Novalis

Novalis is a small terrestrial planet in the Solana Galaxy featured in Ratchet & Clank, and the re-imagined game and movie. It is comprised of mostly water, caves, buildings and greenery, and is the first planet visited by Ratchet once Clank allows him to use his ship. The two visit the Tobruk Crater on the planet. The planet is home to The Plumber, and featured renowned sewer systems that caused it to be targeted by Drek. Upon replaying the game, it features a gold weapons room.

Ratchet & Clank
Novalis was renowned for its sewer systems, and food known as the jabo sandwich. When Ratchet and Clank crash landed on the planet, most of the buildings were in ruins, and the citizens had largely fled the planet on escape transports.

As Chairman Drek wished to extract a portion of Novalis for his new planet, he sent the planet a broadcast outlining his plan, offering them no choice. As doing so would cause a change in mass that would cause the planet to spin out of control and drift to the nearest star and explode, the planet's chairman, Abner Buckwash spoke out against Drek, who instead gave the chairman no choice and went ahead. Later, Ratchet and Clank traveled to the planet, after Clank presented Ratchet an Infobot of Drek's plan, and the two aimed to help the population.

Upon arrival, the two crash landed their ship. Most of the population had fled the planet, making it difficult to leave. The two went towards the city itself, and encountered the chairman, who mistook them for more attackers. The chairman presented them an Infobot containing a commercial featuring Qwark for Al's Roboshack on planet Kerwan, and then left the two one of his courier ships before leaving. The duo also explored the waterworks, and found the Plumber, who was fixing pipes but claimed to be unable to afford to flee the planet. He left the two an Infobot for Aridia, containing an emergency broadcast of Skid McMarx and his agent before crash landing on the planet.

Re-imagined
Captain Qwark's recount of events contained only a few differences. Ratchet and Clank crash land on the planet after being shot down by a Blarg Saucer, while originally on their way to Kerwan. Their ship is damaged, but not completely destroyed, and they must search for a way to repair it.

Abner Buckwash and the Plumber's roles are switched. Abner Buckwash instead grants the two an Infobot for Aridia, showing a different transmission from Skidd McMarx, his nephew. The Plumber grants an Infobot with coordinates to Kerwan for free (which contains a transmission from Chairman Drek about his invasion of the planet), and repairs their ship, provided the two saved Mayor Buckwash. Qwark tried to claim that Ratchet, Clank and the Plumber would fight a "brain-eating zombie T-Rex", though Shiv Helix interrupted the story as this was blatantly untrue.

Later, Novalis was destroyed by the Deplanetizer to use pieces of the planet for New Quartu, after the Galactic Rangers failed to stop him. The planet's population of 43,618,924 had been entirely evacuated.

Geography
The Tobruk Crater is a large impact crater, with several smaller impact craters situated throughout the area itself. Tall cliffs and mountains dot the surrounding landscape, partially the remains of the initial impact. A landing pad is located on top of a small cliff plateau, from where one can access a Gadgetron vendor, the waterworks and sewer system, a small cave system and an elevator platform that leads to the ground level of the area. A city stands in the distance, several buildings of which are on fire. Ratchet and Clank explore part of the Tobruk Crater, waterworks nearby their ship, and can explore two different caves location in the Tobruk Crater area.

Tobruk Crater area
Only part of the area is visited, namely only both sides of the river, and a suspension bridge spanning it. The city at the edge of the crater consists only of a visible fifteen or so structures, positioned close to the edge and on top of the cliff wall, likely continuing on further behind it. The river stems from two sources, one from somewhere underneath the city, and another from somewhere on top of the cliff, both streams merge together shortly and then flow to someplace beneath the waterworks.

Past the river lies a tall natural barrier that effectively splits the crater in two, leaving the other half inaccessible. Regardless, there are three large craters here, as well as a few structures, trees and a single river, larger than the first. One crater is entirely flooded by an even larger river, a second is only partially so, and a third remains dry and has a tall tower and two smaller buildings within.

The accessible area is home to lush vegetation, with several different plant and mushroom species, as well as a number of trees, some of which have been cut down, leaving only the stumps. Numerous tiny craters dots the landscape as well. An aforementioned bridge connects the two riversides, though it is partially damaged by a blarg bomber. On the other side the path eventually leads to a large crater, devoid of vegetation, in which a hidden extendable bridge can be found that acts as a shortcut to the other shore.

Waterworks
The waterworks is only accessible by using fallen stalactites as platforms, avoiding a fast-flowing current of water leading down a tunnel. At the rear end of said tunnel is a doorway that leads into the actual waterworks, an intricate system of hydraulics, pipes and several canals with fast currents of water. A lone walkway near the ceiling eventually leads to a large room situated on top of the cliff face, with a large glass window overlooking the entire area. The source of the stream of water at the entrance begins here, making this a route for a quick exit.

Caves
Two separate cave systems are hidden within Tobruk Crater. The first cave is accessible from the landing pad, by two doors typically closed by bolt cranks. Within are several different varieties of rather large mushrooms, which drop bolts when destroyed, as well as a series of water basins. The second cave is located by swimming upstream, turning left at the split, past the suspension bridge. Using the Hydro-Pack one can swim through the water current and enter an underground area. A sickly green tint taints this cave and it is infested with a small number of amoeboids.

Re-imagined differences
The layout of the area Ratchet visits in Qwark's version of events is almost identical, with the only major difference being that the second secret is removed. Aside from this, the layout has a few minor differences: a gold statue of Galactic Ranger Cora Veralux is added in the first area before the bridge, the bridge connecting Mayor Buckwash' ship to the starting area is activated by a button, and the entrance to the waterworks features wall jumps rather than steps.

Behind the scenes
John Fiorito's unfinished sketch displays further exploration that would become Insomniac's style: exotic alien vegetation, craters, and retro-futuristic structures with rounded aerodynamic forms. Eventually, this concept evolved into planet Novalis, the first full campaign level in Ratchet & Clank.

In early versions of the game release, Tobruk Crater was originally named Crater City.