Category: Uncharted Worlds

Of interest to those seeking planetary inspiration.

Originally shared by Andrew “Incomitatum” Chason

==== Today’s [collab] Planet : Inias ====

Perspective is about where you find yourself. As a human you can breathe on Inias, but for 80% of the planet you are going to bake and crumble to dust. Save for the poles, and only as an artifact of the terrain, Inias is a nearly uninhabitable hell.

All around the globe Inias is inundated by high winds. These winds have eroded the deserts into a nearly flat grit, while evaporating the once prevalent lakes into salt flats. The peaks that are left have been sheered into long horizontal buttes. If you could stand on the flats for long you’d hear the gales singing through the canyons.

The partition between hot and cold, equatorial desert and polar tropics, is a near constant monsoon. The rains are welcomed but needs filtration: the acidic downpour a testament of a previous planetary catastrophe. While the polar regions bristle with lush vegetation they are home to a particular sort of Kapok, what would be tall trees if not for their proclivity to adapt and grow horizontally with the wind.

The northern and southern polar rainforests are home to two clans of a near identical species. They have proven to be sentient and their intelligence has led them through the centuries to an age of industry. Their diesel guzzling machinations have stripped whole valleys of timber, just as readily as they brave the heat beyond the monsoons to evacuate the deserts of their assets.

The natives seem to have developed independent of one another, but at a similar pace. While there would have been tales, It is likely they would not have learned of one another until they had developed radio. Now each is well into mastering flight, a discipline reinforced by a planet saturated in high winds. Thrillseekers have invented a coveted pastime: gliding on hot currents from the flat tops of the mesas just beyond the curtains of rain.

The northern and southern clans do NOT see eye-to-eye; the leaders of each spouting vitriol about how the other is a bastard race and the planet does not belong to them. It is only a matter of time before skirmishes between stubborn squads leads to all-out war. To outsiders placing bets, it is suspected whichever clan reaches the stars first, will annihilate the other completely.

For those seeking planetary inspiration.

Originally shared by Andrew “Incomitatum” Chason

==== Today’s Planet : Chalon ====

Chalon is a crown jewel of the Ascendency. A lush garden world, it’s eccentric orbit means it is in a constant state of flux, into and out of ages of ice. When it is in one of its cold spells, many of the polar continents are connected by frozen land bridges. These fluctuations are ingrained in the Chalon on a biological level, and thought to be the very thing that drove the aristocratic nomads to the stars.

The most distinctive feature, that can be enjoyed from space, are the vibrant, violet, algae blooms. Normally these microbes are caught up in the rose colored ice, but when the seas turn a sheen of purple, the Chalon know that a bounty of warmth will follow. In turn these algae massage the water and release emissions that encourage the pleasant years to persist. The Chalon have the means to terraform their homeworld, they’ve done so with many others; but they do not, out of tradition and a respect for their breeding.

Despite the cold, Chalon is much warmer than Chalet (no relation). The planet has a geological record and mineral makeup not dissimilar to earth-that-was. The Atmosphere of Chalon would be comfortable to human lungs. However the Ascendency does not play well with the Triumvirate and as Humans are widely known to be vassals of the Mudren… the only Humans to be guests of Chalon have been in chains. The ruthless canine Lords of Chalon are always looking for new pets.