Aja

> *Even from the surface of Huanca, our settlers have admired the oceans and seas of Aja. A patchwork of land and sea beneath thick orange clouds, this world makes for a very striking neighbor in the sky.*
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> *It's worth mentioning that we've discovered some unusual fluctuations that we can't quite explain. Settlers would be advised to pay special attention to atmospheric composition until this effect is fully understood.*
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## About

**Aja** (also known as **TRAPPIST-1c**) is the second planet from TRAPPIST-1. It has a thick yellowish atmosphere like Venus, with some surface water on its surface, hidden by the clouds. It is a part of the TRAPPIST-1 Storyline. To unlock this, we need to colonize Huanca first. Aja doesn't have any natural satellites.

A malfunctioning alien artifact called *Qelsetk* is present upon landfall, which raises pressure or decreases oxygen. After decrypt the artifact, player are able to control it.

#### *Pressure Spiking*

*The alien artifact has released a huge cloud of new gases! Atmospheric pressure has risen by [number] Pa globally, a truly breathtaking increase for such a short time.*

#### *Oxygen Depletion*

*The alien artifact has removed a huge portion of oxygen from our atmosphere! Presumably using it to recharge, the artifact has created a [number] ppm drop in oxygen levels worldwide.*

## Strategy

The player doesn't need to complete the faction's secondary goals. You only need to spend 20 culture points on decryption. And because of that, you can complete all TRAPPIST-1 worlds quickly by just getting enough culture point events for 20 of them.

Lower the air pressure, temperature, and sea level, and increase oxygen to the threshold at which humans and other animals can survive. Keep the artifact under control so that the world doesn't become completely barren. Keep in mind that it fires every half hour. To control it, increase the oxygen to 240,000 ppm and let the artifact "help" lower the oxygen. At the same time, keep the pressure low (50,000 pa). This will require:

* Some Biofixture Labs
* Kelp Farm X, since the oxygen plant or the CyanoVats is too ineffective.

Pausing the game stops the artifact from firing, so simply pausing whenever you are not actively playing the game may be an effective strategy, depending on the play style. Actively playing the game also allows you to get culture points from events rather than from population increases, so this way you can beat Aja relatively quickly.

## Victory — Spoiler Alert

Instead of spending culture points on independence, on this world and other TRAPPIST-1 worlds, people devote culture points to investigation and decryption. Victory is achieved when you spend 20 culture points on this, regardless of whether you have achieved the faction's secondary goals.

*Another ancient device has been found on the surface of this world, Unlike the Tresuunak, this device seems to be active and functioning, but it has been calibrated for the needs of its creators. As such, it poses a very real threat to our hominization efforts, and the lives of our settlers. Only by decrypting the system can we learn to control it, and ultimately recalibrate it for our needs.*

*- Decryption: At 100% victory is achieved.*

After you tame the artifact called Qelsetk, it gets added to the Tresuunak, which can be found in the Satellites tab of your game. From there, you can activate the Qelsetk once per hour. The Qelsetk is capable of adjusting pressure or oxygen towards paradise habitability levels on other TRAPPIST-1 planets.

#### Victory Text

*Through the focused efforts of your scientists and engineers, this world has been made safe for you and the [number] settlers under your care. It has been a hard road, but the alien device has been decrypted and reprogrammed under our control. It will no longer harm our people, and indeed, may prove incredibly useful in the years to come.*

*Qelsetk was a mythological figure in the saga of the Tresuunak, recruited by Dvintek for her mastery over the air. Either a chemist or a sorceress, depending on your interpretations, she's described as being able to change the weather and create (or dispel) clouds of poisonous gas. Her name has been given to an incredibly sophisticated atmospheric processor that our scientists still aren't able to fully understand. What we do know, however, is that we can program it to help aid us in our efforts to terraform these worlds.*

*Our engineers are working hard to raise the device from the surface of the planet, and install it in one of the Tresuunak's empty slots. We expect that by the time you are ready to begin exploring the next world, we will have it fully operational. It does require recharging after each use, but even so, it could prove to be a potent advantage in our hominization efforts.*
## Trivia

* Aja (TRAPPIST-1c) is thought to have a thick water vapor and carbon dioxide atmosphere similar to Venus. The atmospheric pressure is high, but not that high as it is on Venus.
	+ However, in 2023, a secondary eclipse of TRAPPIST-1c caught by the James Webb Telescope found no evidence of a thick CO2 Atmosphere around the planet, suggesting that its more of a barren world instead of a Venus-like world. It still could harbour a thin atmosphere like Mars.
* TRAPPIST-1c is the most massive planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Its mass is 30.8% greater than Earth, and its radius is 10% bigger and gravity 8.6% stronger than on Earth. Its density is fairly similar to Earth.
* TRAPPIST-1c may have had an atmosphere that is 16 bars thick most likely made out of carbon dioxide after it cooled down, but since the stellar wind stripped it away, it is now just a barren world.
	+ However, the absence of a CO2 Atmosphere suggests that TRAPPIST-1c had a volatile-poor formation history.
* Aja is the name of an orisha, a spirit from Yoruba mythology. She is the spirit of the forest, the animals within, and herbal healers.