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Name: Eremus (Babylon)
Coordinates: R-18
Climate: As the habitable planet of Eremus rotates circumbinary to its twin suns, Araushnee and her loyal guard, Selvetarm on an axial tilt of 26.7 degrees one can easily fathom that it is a world of extreme and fluctuating temperatures. Again, as it revolves around a binary star, the temperatures on Eremus are often ungodly hot. Average temperatures for most regions of the planet range from the low (high) nineties to the mid one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. At nightfall, the temperatures plummet to just above freezing (thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit). This is due to the fact that even at night the twin stars burn bright enough to prevent freezing. Still, it is bitterly cold.
Seasons do not seem to naturally occur as they do on other worlds. Summer is by far the longest and worst of them all, lasting approximately eight months out of the year. Following behind this, there is spring/fall, where it rains ceaselessly for an entire month, thus providing the planet with the much needed nourishment it needs to survive and sustain life. Day and night it rains hard and unending. Floodings are commonplace. Winter, is also particularly rough. It does grow colder during the day (which comes as a relief to the inhabitants), however night disappears entirely. There only exists about four hours of no-light each night for three months. During these four hours temperatures rapidly fall to below freezing. Likewise at night, during the winter, the winds pick up bringing with it a bitter and biting chill. Year around, in the desert regions of the planet, sandstorms and other such hazards are a common occurrence.
As the land is governed wholly by a super-continent, the season also fluctuate little no matter what pole you inhabit. Be it north or south you will always be unbearably hot or unseasonably cold. However, there are exceptions. Where there is water, there is moisture and that in turn creates humidity, which in turn creates rain. In the regions closest to the arterial rivers and the two inland seas, it rains inconsistently and the temperatures are less harsh. However, in the place of dry heat, humidity reigns supreme. For up to three hundred square miles this anomaly exists where bodies of water pervade. Those that choose to reside upon these fertile lands have other concerns to worry about. Flooding is a common occurrence as are torrential downpours and typhoons nearer to the inland seas. Tsunamis are rare, but possible. The same goes for tornadoes and hurricanes.
Considering the normal ‘stability’ of the weather there are two exceptions to this rule. These are considered the Trials Lesser and Greater by the people of Eremus. The Lesser Trial is caused by an eclipse of the twin suns. This happens every five years. For fifty-seven hours, the moon, Sargon, blocks out Araushnee and takes on a blood-red hue. During this period, the tides are thrown into chaos. Seasonal storms happen abruptly and often out of season. Their intensity and severity is increased tenfold. If that wasn’t the worst of it, the local wildlife becomes hyper-aggressive. Worse still than the Lesser Trial is the Greater Trial which happens once every century. During this period of time, which is roughly always a month long, both Eremus and Sargon fall in line with the twin suns. Sargon blocks both Araushnee and Selvetarm, wreaking havoc upon the planet. The moon, Sargon, takes on a dark magenta hue and the normally violent weather experienced during the Lesser Trial is intensified at least twentyfold. It also seems to escalate as the days pass. Tsunamis are a common occurrence during this period. Yet, worse still than the weather is that the localized fauna go absolutely mad. They are not limited in their madness to just attacking sentient lifeforms. They will do so to inanimate objects and synthetic lifeforms as well as their own kind. The 'flight' instinct common among all beings becomes suppressed during this time period.
Terrain: The terrain upon Eremus can easiestly be described by its several regions. While it's true that the vast majority of the planet is covered in sandy dunes, there are several areas of exception. First of all, there is, of course, the consideration of the two vast inland seas. They are roughly of equal size, although the truth of the matter is that the Southern Sea is two and a half miles bigger in circumference. From these seas that sit upon the poles of the planet, there flows arterial veins of life-giving water. These ‘arteries’ as they are commonly denominated are in fact, rivers of various depth, girth and length. Like the blood vessels in a body, there is of course a major artery. And that artery is known as the Morochi River or ‘River of Bones.’ It connects the Sea of Ice with the Sea of Fire and from it all other arteries branch out. Unbeknownst to the populace, the continual source of their overland water actually stems from an underground ocean, deep beneath the crust of Eremus. It is from this ocean that all water flows.
As the world of Eremus is covered by one large supercontinent (Vhaeraun), no other such sources of water can be found. Beyond the inland seas, the arterial rivers, the lakes, ponds and streams that are all connected by Morochi, there is no other source of water save for that which comes from the rains or is collected by moisture farmers. The depths and distance of this uncharted ocean remain to be seen. If only someone could brave the unknown.
Beyond the anomalous waterflow, the rest of the planet can be further separated by the presence of vegetation and the lackthereof. For three hundred square miles around the bodies of water, the land is habitable, lush and varied. There are rolling hills, plains and forest all covering the grass-covered valley. For it is in this valley that most of the population survives. This land is known as the ‘Valley of Life and Garden of the Gods’, however, it is generally shortened to ‘the Garden.’ It is also relevant to note that the area is flanked almost entirely by mountain ranges. Thus, giving it is lesser name as ‘the Valley.’ The vegetation in the valley, is lush, well-nourished and diverse. The trees in the forests are hundreds of meters tall. The wheat and rice that grow upon aggregate fields is bountiful. Isolated areas of marshlands appear in the southern most regions. The area just beyond the Garden’s protective mountain range is covered by savannah.
These mountain ranges surrounding the Garden are of medium height and best. None, reach as high as ‘The Gates of Hell,’ an eastern mountain range upon the supercontinent Vhaeraun that covers about one fifth of the planet. This is the only place upon the planet where the peaks reach high enough to gather cold air for snowfall. It has become a sort of tourist trap, although the slopes are extremely treacherous. Within the depths of these mountains are mineral deposits of mostly standard ores. None are exceptionally worthwhile. No beskar here. Of the known ores, there are those found upon a periodic table: copper, iron, silver, gold, tungsten; so on and so forth. Beyond these, various other low-level mountain ranges criss-cross the planet.
Once one travels far enough into the savannah they eventually reach its edge where dry and cracked grassed earth meet duneland seas. If and when they decide to leave the general safety provided to them by the Garden, they quickly learn of the depths of sorrow and despair. For, the desert is an unforgiving, cruel and heartless mistress. Shade is a rare commodity. Water even rarer. Oasis, though they exist, are highly sought after and often the cause of skirmishes that end in the deaths of hundreds. Flat land and bedrock is just as rare as the rest, however, slightly more common. Steppelands dot the Western, Eastern and Central Wastes at seeming random. Along with steppelands you can expect to see rocky plateaus of sandstone and limestone. For it is these ‘wastes’ that the people have coined to term the desert. However, generally, its denizens stick to either calling it the ‘Waste’ or the ‘Central Wastes.’ As it really doesn’t matter which direction you're traveling in, you’re always in the center of the wasteland. Cacti grow in moderation and rarity and other such flora suited to the harsh realities of a desert biome. Likewise, its fauna, its hardy, crafty and cunning. They have to be in order to survive.
Rotation: 28.5 standard hours
Inhabitants: 90% (Human), 10% (Near to Non-Human); Population: < 7 billion.
Resources: Ores and minerals, wheat, rice, livestock, lumber, glass
Flora and Fauna: Cacti, 100m trees, other desert plants; Bantha, Nerf, Eopie, Babylonian Titano-Wyrm, Butterbat (Bogan's Brown Nefan), Myrmidōn Hound, Nashtah, Pelikki, Tresher, Snapfish, fish and domesticated fauna
Government: Originally, the planet was united under a single government: a monarchical empire under despotic rule. For several hundreds of years, the citizens of Eremus lived under the iron fist of Illyrio Nenharma, but eventually his government was overthrown by the ‘Usurpers’ and he was slain. In its wake, anarchy reigned as those original twenty Usurpers began fighting amongst themselves about how to rule the land. From those twenty, they dwindled to fourteen and from those fourteen they ultimately disbanded to disperse across the land, seizing the various fourteen colonial cities for themselves. Thus began the rule of the city-states. Nowadays, each city-state is generally ruled by a council or forum, however there are a few exceptions. Each of the fourteen city-states sits within the Garden of the Gods and so, there is generally considered to be a form of law and order.
However, those that originally fled from the Garden, either back when the planet was united or after, during the infighting have established townships and villages and workcamps out in the wastes. Out there, in the Central Wastes there is no government; there is no law. Each town is ruled different. Some having mayors or governors. Some forming alliances with each other. Some have sheriffs, corrupt or honest, most do not. Out there, in the wastes, the law is the ‘Law of the Gun.’ Life is, of course, exceptionally cruel, arbitrary and hard. Support from the fourteen city-states is rare, so the various towns are often forced to make do on their own, handling domestic affairs as they see fit. Organizations here and there have tried and failed to pacify the Central Wastes. It is simply too vast and each township is spread either too far apart or at random to make proper mapping possible.
There are also many ‘ghost towns’ dotting the region. Derelict relics and testaments to the power and failure of willpower and grit; of chaos and lawlessness.
Economy: The idea of an ‘economy’ only exists and can be properly attributed to the denizens of the Garden. For each soul who lives within it and is a citizen of a city-state contributes to the economy of that state. Otherwise, there is no global economy. And no city-state is truly richer than the other. Resources are scarce and must be managed, thus leading to many economic wars and ‘cold wars’ between the cities. However, each city-state has an economy on par of what one would expect of a poor kingdom on another planet. Outside the Garden, the value of and word 'economy' do not exist. Each citizen of a township struggles to get by, nerf-herding, moisture farming, hunting and gathering, plying their trades or selling their bodies. Slavery is common, as is organized crime. Crime is the common denominator in the wastes. If one has the power to take then it is better to take than to earn and have taken.
Culture: There exists a great juxtaposition between the people of Eremus. In the Garden it goes so far as to become almost a caste system. The nobility can generally trace their lineage back to ties with the original Usurpers, while the lesser castes have either earned their promotions through meritocracy or guile. In the Garden there are five castes: Nobility, Soldier, Merchant, Serf and Untouchable. By far among the worst of these are the Untouchables. Because they are the ones that have committed crimes so heinous or the progeny of those that have, that their mere presence is an affront to the natural order of things. They hold no rights, claim no lands and can gain no work. The only groups that are willing to consort with them are the criminal element. Of which, there is a considerable amount of them.
As one would expect of a caste system, the higher up the caste you are, the better you are treated and the higher your role in society is. Only those of Merchant caste and above have a say in political matters of state. Serfs are little more than indentured slaves born or made only to work the land. The educational gap is differs between castes. Those of the highest two castes are afforded every opportunity to further and pursue knowledge, however those of the Soldier are limited primarily to martial fields. Those in the Merchant caste can pursue higher knowledge, but at special dispensation from the ruling body in each city-state. Regardless of this, all caste members save for Untouchables are given at least a primary-school level education.
Religion on Eremus is a fickle thing. Depending upon who you talk to it is either a curse or a blessing; a central facet of daily life or entirely forgotten. The central religion is a pantheon of Gods of Illyrio Nemharma’s own choosing. Likewise, as what one would would expect from a pantheon each God embodies a force of nature or a nature of man. There are greater and lesser gods, however the main gods that are consistently worship are: Araushnee, Matriarch of the Sun and Life; Selvetarm, Guardian of Araushnee, God of Might and Valor; Vhaeraun, The Great Tortoise, God of the Land and Harvest; Sargon, the Many-Faced God, God of the Seasons and Nature of Mortals; Eryndn, the Whore, Goddess of Love; Casbern, the Archer, Goddess of the Hunt; Vicnyl, the Conspirator, God of Vice and Trickery. The strangest god of these by far is Vicnyl, as it is a formless and faceless god. Sometimes its depicted as a man and others as a woman. Most consider Vicnyl to be hermaphrodite and attribute it to the fact that crime holds no gender. Together, this pantheon is considered to be the ‘Gods of the Garden.’
Outside, the Garden and in the Central Wastes, Religion varies more drastically. Some townships loosely hold true to the old way, others disregard it entirely and some are so fiercely devout that they will either hang or run non-believers out of town. The overall, binding thread that binds the denizens of the waste together is their willpower and desperation for survival. Crime is out of control in the Wastes. If you can hold a gun, you’d best go find one. Because no one is going to protect you. The law of survival overrules, the law of the gun reigns supreme. Even holymen are armed and have no compunction with killing in cold blood. Education in the Wastes is different. Most are not educated beyond the fourth grade, unless that individual town happens to have someone learned in their midst. Or if they were of the Merchant or higher caste from the Garden that fled to the wastes to start anew.
Technology: In the Garden, technology is more or less on par with galactic standards. There is about a two decade gap between the current technology that can be found on Eremus and those seen in the central core. Despite this, certain cities in the Garden are renowned (at least on Eremus) as shipwrights and can build marvelous starships. Beyond that, most of the city-states have what one would expect of a technologically advanced society. The slight irregularity might come from the massive walls that surround the city’s borders. These walls are several hundred meters high and several score thick. They were designed to withstand the torment from the Trials and protect its citizenry from them. Some of the less wealthy states have walls in disrepair, however most of the states walls are well-managed.
Fusion power runs everything in the Garden. From the massive central grid, to the lowly landspeeder, those in the Garden have learned how to manipulate fusion power to the fullest. In the Garden repulsor technology is the primary mode of transportation and wheeled propulsion is largely looked down upon. However, in the Wastes, wheeled propulsion through fusion engines or combustion engines are the primary modes of transports. To utilize repulsor technology is to invite disaster. The harsh conditions of the sand and the wind and the heat can destroy repulsor technology and more than that they are more costly to fix and maintain. Each town or village or workcamp in the Wastes, however, is always powered by one large and archaic fusion generator that must be constantly monitored and maintained. It is the only way for the denizens of the wastes to get by. This generator provides limited power at best, but what it does provide allows for moisture collectors to produce and recycle water, for farmers to plant and harvest crops and for electricity to flow through the town among other things.
The primary form of public transport in the Central Wastes comes in the form of massive, towering, multi-wheeled behemoths called 'Land Coaches.' Originally, these Land Coaches were simple Sandcrawlers, but as the centuries waxed and waned and the need for innovation grew, they evolved into what they currently are today. These giant mechanical beasts of burden depending on their model and condition can run on fusion energy, to combustion energy, to even steam in some of the shoddier cases. These Sandcrawlers serve as a cheap way to travel the Wastes in the safety of towering steel and numbers.
Satellites: There is one singular satellite known as Sargon that is one fourth the size of Eremus. It rotates in tune with Eremus, although there appears to be nothing of worth upon the satellite. It does not support an atmosphere and can be considered uninhabitable. It does, however, seem to have a pronounced effect of the tides and Human’s mood. While there is little of note concerning Sargon, there are a few exceptions. First, every five years or so, Sargon comes in line with Araushnee and blocks it out, taking on a blood red hue that shines brightly for an entire 57 hour cycle. Strange phenomenon occur during this time. Typhoons, tornadoes storms are a common occurrence. Likewise, the fauna of the planet become hyper-aggressive.
Second, every century Sargon falls in line with both Araushnee and Selvetarm. During this period, the moon takes on a vibrant dark magenta hue. For the entirety of a month, both planet and satellite rotate in line with the binary star and while this occurs the local environment and ecosystem goes haywire. Strange lightning storms fill the sky, rare but normal tornadoes become hurricanes and hurricanes become typhoons of massive proportions and typhoons become tsunamis where the inland seas are concerned. Likewise, the fauna that can be considered hyper-aggressive during the five-year eclipse go mad.
History: The history of ‘Babylon’ (as it was once originally named) stems back some two thousand years. In a better time and age. An age of relative peace. In this age, there lived a philanthropist of unimaginable wealth. One who could literally, on a whim decide to buy an entire planet and make it his own. Of course, this philanthropist at his core had megalomaniac designs and wished to play God. And while that surely factors into how the planet came to be, I believe I am getting ahead of myself.
That Philanthropist was Illyrio Nenharma, a Danthiri who’d left his homeworld and system some thousand years prior and had been slowly, carefully building his wealth and powerbase behind the scenes. You see, Danthiri live long lives. And so long as they can maintain a singular goal to give their lives meaning there is virtually nothing they aren’t capable of. Illyrio was a perfect example of this. His business enterprises blurred the line between legitimate and illegitimate. Throughout the centuries many had tried and failed to pin crimes upon his head and convict. When the time finally came, some two thousand years ago, he seized upon it and bought out an entire star system. It was cheaply bought, thanks to the many schemes he had formed and the many people he controlled. In the end, he raised the call for colonists and those seeking a new life far from the established Governmental rule flocked to his cries.
Some several hundred thousands souls ultimately flocked to the Philanthropist Nenharma. Colony ships galactic wide crossed the expanse of space and braved innumerable dangers to venture into the uncharted domains of Wild Space. The journey was perilous and two ships were lost. But, in the end, the colonists along with Nenharma arrived. They found a planet habitable for life. Although, in truth it was barely so.
This world was like few others most of the colonists had seen before. It comprised of a giant continent that came to be known as Vhaeraun. Upon this super-continent existed two vast inland seas. From these seas an arterial network of rivers flowed forth. One large river bisected the rest, joining the northern sea with the southern sea. From these life-bearing waters, the colonist settled. As they were largely carbon-based lifeforms and the planet was oxygen based, there was little need to terraform it. The need for that was supposed to come later.
Immediately, the Philanthropist went about establishing a base of power. He formed a city nearest to the southern sea. The city would become a shining beacon of civility and society on the wasteland of the planet. Each of the fourteen ships each went off to settle upon various sites along the rivers and seas. As time past and an empire was formed, the citizens of Eremus would come to know peace. Albeit, peace came at a high price. They lived beneath the thumb of a despot whose rule was arbitrary at best. The realm was prosperous, but life was harsh. Anyone who griped disappeared. Anyone who spoke out were executed on the spot. It became impossible for freedom to exist. And in the shadows of tyranny, a movement was borne. The name of this movement has been lost to the records - likely expunged.
This movement, now simply referred to as ‘The Usurpers' bided their time. For over two centuries they waited until the Tyrant Nenharma was sure all opposition had been quelled. Then, the struck like the fury of a thousand demons in the dead of night. They razed the ‘Jewel of Civility’ to the ground and along with it were able to kill the Tyrant and all his top officials - or so they thought. It was not enough, however. Infighting soon broke out on how to govern the new world they had gained.
In the chaos and confusion the ‘Usurpers’ broke up and went their separate ways. Each went to one of the fourteen cities and became a leader. And so brought about the age of the ‘City-states.’ And so it would remain until this day. As time progressed, however, each City-state became insular. Wanting little to do with each other. Old grudges deepened. They licked wounds and consolidated power. Those of like minds formed alliances. Others had war visited upon them. Yet, none of the fourteen original states ever fell.
As the world turned and the centuries came and went, life became ungoverned. Those few colonists that still traveled to Babylon found only strife and suffering waiting for them. With no central government to unite them, there was no widespread law. Without law, the uncivilised regions slipped into anarchy. Those wishing to escape anarchy fled into the ‘central wastes’ of the planet, to start peaceful, harsh and earnest lives in small towns. Relying on archaic technology to sustain them.
Throughout the course of Eremus’ history war and strife had been singularly reverberated again and again. Despite this, the hardy citizens of Eremus continued to soldier on. Thus we come to the present day, whereupon the citizens of Eremus continue to exist as they always have: isolated and unfettered; ignored. With the Nenharma star system existing so deeply in the reaches of Wild Space and with the path there somewhat treacherous only the brave or foolhardy would make the trek to venture within. Neither the Imperium nor any other agents have dared to claim the planet and that is just the way the lawless people of Babylon wish it to be.
~ Histories of the Lost and the Damned,
A lecture by Roland Lun given 1,020 ABY
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Intent: I was inspired by Trigun to make this planet. Although, since then, its admittedly differed considerably thanks in no small part due to my conversation with The Duke of Nuts. Now, my intention for this planet and the system that it inhabits is to add to the richness of lore that this site’s canon has. I’d like it to exist as another playground for our players where they can tell wonderful stories.
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