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Planet Sophie is the setting for SAND: Raiders of Sophie. In the alternate history of the game, the Austro-Hungarian Empire pioneered space travel using newly discovered energy sources, and Sophie was one of its colonial worlds. Galicians from Western Ukraine were among the settlers encouraged to establish a new life on Sophie, drawn by the promise of resources and opportunity.
The Disaster
An unexplained ecological disaster struck Sophie, rendering the planet uninhabitable. Its settlers were forced to evacuate hastily, abandoning cities, ships, monuments, and vast stores of resources. The planet's seas dried up, turning the former sea floor into the vast desert that players explore in the present day. A gas giant is visible in the sky above Sophie.
The Raiders
Players take on the role of raiders who return to Sophie to reclaim what was promised to their people. These characters include Galicians, former soldiers, engineers, university researchers, occultists, and others drawn by the promise of valuable artifacts and resources. They operate out of an orbital station and descend to the surface in Tramplers for each expedition. A new raider can read Getting Started for the basics of a run.
The Upiors
The Upiors are supernatural creatures that inhabit the surface of Sophie. Players can encounter them during expeditions and must choose to fight or evade them. They represent the non-player hostile threat in the PvPvE gameplay of SAND: Raiders of Sophie.
A July 2026 update reworked the Upiors. Their movement became smoother and more responsive, they now physically collide with players, and they can operate mounted cannons, though not shotguns. An Upior using a cannon will leave it when a player gets close.
Key Locations
Location | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Ruined cities | Settlement | Former colonial settlements now buried or crumbling under desert conditions |
Shipwrecks | Wreckage | Vessels left behind during the evacuation, now submerged in sand |
Monuments | Structure | Structures erected during the colonization era |
Former sea floor | Terrain | The desert terrain itself; once the bottom of Sophie's oceans |
Orbital station | Hub | The safe extraction destination where players return between expeditions |
The developers add named points of interest across the surface as Early Access continues. A July 2026 update introduced a new island point of interest called Halbmond.
