Coalition Map WIP (Patreon)

A map of Coalition space is something you guys have been requesting for a long time, but the technical difficulties of producing something like that have always prevented me from making much headway. While all of the star systems featured in Pinwheel are real and have coordinates that you could input into a program, finding one that can actually display them in any kind of coherent way is very hard, and I've never found a usable 3D map. While a lot of sci-fi settings take place on a Galactic scale, and can just use a flattened map of the Galaxy on a 2D plane (eg: Star Wars, 40k), Pinwheel takes place within about 100 light-years of Earth and is very much three-dimensional. This creates a lot of problems, none of which have easy solutions.

I was recently introduced to a program called Space Engine that has what I need. While it's not ideal, and I have to do a lot of manual image editing to overlay the different coordinates onto one grid, the end result is pretty damn close to what I envisioned. Coupled with labels and planet fact sheets featuring 3D models that I created in Grand Designer, I should be able to make a very detailed and coherent representation of Coalition space and the planets within it. Space Engine and Grand Designer both have a Pro license, so I'm good to go when it comes to using these commercially.

What you see here is more of a mockup, as while I'm quite happy with the stellar grids, the slides are just placeholders and will look nicer in the finished product. I've mapped out all of the most important planets that have been featured in stories so far, and while this doesn't include every human colony, that's something I could potentially flesh out and add in the future.

Featured:

Xi Pegasi - Kerguela

16 Cygni - Hades

HD-217107 - Valbara

70 Virginis - Jarilo

Trappist-1 - The Broker system

Alpha Coronae Borealis - Borealis

61 Cygni - Krell

Epsilon Eridani - EE-IV

Kruger 60 - Kruger-III