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Saleen
Saleen is a moon in orbit around the gas
giant Nineris. The sun Cynther is cool and red-orange but
Nineris lies in a relatively close orbit in the center of the
star's life band, giving Saleen a liveable, though not
exceptionally bright, climate.
Saleen
is tidally locked to Nineris, with a single side of the moon
constantly facing Nineris. Nineris appears as a huge
planet always hanging at the same place in the sky. Cynther
appears as a big, swollen red sun in the sky. The debris,
moons, and rings of Nineris can be faintly seen in the night
sky. Nineris has a 12 hour day; therefore, so does Saleen.
Light
Cycle
As a tidally locked moon of a gas giant, Saleen has an
extremely complex day/night cycle. The few newcomers that
reach the planet find it extremely hard to adapt to it.
| With all three bodies in line, the backside of Saleen receives
full sunlight. The planetside side receives bright sunlight
reflected off Nineris. The High Syzygy will last about an
hour.
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| As
Saleen orbits Nineris, the Left side of the planet faces the
sun and the right side gets night. This will last about four
and a half hours.
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| Nearing
the peak of the orbit, the planetside side of Saleen receives
direct sunlight just before the entire moon is plunged into a
night-eclipse. |
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| On the far
side of Nineris, the entire planet is dark. The
planetside of Saleen will receive faint light diffracted
by the gravity and atmosphere of Nineris. This Dark Syzygy will last about two hours. |
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| The
planetside will then receive full sun again and the right side
of the planet will have day. This will last about four and a
half hours.
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Saleen
is planet of short,
erratic days and nights. Local plants and animals have evolved
to capture and store sunlight as it appears. Saleen has long seasons, as Nineris rotates
around Cynther every 600 "earth days" or 1200 Saleen days.
There
are strong tidal and gravitational effects and high geological
activity caused by complex interactions between the gravity
from Cynther and Nineris.
Saleen suffers from frequent and powerful storms that include
high wind, rain, and often spectacular lightning discharges.
While Saleen
is only 8000km in diameter, it has an exceptionally heavy
iron and
nickel
core which increases the gravity to a liveable level, as well
as providing the world with plentiful mineral deposits
Continents
There
are 3 major continents on Saleen.
The two major
continents are Joryssa and Chejjna, joined together by a land
bridge. Colony One was located on Joryssa and settlements of a
variety of originally terrestrial life, including Humans,
Iliene and Balithrim, and Makkuth are here.
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Bereden is a
smaller, “second continent". It was populated after the
larger continents, though still in the distant past. It
has a variety of cities
and cultures. |
Climate
Because
of Cynther's relatively low temperatures, Saleen has a
relatively cool climate. Cynther’s low energy provides only moderate
light from the sky,
though the close proximity of planet to sun allows enough
light and heat for a healthy and diverse ecosystem. Saleen
is very geologically active, which contributes both direct
heat and greenhouse gasses which trap and diffuse solar heat.
Saleen
suffers from frequent and powerful storms that include
high wind, rain, and often spectacular lightning discharges.
Saleen is also subject to impact from some of the less stable
debris in orbit around Nineris. Impact craters are
historically common and tend to leave rich deposits of rare
minerals.
Terrain
The
upper crust of Saleen is riddled with caves formed by both
lava tubes and solutional erosion. Saleen is a geologically
active planet where magma springs and flows sometimes
break through into the upper cave systems and onto the
surface.
Geysers are common, as is fog from geothermally heated earth
heating cool air. Depending on the temperature variation
between soil and atmosphere, the fog can be extremely dense or
thinner, leading to an eerily glowing horizon.
Buttes and
mesas are common, as pillars of volcanic rock are driven high
into the air and the softer surface soils torn off by Saleen's
violent weather. Harsh basin & range formations occur,
particularly in the Ridgemaze area on the
continent Beredin. Both geological activity and the planet's
mysteriously hostile nature have caused
civilizations to mass-migrate in the past, leaving ruins and
causing some odd sociological peculiarities.
These geological hotspots often lead to extensive mineral
deposits.
The planet
also features a variety of inhabited and uninhabited
volcanically formed islands.
Life on
Saleen
Saleen is a dangerous
and alien
planet. Its inhabitants have adapted to the harsh environment
with its geological, climactic, and inexplicably hostile
behaviours. Through both fight and flight, the inhabitants
have carved out cities and abandoned them in haste, dotting
the surface of the planet with fragmented
self-sustaining towns, ghost towns and ruins, and even a
number of loose,
federally run governments.
The factions of Saleen are diverse and highly corrupted from outside influence.
Native life has mixed with life released in the various
crashes of starships and debris that have punctuated the
history of the unlucky little moon. The harsh environment and
inexplicable natural forces at work there have caused a wide
variety of aggressive life to evolve. Tall plants stretch to
the sky, striving to capture what light they can, while far
below wide, low rooters claw deep through the volcanic soil to
grab water and energy from the geothermal activity below.
Plants often forgo the quest for light in favour of more
regionally stable chemosynthesis.
Likewise,
civilization has grown from the survivors of crashes that have
occurred over hundreds of years. Even "native"
intelligent life came from elsewhere, though their origins
are, by local definition of native, lost in time.
Saleen is
dark and foreboding, invariably changing those who seek to
conquer her.
Life is fragmented, isolated, and often tenuous. Saleen is
bizarre and hostile, beyond "frontier" to the point
of "desperate". Societies struggle with and against one another
for precious resources and technologies handed down or kept up
through generations.
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