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Description
Irk:
Basic geography

Irk has no falling rain. This means that there can’t be any flowing water like rivers and streams as they wouldn’t be replenished by rain. This also means that there can’t be any oceans for the water to flow to. As a result Irk’s water supply is in the form of numerous lakes. Sometimes these lakes can be of almost Sea size. As for depth, almost all the lakes are connected to deep underground caves and caverns that connects most lakes in a region together. These caves and caverns are usually very deep underground and pose no threat to buildings built over them. That is to say there is no threat of the building sinking into the ground unless they truly built where the caverns are close to the surface. This usually only happens near the lakes themselves. Because of these caverns Irk may appear to consist of mostly land but with 90% of its water underground Irk has almost the same percentage of water as Earth does if not just a little less. Irkens are very aware of how precious a resource water is. Irken water is made up of what is commonly called on Earth “heavy water”. On Earth it can be scientifically collected in a mass but it never occurs like this naturally. All of Earth’s water contains 5% of heavy water in it. Heavy water is identical to normal water except for the fact that the Hydrogen Molecules contain an extra neutron. Literally making the water heavier and slightly thicker. I suppose one would not be able to tell the difference on touch. Anyway back to precious resource. As with humans, irkens’ physiology is made up mostly of water, but their made up of heavy water. This means that their blood and body fluids are much thicker than humans. Normal water is too diluted for their skin to handle as it causes their skin to absorb the water until their dermis cells burst and form ugly burns. In all of their explorations Irk has never found another planet with pure heavy water as a water source. For this reason they’re very strict about how their water is treated on their planet. Polluting or dumping in a water source is a heavy offence against the empire because although Heavy water can be artificially created for normal water, natural heavy water is needed to sustain life on their planet in the form of plant and animal life. Plants giving them a breathable atmosphere as well as a food source along with fish which live in the water. Very few food stuffs from other planets can be eaten by irkens because of this.

Because of its water coverage Irk does not have any deserts on its surface. Its most arid places are the plains. These are areas where the underground caverns are so deep and or few that the only plant-life that can be sustained are tough grasses and other plants who grow more down than up in order to reach the water supplies. These areas are few and far apart but where they do feature they are very large in scale. The plains are referred to as “Flat-lands” in irken for obvious reasons. The weather conditions in these parts consist mainly of strong winds, hot sun during the day and cold nights. There’s little to no natural shelter on the plains making it a tough place to live. In modern times the only real permanent settlements are factories, commemorative establishments, some small research facilities and some small settlements by those who refuse to abandon their homeland. But all in all the plains are a lonely harsh place. Food is little, water is non-existant and fish is unheard of. However in modern society those still living on the plains can buy water at the nearest hydro-plants where water is pumped from the deep caverns but this water is rather expensive. The plains are not an easy place to live.
However the plains hold great historical significance as many of the Great War’s battles were fought on the wide open space.

Irk has a wide variety of mountain ranges, some are very un-miraculous, hills surrounding the plains where they grow more lush that are just too big to be called “hills” covered in softer, shorter grass, sturdier trees and easier living for those who choose to live there. Or rather chose. Because of the irregular ground its not suitable to build on, so for modern irkens in need of electricity, services and places to buy food it is no longer considered a liveable area.
The mountains however also include the sharp peaked grey and purple cragged type. These start off green by the base but as you go higher the plants grow fewer until eventually you’re left with nothing but cold barren stone, dry caves and sudden cliffs. Here and there is a high-altitude lake, trapped by high stone walls but these are very few and usually not on the highest slopes. Think of them as oasis among barren stone. Their banks are made up of short, hard grasses, small white flowers and perhaps a sad shrubbery here and there but nothing to write home about. But among nothing but freezing and usually impassable mountain it’s usually a godsend.
The higher peaks are obviously uninhabited but the lower bases and sometimes mid bases are usually occupied by mining establishments. Mining is mostly done with machinery as far as digging goes but machinery needs tending to. These mining posts are usually inhabited by very few people. Some transfer in and out but here and there you’d find some irkens who prefer to stay put at their posts at the mountain’s base. These would usually be the older irkens but some rare younger ones tend to grow attached and stick around too.

Most of Irk is made up of variations of forests though. Forests sometimes connect to plains slowly as the water comes closer to the surface or they simply just stop at the foot of mountains or lakes. Irk’s forests are not just the same mesh of trees over and over again, it’s different according to where on the planet it is. The forests nearer the poles grow taller and darker, the tree variations grow less and less until only the strongest and hardest of the species survive among frigid temperatures. These eventually grow less until you reach the barren frozen water of the ice caps. It never snows from the sky as it can’t if it doesn’t rain. But the surface is made up of frozen water, scraped and powdered until it forms something like snow. But going back to the warmer areas the trees grow less stone-like and greener. The forests after these are usually still cold but the plant life becomes more diverse. Thickets grow tightly together in places with hardy wild flowers clinging to rocks and stones. The lakes around these parts are usually very large but far apart. They sometimes freeze over by the banks during winter but because of their size they never completely freeze.
Getting warmer the forests become the most hospitable. The trees grow green and rich with great differences in appearance as well as uses. The plants grow easier and bare fruit and other edible foods. Water is easy to find even if some distance needs to be travelled to reach the nearest lake. The lakes around here are on the more “normal” size as one would expect to find on Earth. Irkens have situated their major cities close to these regions. They did this thousands of years ago by clearing vast expanses of forests. They cleared many sections of forests around these areas as well which grew into the large open fields and meadows. The Irken Palace, Jewel of the empire, is situated by one of these. The meadows are not just small clearings but sometimes become vast expanses of open grassland. A few meadows were cleared close to the lakes as well. Some are used for agriculture, growing the fruits and edible plants that make up most of the irken diet.

The Irken cities are not like Earth’s. there are not a thousand million spread through-out the face of the planet but rather a few, closely knit very very large ones. Small towns are not unknown to Irk but they’re rare and only really form in special circumstances depending on the area. 75% of Irk’s populous live in the irken cities. To house such a large percentage everything about the irken cities are on the large scale. It’s a popular observation that Irkens build their cities upwards and downwards, not out. Their buildings become higher and higher until almost all of it is made up of sky scraping apartments. There’s no such thing as suburbs on irk. As well as building up irkens also burrow deeper into the ground into the catacombs and natural caverns underneath where usually the poorer classes live. Some irkens never even see the light of day. Basically on Irk those at the bottom of society’s structure really ARE “at the bottom” so to speak.
XD sadly the cliché is brought to life as the irken “Underworld” Is mostly situated in these dark living places. Crime is frequent despite strict observation and policing by the empire. If there is one thing the Empire believes in it’s that all people, privileged or not, should be given the same amount of attention not for their sakes but for the sake of the empire as a whole. Irk is still a dictatorship, regardless of the fact that it’s a pleasant one. And policing is just a way a dictatorship remains functioning.

Description
Irk:
Basic geography

Irk has no falling rain. This means that there can’t be any flowing water like rivers and streams as they wouldn’t be replenished by rain. This also means that there can’t be any oceans for the water to flow to. As a result Irk’s water supply is in the form of numerous lakes. Sometimes these lakes can be of almost Sea size. As for depth, almost all the lakes are connected to deep underground caves and caverns that connects most lakes in a region together. These caves and caverns are usually very deep underground and pose no threat to buildings built over them. That is to say there is no threat of the building sinking into the ground unless they truly built where the caverns are close to the surface. This usually only happens near the lakes themselves. Because of these caverns Irk may appear to consist of mostly land but with 90% of its water underground Irk has almost the same percentage of water as Earth does if not just a little less. Irkens are very aware of how precious a resource water is. Irken water is made up of what is commonly called on Earth “heavy water”. On Earth it can be scientifically collected in a mass but it never occurs like this naturally. All of Earth’s water contains 5% of heavy water in it. Heavy water is identical to normal water except for the fact that the Hydrogen Molecules contain an extra neutron. Literally making the water heavier and slightly thicker. I suppose one would not be able to tell the difference on touch. Anyway back to precious resource. As with humans, irkens’ physiology is made up mostly of water, but their made up of heavy water. This means that their blood and body fluids are much thicker than humans. Normal water is too diluted for their skin to handle as it causes their skin to absorb the water until their dermis cells burst and form ugly burns. In all of their explorations Irk has never found another planet with pure heavy water as a water source. For this reason they’re very strict about how their water is treated on their planet. Polluting or dumping in a water source is a heavy offence against the empire because although Heavy water can be artificially created for normal water, natural heavy water is needed to sustain life on their planet in the form of plant and animal life. Plants giving them a breathable atmosphere as well as a food source along with fish which live in the water. Very few food stuffs from other planets can be eaten by irkens because of this.

Because of its water coverage Irk does not have any deserts on its surface. Its most arid places are the plains. These are areas where the underground caverns are so deep and or few that the only plant-life that can be sustained are tough grasses and other plants who grow more down than up in order to reach the water supplies. These areas are few and far apart but where they do feature they are very large in scale. The plains are referred to as “Flat-lands” in irken for obvious reasons. The weather conditions in these parts consist mainly of strong winds, hot sun during the day and cold nights. There’s little to no natural shelter on the plains making it a tough place to live. In modern times the only real permanent settlements are factories, commemorative establishments, some small research facilities and some small settlements by those who refuse to abandon their homeland. But all in all the plains are a lonely harsh place. Food is little, water is non-existant and fish is unheard of. However in modern society those still living on the plains can buy water at the nearest hydro-plants where water is pumped from the deep caverns but this water is rather expensive. The plains are not an easy place to live.
However the plains hold great historical significance as many of the Great War’s battles were fought on the wide open space.

Irk has a wide variety of mountain ranges, some are very un-miraculous, hills surrounding the plains where they grow more lush that are just too big to be called “hills” covered in softer, shorter grass, sturdier trees and easier living for those who choose to live there. Or rather chose. Because of the irregular ground its not suitable to build on, so for modern irkens in need of electricity, services and places to buy food it is no longer considered a liveable area.
The mountains however also include the sharp peaked grey and purple cragged type. These start off green by the base but as you go higher the plants grow fewer until eventually you’re left with nothing but cold barren stone, dry caves and sudden cliffs. Here and there is a high-altitude lake, trapped by high stone walls but these are very few and usually not on the highest slopes. Think of them as oasis among barren stone. Their banks are made up of short, hard grasses, small white flowers and perhaps a sad shrubbery here and there but nothing to write home about. But among nothing but freezing and usually impassable mountain it’s usually a godsend.
The higher peaks are obviously uninhabited but the lower bases and sometimes mid bases are usually occupied by mining establishments. Mining is mostly done with machinery as far as digging goes but machinery needs tending to. These mining posts are usually inhabited by very few people. Some transfer in and out but here and there you’d find some irkens who prefer to stay put at their posts at the mountain’s base. These would usually be the older irkens but some rare younger ones tend to grow attached and stick around too.

Most of Irk is made up of variations of forests though. Forests sometimes connect to plains slowly as the water comes closer to the surface or they simply just stop at the foot of mountains or lakes. Irk’s forests are not just the same mesh of trees over and over again, it’s different according to where on the planet it is. The forests nearer the poles grow taller and darker, the tree variations grow less and less until only the strongest and hardest of the species survive among frigid temperatures. These eventually grow less until you reach the barren frozen water of the ice caps. It never snows from the sky as it can’t if it doesn’t rain. But the surface is made up of frozen water, scraped and powdered until it forms something like snow. But going back to the warmer areas the trees grow less stone-like and greener. The forests after these are usually still cold but the plant life becomes more diverse. Thickets grow tightly together in places with hardy wild flowers clinging to rocks and stones. The lakes around these parts are usually very large but far apart. They sometimes freeze over by the banks during winter but because of their size they never completely freeze.
Getting warmer the forests become the most hospitable. The trees grow green and rich with great differences in appearance as well as uses. The plants grow easier and bare fruit and other edible foods. Water is easy to find even if some distance needs to be travelled to reach the nearest lake. The lakes around here are on the more “normal” size as one would expect to find on Earth. Irkens have situated their major cities close to these regions. They did this thousands of years ago by clearing vast expanses of forests. They cleared many sections of forests around these areas as well which grew into the large open fields and meadows. The Irken Palace, Jewel of the empire, is situated by one of these. The meadows are not just small clearings but sometimes become vast expanses of open grassland. A few meadows were cleared close to the lakes as well. Some are used for agriculture, growing the fruits and edible plants that make up most of the irken diet.

The Irken cities are not like Earth’s. there are not a thousand million spread through-out the face of the planet but rather a few, closely knit very very large ones. Small towns are not unknown to Irk but they’re rare and only really form in special circumstances depending on the area. 75% of Irk’s populous live in the irken cities. To house such a large percentage everything about the irken cities are on the large scale. It’s a popular observation that Irkens build their cities upwards and downwards, not out. Their buildings become higher and higher until almost all of it is made up of sky scraping apartments. There’s no such thing as suburbs on irk. As well as building up irkens also burrow deeper into the ground into the catacombs and natural caverns underneath where usually the poorer classes live. Some irkens never even see the light of day. Basically on Irk those at the bottom of society’s structure really ARE “at the bottom” so to speak.
XD sadly the cliché is brought to life as the irken “Underworld” Is mostly situated in these dark living places. Crime is frequent despite strict observation and policing by the empire. If there is one thing the Empire believes in it’s that all people, privileged or not, should be given the same amount of attention not for their sakes but for the sake of the empire as a whole. Irk is still a dictatorship, regardless of the fact that it’s a pleasant one. And policing is just a way a dictatorship remains functioning.