Karkhala
Geography, Location & Climate
The entire planet contains just two continents: Tukosane to the north, and Szizimilis to the south. Both continents are covered in thick, effervescent rainforests, with less than 3% of the total landmass covered in other biomes.Tukosane
Tukosane is the larger of the two continents. Covering almost a third of the entire Northern Hemisphere, the very North Pole of the planet is covered in a thin, icy rainforest. The rest of the continent is very mountainous, with altitudes ranging anywhere from 30 metres below sea level to almost a kilometre above sea level. There are twenty-seven river basins on the continent, the largest covering just under ten million square kilometres.
As the largest continent, Tukosane also has the highest population. Three billion Oanie call Tukosane home, spread evenly throughout the continent and in several major green cities. Tukosane is known for its technology coexisting with nature; the cities grow with the rainforest, skyscrapers and buildings coated in greenery.
Szizimilis
Szizimilis is the smaller continent, located on the South Pole. It is one twentieth of the size of Tukosane and is entirely covered in rainforests. Szizimilis is entirely raised above sea level, with cliff coastlines all raised at least twenty metres above sea level.
The continent is most famous for its silver rainforests. The flora and fungi of these rainforests have a silver sheen to them, thanks to the abundance of silver and other shiny metals in the soil. Silver rainforests are not exactly rare in the Yonderverse, but they are not usually found in this quantity. Silver rainforests cover about two thirds of Szizimilis.
History
Karkhala is seven billion years old. The first billion years it was a lifeless planet; the largest animals not even the size of a traditional mobile messaging device. The first species were invertebrates and simple worms. These were all wiped out after the planet experienced major tremblings and earthquakes, caused by a minor detachment from its orbit.
The planet restabilised itself and life quickly bounced back. The first major species to pop up after the restabilising were small arachnids. These animals dominated the planet when the first oceans formed, giving rise to the largest population of marine arachnids on a single planet. Three million identified marine arachnid species have been discovered as fossils from 5.4 billion years ago.
For billions of years the planet's lifeforms evolved and gradually grew more and more intelligent. The first intelligent species to appear on this planet were the afpharasians, which existed in the prehistoric continent Svare, now known as Western Tukosane.
20 million years ago was the first appearance of the oanie, Karkhala's most intelligent species. These people evolved in the rainforests of Tukosane, living in the treetops. Their intelligence rapidly progressed, especially in the last 10,000 or so years, and 3750 years ago they first set sail into the depths of space.
The ossainos started appearing about 10 million years ago, in the rainforest floors of Tukosane. They barely coexisted with the oanies, and both kept to their own territories. While the oanies progressed, the ossainos remained in their violent, primitive states.
Biota
Rainforests always contain a great amount of life, and the rainforests on karkhala are no exception. There are seventy million recorded species on the planet, which includes the rainforests, skies, and oceans. The oanie are no stranger to deep-sea exploration, and they have confidently mapped 94% of the ocean floor of the entire planet.
The silver rainforests have produced a particularly interesting set of species. The percentage of metals in the soil are so high that herbivorous animals that engulf the metallic planet life have also ingested this metal, which has in turn altered their genetic makeup to appear more shimmering. This helps with camouflage, since many prey animals have the same colouration as the planet life and their glossy bodies are identical to the dense shrubbery.
Space Legion
The Karkhala Space Legion is surprisingly quiet. They have made no attempts to put new laws in place, which shocks the mass since these people have a reputation for bending the laws to their own will.
The Karkhala Space Legion's Satellite Base can be found on the moon Ikald, orbiting this planet. The Satellite Base is mostly used as a data centre, and the Karkhalan Government has important documents stored on hard drives which can only be accessed by the highest of authorities.
1/5/3028
Ah yes, the meanie oanie. I love all the names you give everything, they feel alien while still being accessible to pronounce. Szizimilis in particular is a ton of fun to say. How do you come up with your names?
Speculative-Fiction Writing
Thank you so much! Honestly, most of the time I just slap a bunch of letters together and then put vowels inbetween to make it more pronouncable. That was the case with Szizimilis, at least xD