Xah

Home world of the Federation of Xah.

Geography

As a tidally locked world, one side of Xah receives continuous sunlight, and the other is in constant darkness, leaving most of the planet's ecosystem confined to a very thin twilight band between the two. The light side of the world is arid and hot, with temperatures constantly between 50 and 75 ºC; whatever life resides on this side lives predominantly underground. The dark side of the world is bound in ice and snow, with daily temperatures of between -90 and -110 ºC and is the location of the majority of the human settlements on Xah, confined into large hive cities, sealed against the cold. High winds are common, sweeping from the light side to the dark, bringing bitter winter storms. The world is also geologically active, with a number of volcanic zones; this allows for the presence of temperate 'islands' on the dark sides, where unusual life has evolved.

Ecosystem

The twilight zone ecosystem is considered to be very fragile, but also critical to the stability of the planet's atmosphere, and early colonists of the world decided to place their settlements away from this region, predominantly on the dark side, as it provided the more stable basis. The majority of the lifeforms are similar to Terran plants, in that they are static for the majority of their life cycle, although juvenile stages are often ambulatory. 'True' animal forms are not common, and are typically small and subterranean.

Natural Resources

The predominant reason for the initial colonisation of Xah was the abundant deposits of heavy metals on the world, particularly uranium and thorium. Found in large quantities o both sides of the world, mining for these metals quickly became the main reason for the colony's existence. The unique ecosystem and geographical status of the world also attracted large numbers of scientists.

Planet Type: Rocky, tidally locked, breathable atmosphere
Distance from primary: 0.57 AU
Mass: 1.07 EQ
Surface gravity: 1.02 G
Surface Pressure: 1.44 atm
Surface Temperature: 15.6 ºC
Radius: 1 EQ
Density: 1 EQ
Atmosphere: N 83.3%, O2 15.6%, Ar 1.1%
Axial tilt: 20º
Year length: 176.64 EQ
Day length: 2249 hours

Type

Planet

Location under

Xahi

Owning Organization

Federation of Xah