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WorldBuildersInc — New Solaxos System
Published: 2016-08-13 01:33:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 2462; Favourites: 48; Downloads: 11
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Description
Essentially an updated and substantially better version of this ol' thing .
Contrary to what you all might think, this universe of mine is not dead. Not even close! I've actually been working on it a lot since I first announced it, but most of that work is info compilation and the like. I am working on a story and map for it as well, and the first part of the story is nearly done, actually... Might be up soon.
Long ago, when mankind first took to the stars, they found a system that was shielded from the rest of the galaxy by a beautiful, rainbow-colored nebular shell. Upon venturing inside of this shell, they found a system like no other. They called the star Solaxos, in memory of the star Sol which gave their earthbound ancestors light. However, this system was far from familiar. The innermost planet had mind-defying lakes that were solid during the night period but boiled to lava in the searing heat of the daytime. It had a life-filled planet with radical and unpredictable tides due to its triplet moons. It had a gas giant that reflected the sunlight so intensely, it appeared to be a second star. And most unusual of all, the system had a belt of asteroids with a collective atmosphere, verdant with an abundance of plants and teeming with life like nowhere else in the galaxy.
The settlers were fascinated by this star system, and claimed the tidal planet as their own. They named it Terion, and over the millennia, life forms from across the Confederation of Systems have settled in the prosperous Solaxos system, hoping to find a better life for themselves.
Indeed, there are many opportunities here; from refining minerals on UV-6, to mining hydrogen from Gigas, to farming algae fuel on Terion, to fishing for picaelum between the Cortian Ring and the Nebular Zone. But the Confederation is in danger, and if it falls, Solaxos may be the last refuge for the survivors....
The Solaxos system consists of:
Solaxos – the G2-class star in the center of the system.
Uvon – a bizarre planet with wildly fluctuating surface temperatures due to the thin atmosphere and proximity to the sun. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Uvon, however, is the Icefire Pools: lakes of metal-silicon compounds that solidify during the Uvonian night period, and become molten in the intense heat of the daytime. Orbiting Uvon is a mineral refinery station, UV-6, that refines and packages Uvon's mineral wealth for shipment to other systems.
Cortian Ring – a dense asteroid belt with a shared atmosphere that circles the entire inner Solaxos system. Its continually shifting landscape harbors unique lifeforms and many stations, big and small. The Ring is a place of gravitational flux, with its millions of millions of asteroids constantly exchanging water and atmosphere. The gravitational mess is evident in the myriad "sky rivers" and "sky maelstroms": immense patches of flowing or swirling water suspended in the atmosphere at points or along lines of gravitational flux. Running through the core of the entire Ring is the huge and complex Octavion City, the capital and primary trade hub for the Solaxos system. Several other prominent stations in the Cortian Ring include Karos 5, Ilium, Reacher Station, and Zex’s Gas.
Terion – a colonized, terraformed super-Earth with native life. Terion was technically the capital of the Solaxos system until it was moved to Octavion City in the Cortian Ring. Terion has three small moons: Laemus, Selus, and Luma. They orbit at different distances and angles, making for highly irregular tides. Terion's economy is primarily based on the farming and export of valuable algae biofuel.
Gigas - a Neptune-sized, vibrantly colored gas giant that is aero-mined for hydrogen isotopes, which are used in fusion drives. Gigan Station, orbiting in Gigas's asteroid ring, is not only a hydrogen refinery but also the main exportation center of the system.
Nebular Zone – the beautiful, rainbow-colored nebular shell of gas and particulates that surrounds the inner Solaxos system. Solaxos' Nebular Zone is about ten thousand kilometers thick, and highly turbulent because of its convection-based nature. The clouds of the NZ are kept within a certain orbit by Solaxos's solar wind forcing it outwards and the gravitational force of the star pulling it in. Its dense, shifting clouds are difficult for small craft to navigate, and it blocks the view of the stars from the inner planets and absorbs most of the light and warmth from Solaxos. Outside the Nebulous Zone, there are only two small, frigid, inhospitable worlds orbiting Solaxos that serve no practical purpose; indeed, they are more like large comets than planets. However, the interior of the NZ is plentiful in picaelum ("space fish") and other vacuumorphs, allowing the system to host a wealthy piking community.Related content
Comments: 12
Great work on the lighting effects
And how is the transportation between inner system and the rest of the universe carried out?
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I had the most trouble with the lighting on the asteroids, as they're irregular.
Usually, big cargo transports wait in heliosynchronous orbit just outside the Cortian Ring. They can't enter the Ring because they're too big, so they send smaller cargo shuttles to transfer goods between the large ships and the Ring cities. The big haulers are less perturbed by the currents of the Nebular Zone, making it easier to fly through it on the way in and out of the Inner System.
People-transports work a little differently. The biggest people-mover ships operate similarly to the cargo haulers, but many smaller movers can indeed fly through the Ring. These smaller craft are more vulnerable to the Nebular Zone's currents, however.
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The asteroid density in the ring must be really high if it even prevents some ships from entering. But then how the asteroids manage to stay separate and don't merge into a few dwarf planets due to gravity forces?
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It's not so much that the asteroids are extremely dense (though the closer one gets to the center of the Ring, the denser it gets). The transport ships are often very big! As in... a mile or two long sort of big. XD
As for not merging, well, this universe is more lax on scientific accuracy than my other universes. It's more Star Wars-ish in that respect.
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If it's a kind of space fantasy, then, of course, I can't complain about the lack of scientific background
But actually when you said you wanted to create a fictional universe inspired by Treasure Planet and then showed the concept of Solaxos system, I thought all the action will take place in the Cortian Ring, where breathable atmosphere and small distances between asteroids will allow to view space in the same manner as ocean.
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That was originally the premise, but it sort of evolved from there into a more Star Warsian space fantasy sort of thing. But that is a good suggestion. Maybe a short story could be set in that manner...?
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If you ask me, the potential of such a world far exceeds one short story. It reminds me of Larry Niven's Ringworld, but unlike the Ringworld, the Cortian Ring can't be fully explored from the outside. And just imagine the time it takes to travel round the Ring! Literally any asteroid potentially can have a different ecosystem; we still haven't figured out a lot of things about the Earth's biosphere, and the Cortian Ring's biosphere is, roughly speaking, millions of times bigger; actually, entire pre-space civilizations of local sophonts can exist inside the Ring unnoticed.
That's what came to my mind from only the superficial acquaintance with the concept.
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