The unnamed planet on which this roleplay takes place is located near the center of a red-and-blue grand design spiral galaxy, but at a relatively high elevation above the central disc. As a result, the Southern hemisphere recieves nightly starlight comparable in brightness to a particularly bright moonlit night on Earth, and a stunning view of the rest of the galaxy. The Southern Hemisphere, however, also recieves much more exposure to potentially dangerous levels of radiation from the galactic center. The Northern hemisphere, on the other hand, can see no stars except other galaxies, the other planets in its system, and a small (but stable) cloud-like dwarf galaxy orbiting above the spiral. This reduces the amount of radiation it recieves, making mutations less common, both beneficial and hazardous, but also lowers the visibility at night.
The planet orbits a binary star system at a distance much greater than that of Earth, however, its climate is Earth-like in temperature due to the high brightness of the two stars. One star is a white-blue giant of considerable size, which holds most of the system in place with it's gravity. Orbiting it is a slightly smaller but fairly bright star of a bright orange-yellow colour, similar to Sol in its early history. The planet is not tilted on its axis, and as such does not have seasons determined by which hemisphere is closer to the binary star. Instead, however, its seasons are determined by how close the two stars are visibly. Before, during and after an eclipse of the suns, only one star is visible, and a colder 'winter' season takes place. When the stars are side-by-side in the sky, the planet recieves full light from both of them, and goes through a 'warm' season. Thus with every orbit of the orange/yellow star around the blue star, the planet goes through four main seasons: A moderately cold season in which the yellow star eclipses the white, making the sunlight orange-yellow (although parts of the white star are still in view), followed by a warm season in which they are both in view and the two colours together give off white light (with a tiny hint of green), followed by a blue-coloured season colder than the orange eclipse due to only on star being visible at all, and finally another very pale green summer season. The actual years of the planet are incredibly long, interfering little with the solar seasons.
The planet is one of a system of six. Three minor rocky planets orbit close to the binary star, followed by a small gas giant about three times the mass of the roleplay planet, similar to Jupiter in appearance but with slightly more even gas bands and two thin but visible rings. This is followed by the roleplaying planet, which is half again as large as Earth, but has a similar gravity and density due to a lighter chemical composition (a larger rocky mantle and a smaller metallic core). The roleplaying planet is orbited by five satellites and a collection of icy and rocky rings similar to that of Saturn, occasionally casting a shadow over parts of the daylit planet. The rings and moons keep the planet very stable on it's axis. The combined movements of the satellites, three icy and quite small, but two rocky and somewhat larger (although not as large as the Moon) pull its water into tides. Each tidal cycle takes two days, not counting the occasional eccentricity. Each day has three tides, two similarly low or high in the morning and early evening, and one opposite in the midday. Every second day these tides are reversed. The largest rocky moon is volcanically active, and suitable for specialised life, although it does not possess the required oceans for life to arise.
Beyond the roleplaying planet lies a wide empty space, and a large asteroid belt, followed by an ice giant of formidable size similar in appearance to Uranus without its rings. The gravity of the ice giant keeps the belt from forming a new planet, but it's influence isn't strong enough to pull the debris inwards and trigger a planetary bombardment. Usually.
The current climate of the planet is warm but cooling slowly, lacking in any ice caps or even temporary ice sheets except on the highest of mountains, which experience snow in the colder seasons. The only current landmasses are a supercontinent on the equator, with most of its area in the southern hemisphere, and multiple long archipelagoes. The land is currently still volcanically active, but has mostly cooled to make a quiet but barren landscape of fertile earths and volcanic minerals.
Originally Posted by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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) for a while. Currently your species are all identical CPs (chemosynthetic prokaryotes and pun on PCs, player characters), so while I'll put a player list in the OP, you won't have to update any species forms until the end of this turn. Now, on to explanations and questions...
