Subsector Naming Conventions

[gchuck]

I seem to recall reading that subsectors are frequently named after the most populous system in the particular area.

I realize I can do what I want, but was this 'convention' mentioned in any of the various rules sets?
I'm trying to avoid the 'Forest Gump' method of naming, i.e. Bob 1, Bob 2...

My brain is mush right now.

 

[agorski]

There's the naming convention for undeveloped subsectors like District 268 in Supplement 3.

 

[mike wightman]

Chat GPT suggests these:

1. The Shimmering Cluster
2. The Rift of Shadows
3. The Lost Quadrant
4. The Celestial Enclave
5. The Jade Nebula
6. The Crimson Expanse
7. The Silent Frontier
8. The Omega Cluster
9. The Golden Rim
10. The Sapphire Veil

 

[Condottiere]

Those sound more like sectors.

 

[Jame]

When I've made subsectors, I've often come up with a random name and then generated the planets before determining whether there's a relationship.

 

[mike wightman]

Those sound more like sectors.

Agreed, but it was its first attempt with no refinement on my part.

 

[Condottiere]

If there is a rationale behind this, four sectors tend to be a domain, which tends to be a political description, or a polity, and a sector tends to be a generalization of expectation or stereotype, if that makes sense, like The Wild West, or The East Indies.

Subsectors may be a reflection of local(ized) politics, where the systems lobby for first among equals, or a recognition of which one is dominant, at the moment the cartography is finalized.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Given that the names have been assigned before the sectors were fully developed, they seem to be random names that may relate to a majorly populated planet (or not) but almost invariably ignore any name the local indigenes may have had.
Anyone would think they were named by an imperial cartographer in a star system far far away!

 

[mike wightman]

I never understood why the Imperium has Spinward Marches but no Rimward Marches, Coreward Marches or Trailing Marches.
So IMTU it does

 

[mike wightman]

This is what I got when I asked for more industrial sounding names

1. The Forge Worlds
2. The Machine Belt
3. The Foundry Cluster
4. The Mining Frontier
5. The Industrial Core
6. The Production Hub
7. The Processing Enclave
8. The Refinery Reach
9. The Assembly Line
10. The Manufacturing Nexus

These names evoke a sense of a highly organized and productive industrial society, with advanced technology and powerful corporations driving the economy. The subsectors might be characterized by highly developed transportation and communication networks, bustling trade centers, and a wide range of industries, from mining and refining to high-tech manufacturing and research and development.

And then agricultural

1. The Harvest Cluster
2. The Farming Frontier
3. The Grain Belt
4. The Fertile Reach
5. The Orchard Worlds
6. The Pasturelands
7. The Agri-Domes
8. The Hydroponic Expanse
9. The Greenbelt
10. The Aquaculture Zone

These names suggest a subsector dominated by agriculture and farming, where vast fields of crops stretch to the horizon, and the smell of fresh soil and ripe produce permeates the air. The subsectors might be characterized by abundant food supplies, a thriving trade in agricultural products, and a close connection between the people and the land. Depending on the specifics of the subsector, it might also be home to diverse cultures and traditions related to food and agriculture.

Finally I asked for frontier subsector names.

1. The Wild Frontier
2. The Outlands
3. The Far Reaches
4. The Pioneer Cluster
5. The Uncharted Territories
6. The Borderlands
7. The New Frontiers
8. The Unknown Reach
9. The Final Frontier
10. The Beyond

These names evoke a sense of adventure, exploration, and discovery, suggesting subsectors that are largely unexplored or sparsely populated, with untamed wilderness, uncharted territories, and unknown dangers. Depending on the specifics of the subsector, it might be home to pioneering settlements and frontier outposts, rugged individualists and survivalists, or adventurous explorers seeking fame, fortune, or simply the thrill of discovery.


Regenerate response

 

[Condottiere]

Marches implies an (undeveloped) frontier that needs to be fought over or guarded.

Rimward there's already the Solomani Sphere.

Trailing you have crazed ponies, so maybe The Range?

Coreward has gone to the dogs.

 

[Timerover51]

I have created a sector based on the works of H. Beam Piper and Andre Norton, along with some additions of my own and from Robert Howard. The subsectors are named as follows: Sword, Beowulf, Odin, Castaway, New Texas, Tuatha, Topaz, Kalevala, Poictesme, Warlock, Marduk, Aegir, Macbeth, Rover, Arth, and Sargol.

The subsector name gives some idea as to the naming convention for the planets, but only some idea.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Marches implies an (undeveloped) frontier that needs to be fought over or guarded.

Rimward there's already the Solomani Sphere.

Trailing you have crazed ponies, so maybe The Range?

Coreward has gone to the dogs.

You are only bitchin' about the coreward denizens!

The spinward marches have only been populated for a millennium - hardly any time at all. Again, all the subsectors are named by the settlers - even those planets inhabited by Droyne or Native races have settler names. It's only planets in the Sword Worlds and parts of Darrien that have non-imperial names

 

[Dragoner]

I use Zones for the Solis People of the Sun setting, and with that the brightest star is usually what the scouts named the zone for, so someday probably we'll be in the Sirius Zone.

However, due to administration of the area, they are also often named for a central point in order to make it easier to locate in the entire Human sphere. Anyways, for the one zone book released, Andromeda Dragons, it is named for the spacer slang: Upsilon Andromedae, as well as Sigma and Chi Draconis; even though the actual names are Theta Persei, and Eta Cassiopeiae zones. Gamewise Andromeda Dragons is the rough and tumble frontier, with competing polities, tramp traders, gunfights, etc.. Sol and 4 parsecs in SPOTS is a more a transhuman-ish/cyberpunk developed core systems.

 

[Condottiere]

Subsectors are basically administrative boundaries, not really political ones, though by imposing the name of the dominant system as their identity, it becomes political.

Outside the borders of the Imperium, they probably don't use those terms or dimensions, exceptionally the Solomani Confederation as a matter of pragmatic legacy.