Every time I get to that Vigil conversation I'm terrified it will have aged poorly, but nope, Vigil is still cold and calculated but also has a hint of mourning for what has been lost. It's still as outstandingly foreboding as I remember.
That first planet you guys saw (Klendagon), the one with a giant scar on its surface, has a neat backstory:
"Klendagon's most striking feature is, of course, the Great Rift valley that stretches across the southern hemisphere. What is most fascinating about the Rift is that it does not appear to be natural. The geological record suggests it is the result of a "glancing blow" by a mass accelerator round of unimaginable destructive power. This occurred some thirty-seven million years ago."
manhattan_project's comments