Appendix Entry: Rothi-En

Rothi-En, the homeworld of the Rothi, is a moon which orbits the planet Manta. Rothi-En has a diameter of 658 miles (1059 km). By comparison, the Earth's Moon has a diameter of 2,160 miles (3,476 km) while the largest known asteroid in the solar system is 592 miles (952 km) across. From space, the Rothi Moon appears emerald green due to the vegetation which covers its land masses. One third of the moon is covered by water and substantial amounts of water also exist below the surface. Rolling grasslands predominate the central latitudes of Rothi-En. In the southern latitudes tropical forests are common, while in the north are mountainous regions encircling a large polar ice cap.

Sources of Inspiration

When I first began drawing Spacemouse 9, several characters served as inspiration for the design of his space suit. From Star Wars' stormtroopers I took the idea of a  suit built of a white plastic-like armor. From the video game character Megaman I took the idea of bulky boots which contain jet thrusters (in other drawings of Spacemouse the boots became much larger than the early drawing shown here). Finally, from Major Matt Mason toys I took the idea of a space suit with flexible rubber joints.

Appendix Entry: The Manta System

The homeworld of the Rothi is a moon which in their language is called Rothi-En.  Rothi-En orbits Manta, a mysterious, cloud enshrouded planet.  Encircling Manta in the same orbit as the Rothi moon is an expansive ring of asteroids. Rothi scientists theorize these asteroids may be the remains of a second moon which was destroyed by some cataclysmic event in ancient times.

Two thousand years before the time of Spacemouse 9, a previously unknown horde of alien invaders emerged from the asteroids and ravaged the moon. Thousands of Rothi were killed. To protect against future invasions, the Rothi initiated space patrols of the asteroid ring. For the purpose of organizing the patrols the ring was divided into ten sectors.  The distant half of the ring is beyond the range of the average Rothi spacecraft and is therefore largely unexplored. The most heavily patrolled sector is Sector 1 in which is located the Rothi moon.  The further a sector is located from Rothi-En, the fewer patrols it is assigned. Sectors 8 and 9 are the most distant. Spacemouse 9 is the sole member of the Spacemouse Corps assigned to patrol Sector 9.

For information on the numerical symbols shown on the map, see Numeral System of the Rothi.