Weydana-5
Weydana-5, the smallest of the planets in the Weydana system, is unusual even by the standards of the most jaded interstellar traveler. Weydana-5 has a variable axial tilt, inconstant rotational period, and a wobbling, stuttering orbit around its sun. The glass-like material of the planet’s surface is smooth down to the molecular level, and the asteroids that enshroud the planet and protect it from stellar debris aren’t stuck in geosynchronous orbits, but instead are in constant motion around Weydana-5.
Explorers who penetrate the asteroid field encircling Weydana-5 quickly discover this small world seems almost designed to deter investigation and intrusion; it possesses a gaseous atmosphere radioactive enough to harm starships’ shields, a fluctuating magnetic field detrimental to navigational and communication systems, and—closer to the surface—a wreath of microscopic particulate matter that often befouls artificial breathing systems.
Anyone who insists on continuing on to the planet’s surface despite all these obstacles—and who manages to land—will encounter further oddities. The surface is too brightly lit, considering the distance from the sun, and aurora borealis–like visual distortions are common. Heavy winds play across the planet’s surface despite Weydana-5’s unchanging atmospheric pressure. The glass-like material covering much of Weydana-5 is magically transformative on the femto- and pico- levels of matter, working slowly (at a rate of 1 cubic inch per standard 24-hour period) but inexorably to convert any material it touches into further glass-like material. On the surface of the planet, telepathy acquires a bizarre form of static.
The four oceans of Weydana-5 are heavy water, poisonous to most organic life, although numerous non-sentient and especially hardy lifeforms make their home there. But lying on the ocean floors are the corroded and magically toxic remains of numerous starships of strange shapes, unknown provenance, and incomprehensible age, seemingly come to (or drawn to) Weydana-5 to establish undersea settlements over the millennia despite the planet’s environment and water. These informal starship cemeteries include corpses, one in each of Weydana-5’s four oceans: first, the remains of a huge tentacled fish known as an alghollthu; second, a tzitzimitl (Alien Archive 3 122 third, a void dragon (Alien Archive 2 42 and finally, an ancient, aquatic Great Old One—although whether the latter is dead or only sleeping is difficult to discern.
In fact, the asteroid shell around Weydana-5 performs two functions: one mundane and one magical. First, the shell shields the planet with stellar debris; there are so many asteroids in orbit around Weydana-5 that comets and meteors strike this cloud rather than the planet’s surface. The magical function of the asteroids, performed by microscopic sigils inscribed on each asteroid, is to maintain a planar barrier around the entire planet—a spell on an unprecedented scale, and one requiring unthinkable amounts of power to cast and maintain. No one knows just what the planar barrier around Weydana-5 is keeping out—or in.
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