Browa

**Browa** is a terrestrial planet of expansive grass-seas, jagged mountains and treacherous oceans. It is renowned for its relentless storms, producing some of the strongest winds ever recorded on an inhabited planet in the galaxy. These storms are responsible for much of Browa’s iconic landscapes: churning up the seas, gouging out deep hollows in the cliffs and mountainsides, and carving extensive networks of underground caverns and tunnels over millennia. Browa has been inhabited by two distinct indigenous races: the Browans, who now exist predominantly in other parts of the galaxy, and the Olmeon, who still inhabit Browa's subterranean caves.

## Description

The planet Browa is situated in the Nekkar System of the Antiopian Arm of the galaxy. It is accompanied in its star system by four other planets, all of them sharing their name with the name of their star. None of Browa's neighbouring planets are inhabitable. Browa is the third planet from the sun in the Nekkar System. It has no moons.

### Climate and geography

Browa's climate is typically temperate, with much of the planet climates shifting seasonally. The equator is the most stable region of Browa, reaching temperature highs of roughly 35 °C and lows of about 20 °C. It is also the driest region on the planet, with much of Browa's temperate and polar regions being buffeted by severe storms year-round. The winds of these enormous, often planet-wide storms are reported to be some of the fastest winds ever measured on any inhabited planet in the galaxy, giving Browa its unofficial moniker, "The Windsphere."

Browa comprises one main continent, Preva Mahnal, which makes up about 60% of the planet's surface. The other 40% is made up of seas and numerous islands. The seas of Browa are notoriously treacherous, whipped up by the incessant storms, making them extremely dangerous and difficult to navigate. The native inhabitants of Browa never colonised the planet's scattered islands, leaving them untouched until the arrival of the Venkee settlers.

Extensive networks of natural, underground tunnels stretch across much of Browa's single, large continent, carved out by subterranean rivers. These tunnels are usually accessible via caves in gorges and ravines on the surface, and also open into huge cavities in the cliffs along the continent's coasts. The cave system has inspired some to consider Browa as a world of two worlds: that of the surface, and that below.

### Flora and fauna

Much of Browa's wildlife has evolved specific adaptations in order to survive the planet's inhospitable storms. Its forests are small and are usually nestled in the shelter of mountainsides, and even then the trees are typically squat as if stunted by the wind. The most numerous tree species on Browa is the Browan boulderbeam, a stout species with an extraordinarily thick trunk to prevent it from being toppled in strong winds, often making it wider than it is tall. It occurs all over Preva Mahnal, and it produces sweet, white fruits, which are a staple to many of Browa's inhabitants.

Browa has a vast array of native flower species, although most of them do not remain in bloom for very long, often only a few days during Browa's calmer, less-stormy dry season. One flower that is commonly seen across all of Browa's wide, open plains is the windcatch iondonia, whose petals are white and fluffy. This flower relies on the wind to complete its lifecycle so it usually flowers for longer than other flowers, later into the stormy season.

Despite the harsh weather conditions of the planet, Browa is home to a wide range of native animal species, such as the common mukazet, a large ungulate species that roams the plains of Preva Mahnal. These hairy, long-trunked, long-legged animals live in such large herds that it can take several days for an entire herd to pass through an area. Often pursuing these mega-herds are carnivorous, long-snouted drewlishes, who also live in large family groups. Browa's vast plains are also inhabited by many extremely large mammals, like the great telego and giant mantoroh, the latter of which can grow to be 6.5 metres tall and 9 metres in length from nose to tail. Many of these large herbivores are covered in thick, shaggy fur to protect them from the winds on the open landscapes. Perhaps the most famous of Browa's wildlife are the windbirds. This family of birds comes in many variations, and despite their renown they are very rare and hard to find. They typically appear during the worst of Browa's storms, adding to their elusiveness. They play a significant role in the cultures of many Browan people, notably the Mahhram, who would use windbird feathers in many of their religious practices.

Beneath the surface, Browa's wildlife has a different set of specifications, with most animals down here exhibiting the characteristics of cave-dwelling creatures: loss of pigment, regressed eyes, and enhanced non-visual sensory systems. A common species of Browa's caves is the blind sibisum, a large, hairless, quadrupedal mammal, whose eyes are covered by a layer of skin. These sibisums are carnivorous, unlike their surface-dwelling relatives. They are an important domesticated animal for the local cave-dwelling Olmeon.

## History

### Pre-New Era

Browa is the homeworld of two indigenous sentient races, the surface-dwelling Browans (although this name was never used by the Browans themselves) and the cave-dwelling Olmeon. The two races rarely encountered one another, with the Olmeons firmly restricted to their wet, dark cave systems and the Browans of the plains seldom venturing into them too deeply. Encounters have occurred on occasion, though they are usually the result of individual Browans becoming lost and trapped in the caves. Some of the oldest Browan stories comprise tales of legendary, furless, eyeless beings dwelling in the caves, but these tales were often fanciful and not necessarily popularly believed.

Many of the surface-dwelling Browan groups lived in nomadic communities, relying on trade with other groups, while others settled and constructed large, permanent settlements. Due to the lack of building materials on the desolate plains, many of these sedentary communities constructed their sites using bone and hide, mud, stone (usually in the mountainous regions), or a combination of all three. The subterranean Olmeon also constructed permanent settlements, carving Browa's largest and most populous cities into the walls of the cave system's large chambers. It is theorised that the Olmeon began harvesting Browa's supposed subterranean Essence deposits some time during the Middle Era, but this theory is not yet verified due to the secrecy of Olmeon society.

### New Era and Venkee invasion

During the mid-Second Dawn Epoch, Browa came to the attention of the Venkee, who initially sought to establish a trade post on the planet. This was met with some concern from the native Browans, who upon contact with the Venkee refused to concede, but the denial of land rights was ignored. The Venkee quickly established numerous colonies across Browa's single continent and heavily disregarded the Browans’ traditional way of life: taxing trade and thus forcing many nomadic Browans into sedentary lifestyles while also taking control of Browan settlements. The term “Browan” was never used by the Browans themselves but was instead given to them by the Venkee settlers, whose first encounter with Browans was with the Mahhram, a distinct ethnic group local to the north-central plains of Preva Mahnal. It was the Mahhrams' name for the planet, “Browa,” that stuck with the Venkee, and thus all of Browa’s inhabitants were misguidedly referred to under the single title of “Browans.”

The Venkee are responsible for the homogenising of the disparate Browan people, stripping them of their independent territories and distinct cultural identities, haphazardly lumping together various communities who had no affiliation with one another and no common language between them. This resulted in the Browan exodus known as the Flight of Fifty Winds. This left Browa’s surface populated by increasing numbers of Venkee and their allies, harassed by numerous Orogogic invasions.

Below the surface, meanwhile, the cave-dwelling Olmeon remained undisturbed by the events taking place over their heads. Rumour spread among Browa’s new Venkee populace of some hidden menace lurking in the shadows, much like it had among its indigenous inhabitants. It was not until the end of the Modern Epoch when the rumours revealed themselves to be true when the Olmeon finally came out from their caves – heavily armed, numerous and ready for battle – instigating the infamous Night of Terror. Countless Venkee were killed during the conflict and many fled to fortified cities or simply abandoned the planet altogether. The conflict between the Venkee and Olmeon of Browa is ongoing, springing up usually in the form of minor skirmishes. The few Venkee remaining on the planet were themselves abandoned, considered to be stupid, naïve and unnecessarily vengeful, and the planet now exists once again as an autonomous system. Torn apart by wind and war, Browa has become a shadow of its former self, but has developed a new reputation as a hotspot for missionaries and adventurers seeking to oust the demonised Olmeon inhabitants in pursuit of their own heroism.