Planet Runjen (RUHN-jehn)

The Dead World...
Far beyond the orbit of rocky Planet Thunthen lies this diminutive, desolate, dark planetoid. Something of a relatively new arrival to the Thurukian System the shadowy lifeless landscape is home to one life form: the reclusive Reptilloids. Believed to have entered the heliosphere roughly five-hundred years ago, Runjen maintains a tenuous elliptical orbit, periods of proximity to neighboring Planet Thunthen coinciding with drastic increases in seismic activity. Though no fault of their own, there is a very real fear that eventually the combined centrifugal force of the Twin Suns and Runjen's presence will one day tear the Thunthen homeworld apart...

Geography

The surface of Runjen is almost entirely rocky and mountainous. There are no plains, rivers, forests, or oceans. The only liquid to be found is a bizarre unearthly oily soup, likely long-forgotten byproducts of Totalitary technology. Due to hostilities between Sur Daggur and now his son Mal Daggur, very little effort has been made to survey the planet surface or beneath the crust. Roughly a quarter of the size of neighboring Planet Thunthen, Runjen seems to be quite dense in mass.

Ecosystem

Reptilloids are the only sentient life-form on the surface. They have no need of food or sleep. No plants or animals are known to exist-or have existed- on the surface.

Ecosystem Cycles

The sky is mostly empty save for a tattered mess of clouds of questionable chemical composition. The pitiful atmosphere cannot support a complex ecosystem such as Thanged or even Thunthen, but the Reptilloids have no need to breathe...

Localized Phenomena

The lack of vegetation of any sort or major bodies of water leaves the soil loose and dry, resulting in perpetual sandstorms. The soil itself is riddled with phosphorescent minerals, giving a nightmarish appearance to the landscape.

RunjenSurface2.jpg

The Dead World by Mardrena

Made with Fantasy Background Generator

Climate

Very little light from either of the Twin Suns reaches the surface, and the thin atmosphere leaves the landscape a frigid dry tomb.

Fauna & Flora

The dinosaur-like Reptilloids are the only known life-form observed on the planet surface. Whether the planet ever had life to begin with is unknown even to them.

Natural Resources

Ore

Unknown. The exact composition has never been determined, but it suspected that the planet contains a great deal of metal for the Reptilloids to still be plagued with their cyborganic implants even after so many centuries.

Minerals

Unknown. The Reptilloids sent Sur Daggur's survey team packing so fast they didn't even have time to collect a soil sample. The soil appears black and parched leading to speculation that it might have once been volcanic in the distant past.

Oil

Nonexistent. There is no vegetation to support or to have supported the formation of crude. Any liquid chemical is thought to be residual byproducts of Totalitary equipment.

Sulfur

Unknown. Runjen does not experience seismic activity of its own. If it was indeed once volcanic, perhaps its forced journey through the Vault of Stars permanently quenched it.

Precious and Semiprecious Gems

Questionable. Reptilloids do not mine their own world due to the nature of their cyborganic implants, and they are unlikely to invite the Thunthen to investigate anytime soon...

Biomass

Nonexistent. The surface is completely devoid of vegetation, not even vacuum-tolerant organisms.

Hardwoods

Nonexistent. There are strange rock formations thought to be petrified remains of ancient forests but this is a matter of debate even among the Reptilloids.

Stone

Very Abundant. If Runjen had arrived during the reign of Das Anazhar, perhaps things would have turned out differently between the two races. The phosphorescent properties of the soil gives rock an ethereal quality which might have piqued the interest of the benign Dragon King.

Water

Nonexistent. If water-even in ice form- ever existed on Runjen, it likely boiled away into space during its forced journey through the Vault of Stars.

History

Tenuous Refuge

Decades ago, scientists among the Thunthen discovered the existence of a dark exoplanet they believed responsible for a steady increase in seismic activity over the past few centuries. Supreme High Overlord at the time Sur Daggur dispatched survey parties in hopes of finding new resources to exploit but instead found the surface cluttered with bizarre life forms that looked saurian but had bodies riddled with curious metal implants. A simple attempt to capture one for study would earn the Thunthen the eternal enmity of the Reptilloids.

A Planet-sized Trojan Horse?

There is no evidence of the planet having existed alongside the others in the Thurukian System prior to five centuries ago, leading to speculation that the planet was moved there artificially, for it certainly could not have arrived so quickly under its own power nor does any matter exist beyond Thunthen for it to have accreted naturally. It is suspected the Totalitary used the entire planet as a staging ground, attempting to infiltrate the system. Although the Four Queens themselves only learned of the Totalitary during the attack on Earth four-hundred years ago during Sky King Memner's failed offensive, the Totalitary apparently knew of the Goddesses of Thanged for much longer, viewing them as an obstacle to their objectives.
At the same time Memner and his forces fought desperately to defend the Oldworld-Earth- from the invading Totalitary, the fallen Guardians sought to capitalize on the absence of so many warriors by unleashing the then-enthralled Reptilloids upon the major superpowers of the Thangien and Thunthen peoples. However, neither the Queens nor the Totalitary themselves could have anticipated the rout which occurred when Sun Emperor Hau-iyo utilized the ultimate power of the World Armor to thwart the invasion on Earth. The sudden defeat sent shockwaves throughout the hierarchy of the Upper Echelons, briefly disrupting the control over empowered thralls such as the Reptilloids. Their minds freed and consumed with vengeance, they successfully rebelled against the ruling Cyber Lord and eradicated any Totalitary agents.
Without any external propulsion or aid, Runjen drifted aimlessly until picked up by the fringes of Thuruk 2's gravity well. There it remains, a lonely desolate guest of the Twin Suns. Much like the Reptilloids themselves, Runjen is a scarred world stripped of potential by the Totalitary...

Tourism

Thangien hero Ander Vai-Stel-Vethu and Thunthen dissident Bak Thraplek are the only visitors known to have braved the surface on friendly terms. Not since the botched attempted invasion by Sur Daggur's forces and subsequent failed incursions by Mal Daggur have any further sojourns been made to the surface in recent years. Even the Reptilloids don't view Runjen as a home.

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Planet Runjen by Mardrena

Made with Lunarcell and Paint.net

“There is...actually a little known tenth planet in the Thurukian System, one we suspect only recently just arrived from the Vault of Stars, as we only became aware of its existence within the last century or so. We call it Runjen: the Dead World. If our homeworld receives little light, Runjen receives far less. The only reason we discovered it in the first place is from the perturbations it caused in our orbit, which seemed to coincide with increased seismic activity. Decades ago, Sur Daggur dispatched scouting parties to survey this strange world."-Bak Thraplek

— Spacequake Ch. 5

Alternative Name(s)

The Dead World

Type

Planet

RunjenSurface.jpg

A World Without Life or Love by Mardrena

Made with Fantasy Background Generator

"Our ruined world drifted aimlessly until Thuruk offered us tenuous refuge, but never again would we be as we were before."-Trakar

— Spacequake Ch. 5