Solomani Sphere - Boundaries

[Moose]

This might be an old chestnut...

I'm thinking about doing some development work to include subsectors along the fringe of the Solomani Sphere, specifically in Daibei Sector, in the 750-800 timeframe. I can find some data (via the HIWG, IIRC, as part of the Heaven and Earth program) for MT, and know that prior to the Solomani Rim War the Solomani Autonomous Region was 50 parsecs in radius centred on Sol.

I've had to resort to counting hexes based on distance from the centre of the Terra hex in the Solomani Rim, but the only bit of the border extant from HIWG sources is not a perfect match with my pen and paper reckoning. Neither does the HIWG match with the Atlas of the Imperium, for that matter.

Is there anywhere a definitive list (preferably canonical) of systems within the original Solomani Sphere, or is it one of those presumed but non-specific facts of the OTU?

Answers, comments and suggestions gratefully received!

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

Is there anywhere a definitive list (preferably canonical) of systems within the original Solomani Sphere, or is it one of those presumed but non-specific facts of the OTU?

I suspect very strongly that it's in the "non-specific facts" category. T20 takes place in the time period when the Solomani Sphere was in its full glory, but the only system level development done for that era was in the Gateway region, a pretty fair ways to coreward of the Sphere. I don't think anybody has ever done anything canonical regarding the original Solomani Autonomous Region at the system level.

I'd say just draw a 50-parsec radius circle around Sol, and any world it touches can be claimed by the Sphere. That'll clash with reality where it comes into contact with Aslan and Hiver space (although that's not to say that the Solomani woudn't claim it); but it should be exceptionally accurate for any world inside Third Imperium jurisdiction.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

The MT maps show the former border, which should be accurate to within a hex or two.

 

[Moose]

The MT maps show the former border, which should be accurate to within a hex or two.

Are those maps readily available somewhere as hex maps, or are we just left with the maps in the covers of the MT books and guestimation?

If there's no canonical source, I'll just do my own, but I like to stick to canon as closely as I can (unless I'm really going to break something!

And once I've done it then I'll try to remember to post it here for discussion/reference!

Maybe the point, along with other "non-specific facts" of the OTU, is "it sounds about right" rather than being a strictly literal statement. (And no, I still haven't really bought it how the Imperium could simply ignore what was going on the Sphere for decades: it is described as being so blatant that the only language that can be applied to Imperial oversight of the Autonomous Region is gross negligence. But that's another issue - and why I've worked through an ATU in which the Solomani are not allowed to get away with it. Anyone want to know more?)

 

[Andrew Boulton]

If you overlay the maps in the MT books onto AOTI it works surprisingly well.