Frealee System
The Frealee System is a major system located near the center of Florathel. The system is the home of second capital of Illuin, the largest nation in the region, and Marakat. The Frealee System consists of only one star, Frealee. Frealee is known for its most famous worlds, the lush gem of Darvikus, the homeworld of the Inalar, and the shining cities of Artaclate, the home of the ant-like Poreltids.
Architecture
The inner Frealee System contains five worlds, Jerav, Phyrez, Veladris, Darvikus, and Vea. The outer system contains four worlds, Sorilamos, Feres, Varalin, and Turizel. Beyond Turizel lies a vast belt of debris, containing the dwarf planets of Loris, Fychis, Turbai, and Kyril-Jorka. Beyond these lies a vast sparse cloud of cometary objects, with no objects larger than seventy kilometers in size. Various habitation stations orbit within all parts of the system, holding the majority of the system's population.
Parent Star
Frealee is an F3V-type star and the central star of the Frealee System. This system contains a multitude of asteroids, moons, comets, and 9 planets from Jerav, the closest, to Turizel, the farthest as well as a truckload of moons. The edge of the system is considered to lie at the edge of the Frealee Oort Cloud.
Planets
Jerav is the innermost and hottest planet of the Frealee System. Jerav has a very elliptical orbit, and can develop small lava oceans when at closest approach, meaning that only the highlands are inhabited. Silicon-based lifeforms imported from Pyre often live in the mantle, and the lava flats are often mined for heavy metals when Jerav is farther away from Frealee.
Phyrez is the second planet of Frealee, and is currently being terraformed into a habitable world. As of now, Phyrez' terraforming has only completed an oxygenated atmosphere, as public interest for terraforming this world has decreased. Phyrez is currently an extremely hot desert, with temperatures exceeding five hundred degrees Celsius, which is decreasing as a sunshield is being constructed. Because of the new atmosphere, albedo has skyrocketed, meaning that it has become the brightest planet in the night sky of Darvikus.
Veladris is the third planet of Frealee, and is currently being terraformed into a habitable world. Veladris's terraforming has gone farther than Phyrez' has, with only life to be imported. Because of this, people have been slowly trickling back down to the surface of the planet, mostly to help plant trees, grass, and other plants. Because of Veladris' almost complete lack of life, debates are ongoing as to what to do with it. Some want to make it into a nature preserve, others want to make it into a great ecumenopolis. Public opinion is currently leaning towards the nature preserve idea, although this sometimes causes arguments.
In ancient history, Veladris was the site of the nation of Ectabana, before its orbital bombardment at the hands of the newly born Alshunaman Empire. Veladris could be considered the homeworld of both the Kalar and Analar, as they are known to be very distant offshoots of the ancient Varla species. However, the Varla themselves are offshoots of the even more ancient Isra, who lived back on Carlea.
Veladris has only one moon:
Darvikus is the fourth planet of Frealee. As the homeworld of the Analar and the second capital of Illuin, Darvikus is home to a significant proportion of the population of the Frealee System and birthplace of a great many cultures. Therefore, Darvikus is the most culturally diverse world in the system, and is one of the most important worlds in the history of inner Florathel.
Darvikus has a vast set of rings which are famed throughout Cosmoria, sometimes considered the most beautiful structure in the system. Darvikus' three moons carve resonance gaps in the ring system, giving it beautiful variety in its appearance, casting glimmering sunbeams between the shadows.
Darvikus has three moons:
Vea is the fifth planet of Frealee. Covered in ice, Vea is currently claimed by Marakat and the Poreltids are working to make it a habitable planet to them. The planet had an oxygenated atmosphere and deep subglacial oceans, making its original state substantially closer to the needs of Illuin than to Marakat. As such, a currently-peaceful ongoing dispute exists between the two nations, although it is likely that Illuin will abandon its claim on the planetary surface soon enough.
Vea has one moon:
Sorilamos is the sixth planet of Frealee, and is the first beyond the Frealee Asteroid Belt. Sorilamos is also the smallest gas giant in the system, breaking all known theories of gas giant formation. Sorilamos' atmosphere, with its strange cyan cast to light falling within it, has surprisingly amicable conditions at the cloudtops, giving the planetary "surface" quite a large population in the flying cities. Illuin today has control over most of the planet's sphere of influence save minor Marakat territories surrounding some of the asteroid moons. Yalvar and Ganymyr in particular have thriving populations on their icy surfaces.
Sorliamos has two large moons:
Feres is the seventh and largest planet of Frealee, and is twelve times more massive the next largest object in the system at roughly four jovian masses. Feres is the centerpiece of the proud nation of Marakat, and its second largest moon of Artaclate serves as the farthest outpost of the Sekamar Tree and homeworld of the Poreltids. Marakat's power allows it to claim almost half of the Frealee System for itself.
The innermost moon Eriest is unique in Frealee's region of Cosmoria in that it is a gas dwarf – a miniature gas giant, orbiting dangerously close to Feres' cloudtops. It sits near the center of Feres' moon system, muddying the waters, narrowing stable regions, and generally being a massive nuisance to everyone planning to build anything in the area. The second moon of Gerbi is an oddball, with a unique ecosystem evolving on its surface. Poreltid, Kalar, and Analar scientists alike study them. The different biochemistries prevent contamination, allowing a small population to blossom in the southern hemisphere. Nanvik is an Azelis-like iceworld, its surface claimed by domed Marakat cities and the subglacial ocean sparsely populated by a culture descended from ancient Salakela refugees.
Artaclate, by far the most influential of the Ferian moons, was once a quiet world with oceans of various hydrocarbons. The ancient Sekamar left a colony on this world, but the fall of the Melkas Empire to the Lareas Alliance left it cut off from its brethren, allowing its populace to begin the divergence into the Poreltids. Today its shining cities scrape the clouds, housing enormous numbers of people and the central government of the proud nation of Marakat.
Konae is a small, icy, cratered world with the oldest surface in the system, untouched by air or geology since the moon's birth and supporting a small population of domed cities. Ensalar is a large, icy world, too far from Feres for tidal forces to nourish a full subglacial ocean. However, pockets of liquid water melt and refreeze on timescales of centuries, making Ensalar's surface quite dynamic. Marakat and its predecessors have spent millennia terraforming the surface to be habitable to the neighboring Poreltids, and today it is almost complete.
Feres has six major moons:
Varalin is the eighth planet in the Frealee System. A fairly normal gas giant with a relatively thin set of rings, the planet's infinite atmosphere supports rughly three trillion individuals on cities within the clouds. A significantly sized elliptical orbital ring has been built by Illuin to mine Helium3 from the gas giant, which has a high concentration of it within its atmosphere. Varalin is also classed as an ice giant, because it contains a high level of volatiles compared to gas giants like Sorliamos and Feres, and these used to be mined for water until Limit Cloud mining became practical. The last planet before the Frealee Ice Asteroid Belt, its original moon system was swept away by the capture of the enormous moon of Forael, leaving the planet's famous rings and less visible belts of debris.
Varalin has one major moon:
Turizel is the last planet in the Frealee System, and the only planet orbiting within the gap between the Frealee Ice Belt and the Inner Frealee Limit Cloud. Because of its extreme distance of 270 AU, Turizel is extremely cold and lies beyond the reach of both Marakat and Illuin. Turizel is also notably an instance of an "extreme ice giant", with more than fifteen percent of its mass consisting of volatiles.
Turizel's sphere of influence is home to the powerfully oppressive breakaway state of Kandor, settled by Salakela fleeing "persecution" (read: the inability to kill people they don't like) on Saleas shortly after the close of the War of the Last Alliance. The classical glass columns of Salakela cities appeared beneath the newly melted subglacial ocean of Thalos, and it was made the capital of Kandor upon the nation's full establishment. Somal, barely holding itself together against Turizel's tidal forces, serves primarily as a resource deposit, but Arinel and Nirian are both quite well populated by the people of Kandor.
Turizel has four major moons:
- File:Somal.jpgSomal
- File:Arinel.jpgArinel
- File:Thalos.pngThalos
