List of socially unusual fictional planets
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This is a list of socially unusual fictional planets, invented planets in which differences from Earth life are mostly social (like Barrayar in the science fiction of Lois McMaster Bujold).
[edit] Unusual social environment
Typical examples are prison planets, primitive cultures, political or religious extremes and pseudo-medieval societies.
- Aka — Ursula K. Le Guin's The Telling (hyper scientific advancement)
- Anarres — Ursula K. Le Guin's Dispossessed (anarchist)
- Armaghast — Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (prison planet)
- Athos — Lois McMaster Bujold's Ethan of Athos (male-only society)
- Barrayar — Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series (feudal military culture)
- Beowulf—David Weber's Honorverse. Very liberal sexual mores.
- Brontitall — The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; planet of bird people who live in the ear of a statue after shoe shop disaster.
- Butcher Bay - The Chronicles of Riddick (prison planet)
- Cadia - Warhammer 40,000. An entirely militarised planet, where the birth and recruitment rates are synonymous, and military training begins at 5.
- Cetaganda — Bujold's Vorkosigan series (genetically engineered culture)
- Chthon — Piers Anthony's Chthon (prison planet)
- Coruscant — The Star Wars films (planet-wide city, seat of Galactic Republic and Empire)
- Crete — Freelancer
- Discworld -- Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (influenced by magic)
- Dorsai — Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai series (soldier culture)
- Gauda Prime — Appears in the last episode of Blake's 7, being where one of the characters originates, and where the series' eponymous character is residing. A planet overrun with bounty hunters and the scum of the galaxy - but some of whose inhabitants wish to return it to normality (and the Federation).
- Gethen/Winter — Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (hermaphrodites)
- Gor — John Norman's Gor series (men are warriors; women are often sex-slaves; all are generally happy in their appointed roles)
- Hades — David Weber's Honorverse. Prison planet where none of the native wildlife can be metabolized by humans.
- Hain — Central planet in Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish series.
- Hebron — Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (Jewish ethnic)
- Houston — Freelancer
- Irk (Invader Zim)
- Leeds — Freelancer, a heavily polluted planet.
- Magrathea — The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (planet of wealthy customised planet builders)
- Mejerr — Vandread (female-only society)
- Miranda — Serenity (site where Alliance accidentally spawned the Reavers)
- Omega — Robert Sheckley's The Status Civilization (a prison planet)
- Orthe — Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed (post-holocaust/medieval aliens)
- Pacem — Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (base of Catholic church)
- Parvati — Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (reformed Hindus)
- Pern — Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series (people ride genetically-engineered dragons)
- Qom-Riyadh — Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (Moslem)
- Rimmerworld — Arnold Rimmer of Red Dwarf spends 600 years alone on this planet, creating clones of himself in a failed attempt to create a girlfriend. The planet is eventually populated by millions of clones who imprison the original Rimmer.
- Riverworld — Philip José Farmer's Riverworld series (all humans in history reincarnated along a spiral river)
- Rubanis — Valérian and Laureline series (ultra-capitalist)
- Sangre — Norman Spinrad's Men in the Jungle (cannibalism)
- Salusa Secundus — from the Dune Chronicles. Nuked-out "hell world" used as a training environment for super-soldiers.
- Shaggai - From Ramsey Campbell's "Insects from Shaggai". Now-destroyed planet of fanatical sadists.
- Shikasta — Doris Lessing's Shikasta (cosmic consciousness)
- Shora — Joan Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean (waterbound culture)
- Solaria — Isaac Asimov's Robot series. People grow up isolated, and eventually lead totally solitary lives, interacting only via telepresence.
- Talark — Vandread (male-only society)
- Tallon IV — Nintendo's Metroid Prime (Gameplay)
- Terminus — Foundation; Isaac Asimov
- Tiamat — Joan D. Vinge’s The Snow Queen (matriarchy/monarchy)
- Tlön — Jorge Luis Borges' planet, found in his short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"
- Yugopotamia — (The Fairly Oddparents)
- Xindus — Star Trek: Enterprise (six distinct sentient species)
