Solana Galaxy

The Solana Galaxy is the main setting of Ratchet & Clank, Up Your Arsenal, Deadlocked, Size Matters, Secret Agent Clank, the Ratchet & Clank comic series, the Ratchet & Clank 2016 game, and the Ratchet & Clank movie. It is one of the three main galaxies of the Ratchet & Clank series, home to more than 60 known planets and locations. The galaxy was the childhood home of Ratchet, on Veldin, and the birthplace of Clank, on planet Quartu. It was also the home of Captain Qwark, on planet Kerwan, and many other recurring characters.

The galaxy is governed by a galactic government led by President Phyronix, governing from the capital city on Marcadia, protected by the President's Galactic Rangers. It is home to Gadgetron Corporation, a large supplier of weapons and gadgets, with vendors all around the galaxy, and headquarters located on planet Kalebo III. The galaxy's largest city appears to be Metropolis, a bustling urban city featured on planet Kerwan. It also contains the Shadow Sector, a lawless sector of the galaxy, which was the site of an illegal combat sport, DreadZone.

The Solana Galaxy was threatened by the blarg, led by Chairman Drek, who took apart planets, using part of the remains to create a a new planet, until Ratchet and Clank defeated him. Later, Dr. Nefarious threatened the galaxy once again, waging war with an army of tyhrranoids to turn the entire galaxy's population into robots, though he was stopped by Ratchet, Clank, and the Galactic Rangers. The galaxy has been home to other heroes, many of whom were kidnapped and forced to participate in DreadZone, such as Ace Hardlight, Captain Starshield, and Hydro Girl.

Pre-Ratchet & Clank
An ancient race known as the technomites were responsible for much of the technology in the Solana Galaxy.

Captain Qwark was born on planet Kerwan, and at some point became a galactic celebrity, to two parents that were killed by technomite technology. Some of Qwark's adventures are documented in the Qwark vid-comics, though the accuracy of these comics is ambiguous. According to the vid-comics, Qwark at some point defeated an army of ghost pirate robots led by Captain Blackstar, and also defeated Dr. Nefarious, who became a robot. After this, Qwark was captured by Lawrence and Nefarious, though he escaped, fleeing to his hideout on the Thrann Asteroid, returning later when it appeared that Nefarious would not return.

Other heroes are known to have been active, including Captain Starshield, Ace Hardlight, Hydro Girl, and many others. However, a lot of these heroes were kidnapped and forced to compete in DreadZone.

At some point, the lombax Kaden sent his son Ratchet to Veldin, where Ratchet grew up as a mechanic. Ratchet remained on Veldin thereafter.

At an unspecified time, planet Orxon, the homeworld of the blarg, became too overpopulated and polluted to be hospitable.

Ratchet & Clank
Chairman Drek began taking apart planets for the purpose of constructing a new planet, having hired galactic celebrity Captain Qwark as the spokesperson for his new planet. However, a defect in Drek's robot factory on Quartu, Clank, met with Ratchet, with an Infobot containing Drek's plan to extract a portion of Novalis. The two resolved to travel to Novalis and to eventually team up with Captain Qwark to stop Drek, unaware that Qwark was working for Drek. They searched for him across the galaxy, finding him on Rilgar, until he betrayed them on Umbris.

Chairman Drek attacked several planets in the galaxy, including deforestation on Eudora, bombing attacks on planet Batalia, toxic dumping into the waters on the resort planet Pokitaru, and began preparing to attack city planet Oltanis from his Gemlik Base located on the moon orbiting it. He also began constructing the PlanetBuster Maximus, designed to destroy an entire planet, on a bomb factory on Hoven, with the intent of destroying Veldin so his new world could occupy its orbit. Ratchet and Clank destroyed the PlanetBuster Maximus and defeated Qwark, who fled and became a black market merchant known as "Steve McQwark". Drek then built the Deplanetizer, a superlaser that could destroy Veldin. The duo defeated Drek on Veldin, and used the Deplanetizer to destroy his new planet.

Re-imagined
In Qwark's retelling of events and the holo-film, the events were largely similar, though Chairman Drek began with the Deplanetizer, created with the help of an organic Dr. Nefarious, used to destroy planets and take major landmarks from the destroyed planets to build a new planet, New Quartu. Drek began destroying unpopulated planets, beginning with Tenemule, prompting President Phyronix to commission the Galactic Rangers, led by Captain Qwark, to stop him.

The Rangers searched for a new recruit, and initially, Ratchet entered the tryouts on Veldin, though he was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, a defect in Drek's warbot factory, Clank, fled the planet and crash landed on Veldin after Drek's robot enforcer Victor Von Ion damaged his ship. Clank befriended Ratchet, and the two went to Kerwan to stop Drek's warbot invasion. They stopped the invasion, and were recruited to the Rangers. The two then completed several missions for the Rangers, in the Blarg Tactical Research Station, on Gaspar, and on Batalia, before attacking Quartu, where Drek convinced Qwark to betray the other Rangers. The Rangers attacked the Deplanetizer, where Qwark abandoned them, and were unable to stop Drek from destroying his next target, Novalis. However, before destroying the next target, Umbris, Dr. Nefarious betrayed Drek and took over the Deplanetizer. Ratchet and Clank attacked the Deplanetizer and successfully convinced Qwark he was on the wrong side, before the three stopped Drek, while the Rangers pulled the Deplanetizer off course and caused it to destroy New Quartu instead, with Drek still on it.

Ratchet and Clank returned to Veldin, while Qwark was imprisoned.

Between Ratchet & Clank and Up Your Arsenal
Following Drek's defeat, Ratchet and Clank gained a celebrity status, while Qwark was imprisoned. Ratchet and Clank were teleported by MegaCorp to the Bogon Galaxy for a mission.

Clank starred in a fictional series, Secret Agent Clank, which became broadly popular around the galaxy.

Up Your Arsenal
Dr. Nefarious, using an army of tyhrranoids, waged war on the galaxy, with the intent on transforming the galaxy's population into robots. This prompted President Phyronix to send the Galactic Rangers to combat him, while Ratchet and Clank returned to Solana to fight him on Veldin. The two joined forces with the Galactic Rangers, and at the President's behest, teamed up with Captain Qwark, the only man to have ever beaten Nefarious.

After his memory was restored, Captain Qwark founded the Q-Force, a team consisting of him, Ratchet, Clank, Sasha Phyronix, Al, Skidd McMarx, Helga von Streissenburgen, and his monkey, Skrunch, based on the Starship Phoenix. They, along with the Galactic Rangers, fought against Nefarious, who constructed a superweapon, the Biobliterator, to transform the population of a planet into robots. Nefarious managed to create a robotic clone of Clank known as Klunk to spy on the Rangers, and also teamed up with galactic pop star Courtney Gears to spread propaganda for his cause. With the help of Klunk, Nefarious successfully transformed Kerwan's population, causing most of the galaxy to surrender, though Klunk was defeated and Clank returned to Ratchet. However, Ratchet and Clank managed to destroy his first Biobliterator, only to discover a second still exist. They, along with Captain Qwark, destroyed the second.

Deadlocked
Ratchet, Clank, and Al were kidnapped by DreadZone and forced to compete in the illegal combat sport ran by Gleeman Vox. Many heroes were killed in the tournament, though Ratchet and Clank reached further than any other contestant. After Ratchet defeated the champion, Ace Hardlight, Gleeman Vox offered Ratchet the role of the leader of the Exterminators. However, Ratchet refused, causing Vox to attempt to kill him in an unbeatable tournament, which Ratchet survived. The two then destroyed DreadZone from the inside, and defeated Gleeman Vox, putting an end to the sport.

Size Matters
Otto Destruct, a technomite, conceived of a plan to abduct the most intelligent beings in the galaxy, using an army of clones of Ratchet to abduct them. They successfully captured Ratchet's DNA and created clones of him, though he, Clank, and Qwark managed to defeat him before he enacted his plan further.

Secret Agent Clank
In an episode of Secret Agent Clank, Ratchet was framed for a crime, mind controlled to steal a jewel known as the Eye of Infinity from the Boltaire Museum. Clank, working with the Agency, worked to prove Ratchet's innocence, while Qwark toured following Clank and writing an autobiography. Clank learned that Klunk had been responsible, and planned to frame Ratchet for egregious crimes while he destroyed Clank and took Clank's place to became a hero of Solana. Clank managed to stop Klunk and prove Ratchet's innocence.

Tools of Destruction
Emperor Tachyon invaded Metropolis to kill Ratchet, the last lombax in the universe. Tachyon's army of drophyds ravaged much of the city, but Ratchet was able to steal Tachyon's ship and flee to the Polaris Galaxy. Afterwards, the drophyds kidnapped Captain Qwark and took him to Tachyon, who returned to Polaris. The drophyds remained behind briefly on Kerwan before eventually leaving.

Comic series
Ratchet returned to Veldin, where he remained while Captain Qwark became the President of the Polaris Galaxy. However, Artemis Zogg began abducting many planets from Solana and other galaxies around the universe. Eventually, Ratchet and Clank defeated him, with the help of Sasha Phyronix, the other Galactic Rangers, and Talwyn Apogee. Ratchet and Clank then moved back to the Polaris Galaxy.

Population
The Solana Galaxy is home to a wide variety of biological species, though most of its native species are humanoids and similar in appearance. The name for many of Solana's species are unknown.

One common unnamed species throughout the Solana Galaxy are distinguishable with their uniform gray-blue skin color, black spikes, tridactylous (three-fingered) hands, and didactylous (two-toed) feet. Some also had black hair, as well as dome-shaped or pear-shaped heads. This is the species of many characters, including the Plumber, Abner Buckwash, the Commando, and the Miner. This species appears to be related to a species native to Rilgar, distinguishable with green skin, and spikes on the backs of their heads.

Aside from Rilgar, other known species appear to be native to specific planets. These include the blarg, native to planet Orxon; the cazares, native to planet Marcadia; and the tyhrranoids, native to Tyhrranosis.

Several of the galaxy's residents are sentient robots, which serve both as residents and military soldiers. Additionally, after Dr. Nefarious used the Biobliterator, many of its biological organisms were morphed into robots, including the entire population of Kerwan.

In the 2016 release of Ratchet & Clank, the fongoids and tharpods, natives to the Polaris Galaxy, feature commonly in Solana's planets. Known fongoids Grimroth Razz and Felton Razz are immigrants from Polaris.

Government
The galactic government of Solana is the governing body over most of the galaxy, with the exception of the lawless region known as the Shadow Sector. It is based in Capital City on planet Marcadia, and led by an elected Galactic President Phyronix.

The government's known military branches include the Galactic Fleet, of which the Starship Phoenix is a flagship, and the Galactic Rangers, a group of robots working for the president. During the war with Nefarious, the Q-Force, founded by Captain Qwark, was an important team that led the Rangers and directly served the president.

Another branch of the government is the Galactic Court, the judicial body. The Galactic Court in a high profile case fined Captain Qwark for his sale of bogus merchandise that led to "Personal Hygenator Syndrome".

An additional branch of government, the Galactic Treasury is based in Fort Sprocket in the Bolt Foundry.

Media
Solana is home to mass media, with holo-vision as a common medium, as well as holo-films. Galactic celebrities are a large part of its media culture, with known celebrities including superhero Captain Qwark, pro-hoverboarder Skidd McMarx, pop singer Courtney Gears, and actor Clank (during his run on the Secret Agent Clank holo-vision series).

Holo-vision is a common source of news. Its known news outlets include Channel 2 News, Channel 64 News, Blarg TV, and Vox News. Darla Gratch reports for Channel 2 and Channel 64 News, while the duo Dallas Wanamaker and Juanita Alvaro reported for Vox News during its run.

Recreational holo-vision is also common. The Secret Agent Clank is a popular holo-vision series, featuring Clank as a spy, pitted against villains such as Maximillian. It is watched by many characters, including President Phyronix, and Dr. Nefarious. Holo-vision is also used to air sports, such as the Annihilation Nation gladiator combat, and formerly the popular yet illegal DreadZone combat sport. It is likely also used to air hoverboard races.

Music is also a popular form of medium. Known acts include Courtney Gears, a pop singer, as well as Skidd McMarx, who took up a career in spoken word poetry. Courtney Gears is one of the galaxy's most popular singers, though it is implied that her popularity comes from her appearance rather than her singing.

Other known mediums include magazines and newspapers. Known magazines include D-Tails, Heavy Artillery, Popular Plumbers, Prime, Reader Digested, Batalia Chronicles, Hoverboarder, Homes & Bunkers, and HotBots. Known newspapers include Nosey News and The Rilgar Times.

Recreation
Solana is home to Jowai Resort on planet Pokitaru, a popular tourist destination, where known recreational activities include speed swimming, sunbathing, and massages.

A popular sport is hoverboard racing. It is a professional sport, of which Skidd McMarx is one of the most popular professional hoverboards. Known hoverboard race tracks are on planet Rilgar in Blackwater City, and planet Kalebo III in the Gadgetron site.

Other recreational outlets of Solana citizens include watching holo-vision and listening to music.