Luna

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."-Neil Armstrong 
Luna is the only major moon of planet Earth in the Sol System of the Orion Arm in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was originally a temperate S-Class moon before becoming the E-Class world we see today through the use of terraforming.
== Description ==
Luna is the only major moon of the home world of the human species, Earth, and as such, was the first world beyond its borders to be colonized by them. It stood as one of the only universal focal points in all human culture throughout the entire planet, only being second to that of the very sun that the planet orbited, and as a result, humans long dreamed of inhabiting its then dead grey surface. Eventually this dream would become a reality, as on the eve of the year 2,030 CE, a permanent human presence would be established on the moon. 
Humanity first set foot on the moon in 1,969 CE during the Apollo 11 mission, making the moon the first world beyond the earth to be visited by humans. The Apollo missions, named after the ancient Greek deity of the sun, lasted from 1,969 CE to 1,972 CE with a total of twelve individuals walking on the surface. Humans did not set foot on the Moon again up until their return in 2,024 CE. 
During the early colonization of the Sol System, Luna served as the launching point of ships bound to worlds beyond the gravitational reach of the Terran System, as the moon comparatively had much less gravity then the Earth, allowing for ships to reach escape velocity much easier. Along with this, it also served as a sort of checking station for those wishing to enter Earth, and it continues to do so to this day. 
Luna would become the third world in the Sol System to be terraformed by humanity in 2,270 CE, over two hundred standard years after it was first visited by the species. Due to the lack of a natural atmosphere, it was viewed at the time as not economically feasible to terraform the world, as creating an atmosphere from scratch is quite expensive, but thanks to the cultural significance the world held, it was terraformed either way, becoming the third respective Eden to inhabit the star system. 
== Geography ==
Before being terraformed, Luna's geography was an endless expanse of dead grey jagged dust constantly boiling in the radiation produced by the sun its parent planet orbits. Across this dead surface were countless impact craters, thanks to the lack of a significant atmosphere, any object heading towards the moon's surface can collide with the surface unabated. 
After the terraforming process was complete, the overall geography of the planet was modeled to be exactly like that of its parent planet of Earth, including endless salt water oceans, massive life filled forests, frigid snowy tundras, and all of the other landscapes known to exist on the aforementioned planet. And much alike Earth, the moon is made up of seven distinct continents, each named after a lunar deity in human mythologies. These include Diana, Hecate, Cynthia, Mani, Phoebe, Khonsu, and Tsukuyomi, with the landscapes of each varying depending. 
Unlike Venus, Luna's landscapes are more modeled directly after Earth, meaning they didn't shy away from the more inhospitable areas of Earth such as tundras and deserts. This has allowed for the moon to be urbanized much more then other worlds, as there is far less life to endanger with this process, and the life that may be endangered are often moved to a safer location on the moon.
== Climate ==
The climate of the moon varies depending on each hemisphere, much alike the Earth, though generally it is warmer then that of its parent planet. Towards the northern hemisphere, a colder climate is experienced, allowing for icy tundras to exist across the northern continents, however warm ocean currents keep the more coastal regions of these aforementioned continents warmer. While the southern climate is much warmer, with tropical rain forests and massive deserts dominating major expanses. 
The weather of the moon is also modeled to be identical to that of Earth's, so like the planet, it has a varied weather filled with rain, thunderstorms, blizzards, droughts, and so on. Unlike the Earth however, the more destructive weather events, such as hurricanes are prevented before they are able to form.
== Population ==
Luna is one of the most populace worlds in the Sol System, having the third largest population behind the planets of Earth and Mars, with a total population of around three trillion individuals. This populace is fairly large for the moon's size, even dwarfing colony worlds that are much larger then itself. The reason for this would be both its importance in human culture, and its strategic position in the star system.
Like most worlds in the Sol System the majority of the populace is human. However a rather unique trait of this aforementioned populace is their frequent use of body enhancing mutations. The mutations used by them cover their arms with aerodynamic feathers, allowing them to fly by simply flapping their arms thanks to the lower gravity of the moon. This has lead them to be considered as a wholly unique subspecies of human known as: "Lunarians."
Most of the population is located in the massive cities spread all across the moon's surface with the largest of which being the capital city of Artemia Utopia, smaller towns and villages are known to exist as well.
== Culture ==
Luna's culture is very theocratic, as many of its citizens subscribe to the religion known as the: "Faith of the Lunar Mother." This religion is solely based around the moon itself, with many of its chief tenants involving the lunar calendar, believing that each phase of the moon represents a different aspect of the lunar mother's relationship to that of her beloved wife, the Earth. 
Along with the theocratic nature of the populace, another major aspect of the moon's culture is based around the continuing protection of humanity's cultural homeland, Earth, as it stands as the last line of defense before an invading force can enter within the planet's respective borders. 
Lunarian culture is also based on a sort of: "free flowing" nature, meaning that many Lunarians believe that the universe is in a constant state of change, and rather then attempting to combat this change, it is better to go with the flow of the cosmic river and allow yourself to travel down the stream.
== History ==
=== Formation and Ancient History ===
Luna would form from the aftermath of an impact between the planets of Earth and Theia, shattering the latter and causing a massive amount of debris to be placed in orbit around the Earth. This aforementioned debris would form into two distinct spherical bodies in orbit around the planet known as Luna and Selene, and these two newly made moons would orbit the Earth for several millions of standard years. 
The two moons would have significant gravitational influence over each other as they orbited their shared parent planet, and with Luna being the larger of the two, it would hold much more sway over Selene. This would cause Selene's orbit to begin to slowly slow down, and at the apotheoses of this gravitational tug of war, it would be captured by its sister-world's gravity, ultimately crashing into the moon. As the moons crossed within each other's respective roche limits, they would begin to tear each other apart, and once the two bodies collided, a massive cloud of debris would form around the Earth. This debris would also remain in gravitational resonance, and eventually would begin to merge, forming a much larger singular moon also taking the name of Luna. 
When it first formed, the moon would orbit in very close proximity of Earth, appearing as if it's on the brink of crashing into the planet, however over time it would begin to slowly drift away from the planet. Along with the close proximity, the moon was organically a hot hell world, with a surface covered almost completely of molten lava, but as it drifted away from the planet, it would have its surface temperature cool down, thanks to less tidal forces inflicted upon it. As this happened, the aforementioned lava would harden, forming massive blackend rock to dominant major expanses of the moon's geography. 
=== Early Human Colonization ===
Humans would first reach the grey world when the Apollo 11 crew consisting of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, touchdown on the moon in 1,969 CE, proving that humanity could each a world beyond their homeland. Afterwards, several more missions to the lunar surface were conducted, however as human internal politics gradually drifted away from space exploration at the end of the Space Race, the final mission for some time ended in 1,972 CE.
The moon would remain untouched by anyone, save for robotic operations, until' the eve of 2,024 CE, when the so called: "Artemis Mission" was launched in a join operation between the United States of America, and the Russian governments. Afterwards, many more missions were sent to the moon, and by 2,030 CE, the first permanent human habitat would be established on the moon, known as Fort Armstrong, in honor of the first man to walk the lunar surface. 
Luna would begin to have more and more humans to inhabit its surface as larger colonies were constructed by various nations of Earth, as well as using the moon as a launching point for missions beyond the Earth's gravity, and by the year 2,040 CE, the moon would have a population of around ten million. Unfortunately however, this rapid expansion would be halted just ten standard years later when a massive asteroid collided with the planet Earth in an event known as the: "Great Cataclysm," killing billions and pausing human progress almost entirely. This would also cause the beginnings of a united human government, during the Earth's so called: "Continental Period." 
Humans who lived on the moon at the time were seemingly locked out from the Earth, as those on the planet became extremely isolated, not concerning themselves with those who lived on the off-world colonies of Luna and Mars. As they were locked from the Earth, the comparatively small amount of people on the moon would assume they were now considered as an independent nation, and the: "United People of the Moon" was founded. 
File:Pre Terraformed Moon.png|Luna before being terraformed.
Category:Moons
Category:Milky Way