Takara Prime

Geography

Takara Prime is divided into two main continents with various islands and archipelagoes. Each of these continents was home to one ethnicity of the Takarran people. The eastern continent was the homeland of the Purple Takarans, and the western was the homeland of the Red Takarrans.

Life

Takara Prime is the home-world of the Takarrans, an amphibian people long and bitterly divided into two warring ethnicities. Later, it was also the home of the clandestine war-robots that killed off most of the Takarrans. (the Defendrons and the Cryptobots)

History

Separated by geography, the Takarran people were divided into two warring factions. The western Red Takarrans lived in a relatively egalitarian society where each Takarran voted on elected officials and the weightier issues based on their “estimation”, a numerical score each Red Takarran was assigned by a coalition of the government and other prominent organizations. The Purple Takarrans lived in a far more hierarchical empire ruled by those who possessed the “Sparks of Honor”, a set of powerful talismans (originally forged of precious metals, and later imbued with AI technology) that typically passed from vanquished to victor in contests of battle to the death. These two factions waged long and bloody wars from the time they discovered long-distance ocean travel until the apocalyptic war of Crypto-botics, when the majority of Takarrans on both sides were wiped out by war-robots disguised as innocuous pieces of technology.

In GSC 179 explorers from the PLAS discovered the planet, covered in large, but seemingly abandoned technologically developed cities, with the few surviving Takarrans living primitively in the wilderness, mortally afraid of technology. See: Exodus

Following first contact, many of the surviving Takarrans were rescued by the Planetary League Alien Assistance Agency (PLAAA), as the planet was taken over by the Cryptobots eventually leading to the Second Robot War.

Bravaxia

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History

Bravaxia is a fairly young (~ 3 billion standard years) terrestrial planet on the western fringes of the Perseus arm of the galaxy. About half a million standard years ago, the intelligent species known as Bravaxians evolved there, living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Bravaxia was conquered by the Convergence around 30,000 years ago. The Convergence taught the Bravaxians agriculture, and subjected them to brainwashing and hard labor producing food supplies by bio-engineering “gods” for them to worship and sacrifice their produce to.

During the Third Convergence War, Bravaxia was liberated by the Planetary League, and became an independent planet.

Later, around Y.E. 12162, the planet was conquered by the Holy Empire of Man as part of the 4th Holy Struggle of the Outer Realms.

In Y.E. 65473 Bravaxia threw off the Imperial yoke, and joined the Galactic Republic, where it has remained.

Geography

The surface of Bravaxia is mostly covered in oceans, with one large continent dominating the western hemisphere, two smaller continents in the east, and one small continent in south polar region. The planet’s close proximity to its sun and dense atmosphere keep a strong prevailing wind blowing from west to east across most of its surface. Seasons are relatively mild, and most of the surface has a tropical to subtropical climate. Several mountain ranges run north to south, and most of the land is dominated by a unique biome, known as the wind-forest. The wind-forests are dominated by trees with large triangular leaves that constantly blow in the wind, so that the sunlight reaching the forest floor is mottled and flickering.

Life

Bravaxia is home to a number of unique life forms:

Bravaxians are the native intelligence. Short, green, eight-legged beings with a “b-type” palate (they prefer flavors and scents that humans find disgusting).

Garbage-fruit is a large, edible melon favored by Bravaxians and Greys, but bland to humans.

The Grunkle-fly is a insect-like animal, about the size of a watermelon, and a favorite food of Bravaxians and Greys alike.

The Soup-beast is a large land predator with a hard outer shell. On death its internal organs turn into a soup-like liquid that is delicious, yet disgusting to humans.

Ovid

History

When human explorers from Cosmid first reached Ovid in GSC 443, it was a barren rock, devoid of life with a thin atmosphere of methane and nitrogen deep in the Tartarus Sector.  Cosmid managers decided that it would be an ideal place to test out new terraforming techniques, and perform experiments far away from the human core-worlds.  Terraforming started almost immediately, and Cosmid settled a corporate colony there in GSC 480.  Ovid was named for the Roman poet who authored the Metamorphoses, in anticipation of the radical changes that could be brought to the planet.

Being in such a remote corner of the galaxy caused Ovid to develop an insular culture, connected only to Cosmid, inc. 

One of the largest experiments that dominated the colony was a study on the effects of gene-therapies and modifications on society.   All manner of experiments were conducted, creating one of the more diverse populations of any planet in the galaxy. Since many of the experiments failed in one way or another, Cosmid also set up a fairly robust safety net for those unable to contribute to the bottom line (as it was cheaper than dealing with a rebelling population of high-powered mutants).

In GSC 1016, Cosmid (now a part of the Holy Empire of Man) officially abandoned its research colony on Ovid, so it could focus its resources on fighting the Great Reckoning.  As a result, the colonists and test subjects abandoned on Ovid were left to find their own way.  In GSC 1070, Ovid would become one of the first planets to join the Galactic Republic, after refugees from the Planetary League flooded the sector.  The garden-world would be the breadbasket of the fledgling Galactic Republic.

Ovid, circa GSC 1070

Environment

As Ovid was terraformed, the land on the planet settled into four main continents.  The eastern-most continent (known as Cronenberg) was the location of the capitol city (Biopolis).

All the life on Ovid was imported by Cosmid, or developed locally through that company's R+D efforts. Ovid was the first "Garden World", specially engineered to have a mild climate with a mix of ornamental and edible life without any apex predators.

Ovid orbited a stable orange dwarf star that rarely had significant solar-flare activity.

Ovid had three main moons, and several orbiting stations that were initially built to aid in terraforming.

Notable Ovidians

Sarnak the Immortal was accidentally created on Ovid.

Shoji

First visited in GSC 203 by an expedition led by Zoe Bonnard, Shoji (From 諸寺 in Japanese, meaning various temples) was a barren, airless world a little larger than Earth.  It was named for its many sites of natural, if desolate beauty.  Shoji also had many rich veins of valuable minerals, and the Planetary League decided to terraform and settle it.

Shoji lacked an active core, so an electromagnetic ring was constructed around the planet (an immense undertaking that required decades to complete), and atmospheric conditioners were set up.  Various mining interests came for the resources, and tourism to see the planets various natural wonders formed the backbone of the colony's economy.

Years passed, and Shoji flourished, a complete biosphere was established, large cities sprang up, and many industries came to call Shoji home.

In GSC 836, an event happened that would forever shatter the tranquility of Shoji.  A group of bio-prospectors, laden with samples from Mefitis, on their way to a Cosmid laboratory accidentally contaminated the planet with a variety of diseases from Mefitis due to poor containment practices. 

The Mefitis Plague ravaged the population, turning most of the inhabitants into mindless, shambling zombies.   Various attempts were made to contain the contagion, including such drastic measures as nuclear and chemical weapons.  All attempts failed, and the once thriving world was left in ruin.  The planet was placed under strict quarantine, and its name was changed to 所持, meaning possession, but which is also written and pronounced Shoji in English.  The Planetary League maintained a naval blockade of Shoji to enforce the quarantine, until all ships were recalled late in the Great Reckoning.

Shoji became a chaos world early in Era-2, and the Galactic Republic destroyed the planet after the War of Galactic Unification.

Albion 4

The planet known as Albion 4 is littered with overgrown ruins, the remains of a civilization, roughly at the medieval level of development.  The apparent cause of the collapse was a disease that wiped out the population.  The ruins include castles, towns and elaborate temples, perfect for adventurous explorers and archeologists.  A number of squatters and grave-robbers also made the planet their home.

Albion 4's celestial neighbors include two hot Jupiters (gas giants close to their star), and a burnt out Chthonian planet.  Albion 4 its self has three major moons.  This arrangement makes eclipses a fairly common event, and there is evidence that this factored heavily into the myth and religion of the now extinct natives.

Being relatively close to Aldebaran 2, Albion 4 was the site of much archaeology and research during Era-1.

During Era-2, Albion 4 was largely ignored by the Holy Empire of Man. This helped make it a popular hiding place for those who opposed the Empire.  Whenever the rebels and outlaws on Albion 4 got too ambitious, however, the Empire would launch a suppressing raid, or even an occasional small-scale invasion to re-assert authority.

Life-Forms

Albion 4 is the home-world of the Sporlak, a large, amphibious animal resembling a sauropod.

Midori

Geography

Midori is a tropical planet. Its landmasses are largely covered in jungle and the seas are thick with algae, giving it an overall green appearance when seen from space.  Volcanic mountain ranges wind through the interiors of most of Midori's eleven large landmasses.  Midori has no polar ice caps, as even the poles are warm year round.  Deserts are few and small, as Midori is a very wet world.

Biosphere

Midori has a complex biosphere, dominated on land by jungle biomes, with some mountainous regions and few deserts.  There are large and fearsome apex predators, that will attack humans, biting and stinging insects, and a wide variety of diseases, many of which will occasionally cross species to infect humans.  The sea is thick with algae, and contains a wide variety of fish-like species. Many of the lifeforms were either engineered or introduced by Cosmid during the colonial period.

History

Midori was discovered early in Era-1, (GSC 210 to be exact) by the famous explorer, Zoe Bonnard.  Shortly after discovery, the planet was claimed by the Cosmid corporation, and used mainly for research.  Later, in the year GSC 250, a group of settlers was brought in, under the pretense of establishing an agricultural colony.  What Cosmid was actually doing; however, was conducting experiments in mind control on the colonists at the behest of certain elements within the Convergence, in exchange for access to genetic-manipulation technology.  One of these experiments was the creation of the Church of God, a religion that would go on to become one of the founding institutions of the Holy Empire of Man. 

Saint Valgar, an important figure in the spread of the Church of God was born on Midori in GSC: 842.

Midori attracted the hardiest, most fiercely independent colonists.  This was due to the harsh jungle environment, but also played into Cosmid's plan to learn to control even the most independent minds.  As time went by, however, the colonists turned on Cosmid.  Many of them could tell they were being manipulated, and the members of the Church of God had ambitions of their own.  Citing the casus belli of freedom of conscience, the people of Midori rebelled midway through Era-1.

The rebellion was short, but intense.  It saw the founding of the infamous Midori Guard, an elite force of fighters hardened by life on Midori.  When Cosmid responded by using deadly biological weapons that could lie dormant in the environment for years between outbreaks, the people of Midori founded the Legion of Fate.  The Legion of Fate consisted of those struck by the biological attacks, who would rather die on their own terms, performing suicide missions to defeat Cosmid.  At the end of the rebellion, the people of Midori established the Midori Republic.

The Midori Republic was one of the few states that would survive Era-2, and the Holy Empire of Man.  During the Great Reckoning, several planets from the Planetary League voluntarily joined the Midori Republic, including Bonnard's World. 

During the War of Galactic Unification, the rest of the Midori Republic voted to join the Galactic Republic, but Midori its self was one of the few planets that chose to remain independent. 

Dogur-dann

Dogur-dann started out as a terrestrial world, with an advanced civilization (similar to Earth in the 1990s).  Another star passed close to their star, pulling the planet out of its orbit, to wander interstellar space.  Luckily, because of their advanced technology, the Dogarri (the local technological species) had advanced warning of the impending disaster, and prepared the best they could.  This was mainly accomplished by burrowing underground, and learning to live off their planet's geothermal heat.  All life on the surface froze, and even the atmosphere condensed into ice, but the active core of the planet kept the Dogarri alive.

On frozen Dogur-Dann, the Dogarri burrow deep beneath the surface to survive on geothermal heat.

This is the state Dogur-dann was in when it was discovered by the Planetary League, near the colony world of New Promise in GSC 138.  Trade and diplomacy was established between the main factions of the Dogarri and the Planetary League under the newly passed Alien Assistance Act.  Eventually, the leading factions of the Dogarri joined the Planetary League, while others remained independent.

Most of Dogur-dann was conquered after the end of the Great Reckoning by the Holy Empire of Man.

The Dogarri rebelled and joined the Galactic Republic during the War of Galactic Unification.

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Artanis 4

Artanis 4 is one of the core worlds of the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns.  It is home-world to the Nalorgians, and the birthplace of Kroah Dashan. When General Zarlok turned traitor, Artanis 4 was where the attack took place.

Geography

Artanis 4 has three main continents.  One of these was naturally covered in ponds and shallow lakes, because of several ice ages in the planet's history.  This created the natural habitat that the Nalorgians needed to evolve.  As they spread out across the planet, the other continents were quickly landscaped into a similar mold.  Most of the surface is covered in ocean.

History

Artanis 4 had a large population of native Nalorgians before the arrival of the E1MS.  The most technically advanced of these lived at about the level of the industrial revolution.  After the arrival of the Empire, the whole planet was rapidly industrialized with a robotic workforce.  The Empire created the Grand Nalaxian, a sentient complex of spawning-pools to serve as planetary governor shortly after conquering the planet.

  On several occasions, the Nalorgians rebelled, only to relent when the Empire shut down the industries it had created. 

Later, but before the 1,000 Years War, Artanis 4 was the home planet of Kroah Dashan, the prolific inventor.

During the 1000 Years War, the Grand Nalaxian created the Nalaxian Code, an algorithm that could shield robots from the influence of Troniac.

After the 1,000 Years War, General Zarlok, once revered as a war hero, set off a neutron pulse device in one of the more populous cities, killing millions of civilians.  Also in the post-war period, many Nalorgians, tired of Imperial rule, left the Empire, mostly joining with Ool-Tyr pirates to create the Nomad Armies.

Artanis 4 was conquered by the Holy Empire of Man during the War of the Empires.

Artanis 4 was conquered by the Galactic Republic during the War of Galactic Unification.

Life Forms

Gearwood trees are a native species, prized for their solid wood, which was used extensively in the clockwork creations of the Nalorgians.

Nalorgians are native to Artanis 4.

Points of Interest

The Grand Nalaxian on Artanis 4's largest continent was both the planetary governor, and a vast repository of knowledge.