Si'lat

Si'lat, the second planet in the GECSS-13 star system 116 light years from Sol, is an earthlike world colonized by the Federated Segments of Scolopendra. Due to growing population pressures on Titan and the relative insecurity of the Ring habitats, more and more Scolopendrans are emigrating to Si'lat. While the Scolopendran government is supporting this motion, the shifting demographics could lead to major changes in the Legislative Unit and other representative forms of Scolopendran government.

Environment

Si'lat was originally a planet vaguely similar to an early Titan with an atmosphere of nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon, large portions of it in chemicals like ammonia and methane. This atmosphere was burnt off to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor, and over time genetically engineered bacteria and plants, modified versions of those used on Titan, were used to bring the atmosphere into acceptable levels while building a biosphere on the fast-track plan. The Scolopendran TerraEngineering Directorate, responsible for the terraforming efforts, classified it as a complete success, fully self-sustainable now barring severe accident.

Overview

• Radius: 7,846 kilometers
• Surface Gravity: 1.12 times Terrestrial Standard
• Mean orbital radius: 1,010,700,000 km
• Mean distance from surface of parent star: 789,700,000 km
• Atmosphere: Nitrogen (74%), Oxygen (24%), trace gases [primarily water vapor and carbon dioxide] (2%)
• Atmospheric Density (ground average): 113 kilopascals
• Average Surface Temperature: 300 Kelvin
• Hydrosphere: Water
• Lithosphere (extractable resources): Iron, Vanadium, Manganese

Climate and Geography

Si'lat Mercator Projection, basic land masses and oceans

Si'lat is a hot, mildly muggy world due to its high temperatures and the large amounts of water vapor in the air that act as a greenhouse gas. Like on Earth, the poles act as temperature sinks but unlike Earth there is no polar landmass analogous to Antarctica and so the 'icecaps' are fluid, ever-changing ice sheets floating on the surface. Overall the oceans act as a sink; additionally, the increased albedo of cloud cover helps to keep temperatures manageable. Si'lat's inhabitable surface does not cover as wide a range of biomes as Earth's. Like Earth's, however, they tend to range across landmasses. What is notable is that due to the cool oceans and the warm land, there is almost always a constant breeze coming in from the oceans in the coastal lowlands. This makes them the most popular colonization spots.

Manta

The primary habitat of the Scolopendran colonists, the three major landmasses of Manta and its attendant smaller islands are a collection of verdant rainforests. Rain is extremely common inland, and population centers are mostly coastal as the rainforests tend to breed diseases quickly. However, the rainforests have also revolutionized the local pharmaceutical industry and are kept as a natural laboratory of sorts. Wildlife is abundant and is common even in the coastal cities.

Meridian Masses

The archipelagos of the Meridian Masses are Si'lat's tourism territory. Sitting in the middle of the Meridian Ocean and kept a comfortably warm temperature, their sandy beaches and imported palms are just asking to draw visitors looking to avoid more crowded Terrestrial locations. However, given the Triumvirate's security policy concerning colony worlds, this is untenable at this time. Instead, the Meridian Masses are lightly populated, mostly by Scolopendran naturalists.

Gobi

At first, the unusually smooth, sandy soil of Gobi earned it its name, being large deserts during the terraforming. However, these hot areas destabilized weather patterns, generating large cyclones that would move west through the Pentagon Islands and Manta. For that reason, the terraengineers introduced the kinds of hardy, poor-soil grasses that once covered the Sahara. While it is prime grazing territory, ranching and herding are strictly forbidden on this continent--exactly because of the Sahara Desert's precedent.

Pentagon Islands

The Pentagon Islands are, like Manta, heavily rainforested. However, their climate is slightly colder and prone to near-constant monsoons. Lush, thick, low plant life lives there; animals are somewhat less common. The southernmost island is cooler and turns to deciduous wet forest, but suffers from the same heavy, constant rainfall. Oddly enough, it also has the largest amount of mineral deposits near the surface, demanding that industrial infrastructure be placed there to properly exploit this world.

The Bell and Paci

These two continents share one climate. Cooled by ocean currents and antarctic winds, their climate is decidedly cooler than most of the rest Si'lat. Dominated by the colder temperatures, their deciduous wet forest climate resembles the eastern American seaboard, making it more prime settlement terrain in addition to Manta. Their mountainous perimeters protect valley plains inland, which make them excellent agricultural land.

People

The inhabitants of Si'lat are almost entirely Scolopendran and follow the usual demographics for that nation. In the new bicameral structure of the Scolopendran Legislative Unit, Si'lat is considered one of the Segments federated in Scolopendra and therefore has its own representative parties in the Territory House and the Population House. The constant influx of interesting new maladies from the rainforests of Manta has forced the creation of a completely universal, comprehensive socialized healthcare system unlike the rest of Scolopendra's structured healthcare plans. Unfortunately, the system is widely regarded as a failure by most outsiders as it is structured not to prevent or cure diseases instead of simply to mitigate them. The reasoning behind this is that by not actually curing (i.e. trying to destroy) any diseases, this prevents the environment from having the opportunity or the evolutionary impetus to create more powerful and destructive ones.

Habitation on Si'lat is most similar to that on Titan, albeit on a more open scale. The fast-track terraforming process required underground habitats and the hardened topside cities common in Scolopendran architecture, but on Si'lat, a planet decidedly larger than Earth, there is actually sufficient space for the cities to spread out more comfortably while retaining all the green areas Scolopendra is known for (which also happens to minimize Urban Heat Island Effect.

As more and more people move to Si'lat from the Sol System, the balance of power is slowly shifting from the Solar territories to Si'lat. The quality of living is slightly lower, due to the disease issue, but constant communication between the various Segments ensure that this gets the attention it deserves as well as acts as a sort of natural adaptive impetus on the Scolopendran population. All of this is generally considered a good thing as it shows the Federated Segments are adapting to being an interstellar culture.