I had a lot of fun naming all the features of Sagittarius.  I took most of the names from Greek mythology, but there are some exceptions.  This document is for those who like knowing what all the little names refer to.  Whenever I found the literal meaning of a word, it is placed in paranthese next to the entry. 

Sagittarius(The Archer)- When the centaur Chiron died, Zeus placed him in the sky, where he became the constellation Sagittarius.

Atlantis- The famous fictional continent described by Plato in his Timaeus and his incomplete Critias. It is not really "mythical," in that it was simply a setting for some of Plato's dialogues, and never a part of the Greek belief system.  Platos' stories may have been inspired by the plight of the Minoan people of Crete, who were destroyed by the same natural disasters that Plato's Atlantians perished by.

Lemuria- Modern occultist postulate Lemuria as another lost continent, coincindent with Atlantis.  Lemuria is entirely a modern invention, and has no place in the authentic myths of any culture.  The name comes from 19th century geologists who postulated the existance of a land bridge that once connected Asia and Malay, which would explain why lemurs (a type of animal) are found in both places, and it is from these creatures that the place gets its name.  The occultist Madame Helena Blavatsky arbitrarily decided that this "Lemuria" was an ancient, now sunken continent that existed at the same time as Atlantis, and was occupied by a race of fifteen-foot tall hermphrodites with four arms called the Taro.
 In spite of the ridiculousness of these claims, Lemuria remains a prominent fixture of occult lore.

Mu- Yet another lost continent, but without any gender-blender giants.  There is some evidence that Mu might be an authentic Indian legend.



		Faction-specific Landmarks

The landmark nearest each faction's HQ is named after something specific to that factions' culture.

Feynman's Peak- Richard Feynman is considered by many to be the most influential phyicist of the twentieth century, ranked even higher than Einstein!  Much of what we know about light and electrons is due to him.  Naturally, this is a University landmark.

Valley of Yugong (Foolish Old Man)- This refers to a Chinese myth.  The story is elegant in its simplicity, and is short enough to reprint here: 



*Tatxmg and Wangwu are two mountains with an area of seven hundred li square and rise to a great *height of thousands of ren. They were originally situated south of Jizhou and north of Heyang. 
*North of the mountains lived an old man called Yugong (literally 'foolish old man') who was *nearly ninety years old. Since his home faced the two mountains, he was troubled by the fact *that they blocked the way of the inhabitants who had to take a roundabout route whenever they *went out. He gathered his family together to discuss the matter. 
*
*"Let us do everything in our power to flatten these forbidding mountains so that there is a *direct route to the south of Yuzhou reaching the southern bank of the Han River. What do you *say?" Everyone applauded his suggestion.
*
*His wife voiced her doubts. "You are not strong enough even to remove a small hillock like *Kuifu. How can you tackle TaTxmg and Wangwu? And where would you dump the earth and rocks?" 
*
*"We can dump it into the edge of the Bo Sea and north of Yintu," said everyone. 
*
*Therefore Yugong took with him three sons and grandsons who could carry a load on their *shoulders. They broke up rocks and dug up mounds of earth which were transported to the edge of *the Bo Sea in baskets. His neighbour, a widow by the name of Jingcheng, had a posthumous son who *was just at the age of discarding his silk teeth. This vivacious boy jumped at the chance of *giving them a hand. From winter through summer the workers only returned home once. 
*
*An old man called Zhisou (literally 'wise old man') who lived in Hequ, near a bend of the Yellow *River, was amused and dissuaded Yugong. 
*
*"How can you be so foolish? With your advanced years and the little strength that you have left, *you cannot even destroy a blade of grass on the mountain, not to speak of its earth and stone." 
*
*Yugong from north of the mountains heaved a long sigh. "You are so obstinate that you do not use *your reason. Even the widow and her little son do better than you. Though I die, my son lives *on. My son produces a grandson and in turn the grandson has a so?of his own. Sons follow sons *and grandsons follow sons. My sons and grandsons go on and on without end but the mountains will *not grow in size. Then why worry about not being able to flatten them?" Zhisou of Hequ was *bereft of speech. 
*
*The god of the mountains who held a snake in his hand heard about this and was afraid that *Yugong would not stop digging at the mountains. He reported the matter to the king of the gods *who was moved by Yugong's sincerity. The king commanded the two sons of Kua'eshi, a god with *great strength, to carry away the two mountains on their backs: one was put east of Shuozhou and *the other south of Yongzhou. From that time onwards no mountain stood between the south of *Jizhou and the southern bank of the Han River. 
*
* -Lie Zi, Han Dynasty

This fits the Hive to the 'T'!  The Valley of Yugong therefore represents the proud, culmulative efforts of the Chinese people, from one generation to the next, finally reducing the mountain to a valley.
Bonus: I later found that Chairman Mao Tse-tung recited this story during one of his speechs!  Perfect!



Mount Sinai- Sinai is the mountain on which Moses received the Ten Commandments from YHVH. It is a very sacred place to Judeo-Christian religions.  Note that naming her seat of power after Mount Sinai would be a very arrogant, even blasphemous, thing for Miriam to do, which is fitting, since she is supposed to be one of the bad guys in this scenario.

Lake Leonidas- Leonidas was one of Sparta's most able kings, and was the one who lead their armies to in their war agaisnt the Persians.  Err... this is a Spartan landmark, if you haven't figured it out already.

Demeter's Cradle- This oddly-shaped bowl provides a lush environment for Deidre's capital.  Demeter is the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, whose moods determine the seasons.

Hague Flats- This is Lal's landmark.  The UN's International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Rockefeller Crater- Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil, probably the world's first major monopoly.  I'm sure that Morgan approves.

			-The Fukai-

The name 'Fukai' is taken directly from Hayao Miyazaki's wonderful "Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind," which exists both as a graphic novel and as an animated film.  In Nausicca, the Fukai is a sprawling fungal forest which feeds off of pollution and is poisonous to man.  It is occupied by fierce monsters (the Ohmu), which protect the sanctity of their home.  The Fukai is prone to explosive growth when provoked, and more than one village is destroyed overnight when the venomous fungus swallows it up.  Nausicca is without a doubt the inspiration of the xenofungus in SMAC, and my version of the Fukai is a tribute to Miyazaki's creative genius.

In keeping with the Fukai's deadly and forbidding nature, all the landmarks in the Fukai are named after prominent features and inhabitants of Hades.

The five rivers of the Fukai are named after the five rivers of Hades: Acheron (Distress), Styx (Abhorrent), Cocytus (Lament), Phlegethon (Flaming Fire), and Lethe (Oblivion).

The four river valleys that lead into the Fukai are named after mortals who journeyed into Hades while they were still alive.  Heracles (Hated by Hera) is the most famous of the Greek heroes.  Theseus is also a well-known Greek hero.  Orpheus was a bard who journeyed to Hades to try and convince the lord of the dead to release his dead wife.  Aeneus is the legendary scion of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

Mount Charon- Charon was the ferryman who carried the newly-dead across the River Styx.  Approproately, Mount Charon watches over the Styx.

Cerebus Mountain Range- Cerebus was a giant three-headed dog whose duty was to keep the dead from escaping Hades.  Cerebus was captured by Heracles on one of his more demanding quests.  It is not a coincidence that the Heracles Valley wends through the Cerebus mountain range!

Lake Sheol- Sheol is the afterlife as described by the Old Testament, and is not a pleasant place to be (try Ecclesiastes, chapter nine for a very grim description).  Lake Sheol isn't a very pleasant place to be either, and going there might cause you to end up in the other Sheol...

Elysium- Not all places in Hades are bad, and the same thing applies to the Fukai.  Elysium is a subsection of Hades where the virtous go afer they die.  


				-Rivers-
The rivers outside of the Fukai are all named after nymphs.
The only exception is the Amie-Marie river, which is a variation of my girlfriend's name.  It's kind of a dedication to her.  I know, I think it's corny too, but it seemed like a nice thing to do.

				-Others-
The Shrine to Triptolemus- Triptolemus was a man sent forth by Demeter to teach the secrets of agriculture to the people. Later on, he was worsphipped as a minor diety in his own right.  The Shrine is a renamed Manifold Nexus.  Since the Nexus 'teaches' its owner on the ways of ecology, the name seemed to fit.

Leucothea Ridge- A goddess who embodies the white foam of the sea.  Since this foam is what makes waves so easily visible, she is highly revered by sailors.

Promethian Isles- This volcanic chain is named after the benevolent Titan Prometheus, who brought introduced fire to the humans.

Mount Ares- Ares is one of the Greek gods of war.  Unlike his half-sister Athene, Ares is violent and without guile.

Kyo-kami-hei ("Giant God-Soldier", or "Giant Spirit-Soldier", or in this case, possibly "Giant Demon-Soldier)- The collosal war machines from Nausicca.

  
 			

  
  



