Planet Collena
Elya Sarai
Earth was nice I guess, but it doesn't compare to my homeworld. you'll find out after we land I hope.
"Strekara!!! Ana cura! ".
Collena is a temperate water world in the Delvi Star System . It is the homeworld of the Regalti species, with a population of just over a billion people. In the past the planet was much more populated, reaching populations in excess of 25 Billion, but most people left the world in live in space during an event known as the Exodus.
Collena is notable in the galaxy for several features. The Planet has magnetic mountain ranges stretching across the world, and also has primeval jungles sitting miles below the surface in long extinct volcanoes. From a biological standpoint, Collena is one of the more diverse planets in the galaxy, having fully habitable land, sea, and air biomes. The world also has a moon, Sephar, which is also fully habitable.
The Many names of the World
The word Collena has its origins in two separate Regalti words: Qeltar and Enta. Qeltar is an ancient Bevarian word and personification of a Land god. Enta is also an ancient Fevarik word, used for a Water goddess. Combined, the original word was Qelanta or Qeltantar, "Land and Sea", which became "The World". Over time that word morphed from Qelantar to Cellantar, then Collenar, and finally, Collena.
Collena
"Collena" as written in Vevari script. Most Regalti writing is vertical in nature.
Information
Distance from Star: 188,000,000 kmDay Length: 28 Earth Hours
Year Length: 498 Earth Days
Radius: 6,948km
Gravity: 0.84 Earth
Orbit/Rotation
Rotational Period:20 (local) Chours (28 Ehours)
Orbital Period:
414 (local) Cdays (498 Edays)
Semi-major Axis:
188,000,000 km
Aphelion:
190,000,000 km
Perihelion:
186,000,000 km
Average Orbital Speed:
27.1 km/s
Orbital Inclination:
6.7° to Fevaultar
Axial Tilt:
22.2°
Physical Characteristics
Average Radius:6,948 km
Polar Radius:
6,941 km
Equatorial Radius:
6,953 km
Circumference:
43,655 km
Surface Area:
606,637,821 km2
Volume:
1.405 x 1012 km3
Mass:
5.94 x 1024 km
Average density:
4.24 g/cm3
Surface Gravity:
8.26 m2
Geography and Climate
Physical Geography
Collena is a geologically active world with nine major continents. Contrary to popular belief, there are almost no planets in the Galaxy that are of a single geography type or a single climate type, at least not the ones that support life. Nearly every life giving world has polar ice caps, extensive mountains, expansive deserts, and large oceans separating the continents. Collena is no exception to this.
The highest and lowest points on the planet are actually the same distance from sea level. Sil Ventarsan, the highest mountain on the world, is 9,909 meters above sea level. The Lowest point, Phenar's Hole, is 9,909 meters below sea level, though there might be even deeper ocean trenches that aren't yet explored.
Climate
Collena is a little cooler than planet Earth, with a global average temperature of 13°C. The planet is covered in glaciers at higher elevations and virtually all land and water north and south of 85 degrees latitude are permanently covered in ice and snow. Surface temperatures can still reach in excess of 50°C in some equatorial desert regions, though it also isn't uncommon for it to snow at the equator some years.
Collena's land is divided into 18 major climate types, determined by elevation, temperature, and ocean currents. Large areas of the planet are dominated by deserts and tropical savannahs, arid grasslands, and glaciers. The world also has its share of tropical and temperate rainforests.
Biomes Unique to Collena
Coral Forests
Existing everywhere on the Intatha continent, and very rarely in the costal tropics of other continents like Kenerif, there exists something that would look out of place unless at the bottom of the ocean. Originally existing on tidal areas, some of these coral forests now exist entirely on land and have adapted to varying temperatures and moisture conditions.
Plant-like animals root in the ground after their larval stage and grow into colossal coral and sponge structures, resembling trees. Animals that would normally be seen in water are adapted to living on land, including mollusks, Urchins, starfish, and more. Trees are adapted to take on the appearance of Coral to keep herbivores away.
Volcanic Jungles
Located on the Greknil Continent, deep in the extinct calderas of dozens of gigantic supervolcanoes, there exists hot jungles with extremely dense air. The plants and animals that live here are separated from the rest of Collena by miles of elevation and millions of years of isolation. Life found here is more varied and unique than anywhere else on this world.
Even deeper than the Volcanic Jungles in the many thousands of miles of lava tubes connecting them all together are Mushroom forests with even more unique and bizare creatures, even by Collena standards. Very little of this biome has been fully explored, and outside a few plant and animal species, much is stil unknown. Helioberries are notable plants from Volcanic jungles, and are loved by pretty much all Regalti.
Sky Meadows
Miles above the surface of Collena exists an entire ecosystem of floating plants and flying animals. Most are extremely tiny like the Cloud Flower. Some are gargantuan in size like Skyshells, living islands so large that Regalti can step foot on them.
There exists species of mammal and reptile that go their entire lives miles in the air and never even get close to the surface of Collena, even ones that don't actually fly. The same is true for various species of plants that only grow in the air attached to a skyshell rather than on the ground. The most diverse of these sky meadows are high above the mountains of the Ision, Vorna, and Brevini continents, though because of wind currents and the unpredictable nature of skyshells, sky meadows can be found anywhere in the world depending on the time of year.
Regalti on Collena
Geopolitics
Unlike the sector spanning empires of the Vusinor and Maorians, or even larger civilizations that have empires stretching across thousands of light-years across the galaxy, the Regalti are much smaller and as a whole are not a united people.
On Collena itself, the Regalti have about 60 larger nation-states, and several dozen smaller city-states, making 98 independent countries total. Like pretty much all civilizations in the galaxy with complicated political divisions, national borders are often separated by religion, geography and culture. In the past ownership of land changed hands constantly through wars and threats, though little has changed in terms of national borders for well over a century now.
Planet Collena Political Map by Chrispy_0
Recent History
Roughly 500 years ago, before the Regalti remade contact with their sister civilization on Sephar and spread out across the Delvi System, the geopolitics of the world was entirely dominated by the Kingdom of Tevaria. This island nation once ruled most of the land area on Collena, and at several points in history Tevaria was at war with the entire rest of the world.
In the present day, the world is a little different. in the years since the War of Purges, and in the years since the Exodus began, most Regalti living on Collena went to settle in space. Tevaria lost nearly all of its power and fragmented into dozens of smaller countries. The world only has around a billion people living on it instead of 25 billion. There are no less than 30 countries entirely in space with more people than that.
The Nation that is currently at the center of Collena is Argen, the Silver City, where just about anything of note that still happens on the world occurs here. Other relatively powerful nations include Old Tevaria, Tariwen, and Ikari. Many nations like Vefaria, are almost completely empty compared to how they were before the exodus.
While all of the nations of Collena maintain their independence from each other, nearly all of them are in the same military alliance and have representatives to negotiate with the space nations. As a whole, Collena is considered it's own political entity, and with the space nations are part of a larger organization simply called the Regalti Alliance, which ecompasses nearly all Regalti living in the Delvi System.
Collena Insignia by Chrispy_0
Comments
Author's Notes
Article was originally just under 4000 words. I removed large chunks of information that were extensive, but also kind of boring. I kind of wonder just how many people got through the geology section, then closed the tab out of boredom instead of reading through to the end... Well, at 1800 words, and with vastly improved formatting, it should be quicker, easier, and less boring to read now.