Vadren

Vadren is the largest moon of the gas giant Enalis in the Narsekil System, and the capital of the Krask Hegemony. While its surface is just as inhospitable as every other planet in the system, the space around it is filled with a great number of space stations, which house over 7 trillion people and the seat of government of the Krask.
==Physical Characteristics==
Originally, Vadren was a large, icy world with no exposed rock on the surface and no atmosphere to speak of. It was merely the largest moon in a retinue of similar icy moons of the enormous gas giant Enalis. However, when Narsekil began to die, swelling into a red giant, Vadren began to heat up. The thick crust of ice began to sublimate, forming a monstrously thick atmosphere protected beneath Vadren's uniquely powerful magnetic field. This pressure resulted in the remaining ice staying on the surface despite the temperature, forming exotic forms of pressurized ice. 
Vadren's structure is primarily composed of ice, silicate rock, and a small iron core which produces a magnetic field stimulated by Enalis' own much larger one. 
==Atmosphere==
Vadren's thick atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide, with less than 15% of its composition made of anything else. The majority of that is composed of nitrogen, released from the ammonia ice on the surface. This atmosphere is so crushing that it took interstellar-grade technology to reach the planetary surface at all, negating the possibility of any surface colonies. However, the upper reaches of the atmosphere above the cloud tops are fairly hospitable, if somewhat balmy, which causes a great number of people to begin living in floating cloud cities on the planet. 
Vadren's comparatively low mass and gravity, alongside the enormous amount of radiation incoming from Narsekil, means that this atmosphere is not permanent. It is being slowly stripped away, particles fleeing Vadren's grasp every second and creating an impressive tail visible in the far-infrared. 
==Climate==
The surface of Vadren is utterly inhospitable on every level. The crushing pressures render most probes inoperable after less than a day, and the temperature at the surface is more than hot enough to melt lead. Due to Vadren's relatively low gravity, this pressure is maintained for a great height above the surface, only beginning to become somewhat hospitable among the cloudtops, where most of the non-orbiting population lives. 
==Neighborhood==
Vadren, as a moon of the gas giant Enalis, has no moons of its own. However, the Krask Hegemony has assembled a great number of orbiting habitats, filling up the sphere of influence of its new capital. These include a great number of shipyards, using materials from the more easily mineable worlds in the system to build great starships. 
== Orbit and Rotation ==
Vadren orbits Enalis at a great distance, over twice that of the next outermost moon Galvar. It also, uniquely for such a large moon, has a substantial inclination of 19 degrees off of Enalis' equatorial plane. It is currently unknown why this is, but it luckily has a very circular orbit around its parent planet. Vadren, like most moons, is tidally locked, not that it matters considering the presence of superrotating cloud layers. 
==History==
Civilization first touched Vadren, not quite as inhospitable as it is today, in the days of the Krask Confederation. Existing on the edge of their territory, they did little beyond establishing some small colonies floating in its atmosphere to assist with the Narsekil Dyson Swarm. These relatively peaceful backwater days would come to a shuddering halt when the expanding Falacian Dominion devoured the pacifist Confederacy. After the beginning of the Krask Diaspora, Vadren, the Narsekil System, and the rest of the Telkron Expanse were chosen as valuable colony sites specifically because the Dominion cared very little for their comparatively useless strategic position. 
Vadren was on the way to nowhere. The only thing beyond the Telkron Expanse for the Falacian war fleets was empty space and the mysterious, uncaring and seemingly invincible Verteron Consortium. As such, many of the Krask who remained within Dominion territory slowly emigrated to this region after being pushed out of their former homelands. The other systems of the Expanse had very few even remotely hospitable planets to call a new home. The Aliga System had two, both supermassive, airless mining planets. Melos had none. Zavar had none that weren't actively molten. As such, Narsekil, as hostile as it was, became the best option for a major Krask colony within Dominion space. 
After Vadren was selected as the new center of Krask society, colonization proceeded apace with a number of cloud cities and sparse orbital infrastructure being assembled around it. Unfortunately, in 142 BC, this was interrupted by a brutal retaliation from the Falacian Union for a terrorist group's attack on some buildings on Darossa. Much of the infrastructure was shredded, and it would take several decades to rebuild. Luckily, no further "retaliations" occurred, and the budding Krask society was mostly ignored by their overlords.
During the Third Civil War, many Falaci fled the embattled core worlds for the seeming peace of the Telkron Expanse, often taking their habitats with them. Many of these habitats arrived in the orbit of Vadren, joining the coalescing society. Oftentimes, many of the new arrivals assimilated into Krask culture. The onset of the Tyran War briefly brought a sense of unity and strength to the Dominion, and this sentiment was even shared among the Krask, who wished to support the rebellions among the oppressed peoples of the Tyran Empire. This sense of unity quickly died after the end of the war, and the Dominion plunged into a succession crisis when House Kor'ann died out less than a decade later. 
During this succession crisis, none of the competing factions paid much attention to the generally worthless Telkron Expanse, of which Vadren is a part. In 47 AC, this allowed the Krask-majority territories spinwards of the Falacian core to declare the first conclave in over four hundred years at Vadren, in which they voted to secede from the Falacian Dominion. This momentous occasion actually changed very little, as the insane house of cards that was the Falacian political system never actually got around to taxing them since House Kor'ann was still around. After the secession, Vadren was declared the capital of the new Krask Hegemony, and its population began to swell as space habitats concentrated around the new seat of government.
Ever since the secession, Vadren has been largely at peace until the present day, only fielding ships of war in the galaxy-spanning War of the Broken Bow from 141-149 AC, less than a year ago. 
Category:Minmus' Articles
Category:Narsekil System
Category:Planets
Category:Krask Hegemony