A kind of a map of Farscape.
Text Transcript:
A Non-Map Map of Farscape
Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien drew a map of Middle Earth it’s been popular to make maps for science fiction and fantasy universes. There are no maps for Farscape because part of its charm is the characters don’t know where they are. <get you home if I knew where home was >
We can’t draw a map but we can glean a few basic facts about the lay of the land in the Farscape universe. In my previous video about how far away from Earth is the action in Farscape I calculated the distance was 96,000 light years traveling an arc around the toxic galactic center.
In the first episode we learn the two astrographic facts. There’s an area controlled by the Peacekeepers and next to it are the Uncharted Territories. These territories aren’t lawless wastelands, they are simply outside of Peacekeeper jurisdiction and unknown to them. We never learn how big Peacekeeper space is, just that their military is big. We learn that somewhere there is the Hynerian Empire, the Luxan territories, the planet Delvia, and the Scarran Empire. All of the action in the original series occurs in the Uncharted Territories until we learn about Tormented space. <Aeryn clip>.
One of my viewers made the astute observation that the description of tormented space matches the effects caused by radiation as you approach the galactic core. This makes some sense so I’ll place tormented space closer to the galactic core and an area that Peacekeepers would need to go around to get to Earth.
There’s not much to go on, certainly nothing to indicate boundaries or sizes of domains, but that’s in keeping with what I’m calling the Kemper Doctrine of don’t explain just show. Farscape isn’t bogged down from wordy exposition. We are right there with the characters, knowing no more than they do. Part of the beauty of Farscape.