Info dump on the "planet" for those interested.

[b]Epsilon Indi G2 - Brahma[/b]

Epsilon Indi Gamma-2 is known almost exclusively as Brahma - the name given to it by the Oriya and Maratha miners who accidentally stumbled upon it 68 years ago. As its official catalog name would suggest, Brahma is the second of five terrestrial moons orbiting about gas planet known as Bramapura. This parent world is analogous in size and mass to Neptune. It is situated .84 AU from Epsilon Indi and is remarkable for its striking bands of gas. Frequently, these latitudinal bands will mix with one another, producing violent electrical storms visible from the surface of Brahma.

Brahma is by far the largest of the five satellites of Bramapura - somewhat larger than Earth. However its density is remarkably low, resulting in the comfortable .915 g felt on Brahma's surface. Despite orbiting just within Bramaputra's habitable edge - the minimum distance from a large gas planet a satellite should orbit to prevent excessive radiation from bombarding a given body - Brahma plays host to a fantastically diverse array of native wildlife as well as species introduced from Earth. This ideal environment for life is made possible by a magnetosphere brought about by mantle convection. Resonant tidal forces created by the gravitational pull of the outer moons and Bramapura literally squeezes the insides of Brahma, heating the moon's interior and thereby creating the convective heat required to keep the world's insides gyrating. This magnetosphere blocks a great deal of the radiation that would otherwise fry life on the moon and also prevents radioactive particles from stripping away Brahma's oxygen-rich atmosphere.

The tidal squeezing of Brahma results in a great degree of volcanic and tectonic activity on the satellite. Magma is squeezed out onto the surface as carbonic lava that comprises much of Brahma's igneous formations, either by seeping out in slow sheets or bursting violently outward from the world's numerous volcanoes. Brahma's calcite formations, upon exposure to acidic groundwater, erode readily. This results in a spectacular karst formations, including vast canyons, gaping sinkholes dropping down into caves that spread across thousands of kilometers underground, jagged spires, and arches. Additionally, a diverse array of biomes - the most famous of which being the dense equatorial jungle - complicate an environment that is already extremely variable. Microclimates and numerous partitioned habitats within these karst features have created a planet with a geographical and biological diversity greater than that of the Earth.

Like Earth, Brahma possesses huge quantities of water needed for life to thrive. But unlike Earth, where nearly all water was stored in vast, open oceans, Brahma's water is largely stored in underground lakes and aquifers that frequently create giant cenotes. Large open seas similar in area to Earth's giant freshwater lakes exist mainly in the temperate latitudes, where the icecap meltwater accumulates. Much of Brahma's water is very hard in that is rich with calcium and other dissolved minerals, and many aquatic organisms have developed means of excreting excess mineral deposits.

The indigenous life on Brahma is extremely diverse - moreso even than Earth. Xenobiologists hypothesize that life on Brahma began deep underwater in hydrothermal vents produced by Brahma's intense volcanic activity. Fossil remains place the first terrestrial Brahman organisms at an age of 195-240 million years ago, suggesting to some xenoobiologists that life on Brahma is much younger than life on Earth was. Since their colonization of the land, Brahman organisms have grown to cover the entirety of the moon and have adapted to every imaginable niche. Of particular interest to the human colonizers of Brahma is the multitude of Brahma's giant animals - or megafauna. While most of these monstrous beasts consume the flora and plantlike organisms of Brahma, there still exists very large and diverse number of giant predators - most of which can and will feed on humans if given the opportunity. These large carnivores and other dangerous animals have proven remarkably successful in adapting to human encroachment and the arrival of introduced Earth species. One such animal is the Mayura. A fast, massive, and maneuverable flying carnivore; the Mayura are extremely territorial and aggressive and have taken down choppers and even dropships. The existence of such monsters has limited the expansion of human settlement on the planet. As such, nearly all humans on Brahma live within the nebulous borders of the "Clear Districts" - a tamed region of the planet surrounding Nai Kolkata where Earth flora and fauna has been allowed to supplant the native wildlife and cities have been built. Beyond these districts the planet is a hostile and unforgiving wilderness punctuated with remote human outposts.

When the first human settlers arrived on Brahma, they quickly encountered a race of diminutive race of primitive sentient life living within the jungles beyond Nai Kolkata. These impish, curious beings; with their large ears, pronounced snout, and innate shyness, bore a strong resemblance to the bats on Earth. As such, later colonists took to calling them 'Batmen' or more affectionately, 'Pips'. Initially, relations between the Batmen and the human colonists were fair. While humans typically elected to keep to themselves, Batmen would often visit Nai Kolkata and traded or offered themselves for employment once the language barrier between the two races had been dismantled. The arrival of new humans, however, brought about the expansion of their colony into land inhabited by the Batmen. Hunting grounds and Batmen encampments were plowed over to make way for colonial expansion, drawing anger from the natives. The Batmen tribes eventually responded by raiding beyond the colonial borders and sabotaging human construction and destroying machinery. Predictably, human settlers responded with violence against the batmen - pushing them deeper into the wilderness; a gesture Batmen tribes return in favor whenever possible. As such, many humans see the Batmen as savages and vandals. But despite decades of violence between the two species, there are many Batmen that have left the wilderness for the human colonies in search of riches, employment, and a more fruitful life in their cities. Humans, distrustful of these "reformed" Batmen, typically refuse to let them live within the cities themselves and relegate their populations to so-called "Indigenous Quarters", a euphemism for slums of huts fashioned from scrap or sticks on the outskirts of the city. Those Batmen who do find work in the city almost exclusively carry out dirty, undesirable work for meager pay. Despite widespread distrust and mistreatment of the indigenous Batman, the Tkrai Advocacy Foundation - a nonprofit organization based in Nai Kolkata - works to alleviate the rampant mistreatment of the Batmen in the Clear Districts while also conducting forays out into the wilderness to educate remote tribes and stop human-Batmen violence.