A habitable world beyond the ring gates, claimed by the rogue Martian admiral Winston Duarte as the foundation for his breakaway empire. Laconia contains active remnants of the gate builders' technology, including orbital construction platforms that Duarte's scientists learn to operate using protomolecule-derived knowledge. These alien shipyards produce the Magnetar-class battleships that give Laconia its overwhelming military advantage. The system's single gate becomes a chokepoint that Duarte controls absolutely, allowing decades of isolation during which he builds his military, restructures Martian society into an imperial hierarchy, and begins experimenting with protomolecule technology on himself in pursuit of immortality. When the Laconian Empire finally emerges through the gates, it conquers human civilisation in weeks.