Venus

"The jungles of Venus hold great mystery - and great danger" - Lucius Rove

## Overview

**Venus** is the second planet in the Sol System, as well as being the second smallest behind Mercury. After intense terraforming efforts, it was terraformed after nearly 100 years of hard work from scientists from the Committee for the Future of Human Exploration, making it the second planet terraformed after Mars. Due to its size, it is considered the "sister planet" to Earth. Its lack of Earth-like geography and strange landscape has halted much exploration of the planet, leading to the planet to seem mysterious to many Humans.

## Description

### Surface

The surface of Venus was often compared to a "massive, planet-wide archipelago". Oceans covered the majority of the planet, with much of the landmasses being spread out across the planet, much unlike its sister planet of Earth. The main continents of the planet are Ishtar Terra, Lada Terra, and Aphrodite Terra, with the former being the largest of the three. The largest city, Helios, was centered on Aphrodite Terra.

#### Ishtar Terra

Ishtar Terra is the second largest of the continents (terrae) on Venus, as well as being the northernmost of the three. The climate in Ishtar Terra is much more tame compared to the other Terrae, leading it to housing the largest city on the planet, Ascension. Plains and mountains cover much of this continent, including the tallest point on the planet, Mt. Maxwell. Ishtar Sink, a lowlands region in the southwest of Ishtar, is home to Maximillian Valentine. The United States of Venus is the largest nation on this continent.

#### Lada Terra

Lada Terra is the smallest of the terrae on Venus, as well as being the lowest in terms of elevation. It is not home to any major cities, but large settlements do exist outside of the harsh jungles. A massive city that was lost to time and was later taken over by the flora was the city of Aztlan. Due to the lost city and lack of significant settlement, Lada Terra is extremely mysterious to Venusians and other humans.

#### Aphrodite Terra

The largest Terrae of Venus is the Aphrodite Terra, home to the largest city as well as most people that reside on the planet. It is home to many jungles, but also home to a thriving agricultural scene as well as some industry. There are 4 nations that call this place home, such as Solaris, The United States of Venus, The Tepor Confederacy, and the Kingdom of Harran.

### Environment

After terraforming the planet, Venus very quickly became a hot and humid tropical planet covered in dense jungle. All kinds of plants and animals were brought into the planet early on in its settlement, but due to the large amount of rainfall and tropical weather the plants and animals quickly became hardened to the environment and began to quickly evolve - leading Cytherian life to becoming extremely diverse. The dense jungles hide much of the planets resources and halt humans from exploring the planet, leaving the population of the planet much smaller than that of Earth and Mars. Due to scientists having a hands-off approach to the fauna and flora on the planet after terraforming, some consider its environment to be a testament to human failure and hubris - leaving the sister planet of Earth a dangerous and mysterious planet full of dangerous life.

## Behind the Scenes

Ishtar Sink, a prominent location in the first novel, is based off of Ishtar Sink from the video game series *Destiny*.