Not sure if I'll actually join, but made a submission thingy to spice up the galaxy a little. [hider=Planet Mortigurn/Ur-Kavurna System][b] [color=00a651]Planet Name:[/color][/b] Mortigurn [b][color=00a651]World Type:[/color][/b] Continental World. Mostly grasslands, mountains and jungles, with some minor deserts and frigid poles. [b][color=00a651]Classification:[/color][/b] Class R (a rogue planet, not as habitable as a terrestrial planet) [b][color=00a651]Moon:[/color][/b] One Class-K planetary body named Arnor. [b][color=00a651]The Civilized Populace:[/color][/b] Mostly humans with members of other races sprinkled amongst the populace. The planet is practically the wild west in some senses. Just about anyone can be found out there, seeking risky fortunes. [b][color=00a651]Population:[/color][/b] 537 million. [b][color=00a651]Tourism:[/color][/b] Due to the hostile "fauna", the planet is a "tourist attraction" in the same sense that Africa or the deep sea often is, best appreciated from a distance. Some daring poachers and dare-devils will brave riling up the hornet's nest that is the planet's "wildlife" for pleasure or profit, but rarely does any outsider with a decent head on their shoulders choose to lay down roots. There is an implicit risk to one's life in visiting, so touring the planet for anything other than necessary business is generally considered madness. That being said, there are a great many fantastical and often impossible-seeming sights to be found if one is willing to take the risk in this supernaturally-charged environment. --------------------------------------------- [b][color=00aeef]System Name:[/color][/b] Ur-Kavurna. [b][color=00aeef]Star Class:[/color][/b] A-Type main sequence star (bright blue). [b][color=00aeef]Planetary Bodies:[/color][/b] One planet, eight gas giants, five asteroid belts. There is evidence that, at one time, there used to be other potentially habitable planets in the solar system, but if so, they have long since perished to some unknown cataclysm. [b][color=00aeef]Location:[/color][/b] Located on the "outer rim" of the Ascendency of Man's remaining territory, this area of space is often referred to as "badlands", rife with pirates and potential run ins with incursions from enemy nations. ----------------------------------------------- [b][color=ec008c]Landmasses:[/color][/b] Roughly almond-shaped, a supercontinent the size of all the planet Earth's land combined stretches vertically far enough to reach both planetary poles. Various islands are scattered around it and throughout the ocean. From a distance and at the right angle, the planet almost appears to be a giant, slitted eyeball, predatorially assessing all those that dare approach. [b][color=ec008c]Waters:[/color][/b] One singular major ocean surrounding the supercontinent on all sides, divided into two generally classified "western" and "eastern" seas. There are seven great lakes dotting the continent and ninety-three rivers crisscrossing its vast expanse. [b][color=ec008c]Notorious Monsters/Creatures:[/color][/b] Mortigurn is infamous, a planet of wonders and horrors in equal measure. Buried deep within the planet is a wild nexus of Dimensional and Change magic, existing for a simple and terrible reason: [i]Mortigurn is alive... and [b]angry[/b][/i]. The nexus is its magical core, leylines its veins, the crust its skin and the ores within its flesh and bone. Every native creature upon it is its blood cells... and its white blood cells are quite formidable indeed. Mortigurn has long loathed any outside entity, those pesky sentient specks of dust that come from the stars to drill into its bones and suck out its marrow. As such, Mortigurn responds in kind. That is to say, with no kindness to be found. Using its magic, Mortigurn, from the moment it understood the purpose of invaders, has sought to exterminate them, summoning forth monsters and abominations through its core from throughout the multiverse. At the same time, it uses Change and Mind magic to alter even its own inhabitants and set all of them upon the surface dwellers with a righteous, hateful fury, killing and destroying until it is stopped by sufficient force. While Mortigurn could wipe the invaders out with unending hoards, it considers itself to be "fair and magnanimous" to a point. It doesn't send its monsters after those that flee the planet, and those that stay it meets only with equivalent force and retaliation to what they have "stolen" from the planet. For example, if one were to kill a mouse with a grenade, the equivalent response would be a monster that makes the human look like the mouse in the resulting scenario. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Altruism is returned to a degree as well. Certain areas of the planet, therefore, are safer, assuming they are manned by the environmentally conscious. However, there is no known limit to how far the planet will go if necessary. Mortigurn is spiteful, and in the case of the Ascendency of Man at one time dominating its surface with overwhelming force, the planet chose to actively destroy all but one of its continents and overturn the surface world order. Bases made upon its moon were assaulted with space-faring abominations, and devastation was unleashed in a cataclysm that many dare not even breathe word of. And as quickly as that devastation came, it retreated, the planet once more returning to a manner of languid and comparatively half-hearted retaliation. Ever since, none have dared to truly test the planet's patience, and a far more restrained and environmentally conscious form of progress has been used. In the end, one thing was explicitly certain: if it could not protect its resources, Mortigurn was not above denying them to [i]everyone[/i] to make a point. [b][color=ec008c]Level of Development:[/color][/b] The technology level of the planet is generally the same, capable of basic spacefaring travel and rudimentary FTL. Although, various settlements and factions jealously hoard their advancements for the sake of not raising the overall "threat level" as quickly. Aside from those that choose to brave the wilds using more "barbaric" means, there is no functionally distinct difference in technological "eras" between the notable locales, aside from some specializing in certain tech or magic more than others. In particular, inhabitants tend to specialize in biotech and environmental advancements. Efficiency is key, making more with less. Solar power and clean energy derivatives are the only legal source of energy production, and those that use less "clean" fueling are generally not treated very welcomely. The military complex is arguably the greatest focus of Mortigurnians, constantly advancing to fend of the planet's attacks and otherwise make harvesting resources actually viable rather than suicide. The military is also advanced for the purposes of fending off other nosey nations and in large-part pirates. Piracy, according to the reckless risk of such actions provoking the planet unduly, is punishable by execution, sometimes by firing squad, often on the spot and without hesitation. Local Mortigurnians typically have a deep and abiding disdain towards pirates, offering no mercy or empathy for their circumstances or the reasoning behind their actions. [b][color=ec008c]Economy:[/color][/b] As a part of the Ascendency of Man, the primary currency is Galactic credits. They are primarily exporters of rare ores, fauna and flora. Owing to the energies released by its core warping the planet inside and out, Mortigurn is rich in incredibly rare materials, including high quantities of electrum and (it is rumored) naturally occurring Perfected Electrum deposits. Various ores, fauna and flora that have no business existing within the same solar system all somehow find themselves coexisting on this planet to the degree that one might never know what they could truly discover. [b][color=ec008c]Type of Society:[/color][/b] Nature vs Progress. Ebb and flow. Give and take. Always, there is a balance, a price to be paid. On Mortigurn, life is tenuous, always lived on the razor's edge. With such hostile wildlife, those that inhabit this planet strive by necessity not to tip the scales, the take only what they need and nothing more, even as the Ascendency of Man demands more from them, provoking the planet into retaliation. For the sake of survival, the planet is ruled by a cold, calculating and militaristic meritocracy, promoting environmental advancement and preservation while finding ways to safely strip the planet of its resources. At the top are those of an environmentally conscious bent and those that exert great prowess in the "Enlightened Invention" arts. Keeping in mind that the planet does not tolerate "greatness" amongst the "invaders" for long, the greatest ambition of most everyone who lives there is to rise far enough to leave the planet and go on to far greater things on other worlds, where progress will not be stifled by the very land beneath their feet. Socially, Mortigurn is rather anorexic. In large part, this can be put down to the "survival of the fittest" mindset required to thrive among the sharks of society and -more practically- against the abominations sent to exterminate you. The range of "childhood" is considered much smaller than elsewhere, even if legal "adulthood" complies with Ascendency standards. Left to their own devices, however, Mortigurnians educate and mature their children far more swiftly on average than other systems. Every hand is needed to survive, to advance, to [i]thrive[/i], and weakness and sloth are crushed and burned away without hesitation. Regardless of their struggle, due to the danger of their work, Mortigurnians live in a very wealthy society. They trade often and primarily using Galactic Credits to receive amenities and other materials that would be risky to produce on-world. Nearly all their exports go solely to the Ascendency of Man, and the prices are borderline extortionate. Prices aside, Mortigurnians take pride in their work and turn out only the finest quality products... and the most honed personnel. A notable outlier societal feature is the existence of the Principles of Arboreism, a religion that sprang up in the wake of The Cataclysm, centered around the worship of the planet of Mortigurn and the preservation of the natural world and order. Arboreists primarily practice Traditionalist magics, eschewing the Enlightened Invention ways that dominate the majority of the planet's populace. Aroboreists are often skilled in Change magic and are able healers. They also commune with the planet using Mind magic to discern its will and present temperament and act as prophets and (some would say) heralds of destruction. They warn individuals and communities that their actions are displeasing the planet particularly and often propose solutions. Though treated with mixed fear and respect, Arboreists are rarely discriminated against, at least not openly, considered by many to be extensions of Mortigurn's will. An attack against them may be seen as an attack against the planet. [/hider]