Adran
Adran is the homeplanet of the Aarakan and its located in the Northeast quadrant of the Therea Galaxy. The dark and gloomy planet is a harsh environment, breeding the toughest and most violent kind of inhabitants.
This large planet is one of two in their star system and it has no moon. It's days last 34 hours and it's years only 205 days and orbits a pale white star. This planet is regarded as hostile to the Therean Union of Systems
Geography
Adran is overall a gray wasteland with only small variation in biomes. Icy mountains rising from black forests in the north and south poles and more rocks and mountains stretching down and a dry gray sand desert in the center of the planet. Adran only has 1 large ocean and the rest is dotted with seas and rivers of opaque beige water to mirror the heavy dark clouds often covering a great deal of the planet.
For the most part, Adran is covered in dark gray rock and stone, with all changes in biome being equally harsh if in different ways. The polar areas of the planet have dark peaks covered in snow, the base of these mountains serve as a home to the planets only forests. These are dense pockets of black leafed conifer trees that can grow to be massive, but are hard to get to because of both dangerous fauna and treacherous terrain covered over by snow and permafrost. The center band of Adran is mostly taken over by a dry gray sand desert, with sand dunes stretching thousands of feet tall, occasionally broken up by rocky outcroppings and cracked ground. Most of the planet bares scars from its intense tectonic past, leaving immense gorges that fall for miles.
Adran only has one large ocean that wraps around the world, the rest of the water in the planet is mainly found in large lakes and river systems as well as underground water wells. The water in adran, while drinkable, is an opaque ochre/cream color.
Capital
The capital city of Adran is "Throne Zang'Vel", the longest standing and the most powerful city in Adran. While the location of many important cities constantly changes due to infighting and wars between two Aarakan lords, Throne Zang'Vel never fell and instead grew. The city spans across 3 different deep Chasms, where the deeper you go the lower your standing and the higher you are the more powerful and influential you are in the city. "The Edge" is the district of the city right at the very edge of the chasm as it's name suggests. Like many cities in Adran, Throne Zang'Vel has its own quirks and traditions. The capital city Has a focus on strength, resilience and defense. Fights among their people are often made in the form of formal duels instead of loose skirmishes. One could even confuse this with the city being “honorable” Aside from the newer recruits, most warriors in the city pay great importance to their most prominent kills. To that end, many of them wear bone “plate” armor, made from the bones of their victims, especially predator creatures from other worlds. Even the higher ranking officials in the city, and the Lord of Throne Zang’vel himself wear bone armor made from their proudest kills. Many times, important families will also take the skull of their most difficult kill and display it as the emblem of their clan.Other prominent cities
Aside from Throne Zang’Vel, a few city-states stand out in their particularities. "Dol’Arkan" in the south, is similar to Throne Zang’Vel in that they pride themselves in their kills and wear the trophies of said kills. However, these wear fur instead of bone, which helps them with the colder temperatures and the snow. Aarakan here take the fur from killed Alkalli, a secondary sentient species on the planet. They make capes or line their outfits with fur when going out to hunt more. The main generals of this city however, have black fur cloaks and trimming, this fur comes from the rarest Alkalli, marking them as champions. Originally, the hunting of Alkalli was done to cull growing numbers and repress aggressivity from growing rebellions deep in the snowlands of Great Khol. However Now this is done more as a sport. Aarakan however are mindful of their enemies and never go too deep into the snowlands these days, preferring to stay in the edges of the dense forests. "Ergrid" is another land with its peculiarities. This Northwestern city-state boasts to have the most religiously devoted population aside from the hemomancer’s own cities up north. That is to say a little under half of the city has any kind of devotion to the rebel god. This has made them respect the hemomancers more than other cities, and in return they have gained some favorable tools. The metal that most warriors wear is similar to damascus steel, and all prominent hunters have a full arm covered in “Blood tear”, a type of damascus steel metal with red streaks following the pattern, as if blood was used in the creation of it. While still experimental, the inhabitants swear that Blood tear metal can slow down the cut of an Arkal blade enough to make a difference in combat. It’s said that when it does so, the red in the metal gives off a faint glow. When it comes to prestige, the more red the Blood tear has, the higher the quality and the higher the cost. The leader of this city is said to have a full armor of Blood tear that is almost completely red, though she has never worn it in battle.Climate
The planet has dense dark clouds for most of the year. Towards the poles violent raging storms regularly occur during the colder months of the planet, and dry spells are even more commonplace above the dark sandy deserts.
Fauna & Flora
Adran's Life is very limited and hardy, definitely more on the brutal and resistant side rather than elegant or beautiful.
When it comes to the Flora, the planet's main and most recognizable plants are the black conifer trees or "Sootheart Trees" that make up the polar forests. These frozen forests play a host to some more variation of flora like rust colored thorny bushes called "J'ek Brambles" and also bright red "Heartmoss".
The warmer southern areas have smaller bushes and trees with lighter needle like leaves and some black twisting "Man'aan Vines", from which a popular illicit hallucinogenic can be distilled, and in larger doses can be a powerful poison.
However if you know where to look you can find priceless food. An example of this is the increasingly rare "Sunbranch tree". This tree is both the most dangerous and most important tree in Adran for many different settlements. This invasive species is thin and long, with an umbrella canopy of wide diamond shaped leaves and an expansive root network that stretches for hundreds of feet below the surface.
This bioluminescent white tree uses its roots to drain the nutrients from any and all other flora and even dead remains of animals. It uses these nutrients to grow soft round fruits along it's trunk. These fruits are actually incredibly poisonous, being able to kill a whole clan of aarakan from just a piece of it. These fruits also produce a pheromone that attracts local wildlife and can even draw in sentient life if they aren't careful. Once the creature eats the fruit, it will increase their aggression, resilience and strength for about 3 minutes, after which the creature will die near the roots of the tree, thereby feeding it. While this might sound like a horrible way to go, the Sunbranch tree is an incredible food source. The core of the tree has a soft gelatin-like core where it stores all it's nutrients during dry seasons. This bright white core has a sweet and sour taste and can last a long time. While it can be consumed by itself safely, it also can be found in dishes of the wealthy. Regarding the fauna of the planet, while scarce compared to other worlds, it has evolved to be strong and resilient, whether it's in its arid center or the freezing poles. To start, we must take note of Adran’s secondary sentient species. The "Alkalli" are a 4 armed biped sentient species with dark bluish skin, small bright blue eyes and fluffy white, cream or black fur over more than half of their body. This tribal species, while 7 feet tall and strong muscled, lacked the aggressive nature of the Aarakan early in the planet’s history. This led to the rise of the Aarakan and the enslavement of the old Alkalli population. As the first slaves of the Aarakan, they were incredibly abused and mistreated. At the time, Alkalli and Aarakan slaves would often have confrontations, and it seemed that while under slavery, the Alkalli became far more aggressive than normal. This lasted well into their history together, until Aarakan were able to develop interplanetary travel. Here their sights focused on other species to serve as slaves, mainly the Avarian. After this, all Alkalli populations were pushed back and contained towards their ancient homes at the poles of the planet. While a few Alkalli slaves still remain in Aarakan society, they are by far the rarest, especially now with their newer, and easier to dominate victims. While smart in their own society, Alkali remain a tribal people. The early enslavement and now containment by the Aarakan suffocates any significant development, or at least it greatly delays it. Aside from the Alkalli, Adran is home to a number of equally sturdy creatures. The "Ysey" are a small 1-2ft long creature that lives in the snow covered poles. This animal is covered by a thin coat of white fur and is extremely flat, similar to a flounder fish. It uses small legs protruding from its side to crawl through the snow in search of smaller insectoids hiding in the roots of the Sootheart trees. It can easily disguise itself since its profile is so simple and sleek. It doesn't even have eyes, rather they hunt by detecting heat signatures with a row of sensory antennae below his mouth. Once, the creatures that became Kelldren beasts were the apex predators of Adran. However Aarakan hunted them to extinction, now Kelldren beasts are only the result of genetic manipulation using material from their extinct ancestors and the Hemomancer’s strange magics. Now the "Stonejaw" family has taken the niche left by the Kelldren. Stonejaw is the collective name of a group of quadruped animals, with black stone-like skin on the tops of their bodies, this way their backs blends easily with the dark rocky landscape on most of Adran. Stonejaw come in various different shapes and sizes, but they tend to look like a mix between a canid and crocodilian, with big jaws and 2 rows of bone crushing black teeth. Stonejaw are ambush predators, using their heightened vision to detect prey far away before a group of them blend into the landscape in wait. For Aarakan, the only way to detect one is by the dim glow of their piercing red eyes right before they settle for an ambush.
This bioluminescent white tree uses its roots to drain the nutrients from any and all other flora and even dead remains of animals. It uses these nutrients to grow soft round fruits along it's trunk. These fruits are actually incredibly poisonous, being able to kill a whole clan of aarakan from just a piece of it. These fruits also produce a pheromone that attracts local wildlife and can even draw in sentient life if they aren't careful. Once the creature eats the fruit, it will increase their aggression, resilience and strength for about 3 minutes, after which the creature will die near the roots of the tree, thereby feeding it. While this might sound like a horrible way to go, the Sunbranch tree is an incredible food source. The core of the tree has a soft gelatin-like core where it stores all it's nutrients during dry seasons. This bright white core has a sweet and sour taste and can last a long time. While it can be consumed by itself safely, it also can be found in dishes of the wealthy. Regarding the fauna of the planet, while scarce compared to other worlds, it has evolved to be strong and resilient, whether it's in its arid center or the freezing poles. To start, we must take note of Adran’s secondary sentient species. The "Alkalli" are a 4 armed biped sentient species with dark bluish skin, small bright blue eyes and fluffy white, cream or black fur over more than half of their body. This tribal species, while 7 feet tall and strong muscled, lacked the aggressive nature of the Aarakan early in the planet’s history. This led to the rise of the Aarakan and the enslavement of the old Alkalli population. As the first slaves of the Aarakan, they were incredibly abused and mistreated. At the time, Alkalli and Aarakan slaves would often have confrontations, and it seemed that while under slavery, the Alkalli became far more aggressive than normal. This lasted well into their history together, until Aarakan were able to develop interplanetary travel. Here their sights focused on other species to serve as slaves, mainly the Avarian. After this, all Alkalli populations were pushed back and contained towards their ancient homes at the poles of the planet. While a few Alkalli slaves still remain in Aarakan society, they are by far the rarest, especially now with their newer, and easier to dominate victims. While smart in their own society, Alkali remain a tribal people. The early enslavement and now containment by the Aarakan suffocates any significant development, or at least it greatly delays it. Aside from the Alkalli, Adran is home to a number of equally sturdy creatures. The "Ysey" are a small 1-2ft long creature that lives in the snow covered poles. This animal is covered by a thin coat of white fur and is extremely flat, similar to a flounder fish. It uses small legs protruding from its side to crawl through the snow in search of smaller insectoids hiding in the roots of the Sootheart trees. It can easily disguise itself since its profile is so simple and sleek. It doesn't even have eyes, rather they hunt by detecting heat signatures with a row of sensory antennae below his mouth. Once, the creatures that became Kelldren beasts were the apex predators of Adran. However Aarakan hunted them to extinction, now Kelldren beasts are only the result of genetic manipulation using material from their extinct ancestors and the Hemomancer’s strange magics. Now the "Stonejaw" family has taken the niche left by the Kelldren. Stonejaw is the collective name of a group of quadruped animals, with black stone-like skin on the tops of their bodies, this way their backs blends easily with the dark rocky landscape on most of Adran. Stonejaw come in various different shapes and sizes, but they tend to look like a mix between a canid and crocodilian, with big jaws and 2 rows of bone crushing black teeth. Stonejaw are ambush predators, using their heightened vision to detect prey far away before a group of them blend into the landscape in wait. For Aarakan, the only way to detect one is by the dim glow of their piercing red eyes right before they settle for an ambush.
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