Colchis

The first Imperial colony in the Centaurus Arm. A moon of the gas giant Atlas. Never an important colony, it is nevertheless known for the massive scholiast athenaeum at Nov Belgaer.
- Tor Paulos, Empire of Silence

Primarachate: Centaurus

Province: Unknown

Known Prefectures:

Aea - city/prefecture, known protectorate of Colchis

Locations of Interest:

Archivists' Grotto: Subterranean caves hidden beneath Nov Belgaer athenaeum on Colchis; Adorned with hanging stalactites, graven pillars, statues, great veins of glowing algae, and aisles of stone cultivated into fractal patterns.

Gabriel's Archive: A heavily restricted, subterranean repository beneath the Nov Belgaer Athenaeum, constructed during the reign of Gabriel II and designed by his brother, the engineer Tor Aramini. Hidden below sea level and sealed by massive hangar-like doors, the Archive houses forbidden artifacts and knowledge from the Mericanii era, including potentially functional pre-Foundation War technologies. Guarded by strict Chantry Strictures, its contents are proscribed by Writ of the Chantry, and unauthorized dissemination is a capital offense. The facility includes fail-safes such as atomic demolition charges and a floodable reservoir designed to contain or destroy any escape of radiation or dangerous technology. SERIES SPOILERS: In Demon in White, structural schematics reveal that the Archive encircles a concealed blast pit housing the buried Mericanii ship U.S.S. Horizon.

Imperial Library: Archive of the Empire's greatest secrets situated within the walls of Nov Belgaer athanaeum upon the heights of the mesa overlooking the city of Aea on the planet Colchis.

Nov Belgaer: Massive Scholiast Athenaeum; Location of the Imperial Library

Sevrast Islands: Archipelago to the north of Nov Belgaer, on the far side of the equator. Comprised of a few small towns and fishing settlements, but the greater part of the islands is still wilderness. The remnant of long-extinct volcanism, craggy climes rising above the shores.

— Gurra

— Jara

— Racha

— Thessa: Deserted island in the Sevrast Islands on Colchis. A wide and mossy crescent protecting a beach of black sand. The locals call it the Rock, for on the sides facing the other isles, gray cliffs rose and shoals threatened to smash their fishing junks, but the far side—the inside—was gentle, the crescent's arms wide and inviting. Groves of leafy trees stood green and yellowing on the shelves above the beach where rows of white buildings stood on stilts far back from the water’s edge. They’d been flown down from orbit by the Imperial Red Company, having been purchased from one of the Wong-Hopper Consortium carriers orbiting the planet.

Colchis is the primary moon of the planet SAG-8813D, colloquially known as Atlas. Human settlement on Colchis goes back to the fifth millennium ISD, following the Hundred Year Terror, in which House Avent was removed from the throne by Boniface the Pretender. In the wake of that civil war, the newly reinstated Emperor Gabriel II ordered the Imperial Archives moved from Avalon to the newly minted colony of Colchis, then a remote military outpost. Ever since, it has been the site of the Imperial Great Library and maintained by the scholiasts. Despite this crucial function, the rest of Colchis has remained relatively undeveloped, its human settlements scattered wildly across the planet’s many little islands. Large-scale settlement of the moon is forbidden by Imperial decree, and those not living in the Library and in the capital city of Aea are mostly descended from those few settlers whose presence on Colchis predated the construction of the Library.

Colchis was never given over to a nobile house and remains a holding of the Solar Throne, and as such is ruled by a governor-general appointed by the Imperial Council. Formerly a trade nexus with the Sagittarien colonies. Following the emergence of better warp drives and fuel economies, the old roads nearer the core were abandoned. Less than a million people live on the planet, and half of that number live in Aea.