List of Firefly planets and moons

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Unofficial diagram of the Firefly universe. (Orbits are not to scale.)

This is a list of fictional planets and moons from the Firefly/Serenity ficton. In the show, they are also referred to simply as "worlds". During the short television run of the Firefly series, it was not made clear whether the planets and moons depicted were located in one planetary system or many (the latter of which would suggest that Serenity's propulsion was capable of faster-than-light travel). The opening narration of the film makes it clear that the planets and moons are in one system with "dozens of planets and hundreds of moons." This is supported by production documents published in Serenity: The Official Visual Companion. Still, there is debate over whether all are located in the same planetary system, as maps shown in the film appear to be contradictory. Possibly, the system is a form of star cluster, since some of the aforementioned maps include multiple stars. This would also be required to supply enough sunlight for this large list of planets. All of the following bodies were terraformed and made to have a standard gravity in order to be capable of supporting human life.

The number of terraformed worlds is never mentioned in the series though in a deleted scene from the episode 'Our Mrs. Reynolds', Captain Malcolm Reynolds mentions to the character Saffron that there are; 'More than 70 earths spinning in this galaxy and the meek have inherited nary a one.' The scene was cut because it was too long but its information regarding the number of worlds can be taken as canon. However, this fact is somewhat contradicted by Serenity where the opening lines of the film give us a brief history of the Firefly universe and mentions; 'Earth that was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new solar system, dozens of planets and hundreds of moons.' How many habitable planets and moons there are exactly is therefore somewhat debateable.

Although technically they are all part of the Alliance, the border planets and moons are mostly self-governed.

Worlds featured in Firefly

• Ariel is a central planet of the Union of Allied Planets. It is home to a major medical center (named Saint Lucy's) of the Alliance's solar system. The majority of the action of the episode "Ariel" occurs on this planet. Ariel could be named after the moon of Ariel, one of Uranus' moons in the system of "Earth that was," which gets its name from the sprite in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest". The crew of Serenity arrives on this planet for a heist on an advanced medical facility.
• Bellerophon is an Alliance moon, home to the wealthy. It has both a large ocean and an empty area of desert climate, complete with canyons, rock and sand. Isis Canyon is pointed out as the most deserted spot on the world. Bellerophon is also the home of Bellerophon Estates, large self-contained estates that float above the ocean waters. Described as "gracious living, ocean views and state-of-the-art security." This is where Durran Haymer lives, a collector of priceless Earth That Was artifacts. Seen in the episode "Trash". The planet is named after a hero in Greek mythology. See Bellerophon.
• Hera is an Earth-like planet with important significance to the Unification War. Serenity Valley is located here, where the the Independent Faction experienced a crushing defeat at the hands of the Alliance. First mentioned in the episode "Serenity". Hera is named after a goddess in Greek Mythology.
• Higgins' Moon is a moon where the primary commercial activity is mud farming which is performed by indentured servants called "mudders". The mud is exported offworld and used in the manufacturing of ceramic components. The bulk of the population is impoverished. The moon appears to be owned by a magistrate named Higgins. Jayne became a folk hero to the mudders in the town of Canton due to his role in a botched heist about four years before the time of the Firefly series. The crew visits Higgins' Moon in the episode "Jaynestown."
• Jiangyin is a border planet located 3 weeks away from Persephone, and also nearby Greenleaf. Alliance law is known to be upheld here. The crew of Serenity sells their cattle here in the episode "Safe". The planet is most likely named after a city in China's Jiangsu province along the Yangtze River.
• Persephone is a civilized planet with heavily stratified societal structure. The Eavesdown Docks are located here, a commercial port and Badger's base of operations. The Serenity crew lands here periodically to resupply and pick up work. Simon and River Tam, as well as Shepherd Book were picked up here in the episode "Serenity". Book had been living on Persephone at the Southdown Abbey. The planet was also the site of a swordfighting duel between Malcolm Reynolds and Atherton Wing in the episode "Shindig". Persephone's name comes from Greek mythology as the name of the "Queen of the Underworld".
• Whitefall is the fourth moon of Athens, a large percentage of which is owned by a woman named Patience. Whitefall is said to not be civilization "in the strictest sense". The crew visits Whitefall hoping to sell their cargo to Patience in the episode "Serenity". It is rumored that there is a Bluesun facility underneath one of the mountains.

Worlds featured in Serenity

• Beaumonde is a fairly wealthy planet, relatively close to certain border worlds. The planet is known to have factories and ranches. The Serenity crew arrives here after their heist on Lilac, to share part of their earnings with the brothers Fanti and Mingo. At the bar called Maidenhead, which was chosen for these dealings, they discover River's Alliance conditioned fighting abilities. This occurs during the Serenity movie. About seven months earlier, the crew was headed for Beaumonde in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds". Beaumonde roughly translated from French means "Beautiful World."
• Haven is the home of Shepherd Book, who left the crew during the events of the comic book series entitled , and where he resided in the movie. It was also a place of refuge for the Serenity crew.
• Lilac is a border world probably near Reaver territory. From space it appears to have a lilac color, which presumably it was named for. The Serenity crew land on Lilac to rob a bank holding an Alliance payroll.
• Miranda is the name of a planet located beyond Reaver territory.^{[#endnote_reaver]} It was home to an Alliance colony with a population of 30 million. The Alliance experimented on the population to find a way to make people more controllable. However the experiments failed: 99.9% of the population became so passive that they essentially lost the will to live. The opposite effect was observed in the remaining 0.1% of the population, who became extremely aggressive and butchered the Alliance scientists in charge of the experiments. This tenth of a percent of the population escaped to become the Reavers. The Alliance tried to cover up what had happened on the planet by creating a story that the colony was lost due to failure in the environmental changes caused during the planet's terraforming process. Writer/Director Joss Whedon says in the DVD commentary that the naming was based on the character from The Tempest.

Unspecified worlds featured in Serenity

There were four other unspecified planets featured in the Serenity movie:

• The location of the classroom where young River Tam is attending school. Since it is mentioned in the Firefly series that the Tam family resided on Osiris, and the Tam children were raised there, the classroom was most likely on that world.
• The location of the medical facility where the Alliance was experimenting on River Tam and where her brother Simon comes to rescue her. This may have been the same world where the Alliance Operative studies the holographic surveillance images of their escape. This most likely was a core planet, possibly Ariel, which is known to have extensive medical facilities and was created using the same sets that were used during Rivers escape scene.
• The world where Inara is residing with other Companions. This could have been Sihnon where Inara is originally from and where the Companion Guild is based, although in the film's deleted scenes (and the previous reluctance of the crew to visit core worlds) it is strongly implied that the world is not Sihnon. It may possibly be the planet Soonal, mentioned in the Firefly episode "Heart of Gold" as being the location of Inara's Companion House.
• The ion cloud moon with the abandoned communications station where Mr. Universe resided.

Additional worlds

Planets

• Athens is a border planet with at least four moons. One of its moons is Whitefall.
• Boros is a planet with strong Alliance presence. Originally the destination of the travellers picked up by Serenity on Persephone. Mentioned in the episode "Serenity".
• Dyton is possibly the home planet of Badger. The colony's inhabitants were likely of British origin, since cockney accents appear common among people from Dyton. Referred to by River in the episode "Shindig".
• Georgia is a gas giant, around which Ezra and Regina orbit.
• Greenleaf is an Alliance planet. Located 10 hours away from Jiangyin. ^{[#endnote_distances]} Mentioned in "Safe" as a location likely to have medical facilities.
• Heinlein is a gas giant around which Triumph orbits. It may have been named in honor of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.
• Londinium (sometimes spelled Londinum) is one of the two Major Planets. It is inhabited primarily by colonists from the United States and is the location of the Alliance Parliament. Londinium was the Roman name for London.
• Newhall is probably a border planet, it was the destination of colonists coming from Bernadette in the episode "Bushwhacked".
• Osiris is a wealthy core planet where Simon Tam attended medical school and worked as a trauma surgeon. Mentioned in the episode "Serenity". Most likely the location of the Tam Family estate shown in various flashbacks in the episode Safe.
• Santo is an unsophisticated planet near Persephone. From space, the planet has a blueish grey color. Mal and Jayne get into a fight with some slavers here. Seen in the episode "Shindig".
• Sihnon, together with Londinium, is one of the two Major Planets. It is inhabited primarily by colonists from China. The planet is highly sophisticated and technologically advanced. It is also Inara Serra's home planet. From space, the planet has a deep red color. Mentioned in the episode "Serenity".
• Soonal - location of Inara's Companion House
• St. Albans is an icy world, and Tracey's home planet. Located about two days away from the Space Bazaar Sky Plex. A Federal station is located nearby. Tracey is brought back to this planet in the episode "The Message".
• Titan is a world mentioned in Badger and River's conversation in Shindig while she impersonates a Cockney girl. It is refered to as the 'old homestead' and is conceivably a planet populated by Britons.
• Verbena was formerly a poor and undeveloped frontier planet, the Alliance chose it as a site of a new gearshift assembly factory for military skiffs. Appears in the unaired script "Dead or Alive".

Moons

• Bernadette is a non-terraformed moon near the core worlds whose environmentally-sealed station is used as a staging location for ships of settlers headed for the border planets. The settlers in "Bushwhacked" left from here on their way to Newhall.
• Beylix is a small border moon, used for smuggling rendezvous. Mal's war buddy Monty was caught by the Alliance here. Mal refers to it in the episode "Trash". In the role-playing game, Beylix appears to have a permanent cloud cover and dense ice rings.
• Ezra is a desert moon orbited by Niska's Skyplex. Malcolm Reynolds tries to sell medical supplies here. Named in the script for "War Stories"
• Ita is a moon in a remote sector. The crew of the S.S. Walden was returning from a salvage mission here before they discovered Serenity's distress signal in the episode "Out of Gas".
• Muir is a moon where the character Badger was raised.
• Regina is a mining moon, upon which everyone is suffering from "Bowden's malady", a degenerative disease. This is where "The Train Job" takes place.
• Triumph is a primitive and poor border moon, apparently self-governed with rather unusual customs and traditions. Elder Gomman is the leader of the moon's settlers. Saffron was picked up here in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds".

Unknown (moon or planet)

• Aberdeen
• Angel
• Constance is a world where Mal, Zoe and Jayne try a bank heist while Shepherd Book delivers a sermon to act as cover. Seen in the comic book series .
• Deadwood
• Harvest
• Highgate
• Kerry
• Liann Jiun
• Paquin is a location mentioned as having a job for Mal and his crew in the episode "Out of Gas".
• Salisbury
• Shadow is where Mal Reynolds was raised on his mother's ranch. The RPG states that it was rendered uninhabitable during the Unification War. "No one lives there. No one can."
• Silverhold is eight sectors away from St. Albans. The Silverhold Colonies are the jurisdiction of Federal Agent Womack in the episode "The Message".
• Three Hills is mentioned by Mal as a location for him to sell his stolen goods at in the episode "Serenity".
• Vesselside is where Zoë Washburne was born according to the film Serenity. However this may just be a reference to being born on a ship in space since in the Serenity role-playing game it is stated that she was born "in the black."
• Whittier

Quotations

• "Sihnon isn't that different from [Persephone]. More crowded, obviously, and I guess more complicated. The great city itself is... pictures can't capture it. It's like an ocean of light." — Inara Serra, Serenity (pilot episode)
• "Earth-that-was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new solar system - dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Each one terraformed - a process taking decades, to support human life, to be new earths. The Central Planets formed the Alliance. Ruled by an interplanetary parliament, the Alliance was a beacon of civilization. The savage outer planets were not so enlightened and refused Alliance control. The war was devastating, but the Alliance's victory over the Independents ensured a safer universe. And now everyone can enjoy the comfort, and enlightenment of true civilization." — River Tam's teacher, Serenity movie

Notes

1. ↑  Distances between specific planets and moons will vary due to orbits.
2. ↑  Reaver territory is loosely defined as the empty void around Miranda.

References

• Whedon, Joss. Serenity: The Visual Companion. September 1, 2005. ISBN 1845760824.
• Firefly — The Complete Series DVD set (ISBN 6308024716)

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