, Saturn Station, and the Skywalker Asteroid Base. It also names the colony on Earth's Moon as the Armstrong Colony.

For a more in-depth analysis of the astronomical data given in this game, see the companion document, Stellar Geography in the Babylon 5 Galaxy.



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Some places which are not colonies


Here are a few place-names which are mentioned in the show and sound like colonies, but are not:

New Vegas is not a world, but a city on Mars. (See "Mars" above.)

New Melleray was the home of the Brother Theodorus' monks before they came to Babylon 5 in Convictions. This is a real abbey near Peosta, Iowa. Since New Melleray is a Trappist (Cisterian) abbey, it would seem that Brother Theo's monks are Trappists.

Balos (or Balus) is a planet which was captured by the Dilgar in 2230, and liberated by the Earth Alliance in 2232, during the Dilgar War, according to information given in Deathwalker. But it is not a human world, for Balosians are mentioned in Born to the Purple. It's conceivable that Earth "kept" this world after liberating it, but I know of no evidence to support this.

Ivanova lists fourteen worlds which are under Vorlon attack in Falling Toward Apotheosis. Some of them have human-sounding names (7 Lukantha and Mokafa Station specifically sound African). However, it seems clear from Epiphanies and Racing Mars that no human colonies were involved in the Shadow War or the Vorlon War.



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Acknowledgements


The original planet list was by Marc Carlson, and was tossed around on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 by various folks, including myself, Marc Carlson, and Mark Mielke. Some verifications came from the on-line Babylon 5 Encyclopedia and the Lurker's Guide. Thanks also to Rocky Persaud, Christopher Novosad-Russo, John Krikorian, and the "Crusader" for their ideas. Rev. Matthew Lynn Riegel supplied the information about the New Melleray Abbey.

New planets which turned up in Andy Lane's Babylon File book spurred me to re-watch many episodes and take better notes (resulting in my finding worlds even Lane had missed). More lists by myself and Marc Carlson eventually congealed into this document. The Legend of the Rangers and Crusade additions are mine.

If there are still errors or omissions, let me know!

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Planets of the Earth Alliance / Updated 9 August 2008 by Larry King

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