ECHO-471071-3

Tellus photographed in true color. Its north and south poles are visible, and its largest continent can be seen south of the equator merging with the southern ice cap.

ECHO-471071-3

pre-notes / subject to change

1.79 billion year early history consisting of extreme weather, temperature, and surface changes due to a highly elliptical orbit around its parent-star, during perihelion, bombardments of debris in the orbital path seeded the planet with rich materials while also drastically effecting the surface features, the hot temperature of the young star caused the planet to heat up to as high as 150-170 degrees Celsius, water was able to mostly remain in a liquid state due to the planets high atmospheric pressure at around 8 atm. During aphelion, the planets temperature would decrease to as low as -30 to -50 degrees Celsius, causing planet wide freezing that lasted for over a decade,

^ orbit caused by a collision with an object close to its own size, and the gravitational influence of the stars protoplanetary dust clouds tugged on the planet, this cloud was more dense on one side of the system than the other due to 3 large protoplanets that cleared their orbits of dust, this caused irregular tugs on Tellus and slowly lengthened its orbit over hundreds of millions of years,

life had begun to form around 2.03 billion years after the planet first entered its highly elliptical orbit, and 3.1 billion years after the solar system formed. These simple organisms formed deep in the planets seas around geothermal and hydrothermal vents that remained active throughout the planets orbit, these organisms were protected from radiation by the planets dense liquid iron core, over the course of 230 million years these organisms adapted to be able to consume the stars light (specifically near-ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths) light during perihelion in an abundance, while being able to thrive during aphelion when the planet froze by utilizing hydrothermal vents in the oceans. They consumed the chemicals produced by these vents and the stars light similarly to that of Earths early-life, making them hybrid-organisms. They developed light sensitive organs to determine when the planet was approaching the star, Over time these organs evolved into large cell structures consisting of several dozen pigments that absorbed nearly all wavelengths of light and converted them into energy through phytochromes, allowing growth and reproduction without having to feed off of hydrothermal vents deep below the planets ocean under immense pressure. It is also believed that islands with active volcanoes were able to warm up the surrounding ocean enough to melt the ice and provide a niche environment that would come to produce the planets first terrestrial life. Over time these specific organisms made it onto land through waves and were able to survive off of the sunlight and the chemical rich soil beneath them.

its is believed the two largest planets in the system were once in an elliptical orbit in the same way Tellus was, and these orbital interactions between the 3 planets caused them to slowly form more circular orbits over a long period of time. During this period of time, the life-forms on Tellus had to begin adapting to longer exposure to sunlight, while simultaneously losing much of the oceans they inhabited and the hydrothermal vents they fed from. This caused a mass extinction event of the lifeforms that heavily relied on the planets hydrothermal vents, but the organisms that were better adapted to converting sunlight bloomed. This was a period known as the Tellusian Bloom and lasted 530 million years before the planet and star began gradually cooling down. These organisms now resemble Earth-like planet life, but are able to create root-like systems that interconnect with one another and share energy from sunlight and chemical rich soil or seabed. The terrestrial life on Tellus is incredibly young, and only inhabits the coasts of continents, at higher elevations the planets atmospheric pressure and temperature becomes to low to low and they can no longer store solar energy efficiently and die, though some are capable of surviving off of the soil for longer periods of time and may develop a solution.