diff --git a/Assets/Scripts/ServerShared/ZoneGenerator.cs b/Assets/Scripts/ServerShared/ZoneGenerator.cs
index 82a2355e9..2246aae07 100644
--- a/Assets/Scripts/ServerShared/ZoneGenerator.cs
+++ b/Assets/Scripts/ServerShared/ZoneGenerator.cs
@@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ public static class ZoneGenerator
 	/// outermost overflows the window, and the rest are stretched geometrically so the outermost sits at the window's edge. A
 	/// non-root's window ends before its own fade (Gamma x Reach x its distance); a root's, in a zone of several, ends under
 	/// rootReach / Beta so its support never meets another root's (root-window-floor), and is 0.75 x the area radius at most.
-	/// A rosette's ring is one orbit; once its members have settled (their own children folded in), it folds into its node,
+	/// A rosette's ring is one orbit, and a member may itself be bodyless, which counts as one body of its family's mass; once its members have settled (their own children folded in), it folds into its node,
 	/// which becomes a body, if it cannot keep its heaviest member outside its Roche margin. Ported from docs/research/gravity-well-law/replace.py.
 	/// </summary>
 	public static void Place(GeneratorPlanet root, PlanetSettings planetSettings, float radius, float rootReach)
@@ -596,6 +596,8 @@ public static class ZoneGenerator
 		float Strength(float mass) => WellTree.Curves(planetSettings, mass).Strength;
 		float WellMass(GeneratorPlanet p) => p.Empty || p.Belt ? 0f : p.Mass;
 		float Family(GeneratorPlanet p) => (p.Empty ? 0f : p.Mass) + p.Children.Sum(c => Family(c));
+		// A bodyless node pulls from afar as one body of its family's mass, which it becomes if its ring cannot stand (binaries-orbited-from-afar)
+		float OneBody(GeneratorPlanet p) => p.Empty ? Family(p) : WellMass(p);
 		void Fold(GeneratorPlanet node, GeneratorPlanet into)
 		{
 			into.Mass += Family(node);
@@ -607,8 +609,7 @@ public static class ZoneGenerator
 			upper *= 1 - 1e-6f;
 			float AtLeast(GeneratorPlanet child, float edge)
 			{
-				// A bodyless node stands in for one body of its family's mass, which it becomes if its ring cannot stand
-				var m = child.Empty ? Family(child) : WellMass(child);
+				var m = OneBody(child);
 				var mInto = WellMass(into);
 				return m <= 0 || mInto <= 0 ? edge : Math.Max(edge, 2 * CuspMargin * Roche(m) * Strength(mInto) / Strength(m));
 			}
@@ -663,9 +664,9 @@ public static class ZoneGenerator
 				return;
 			}
 
-			var ring = node.Children.Where(c => c.Ring && WellMass(c) > 0).ToList();
+			var ring = node.Children.Where(c => c.Ring && OneBody(c) > 0).ToList();
 			if (ring.Count == 0) { foreach (var child in node.Children.ToList()) Settle(child); return; }
-			var heavy = ring.OrderByDescending(c => c.Mass).First();
+			var heavy = ring.OrderByDescending(OneBody).First();
 			var ringDistance = Math.Min(.5f * cap, share * reach / (GravityField.Beta * GravityField.Beta * (1 + GravityField.RingReach)));
 			PlaceChildren(node.Children.Where(c => !ring.Contains(c)).ToList(),
 				() => (1 + GravityField.RingReach) * ringDistance * GravityField.Beta, upper, heavy);
@@ -676,7 +677,7 @@ public static class ZoneGenerator
 				Settle(member);
 			}
 			// A member's mass is final only once it has settled (its own overflowing children fold into it).
-			if (ringDistance < RocheMargin * Roche(ring.Max(c => c.Mass)))
+			if (ringDistance < RocheMargin * Roche(ring.Max(OneBody)))
 			{
 				// The ring cannot keep its heaviest member outside its Roche margin inside its node's reach: the node is one body.
 				node.Empty = false;
diff --git a/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/ChildrenWithinReachTests.cs b/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/ChildrenWithinReachTests.cs
index ffd50613f..3249944ef 100644
--- a/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/ChildrenWithinReachTests.cs
+++ b/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/ChildrenWithinReachTests.cs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ using Xunit.Abstractions;
 using static CultMath.math;
 using float2 = CultMath.float2;
 
-// Aetheria gravity, children within reach: the production generator's zones (every zone of seeds 1-6, ambient off) read back
+// Aetheria gravity, children within reach: the production generator's zones (every zone of seeds 1-30, ambient off) read back
 // through the Zone's own tree, orbits and bodies. Each expectation is spelled from the rule it names and the law's constants
 // (GravityField), never from ZoneGenerator.Place's helpers.
 public sealed class ChildrenWithinReachTests : IClassFixture<ChildrenWithinReachTests.Zones>
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ public sealed class ChildrenWithinReachTests : IClassFixture<ChildrenWithinReach
         public readonly List<(uint Seed, Zone Zone)> All = new List<(uint, Zone)>();
         public ZoneGenerationSettings Settings;
 
-        // Seeds 7, 11 and 12 held rings inside their heavy member's Roche margin (ring-roche-final-heavy), which seeds 1-6 do not
-        // show. Seed 10 holds a bodyless non-ring node whose massive children are never placed (distance 0); widen past 9 once that is fixed.
-        public Zones() : this(1, 9, null) { }
+        // Seeds 7, 11 and 12 held rings inside their heavy member's Roche margin (ring-roche-final-heavy), and seeds 10, 13, 21 and 30
+        // held a bodyless ring member whose own bodies sat at their node's centre (bodyless-node-places-children); seeds 1-6 show neither.
+        public Zones() : this(1, 30, null) { }
 
         // Not public: xunit builds the fixture through its one public constructor; a test that wants a tuned sample builds its own.
         internal Zones(uint first, uint last, Action<ZoneGenerationSettings> tune)
@@ -479,6 +479,32 @@ public sealed class ChildrenWithinReachTests : IClassFixture<ChildrenWithinReach
             $"the ring stood at {ringDistance} with a member grown to {Math.Max(heavy.Mass, light.Mass)}");
     }
 
+    // A ring member that is itself bodyless (a binary of binaries) is still on its node's ring: from afar it pulls as one body of
+    // its family's mass (binaries-orbited-from-afar), so it is placed and judged with the ring, never left at its node's centre.
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData(false)]
+    [InlineData(true)]
+    public void ABodylessRingMemberSitsOnItsRing(bool bothBodyless)
+    {
+        const float radius = 1e6f;
+        var root = new GeneratorPlanet { Empty = true };
+        var a = Body(root, 100f, 0, true);
+        var b = Body(root, 100f, .5f, true);
+        foreach (var member in bothBodyless ? new[] { a, b } : new[] { a })
+        {
+            member.Empty = true;
+            Body(member, 50f, 0, true);
+            Body(member, 50f, .5f, true);
+        }
+        ZoneGenerator.Place(root, AuthoredPlanetSettings(), radius, float.PositiveInfinity);
+        Assert.True(root.Empty && root.Children.Count == 2, "the ring folded into its node or lost a member");
+        foreach (var member in new[] { a, b })
+        {
+            Assert.True(Math.Abs(member.Distance - .375f * radius) <= 1e-4f * radius, $"a ring member sits at {member.Distance}, not {.375f * radius}");
+            Assert.True(member.Children.All(c => c.Distance > 0), "a bodyless member's own ring was never placed");
+        }
+    }
+
     // A ring member's children end within a fifth of the chord to the member's nearest partner, where the chord, not the member's
     // fade, is what holds them.
     [Fact]
diff --git a/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/StationPlacementTests.cs b/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/StationPlacementTests.cs
index 759e3e83d..c94f40831 100644
--- a/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/StationPlacementTests.cs
+++ b/tests/Aetheria.Shared.Tests/StationPlacementTests.cs
@@ -133,17 +133,17 @@ public sealed class StationPlacementTests : IDisposable
         Assert.True(ahead > 0 && behind > 0, $"the seeds put stations on one side only (ahead {ahead}, behind {behind})");
     }
 
-            // A binary is a bodyless node under its parent; the station's source is never such a node, however many binaries there are.
+    // A rosette or binary is a bodyless node, a root included; the station's source is never such a node, however many there are.
     [Fact]
     public void AStationNeverSitsOnABinarysBodylessNode()
     {
         var binaries = 0;
         var stations = 0;
-        foreach (var built in GeneratedZones(null, 0, 4, int.MaxValue, z => { z.SatelliteCreationProbability = 1; z.BinaryCreationProbability = 1; }))
+        foreach (var built in GeneratedZones(null, 0, 4))
         {
             var zone = built.Zone;
             var bodyOrbits = zone.Planets.Values.Select(b => b.Orbit.Key).ToHashSet();
-            binaries += zone.Orbits.Count(o => o.Value.Data.Parent.IsSet() && !bodyOrbits.Contains(o.Key) && zone.Wells.Reach(o.Key) > 0f);
+            binaries += zone.Orbits.Count(o => !bodyOrbits.Contains(o.Key) && zone.Wells.Reach(o.Key) > 0f);
             var ridden = zone.Entities.OfType<OrbitalEntity>().Select(e => e.OrbitData).ToHashSet();
             foreach (var station in Orbitals(built).Where(e => TypeOf(built.Items, e) == HullType.Station))
             {