Laconia
A deliberately oversized imperial capital stands ready to outlive ordinary colonial needs as its hidden civilization enters phase two.
Story so far
Nearly three decades after Winston Duarte's breakaway fleet entered through the Laconia Gate, Laconia has become a tightly ordered world built at scales its current population cannot fill. Its capital's stone-and-steel masses, columns, and spires combine Terran and Martian forms into an aspiration made physical. Santiago Singh sees the danger clearly: without the founder's living intent, the huge structures might become as purposeless as Mars's abandoned terraforming dream.
Duarte's answer is personal immortality and institutional loyalty. The planet's entire population descends from the original fleet and children born since, while rare Terran animals and grass survive within the State Building of Laconia. With the Gathering Storm placed under Singh's command, phase one ends. The civilization hidden behind its gate is preparing to reveal its works to humanity.
Appearance
A bright blue-skied colony with local frond plants and hissing insects, dominated by an oversized capital of stone-and-steel columns, spires, government masses, and alien infrastructure overhead.
Role
Laconia is Duarte's materialized imperial intention, now moving from patient internal construction to outward action.
Relationships
Earlier in this series
Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:
- Nemesis GamesBook 5
- Babylon's AshesBook 6
Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter
- A blue-skied colony world has spent thirty years turning alien inheritance and Martian discipline into a civilization built for expansion.
- A deliberately oversized imperial capital stands ready to outlive ordinary colonial needs as its hidden civilization enters phase two.