Event and Immediate After Effects
Eighteen years ago, the planet Caldera-6, which still resides in the same location near the borders of southern O-Sec F, was exposed to a massively dense orb-shaped gravity anomaly. This anomaly was so dense that it tore Caldera-6 asunder, ripping off nearly half of its landmass, and disintegrating it into a field of debris that now orbits the remains of the planet. While ultimately the cause and origins of the gravity anomaly are unknown, it is theorized that it floated into the planet's terrestrial orbit from
Unknown Space.
Its gravitational pull was so dense that the planet reached its limit and began to break apart. Roughly half of the planet disintegrated within a few minutes under the duress of the gravity anomaly, leaving a ravaged crescent-shaped planet with the remains of its former half now orbiting it. The results of this event were catastrophic, leading to hundreds of millions of deaths and the near extinction of the planet and its residents.
Life immediately after the event can only be described as apocalyptic, with most just hunkering down to await the end as they assumed the planet would fully break apart at any moment. Due to the effects of the gravitational anomaly and the exposure to the planet's core causing waves of increased magnetic forces, most technology including spacefaring ships would not work properly, or at all. Communication lines were inconsistent at best, and non-existent at worst. Making any of the surviving emergency services and vehicles difficult to navigate and direct. Interplanetary communications while already difficult pre-catastrophe became an impossibility, and even if they could have reached any one off-world immediate aid likely wouldn't have arrived in time.
In time it became apparent that the remaining planet would hold, at least for the time being. As the effects of the anomaly faded, technology began to work once more, and while it was still spotty, communications and transportation could once again be accessed. Emergency services were sent out, and repair efforts began in earnest. Though the planet and its surviving people were irrevocably damaged and lost.
It is unknown how the remaining planet holds itself together and continues to have a liveable atmosphere but those that reside there still refuse to leave their home despite its dangers.
A visual of what the gravity anomaly could have looked like.
Modern-day Life on the Planet
Miraculously, however, a small population survived and still does to this day nearly eighteen years after the event. Though their numbers are a far cry from their nigh-billion stock pre-catastrophe, now, barely a million people eke out an existence on the remains of the planet. Though life remains vaguely the same, with a focus on farming hearty crops and raising tough resilient herd animals, the population must contend with much more than just the harsh winters and the dry summers.
Now, the meagre population of the Caldera-6 must also contend with sudden and extreme tectonic events and unpredictable and violent weather. The weather can suddenly shift from a pleasant afternoon, with a clear vision of the orbiting debris in the planet's upper atmosphere, to dark storm clouds of shifting colour that spew
hard water rain and blast the surface of the planet with strikes of darkly coloured sharp lightning. These storms while often ephemeral, can cause severe damage to crops, structures, and people and they are sudden and difficult to prepare for.
And while these storms pose a significant and sudden threat, the increased and often extreme tectonic events pose a much more significant and imposing danger. Earthquakes are a frequent occurrence on Caldera-6, daily in most places in fact, with small tremours rumbling the earth below the population's feet. A foreboding and constant reminder that the planet is, at best, holding itself together by chance at could break apart at any moment.
Intermittently these small tremours will be shaken apart by a large earthquake event, the ground buckling into large fissures, mountains crumbling, and bodies of water draining from the sheer magnitude of plates slowly sliding apart and back together. Volcanic activity is also a frequent occurrence on Caldera-6, ranging from small fissures leaking bits of gaseous ash, to large stretches of volcanic mountain ranges spewing forth molten material for days on end.
These events occur unexpectedly, sometimes frequently, sometimes years apart. The worst stretch was within the first few years of life after the event when major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurred every few days. And while things have calmed in the eighteen years after the event, a major event always feels mere moments away. The last major earthquake occurred nine months ago, the longest break from tectonic events since the catastrophe, giving a small amount of hope to the remaining population.
Changes in Geography
Outside the obvious fact that Caldera-6 is half the size it used to be, it has also seen significant change on the surface of its remaining geography. Between the catastrophe caused by the gravity anomaly and the tectonic events that the planet continues to endure, Caldera-6's geography has gone through significant change in the last eighteen years. Especially in the early years after the event.
The planet, while rough and mountainous before, is now littered with numerous new mountain ranges and peaks. Some of which spill towards the sky as if trying to escape the planet themselves, these peaks are considerably higher than any of the mountains that previously dotted the landscape. Many of these new mountains stretched forth from the planet's oceans, cresting the waves in mere months instead of eons in massive tectonic events that cost the lives of even more Caldera-6 residences.
Looking down from orbit, the planet looks like a rock mess of mountain ranges and valleys intermittently dotted with much smaller stretches of ocean, sea, and rivers. Much fewer freshwater bodies now reside on Caldera-6 due to these events significant amounts of salty sea water have permeated and mixed with once freshwater lakes. Creating murky brackish water zones, where the freshwater is no longer potable due to the increased salt contents.
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