Venus

**Venus** is a planet located in the Sol System. It is the second-closest planet to Sol. Despite its relatively close distance to its star compared to other planets in the system, such as Tellus, Venus' thick and gaseous atmosphere protects the planet's surface from Sol's intense heat. Therefore, although Venus' air is hot and humid compared to Tellus it is breathable. The planet's topography consists of thick jungles interspersed with rivers and mountain ranges. The thick atmosphere means that Venus' sky is mustard-coloured during the day, with few stars being visible at night.

Venus was inhabited for more than one million years by an intelligent species called the Venusians. Venusian survivors estimate that Venus was transported to the Sol System from a different star system (possibly located in a different galaxy or even another universe) to the Sol System in an event known as "the Change", which they estimate took place some 20,000 years ago. After the Change, the Venusians established an interplanetary colony on Mars, as well as smaller settlements on other moons in the Sol System and planets in distant star systems. However, a civil war between the Venus-based Venusian Empire and the breakaway Martian Republic led to the destruction of the civilisations of both planets. Thousands of years later, Venus' close proximity to Tellus made it a destination for early spaceflights by humanity in the second half of the 19th century. Venus was soon permanently settled by humans. By the late 22nd century, Venus has become the second most-populous planet in the Human Federation after Tellus, with a human population of more than 10 billion in the year 2200.

## Prehistory and ancient history

An intelligent species known as the Venusians first evolved on Venus about one million years ago. Approximately 20,000 years ago, an event known as "the Change" was widely observed by pre-industrial civilisations on Venus. As was the case with Tellus, the Change is believed to have transported Venus from a different universe with different physical laws to its current location, where it remains today. At the time the Change took place, Venusian astronomers were observing what appeared to be a rogue star approaching their planet, which may have been just decades away from destroying Venus and its solar system had the event not occurred. The Venusians became convinced that the Change was an event engineered by "the Creators", a civilisation existing on a higher plane of existence, to rescue their planet from destruction. It is not known whether Tellus and Venus previously existed in the same solar system or even the same universe before they were transported to their current locations by the Change.

The Venusians soon developed spaceflight and established the Venusian Empire, which colonised Mars and also established smaller settlements on distant moons in the Sol System and planets in other star systems. Tellus was observed by the Venusians but they did not colonise the planet, due to the Venusian Empire not wanting to interfere with the evolution of the early human civilisations that were developing at the time. The Venusian Empire's journeys to Tellus were limited to small expeditions to remote locations such as Antarctica. However, about 16,000 years ago Venusian settlers on Mars declared their independence from the Venusian Empire, forming the breakaway Martian Republic. The civil war soon escalated, and rebel Martian military forces deployed powerful biological contaminants in the atmosphere of Venus in an attempt to destroy the planet. The massive biological attack resulted in the deaths of almost all large life forms on Venus, with only small reptiles and insects surviving. In retaliation, Venus scorched the atmosphere of Mars with nuclear weapons. A small number of Venusian survivors were able to migrate to the Mons Piton structure on Luna, the moon of Tellus, where they entered hibernation pods to await the expected return of the Creators in several thousand years, hoping that they could help them to restore their civilisation.

## Modern history

As one of the brightest objects in the night sky of Tellus, Venus has been observed by humans since prehistoric times. Along with Mars, Venus was an early target for human space exploration after humanity developed interplanetary spaceflight in the second half of the 19th century.

After Mars, Venus was the second planet other than Tellus to be visited by humans. To the surprise of many scientific observers, the Russian Empire was successful in beating the United Kingdom to make the first manned landing on Venus in 1873. The United Kingdom was widely expected to be the first human nation to land on Venus, having made the first manned landing on Mars in 1871. Russia's 1873 expedition to Venus sent 14 explorers to the planet's Guinevere Planitia region. The Russians discovered an environment dominated by thick jungle, swampland and rivers, with a tropical climate characterised by high temperatures, humidity and precipitation. The Russians were the first human explorers to confirm the existence of any kind of extraterrestrial life forms when they discovered huge numbers of very large insects in the jungles of Venus. The explorers discovered that the Venusian rivers were populated by many unidentified species of small edible fish, as well as larger fish similar to piranhas, however no large land mammals or birds were discovered. Several small villages of varying size were found constructed in the jungle on the shore of a large river, with larger settlements being centred around small Mesoamerican-style pyramids. The Russian expedition team was successful in growing crops and discovered that a nearby mountain range contained plentiful supplies of minerals. After a one-year stay on Venus the Russian expedition team returned to Tellus, arriving by 1875.

In 1879, the United Kingdom became the second nation (after the Russian Empire) to successfully conduct a manned landing on Venus.

France became the third nation to conduct a successful landing on Venus when it landed 30 personnel in the jungles of the planet's Lakshmi Planum region in 1886. The French discovered further evidence of an extraterrestrial civilisation that once existed on the planet, including ruins and artifacts.

In 1887, the German Empire became the fourth human nation to conduct a manned landing on Venus. The German expedition team spent one year on Venus exploring the Beta Regio region. The Germans soon found a cleared section of jungle containing the remains of a huge city constructed entirely out of gold - by far the largest ruined settlement discovered on Venus at that point. At the centre of the city was an enormous golden pyramid, the largest ever discovered. Because of the grand scale of the city, the Germans speculated that it may have been the capital of the Venusian civilisation. Germany named the city "El Dorado", after the mythical city of gold in Colombia. After contact was subsequently made with survivors from the Venusian Empire by the British at the Mons Piton site on Luna, it was discovered that El Dorado had indeed been the Venusian Empire's capital, and had been named "Oyirosa" by the Venusians.

The United Kingdom established the first permanent human settlement on Venus in 1891.

In 1894 the Russian Empire established a permanent scientific outpost in the jungle of Guinevere Planitia on Venus, manned by a rotating crew of 50 personnel. This was soon converted into a permanent colony.

In 1895 France established its first interplanetary colony. Located around the banks of a large river running through Venus' Lakshmi Planum jungle, the settlement was named "Vénus Français" and initially had a population of around 200 settlers.

In 1895, the German Empire also established a colony at the ruined Venusian capital of Oyirosa in the Beta Regio region.

The United States sent its first expedition to Venus in 1897. In 1902, the United States established a permanently-manned scentific research outpost at the base of the Ushas Mons mountain.

In 1902, the United Kingdom discovered the Mons Piton site in the Mare Imbrium region of Luna. British scientists eventually managed solve the complicated mathematical equation allowing them to unlock the entrance to the mysterious alien facility, discovering the bodies of surviving members of the Venusian civilisation in hibernation pods. Out of hundreds of Venusians who were hibernating in the pods, only 11 members of the species had been successfully revived by British scientists by 1905. This was humanity's first contact with an advanced extraterrestrial species. The leader of the surviving Venusians, Xveca, told the British scientists that the remnants of her species had gone into hibernation after their civilisation had nearly been destroyed during the Venusian Civil War, in anticipation of the return of the Creators who the Venusians believed seeded life throughout the universe. The surviving Venusians were eventually given a reservation in which to live in the British sector in the Baltis Vallis of Venus. In 1908, the first Venusian child in more than 15,000 years was born in the Venusian reservation in Baltis Vallis.

Between 1900 and 1914, the population of human settlers living on Venus grew from 6,500 to 157,000. The Great War broke out on Tellus in 1914. The military forces of the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire quickly annexed the German Empire's territory on Venus, capturing the former Venusian capital city of Oyirosa. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the formation of the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire's interplanetary territories on Venus and Mars collectively declared their independence from the Soviet Union as the nation of "Novorossiya" (New Russia). The German Empire's former Venusian territory was divided among Britain and France.

Human emigration from Tellus (particularly the devastated continent of Europe) to Venus and Mars increased in the post-Great War years. Infrastructure such as road, railway and electricity distribution networks were expanded on Venus to serve the planet's growing human population.

During the 1940s, the United States began to develop its semi-permanent research outpost on Venus into a colony populated by civilian settlers. In 1944, the German Republic also established a colony in the Alpha Regio region of Venus.

Japan launched a fleet of interplanetary ships to establish a colony on Venus in 1950.

In 1965 the Soviet Union began to develop a colony in the Eistla Regio region of Venus.

China established a colony on Venus in 1969.

Mars was rendered mostly uninhabitable following an invasion attempt by the Cramori Empire at the start of the Sol-Cramori War between 1976 and 1980, leading millions of Martian refugees to emigrate from Mars to Venus and Tellus.

Venus, along with the rest of the Sol System, was occupied by the Cramori Empire between 2030 and 2063. The Cramori occupation of Venus was harsh and oppressive. Millions of humans were enslaved and forced to construct starships, weapons and equipment to aid in the Cramori Empire's expansion throughout the galaxy. Others were made to build temples and monuments to the Cramori and the Creators.

After the defeat of the Cramori Empire, war crimes trials were held for surviving Cramori leaders on Venus from 2191.