Valisk

Valisk is an independent habitat orbiting Opuntia, in the Srinagar system.

History
Valisk was the first independent habitat to be germinated, in 2305. The habitat personality is Rubra, an Edenist serpent who either stole or developed a habitat embryo and germinated Valisk to house the headquarters of his newly founded astroengeneering company, Magellanic Itg. After death he transferred his memories and personality into Valisk’s neural strata, but, unlike an Edenist habitat, he never allowed others to do so.

Magellanic Itg was initially very successful, both technologically and financially, thanks to the liberal legal attitude to weapons research, manufacturing and export. However, after Rubra’s death in 2389, Valisk went into a long decline, partly due to losing its original exclusive status as a blackhawk mating base to other independent habitats. Valisk became a base for shady trade flights, smuggling and mercenary activities.

As of 2479, the Kohistan Consensus had its last contact with Valisk/Rubra, convinced that the habitat personality had become insane.

Population
As of 2610, Valisk has 900 000 inhabitants. These are mostly Magellanic Itg staff, employees and executives of many subsidiary companies and attending buisinesses, blackhawk captains and crews along with their families, and a large number of adventurers and hangers-on. Its days of attacting the wealthy are over though, having lost its role as plutocrat paradise to Tranquility.

Most of the shadiest business in Valisk are quartered in the Kandi skyscraper.

The parkland of Valisk in inhabited by the Starbridge people, a religion-based community formed by generations of “seekers” of spiritual freedom Rubra allowed to emmigrate to the habitat until 2329.

The whole habitat has a maximum housing capacity of 6 to 7 million inhabitants.

Layout
Valisk has a diameter of 6 km. Its counter-rotating spaceport, located at the northern endcape, as usual in habitats, is 3 km in diameter.

Parkland
The interior of Valisk has unusual scenery: Rubra chosen for the parkland landscape not the usual subtropical ecossytem species and climate, but a much drier and treeless model, with a scrubby desert at the northern endcape changing to a hilly savanna around the circumfluous saltwater reservoir at the southern endcape.

The parkland is covered mainly by eight species of xenoc grass from several worlds which bloom at different rates and times, offering an ever-changing colour display:
 * Tallok grass: salmon pink

Skyscrapers

 * Diocca (Tacoul Tavern on the 17th floor)
 * Goncharaov
 * Kandi (Anders Bospoort’s flat on the 85th floor)
 * Suche

Southern endcap
The southern endcap of Valisk harbours the usual birthing caverns for servitors, bitek lifeforms, and geneered fauna and flora.

Defence
As of 2610, Valisk is defended by 45 weapons platforms placed on a spherical zone 50 Mm in diameter, surrounding the habitat and its many industrial stations. These are complemented by 200 sensor satellites. All systems are manufactured by Magellanic Itg and controlled by Rubra through affinity with bitek management processors. This amounts to a defence capability much higher than any comparable location. No attempt to attack Valisk was ever made, in spite of the many shady business involving blackhawk captains.

The English Wikipedia article on tNA says that two lengthy subplots were dropped from the novel for space reasons: Taking place on Srinagar, one of those would have had an army of possessed conquering the planet with bitek constructs churned out by Valisk’s von Neumann machine, upon its possession. This was later confirmed and expanded by PFH in a private communication.