Zion

One of the first Christian colony worlds.

History

Discovered orbiting the fourth planet of HIP 16101 in 2089, this moon was deemed perfect for terraforming. The first colonists began using the equipment they had been given to terraform this world.

When completed in 2342 the world was colonized by the Christians who had placed themselves in suspended animation to wait. They eagerly built towns and churches and spread their influence throughout local space when they had their own spaceports. They became, and remained, the most concentrated system of Christians in the UFSS and Confederacy.

As their population grew they began building their own small fleets to use whenever a nearby world was in need of aid. They sent colony missions out to other nearby habitable worlds as well.

Zion has been a staple of Christian faith throughout the galaxy.

Culture

The inhabitants of Zion are of many different Earth nationalities. They have always been friendly to visitors for the most part.

The culture of the planet is fairly clean moralwise. The planet hosts many different Christian denominations all across the many continents, some more conservative and some more liberal.

There are not many nonbelievers on the planet but even so they are treated with respect and kindness by believers.

The global population of Zion is 14.9 billion.

Physical

A temperate E-Class world, Zion is remarkably Earthlike in size, having a diameter of 11756.1 km and a gravity of 0.99 G. Tidally locked to its parent planet Caelum or Heaven, the planet has a day of 21 hours and 32 minutes.

The moon has a semimajor axis of 318244.9 km and a young age of 480.5 million years.

Climate

Upon its discovery the moon has an atmospheric pressure of a very low 0.2 and a global mean temperature of 17.5 ° C. After terraforming however, the new atmosphere had a pressure of 0.99 and a global mean of 19.9 ° C.

As the axial tilt on the moon is 154°21’ the seasons on it are more severe than on Earth but are survivable. The moon has no polar ice caps.

Shalem from Zion
Caelum at night
Caelum from the surface of Zion pre-terraforming
A lava flow beneath Caelum