Etorian

Etorian

**Etorian** is a major, jovian-sized gas giant of the Daeylos System and its outermost, largest planet. Despite its marginally smaller size than Jupiter, it is slightly more massive and thus denser. Although Etorian is uninhabited, it is home to the Etorius Station in its orbit, and host to the Etorian Energy Grid, a vast array of wind farms located within the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Etorian is additionally used to mine for hydrogen, helium, and methane gas for refinement into starship fuel and plasma canisters on Haethlen.

## Characteristics

### Atmosphere

At high altitudes, Etorian's atmosphere is 75% hydrogen and 24% helium, alongside trace quantities of methane and other minor gasses. The vivid azure and cyan colours of Etorian's skies is predominantly caused by prominent absorption bands of methane at wavelengths above 600 nm, in the red and infrared portion of the spectrum. This absorption of red light by the atmospheric methane is part of what gives Etorian its distinctive and striking colouration, although the quantities of methane within the upper atmosphere are too little for the strong azure colour along the equatorial. It is believed that some unknown atmospheric constituent also contributes to Etorian's strong colouration and visual appearance.

Etorian's troposphere is banded by clouds of varying compositions dependant upon altitude. The upper-level clouds lie at pressures below one bar, where the temperature is suitable for methane to condense. For pressures between one and five bars (100 and 500 kPa), clouds of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are known to form, and above a pressure of five bars, the clouds may of ammonia, ammonium sulfide, hydrogen sulfide and water. Deeper clouds of water ice are found at pressures of about 50 bars (5.0 MPa), where the temperature reaches 273 K (0 °C). Underneath, clouds of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide believed to be found, although ships capable of surviving such pressures, the storms, and gravity do not yet belong to the Dominion of Andromeda for a scientific study of the lower Etorian atmosphere.

### Moons

#### Allunzea

**Allunzea** is the largest and innermost of Etorians three major moons, and a volcanic hotspot of the Daeylos system due to the result of tidal heating from friction generated within the interior of the moon as it is pulled between Etorian, Tional, and Tholyl. Unlike most satellites in the outer limits of star systems, which are mostly composed of water ice, Allunzea is primarily composed of silicate rock surrounding a molten iron sulfide core.

Like Etorian, Allunzea is used primarily for power generation for the Daeylos system, although the Allunzea Power Grid is reliant on thermal energy generation, rather than wind power, as with its parent world.

Allunzea is known to have an atmosphere of Co2 and sulfur gasses, making it completely inhospitable to life; thus all Dominion facilities across the surface of the moon are entirely automated.

#### Tional

**Tional** is the second-largest and second innermost moon of Etorian, comprised of a silicate-ice mix. The moon is geologically active, like Allunzea, although to a far lesser degree. Tional's volcanic activity takes the form of cryovolcanoes and is believed to be responsible for its nitrogen-methane atmosphere. A noticeable hydrocycle has formed on Tional utilising this methane, as several methane lakes are known to appear and dry out over monthly cycles on the celestial body. Rivers are also known to appear when these methane lakes appear, draining into Tional's only permanent liquid body, a large methane sea.

Tional is, unlike Allunzea and Tholyl, not used by the Dominion of Andromeda for resource or energy collection, instead becoming a major curiosity of the Dominion's scientific circles, with many proposing the possibility of the introduction of uniquely adapted, bioengineered life to the planet as a case-study in alternative forms of life. Despite the desires of these scientific circles, the Dominion of Andromeda has thus far blocked attempts to interfere with the natural process of the moon on ethical grounds.

#### Tholyl

**Tholyl** is the third major moon of Etorian, and smallest of the three objects. Tholyl is primarily comprised of frozen water ice and is believed to harbour pockets of sub-surface seas beneath its thick ice crust. It is the smoothest celestial body within the Daeylos system and considered abnormally flat by Dominion scientists, lacking any major dips or rises on its crust. Dominion scientists have estimated a total variance of height in Tholyl's crust of only one meter, although sub-surface scans indicate a much more rugged surface hidden beneath.

Tholyl is known to harbour several liquid water seas beneath its icy surface, forming into disconnected pockets as the rocky, silicate-ice blend of the moon's second, non-ice surface rises into its icy crust, breaking apart the subsurface water bodies.

Predominant models suggest that heat from tidal flexing causes the seas beneath Tholyl's crust to remain liquid and drives ice movement similar to plate tectonics, absorbing chemicals from the surface into the ocean below. Despite this, the lack of a magnetic field around Tholyl has left the scientific community doubting that it could ever harbour life beneath its surface.

## Energy Farms

Etorian's primary infrastructure is its vast arrays airborne wind turbines, produced by the Sortael Corporation. These large, lightweight turbines are tethered together in long chains for stability in the upper Etorian atmosphere, in large grids connected between the gas giant's directional wind streams. This is done to counteract the lack of solid surface on Etorian to which the buoyant airborne turbine can be moored.

The turbines then charge large high-density batteries, alongside local batteries for emergency manoeuvres, such as lifting the grid of turbines above major storms or making course corrections using a series of in-built atmospheric engines. Should a Sortael turbine become inoperable, or pose a hazard to other turbines within a grid, it can disconnect itself automatically, and utilise emergency exo-atmospheric engines to place itself in orbit for retrieval.

To transport the energy from the Etorian energy grids, these turbines are centred around a core hub module, acting as the main battery for each grid. When each grid becomes charged, this main module then wirelessly beams the stored energy to one of twelve collector units in geosynchronous orbit via ultrahigh-frequency lasers. These twelve collection satellites then use this collected power to store the electricity in hyperdense electrical batteries, for transport across the star system.