Megas
15-11-2004, 19:31
The Holy Empire of Megas, having no real claim to any one planet or region of a planet, has been searching the past few years for a home. And now, we have found one. Having found an inhabitable moon, Tirol, of the distant planet Fantoma, we are beginning colonization immediately. Fantoma is located in the solar system Valivarre.
Valivarre is a bright blue-white A6 dwarf, twice the mass of Earth's sun, and substantially hotter at the surface (8300 K). Valivarre is large, at 1.95 times the radius of Earth's sun, and puts out sixteen times the light; and a higher portion of that is in the ultra-violet than one sees at Earth. Analysis of the star indicates that it is a mere seven hundred and ninety million years old, and it is estimated that within thirty-five million years' time, Valivarre will have become an orange K5 giant, destroying all life in the system.
Valivarre is located 1812 parsecs from Earth, in the direction of the constellation of the Southern Cross (RA 12h4.2m, Dec -62.12), and was the center of a vast interstellar empire that, at its height, controlled fifty million cubic parsecs and more than a thousand inhabited worlds.
Valivarre is home to twelve planets. The first three are rocky, hot, inhospitable worlds, ranging in size from a tenth to nearly twice Earth's mass. The next five are gas giants, the inner two being similar to Jupiter and Saturn respectively, and the outer three more resembling Uranus and Neptune. The outermost four worlds are composed largely of a mixture of rock and water and methane ice, larger analogs to the Uranian and Neptunian satellites, and Pluto.
Fantoma is a large, inhospitable gas giant with proportions similar to that of Jupiter. Its atmosphere is composed mostly of methane, and contains many vigorously powerful storms. Not much is known about the surface of Fantoma, if one does indeed exist.
The third moon of Fantoma, Tirol is the traditional seat of Tirolian civilization, though the Robotech Masters abandoned the surface centuries ago to dwell in their artificial clone-societies aboard their orbital motherships, leaving the bulk of the populace on the planet below.
Tirol is a somewhat smaller planet than Earth, with only 61% of Earth's mass and 82% Earth's radius. Tirol is, on the whole, marginally denser than Earth (thanks to a larger core relative to the planet's size), and possesses a surface gravity 92% of Earth's. It orbits very close to Fantoma's equatorial plane at a distance of 2.4 Fantoman radii (157,711 km), completing a revolution every twelve hours and twenty-one minutes. Because of Fantoma's great size, and the small size of the other Fantoman moons, Tirol is phase-locked to Fantoma; that is, from Fantoma's perspective, Tirol always shows the same side to it.
The most prominent object in the Tirolian sky is Fantoma, subtending nearly 45 degrees in diameter. Eclipses of Valivarre by Fantoma are almost a daily occurrence on the Fantoma-ward side of the planet. Depending upon the season, Fantoma is visible even at noon. From Tirol's perspective, Fantoma never moves in the sky, and its position in the sky is entirely determined by the observer's location on Tirol. The phase-lock also means that Tirol's rotation period, or its day, is the same as its rotation period around Fantoma: namely, 12 hours, 21 minutes. Because Tirol's orbit slightly overtakes Fantoma's rotation, Fantoma appears to rotate retrograde (from Tirol's perspective), with a period of almost 110 hours, or nearly nine Tirolian days. Tirol's higher rotation period affects its weather significantly. The centrifugal force on the atmosphere is more than three times that on Earth, and the coriolis force nearly twice it. Weather patterns tend to be confined to smaller cells than one would expect on Earth, and much of the cloud cover and precipitation are at the lower latitudes.
Tirol has no detectable intrinsic magnetic field; even if it did, it would be dwarfed by Fantoma's contribution. Fantoma's field is, to good approximation, a well-aligned dipole, so its magnetic field lines are seen on Tirol as being virtually parallel to the planet's rotation axis. Despite the differences, two-dimensional compasses act similarly on the surface of Tirol as on the surface of Earth. The main effect is that Tirol sees intense aurora at all latitudes. The presence of debris from Fantoma's rings also makes meteor showers a frequent occurrence on Tirol.
Fully 32% of Tirol's surface is land, the majority of which is a single super-continent named Pae'rana centered on the sub-Fantoma point. A series of volcanic islands and several small sub-continents exist on the side of Tirol opposite Fantoma, but that half of the planet is almost entirely ocean. Tirol is somewhat tectonically active, as the other moons disturb the planet's phase-lock with Fantoma, but continental drift away from the supercontinent is relatively minimal, thanks to the Fantoman tides.
Much of Tirol is more arid than Earth, especially toward the center of the supercontinent Pae'rana, but the planet sees all the range of climes and ecological zones Earth does. Indeed, Pae'rana's ecological zones exist in large part in belts, according to latitude. At the highest latitudes are arctic and tundra zones, then a taiga-like forest belt. Lower in latitude are the grasslands, and below that the equatorial deserts and jungles. Most of our colonization will be concentrated in the grasslands and steppes, and on the coastlines of the more temperate zones.
*4,000 transport ships, each carrying 1000 Megas citizens onboard, (the first phase of the colonization) lift off from the newly erected launch dome on Megas’ small asteroid surface. The plastic ceiling had just given way, exposing the ships to the vacuum of space. Immediately, the ships catapult up and toward the military escort fleet. Captain Brenard, aboard the lead ship, Mayflower, turns to his helmsman.
“May God be with us all…” he says.
“I for one am glad to be leaving this god-forsaken rock.” the helmsman replies.
Within seconds of reaching the fleet, Brenard gives the order to initiate the fold into hyperspace. All 4,500 ships disappear in a blinding flash generated by the Protoculture-Reflex engines…
Valivarre is a bright blue-white A6 dwarf, twice the mass of Earth's sun, and substantially hotter at the surface (8300 K). Valivarre is large, at 1.95 times the radius of Earth's sun, and puts out sixteen times the light; and a higher portion of that is in the ultra-violet than one sees at Earth. Analysis of the star indicates that it is a mere seven hundred and ninety million years old, and it is estimated that within thirty-five million years' time, Valivarre will have become an orange K5 giant, destroying all life in the system.
Valivarre is located 1812 parsecs from Earth, in the direction of the constellation of the Southern Cross (RA 12h4.2m, Dec -62.12), and was the center of a vast interstellar empire that, at its height, controlled fifty million cubic parsecs and more than a thousand inhabited worlds.
Valivarre is home to twelve planets. The first three are rocky, hot, inhospitable worlds, ranging in size from a tenth to nearly twice Earth's mass. The next five are gas giants, the inner two being similar to Jupiter and Saturn respectively, and the outer three more resembling Uranus and Neptune. The outermost four worlds are composed largely of a mixture of rock and water and methane ice, larger analogs to the Uranian and Neptunian satellites, and Pluto.
Fantoma is a large, inhospitable gas giant with proportions similar to that of Jupiter. Its atmosphere is composed mostly of methane, and contains many vigorously powerful storms. Not much is known about the surface of Fantoma, if one does indeed exist.
The third moon of Fantoma, Tirol is the traditional seat of Tirolian civilization, though the Robotech Masters abandoned the surface centuries ago to dwell in their artificial clone-societies aboard their orbital motherships, leaving the bulk of the populace on the planet below.
Tirol is a somewhat smaller planet than Earth, with only 61% of Earth's mass and 82% Earth's radius. Tirol is, on the whole, marginally denser than Earth (thanks to a larger core relative to the planet's size), and possesses a surface gravity 92% of Earth's. It orbits very close to Fantoma's equatorial plane at a distance of 2.4 Fantoman radii (157,711 km), completing a revolution every twelve hours and twenty-one minutes. Because of Fantoma's great size, and the small size of the other Fantoman moons, Tirol is phase-locked to Fantoma; that is, from Fantoma's perspective, Tirol always shows the same side to it.
The most prominent object in the Tirolian sky is Fantoma, subtending nearly 45 degrees in diameter. Eclipses of Valivarre by Fantoma are almost a daily occurrence on the Fantoma-ward side of the planet. Depending upon the season, Fantoma is visible even at noon. From Tirol's perspective, Fantoma never moves in the sky, and its position in the sky is entirely determined by the observer's location on Tirol. The phase-lock also means that Tirol's rotation period, or its day, is the same as its rotation period around Fantoma: namely, 12 hours, 21 minutes. Because Tirol's orbit slightly overtakes Fantoma's rotation, Fantoma appears to rotate retrograde (from Tirol's perspective), with a period of almost 110 hours, or nearly nine Tirolian days. Tirol's higher rotation period affects its weather significantly. The centrifugal force on the atmosphere is more than three times that on Earth, and the coriolis force nearly twice it. Weather patterns tend to be confined to smaller cells than one would expect on Earth, and much of the cloud cover and precipitation are at the lower latitudes.
Tirol has no detectable intrinsic magnetic field; even if it did, it would be dwarfed by Fantoma's contribution. Fantoma's field is, to good approximation, a well-aligned dipole, so its magnetic field lines are seen on Tirol as being virtually parallel to the planet's rotation axis. Despite the differences, two-dimensional compasses act similarly on the surface of Tirol as on the surface of Earth. The main effect is that Tirol sees intense aurora at all latitudes. The presence of debris from Fantoma's rings also makes meteor showers a frequent occurrence on Tirol.
Fully 32% of Tirol's surface is land, the majority of which is a single super-continent named Pae'rana centered on the sub-Fantoma point. A series of volcanic islands and several small sub-continents exist on the side of Tirol opposite Fantoma, but that half of the planet is almost entirely ocean. Tirol is somewhat tectonically active, as the other moons disturb the planet's phase-lock with Fantoma, but continental drift away from the supercontinent is relatively minimal, thanks to the Fantoman tides.
Much of Tirol is more arid than Earth, especially toward the center of the supercontinent Pae'rana, but the planet sees all the range of climes and ecological zones Earth does. Indeed, Pae'rana's ecological zones exist in large part in belts, according to latitude. At the highest latitudes are arctic and tundra zones, then a taiga-like forest belt. Lower in latitude are the grasslands, and below that the equatorial deserts and jungles. Most of our colonization will be concentrated in the grasslands and steppes, and on the coastlines of the more temperate zones.
*4,000 transport ships, each carrying 1000 Megas citizens onboard, (the first phase of the colonization) lift off from the newly erected launch dome on Megas’ small asteroid surface. The plastic ceiling had just given way, exposing the ships to the vacuum of space. Immediately, the ships catapult up and toward the military escort fleet. Captain Brenard, aboard the lead ship, Mayflower, turns to his helmsman.
“May God be with us all…” he says.
“I for one am glad to be leaving this god-forsaken rock.” the helmsman replies.
Within seconds of reaching the fleet, Brenard gives the order to initiate the fold into hyperspace. All 4,500 ships disappear in a blinding flash generated by the Protoculture-Reflex engines…