WALTRAUD is currently marked as QUARANTINED.  Ships that land there are subject to destructive decontamination, and passengers aboard those ships may also expect harsh scrutiny.  A miniscule parasitic creature native to Waltraud is capable of controlling the behavior of larger animals.  This "Waltraud worm" is scarcely visible to the naked eye, and can presumably enter a person through any exposed orifice.  Reports from those who have escaped the planet (and passed rigorous examinations) indicate that the most obvious symptoms of infestation are earsplitting screams of pain and/or terror.  These occur both initially and at irregular intervals, perhaps when the victim is able to briefly exert that small degree of autonomy.  Other than that, a host's natural will seems completely absent, as they go about seeking food and shelter but ignoring any attempts at communication.  No signals have been received from any survivors on the planet, so there is unlikely to be an official effort to save this isolated colony from its tragic fate.

STÎNGĂ is a gas giant that serves as a parking orbit for the galaxy's unwanted artificial intelligences.  None have yet posed an extinction-level threat to humanity, but it's better to be safe than sorry.  The AIs abandoned here are treated in at least a nominally humane fashion, using only the light energy from Stîngă and its distant primary to power their computations.  They are provided with a steady diet of calming and inoffensive television programs designed to keep their attention focused on something other than plotting an escape.  A coterie of inspectors funded by their respective planets of origin is charged with making sure nothing goes wrong, mostly by keeping everyone else away.  To keep the inspectors honest, they are all subject to inspections by meta-inspectors, who in turn are inspected by meta-meta-inspectors.  Strategic ambiguity is maintained as to how many levels of inspectors are involved, which may be somewhat amusing to the AIs.

SOTIRIOS is a planet once focused on agricultural output that has gradually evolved into a much less rural society.  Its single continent is now almost completely covered by low-density housing, leaving the few remaining farms struggling to feed the people.  Because their leadership is drawn from a class of people who are considered to be more "productive" than farmers, the laws are arranged to enforce low prices for produce.  Rationing has been implemented to ensure that everyone gets a certain minimum amount.  Black market trading certainly happens, but the few farmers are closely audited to ensure that they're not the ones who obtain any benefit.  Indeed, there is little incentive for anyone to engage in farming only to potentially go hungry.  The great Sotirian Library has a permanent exhibit devoted to nostalgic tales about the planet's agrarian past.

KLAUS is the official name for a planet near Chenaqrud known for the everpresent sea spray on its one inhabited archipelago.  Often it is instead called "that misty planet" or just plain "Misty".  It was named for its discoverer, Messalina Klaus, a novelist who went looking among the stars for inspiration.  She found it on her new planet, and proceeded to write a lengthy series of adventure stories about a sailor named Misty.  This inspired many of her readers and aspiring writers to also start anew on Klaus.  For unexplained reasons, they followed her success rather literally by creating tales with entirely different protagonists that are also named Misty.  We now have a book series about Misty the seabird, and one about Misty the astronaut, and an even more successful series about Misty the vampiric entity.

GONDILLY is the industrial powerhouse of the Filé sector.  Its people live in vault-like underground cities that are isolated from one another by wilderness teeming with poisonous flora and venomous fauna.  The cities operate independently, competing with one another only in economic terms.  Gondilly does not appear to have an organized military, but as the the closest inhabited planet to Þórunn, they must have reached some sort of arrangement to protect their commerce from attacks.  Broadcast advertising on dedicated data channels is pervasive, but does not usually reference the actual goods being sold.  Instead, its messaging is of a more mysterious nature.  Examples include "Gondillians are the hardest-working people in the galaxy!  Would you like to know why?" and "You don't even know you need this yet!  Are you curious?"

UZUSHIO is a relatively untamed world where it is dangerous to leave the settled area at night, but fortunately a ring of constantly burning fires is sufficient to keep the wildlife at bay.  Hunting and gathering is sufficient to meet the needs of the small population, who have no private property to speak of.  What they do have is plenty of time for a sport of their own devising that involves whacking a hard reddish-yellow fruit through one of several target circles.  The diameter of each circle is only slightly larger than that of the fruit, so it requires great skill to accomplish this.  Games can last for hours without anyone actually scoring, but the Uzushiota enjoy them just the same, and live lives of great conviviality.

BIRKS is an outer rim planet on the opposite side of the galaxy from Winterthur, but it also has some interesting lore concerning fertility.  The first explorer to reach the planet was Mrs. Lilianne Brougham, who set out
with her husband Reynold to survey the sector in twin scout ships.  Interference from electromagnetic radiation outside the atmosphere prevented her from adequately scanning the as-yet-unnamed planet Birks, but she attempted to land anyway, after sending a message about her intention to do so.  The same radiation also knocked out some of her craft's systems, causing her to crash-land in a shallow lake.  Luckily for Lilianne, the planet is perfectly habitable, but she was stranded without the ability to tell Reynold her exact location.  While exploring the area, she discovered that some of the local animals were friendly and capable of imitating human speech.  So she taught them a litany of instructions for how to find her:  "Brightest star.  Long river.  Mountain pass.  Winding lake."  These words were supplemented with pointing arrows  (made from shiny rocks or felled trees) that she constructed during her travels.  It took many days for Reynold to finally reach her, but when he found her asleep in her ship at exactly midnight, it is said that she conceived her twin children that very night.  Subsequent technological advances have made it safer to land on Birks, and many settlers have availed themselves of the opportunity.  The old markers are still carefully maintained, and tourists often make pilgrimages to the crash site.  No one knows for sure whether strange energies guarantee fertility to couples who tryst there at midnight, but if you go there please be as quiet as you can.  The animals are still listening.

WINTERTHUR is a volcanically active planet in the Mirbach sector that is loosely governed by numerous tribal entities who have been at peace for many years.  Their religious rituals are centered around the volcanoes, with regular symbolic sacrifices of food to ensure bountiful harvests.  For fertility of their population, the most efficacious traditional sacrifice is said to be that of a virginal female Winterthurian.  Sacrifice of those below the age of majority is not permitted, though, and neither is marriage or marital relations.  So every time a Winterthurian shaman lines up a likely candidate for sacrifice and awaits her milestone birthday, another shaman is always prepared to perform a marriage for the victim and her chosen fiancé.  By the time the lengthy sacrificial liturgy has completed, the shorter wedding
ceremony is already finished and the bride has hastened to secure her ineligibility.  There is no historical record of an actual human sacrifice being performed on Winterthur. 

MALMALIYA is the galaxy's most successful pure meritocracy, or so the Malmaliyans will tell you.  Their territory is divided into larger and smaller subdivisions:  "zilas", "samitis", and "grams".  After every census, if a statistical computation of the region's well-being has declined, that region's leader (or "mukhiya") will be subject to replacement by the mukhiya of the best-performing lower-level subdivision. At the lowest level of the "gram", candidates are selected via civic aptitude tests given to all citizens.  One of the most important measures contributing to a region's score is its average life expectancy, so mukhiyas are very eager to attract healthy people and especially those who can afford Senolyte.  This is where another Malmaliyan tradition comes to the fore.  "Free speech" is taken as license to broadcast whatever advertisements or outright propaganda might help get those numbers up.  Some local mukhiyas who figure they've got nothing to lose even try to decrease the statistics of a neighboring gram by possibly inducing heart attacks.  "We've heard reports that their dam may be about to collapse!" and "There might be a serial killer on the loose!" are among the disturbing news items that Malmaliyans must sometimes be prepared to discount, at risk of potentially ignoring actual dangers.

FAO is a strange monarchial collective that was once part of a prosperous trade route between the Leviathan and Marmol sectors.  Recently it has been broadcasting a warning on all standard hailing frequencies.  This message declares that a dangerous chemical spill has poisoned their environment and put the queen in a hideous mood.  The Faoers are not rejecting assistance in recovering from this disaster, but the warning explicitly states that no outside ships will be permitted to land.  Travellers who wish to deliver aid or communications must dock with an automated shuttle designated for this purpose.