Here are the four worlds that I have done and can be used as examples.
Lonestar Planetary Guide
Star Type: F1V
Position in System: 2 (of 6)
Number of Moons: 2 (Conejo, Mariposa)
Days to Jump Point: 20.25 (@ 1G)
Surface Water: 33%
Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Breathable)
Surface Gravity: 1.16g
Equatorial Temperature: 60°C (at sea level)
Highest Native Life: Reptile
Planetary Ruler: Duchess Catalina Velazquez
Lonestar was discovered in 2389 during the Terran Hegemony’s Grand Survey. It was initially settled in 2393 by prospectors searching for metals and petroleum, but not enough was found to make commercial mining profitable. Notations of the extensive grasslands and large herd reptiles were sent back to Terra, which in turn inspired several groups of ranchers to explore the option of raising domesticated herd beasts on these plains. Settlers began arriving in late 2403. The attempts to import such animals failed miserably as the native reptilian predators, previously unseen, easily eradicated the herds. Within two years, the herds were gone and the settlers were facing starvation. Daniel Espinosa, colony President at the time, realized that the large herbivorous reptiles that wandered the plains may be their only hope. In a desperate and foolhardy decision, he hunted down, killed, and ate one of these herd beasts. Fortunately, he found them to be edible and actually quite delicious. Later scientific testing confirmed they were very nutritious for humans. This meat is exported to the neighboring planets, such as Lambrecht, Dyev, and Sabik. Some of the reptilian predators are so large and dangerous that ranchers had to use military surplus combat vehicles to defend the herds. Recently the affluent ranchers have been using modified AgroMechs armed with machine guns to fend them off.
During the Amaris Civil War, Lonestar was largely ignored by both sides of the conflict. Because it was not strategically located, only a small Rim Worlds Republic garrison was stationed here. Except for a small engagement between the RWR force and a similarly sized SLDF unit during Operation Liberation, no battles of consequence took place there.
Lonestar is a hot, dry planet with extensive plains and deserts. Two continents, Arixo and Deseret are separated by a shallow ocean almost twice as salty as Terra. Arixo is the largest and has a long, extremely high mountain range running from the NW to SE across the continent called “La Espinaâ€. It spans from North to South Pole and is exceedingly difficult to cross except in a few places. It has some of the tallest mountains in the Inner Sphere, with the highest peak rising over 20,000 meters from sea level and most summits rising over 14,000 meters. The western portion is open grassland with rolling hills similar to the American Plains or Steppes of northern Asia called El Llano Grande. The eastern section is a very dry scrub desert similar to American SW. The grasslands are populated by several species of reptiles, some are herbivorous species larger than Terran elephants which are herded for their meat, and others are predators that feed on them. The eastern desert is home to many poisonous reptiles and flora but many brave them for the naturally occurring metals close to the surface.
The continent of Deseret is affected by high geologic activity; many volcanoes and deep canyons cover the surface and earthquakes are common. While rare earth metals can be found, few people have attempted to mine them on this continent because of the extreme hazards.
The equatorial area of Lonestar is impassable by humans on land or sea without protective gear due to the extreme heat, except in the La Espina mountain range.
The population centers are found only on the far northern and southern portions of Arixo, including the polar areas, where temperatures average 10°C to 15°C. The atmospheric pressure at sea level is equivalent to Terran pressure at 1,600 meters, and combined with the high gravity, many off-worlders have trouble acclimating. In fact, because of these conditions, Lonestar is noted for their champion long-distance runners. Because many settlers were ranchers from the southwestern area of the North America, the population of this world has a distinctive blending of Hispanic and American cultures common to that area. Spanish is the dominant language here, with English used primarily for business and nearly all the population is bilingual. The main cities are El Puerto de las Estrellas (the major starport and trading center on the planet), Mercado (the location of the meat processing plants), and Hacienda (the planetary capital).
Chaville Planetary Guide
Star Type: K8IV
Position in System: 1 (of 3)
Number of Moons: None
Days to Jump Point: 3.5 (@ 1G)
Surface Water: 62% (75% of which is ice cap)
Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
Surface Gravity: 0.87G
Equatorial Temperature: -10°C
Highest Native Life: Mammal
Planetary Ruler: Duke Michael Desjardin
Chaville is a small, cold world orbiting a dying sun. Originally settled in 2308 as a scientific outpost to study the star of the same name, it flourished there for over 20 years. This brief renaissance of scientific exploration helped to expand humanity’s knowledge of stellar life and death. Unfortunately, because of a clerical error, all funding was cut off and appropriated elsewhere. Within a month, the outpost was abandoned. There it languished, forgotten for almost 80 years.
In 2376, independent trader Francois Desjardin made an emergency jump to escape bandits. In his haste, he transposed some digits and wound up over Chaville’s sun. After triangulating his coordinates, he realized where he was and found no records on this system. While his JumpShip drive was recharging, Desjardin made his way to the closest planet, hoping to find fresh water and foodstuffs to restock his stores. To his surprise, he found the previously abandoned scientific facility. Incredibly, there was very little deterioration of the structure or remaining computer systems. The cold, calm environment of Chaville preserved virtually everything. Recovering jump point and planetary data from the station and some preserved rations, he made his way back to his JumpShip and proceeded on with his trading route.
One year later he came back, realizing Chaville’s location was perfectly situated for trading routes into the Draconis Combine. With a couple of business partners, he founded the Chaville Trading Collective, making the planet the home base. Desjardin also formally laid claim to the planet, as his research found that the previous title was abandoned and never reclaimed. Eager for development on new worlds, the Terran Hegemony granted him title to the planet, once the proper paperwork was filed and a few well-placed bribes were quietly given. Over the course of the next two years, he was able to refurbish the old science station into a habitable and comfortable business complex. The CTC’s fortunes steadily advanced over their rivals, catching the government’s eye. The Hegemony now realized what Desjardin had and wanted in on the action. In return for upgrading the dilapidated spaceport, the CTC paid a token tax and agreed to allow other trading companies to base their operations on Chaville. The prominence of the planet soared and soon became a local hub for trading of all kinds. The planet now possesses an extensive spaceport as well as hundreds of warehouses and business offices.
This affluence attracted business-savvy individuals with large disposable incomes. They found Chaville’s cold but calm climate perfectly suited for all sorts of winter activities, of which skiing is the most popular. The planet quickly became a popular tourist destination and a haven for those rich enough to afford it. Currently, Chaville is a booming, fast-paced trading center handling goods to and from the Draconis Combine. Many enclaves have sprung up on the outlying areas where the elite meet, greet, and have a decadent time.
The planet is ruled as a monarchy by the Desjardin family; Michael Desjardin is Francois’ son and also the Chairman of the Chaville Trading Collective. The government has a minimal impact on the residents, only possessing enough officials to maintain necessary functions. The businesses employ their own security forces, so the well-equipped local constabulary is able to focus their attentions on the populace, keeping the crime rate very low.
The overall climate of Chaville can be best described as cold, very cold. Though it is close to its parent sun, the dim light cast by the dying star does little to add heat. Combined with an axial tilt of just over 2ï‚°, the weather varies little on a daily basis. Gentle snowfalls happen every evening on the equator, where the spaceport and the majority of the enclaves are found. The temperature on the equator rarely exceeds 5ï‚°C at the hottest part of the day. The planet is geologically dead, so there is no internal heat or volcanic activity to disrupt the extensive ice caps that come as far south as 15ï‚° of the equator. In fact, the ice caps are growing at a rate of over 100 feet per year.
The largest continent, Cativilla, extends over the southern pole and is totally covered by an ice cap hundreds of miles thick. Inchadivilla, the smallest continent, is located in the northern hemisphere and is also entirely covered in a heavy sheet of ice. Only Viroflay on the equator has enough exposed land on which to build any permanent buildings. Drinking water is hard to come by as any fresh bodies of water stay frozen year-round, and the oceans are similar to Terra’s in salt content. However, the ice caps are composed of fresh water and mined for not only the residents’ use, but are also shipped off-world via IceShip. The vegetation is of the evergreen scrub variety and not edible. The indigenous life consists of small herbivorous mammals that are also not edible due to toxins absorbed from the plant life that interact unpleasantly with the human nervous system.
Inglesmond Planetary Guide
Star Type: K0V
Position in System: 2 (of 2)
Number of Moons: 0
Days to Jump Point: 5.5 (@ 1G)
Surface Water: 53%
Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Tainted)
Surface Gravity: 0.91G
Equatorial Temperature: 25°C
Highest Native Life: Insect
Planetary Ruler: Duke Ambrose Dexter
Inglesmond was discovered in 2391 by Captain Richard Inglesmond of the survey JumpShip THS Boundless Horizon. The Horizon was on a routine survey mission and jumped into the system on its way to Dieron. Captain Inglesmond had expected to find the system barren, and was pleasantly surprised to find two very different worlds orbiting the average-sized yellow giant star. As is customary, the Captain was given the honor of naming the star and planets. This was their last stop on the mission and he was short on enthusiasm so decided to name the star after himself. While the JumpShip was recharging, a survey team was sent to gather data on the two planets. The second one was a large gas giant with four moons, and was simply named Giant. The first planet, later called Inglesmond also, was found to be terrestrial in nature. The crew landed there to determine its habitability and potential natural resources. They were disappointed to discover that high concentrations of CO2 had tainted the atmosphere making it impossible to live there without some sort of environmental assistance, even though the climate was very temperate.
Surrounded by eight inhabitable planets all within one jump of each other, the Inglesmond system was ignored until 2487, when a team of geologists from NE Metal Refining (NEMR), a small subsidiary of New Earth Trading Company (NETC) landed to search for any valuable mineral deposits. They found the extensive surface deposits of iron ore, which were enough to begin full-scale mining activities. In late 2490, NEMR completed construction of the habitation units for the miners and the refining facility for smelting and purification of the iron ore. Two years later, Inglesmond II was shipping over 500,000 tons of purified iron destined for the factories of NETC, Mitchell Industries, and Grumman Industries, just to name a few. Encouraged by the accessibility of the raw ore, NEMR expanded their operations to triple the output. The output of the Inglesmond mines then remained constant for many years.
In 2507, NEMR (and by default NETC) came under fire by several radical environmental groups for their methods of extracting the iron ore. These groups charged that NEMR was destroying the environment of Inglesmond II by strip mining and the uncontrolled dumping of waste products. The case went to trial after 5 years of investigations and debate. NEMR prevailed after the presiding judge declared that since the system was uninhabitable by humans without environmental support and there was no semi-sentient life present, the company would not be held liable for any damages to the environment. Semi-sentience in this instance was defined by referencing Terran species like Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc.) and simple primates, which were known to possess at least a rudimentary intelligence. After the decision, NEMR increased production again to almost 4,000,000 tons of iron ore per year, their peak output. This continued for many years, enriching the coffers of both NEMR and NETC. Over the course of the next few years, several attempts were made at sabotaging the mining facilities. One attack was successful enough to shut down one facility for repairs at a cost of over 3,000,000 Star League Dollars. The perpetrators were caught but never linked to any known eco-terrorist groups.
Now three hundred years later, the iron deposits are almost depleted, and the environment has been destroyed by the extensive strip mining. The atmosphere and oceans have been polluted beyond repair, and the filtration systems for the desalination plants have been upgraded to include industrial solvents. Where there were once 15 smelters in operation, now only 6 are still in operation. The nine defunct facilities have been stripped of all usable equipment and shipped off-world, only the shells remain. Two more facilities are scheduled to close over the next five years. NEMR is predicting that all mining operations will cease in approximately 15 to 20 years when it is no longer profitable to continue.
Inglesmond’s land mass is distributed among many small, narrow islands with steep mountains running along the center of each island. They all are oriented in a north-south line, are roughly equal in size to each other, and are spread fairly evenly across the planet. The ocean is shallow and is frozen into small ice caps at the poles. The salty water is purified for consumption by the many desalination facilities scattered over the planet. The soil is rich in iron, giving it a reddish hue and making the sky a light shade of pink. Low, scrawny scrub bushes are the only feature to break up the expanse of sand and rock and are inedible. Insects, the only form of animal life, appear to act as pollinators for the plants. Some food is grown in the hydroponics gardens of each settlement, but not enough to fulfill the necessary requirements. The bulk of the foodstuffs must be imported.
Boomtown is the main settlement and also serves as the spaceport. All administrative functions are based here. It is located on the largest equatorial island and consists of three large pressure domes and 5 pressurized buildings connected to these domes. It supports a population of over 4,000 people. Each mine/smelter facility has a small complex of pressurized buildings to support the workers and admin staff. MS2 (Mine/Smelter facility #2) is currently the largest of these complexes and houses about 475 people. It is located in the south polar area at about 65° latitude. The sheer number of islands on Inglesmond precluded any attempt at naming, so they are simply referenced by their latitude and longitude locations on the planet.
Afleir Planetary Guide
Star Type: M0IV
Position in System: 2 (of 2)
Number of Moons: 0
Days to Jump Point: 3.14 (@ 1G)
Surface Water: 83%
Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
Surface Gravity: 0.95G
Equatorial Temperature: 38°C
Highest Native Life: Reptile
Planetary Ruler: Duke Darius Trevin
Afleir was settled in 2486 by a scientific team from pharmaceutical company Millennium MedTech to search for medicinal flora. It is a temperate planet, covered entirely by rainforest. Just like the Amazon Basin on Terra, Afleir teems with life, both flora and fauna. It is also similar to the swamps of the southern North American continent in that the land is low-lying and surrounded by shallow water. The highest known point on Afleir is approximately 100 meters. The best method for getting around is by hovercraft or flat-bottomed air boat and while larger vessels can navigate the deeper river systems, they still must be of relatively shallow draft. Most ground vehicles are hampered by the soft ground and the heavy tree canopy makes aircraft and VTOL landings virtually impossible outside the populated areas. The atmosphere is slightly higher in CO2 than Terran norm, but breathable. This also contributes to the warmer temperatures worldwide; even the poles are not cold enough to support ice caps. The planet orbits close to a bright red dwarf, but visibility is difficult due to the perpetual cloud cover which manifests itself on the surface as a thick fog. At its best, the visibility is about 1 kilometer, and is often half a kilometer or less. This makes navigation extremely difficult without technological help and also makes any landing from orbit hazardous and nerve-wracking.
There are numerous small settlements across Afleir, but the overall population remains low. It was estimated at approximately 200,000 people during the latest Grand Survey. The largest of these towns is Asile, located on the largest and highest landmass known by the same name. Located at 85° south latitude, it is the most amenable climate for human habitation on the planet, with daytime temperatures averaging 15°C even though the humidity averages 95%. Rain is a frequent event on Afleir, so the buildings are constructed with this in mind. Almost all of them are connected by covered walkways to keep people and goods dry. Asile is also the seat of government and the only spaceport on the planet. A special reinforcement to the landing areas had to be engineered to prevent the whole area from sinking into the ground. As a result, only the lighter DropShips (EXAMPLES) can land there.
Afleir would have faded from knowledge long ago if it were not for its only export, Patasura root. Patasura is a small plant with dark red leaves and soft, fleshy, bright pink roots. Patasura means “soft pink†in a very old, obscure artificial language from Terra. When the roots are crushed and the juicy pulp is applied to skin, it functions as an astringent, tightening and smoothing the skin’s upper layers. As a secondary benefit, it also rejuvenates the skin by repairing damage caused by age, injury, and exposure. Needless to say, when these properties were discovered, it became very popular with the cosmetic and medical industries. However, once the roots are processed, the potency of the active ingredient rapidly decreases with time. Usually this is no longer than one month. This short shelf life has made the Patasura cream rare outside the immediate vicinity of Afleir. Many attempts have been made to transplant the delicate Patasura plant to other planets and even artificial environments, but all efforts have failed. These two factors along with the cream’s effects have contributed to its extremely high cost, such that only the very rich can afford it.
Only one privately held company, Millennium MedTech, controls all manufacture of this product. The small company was formed in 2487, shortly after the planet was colonized, and specializes in the development of pharmaceutical products derived from plants. The founder, Marcus Matashi, is credited with the discovery of Patasura’s medicinal effects. Whether he actually did is debatable, as there are no records to substantiate the claim. Millennium MedTech is currently under investigation by the Republic for unfair business practices and human rights abuses. Rumors have been circulating that while the company’s executives live very well, the workers suffer from lack of food, poor living conditions, and an oppressive work environment to name a few accusations. Since Millennium MedTech controls all access to and from Afleir, it is difficult for investigators to gather information.
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Topic: Design Challenge: Planetary Profiles (Read 12650 times)