Tellus

The jungles grow rapidly, making permanent infrastructure difficult to maintain. Attempts have been made to build roads and train lines between the highly developed city areas, but this proved expensive and slow to progress. A total of one train line was ever completed; it ran for six years. Its operation and construction were an economic net negative throughout its lifetime. It was only built because there was no better option for transport at the time.

Currently, rigid-hull airships are the primary method of cargo transportation between cities when sea vessels are not able to be used, as they can fly over the jungle easily and do not require any infrastructure to be built within the jungle itself.

Tellus had a breathable atmosphere and biosphere that could be survived with only vaccinations. Before the wipe, Tellus was home to several small scientific research outposts, as well as a small space station. Colonization involved ultra-heavy single-trip landers jury-rigged from large spacecraft that would become permanent prefabricated settlements. Drawn up by Admiral Bennett Nares, the plan was to "just stick 'em [ships] in the mud" and fasten them to the ground with cables and anchors. A vertical orientation was chosen as the interiors of most ships were already designed with thrust-gravity in mind, as well as the fact that the engines could be used for landing while facing this direction. The ships would be structurally strengthened with concrete cores. Subsequently, systems and equipment not required for immediate ground operations were removed to make the craft as light as possible.

A total of twelve converted craft would attempt to land on the surface of Tellus, nine of which were completely successful. Of the three failures, one craft fell over after landing, another broke apart during atmospheric entry, and the last crashed into the surface following an engine failure. All landings were done as a automatically as possible, with some commands being issued from crew aboard orbiting vessels, and no crew aboard the improvised landers. These nine successful landings would be the foundation for the first city on Tellus, named Nares' Landing in honor of the admiral that devised the plan. Nares never stepped foot on Tellus.