Veil

The Veil — more precisely the Veil of Marinus — is the frontier zone at the edge of the Sollan Empire where the Norma Arm of the galaxy stretches around the galactic core and away from the Empire's heartland in the Spur of Orion. It is the zone of colonial expansion that brought human civilization into contact with the Cielcin, who pressed in from the edge of the Norma Arm beyond it. The planet Emesh lies within the Veil, positioned in a system looking out over the Sullen Gulf between the Arms of Centaurus and Norma. Delos sits approximately twenty thousand light-years from the Veil, placing it well within the Empire's interior, which underscores the significance of attacks such as the destruction of Cai Shen — a world that lies outside the Veil, demonstrating that the Cielcin are striking deeper into human-held space than the established front.

The Veil is a dangerous frontier where pirates, Extrasolarians, and Cielcin prey on merchant vessels in the outer trade lanes. Cielcin harassment of the Veil disrupts trading routes and raises the cost of interstellar commerce. Empty ships and dead sailors accumulate in its space — vessels found adrift with no crew, the fate of which Hadrian's older narrator attributes to both Cielcin raiding parties (who harvest crews like fish from the sea) and Extrasolarian machine-men. The Cielcin originally pressed into the Veil from the Norma Arm, and the Veil marks the established zone of the centuries-long war between humanity and the Pale.