This bit of text is merely player fiction, and certainly not Prime Fiction. It also tries to incorporate the planetary data we can find ingame, to a certain extent. Certain numbers are a bit silly.







Janus V

Region: Derelik
Constellation: Mekashtad
Solar System: Janus
Security status: 0.5 - High Security

Radius: 3010 km
Mass solid: 5.467e+23 kg
Mass gas: 9.885e+15 kg
Orbit radius: 1.563 AU
Orbit period: 137 days
Average temperature: 354K (81°C)
Pressure: very low
Surface gravity: 4.027 m/s²


The Solar System

The Janus system is peculiar in a way that no temperate planet can be found, which relegates it constantly to the status of backwater solar system. The lack of temperate world in itself is not surprising considering that its main star is a K5 red giant, making rather difficult to find for habitable planets to be found.

Janus I is a lava world, extremely rich in heavy metals and other radioactive materials, and a good prospect for mining exploitation, which still requires a certain amount of preparation and equipment considering its hellish proximity with the star.

Janus II, III and IV are similar terrestrial planets that remained barren probably all their lives: their very thin atmospheres make them subjects to huge variations of temperature between day and night, even if the average is rather comfortable.

An asteroid belt draws a limit between the inner aforementioned planets and the rest of the solar system. It is generally associated with Janus IV due to being the closest planet, which incidentally causes a lot of meteor bombardment, preventing a safe and real exploitation of that planet to emerge.

Janus V is the only oceanic world of the system, but also the closest to habitable that can be found in Janus. It is home to several settlements, but due to its oceanic nature, most of the human presence is located in various installations in space or in geosynchronous orbit.

Janus VII, VIII and IX are gas giants, very valuable for their volatile materials that are used for refuelling, He-3 stations, and the usual installations that gas giants can host. Janus VII and VIII are often favored for that their upper atmospheres are much calmer than the colossal storms of Janus IX, although Janus IX is also appreciated for its sheer size and richer gas composition.


Geography and climate

The first striking fact about Janus V is its unusually high average temperature, which is understandable considering that its star is a K5 red giant, of average luminosity for its class. While being of lower intensity than a standard main-sequence star, the sheer size of red giants pushes their total emitted luminosity well above the standards. Janus V is literally crushed under a red, blinding light far stronger than on most planets. The impressive force of the electromagnetic storm that hits its atmosphere turns it into a dangerous world to live in without proper sun and eyes protection. Being located at approximately 1.5 AU of its star, the K5 red giant occupies a significant portion of the sky, a vision that can be difficult to withstand for the non initiate. That constant electromagnetic bombardment and luminosity also explains the very high temperatures found at the surface. The habitable zone can thus be found mainly around the poles where the temperature is way more bearable (approx 30-50°C), and thanks to a close to non-existing axial tilt, seasons do not pose a problem either where said poles could otherwise remain exposed too long to the sun, or to the night.

The absence of moon however, means that the ocean covering the entirety of the planet is calm, uneasily quiet, and generally flat. The only potential source of waves is the climate itself, which is usually very discreet as long as temperature variations do not occur: indeed, considering the difference of temperature between the poles and the equator, heavy fluxes and streams can form and create devastating storms that can use the very high air humidity overall due to the constant, high evaporation of the sea. Cloud coverage is most of the time rather thick, but also often swayed fast by strong winds that are not stopped by any mountainous terrain.

One of the most beautiful - and common - phenomenon appearing on the planet on a regular basis is the red, powerful light rays of the star refracting in the water saturated atmosphere and the cloud coverage, creating spectacular rainbows and other prismatic light effects that literally transform the whole water blue scenery into a changing, bright and colorful show. The heavy EM emissions coming from the star contribute as well by creating intense aurorae, especially visible at night. Overall, the planet's ionosphere is extremely intense and overdeveloped compared to most planets, and any starship or human vehicle penetrating it usually suffers instrumental failures up to complete electronic destruction if not shielded properly.



The underwater terrain of the planet is generally mellow and some places can often be pretty shallow in terms of depth, where the ground is actually visible through the clear and calm waters of the sea. A few archipelagos emerge along tectonic plates, in that they rarely directly pierce through the surface of the water, but remain sufficiently close to it so that it creates atolls and lengths of shallow water. As long as those are close to the poles, it is the favorite place to build durable infrastructure and settlements.


Wildlife

As an oceanic planet, native, local wildlife naturally developed by itself to reach interesting sizes due to the low gravity and pressure of the planet. Most were, however, limited - or made extinct after gigantic solar eruptions - by the heavy amount of EM emissions that tend to kill most living things unless they are reasonably equipped to actually survive such lethal amounts. The wildlife was also mostly eradicated by the first settlers and industrial companies that were the first to exploit the planet, as it is often the case in most of the history of planetary colonization: local life was slowly replaced by human fauna and flora, and for most of them interestingly spliced with local DNA to be able to survive in that electromagnetic hostile environment. In short, as always, what was worthy to be kept was allowed to live, and the rest replaced.

One of the particularities of the wildlife is a local variety of algae that is the result of one of many genetic accidents that naturally happened after the initial redesign of the natural biome, the time for nature to adapt and strive. That faux-algae is actually derived from a variety of the good old camellia sinensis and was supposed at first to grow indoors, but decided otherwise and quickly started to spread over the ocean. It kept most of the properties that make good tea however, and people were quick enough to shrug it off and harvest it, to create a somewhat peculiar tea with a very mild and subtle aftertaste of iodine.


Industrial Exploitation

While that aquatic species of camellia sinensis was never really considered for proper commercial exploitation and export, other more pragmatic resources were quickly harvested, like several species of plankton or organic matter, as well as many types of rare crystals resulting from the combination of the sun, water, and other chemical elements. It was actually those riches that prompted colonists to drop down on the surface and start establishing a few aquatic cities around atolls. While such ores can perfectly be synthesized in labs, they still prove a lot cheaper to collect when they simply lie on the ocean floor...

The main resource, however, is nothing else than water. Due to the absence of continental masses, the sea water is free from erosion deposits of any sorts, and so is subject only to the very mild volcanic activity: a very limited presence of hydrothermal vents. This makes the water quality very high compared to what could be found on any temperate, sedimented world, with almost no sodium (salt) and chlorates and so requires little if no post treatment at all. The very poor and limited artificial life that can survive also explains why the planet biomass cycles and sediment activities are very stale. In fine, like any oceanic world, the main resource is simply water, that is a rare commodity in itself, indeed, in a space faring society.

The two sources of energy on the planet are almost limitless, and fortunately enough for the few living here, pretty much harmless to the environment.

Solar energy is almost infinite as long as clouds do not linger too long (which they never do), and countless water adapted solar panels akin to those found on Minmatar ship designs spangle all around cities. Some of those solar fields are made so that they form literal reflective rings and manage to cool of the air and water temperature of several degrees, if not more. Another kind of solar harvesting is done by caravans of aerostats literally covered in photovoltaic panels and either float above clouds, connected through thick electrical superconducting isolated cables to cities power plants, or either roaming freely and collecting energy in tesseract batteries that can then be dumped on said power plants.

Tidal processing is also used around most big cities. While it proves to be a lot more expensive than the ubiquitous solar collectors, it also boast a whole other order of magnitude that is essentially used to feed power hungry mining and refining industries, and all those tidal plants are exclusively operated by the Nefantar Miner Association. They rely on the strong, colossal undercurrents that result from the temperature differentials in the planet and usually have to rely on the right spots, for that the planet does not have any moon and so, no proper tides. Most of the huge cold or hot streams either take place deep underwater, which is all but easy nor cheap to access, or between altitude differentials or breaches in the sea soil, acting as tidal force multipliers.



Transports and planetary infrastructure

The low gravity of the planet and its relatively small size mean that planetary launches into space - and drops in the opposite way - are very cheap to operate, but the main issue is the total lack of flat and solid ground to land anything. The main spaceport of the planet is located in one of the few cities spread around the poles, and features a relatively large landing pad that connects to the rest of the aquatic cities either through maglev underwater tubes or simply high velocity hydrofoil cargoships. An interesting variation of the universal standard dropship has quickly grown popular in use by the authorities of most orbital transit stations: it includes the ability to land and glide on water, an operation that is usually performed away from the main settlement considering the shockwave it creates as well as the huge clouds of heated water that can be seen kilometers away.



Another very cheap and popular vehicle to move around are modern dirigibles. Taking into account the colossal variations of temperature depending on the region, enormous streams of heat and cold emerge and create strong aerial currents that can be used by aerostats for an almost costless travel. Those aerostats can sometimes reach a kilometer long or more for the biggest of them, thanks to modern nanomaterials and beehive carbon internal structures. They are powered by solar energy, and the surplus is usually used for take off or landing manoeuvres. Some of them can reach the mesosphere pretty easily, but they require special anti-EM hardener protection as well as heat exchangers and breathing equipment, which is mandatory anyway for aerostats that also want to wander in the non polar parts of the planet.

Besides those and the occasional old fashioned fisher boats, and considering the very low demographics of the planet, the infrastructure remains very crude and not much developed, except for a few key areas that benefit from modern technology.


Demographics and areas of activities

The first colonists of the Nefantar Miner Association first settled in space, building space stations in orbit of the planet and used to deploy giant converted dropships that could scoop thousands of cubic meters in one go by just strafing at the surface of the ocean. Those are still in use today. The need to settle the planet came after when other ores were discovered undersea. This was only made possible when the Ammatar Mandate started developing outside of its key central systems like Jarizza, Sasta and Tanoo. One of the first contenders was actually the Kalaakiota Corp that came in the wake of all the exploitation agreements that were signed between the Mandate and individual members of the CEP.

The first basic settlements were Caldari in nature, before the NMA complained directly to the Mandate that this was unfair competition and that at this rate they could just hand the whole system over to the megacorporation. Fortunately for the NMA, their influence was strong enough to thwart any attempt of the KK to take over the full exploitation rights of the system. The governor of that time had enough clout to point them to way more lucrative prospect in the Ammatar-Minmatar borderzone. The NMA remain the major industrial corporation operating in the system along smaller entities, but they lost a lot of the control they had when the first overseers were granted holdership over the whole system by the governor. The NMA growled at first and a few conflicts arose between them and the rich, aristocratic newcomers that were seen barely better than incompetence neophytes. Considering the huge favor that the governor did to the NMA in the past regarding caldari exploitation rights in the system however, the NMA lost any lever they had, added to the fact that the Amarrian model was starting to prevail: now that the overseer elite was slowly taking control of the power vacuum left by Amarrian Holders in the Minmatar Rebellion, very few things could really stop them to acquire lands and manpower to their ends. An agreement was quickly found however, when the new overseers understood that they lacked the skilled manpower and expertise to profit plainly of their new demesne, and so were quick to sign lucrative contracts with the NMA.

The main population of the planet is estimated at 11.7 millions souls. Most of them are spread around the few oceanic cities as well as a few underwater science and observatory outposts. Those cities are greatly inspired - if not improved ripoffs - of the old semi aquatic cities of the Nefantar Jade Coast on the continent of Houdea, on Pator. The first colonists were indeed Ammatar corporations like the Nefantar Miner Association mandated by the Ammatar Consulate. From these points of population depart many industrial ventures and mining operations, either to collect water or any other riches that can be found south.



Most of the activity here is private, which means that it belongs either to licensed corporations like the NMA, or to Ammatar overseers, who are fewer and fewer today. The slavestock is pretty low overall considering the impractical aspect for such manpower, and the few of them that are employed here are usually assigned to servant duties for households or administrative tasks. Some less scrupulous overseers use them in dangerous conditions for specific mining operations that require manual care underwater, in areas where the temperature can almost reach the boiling point. These areas are often found near the equator and include very troubled, bubbling waters as well as huge steam columns stretching far above the sea over kilometers of altitude, before cooling down. Such activities, however, have slowly faded away considering the legal impossibility for overseers to acquire many new slaves without resorting to the black market.

In fine, the activity on the planet surface is rather limited to economic and industrial purposes, and only a handful of overseers actually live here out of commodity and also as a symbol of power. Most of the intra system demographics are located in space, all around the system, be it for mining prospect in the asteroid belts, over the gas giants or on Janus II, III and IV. Some ventures mostly tied to the capsuleer bubble have also blossomed around Janus I and Janus X, the former being a lava planet and the latter one of those rare plasma planets. Most agree that the system has been raised to high security status more due to the activity in space rather than the meager demographics planetside. The total population estimated in space approximates 124 million souls, 62 million of which are moving workers, including more than 7 million skilled migration workers. The slave stock is estimated to be around 600k planetside, and 4 million in space.

The main cities on the planet surface are Eredeus, Archea, and Milvus. Eredeus is the largest, a huge network with the spaceport as its central node, while Archea is located on the other pole and serves in a similar fashion, albeit on a smaller scale. Most of the scientific outposts are either located right below those cities, underwater, or scattered around the planet, including equatorial areas, even if such scientific venues are rather underfunded in the region.



It is also believed that the planet holds a certain potential for tourism - extreme sports in particular - but the rather cold and uninterested reception to the idea from local overseers generally served as a deterrent to invest further in the idea. Most locals seem to enjoy the isolated facet and population scarcity of their world and apparently intend it to remain that way.


Miscellaneous Information

• The main star being a red giant, it is not unusual to witness the skies suddenly turning red, like if the star itself was blurring and melting itself in the skies like a drop of water on a painting: this is a manifestation of the star's corona, that can stretch over millions of kilometers around and reflect on the upper atmosphere of the planet
• Milvus was the seat of the minor House Farel, before being administrated by the Sarum Family
• A small, secretive outpost named Ataraxia was said to be a Kitz of the SoCT
• Thousand Sheets of Carbon Paper takes place on an imaginary version of Janus V