TAKATSUKI is a rocky planet that lies within its star's habitable zone, but it has no atmosphere or native life.  It was colonized in the distant past because of its rich deposits of valuable rare elements.  The first settlers formed independent homesteads accountable only to themselves, but eventually they agreed to form a league that collectively controls the planet and limits immigration.  There are seven members of this league, which are called "Dōmei".  To ensure accountability to this regime, a cryptographically-secure identification scheme was established.  Any new arrival must broadcast their public key, and upon approval is required to join the least-populous Dōmei.  Failure to authenticate is punishable by death, and that sentence may be administered by any citizen.  Crime (such as killing an authenticated citizen) is adjudicated on the "Justice Channel", which transmits evidence for or against the alleged offense.  Each Dōmei gets one vote on whether to revoke the credentials of the accused, which is effectively a sentence of death unless the convicted person can quickly flee off-world.

YORDAN bears an interesting resemblance to Orla in that it is a gas giant with exports based entirely on intellectual property.  Yordanians take the Orlan obsession with their adopted planet to another level, however, by actually worshipping Yordan as a god.  They claim that it whispers to them in their dreams, teaching them secrets of the universe.  Though even their Paraíbite-enhanced neighbors in the Ventura sector warily regard these assertions, their worlds engage in frequent trade.  For it is undeniable that there is something to be learned within the Yordan system.  Yordanians have developed numerous technological advancements, and they also trade in knowledge of a more personal nature.  It is said that making a pilgrimage to Yordan often precedes an unexpected rise to power or a remarkable financial windfall.

ŠENAUER retains aspects of a feudal society even though it is far more urban than agricultural.  What land does remain under cultivation belongs to just three noble families with roots in Šenauer's ancient history.  Each extended family is quite inbred, and they have taken their characteristic features as signs of their nobility.  Hence the Brada clan strives to breed for ever more prominent chins, the Uši family aims to have the world's longest ears, and the Obrve pride themselves on extravagently large eyebrows.  Appreciation for these features is not universal, however, and indeed Šenaueri frequently insult each other with rude nicknames referencing their exaggerated parts.  One trait that well serves any inhabitant of Šenauer is a (metaphorically) thick skin.

GYDÉ is a gas giant that is wholly owned by the Praxille Corporation.  Its industry is concerned with the extraction of pharmaceutical chemicals from the planet's atmosphere, and this work is done entirely by automated machinery.  The most important end-product of these chemicals is the life-extension drug "Senolyte".  It is fantastically expensive to create, but for fantastically wealthy individuals, each dose increases the chance of surviving another year to about 99%.  The oldest known Senolyte patient is over 300 years old.  In orbit around Gydé, watching over the robotic workers, are two space stations with two supervisors each.  To compensate for the boring and isolated duty, each supervisor is supplied with Senolyte.  Often the pairs are mated or at least good friends.  Even so, rumors of murder-suicides have been reported.  Hence the backup station to ensure that Praxille maintains uninterrupted occupation of the planet's orbital space.

ZEME is quite arid, and its population must rely on two large river systems that flow from inaccessible polar heights towards the equator.  These rivers reach no sea, because they are completely drained by the Zemean military, which controls the human society thanks to their control of the water.  Martial law is modified by a strong tradition of conscious responsibility among Zemeans.  Each soldier of the lowest rank is assigned to a few dozen civilians, often including his own family and nearest neighbors.  In addition to the soldier's usual duties of training and weapon maintenance, he or she must see to it that their "constituents" are squared away.  Only the daily water ration is officially provided by the military, but other issues are handled indirectly by sending "requests" to members of that group.  If a problem is too large to be addressed in this manner, it gets bumped up the chain to a higher-ranking officer.  One hour each day is dedicated to communication on these subjects, and a second hour is spent solely on meditation about them.  No one on Zeme is forgotten, because there is always a soldier somewhere who is obligated to think about each person.

HASHOMER is a single fortified settlement on a hilltop surrounded by untamed wilderness.  Ruled since its founding by the Litvinsky dynasty, it functions as a hunting preserve paid for by interstellar visitors.  Officially HaShomer has only one language, but there are two independent universities that have been rivals for centuries.  Each supports a complete lexicon of "unofficial" words that have nothing to do with the HaShomerite language.  No one outside of Bakum University speaks or understands "HaShang", and only students and faculty at the University of Minhag have any use for "HaSharg".  Every lecture, dissertation, and scientific publication is written entirely in one of these two languages, though.  This has undoubtedly limited the educational potential of those inside and outside this academic system, because no translations are ever made available.

NAG would be fairly appealing if not for the presence of naturally-occuring toxic compounds in its atmosphere.  The toxins are neutralized by Nag's abundant plant life, but are continously released by native microbes in the soil.  Human society proceeds as normal inside sealed buildings, but not everyone has the luxury of living there.  A unique feature of Naggite society is its progressive caste system.  The lowest-level citizens do all outdoor work like farming, where they must wear helmets and portable breathing apparatus at all times.  All of their children, however, are entitled to move up to the next caste, which labors indoors or transports goods across the globe.  The children of this caste then become managers and administrators.  What becomes of the top-tier's children?  They all join the lowest caste to start over again.  This circle of life is part of the Naggite religion, and no one can advance in caste through any of their own efforts.

STØVER appears to be just a cratered wasteland covered with grayish dust.  A brave adventurer made one of the most startling discoveries in galactic history, however, when she found out that this dust is edible!  It is, in fact, delicious and a good source of all the nutrients needed for human life.  The first Queen Helle's fortuitous claim resulted in her family becoming extremely wealthy, but she had a foresighted concern for future generations.  She partnered with a genius developer of artificial intelligence who would in due time become Prince Consort Søren.  Together they built a conscience into the very structure of their palace's shining domes.  Royal succession is dependent upon the approval of this AI, which has thus far not yet rejected any candidate from House Virkner.  Nor has any other brave adventurer made his fortune by bravely tasting another dusty planet.

ASANTHUS is another ruined world, but unlike Idmon, the entire history of Asanthus is still available for study.  Two minerals native to the planet have the unique property that the scratch marks easily made by one upon the other are extremely resistant to weathering or accidental removal.  So, archival-quality documents exist from the earliest days of human life on Asanthus, engraved on sheets of these minerals.  They tell the story of a bountiful new colony that quickly grew to occupy many cities, each with an official hall of records.  Micro-engraving permits extensive records that take up relatively little space, though some are "illuminated" with detailed borders and illustrations.  The tragic development that led to the downfall is likewise recorded, though initially as light-hearted mentions of a ridiculous new fad.  The freak discovery of a novel propulsion technology led to the immediate popularity of so-called "Super-Boots".  After a few months of teenagers flying low over every rural acre, the novelty was already starting to fade when farmers discovered that this year's crops were simply dead in the ground.  To this day nothing grows almost everywhere on Asanthus, and its cities are now almost entirely empty.

IDMON must once have been home to a thriving human civilization, as evidenced by its monumental edifices that are found on almost every continent.  What remains is a chaotic assortment of warring tribes, struggling to live amid the ruins built by their ancestors.  The cause of their societal collapse is disputed, with each group blaming a different instigator of the calamity.  Most say it was a war, but some claim that the war didn't start until things had fallen apart for some other reason.  Whatever the cause, all agree that in earlier times, long before living memory, every possible need was answered by mystical forces.  Fresh clean water and food, of course, but also warmth and cooling, lighting and cleaning, along with the answers to any imaginable question about the entire universe.  Perhaps the energies which were tapped to provide these wonders became uncontrolled and wild.  A popular myth tells of one who dared to touch a source of those energies, and who was instantly vaporized in a flash of light.