Temno

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Temno is an independent human colony with a sizeable authiik population situated coreward of Kyandor and trailward of Normaa. The planet's remote location and distant relationship to the Orion Confederation makes it a popular spot for criminals to hide from the authorities, though it maintains a small fleet of its own in an attempt to discourage such activities.

## Habitation Information

### Population

Human: ~ 134 ThousandAuthiik: ~ 50000

Up to 650 Thousand Incl. Undocumented Residents.

### Currency

Various

Temno is a world in a military alliance with the Orion Confederation, but is not a member with a seat on the council, only relying on them occasionally to settle large-scale battles between various piracy organizations over their world. These occur often enough for the Confederacy to supply them with surplus military vessels, such as *Spitfire* and *Herakles*-class starships.

It orbits an orange dwarf star at such a distance that its surface only receives 10% as much energy as that of Earth does. This normally would render its surface so cold that the planet could not support life. It is instead heated by volcanic hotspots.

The planet's volcanism is sustained by its larger moon, Teplo, which is nearly twice the mass of the earth's moon and orbits at only one fifth the distance. This tidal activity and the volcanic hotspots give some parts of the surface tolerable surface temperatures, with the heat from the volcanoes warming the planet enough to melt enough nitrogen, oxygen, and water ices to maintain its atmosphere and small lakes.

Its classification due to a combination of these factors is that of a "Geothermal" planet, a subset of semi-terra, a group of designations for humanlike habitable planets with nontraditional methods of sustaining their biospheres.

Life on the planet is not very diverse, with simple aquatic creatures, small arthropods, and dark native plants and fungi capable of surviving on the planet by growing near one of the planet's many thousands of volcanoes. Humans have taken up residence on the planet, bringing with them modified Martian plant life to have much broader leaves and more efficient chloroplasts, which allow them to grow in Netepli's dim sunlight.

The purpose of the second large body orbiting the planet is currently unknown. It takes the form of a small rocky body with several kilometers of complex alien machinery and electronics whose purpose is not well understood.

When the body was scouted by automated probes, the planet was marked as a terraforming candidate, only requiring alteration to the atmosphere and flora to sustain it. However, its second moon was cataloged as "Body rich in ferrous and heavy metals with high oxide content in surface regolith orbiting in the second position. Possible mining Target."

When the rights to the planet were won by a corporation on Mars, they were pleased to learn of this fact. When eyes were first laid on the moon, the plans to mine the moon were canceled and study went underway.

The most popular theory is that the world may have served a purpose as a planetary supercomputer when completed, though it currently functions as an atmospheric processor and deep core geothermal energy harvester.

As with the planet Empress, most of the structure's components do not function. It was found to have been built upon a pre-existing body as Empress had been, but Malish is not completed as Empress was. Massive gaps remain in its heavily rusted outer shell, and it possesses no outer regolith. This left it in a pristine shape to be studied and a potential purpose was discerned for this type of world.

## Government

Temno's government is simple and highly localized, with each settlement featuring either an elected or hereditary governor. They and their advisors decide upon the laws that apply to their own cities, decide upon the form of courts and law enforcement, and decide which cities that they trade with. The only standardization they make is for the benefit of the planet in case of foreign invasion in the form of weapon standardization, where militia forces across the planet use the same pistols and rifles, or at least the same magazines and ammunition.

## History

### Formation

As it orbits a dimmer star, the planet is believed to be older than Earth by approximately 1.5 billion years. Its rings are believed to have come from a small rocky moon whose orbit was disturbed by Teplo and Malish until it crossed the roche limit and broke apart, becoming dark and dense rings that cast deep shadows on the planet during the winter, which makes the already frigid planet even less comfortable.

### Authiik Habitation

The authiik colonized the planet under the name Pratishaya in the year 25714 BCE. It was their first colony world outside their home solar system, in which they had some small colonies on their moon before nuclear war devastated their homeworld and they were forced to leave.

Pratishaya served as their primary population center until 25560 BCE, when the neyanta pushed through their space and bombed the surfaces of their planets until there were no longer any signs of life. The authiik survived by fleeing to Mabatsar, but Udyana and her moon, Pratishaya, and Vrina were sterilized.

### Inter-Community Era

After the fall of the authiik civilization, the planet's small second moon was converted to the state it is currently in. Covered in machinery which converted the moon's internal heat into electricity that is mostly routed to nothing as the project was never completed. The machinery also replenishes the moon's atmosphere, whose composition matches that of Prrkane.

This fact combined with the neyanta's own records of their history, filled with feats of mega-construction ranging from cloud nine habitats to circumstellar cingworlds, led to the theory that the old neyanta produced the machinery, believed to be similar to Empress' defunct planetary supercomputer complex.

The fall of neyanta civilization in the 22000s BCE left Malish's supercomputer complex incomplete, where it remained dormant for millennia before being rediscovered by humans in the 3850s.

### Human Habitation

Humans discovered the planet via star charts found in the derelict husks of authiik vessels nearby. It was an important location, but how important it was wasn't known until first contact with the authiik was made decades later. The planet's location was later confirmed by cross-referencing it with survey data. The colony rights were auctioned off for a low price due to the planet's environment.

> *"I recognize the terrain features. I've seen similar ridges, depressions, and bumpy terrain on Earth and the outskirts of Hellas, but these are far, far older. Fainter. They didn't come about naturally. They were created. With bombs. This planet meant something to someone once, but not anymore."*
>
>

All too familiar with ecological destruction at the hands of bombings, the planet underwent a thirty year repair process before any humans set foot on the planet, which brought down ambient radiation levels and introduced flora that would thrive on the planet. By the 2890s, the planet was considered safe for human habitation. Unfortunately, the remote location and low population made it a popular location for seedier elements of human society.

The population listed for the planet, a figure of 184 thousand, is the estimated number of legal residents on the planet including 134 thousand humans and 50 thousand authiik, while the population including undocumented residents could be as high as 650 thousand. It mirrors Clesti in this way. With a small population and undesirable surface conditions, it is largely overlooked. Activities heavily regulated or outlawed by the Orion Confederacy are commonplace in many of the planet's larger settlements, including prostitution, production and distribution of addictive and intoxicating substances, piracy in both definitions of the word, trafficking, trade and sale of stolen property, and illegal GCC Modding.

Again going by Clesti's example, joining the Confederacy would not solve this problem. Temno's governing body instead opted to become an associate to the HSG, allowing trade and military cooperation without submitting themselves to the authority of the council. This allowed them to purchase military surplus including *Spitfire* Corvettes and *Herakles* Destroyers, which had largely been superseded by the *Velocity* and *Amazon* classes respectively. More would be freely given as piracy in the area grew.

First contact with the authiik was made over the planet, with a small fleet of ships showing up to inspect the former authiik colony of Pratishaya as they returned from the Small Magellanic Cloud. A warning shot was returned with glancing blows and the resulting battle caused the death of the majority of Tz801 *Freyja*'s crew and the AI Freyja herself, along with many others wounded or killed aboard the rest of the fleet that participated in the battle. The conflict has since been resolved, and the crew of this wandering fleet was allowed to resettle on the planet.

Contact was made with Mabatsar less than 10 years later, attracting more immigrants to Temno and prompting a search for the rest of their old colonies and their homeworld.