The Quorat is a collection of planets where people are born with powers. There are eleven planets in the Quorat system, each producing a power. However, some planets can produce two or more powers.
One planet produces mainly glamourists, but is the only planet to produce Shapeshifters, of which there are not many. This is the planet that Dax Jones and his mother came from. It is described to have hills made of malachite, mountains that are grey-pink and a golden sky. Another planet is called Ayot and is known to produce telekenetics, but also parasites. It was responsible for sending Catherine Reader to Earth, tricking Gideon and Luke Reader's mother somehow. While Catherine Reader Shared Luke and Gideon Reader's Mother's womb, she was not truly their siblings. Luke and Gideon were, however, true twins.
The Seeders were the Mother's of the COLA's sent to earth. They were especially good at surviving. They were told to find an earthen male. The males were chosen for their intelligence. But they knew that during pregnancy their immunity to the natural diseases of Earth would break away which is why no COLA mothers survived more than four years after the birth of their children. The seeders came through the 'corridor' that Dax took to get to the Quorat.
In Stirring the Storm, when Dax travels through the 'corridor' he meets his aunt, who mentions that although he has his mother's blood, he is vulnerable to the diseases in the Quorat, which the locals have developed an immunity to. She says that if Dax had been a normal boy from Earth he 'would have been dead by now.' (Five minutes is apparently the maximum time of survival).