Vorkosigan Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Vorkosigan Wiki
"Miles stepped back and gestured Ekaterin to the port for a look. He reflected on the political astrography of Quaddiespace, or rather, as it was formally designated, the Union of Free Habitats. From this initial point, quaddie groups had leapfrogged out to build daughter colonies in both directions along the inner of the two rings of asteroids that had made this system so attractive to their ancestors. Several generations and a million strong later, the quaddies were in no danger whatsoever of running out of space, energy, or materials. Their population could expand as fast as it chose to build."
―Miles and Ekaterine arrive in Quaddiespace[src]

The Union of Free Habitats, aka Quaddiespace, was a group of independent space stations and hollowed-out asteroids populated mostly by quaddies. Their stellar system was located out near the edge of Sector V; it had two asteroid rings, and astrographically it had two planetary system neighbors.[1]

History[]

Approximately 200 years before Miles Vorkosigan's time, the quaddies were created by an Earth-based company, GalacTech, as a free-fall-dwelling form of humanity. After a time, they fled from GalacTech to what was then the outer limits of the wormhole nexus.[2] The first station they built was named Graf Station, after Leo Graf, the engineer who helped them in their flight.[3]

By Miles Vorkosigan's time, their population was about 1 million, and the Nexus had grown enough around them that they had two neighbors and a reasonably large amount of interstellar traffic visiting them.[1]

Politics[]

The society's political structure was based on the work gang, with a leadership committee called the Board of Directors of the Union of Free Habitats. As a society, they were extremely egalitarian and their access to the galactic information exchange was, as a result, extremely open -- almost as much so as Beta Colony was.[4]

Culture[]

The stations were usually not provided with gravity, except in certain areas where downsiders (legged humans) were likely to visit. Graf Station, which was built partly from a small metallic asteroid and partly from the original reconfigured jumpship that the quaddies fled in, had a mix of grav and free-fall regions because it had considerable interaction with galactic visitors. At the time of Diplomatic Immunity, it sustained a population of approximately 50,000.[5]

Miscellaneous cultural details[]

  • The Madame Minchenko Memorial Auditorium was named for Ivy Minchenko, who joined them in their journey; the quaddies performed free-fall dance and musical performances there.[6][7]
  • There were four other stations with grav regions: Metropolitan, Sanctuary, Minchenko, and Union Station. Union Station also held the Quaddies' seat of government.[1] Sanctuary Station made good tools.[8]
  • Quaddies had one name. Instead of a surname, they had a numerical suffix if other quaddies with the same given name were currently living. Leo was a particularly popular name, with a known example of a "Leo 99."[9][10]
  • Quaddies tended to be very law-abiding and safety-conscious. They wore color-coded uniforms corresponding to their work groups (yellow shirts and shorts were for construction workers, orange was for docks and locks, and so forth).[2][3]

Famous People From Quaddiespace[]

Notes and references[]

Advertisement