Milky Way (Earth-7642)

The **Milky Way**, also simply known as **Milky Way Galaxy**, is a large galaxy, and one of the many galaxies in the universe. The Milky Way is home to thousands of sapient species and star systems, among others, serving as the main point for trade, politics, and mainly war through its extensive history.

## Political geography

### Star systems

The known Milky Way galaxy included nearly a billion inhabited star systems, from uncharted smugglers' settlements to planet-spanning ecumenopoleis where scarcely a meter of ground remained untouched. In the science of stellar cartography, the Milky Way was divided into four major areas called *quadrants*:  Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta (the first four letters of the Greek alphabet), each of which composed one-quarter of the galaxy. Each quadrant was divided into thousands of sectors.

The Galactic Core was the intersection of all four quadrants. The Quadrants are further divided into Regions, The Deep Core, the Core Worlds, the Inner Rim, the Mid Rim, and the Outer Rim. These were largely cultural entities as opposed to political ones, and generally corresponded to stages of galactic exploration and settlement.

### Deep Core

The Deep Core served as the innermost and most brightly lit region of space. It was the most densely-packed with stars, nebulae, and other anomalies. As such, it was dangerous to navigate, leaving it relatively few explorers. It was from here that the ancient, super-massive black hole bound the galaxy together.

### Core Worlds

The Core Worlds were home to the richest and most important worlds in the galaxy. Densely inhabited and located on the strategic ends of several major trade lanes, its planets were hubs of fashion, education, finance, and technology. It is where many human species arguably began. It was from Xandar, Corellia,  Vuldar, Alderbaraan, Chaadrila, Kuat, Trantor Prime, and other systems that the fate of the galaxy was often decided.

### Inner Rim

When first settled, the Inner Rim served as the frontier of galactic civilization for centuries, known simply as "the Rim." As colonization spread outwards, Inner Rim Worlds prospered. Notable planets included   Bestine, Braal, Lallor, Cargg, Winath, Orando, Xanthu, Imsk, Turakis, Onderon, Thyferra, and Taanab. As the bridge between the Core and the Rim, the Inner Rim held great strategic value, and during both numerous galactic wars, brutal battles were fought over the region.

### Mid Rim

The Mid Rim was a tranquil region of space that brimmed with varied galactic worlds that boasted successful governments and thriving economies. Distance from the Core gave these worlds less fame or notoriety than planets closer to the galactic center. The Mid Rim was unofficially considered the lawful extent of the United Planets. Spillover piracy from the Outer Rim affected the region. Those headed towards the Outer Rim saw it as the last taste of civilization, while those heading corewards saw it as the last grasp of frontier living. Notable planets included Naurilla, Bismoll, Daxam, Colu, Zen-Whoberi, the Vega Star System, and Planet X.

### Outer Rim Territories

The largest region of the known galaxy, the Outer Rim Territories were considered to be lawless, strange, and savage. Due to its distance from the Core, government control was historically the weakest in the Outer Rim Territories, and it was the traditional refuge for dissidents, pilgrims and freedom-seekers, but it was also beset by lawlessness, oppression and violence.

Ruled primarily by hostile empires, Criminal organizations operated in abundance within the region. And even the numerous interplanetary or galactic governments that presided over it failed to impose central control in the area, and even the Green Lantern Corps's authority over the region has historically fluctuated between nonexistent, or the only real jurisdiction within the Region, Notable worlds included Arrkais, Earth, Barsoom, Thanagar, Elia, Rimbor, Krylor, Conjunction, Sovereign, Berhert, Nar Shaddaa,  Korguar, Contraxia, Kitson, Czarnia, Ventura, Centauri Prime, Orion, and Rann.

## Traffic routes

Clear and stable paths through hyperspace, known as hyperlanes or hyperroutes, were the essential bedrock of galactic civilization. Hyperlanes provided safe trails for starships around the dangerous gravitic "mass shadows" left in hyperspace by objects in realspace.