Ringai
The planet of Ringai and its moon of Aquador are certainly notable places. Located in the Deepspan Sector, the Ringai System sits on the Neonán Run, a galaxy-spanning hyperspace mega-route. It also lies on the Ringai Branch, a lesser regional route connecting much of the Deepspan Sector to the system. Ringai is the capital and economic center of the Deepspan Territory. Ringai is a tidally locked planet, meaning It is fixed facing the same direction towards its bright, young star. A tidally locked planet is one that orbits its star at a fixed position. This means there is a permanently sunny side of the planet, a permanent dark side, and a twilight zone dividing the two. The twilight area is referred to as the Twilight Belt. It’s fairly habitable and where most of Ringai’s people live. The planet’s sunny side is scorching hot and aired with some semiarid regions near and in the Twilight Belt. The dark side is very cold and blanketed with glaciers, rocky terrain, along with craters from asteroids coming from a nearby asteroid field.
The planet has 6 moons, most around the same size, except for the largest moon of Aquador. This moon is quite large and its surface is virtually entirely ocean, apart from a few mountain peaks and volcanoes. It also has its own sentient species called the Delphanis.
Most of the oceans and water on Ringai are located in the polar regions, with some shallow seas in the Twilight Belt and only very limited salty seas on the sunny side. There are a few freezing seas on the dark side of the planet, one even mostly frozen over, making for icy plains in some the coldest areas.
Ringai has a population of around 5 billion consisting up of the native Fainex and Asafis along with a large assortment of other species. The planet’s capital city is Lithaven, an industrial and trade center with a population of 38 million. Much of the metropolis is built underground, in canyons, and in valleys to shield it from the elements. It’s also near a large river system, forested mountains, and the largest fuel deposit in the Twilight Belt.
Although Ringai is not the most habitable, many tough species have evolved on the world. There are local fauna like the llacamelas, a local grazing animal that vaguely resembles heartier camels and llamas.
The planet’s native sentient species are the Fainex and the Asafis. The Fainex are fox-like with skinny proportions, big, pointy ears, and have long noses. They also have robust claws and powerful legs for digging dwellings. The Fainex live on the semi-arid to arid parts of the Sunny Side and Twilight Belt. Until around 2500 years ago, they mostly were hunter-gatherers living off the limited resources they had. Most of them inhabited and continue to inhabit the twilight zone.
Genetic analysis suggests Asafis have a somewhat recent common ancestor with the Fainex, inhabiting Ringai a few million years ago. The population diverged to specialize in different areas because of competition over limited resources in the twilight zone.
The Asafis are similar to the Fainex in form, but they have big fur coats and are much larger. They were originally hunter gatherers that caught fish and gathered plants from cooler areas of the twilight zone. Most Asafis lived in the colder regions of the twilight zone due to a presence of more life. Some lived near hot springs to catch fish and other creatures in the hot spring ecosystem of the dark side.
In all, Ringai is a peculiar place in the Outer Rim with a vibrant culture and people.
Climate
As stated previously, Ringai is a tidally locked planet with an extremely hot, dry sunny side, and a frigid, eternally dark side, and a twilight zone between the two that is semi arid and relatively habitable. The sunny side is a schorching hot desert, most of which is uninhabitable. It only has some habitable areas near the twilight zone due to atmospheric convection. The twilight zone of Ringai ranges from semi airid to temprate to cool areas. The twilight zone consists of deserts, temperate forests, plains, and alpine highlands. The dark side of Ringai is mostly barren and extremely cold. There are some glaciers, especially near the poles, that coat parts of the landscape. Due to the darastic temperature differences between the opposite zones, there is a significant amount of wind in the twilight zone and areas near it. This causes convection in the air between the two sides and allows wind and temperature exchange.
Fauna & Flora
Although with little to no light in the dark side makes most life impossible, nature always finds a way. Hot springs in volcanic areas are where bacteria can perform chemosynthesis, becoming the base of the food chain instead of plants in these areas with no light. There are very unique and strange creatures in this environment, such as the burbaz, an oval shaped, low profile creature that eats fish and other small creatures.
History
The Fainex and were hunter gatherers for most of their history. The Fainex started to discover how to grow hearty crops requiring less water in the semiarid areas of the sunny side and the twilight zone around 2500 years ago. They also built irrigation systems and shallow underground farms to grow food better. The Asafis were also hunter gatherers for most of their history. They developed agriculture about 500 years after the Fainex, utilizing temprate and cool, wet areas for growing food. The Asafis and Fainex in the twilight zone started to work together about two thousand years ago to develop agriculture and technology to improve their lives in the harsh environment. Over the years, the two species worked together to get resources and develop a civilization because if they fought each other, they would both suffer greatly due to limited resources. Both species had little culture or motivation for war and conflict as it was mostly harmful and wasteful for everyone involved due to limited resources and land. There would be some conflict, but it was only minor in the big picture.
Everything would change for both species again when higher forms of technology were discovered. First in the 1450s, the Fainex and Asafis discovered a fuel underground that triggered an industrial revolution. They discovered how to utilize electricity about 500 years ago and solar power little under a century later. These developments were absolute game changers for the two peoples. The fuel allowed them to industrialize and further innovate, as well as to more easily travel the poles and dark side to harvest more water for agriculture. Solar power allowed them to take vast quantities stable, free energy from the sunny side of Ringai and use it for power. The Fainex even built a massive circular solar power array spanning thousands of miles across of the sunny side. By this point, both peoples were living in massive underground and shallow cities to keep cool and/or safe from wind. There were also many surface cities in the twilight zone’s calmer areas. Water was and continues to be transported from the poles and the dark side to the populated areas in the twilight zone and semi arid sunny side.
In 1689 ABU, hyperspace scouts charting a possible route to continue the Neonán Run, discovered Ringai. Contact was made with the wider galaxy, and the Fainex and Asafis were promptly taken advantage of when it was discovered the fuel on the planet was really good for powering ships. A large Mega Corporation known as the Gexgek Fuel Corporation essentially bought the planet in a lopsided deal the local people were coerced into because they wanted protection from pirates. Over the next century and a half, the Fainex and Asafis were exploited by Gexgek for their planet’s fuel and abundant solar energy. The people were given little rights, unfair working conditions, and faced oppression from the company’s security forces. Over the years, the Fainex and Asafis adopted the advanced technology of their oppressors and gradually integrated into wider galactic civilization. Throughout the early 1700s, the Fainex and Asafis built up resistance and secret movements to oppose the corporate colonization of their home. In the 1730s, they had stockpiled arms and revolted against the Gexgek Corporation, successfully destroying the company’s operations and forcing Gexgek to withdraw.
The independent Ringaians’ fortunes began to turn around as free and mostly less exploitative exploration from the wider galaxy began to take hold in the Deepspan Sector. Ringai became the thriving hub of the sector, thanks to its location on the Neonán Run, earlier discovery, valuable resources, and extensive infrastructure already in place before contact and then improved. Now, Ringai is home to a considerably large population considering its hostile environment. It has a bustling economy but poverty is still a major issue as it is for most of the Outer Rim. The Fainex and Asafis live together with many migrants and their descendants as many setteled in Ringai for job opportunities and living in a developed area of the Deepspan Sector.
Alternative Name(s)
The world of perpetual night and day
Type
Planet
Location under
Included Locations
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