Wayfair

Wayfair is a core world, benefiting from its position connecting other core worlds like The Triptych and Cygni with Edge worlds Drayga and Altair. On its own, the body known as Wayfair is actually a moon of a super-Neptune ice giant (Wayfair 2). Its active core and ideal distance from the sun make it Earth-like, and a superior choice for a Terran presence compared to the planet itself.

Geography

Wayfair is a world of contrasts. In particular, its crust is comprised of iron, covered by a layer of sand and in some places, glass. The Northern hemisphere is primarily a desert, while the southern is much more like a swamp or bayou. Most Wayfairers live in the South and take their chances with the Terran wildlife they have brought and introduced here, because at least there is water. Still, the animal and insect life brought here from Sol is uncontrolled, and large aggressive versions of traditional herbivores are being discovered, often as they attack Terran colonies.

People & Culture

Wayfair in general has become known as a planet where adventure lies around every corner. Terran lives burn twice as bright, but half as long. Knowledge is transferred quickly between generations, schooling is completed by age eight, courting processes are short and passionate, and life is rarely dull. Families are large and corporations encourage procreation here more than on most worlds due to the high mortality rate. Wayfairers on average live 20-30 years less than core Terrans.
Off-world, Wayfairers are usually seen as fiery, enthusiastic, and passionate. And quite often, violent. Chameleons, their engineered counterparts, are seen as almost the opposite - thoughtful, poised, and intelligent, waiting to see who will throw the first punch, and always looking for the upper hand.

History

From the beginning, terraforming on Wayfair proved a double-edged sword. The surface of the southern hemisphere was crawling with plants even before Terrans arrived. This led scientists to quickly determine that nearly all the planet’s water was trapped underneath. As Terrans’ worked to bring that water to the surface, they found it pooled in the Southern hemisphere, creating an unusual iron swamp crawling in very dense, aggressive plant life. The northern hemisphere, on the other hand, grew hotter with a thicker atmosphere, and turned into a full-out desert.
The wildlife brought by Terrans has mutated severely due to uneven distribution of ozone in the atmosphere, causing some large and aggressive mammalian, reptilian, and insectoid species to emerge. Generally, they tended to keep to themselves, but as their numbers grew and new species mutated every few years, they began to lash out at Terran colonies. The most vicious of these creatures became known as the Thresher, due to its round abdomen and eight equidistant claws on all sides. Threshers were found to have amazing sense of sight, but almost no sense of smell or hearing. Terrans began to arm themselves in defiance of corporate regulations.
Seeing a need, one enterprising company, Rendall Technologies, came up with a new splice they called The Chameleon. It allowed Terrans to actually camouflage themselves with their environment by supplementing their DNA with reptile DNA. Terrans who became Chameleons found they could survive, and in most cases, defeat, the Threshers, although this was mostly done through stealth, thoughtfulness, and patience, not brute force as anticipated. Many Chameleon became local heroes on Wayfair. Soon, it was an extremely popular splice among hunters, mercenaries, and aspiring defenders of all kinds on Wayfair, and even in some cases, even among traders who had to traverse the bayou regularly.
It did not take long for other corporations to realize the many advantages of this type of stealth tech, and within a few short years, spies, envoys, pirates and saboteurs alike became frequent recipients of the Chameleon splice. While they would learn a lot very quickly, and even pass much of that knowledge down genetically, others began to associate Chameleons with an untrustworthy nature. Over the following hundred years, Chameleon lifespans also began to diminish, both from their involvement in dangerous activities, and from some unexpected side-effects of the Chameleon genes that has yet to be rectified.
These days, ships, mechs, and amphibious tanks wage frequent battles on the threshers and other wildlife. And on occasion, threshers catch a Terran colony off-guard, meaning the southern hemisphere of the planet is a constantly evolving battleground. The foliage and wildlife from the South is gradually creeping into the North as well, traditionally the more stable if less interesting half of the planet.

Politics

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Type

Planet