Terran Archonite Waystation

Isla Matilda is a frontier waystation with folding wings, furnished interiors, working mechanisms, a swooshable spacecraft and an expedition rover.

On Seraphima, beneath the troubled skies of the Wraith Nebula, it offers travellers shelter, repairs and a place at the café. Today, an archaeologist has arrived with an enormous alien key. A police officer’s encoded package waits aboard the Void Angel, while the heirs of House Aster Veyr uncover clues to their mother’s lost expedition. The station’s memories don’t quite agree with anyone else’s.

It was supposed to be a quiet stop for lunch.

Make Yourself at Home

I designed Isla Matilda to be as enjoyable to play with as it is to display. Its rounded, pill-shaped shell uses inverted building techniques. Fold the wings out and the rooms open up for play.

Operate the elevator and airlocks, lift the energy-shield generator cover or investigate the inorganic replicator. There’s an escape hatch for when your investigation goes poorly. Take the Void Angel out for a flight, send the Capybara rover on an expedition, or spend some time rearranging everybody’s lives inside the station.

A young knight plays guitar while a bounty hunter and her uplifted crow watch the news. An archaeologist presents her discovery to the Red Duke, who would quite like to finish his meal. Matilda, the station’s artificial intelligence, watches through her holographic cats.

Furniture, equipment and little domestic touches make the station feel lived in. You can follow its inhabitants’ story or give them an entirely different afternoon.

About Solar Ocean Colonies

Isla Matilda is part of Solar Ocean Colonies, my continuing series of space builds. The original setting, factions, characters and lore are entirely my own intellectual property.

The idea grew from a love of the factions and heraldry of castle-building, and the possibilities of taking them into space. Each civilisation has its own architecture, colours, characters and technology. I want you to recognise who built a ship or a settlement before you’ve even spotted its insignia.

The Terran Archonite values Duty, Legacy and Covenant. Once rulers of the human sphere, they still command vast armadas and maintain the traditions of noble houses and knightly service. Isla Matilda carries that history in its white armour, dark-blue accents and House Aster Veyr heraldry.

Starports, settlements, spacecraft, ground vehicles and rival factions give the series plenty of room to grow. Each new model can stand on its own while adding to the places and adventures builders can share.

An Invitation to Fellow Designers

I plan to make my original faction guides, heraldry and design conventions available as open-source resources, so fellow fan designers can build within the setting and contribute ideas of their own.

A visiting freighter, a rival outpost over the ridge, a vehicle built for some wonderfully specific job. I’d love to see ships I never thought of arriving at this station.

For Those Already Eyeing up the Parts

For builders planning their next model, the proposed inventory offers substantial part-out and rebuilding appeal, with distinctive elements and useful architectural pieces in generous quantities:

4 Satin Trans-Light Blue cats
5 Light Bluish Gray 6L worm screws
16 White 4 × 1 × 2⅔ curved slopes
26 Trans-Light Blue 1 × 2 × 3 panels
104 flat-ended 1 × 3 × 2 arches: 56 White, 40 Black and 8 Tan
23 Dark Blue inverted 1 × 2 arches
6 Pearl Gold rings

Rather a lot of One Rings for one waystation.

Welcome to Isla Matilda.

Find somewhere to dock, have a look around, and do stop by the café.