By the wayn those are some really cool images you made there. How hard would it be to do the gas giants and ice planets?
Tellurus: a worldbuilding project
- Thread starter Imperator Frank
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First draft of what i have so far. Any questions?
PHLOGIS
The smallest solitary planet in the Lurus System, Phlogis also lies closest to the star itself. So close, in fact, that the side of Phlogis caught permanently facing Lurus by tidal locking is completely molten. The opposing hemisphere of the planet is also partially molten, as a result of hear from the star building up in the planets interior. Volcanoes and round lava seas glow in the craters of the heavily bombarded nightside hemisphere. Most material ejected from the volcanoes is lost to space, and eventually this planet may one day shrink away to nothingness in billions of years. Likelihood of life: very unlikely.
SEMREH
The third smallest solitary planet is a barren, cratered rock that shows it's violent past in the beginning days of the Lurus system's formation. The temperature variation between daytime and night, along with having almost no atmosphere, prevents any possibility of life. A traveller from earth would be hard pressed to find a difference between Semreh and Mercury. Oh well, not every planet can be amazing, right? Likelihood of life: impossible.
AEREHTYC
The second biggest solitary planet, Aerehtyc is the closest planet to Lurus that has an ocean, life and an orbiting moon, Eunomis. As a result of greenhouse warning (not nearly as bad as Venus), Aerehtyc is almost always covered in clouds and very hot by human standards. High CO2 levels make the air unbreathable to any animals and cause plantlike lifeforms to flourish. Has 3 major continents and 2 large oceans. Localized tectonic movements and many large volcanoes dot the landscape, but there are no tectonic plates. Likelihood of life: Present.
EUNOMIS
The second biggest moon in the inner solar system. Created by means similar to Earth's moon. Cratered rock. Makes tides and made Aerehtyc livable (barely). Likelihood of life: impossible.
TELLURUS
Biggest terrestrial planet. The most diverse planet in the system in terms of life, Tellurus is only planet known with sentient lifeforms. The planet has 7 to 3 continents (depending on your definition), and 6 major oceans. As earthlike as a planet that isnt Earth could get, besides it having one extra moon than Earth. The individual lands and seas of Tellurus will be addressed in far more detail separately. Likelihood of life: take a guess.
EOS and ERSA
The two moons of Tellurus, Eos is the smallest in the inner solar system and Ersa is the largest. Despite unknown odds, the collision that struck Tellurus in its early formation managed to form two moons instead of one. Eos is heavily cratered but dominated by a large crater that was made by an asteroid impact that would have destroyed Eos if it was much bigger. The giant crater causes the moon to look like a tiny eye in the sky of Tellurus. Ersa is also heavily cratered, with mountainous highlands on the dark side and south pole, and lowlands and maria on the north pole and the side facing Tellurus. Likelihood of life: impossible (both moons).
ADRESTIA and THRAX
The biggest dual planet system in the Lurus system, these two planets have a strange dichotomy; with Adrestia being a frozen, icy world and Thrax being very dry and dusty. How this bizarre difference in characteristics came to be is uncertain. Adrestia has 99% of the water between the two planets, stored entirely as ice covering its surface. Algae-like xenobacteria live on the surface in equatorial areas and under the ice everywhere. Thrax at first glance appears to be a completely lifeless planet, with a desert covering the entire surface and giant dustorms blowing across them. Underground, however, extemophile bacteria live in caves where the last water and heat from the earliest days of the planet's history still exists. Both planets have large supervolcanoes, some of which are the highest mountains in the Lurus system. Massive valleys and craters also exist on both worlds, scars of past cataclysms. The moons, 5 insignificant captured asteroids with no names, orbit both moons with some in slowly decaying orbits, destined to be become new craters in millions of years. Likelihood of life: Low on Adrestia, Rare on Thrax, impossible on moons.
ASTEROID BELT
A large space between the Adrestia-Thrax system and Themis marks the boundary between the inner and middle solar system. This space is filled with untold numbers of asteroids, the largest of which had enough gravity to pull themselves into spherical shapes. They are leftovers from the Lurus system's early days, possibly prevented from forming into a planet by Themis. Some asteroids have orbits that take them into the inner solar system, where collisions with planets may happen as it has in the distant past. Likelihood of life: very unlikely
THEMIS
The largest planet in the Lurus system by a large margin, Themis is a colossal gas giant with at least 15 moons, four of which are planet-sized (The moons will be covered in depth shortly). Themis has large bands of clouds striping the planet, powered by strong winds and gigantic storms, some of which are bigger than Tellurus. Themis also has a very faint ring system around it. The size and gravity of the gas giant cause it to affect the gravity of many asteriods and comets, in a way where they may have avoided collision with the Inner planets. Likelihood of life: unlikely.
DYSIS, ORTHOSIE, OPS and EUPHORIE
Asteroids captured by the mighty gravitational pull of Themis. Unremarkable otherwise. Likelihood of life: impossible.
AUXO
The smallest of the 4 large moons, the gravitational forces of Themis and the other large moons have heated and melted this moon. Volcanic forces dominate this moon, choking its weak atmoshpere with poisonous gases. Extremophiles might live here, if they were radiation-resistant. Likelihood of life: unlikely.
CARPO
The second of the large moons, Carpo is covered by a thick, cracked layer of ice over its entire (extremely radioactive) surface. Under this ice is a giant ocean dozens of miles deep, where some primitive sea creatures may exist. Likelihood of life: likely.
THALLO
The third biggest moon in the solar system, Thallo has the oldest surface of any moon or planet. Its icy-rock mixed surface is completely covered in craters. Under this surface exists an ocean smaller than the one on Carpo. Likelihood of life: likely, but not as much as Carpo.
EIRENE
The biggest moon in the Lurus System, bigger than the planet Adrestia, smallet only than Aerehtyc and Tellurus when it comes to terrestrial bodies. It has its own magnetic field, oceans and living organisms in its cold seas. Eirene was once frozen like Carpo, until the moons rearranged their orbits sometime in the past. This change caused tidal forcs to heat Eirene and melt its ice. Atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, but oceans provide a good spot for underwater settlement. Likelihood of life: present.
EKID, MESEMBRIA, PHARUSA, ELETE, SIRPYC, HESPERIS and AUGE
More captured asteroids, only the largest of which get named. Likelihood of life: impossible.
CAELUS
The second biggest planet also has the largest ring system, visible from Tellurus by telescope. The gas giant has 11 major moons, one of which is the second biggest in the solar system. The planet has a very low density and is also the farthest visible planet from Tellurus (using only the naked eye). The winds here are even faster than the ones on Themis. Likelihood of life: unlikely.
AIODE, MELETE, MNEME and JUNO
Icy rocks orbiting Caelus, they are insignificant and dead. Likelihood of life: impossible.
LACTANIUS and TRIVIA
Two icy-rocky mixed moonsn both of which have a large crater that almost destroyed them. Trivia is the smallest spherical object in the solar system, Lactanius lost its spherical shape in the asteroid impact that created its big crater. Likelihood of life: impossible.
HYGINUS and CICERO
Large, icy moons that look like smaller versions of Carpo, having deep oceans under planetwide icecaps. Simple life may exist here.
Likelihood of life: somewhat likely.
NOCTURNUS
The second biggest moon in the solar system, is one of only two moons with an atmosphere (the other being Eirene). Life exists even here, its chemical composition being bizarre compared to other moons and planets. The world is cloudy, freezing at bad times, and a swamp at its best. Difficult for Humans to inhabit. Likelihood of life: present.
VARRO
Large, rocky, cratered, moon. Likes long walks on the beach. Likelihood of life: impossible.
OLYMPION
Oh yeah, this exists. Asteroid. Likelihood of life: nope.avi
HEMERA
The third biggest planet has 10 named moons and a set of rings that show that the planet tilts at an odd 56 degree angle, possibly from a collision in the ancient past. This planet is the first of the ice giant planets, and the final planet of the middle planets. The winds here are the fastest of any planet, and is so far from Lurus that it cant be seen from Tellurus without a telescope. Likelihood of life: very unlikely.
MORPHEUS, PHEBETOR, PHANTASOS and MOMUS
Small icy rocks caught in Hemera's embrace. Likelihood of life: impossible.
APATE, PONTUS, THAL, SURUNA and AIGA
Large icy moons with many craters. Suruna and Aiga have minor cryovolcanism occurring. Likelihood of life: impossible on most, unlikely on Suruna and Aiga.
OIZYS and REHTEA
Two more tiny, icy moons. Not much else. Likelihood of life: impossible.
CETUS
The last solitary terrestrial planet, Cetus is an icy world with a large moon, Cepheus. The tidal forces of the moon have created powerful cryovolcanism on Cetus, pouring out lakes of methane and nitrogen. Exotic, cryo-based lifeforms live around cryovolcanic vents, similar to the ocean floors of Tellurus. The surface is desolate and cold, but shows tectonic forces are at play even here. The atmosphere is scarce and the temperature far too cold for human habitation. Likelihood of life: uncommon but present.
CEPHEUS
A tinier, mirror image of Cetus, Cepheus may have been a dwarf planet from the Kuiper belt captured by Cetus' gravity. Not very different from its planet, except the already rare life on Cetus is almost nonexistent here. Likelihood of life: Extremely rare.
HYPNOS and HECATE
The two smallest planets (Hypnos is the smaller one) and smallest dual planet system, Hypnos and Hecate, due to their size and location at the edge of the Kuiper belt, makes one question the definition of what constitutes a planet. Both are icy, cold worlds that see Lurus as another star in the night sky. Hecate is a slightly lighter color than Hypnos and both planets orbit around a fixed point in space between them, tidally locked. Likelihood of life: impossible.
KUIPER BELT
This region extends from the orbit of Cetus to the Oort Cloud at the edge of the solar system. Icy dwarf planets and planetoids orbit far from Lurus, almost invisible this far from its light. Their orbits, once thought to be easily explainable as being influenced by Hemera and Cetus, have since been proved to have been pertubed by a previoisly unknown planet, at the edge of the Lurus System. Likelihood of life: unknown, probably unlikely.
EREBUS
The smallest Ice giant and farthest planet from Lurus, Erebus is dark, cloudy world, so far away it takes thousands of years to complete a single orbit. Originally in an orbit near Hemera, the gravity of Themis and Caelus ejected it to the outer solar system in the ancient past. It has 10 named moons, one of which dominates the others.
ATROPOS, LACHESIS, CLOTHO, PHANES, NARU, ANONKE, AION, HESIOD and GERAS
Captured kuiper belt objects and comets constitute the majority of Erebus' satellites, too small to contain life. Likelihood of life: impossible.
KHAOS
The fifth biggest moon in the solar system, Khaos is identical to Cetus in most ways, except more geologically active thanks to the gravity of Erebus. If life does exist out here, this would be the place. Likelihood of life: likely.
OORT CLOUD
This bubble of comets surrounds the solar system far from even the Kuiper belt. The comets here are ancient relics from the formation of the Lurus system billions of years ago. You go any further than this, and eventually you'll end up in interstellar space, the Void. Likelihood of life: impossible.
PHLOGIS
The smallest solitary planet in the Lurus System, Phlogis also lies closest to the star itself. So close, in fact, that the side of Phlogis caught permanently facing Lurus by tidal locking is completely molten. The opposing hemisphere of the planet is also partially molten, as a result of hear from the star building up in the planets interior. Volcanoes and round lava seas glow in the craters of the heavily bombarded nightside hemisphere. Most material ejected from the volcanoes is lost to space, and eventually this planet may one day shrink away to nothingness in billions of years. Likelihood of life: very unlikely.
SEMREH
The third smallest solitary planet is a barren, cratered rock that shows it's violent past in the beginning days of the Lurus system's formation. The temperature variation between daytime and night, along with having almost no atmosphere, prevents any possibility of life. A traveller from earth would be hard pressed to find a difference between Semreh and Mercury. Oh well, not every planet can be amazing, right? Likelihood of life: impossible.
AEREHTYC
The second biggest solitary planet, Aerehtyc is the closest planet to Lurus that has an ocean, life and an orbiting moon, Eunomis. As a result of greenhouse warning (not nearly as bad as Venus), Aerehtyc is almost always covered in clouds and very hot by human standards. High CO2 levels make the air unbreathable to any animals and cause plantlike lifeforms to flourish. Has 3 major continents and 2 large oceans. Localized tectonic movements and many large volcanoes dot the landscape, but there are no tectonic plates. Likelihood of life: Present.
EUNOMIS
The second biggest moon in the inner solar system. Created by means similar to Earth's moon. Cratered rock. Makes tides and made Aerehtyc livable (barely). Likelihood of life: impossible.
TELLURUS
Biggest terrestrial planet. The most diverse planet in the system in terms of life, Tellurus is only planet known with sentient lifeforms. The planet has 7 to 3 continents (depending on your definition), and 6 major oceans. As earthlike as a planet that isnt Earth could get, besides it having one extra moon than Earth. The individual lands and seas of Tellurus will be addressed in far more detail separately. Likelihood of life: take a guess.
EOS and ERSA
The two moons of Tellurus, Eos is the smallest in the inner solar system and Ersa is the largest. Despite unknown odds, the collision that struck Tellurus in its early formation managed to form two moons instead of one. Eos is heavily cratered but dominated by a large crater that was made by an asteroid impact that would have destroyed Eos if it was much bigger. The giant crater causes the moon to look like a tiny eye in the sky of Tellurus. Ersa is also heavily cratered, with mountainous highlands on the dark side and south pole, and lowlands and maria on the north pole and the side facing Tellurus. Likelihood of life: impossible (both moons).
ADRESTIA and THRAX
The biggest dual planet system in the Lurus system, these two planets have a strange dichotomy; with Adrestia being a frozen, icy world and Thrax being very dry and dusty. How this bizarre difference in characteristics came to be is uncertain. Adrestia has 99% of the water between the two planets, stored entirely as ice covering its surface. Algae-like xenobacteria live on the surface in equatorial areas and under the ice everywhere. Thrax at first glance appears to be a completely lifeless planet, with a desert covering the entire surface and giant dustorms blowing across them. Underground, however, extemophile bacteria live in caves where the last water and heat from the earliest days of the planet's history still exists. Both planets have large supervolcanoes, some of which are the highest mountains in the Lurus system. Massive valleys and craters also exist on both worlds, scars of past cataclysms. The moons, 5 insignificant captured asteroids with no names, orbit both moons with some in slowly decaying orbits, destined to be become new craters in millions of years. Likelihood of life: Low on Adrestia, Rare on Thrax, impossible on moons.
ASTEROID BELT
A large space between the Adrestia-Thrax system and Themis marks the boundary between the inner and middle solar system. This space is filled with untold numbers of asteroids, the largest of which had enough gravity to pull themselves into spherical shapes. They are leftovers from the Lurus system's early days, possibly prevented from forming into a planet by Themis. Some asteroids have orbits that take them into the inner solar system, where collisions with planets may happen as it has in the distant past. Likelihood of life: very unlikely
THEMIS
The largest planet in the Lurus system by a large margin, Themis is a colossal gas giant with at least 15 moons, four of which are planet-sized (The moons will be covered in depth shortly). Themis has large bands of clouds striping the planet, powered by strong winds and gigantic storms, some of which are bigger than Tellurus. Themis also has a very faint ring system around it. The size and gravity of the gas giant cause it to affect the gravity of many asteriods and comets, in a way where they may have avoided collision with the Inner planets. Likelihood of life: unlikely.
DYSIS, ORTHOSIE, OPS and EUPHORIE
Asteroids captured by the mighty gravitational pull of Themis. Unremarkable otherwise. Likelihood of life: impossible.
AUXO
The smallest of the 4 large moons, the gravitational forces of Themis and the other large moons have heated and melted this moon. Volcanic forces dominate this moon, choking its weak atmoshpere with poisonous gases. Extremophiles might live here, if they were radiation-resistant. Likelihood of life: unlikely.
CARPO
The second of the large moons, Carpo is covered by a thick, cracked layer of ice over its entire (extremely radioactive) surface. Under this ice is a giant ocean dozens of miles deep, where some primitive sea creatures may exist. Likelihood of life: likely.
THALLO
The third biggest moon in the solar system, Thallo has the oldest surface of any moon or planet. Its icy-rock mixed surface is completely covered in craters. Under this surface exists an ocean smaller than the one on Carpo. Likelihood of life: likely, but not as much as Carpo.
EIRENE
The biggest moon in the Lurus System, bigger than the planet Adrestia, smallet only than Aerehtyc and Tellurus when it comes to terrestrial bodies. It has its own magnetic field, oceans and living organisms in its cold seas. Eirene was once frozen like Carpo, until the moons rearranged their orbits sometime in the past. This change caused tidal forcs to heat Eirene and melt its ice. Atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, but oceans provide a good spot for underwater settlement. Likelihood of life: present.
EKID, MESEMBRIA, PHARUSA, ELETE, SIRPYC, HESPERIS and AUGE
More captured asteroids, only the largest of which get named. Likelihood of life: impossible.
CAELUS
The second biggest planet also has the largest ring system, visible from Tellurus by telescope. The gas giant has 11 major moons, one of which is the second biggest in the solar system. The planet has a very low density and is also the farthest visible planet from Tellurus (using only the naked eye). The winds here are even faster than the ones on Themis. Likelihood of life: unlikely.
AIODE, MELETE, MNEME and JUNO
Icy rocks orbiting Caelus, they are insignificant and dead. Likelihood of life: impossible.
LACTANIUS and TRIVIA
Two icy-rocky mixed moonsn both of which have a large crater that almost destroyed them. Trivia is the smallest spherical object in the solar system, Lactanius lost its spherical shape in the asteroid impact that created its big crater. Likelihood of life: impossible.
HYGINUS and CICERO
Large, icy moons that look like smaller versions of Carpo, having deep oceans under planetwide icecaps. Simple life may exist here.
Likelihood of life: somewhat likely.
NOCTURNUS
The second biggest moon in the solar system, is one of only two moons with an atmosphere (the other being Eirene). Life exists even here, its chemical composition being bizarre compared to other moons and planets. The world is cloudy, freezing at bad times, and a swamp at its best. Difficult for Humans to inhabit. Likelihood of life: present.
VARRO
Large, rocky, cratered, moon. Likes long walks on the beach. Likelihood of life: impossible.
OLYMPION
Oh yeah, this exists. Asteroid. Likelihood of life: nope.avi
HEMERA
The third biggest planet has 10 named moons and a set of rings that show that the planet tilts at an odd 56 degree angle, possibly from a collision in the ancient past. This planet is the first of the ice giant planets, and the final planet of the middle planets. The winds here are the fastest of any planet, and is so far from Lurus that it cant be seen from Tellurus without a telescope. Likelihood of life: very unlikely.
MORPHEUS, PHEBETOR, PHANTASOS and MOMUS
Small icy rocks caught in Hemera's embrace. Likelihood of life: impossible.
APATE, PONTUS, THAL, SURUNA and AIGA
Large icy moons with many craters. Suruna and Aiga have minor cryovolcanism occurring. Likelihood of life: impossible on most, unlikely on Suruna and Aiga.
OIZYS and REHTEA
Two more tiny, icy moons. Not much else. Likelihood of life: impossible.
CETUS
The last solitary terrestrial planet, Cetus is an icy world with a large moon, Cepheus. The tidal forces of the moon have created powerful cryovolcanism on Cetus, pouring out lakes of methane and nitrogen. Exotic, cryo-based lifeforms live around cryovolcanic vents, similar to the ocean floors of Tellurus. The surface is desolate and cold, but shows tectonic forces are at play even here. The atmosphere is scarce and the temperature far too cold for human habitation. Likelihood of life: uncommon but present.
CEPHEUS
A tinier, mirror image of Cetus, Cepheus may have been a dwarf planet from the Kuiper belt captured by Cetus' gravity. Not very different from its planet, except the already rare life on Cetus is almost nonexistent here. Likelihood of life: Extremely rare.
HYPNOS and HECATE
The two smallest planets (Hypnos is the smaller one) and smallest dual planet system, Hypnos and Hecate, due to their size and location at the edge of the Kuiper belt, makes one question the definition of what constitutes a planet. Both are icy, cold worlds that see Lurus as another star in the night sky. Hecate is a slightly lighter color than Hypnos and both planets orbit around a fixed point in space between them, tidally locked. Likelihood of life: impossible.
KUIPER BELT
This region extends from the orbit of Cetus to the Oort Cloud at the edge of the solar system. Icy dwarf planets and planetoids orbit far from Lurus, almost invisible this far from its light. Their orbits, once thought to be easily explainable as being influenced by Hemera and Cetus, have since been proved to have been pertubed by a previoisly unknown planet, at the edge of the Lurus System. Likelihood of life: unknown, probably unlikely.
EREBUS
The smallest Ice giant and farthest planet from Lurus, Erebus is dark, cloudy world, so far away it takes thousands of years to complete a single orbit. Originally in an orbit near Hemera, the gravity of Themis and Caelus ejected it to the outer solar system in the ancient past. It has 10 named moons, one of which dominates the others.
ATROPOS, LACHESIS, CLOTHO, PHANES, NARU, ANONKE, AION, HESIOD and GERAS
Captured kuiper belt objects and comets constitute the majority of Erebus' satellites, too small to contain life. Likelihood of life: impossible.
KHAOS
The fifth biggest moon in the solar system, Khaos is identical to Cetus in most ways, except more geologically active thanks to the gravity of Erebus. If life does exist out here, this would be the place. Likelihood of life: likely.
OORT CLOUD
This bubble of comets surrounds the solar system far from even the Kuiper belt. The comets here are ancient relics from the formation of the Lurus system billions of years ago. You go any further than this, and eventually you'll end up in interstellar space, the Void. Likelihood of life: impossible.
More a suggestion than an question.
The high carbon dioxide on not-venus won't eliminate animal like forms. Don't get too hooked on the traditional animal-plant-fungus division of historical biology.
Afterall a lot of animaloid life doesn't use oxygen on Earth.
Isaac Beach
Banned
Btw, the reason it's taking me so long to make the fauna map that I started a few pages ago is because I'm currently engaged in the Map of the Month contest and it is eating up a lot of time. I'll have more time to work on the fauna map when that's done.
I hope nobody minds, but I just attempted at making a brief Cultural/Ethnic map of the world. I tried taking into account the geography and layout of the map, along with where civilization might have started.
This doesn't have to be a final version by any means, and can always always be modified later.
This doesn't have to be a final version by any means, and can always always be modified later.
ST15RM
Banned
I would recommend changing the name of the 'Kuiper Belt' and 'Oort cloud' to something else. This system wouldn't have the same names for belts and clouds.
I'm working on the names for places map again, e.xpect that tomorrow or the next day.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind
It's all good my friend, no rush.
That's really cool looking, is there a key for the colors?
I plan to, those names are just placeholders.
Like it, I might decide to reuse a few of those.
Anyway, I made this in my spare time today. Any good?
Anyway, I made this in my spare time today. Any good?
This is by no means my final decision on the subject, but I'm messing around with the idea of real world language families being used for my world, but much more balanced and diverse (no Indo-Europeans dominating the planet). I'll probably want to finish the river and resource maps first, but this was a fun break from mindless river drawing. I plan on using an online dice roller to decide how fast each language family will grow from their starting points("Urheimat"), with families labeled "MAJOR" getting the d100 roll and "MINOR" languages getting a d20 roll. ISOLATES will barely grow, if at all. The resulting number will be the percentage each Family will expand that turn. My question is, How many intervals/turns should i do, and how big of a time skip? Also, what other Languages/Language families (extinct ones and moribund ones are okay) should I add?
Is this better? A different color for minor rivers. Maybe they should be optional?
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Also, I made an M-BAM version of my map too. (Be warned, this is a HUGE image.)
https://i.imgur.com/qv2PhW4.png
The coasts could use some work but it's big so that's good, right?
I'll stop posting so many times in a row now.
https://i.imgur.com/qv2PhW4.png
The coasts could use some work but it's big so that's good, right?
I'll stop posting so many times in a row now.
Finished rivers for Talamor. The Climate/River combo map will no longer feature minor rivers due to cluttering the map.
