Spheres, Sectors, Systems and Planets
Last updated: August 21, 2026
- Why the hierarchy is worth internalising
- What lives at each level
- Beyond the four
- Official source
- Related reading
Xdripian space nests in four levels, and the same vocabulary is used consistently by the Atlas, the Codex, and Terminus. A sphere is the widest division — primordial, cosmological, the frame within which everything else sits. A sector is a navigational division of a sphere. A star system sits within a sector and contains suns and planets. A planet carries regions, cities and locations on its surface. Learning these four words in order makes every spatial statement in the Universe legible.
Why the hierarchy is worth internalising
Because it disambiguates. When a text says something happened "in the sphere", it is making a much larger claim than "in the system", and the difference is not rhetorical. The levels also explain why the Atlas is built the way it is: you descend, and each descent narrows what can be shown.
What lives at each level
Spheres and sectors are mostly about arrangement and relation. Systems introduce bodies — suns, planets. Planets introduce the human scale: regions, cities, locations, and with them the institutions and histories the Codex documents. The interesting material tends to be at the bottom of the hierarchy; the orientation is at the top.
Beyond the four
Astral geometries and celestial constellations describe patterns across bodies rather than the bodies themselves, and are documented in the Codex rather than rendered as levels. Sites of power sit at the location scale but carry claims that reach much further up.
Terminus uses the same sector-and-system vocabulary for its frontier. Learning it here transfers directly, even though the two hold entirely separate data.
Official source
Canonical source for this subject: the Celestial Atlas. Checked 21 August 2026 — where this guide and the live service disagree, the service is right.
Related reading
- Celestial Geography and the Atlas — How to read the geography of the Universe and when to choose the Atlas over the Codex.
- Navigating the 3D Map — How movement works inside a single-canvas experience with no separate pages.
- Geography, Sites of Power and Celestial Sources — Codex records for spheres, systems, planets, cities and the places where power concentrates.