hrough birth or immigration you have found yourself resident on erra, a dystopian garden world at the height of its powers. After making interstellar contact nearly four millennia ago, erra began a programme of aggressive colonisation, reaching many nearby systems including the one containing Athshe. After a near total collapse in which a great deal of history was lost, erra joined the galactic union known as the League of All Worlds, linking erra with Hain and nine other planets. he League was fragile, relying on NAFAL travel which could take centuries from starting point to destination. Around 3000 years ago the ansible was created, a device which allows people to communicate instantly across the vast distances of space. his strengthened the union of planets; however over time it eventually disintegrated during a time known as the Age of the Enemy. In this period erra experienced dramatic population collapse and fragmentation. When the Enemy, the mysterious Shing, had been destroyed, the errans slowly built up their cities again and around 900 years ago they facilitated a rebuilding of the union of worlds with Hain at its head, this time called the Ekumen. his period was largely one of peace and collaboration, th ough many areas of the galaxy did not part icipate and rejected the Hainish peacemaker s. Around 180 years ago the government on erra began to turn its eyes greedily outwards once more, having begun large-scale exploitation of the solar system’s resource rich planets and asteroids. A market agreement was established with the Werellian corporate- government of reviled slave t raders. 10 years later t he Churten W ar broke out, precipitated by a devastating attack on Hain which shattered the Ekumen and sent the galaxy into a period of chaos and diplomatic withdrawal. An attack on erra destroyed large parts of the planet’s ozone and vegetation layer, leaving vast swathes of radioactive wasteland. erra’s government quickly consolidated its powers and turned the system into a brutal controlled zone. Now calling themselves the Were, the government began re-building the erran colonial war machine and prevented anyone leaving the system. errans have spent the last t hree generatio ns living in a chain of totally administered city-bubb les, the largest of which is ours, New Istanbul. Hainish refugees who escaped on NAFAL ships 170 years ago have been arriving bit by bit for some time now, expecting a warm welcome from their erran allies. And the Were did indeed welcome them in a fashion. he more skilled and useful refugees have been integrated into erran society, others placed into forced labour blocks, but many have been outlawed as city capacities became “compromised” and disappeared. he grip of the W ere is strongest on Earth and its closest astral b odies, but at t he edges of the system underground communities and lawless spaceports have sprung up. ravel is difficult but now possible, with the right papers and enough money. As a result erran society is even more diverse today than it had famously been before the blockade and, as much as the Were shout the opposite, the cracks are beginning to show...