Praxis (Alternis)

INDEX / LEXICA / TIMELINE

Praxis, named after Hestia's chief handmaiden, is the largest dwarf planet found within the Handmaiden Belt between the orbits of Vulcan and Hestia. Its diameter is approximately 1,780 kilometers, making it the largest of the minor planets within this zone. Composed of silicates and metals, Praxis is estimated to compose approximately one third of the mass of the entire Handmaiden belt. Praxis is one of three objects within the belt known to be rounded by its own gravity, alongside Kronos and Penthe. At its brightest, it should be easily visible from Earth and Theia, but it is always drowned out in Sol's glare unless during a solar eclipse.

History

Praxis, like all large objects inward of Caelus, was known to the ancients, and its orbital partners in the Handmaiden Belt Kronos, Penthe, Azha, and Donatu-Narendra were also visible. Prior to the telescope, all of these objects were known simply as "Hestia's handmaidens" and were undifferentiated in records. Praxis itself was known as the brightest of the handmaidens, and was the first to recieve its own name.

The Mariner 13 probe made a distant flyby of Praxis on its way to survey Hestia, and took a now-famous narrow-angle image of Praxis framed perfectly by Hestia's disk. Rising Dawn and the primitive Loriset Amtal probe both took excellent surveys of the planet, stitching their images together to map 80 percent of the planetary surface. Amtal also delivered an impactor probe for Rising Dawn to scan the spectra of, confirming its silicate volatile-free composition. The crewed Morning Star mission managed to set down a lander and return samples to Earth.

Praxis was colonized by the Serran Empire shortly after the subjugation of Theia. The Empire also took the Khitomer family asteroid Paloocus as a black site for extremely unethical experimentation. Over the years, Praxis' population expanded, and hosted over a million people on its surface by the time of the War for Independence. Praxis itself, annoyed at being taxed with no effect on the actual Praxian infrastructure, participated in the war and successfully broke away from the Empire very early on. The Praxian marines, not being present at the Algeron Accords between representatives of the other parties, decided to drop a tactical nuke onto the Serran capital, destroying their government complexes and shortening the war substantially. After this, many were pissed at them, but history now regards the people killed by the bomb as Garbage Human Beings and considers this action worth it.

After the war, Loriset began to immigrate to Praxis, slowly becoming the majority population. Praxis became one of the founding members of the newly formed United Nations of Humanity, the most remote such state by far. As the colonization of Savis proceeded, Praxis receded from the public eye, becoming just another Handmaiden colony.

With the onset of the Homeworld Wars, Praxis abruptly became a flashpoint, with the Loriset Intendancy moving in to "protect" the Loriset population there from the ruling government which at the time was ran mostly by Loriset anyway. Humans either fled or were reduced to second class citizens. Many attempts were made to retake Praxis, and a homegrown rebellion among the human population as well as disgruntled Loriset almost succeeded.

Shortly after this failed rebellion, human forces assembled near Hestia, cleverly hiding within its infrared glare. When the transfer window opened, they abruptly engaged powerful torch drives unseen on the more standard UNH fleet and burned towards Praxis. The orbital defense fleet was destroyed after hours of long firefights, but it was a pyrrhic victory as the Human fleet lacked the remaining strength to hold Praxis against the native population and incoming reinforcements from Mercury. Today, Praxis remains under Loriset control.

Physical Characteristics

Praxis is considered to be a dwarf planet, a large subclass of planetary bodies which are smaller than objects such as Mercury. Praxis is the largest such object within the Solar System. Praxis has significant geological activity such as volcanism and possibly limited plate tectonics. Some of its masses of basalt appear to be influenced by the movements of plates or other internal geological effects. Praxis' surface is very hot, and its thin crust allows the smallest of impacts to create lava pools.

Praxis' somewhat eccentric orbit causes major tidal forces to be exerted on the planet by Sol, creating cracks riven through the crust, alsao causing lava flows throughout the surface.

Orbit & Rotation

Praxis follows an orbit between Hestia and Vulcan near the middle of the Handmaiden Belt, with an orbital period of 7 days and 22 hours. Compared to other planets and dwarf planets, Praxis's orbit is moderately tilted relative to that of Earth; its inclination (i) is 17.6°, compared to 7° for Mercury and 17° for Pluto-Eris. It is also slightly elongated, with an eccentricity (e) = 0.11, compared to 0.09 for Mars.

Praxis is not a member of an asteroid family. Although it was initially thought to be a member of the Khitomer family, the true members of which share similar orbits, it was later confirmed to be an interloper due to its substantially lower metallic content, sharing similar orbital elements but lacking a common origin. Praxis is close to a 1:1 resonance with Penthe, with their orbital periods differing by 0.2%, but they do not exert enough gravitational influence on each other for this to be more than chance.

Due to Praxis' elliptical orbit, it exists in a 2:3 orbit-rotation resonance rather than a 1:1 tidal lock. This allows a solar day to pass every two orbits, bathing the entire surface in light.

Geology

Praxis is the largest object within the main Handmaiden Belt. It has been classified as a S‑type or silicate object. It is an oblate spheroid, with an equatorial diameter 8% larger than its polar diameter.[2] Measurements from the Rising Dawn and Amtal spacecrafts find a density somewhat higher than Earths, implying that it has a higher core mass fraction than the average dwarf planet. Praxis comprises 34% of the estimated mass of the Handmaiden belt, and exists in stable hydrostatic equliibrium.

Composition

On a global scale, Praxis' surface composition is homogenous, rich in silicates and extremely poor in other volatiles. Organic compounds and ice were detected in the northern Chang crater as well as other shadowed regions near the poles. The planets surface is very poor in carbon, as to be expected in this region.

Craters

Praxis has a heavily cratered surface, with many large craters often filled with lava pools. The largest confirmed crater on Praxis, Koloth basin, is 740 km across and ancient enough to be partly buried under countless smaller craters.

Praxis' south polar region is substantially more heavily cratered than the equatorial zone and north pole, with the northwestern flats in particular very lightly cratered. The overall size frequency of craters of between twenty and a hundred kilometres is consistent with their having originated in the Late Heavy Bombardment, with craters outside the ancient polar regions likely erased by vulcanism caused by solar tidal forces.

Volcanism

Praxian volcanism is primarily based on tidal forces and rifts, with varying gravitational pulls from Sol and Hestia occasionally cracking open rifts and causing lava flows to spill across the surface. There are no consistant volcanic cones. The most recent major flood volcanism event covered much of the northwestern flats and occurred ~47 million years ago.

Internal Structure

Praxis is sometimes considered Mercury's opposite. Although the two are similar in size, Praxis is far less massive due to its almost nonexistent metallic core compared to Mercury's. As such, Praxis' metals are mostly found near the surface of the planet, possibly brought there with large impacts. The Praxian crust is less than two kilometers thick in most places, and routinely breaks open due to tidal forces or small impacts. The remainder of the planet is filled in with a partly solidified mantle, which solidifies completely as pressure mounts.

Atmosphere

Praxis has a tenuous, barely detectable atmosphere. Measuring at less than Mars's, it won't stop you from smashing into the ground, but it will give you a pretty horizon to view the enormous sunsets. Praxis's atmosphere is made mostly of carbon dioxide, water vapor and ionized particles blown into it by solar wind.