Ark (Russian: Ковчег, Kovcheg) is a fictional planet described in Space Mowgli (Малыш. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a barren world very similar to Earth in all aspects except the biosphere. The latter is unbelievably poor: for example, the oceans of the planet are empty (no fish, no algae, no mammals) although quite suitable for protein life.

This planet was chosen by progressors as a refuge and a new home for the population of Pant, a planet in danger of a global natural catastrophe. The name was given after the biblical Ark built by Noah. It was initially planned to gradually change the biosphere of Ark to make it more similar to the pantian one and then transfer all Pantians to their new home. Considering the low technological advancement level of Pantians, they should not have noticed anything at all. But this plan was canceled when the non-humanoid native civilization of Ark (Megaforms) was discovered.

It isn’t stated anywhere in Strugatsky’s books whether the «Ark Project» (started in 2160 AD) was ever completed and how.

Inhabitants
The local civilization of Ark is nearly as enigmatic as Wanderers. An official contact with them was never established although the Ark Megaforms employed a human agent to communicate with progressors working on the surface of Ark. This agent was Piere «The Kid» Semyonov, a 13-year old human whose parents died in 2147 when their spaceship «Pilgrim» was shot down by Wanderers’ satellite from a circular orbit of Ark.

Although Megaforms negotiated (through their agent) to drive progressors away from their homeworld, no further attempt to share technologies or cultural developments was registered.

Arkanar is the capital of Arkanar Kingdom on a fictional unnamed planet described in «Hard to Be a God» («Трудно быть богом») by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world in a late feudalistic/Renaissance stage (opposite to e.g. early feudalism of Saula). As stated, the planet has never been officially named so it is usually referred to by the name of the city where the action of the book takes place. Arkanar (planet) was discovered in the EN-2097 solar system in 2134 AD.

Very little is known about the planet as a whole, since the book only describes the events that happened in Arkanar shortly before the so called «Arkanar Massacre». The planet has nine continents.

Inhabitants
The native sentient species of Arkanar (planet) are humans genetically identical to those from Earth. Their social system is a feudalistic one, although some countries have already entered the Renaissance and even early capitalistic stages. All countries mentioned in the book are parts of once great Estor Empire named after its capital and Estor is probably located somewhere in the desert climatic zone, since the Emperor’s elite troops mentioned occasionally in the book are battle camels.

The events described in «Hard to Be a God» take place in the far northern province of the Empire, in Arkanar Kingdom (named also after its capital) or just Arkanar. Arkanar is located to the west of Soan Merchant Republic (Soan) and to the east of Irukan Duchy (Irukan). To the south of Arkanar is the Strait between the northern provinces of the Empire and its mainland. To the north there are the semi-independent Pampa Baronial Estate and, far behind the mountains of Red Northern Range, the lands of barbarians which are, of course, not a part of Empire.

Technology
Technological advancement of Arkanar (planet) is equal to that of Earth in the post-Middle Ages and Renaissance period. Advanced countries like Soan possess much technological know-how and their libraries and universities are filled with educated physicians, engineers, chemists, physicists and astronomers. Holy Order that still officially discourages literacy sees the only possible way to maintain a stable nation in illiteracy of its citizens. Countries like Arkanar are approximately in the middle between these two poles.

Earth
In the Noon Universe created by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky Earth is one of the planets populated by humans as well as their assumed origin. It is identical to the modern Earth except for the fact that it is set in the XXII century. Earth is particularly described in Noon: 22nd Century, the first (chronologically and published) book of Noon Universe series.

Inhabitants
As already stated, Earth of the XXII century is populated by humans whose civilization is the most scientifically advanced (of human ones) in the known Universe. The whole planet is one great state governed by the World Council composed of the brightest scientists, philosophers, historians and strategists. The political system may therefore be described as a technocracy but many aspects of life on Earth resemble the idealistic vision of communism so much, that it is widely accepted to consider Earth a truly communistic state. The characters in the books (for example, in Hard to Be a God) often refer to themselves as «communars», too.

Technology
The Earth’s humans are the most technologically advanced civilization in the Noon Universe (except for Wanderers and maybe Tagorians). Some of their technologies utilize the well-known principles of physics while the others are rather of sci-fi nature.

Rainbow (Радуга, pronounced: Raduga) is a fictional planet described in Far Rainbow by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a planetwide experimental laboratory used by null-physicists (scientists working on null-T, a sort of teleportation used in the Noon Universe since the second half of XXII century). It isn’t clear when it was discovered but, presumably, somewhere between 2146 and 2154 AD.

Rainbow is a very comfortable planet with a moderate climate, a calm atmosphere, little seismic activity and a rather phlegmatic native fauna. There is only one continent (in the Northern hemisphere) and some small archipelagos (in the South one, which is covered with an ocean). Remarkably, the coastal line between the southern ocean and the northern continent roughly coincides with the equator.

Inhabitants
Rainbow didn’t have a native intelligent species until it was discovered by Earth’s explorers. Shortly after that it was «inhabited» by null-physicists, scientists studying the null-T (teleportation). The null-T was an urgent and promising problem in the 50s but it was also quite dangerous so the government of Earth decided to move all null-physicists to another planet where they could carry out their experiments without endangering the rest of humanity.

Rainbow is a unique laboratory-planet where all economics, industrial and agrarian sectors are aimed to support 120 scientists who work on a solution of the transport theorem. Together (null-physicists, biologists, children, tourists, null-T testers) the total population of the planet’s barely ever reached 300 people. The whole planet is governed by the Council, consisting of the leading scientists and some administrators including the general director, Matvei Vyazanitsyn.

Only one town named simply Capital (the permanent residence of the Council) exists on Rainbow; all other settlements are either small villages or just observatories.

Apparently, Rainbow was also the last known residence of Camill, the last remaining of «The Devil’s Dozen».

Technology
As already stated, Rainbow doesn’t possess a native intelligent species, therefore its level of technological development is equal to that of Earth. But, as every normal laboratory, this planet constantly desires for expensive apparatus and measuring devices (e.g. ulmotrons) that can only be produced on Earth. Therefore there is always a shortage on technics because of a slow delivery speed.

Null-T developed partially on Rainbow is a technology of transporting objects of any size in any direction and any distance. It is based on a so called puncture of the Riemannian fold (прокол римановой складки) and actually goes against everything proclaimed by traditional theories of absolute space, time-space continuum and kappa-space. Nevertheless, such problem has been raised and successfully solved even though at an enormous cost.

During the study of null-T various problems have arisen and been solved. The most desperate was the Wave that even managed to divide the null-physicists in two fractions: those who wanted to keep paying greater attention to the null-T itself and those who desperately wanted to study the Wave. The second problem solved on Rainbow shortly before it has been abandoned was that any living matter sent to Earth with null-T has arrived there in form of organic cinder. Later on both this problems were solved and in the 70s null-T has already been a norm of life on Earth.

Saraksh is a fictional planet described in Prisoners of Power («Обитаемый остров») by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world that survived an atomic war. As a result, the surface of the planet is mostly covered with debris and junk. This is a great problem for the survivors since many of the old war machines still endanger those living in the regions. For example, in one episode of «Prisoners of Power» the main character’s aircraft gets shot down by an old air defense system.

Saraksh is notable for its mostrous refraction in the atmosphere. From the surface it looks like the horizon is above the observer which makes the inhabitants of the planet think that they actually live inside a hollow cave in an endless piece of rock rather than on a round planet floating in space. The phenomenon of night and day change is explained by periodic changes in the clouds gathered in the middle of the «cave». In ancient times, there was a school of scientists who did not believe this theory. Their beliefs found little support within the normal populace, though they did inspire a curse word «Massaraksh» (literally: «the world inside-out»). According to Maxim, their theories gained new prominence when they were used to help to plot long-range ballistic missiles.

Inhabitants
The planet is inhabited primarily by a humanoid race that is virtually identical (both genetically and physiologically) to humans from Earth. The only difference mentioned in «Inhabited Island» is the local population’s sensitivity to so called «white» and «black» radiation which Earth humans do not experience.

There are four countries mentioned in the book:

An unnamed nation ruled by an oligarchy of «Unknown Fathers» (a group of wealthy politicians and military generals)
Island Empire (the supreme marine power, very little information present)
Khonti (a government in the mist of a barely restrained cold war between two governing factions: The Khonti Union of Justice and The Khonti Patriotic League; for reasons even the Creators can’t quite agree on, it has been considered a dangerous threat to their nation)
Pandeya (a prosperous capitalist democracy. Like Khonti, it’s a former colony of the empire that became the nation of the Creators)
The last two countries on the list were once provinces of a great empire that collapsed during the atomic war and divided into three parts, the biggest one of which is ruled by the Creators. A number of countries were completely wiped off the face of the planet, leaving the so-called Great Southern Desert in their wake. There were indications that some of the survivors of the war managed to create a nation deep within the desert, but, because the region was very radioactive, this has not been confirmed. There were also persistent rumors that some coastal nations managed to survive the war essentially intact. It is also mentioned that somewhere deep in the mountains there is a folk of «highlanders», people more similar to humans from Earth, but this rumor is never confirmed.

Saraksh is also the home planet of an intelligent canoid (dog-like) race called Golovans. These are most probably an aftermath of the atomic war, a random result of mutations caused by the radiation although some sources consider them a product of genetic engineers of the old empire. The Golovans were discovered by an Earthling Maxim Kammerer in the course of Prisoners of Power.

Technology
Technologically Saraksh is comparable to the Earth of the 1950s and 60s. Most of the technological progress is made by the military but despite advanced ground techniques there is nearly no sign of air force. One of the characters makes references to short-range helicopters and «air platforms». The only airplane mentioned in the book was a relic machine from the old empire. Such lack of airplanes only supports the dominant theory of Hollow Earth.

The sea is completely monopolized by the Island Empire and its «white submarines» that are able to attack land targets as well as marine ones. Apparently, the submarines are much more preferred than traditional vessels.

Apart from the normal, human-developed technologies there are also some elements of alien ones, for example, the so called «Anti-Ballistic Missile» (ABM) system maintained by the Creators. The nation of the Creators also possesses advanced mentoscopic technology that allowed them to scan mental images and affect human nervous system (primarily used for torture devices). It is suggested that these were built using the secrets left by Wanderers.

Earth and Saraksh
Saraksh was discovered in 2148 AD by an expedition from Earth led by A.-I. Bader. After the scientists found an advanced humanoid civilization on the planet, they immediately withdrew and Saraksh became an object of study for progressors. All information about this contact was classified, so the planet was officially «open» for free exploration. This is the reason the main character of Prisoners of Power, Maxim Kammerer, who couldn’t find an interesting job on Earth, decided to go to Saraksh.

As Maxim wanders, participating in wars, discovering new races, and organizing a revolution he is hunted by a Creator nicknamed «Strannik» who turns out to be a progressor from Earth Rudolf Sikorski. Later on, Kammerer manages to destroy the ABM System (see below) causing one of the most severe social crises in the history of the progressors.

The All-powerful Creators / Unknown Fathers
The All-powerful Creators were discovered to be a cabal of military leaders and politicians. Contrary to propaganda, very few of the originators of the coup that overthrew the Imperial government are still part of the Creators. Most were replaced by newer recruits. Some advanced through the ranks, while others came from the opposition. All Creators went by pseudonyms which reflected either their personality traits or their level of power relative to the head Creator (who, naturally, called himself «Papa»). All Creators had absolute authority within their areas of government. Often, those areas overlapped, which lead to bloody skirmishes. Papa, however, commanded the ultimate authority within the Unknown Fathers, executing any Father that displeased him.

Papa — overall leader of the Unknown Fathers. He was a prominent banker before the coup. He may have had gold mines in Honti.
Smart — the Head General Prosecutor. In charge of the legal apparatus in the Land of Unknown Fathers. One of the few Fathers that has been in power since the original coup.
Strannik (Russian: Странник — Wanderer) — Chief of Counter-Intelligence and Sciences. He operates one of the largest spy networks on Saraksh. He also heads the AMDS research team.
Blister — Chief of Propaganda. He was responsible for the introduction of the «Fun Journeys» program, which featured mentograms of mental patients. This, along with several other eccentricities, fueled the rumor that he was insane himself. He was killed during a power struggle.

Radiation
The ABM System, made up of hundreds of defense towers all over the Land of the Creators, is a complete mystery at the beginning. Officially it is meant to protect the country from ICBMs from other continents but it is apparent that no nation on Saraksh possesses such weapons. Throughout the book it is revealed that the ABM system is actually a network of radiation emitters later destroyed by Maxim Kammerer.

This radiation is a mind affecting electro-magnetic wave pattern used by the Creators to control the population of their country. There are two types of the radiation known: «white» (inducing enthusiastic happiness, used daily) and «black» (severe depression, used on special occasions only). The «radiation-withdrawal» syndrom leaves 20% of those accustomed to its constant presence mentally ill in the varying degrees of severity once removed from its field of influence.

The white radiation induces the loss of a capacity for critical thought, so everyone are generally «well-adjusted» and happy just following orders and working for the regime, incapable of questioning the world-view fed to them by the regime’s propaganda. Any decent well-meaning person would thus sincerely work to the advantage of the regime, and feel good about it, while really hating its enemies and any opposition to it. When used in its high-intensity setting it induces paroxisms of enthusiastic love for whatever the person is currently conditioned to hold as their highest and most supreme object of adoration, namely the regime leadership.

Black radiation induces acute sorrow, putting anyone it is applied to into a deep depression. Its use is reserved for special occasions like leadership change, or in war. This was used only once in Prisoners of Power, when Maxim Kammerer changed the program of the emanating emitters to win enough time to plant a bomb at the system center and get away.

Those who are impervious to the mind-controlling effects of radiation suffer from terrible headaches when its intensity rises above normal level (which happens twice a day for half-hour periods in order to flush out any residual doubts and dissatisfaction in the susceptible population). Such people are labeled «degens». They form the Underground and are hunted down by the rulers as a possible threat to their power since, unlike the general masses, they are capable of critical thinking. The Creators themselves all belong to this group as well, from time to time recruiting some new members from the «degens» of the Underground, which is full of their spies as well as those who genuinely oppose and resist the regime.

It is clear that the radiation system was the critical component in the creation of the most sophisticated propaganda machine ever employed on any of Noon Universe’s non-advanced planets, like Saraksh or Giganda.

Trivia
Boris and Arkady Strugatsky planned to describe the Island Empire’s society and government in greater detail in what was to be their final Noon Universe novel. Along with the other things, they would have explained that the Island Empire was a prosperous, utopian society that maintained internal harmony by deliberately exiling their more deviant citizens to the outer fringes of the Empire. The crews of the white submarines was made up of the worst segments of the Empire’s society. However, Arkady Strugatsky died before the novel was completed. Following that, Boris Strugatsky decided that he could not bring himself to finish it, so the novel was never published.

Saula is a fictional planet described in «An Attempt to Escape» («Попытка к бегству») by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world in an early feudalistic stage (opposite to e.g. late feudalism of Arkanar). The planet was named after Saul (Savel) Repnin, one of the space explorers who discovered it in 2141 AD.

Saula is the second planet (out of four) of EN-7031 solar system, about one and a half times further from its sun than Earth is from ours. The day and night cycle on Saula lasts 28 hours, its mass is about 1.1 of Earth, which means that acceleration of gravity is roughly equal to 10.8 m/s². It has three (!) moons (natural satellites). There are only two continents on Saula: the bigger one on equator and the smaller one close to a pole (it’s not specified which one in the book).

Inhabitants
The native intelligent species of Saula are humans which are genetically identical to those of Earth. The society of these people is mostly feudal and ritual-based, although some elements still resemble the ancient slave-owning regime. The only country described in «An Attempt to Escape» doesn’t have a name or, at least, it was never mentioned. Apparently it’s a monarchy with «Great and mighty Cliff, glaring battle, with a foot in Heaven, living until the end of machines» (an approximate translation by Vadim, the interpreter of the expedition that discovered Saula) in chief. The last part has to do with the so called «everlasting machines» (see below) and symbolizes eternity. It is also mentioned that «Great and mighty Cliff» (the minimum shortening of the king’s title) is eager to star a conquest on other lands which suggests that there are other countries on the equatorial continent.

As already stated, the inhabitants of Saula are physically identical to homo sapiens but some aspects of their psychology is different, for example, the tone of voice appropriate for giving orders is the same with which Earthlings plead and complain (citing Anton, the third member of the expedition, «as if someone stepped on a kitten»). Another strange fact is that they are shocked by any drawn picture (probably that’s cultural). The language people in the land of Great and mighty Cliff use is similar to Japanese.

Technology
Technologically Saula is generally somewhere in the Earth’s early Middle Ages. The people of Saula can forge weapons like swords and spears, can build houses and palaces and ride on some specimen of local fauna, for example, large birds of prey called samsons that are visually similar to ostriches. Politically they have already invented a sort of government, which consists of Great and mighty Cliff’s advisors, and a royal court. Some by-the-way remarks indicate that there is also some kind of philosophical topics usually discussed by aristocratic part of the population.

Minor Planets:
Garrota (Гаррота)
Giganda (Гиганда)
Hope (Надежда)
Leonida (Леонида)
Pandora (Пандора)
Pant (Панта)
Ruzhena (Ружена)
Tagora (Тагора)
Tissa (Тисса)
Vladislava (Владислава)
Yaila (Яйла)

Garrota
Garrota (Гаррота) is the home planet of Garrotian snails (слизни Гарроты), a non-humanoid alien race that took humans and their technology for a product of their own imagination. This planet is briefly mentioned in «Space Mowgli» and no further information about either the race or the planet is available.

Giganda
Giganda (Гиганда) is a planet populated by humans whose technological advancement is roughly equal to that of Saraksh inhabitants. For a long time the two superpowers of the planet, Alai Duchy and the Empire, were drawn into a total war conflict that has been put an end to only when Earth’s progressors started an undercover anti-war activity in 2177 AD. Apparently, no country possessed nuclear weapons.

One of the planet’s natives, a foot soldier of the Empire was taken to Earth and introduced to its advanced society. Despite repeated efforts to integrate him, he failed to adjust. He was then returned to Giganda.

Discovered in 2136 AD

Hope
Hope (described briefly in Beetle in the Anthill) is another planet populated by humans whose technological advancement is roughly equal to that of Earth in XX century. Approximately in 2123 AD, a massive ecological catastrophe (probably, a man-made one) devastated the planet causing its inhabitants to age at an unnatural pace after the twelfth year of life. Wanderers, apparently believing that a new, clean environment is the cure, have transported most of the population of Hope to an unknown planet using some sort of enhanced null-T, but few people decided to remain and became a subject of a consequent hunt by Wanderers (through a sophisticated system of traps, especially for children).

Discovered in 2162 AD

Leonida
Leonida (Леонида) is the home planet of Leoniders, a humanoid alien race that lives in a perfect symbiosis with the planet’s biosphere. Leonida is located in EN-23 system, its only moon is called Palmyra (Пальмира) and its day-night cycle lasts a bit longer than 27 hours. This planet was apparently the first one with an Earth-like climate suitable for humans’ existence. Perhaps, the planet was named after its discoverer, Leonid Gorbovsky.

Discovered in 2133 AD

Pandora
Pandora (Пандора) is a planet wide holiday resort. It is mostly covered with jungle swarming with dangerous alien fauna (like crayfish-spiders or tahorgs) young people just love to hunt. Every year dozens of people are killed or seriously injured on Pandora despite countless safety measures by Earth’s government. No local sentient species registered. Pandora is apparently located in a system with two suns.

Pandora’s skies were a training ground for Headies, when humans shared the space-traveling technologies with them during the «Headies in Space» project.

Discovered before 2119 AD (exact date unknown)

Pant
Pant (Панта) is a planet endangered by a global catastrophe — an explosion of its own sun as a part of standard stellar evolution. Unfortunately, there were sentient species identical to humans on the planet and so they had to be deported from it («Ark Project») to another one. The first choice was Ark but since the discovery of a sentient alien race there, progressors have apparently changed their mind.

Discovered approx. in 2161 AD

Ruzhena
Ruzhena (Ружена) is an Earth-like planet in VK-71016 system. Valentin Petrov, the leader of the expedition that discovered it, named the planet after his wife, Ruzhena Naskova, but the planet wasn’t really hospitable: two members of the spaceship crew perished on it and Petrov himself lost an arm.

Ruzhena is described in «Частные предположения», a book that’s been never translated in English and contains only a vague connection to the Noon Universe

Tagora
Tagora (Тагора) is the home planet of Tagorians, a lizard-like alien race, the first one Earth’s ever contacted with. It is mentioned in «An Attempt to Escape» that there is a human resident (or spy) on Tagora whose name is presumably Benny Durov (Бенни Дуров) and he is a progressor working under cover to study Tagorian technology.

Discovered in the end of XXI century although a full scaled contact was established in 2122 AD

Tissa
Tissa (Тисса) is a planet in EN-63061 system. It is famous mostly for an incident that happened shortly after a FSG expedition discovered it. For some reason the members of the group couldn’t establish a radio connection to any human world or spaceship except for their own mothership on the orbit of Tissa, and its computers kept telling them that Earth and all other human settlements were destroyed by global catastrophes and that they are the only remaining humans in the Universe. After the group was rescued, psychologists decided that this was a case of temporary madness or a mass suggestion. Tissa is only mentioned in «The Time Wanderers».

Discovered in 2193 AD

Vladislava
Vladislava (Владислава) is the first planet (apart from Mars) where Wanderers’ traces were found (artificial satellites and an abandoned city). Apart from that, the planet is known for its extremely turbulent atmosphere conquered only by famous Leonid Gorbovsky. Despite that, there is some protein life on the planet although no sentient one. Vladislava is located in EN-17 solar system.

Discovered in 2121 AD

Yaila
Yaila (Яйла) is an even harsher and more dangerous version of Pandora. Infamous for its monstrous fauna (e.g. Yaila Dragon, presumably, a reptile with an enormous regeneration potential) and its impenetrable jungle and swamps it is considered by many to be just another planet-wide resort, but generally only the toughest and most experienced hunters dare to visit Yaila.