Corvalis

Corvalis is a densely developed planet dominated by corporate and legal infrastructure. Corvalis City rises in towers of law firms, banking centers, and adjudication chambers under near-constant cloud cover and rain. The planet's short day leads locals to use a twenty-eight-hour schedule with two dawns and two sunsets, including the light period called "second dawn." Planet-side districts mentioned include Duran Heights and South Hill, while Cheng Station orbits above the world. Corvalis is one of the oldest continuously settled planets in the network, valued not for charm or resources but for infrastructure and geographic centrality to major slipstream lanes. The atmosphere is perpetually soaked, drenched by slow, endless rain and hydrocarbon fog; climate engineering stabilized it long ago, but nobody bothered to make it pleasant—only efficient. Corvalis is deeply segregated by class and access, with rain-soaked street zones below and dry, neon upper-city corridors above. Nobody loves Corvalis, but everybody does business there, and most ship traffic goes through Cheng Station. Corvalis City is home to major academic and technical institutions including Corvalis University, and its outskirts include older residential areas beyond the urban core. The planet's weather is characterized by broad, relatively low-powered storm fronts and steady rain that can disrupt communications and shape daily life. Corvalis’s legal culture encourages people to treat identity as a bundle of credentials, permissions, contracts, and access rights. Losing institutional recognition can be socially equivalent to disappearing. The planet’s constant rain reinforces the division between protected corporate interiors and public exterior spaces, making architecture itself a visible measure of status.