Derva

Derva, also known as Iena to the religious followers of Kehla, is a temperate E-Class planet found 1,297 light years away from Earth, roughly in the direction of the Orion constellation.

Also known as RS 8409-1353-8-10988376-574 4 in 0.9.7.4 beta patch 7.

Derva with several patches of cloud scattered across the planet. Its aurora can be seen to the left of the picture.

Overview

Discovered in 2138 by a young group of astronomers on Earth, it was believed to host a civilization with a similar technology to Humans. Later discovered to be the home world of an even younger civilization, having only existed for only 4000 years at the time.

In 2193, the civilization, known as the Soara's, sent out an interstellar probe to search for other alien civilizations. At the same time, a series of messages were sent throughout the galaxy. Every message was the same; a simple "Hello" to other civilizations. Humans and other civilizations responded to the signals and, to the Soara's surprisement, many of them wanted to establish an alliance. Fortunately, it was agreed in the year 5026.

Physical

Ranked as an Earth-like planet, it has an ESI of 0.895, an atmosphere with higher levels of oxygen and lower levels of nitrogen than Earth's atmosphere and an atmospheric pressure of about 90% of Earth's, a pressure that most humans can withstand. It has an age of about 12.7 billion years, about 900 million years younger the Universe itself. It has a mass 18% of Earth's and a diameter 58% of Earth's.

An area with small crater-like holes in the ground. Water may have filled this holes. The origin of these craters are believed to be created by very small asteroids.

Climate

Cloud cover on Derva is a higher level than Earth's, reflecting more energy into space than Earth does in an entire year. The planet suffers harsh winters with a winter temperature of about -2.1 C, all across the planet. When the planet enters summer, temperatures can reach 12.4 C, almost the average Earth temperature of 15 C.

Derva's climate was being affected by the influence of the Soara civilization 6000 years ago (in the 3000's) which came to an end in the 5000's when new methods of collecting energy were installed across the planet.

Derva is now currently exiting an Ice Age, also known as the Interglacial Period. The ice from the recent Ice Age still remains in larger quanities at the south pole and with smaller amounts of ice at the north pole. The Ice Age, also known as the Aya Period to Kehla followers, began 30,000 years ago, long before the Soara's began their civilization. During this era of a frozen landscape, Soara's began to grow fur on their chests to keep them warm.

Life

An irregularly shaped lake on Derva filled with liquid water.

Life on Derva began about 11 billion years ago in small ponds of hot water which only supported tiny microbes capable of reproducing by binary fission, splitting into two every 1000 years. The lifespan of these microbes improved - from 10 years to 45 years within 2 million years - as the planet cooled down to more temperate temperatures to form the crust.

Plants began to cover the sea bed about 7.6 billion years ago. At this time, it is believed that a supercontinent - and the only continent at the time - formed with smaller islands surrounding it. In about a billion years, the first terrestrial plants appear on the supercontinent. The supercontinent split apart, taking the plants and trees with them across the planet. New continents formed and created the planet's surface as it is seen now.

Landscape

Derva's landscape is formed from extreme forces such as volcanism, asteroid or comet impacts and tectonic plates. Although many craters can no longer be seen due to erosion, mountains still exist without any signs of erosion. This may indicate they are young mountains, formed only a few million years ago when two tectonic plates collided.

A mountain range with snowy tops, which towers into the atmosphere above the main layer of clouds.

The planet is 12.7 billion years old so its thought that volcanism has calmed down for billions of years. Instead, it is still a geologically active planet with a hundred thousand tonnes of ash ejected into the atmosphere every year.

Volcanoes are still active today, especially the Okar Supervolcano, a volcano capable of spewing out up to 4 billion tonnes of ash into the atmosphere. The Okar Supervolcano is believed to have caused the last volcanic winter, approximately 750,000 years ago. It is believed to next erupt between 10,000 and 18,000 years from now. When it next erupts, a new volcanic winter will begin and last for roughly 1000 years.

Gallery

A mountain range with snowy tops during day time.