Ōban

"Until now everything we've learned about Ōban is far beyond our comprehension. Scientists have said for decades that the center of our galaxy was a black hole. Does this looks like a black hole? Ōban is amazing!"

- Don Wei, 2082

Ōban, a.k.a. the Mother Planet, is a living world located at the exact center of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is notably the site where the final cycle of the Great Race of Ōban is held every 10,000 years.

Physical aspects
The planet Ōban is larger than the Earth's sun. In spite of this, it supports a multitude of environments similar to earthly biomes, and has an atmosphere and gravitational pull that is habitable for humans and several other species, both native and non-native.

A living organism, its interior is crossed with vast organic tunnels containing what appear to be a neural network and numerous spheres of densely-packed matter. Each of these spheres contains enough material to form a small planet of its own. As it turns out, Ōban sends out condensed matter into outer space in the form of spheres, which have been speculated to be "planet seeds", and is possibly the progenitor of all the other worlds in the galaxy.

Ecology
Ōban contains a multitude of different terrains, ranging from lush forests to acid rivers, glacial environments and ruins of ancient civilizations.

Drudgers and Tchou-Tchous figure among the species native to Ōban.

History
The planet Ōban was created by an ancestral race who renounced their immortality and created the Great Race to be held every 10,000 years. Representatives of several species of the galaxy will compete in the Great Race for the chance to win the mysterious and coveted Ultimate Prize.