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Back to Saleen Index
Saleen, Cynther System
| The Planet |
Overview
Saleen is a moon in orbit around the gas giant Nineris. The sun, Cynther,
is large and orange-yellow. Nineris lies near the far end 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 orange sun in the sky. The debris, moons, and rings of Nineris can be
faintly seen in the night sky. Nineris has an 11 hour day; therefore, so does Saleen.
Saleen is a planet of with a short, erratic light cycle. Local plants and animals have evolved to capture and store sunlight as it appears. Saleen has long seasons, as Nineris rotates around Cynther
roughly every 1500 "earth days" or 3214 Saleen days, meaning
that each season is about 1 "earth year" long.
There are strong tidal and gravitational effects and high
geological activity caused by complex interactions between
the gravity between Cynther, Nineris, and Saleen. Saleen suffers from frequent and powerful storms that include high wind, rain, and often spectacular lightning discharges.
While Saleen is only 5400km 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.
Climate
Because of Cynther's relative distance, Saleen should have a relatively cool climate. Cynther’s
provides only moderate light from the sky, though the 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
and meteor showers are a common and often impressive sight at
night. Impact craters are historically common and tend to leave rich deposits of rare
minerals.
Terrain
The thin upper crust of Saleen is riddled with caves formed by both lava tubes and solutional erosion,
where water has disolved the limestone between denser rock. 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
very thin, 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
are 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.
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| 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 back off Nineris. The High Syzygy will last about an
hour.
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| As
Saleen orbits Nineris, the Left side of the planet,and Beredin, faces the
sun and the Right side, with Joryssa and Chejjna, gets night.
This will last about four hours.
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| Nearing
the peak of the orbit, the planetside side of Saleen receives
direct sunlight, with all three continents receiving sun, 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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planetside will then receive full sun again and the right side
of the planet, with Joryssa and Chejjna, will have day
while Beredin and the Left side of the planet will have
night. This will last about four hours.
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| 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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| Continents |
There are 3 major continents on Saleen.
 The two largest continents are Joryssa and Chejjna,
located in the western hemisphere and joined together by a land bridge.
The original settlement on Saleen is thought to have
been founded on Chejjna and is now the ruins called
Bone. The population is quite mixed and settlements of a
variety of originally terrestrial life, including
Humans, Iliene, Balithrim, Rafers, and Makkuth can be
found on Joryssa and Chejjna. Being the site of original
settlement and due to the local geographic features,
larger civilizations have tended to gel together.
Bereden is a smaller continent. It was populated after the larger continents, though still in the distant past. It has a variety
of cities and cultures.
The relative openness of the local geography has tended
to create very small city states and political alliances
that frequently shift.
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