the hub at ninet project

The Commons Universe / The Hub

This is a world of hyper-scarcity. Everything is precious and hard. Humanity's last few millions live underground on scattered dwarf planets and gas giant moons in the far periphery of an old and angry star. Tales of space exploration and discovery are legends of a long-lost past. After the Troubles and the long dark ages, the Colonies with their strict rules (the Commons) have been the brightest effort in reconstruction, and the Library Order one of its pillars.

Everything changed overnight when we rediscovered the Hub, a colossal structure spanning two desolate dwarf planets unimaginably far apart: Ninet and Zamani. Connected by a mysterious tower we call the Axis, the Hub became humanity's gateway to new worlds and forgotten technologies.

The Order of the Library was established to research the Hub's countless relics and enigmas. But with discovery came mysteries, and mysteries demanded investigation.

This is an ongoing world of explorers, researchers, and investigators uncovering secrets that were meant to stay buried. From the frozen surface of Ninet to the ancient structures of Zamani, these are the stories of those who dared to ask: what happened here?

154 stories and counting

The World of the Hub

Ninet, The Hub, The Axis

"The Hub is my home and my workplace"

A colossal structure spanning two dwarf planets. Exosuits and convoys. Dropships and months-long journeys. The technology, the terrain, the daily life of those who call the Hub home.

The Expeditions

Zamani & Erzbet Feren

"A dark and moslty flat frozen world"

After Zamani succeeded in activating the first tower and opening a whole new world, a decade passed with no new passages found, until Erzbet and the Globe. She led the failed Third Expedition, then vanished, but her suit was left untouched.

Kai & Toon

The Story of Kai & Toon

"With lights on, they could not see there was movement outside"

The youngest to work with Zamani, Nitooni Kaupp Nia could choose any posting. She chose "the Haunted Castle," a remote tower no one wanted. Kai was the engineer assigned there. When they stopped reporting, investigators found everything intact except the researchers themselves.

The Brethren of Inquiry

Granska and the Arcodedex

"There is always a book"

Brother Granska, renowned librarian of the Order, and his novice Freddo Igwe Kin were dispatched to Ninet as a Brethren of Inquiry. But where to start investigating when no one knows why the Priory Machines demanded external investigators?

The Day of Assignment

The Story of Two Friends

"The sirens interrupted his thoughts"

rothers in everything but blood, separated by fate, reunited on Assignment Day. An atmospheric breach. A closed bulkhead and an impossible choice. It could be a new chance in life, but in the eerie world of the Hub, some chances have unbearable costs.

After the Hub

The New Worlds

"New worlds, our future"

The discovery of atmospheric planets changed everything. Secundus, Myra, Sotasonare—promises of a better life. But there was a peculiar enigma: no one seemed willing to reveal their exact location.

Behind The Commons Project

The Hub/Commons universe is the largest ongoing worldbuilding project at HBSS, with 154 stories spanning 2023-2025.

What began as scattered sketches of frozen planets and ancient structures evolved into an interconnected narrative of discovery, investigation, and mystery. Inspired by classic sci-fi archaeology, its influences include Gateway by Frederick Pohl and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr., though it is probably impregnated with New Age sci-fi themes and narratives because pretty much everything I write has these influences.

But there are influences outside of science fiction too, and I must mention three things that shaped the worldbuilding.

The first is an amazing series of videos from the British Museum's Curators Corner that sent me down a rabbit hole of reading about the very long time humanity has inhabited certain parts of the ancient world. Places where your home could be something that existed in the same place people lived a thousand years before. This gave inspiration for several nights thinking about very long timescales and successive civilization collapses.

also mentioned that one of the first experiments I made in hybrid digital images was when I took an older sketch of a temple, got a few references with images from Pluto, and started creating several images with the theme "Found on the Ninth Planet." I was thinking a lot about the incredibly long distances of the far reaches of the solar system and the large number of Pluto-sized dwarf planets that may exist in this area.

Another influence was thinking about what it would be like to live on a "station" on a planet that is not and cannot ever be terraformed. This came from long talks with colleagues of mine who are researchers in the Brazilian South Pole mission. It was profoundly interesting, especially the long talks about organization and daily life at polar outposts. The South Pole is the only place on Earth with conditions so severe that there is no real colonization there. Any kind of colony in a realistic scenario would clearly be even worse. How would society have to change to live under these conditions for so many millennia when any other kind of living is a distant and mythical tale?

The Commons explores what happens when humanity finds something it doesn't understand and can't ignore.

The universe expanded significantly in 2024 with Freddo & Granska's investigation, the mysteries of Zamani, and the revelation of the "new worlds" beyond the Hub. I also revisited it many times since my first posts in 2023 to update and improve the illustrations and style of the world.

Format: Instagram posts, video vignettes, written narratives

Status: Ongoing (active development)

Explore More

Multiple stories unfold across the Commons Universe. Each card above leads to a different corner of this world:

Brethren of Inquiry - When the Priori Machines detect anomalies requiring external oversight, they can assemble a Brethren of Inquiry. This almost never happens. Until a series of unrelated occurrences on the Hub itself demands investigation.
The Expeditions - The expeditions that shaped the Commons Universe, from the first tower activation to Erzbef Feren's fateful journey—a researcher some say rivals even Zamani in importance.
The Day of Assignment & Other Stories - Stories exploring daily life in the scattered colony worlds: assignments, rescues, and the moments that define existence at the edges of civilization.
Kai & Toion - Two researchers with little in common: a former linguistic prodigy in self-imposed exile at the least desirable post in the Library, and the atmospheric engineer who became their only companion.
he World of The Hub - Worldbuilding details, timelines, and the complete chronology of posts as they appeared on Instagram. Everything you need to understand how this universe works.
After The Hub - Ages after the main events, a new wave of colonization begins. New migrations bring new complications.

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