When the Europan colonists flung shipments of live soil to the archipelago ahead of settlement, they were calibrated to land in a roughly equidistant grid. Shipments of additional supplies were landed near these sites to support the dispersal of the soil to the surrounding area. As terraforming efforts continued, the areas around these shipping containers grew into towns, then cities, becoming centers of industry and information for their respective regions.

Each city has a unique cultural identity, though travel and trade between them is common thanks to the long road. The true “center” of each city remains a cluster of buildings created from the shells of those ancient shipping containers, though they have been so stripped down and built up that they are no longer recognizable.