Icarus II

**Icarus II** is a largely jungle world in the Icarus system, located inside the inner asteroid belt of the system. It is one of the main hubs and training grounds for the Shadowguard Program.

Its atmosphere is near-breathable by humans, though extreme amounts of carbon dioxide make it dangerous for humans to breath in its air over a week. Due to its position close to the local star, the temperatures are on average higher, offset my the very high amount of ozone on the planet.

The planet has a variety of plan and animal life. Its flora are generally of average size, though dense and packed. Animal life, due to the larger gravity on the planet, is generally smaller, and the vast majority of life are near-insects, with a myriad larger dog-sized near-mammals with plant traits to survive in the high-carbon dioxide environment. The Umojans have barred any civilian travel to the world, as many highly venomous mite-sized insects reside upon it.

## History

Icarus II was discovered in the Umojan's age of colonization, and was one of several worlds teeming with life. The settlers of Icarus, after weighing the possibilities of terraforming the world, recognized that changing the atmosphere to breathable levels would make the planet uninhabitable due to its position relative to its local star. Not wishing to also destroy the ample life on the planet, the Umojan settlers decided instead on Icarus IV, which would become a major agricultural hub for the Umojan colonies under the Writ of Colonization.

Icarus II largely went unmolested for hundreds of years, only the subject visit from scientists and wealthy tourists from the Old Families or large businesses who sought to set foot on exotic worlds. Its environment and the deadly toxins of the native wildlife led to many medical leaps for the Umojan colonies. But its obscurity and dangerous environment would prove to the Umojan's benefit in the late 2400s, when the Shadowguard Program was founded.

A base of operations was caved out on the coast of the largest continent, Icarus Prime, where the Shadowguard could meet and operate without fear of civilians wandering into the planet. The purpose of this base was twofold: one to hold many of the sensitive materials and equipment of the Shadowguard, and two as a training ground. Shadowguard trainees of their third year would undergo the Icarus Gambit, where they are dropped hundreds of kilometers from the base, armed with nothing but a knife, their psionics and some basic antitoxins. Trainees must then make the trek to the base, monitored from orbit to ensure their survival, and survive solely off of their own natural skills as they make it back to base.

Over the years, the role of Icarus Base has expanded. Due to the very high security on the planet, data cores containing vital Shadowguard records were erected in their base. Only those Shadowguard with authorization from the Shadowguard Program or the Ruling Council can access these cores. The idea to place these cores on the fringe of Umojan space, so close to the fringe worlds of the Dominion, was one met with skepticism by many in the Umojan military, though rumors were that the Shadowguard leadership were more worried about unforeseen internal threats than Dominion sabotage, leading some to suspect that incriminating data to the program is housed in these cores.