List of socially unusual fictional planets

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).

Unusual social environment

Typical examples are prison planets, primitive cultures, political or religious extremes and pseudo-medieval societies.

See: Utopia, Dystopia.

• 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 [...] 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 [...]-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)

See also

• Planets in science fiction