The second largest gas giant in the Centar solar system, Kolopoli has been the king of spacecraft manufacture for thousands of years. With perfect atmospheric conditions to test all aspect of flight, the planet has been used to test how much pressure a spacecraft can withstand, and how well it can cope in turbulence and high winds, as well as many other factors.
Even now, Kolopoli alone produces and sells almost as many spacecraft as all of the worlds in the Tripoli Arm combined, proving that old money still holds its worth. During the Sentience War, Kolopoli remained completely unscathed by the Raptid Fleet. An untold number of Communion warships drift hidden amongst the clouds of the gas giant, and when the raptids tried to take Kolopoli, for every ship they destroyed, another three would emerge… It did not take long before the raptids abandoned the giant in the hopes that they could take Centarion directly. However, even so, Kolopoli kept a steady stream of warships coming to aid the capitol – and the raptids never stood a chance.
Life on Kolopoli is unique, to say the least. Hundreds of cities float in the clouds, drifting wherever the wind may take them. They stay afloat in the same way that a hot air balloon would. Dangling rubber pipes, miles long, suck flammable gasses out of the lower atmosphere and transport them to the top of the cities. The gasses are then burnt in a controlled manner, and the heat is collected by a vast canopy. This canopy is many times larger than the city below, and keeps everyone safely in the air. A glass shield protects the inhabitants from the planet’s non-breathable atmosphere and the otherwise deadly winds. The cities are also armed with emergency weather defences, such as cloud busters and lighting rods.
Below the cities themselves, are massive rings, which help for stability, balancing the balloon, city, and pipes. However, it is also within these rings that spacecraft are manufactured and stored. As such, these settlements are among the most heavily defended in the known galaxy. Kolopoli also attracts pilots from all over the Communion, racers especially. Before the Sentience War, raptids also found themselves more welcome here than in other parts of Human Space. Many raptids would compete against humanity’s most elite pilots in the famed ‘Kolopoli Strait.’ This is a perilous race through an ancient storm, where pilots may encounter ball lightning, travelling spikes of ice, and even mysterious creatures – not all too pleased with the noise of space craft in their home.
Kolopoli is also one of the oldest inhabited planets in the Communion, due to it being in the Centar system – the birthplace of humanity. Even during the Second Schism, it was one of the first planets to be fought over and colonised. The balloon cities were devised during that period.
Sometimes, cities come into close contact with each other. However, this is a random occurrence, since there is no way to control the movement of the cities. It is always an exciting moment when another city comes into view, and people hop into their personal vehicles to fly over to their neighbour to see what they have to offer. People on Kolopoli also enjoy very good transport links to other worlds in the Centar system and all across the Communion, due to the number of pilots and vessels here.
The cities are mostly a similar size, but a few are certainly larger. Some are even connected to form floating conurbations. The capitol city of Kolopoli is called Windra, and it dwarfs all of the other cities.
