Laevo

**Laevo** is a superhabitable gentle giant around Kerbos.

## In-game Description

*"Named "Laevo" after the ancient kerbal words for “life” and “gentle”, this Gentle Giant thrilled the scientific community of Kerbalkind with the discovery of complex and thriving ecosystems within its vast skies and nourishing clouds. Being so uniquely suited for life and host to a distinct selection of interesting moons, it comes as no surprise that mission planners back home are scrambling to send scientific expeditions to the Laevo Planetary System."*

## Physical Characteristics

Laevo is a small gas giant in the habitable zone of Kerbos. Due to its size and position, the winds of this comparatively small planet are very low in the upper and mid atmosphere, making it a perfect place for life to exist. Combine this with the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere, and it's no wonder why Laevo has an abundance of life! Laevo also has small, tight rings composed of material shot off by Sesin from when it was younger and more volcanic. These rings are slowly dissipating and falling into Laevo's atmosphere. It's thought they used to be much large and grand, but now they're the little cute rings that surround this most interesting of planets.

## Atmosphere

Laevo's atmosphere is mostly comprised of helium and hydrogen in its upper atmosphere, but in the mid atmosphere, a large portion of nitrogen, oxygen, and other gasses are present. While it might not be breathable to Kerbals, it certainly is to the life that calls Laevo's skies home.

## Rings

Laevo has a set of small, tight rings around it, in two noticeable groups, the large inner rings and a smaller outer band. It's thought that Laevo's rings are composed of material blown off from Sesin, similar to how Jool's faint ring system is made of material from Pol. However, since Sesin now possesses a thick atmosphere and has moved away from Laevo, resulting in less volcanic activity, the material that fed Laevo's rings has been cut off, and in a couple billion years, Laevo's rings might fall into the gas giant entirely.

## Orbit - Rotation

Like all the planets and moons orbiting Kerbos, Laevo orbits and rotates retrograde, or opposite to the direction most planets orbit. Scientists believe that Laevo is actually moving prograde, but the Kerbos System is just oriented upside down relative to the Kerbol system.

## Life

Laevo has a very, very complex ecosystem in it's upper to mid atmosphere. There are four main groups of lifeforms; Floaters, Flyers, Plantoids, and the exotic Gaseous Lifeforms. Floaters are extremely large behemoths that stay aloft either by having large internal gas sacs or a huge wingspan that very slowly flap up and down, similar to Kerbin's stingrays, but much much larger, and slower. They can get up to five kilometers in size from left to right. These huge animals graze upon either the aerial plankton that float among Laevo's clouds, or, as is the case with some small floaters, each other. One species of Floater predator, which has a span of around 500 meters, is known to attack the eyes of its larger prey, then feast upon its corpse as it falls deeper into the atmosphere. There are also small, bird like organisms on Laevo, Flyers. Flyers are.. interesting. You can't classify they're eating habits as predatory or herbivore-like, because of the nature of their prey, Plantoids. Plantoids grow on the backs of large Flyers, and while most are simple and plant-like, some have evolved the ability to move similar to animals, seeming to be animal-like while also being able to photosynthesize light like a plant. Flyers have a tendency to pick these planetoids up and carry them to large Floaters, where it seems they farm them. The Flyers will then occasionally lead a mobile Plantoid off of the Floater and to its death, where they get their meal. Finally, there's the strange Gas Lifeforms. Not much is known about them, but strange flashes within discolored clouds, and the sudden disappearance of Flyers and Floaters when they enter them warrants interest. Combine this with the strange and erratic movements of these clouds, and it's hard not to say these clouds might well be alive.

## Moons

* Sesin
* Arbor
* Thern