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The Expanse Universe - Version 6 vs Version 7
May 14, 2026, 11:57 AM
Add upfront hedge that this article documents the source material, not in-game content
Jun 8, 2026, 11:26 PM
Removed duplicate in-body wikilinks
11Overview22The Expanse is a hard science fiction franchise that began as a series of novels and grew into a critically acclaimed television show, multiple video game adaptations, and a tabletop roleplaying game. Created by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the joint pen name James S.A. Corey, the franchise is set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system but has not yet reached the stars. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is set in this universe; Owlcat has stated that the game's timeline is concurrent with the in-universe period covered by the first two source-material novels. This article documents the source material the game adapts. Topics, factions, characters, and events described here may or may not appear in the playable build of Osiris Reborn. When Osiris Reborn confirms or shows a particular element, refer to that game's dedicated article.44The franchise is known for its focus on realistic physics, complex political dynamics, and morally grey characters. Unlike many space operas, The Expanse treats space travel as genuinely dangerous: acceleration crushes bodies, radiation kills without warning, and a hull breach means instant death. These constraints shape every aspect of the setting, from military tactics to social structures, and they carry over directly into the game.66The Novel Series88The core of the franchise consists of nine novels published between 2011 and 2021. Each book advances the story by roughly thirty years of in-universe time from start to finish, following humanity's expansion from the inner solar system to the galaxy beyond. The series won the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2020.1010No.TitleYear PublishedTimeline Period1Leviathan Wakes2011Discovery of the protomolecule; Eros incident2Caliban's War2012Ganymede crisis; protomolecule hybrid program3Abaddon's Gate2013Ring Gate opens; first contact with alien network4Cibola Burn2014First colony world beyond the Ring Gates5Nemesis Games2015Free Navy conflict; asteroid attacks on Earth6Babylon's Ashes2016Aftermath of the Free Navy war7Persepolis Rising2017Laconian Empire emerges (30-year time jump)8Tiamat's Wrath2019Resistance against Laconia9Leviathan Falls2021Final confrontation with alien builders' legacy1212In addition to the main novels, Abraham and Franck published eight novellas and one short story that fill gaps between the novels. These were collected in Memory's Legion: The Complete Expanse Story Collection (2022), which also includes a new novella, The Sins of Our Fathers, serving as an epilogue to the series. Notable novellas include The Butcher of Anderson Station (2011), Drive (2012), The Churn (2014), Gods of Risk (2012), The Vital Abyss (2015), Strange Dogs (2017), and Auberon (2019).1313The Television Series1515The Expanse was adapted into a television series developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, premiering on December 14, 2015. The show ran for six seasons and 62 episodes, concluding on January 14, 2022. It is widely regarded as one of the best science fiction series of the 2010s.1717SeasonEpisodesNetworkPremiere DateBooks Covered110SyfyDecember 14, 2015Leviathan Wakes (first half)213SyfyFebruary 1, 2017Leviathan Wakes (second half) / Caliban's War (first half)313SyfyApril 11, 2018Caliban's War (second half) / Abaddon's Gate410Amazon Prime VideoDecember 13, 2019Cibola Burn510Amazon Prime VideoDecember 16, 2020Nemesis Games66Amazon Prime VideoDecember 10, 2021Babylon's Ashes (partial)1919Syfy aired seasons one through three before canceling the show in May 2018. A massive fan campaign, including a petition with over 100,000 signatures and a plane flying a banner over Amazon Studios, convinced Amazon to pick up the series. Amazon produced seasons four through six, with the final season consisting of a shortened six-episode run. The show ended after season six, leaving the final three novels (Persepolis Rising, Tiamat's Wrath, and Leviathan Falls) unadapted, though Alcon Entertainment has expressed interest in continuing the story in some form.2020The television adaptation made some changes from the novels, most notably introducing the character Chrisjen Avasarala from the first season (she does not appear until the second book) and expanding the role of Bobbie Draper earlier in the story. The show also condensed and rearranged certain plot points. Both the books and the show are considered valid reference material for the game's universe.2222The Authors2424The Expanse was created by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write together under the shared pen name James S.A. Corey. The pen name combines Abraham's middle name (James) with Franck's middle name (Corey), while "S.A." comes from the initials of Abraham's daughter.2626Daniel Abraham is an American novelist born in 1969, known independently for The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series. He brought extensive experience with prose, structure, and character development to the collaboration.2828Ty Franck, also born in 1969, worked as an assistant to George R.R. Martin before co-creating The Expanse. He brought a background in game design and world-building to the project. The Expanse universe actually originated as a tabletop roleplaying game setting that Franck designed. Abraham played in one of those campaigns, was impressed by the depth of the world, and proposed turning it into a novel series. They divided responsibilities: Abraham focused on prose and structure while Franck drove story and world development, meeting weekly to outline chapters.3030Both authors served as writers and producers on the television adaptation, giving them direct involvement in how the universe was translated to screen. Their hands-on approach helped maintain consistency between the novels and the show.3232Core Themes3434The Expanse is defined by several themes that distinguish it from other science fiction properties, and these themes carry directly into Osiris Reborn.3636Realistic Physics: There is no faster-than-light travel, no artificial gravity plates, and no energy shields. Ships accelerate using high-efficiency drives, and the thrust creates gravity for the crew. Turning off the drive means floating in zero-g. Battles happen at extreme range, missiles and rail guns are the weapons of choice, and a single torpedo can end a fight. The game reflects this in its zero-gravity mechanics and overall tone.3838Political Tension: The solar system is divided among competing factions with different cultures, economies, and grievances. Earth has a massive population living on basic assistance. Mars is a military powerhouse building toward terraforming. The Belt is exploited for resources and treated as second-class. These tensions drive nearly every conflict in the franchise.4040Alien Technology: The discovery of the protomolecule, an alien substance billions of years old, upends the balance of power. It can restructure biological matter, hijack human bodies, and build structures that defy known physics. Every faction wants to control it, and no one fully understands it. The protomolecule is central to Osiris Reborn's story.4242Human Nature Under Pressure: The franchise repeatedly examines how people behave when survival is at stake. Idealists become pragmatists, corporations commit atrocities in the name of progress, and ordinary people make extraordinary sacrifices. The choices and consequences system in the game draws on this tradition, putting the player in situations with no clean answers.4444Class and Inequality: Belters are born in low gravity and cannot visit Earth without medical assistance. They speak a creole language mixing dozens of Earth tongues. They are miners, haulers, and station workers who generate the wealth that inner-planet citizens enjoy. This class divide is not background flavor; it shapes every interaction, every alliance, and every betrayal in the franchise.4646The Three Factions4848For players encountering this universe for the first time, the political landscape can be summarized through its three major power blocs. Each faction appears in the game, and the player's chosen origin (Earther, Martian, or Belter) determines their relationship to all three. A more detailed breakdown is available on the dedicated factions page.5050FactionGovernmentDescriptionEarth (United Nations)United NationsHumanity's birthworld controls the largest population (roughly 30 billion) and the most established institutions. Governed by a parliamentary system under the UN Secretary-General, Earth is wealthy but struggling with overcrowding, unemployment, and dependence on off-world resources. Its military arm, the UN Navy, is the largest fleet in the system.Mars (Martian Congressional Republic)Congressional RepublicFounded as an Earth colony, Mars declared independence and built a militarized society focused on the centuries-long terraforming project. Martians are disciplined, technologically advanced, and fiercely patriotic. The Martian Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) fields fewer ships than Earth but compensates with superior technology and training.The Belt (Outer Planets Alliance)OPA (loosely organized)Belters live on stations and asteroids throughout the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The OPA is less a government and more a collection of factions, labor unions, and resistance movements. Belters face discrimination, resource scarcity, and the physical consequences of growing up in low gravity. They are the most diverse and internally divided group in the system.5252For full details on each group, see the Factions article.5353Video Game Adaptations5555The Expanse universe has been adapted into video games twice, each taking a very different approach to the source material.5757TitleDeveloperPublisherYearGenreSettingThe Expanse: A Telltale SeriesDeck Nine / Telltale GamesTelltale Games2023Narrative adventurePrequel set before the TV series, following Camina Drummer and her scavenger crew aboard the Artemis in the BeltThe Expanse: Osiris RebornOwlcat GamesAlcon Interactive GroupSpring 2027Third-person action RPGSet during books 1-2 (Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War), following a Pinkwater Security mercenary through an original parallel story5959The Telltale game was released episodically in five main episodes between July and September 2023, with a bonus episode ("Archangel") in November 2023 featuring Shohreh Aghdashloo reprising her role as Chrisjen Avasarala. It received generally positive reviews for its writing and atmosphere, though some critics noted the limited scope of its gameplay. The game is set before the events of the novels and TV series, making it a prequel that does not require knowledge of the main storyline.6060The Expanse: Osiris Reborn takes a very different approach. Developed by Owlcat Games, the studio known for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, it is a full third-person action RPG with companion characters, branching narratives, and deep character progression. Rather than retelling existing stories, it creates an entirely new cast and plot within the established timeline.6262Where Osiris Reborn Fits6464The game takes place during the timeline of the first two novels, Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War, which corresponds roughly to seasons one through the first half of season three of the television series. This is the period when the protomolecule is first discovered and weaponized, when Protogen conducts its secret experiments, and when the three-way cold war between Earth, Mars, and the Belt begins to boil over.6666The player does not step into the shoes of James Holden or any other established character. Instead, the game tells a parallel story. While the Rocinante crew investigates the conspiracy surrounding Protogen's Thoth Station and the Eros incident, the player character, a Pinkwater Security mercenary, stumbles onto a different branch of the same conspiracy. Major canonical events (the Eros incident, the Ganymede crisis) form the backdrop, but the player's investigation leads to separate facilities, operatives, and experiments.6868This approach allows the game to explore the protomolecule conspiracy from a fresh angle without contradicting established canon. Players familiar with the books and show will recognize references and connections, while newcomers can experience the story without prior knowledge. For a deeper look at the game's narrative, see the Story and Setting article.7070Alcon Interactive Group7272The Expanse intellectual property is owned by Alcon Entertainment, an American film production company founded by Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. Alcon produced all six seasons of the television series and holds the rights to the franchise across all media, including interactive entertainment, graphic novels, and future film or television projects.7474In 2016, Alcon established Alcon Interactive Group (AIG) as a dedicated division for expanding the company's film and television properties into video games. AIG licenses Alcon properties to game studios and also produces original interactive projects. Both The Expanse: A Telltale Series and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn were produced through partnerships between AIG and their respective development studios.7676AIG's involvement means that the game has access to the full breadth of The Expanse IP, including characters, locations, technology, and lore from both the novels and the television series. Owlcat Games has worked closely with AIG and with the original authors to ensure that Osiris Reborn fits seamlessly into the established universe.7878Where Osiris Reborn Sits in the Timeline8080Osiris Reborn is an original story threaded through the events of roughly the first two Expanse novels and about the first 2.5 to 3 seasons of the television adaptation. The fall of Eros Station sits at the inciting point of the game: the closed-beta mission opens in the immediate aftermath of that catastrophe. The player and their twin, J, are survivors of it, and the crew of the Rocinante exists on the periphery of the player's story rather than at its center.8282The developers have confirmed that characters from the source material are in the game, and that some will make appearances as the story progresses, but they have declined to specify which figures show up or in what capacity. The intent is for the player's arc to sit alongside the canonical events without rewriting them. Seasoned fans of the franchise will recognize the backdrop; newcomers can experience the story without any prior exposure to the novels or the show.8484The Political Map as Osiris Reborn Uses It8686The solar-system politics that drive The Expanse carry into the game largely intact. Three state-level powers (Earth, the MCR, and the Belt) and a parallel layer of private corporations define most of the conflict the player navigates. The closed beta sketches those power blocs through origin choices, NPC gossip, news broadcasts, and the sheer physical contrast between Inners and Belters.8888Power BlocHow It Appears in Osiris RebornPlayer-Facing HookEarth (Inners)Home world of the Earthers. UN-governed in the wider setting; in the closed beta, Earth is represented through the Earther origin choice and through news screens on Pinkwater Four Station that reference solar-system events.Earther origin grants a personal passive of +1 Athletics. Earther character presets default to a male model in the beta.Mars (Martian Congressional Republic)Independent military republic. Referenced in NPC gossip (Luciana's remark that the Piranha's captain had connections at the top of the MCR) and listed as a future visitable location. The Martian background is planned for the full game; the closed beta exposes only Earther and Belter.In the full game the Martian origin is expected to grant a social-skill boost (exact skill not yet confirmed).The BeltAsteroid stations and outer-planet habitats. Represented by the Belter origin choice and by the visible height difference between Belters and Inners in the beta. The Belt is the cultural heart of Pinkwater Security's labor base and of most station life the player sees in the game.Belter origin grants a personal passive of +1 Engineering. Belter character presets default to a female model in the beta.Private Mercenary CorporationsNot a state power, but a fourth force that shapes the conflict. Pinkwater Security is the player's employer; Protogen is the antagonist corporation whose actions around Eros Station drive the beta's inciting incident.Corporate interests sit alongside the three governments throughout the story, often operating beyond any single state's reach.9090More detail on how these groups behave in-game lives on the factions page, and Pinkwater Security and Protogen have their own dedicated articles.9191Inners Versus Belters in the Game9393One of the Expanse universe's defining fault lines is the divide between the Inners (Earth and Mars) and the Belt. The game makes this legible through three main levers:9595Height and build. Belters who grew up in low gravity are visibly taller and more elongated than Inners. In the closed beta this is obvious the moment a Belter main character stands next to an Inner NPC: the difference is several feet in places, and it is noticeable even in idle conversations.Social position. Inners have historically treated Belters as an underclass labor pool: miners, haulers, and station workers who generate wealth that the inner planets consume. That imbalance shapes the tone of the Pinkwater workplace, where Belter crew carry out the dangerous contract work for a corporation whose leadership skews Inner.Belter Creole. In the source material, Belters speak a distinctive creole that blends dozens of Earth languages. In the closed beta the feature is not yet fully represented: the Belter and Earther presets deliver nearly identical lines, and the accent work is still in progress. The studio has discussed the intent to differentiate the two in the full game.9797Technology Baseline Carried Forward9999The Expanse's technological baseline (no faster-than-light travel, no artificial gravity plates, no energy shields) continues to shape Osiris Reborn. Ships still run on high-efficiency drives, thrust still provides gravity, and a vacuum breach is still lethal. On top of that, the beta makes several specific pieces of hardware playable for the first time.101101TechnologyRole in the BetaMagnetic bootsStandard EVA gear. Lock the player to station exteriors during spacewalks, letting cover shooting work on hulls and ring sections. See zero-gravity mechanics for how this shapes combat.Point-defense cannons (PDCs)Ship-mounted anti-torpedo arrays in the source material. In the beta, Zafar uses the Gemini's PDCs for fire-support exploits, raining ballistic rounds into enemy positions on Pinkwater Four.Self-propelled grenadesSmall ordnance that rides a guidance motor instead of a traditional throwing arc. The Officer-preset frag grenade in the beta is a canonical example.Wrist-mounted launchersCompact ordnance systems worn on the forearm. J's signature Multi-Shot and an armor-piercing wrist cannon found in the beta both use this form factor.Repair foamLayered over shield and health bars in the combat UI. Rapidly restores both pools, evoking the emergency-sealant tradition of the source material.ProtomoleculeThe alien substance weaponized by Protogen on Eros. It is the same substance fans of the source material know, and it remains central to Osiris Reborn's story and setting. See Protomolecule and Project Caliban for the in-universe program context.103103Beyond the items in the table, the game layers a limited-healing shield bar on top of a health bar, which the player tops up with repair foam. Weapons fall into five categories (handgun, SMG, shotgun, assault rifle, and sniper rifle) alongside wrist-mounted launchers as a gadget-class family. For the full breakdown, see weapons and equipment and combat and gameplay.104104Crew-on-the-Ship Culture106106One of the pillars of the source material is the day-to-day life of a small crew sharing a small ship. Osiris Reborn commits to that pattern. During missions the player can bring up to two companions out on foot, but the rest of the crew remains aboard the Gemini, staying in contact through the radio and adding to encounters without ever planting their boots on the ground.108108The clearest example in the closed beta is Zafar. While the player and J are moving through Pinkwater Four on foot, Zafar stays on the Gemini and provides tactical guidance over comms. When the situation calls for it, he also uses the ship's PDCs to rake enemy positions on the station, turning the Gemini from a backdrop prop into an active participant in the fight. This is the same crew-as-character dynamic that runs through the novels and the show, translated into cover-shooter terms. For more on the cast that lives on the ship, see the companions hub.110110Confirmed Destinations in Osiris Reborn112112The developers have named a set of places the full game will visit. The closed beta only opens one of them (Pinkwater Four), but the broader roadmap has been sketched in interviews and the developer overview that accompanied the beta.114114DestinationRole in Osiris RebornPinkwater Four StationOriginal to the game. A private Pinkwater mercenary station and the setting of the closed beta's only story mission.Eros StationBackdrop of the game's inciting incident. The player and J survive the fall of Eros and arrive at Pinkwater Four in a ship taken from the attacking forces.Ceres StationBelt hub listed by the developers as a future visitable location in the full game.GanymedeKey outer-planet station tied to the events of the second novel; named by the developers as a future destination.MarsCapital of the MCR; confirmed as a future destination.LunaEarth's moon; named by the developers as a future destination.Asteroid-belt bunker complexesBelter strongholds and hideouts scattered through the asteroid belt; referenced by the developers as part of the larger roadmap of places the Gemini will visit.116116A complete list of world-building articles lives on the locations index.117117How the Game Signals Expanse Authenticity119119Even setting aside the big canon references, the closed beta is full of smaller touches that signal the studio is reading the same source material the community is. Stations look clean-in-progress rather than polished: exposed pipes, patch jobs, dim utility lighting, narrow corridors, and residential bunks stacked tight. You find a hidden bottle of tequila stashed in a shower and a janitor bot with a smiley face wandering the halls. You walk past a news screen where a talking head is complaining that they will not trust the latest rumor until there is another video from James Holden, and other NPCs in the corridor pause to watch the broadcast.121121The combat scenes double down on the same approach. In vacuum the audio mix strips gunfire of most of its bite, so the player hears impacts through vibrations and pings off nearby structures. Blood and debris behave as free-floating particles. Enemies killed in vacuum lose their boot grip and drift. Dialogue leans on political intrigue (Luciana's MCR gossip about the Piranha's captain is the representative example) rather than space-opera heroics. These are the markers that separate The Expanse from generic science fiction, and they are the ones the developers appear to be optimizing for. For more on the audio approach in particular, see sound design.123123Player-Facing Hooks Into the Universe125125For new players who want to engage the Expanse universe through the game rather than through the books or the show, there are a few entry points worth knowing about:127127The character creation and progression system maps each origin (Earther, Belter, Martian) onto a different personal passive, so the player's background quietly shapes early exploration checks.The story and setting article walks through how the game's original plot interlocks with canon events around Eros.The combat and gameplay and zero-gravity mechanics pages cover how the universe's physics rules are enforced moment to moment.The Protomolecule article is the place to start for the single most consequential piece of alien technology in the franchise.129129Osiris Reborn treats the Expanse universe as a setting to inhabit rather than a set piece to reference, and the closed beta demonstrates that the studio is building outward from the same fundamentals that shaped the novels and the show.
