Anima Sola

Named after an ancient Terran myth, the Anima Sola system was settled as a means to an end to serve as a quarantine and triage zone for refugees of the Clan Homeworlds. It centers on a small main sequence orange star and is noteworthy for being effectively entirely made up of a variety of Gas Giants and Gas Dwarves, with no classical terrestrial planets but a swarm of moons and moonlets, of which several have been settled.

## System History

The Anima Sola system lays in the coreward edge of the former Rim Worlds Republic territory. It was never colonized due to appearing hostile to life at first glance and lacking any major terrestrial planets, though early analysis were faulty and some of the many moons orbiting its equally many gas giants could sustain life. Ultimately, it was only given a numerical designation rather than a name and was passed over for other systems appearing more attractive to colonists.

Several hundreds of years after its discrete discovery, Clan Ashen Corsac would decide to make use of the system as the endpoint of the Life Road for Operation ANGELS' LAMENT, which involved the mass-evacuation of as many civilian refugees as possible from the Clan Homeworlds. Due to the widespread use of biological weapons and artificially engineered plagues and viruses by the Society, the evacuation was severely complicated, as bringing refugees directly to Corsac worlds meant risking their entire native populations. Dumping all of the refugees on one single quarantine enclave was no better due to the risk of cross-contamination between healthy and potentially infected civilians from various worlds and convoys.

For this purpose, Anima Sola was a perfect system, with its plethora of habitable or marginally habitable moons all separated from one another. Roughly 4 and a half million of civilians would be evacuated from Huntress and several other nearby Clan worlds and resettled in Anima Sola, with each original Homeworld Enclave seeing its own 'new' distinct enclave on one of the system's many moons. While several were made on the largest moons, they were nonetheless very distant from one another.

Though the system was only settled due expedient need, it serves as a waypoint deeper into the Periphery and has become a permanent settlement slowly developing its own characteristics and economy.

## Affiliation Timeline

* **3050** - Uninhabited
* **3073** - Clan Ashen Corsac

## Physical Characteristics

### Average Temperature

230°C

The first planet of the Anima Sola system is what is colloquially known as a 'puffy giant'; a gas giant with a larger radius than Sol's Jupiter, but with a lesser mass. Anima Sola I is , yellow-orange in color, with an upper atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide and methane, with a relatively low gravity (for gas giants) and hot temperature. It is located close to the inner limit of the system's habitable band.

The giant features two noteworthy moons, one the size of a dwarf terrestrial (AS Ia) and one the size of a full terrestrial planet (AS Ib). Both have water presence, but only the large Ib has breathable atmosphere.

### Anima Sola Ia

At first glance, AS Ia is a planetoid that shouldn't exist. Strictly speaking, it's too small and too close to its sun to hold an atmosphere, and it orbits dangerous close to its radiation-spewing gas giant. In practice, not only does it have an atmosphere, but it's a surprisingly thick one and the moon even holds about 50% surface water. The reason for this, quickly and easily confirmed by Corsac scientists, is that AS Ia has drastically more density - and therefore mass - than it's somewhat diminutive stature would suggest. It is theorized that the small moon was once part of the core of planet that failed to form in the early stages of the system, or perhaps part of a cthonian dwarf from the empty first orbit at the center of it.

Whatever the case, AS Ia is an extremely dense dwarf terrestrial, which makes it very rich in minerals. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is nitrogen-based, and therefore unbreathable, and the surface temperature is scalding due to greenhouse effect. Its resources are however exploited by the population of its much more life-friendly neighbor, AS Ib

## Demographic Characteristics

### Development Index

B-C-A-C-A

The second and largest moon of this first micro-system, AS Ib resembles an archetypical planet and is situated a more reasonable distance away from its parent giant, though its comparatively thinner atmosphere makes it still fairly hot. With a roughly earth-like water coverage, its biosphere is dominated by a mixture of dense jungles and savannahs noteworthy for the naturally orange-red pigmentation of its flora. The dominant native lifeform is reptiles, of which the largest are a few clades of Theropods and Thyreophors reminiscent to those of the early Cretaceous era.

AS Ib is the most populated world of the system, and originally saw no less than 11 individual refugee-triage enclaves after the evacuation of the Homeworlds. It sports a small but moderately industrialized economy mostly focused on civilian goods and equipment that keep the rest of the system running properly. The presence of plentiful easily-accessed heavy metals from its neighboring moon AS Ia has caused significant investments from Schwarzstein Metall, which has built many foundries on the world in the late 3070s, and even some IndustrialMech factories whose lines could eventually be expanded.

As all worlds of the Anima Sola system, it has a fairly advanced and robust medical infrastructure that was established during its foundational days as a quarantine sector, and it remains as so even with the threat of bioweapons seemingly past. Being the closest major settled world to the system's jump point, it is the most fortified, with the major enclaved arcologies being protected by a mix of Naval Lasers and Naval Autocannons in reinforced bunkers. It also features training centers for conventional forces as well as at least one vehicle plant from Vanguard Motorworks.

**Military Presence:**

* 9th Chasseurs Garrison Cluster

**Manufacturing Centers:**

* Anima α-S1 Macro-foundry (Alloys and armor)
* Anima α-S2 Complex (IndustrialMechs)
* Anima α-V1 Complex (Enforcer tanks)

## Physical Characteristics

### Average Temperature

95°C

The Second planet of the system is a Class-III Cloudless gas giant, which are defined by their relatively tranquil, uniform deep blue atmosphere when looked at from a distance. While they spin as fast as any other, their skies lack the enormous cloud formations common to Jupiter. Its atmosphere is dominated by methane lines and hydrogen, and it is located near the outer edge of the habitable band.

Anima Sola II has the most large moons of the whole system, with two planetary-sized ones (SA IIb and SA IIc) with breathable atmospheres, and five dwarf-sized ones with various levels of hazardous, toxic atmospheres.

### Anima Sola IIa

The first moon with the closest orbit to Anima Sola II is an interesting, habitable world, but not for human beings. At first glance, it has a normal atmospheric pressure, significant water presence, and a temperate climate. This is deceitful, as its atmosphere is mainly made up of CO2 and the native life upon it has evolved to be suited to such an environment. The air is utterly toxic to human life, and so are the animals and plant that grow on it at best unsuitable for human consumption, and at worst wholly poisonous. It is an Eden, but not made for people.

Despite the deceptively inhospitable environment, the Ashen Corsacs do maintain a few small bases on AS IIa. These are purely research stations under control of the Scientist Caste and staffed by no more than a few hundred people, with very little Warrior oversight outside of basic security needs. Their purpose is to study the strange native life and see if anything of interest can be learned from them.

## Demographic Characteristics

### Development Index

B-C-A-C-A

The second moon among the azur giant's rings is nominally the most friendly to life within the Anima Sola system, with the purest atmosphere and the most mild temperate climate. This is marred by the fact that the planet is intensely tectonically active due partially to the effect of its gas giant's gravity wells pulling and gnawing at it. The result is equally intense and frequent volcanism which cyclically flood large areas of the world in magma. Ironically, this cycle of destruction is what makes it so AS IIb is an almost obscenely fertile world - and keeps it warm through greenhouse effect - capable of producing more than enough food for the many other moons of the system easily.

Though slightly less populous than other major enclaves, AS IIb was also a major refugee world during Operation ANGELS' LAMENT and it was a priority for colonization in order to feed all of the rapidly-increasing flow of evacuated civilians. As such, it was settled first and more actively, with a significant focus on intensive (relatively speaking) agriculture. This takes the form of crops taking advantage of the immensely fertile soils, but also livestocks. AS IIb has the greatest number of small, semi-independent enclaves, as relatively small amounts of laborers with modern Clan technology can oversee comparatively large fields.

Despite its agrarian focus, AS IIb is far from only a garden world. It is decently well industrialized for its population level - producing scores of necessary civilian goods and especially advanced Fuel Cell and even Fusion engines. It is also the site of one of the Ravenstein Experimental Bureau's facilities, as the REB set up its own domestic ProtoMech production using tooling, instruments and blueprints seized on Huntress from the former smoke Jaguar enclaves. AS IIb also features a number of universities as well as a training center for ProtoMech pilots.

**Military Presence:**

* 2nd Chevauchée Cluster

**Manufacturing Centers:**

* Anima β-M1 Complex (Engines)
* Anima β-R1 Complex (Einherjar ProtoMechs)

## Demographic Characteristics

### Development Index

A-B-C-C-A

Slightly further out is a rather unusual world. AS IIc is technically a 'terrestrial' planetoid, but its surface lacks anything in the way of a... surface, as it is entirely covered in water. The rather large ice caps might suggest otherwise, but their continentally-sized, kilometers-deep mass is, in fact, free-floating. It is a rather cold world with a thick atmosphere, but it just barely warm enough that most of its surface is stll liquid.

This has not deterred the Corsacs from establishing a relatively thriving colony on AS IIc as one of the main site of refugee triage, it only required slightly more work and effort, namely in the extraction of metals from AS Ia. Remaining truest to the Clan Homeworlds' tendency to form a few major enclaves on a world AS IIc features a few large floating cities in the form of enormous arcologies made of extremely light-weight foamed metals and lighter-than-air aerographene, supplemented by a network of ballast tanks to control buoyancy and stability. They are primarily connected - and defended - via aircrafts.

AS IIc's arcologies are rather advanced, and while its industrial output is limited by available space and the relative lack of easy access to local resources, it still features several sites that produce Battle Armors or Aerospace components. Its agricultural output is also deceptively high thanks to the ability to set up immense aquaculture farms in quiet zones or simply conduct wild fish harvests with ships.

**Military Presence:**

* 2nd Skyguard Garrison Cluster

**Manufacturing Centers:**

* Anima γ-R2 Complex (Hellhound Battle Armor)
* Anima γ-V2 Complex (Phoenix IIC OmniFighters)

### Anima Sola IId

The centermost moon around AS II's azur mass, IId is a cold, barren world devoid of water and with an unbreathable, CO2 rich atmosphere. It is not settled in any real capacity, but it is being mined somewhat from underground, closed off outposts for its readily-available fissile elements which are of use to the industry everywhere. It is occasionally used as a training ground for nearby units from other moons.

### Anima Sola IIe

When a world is qualified as "hostile to life" it generally means it merely lacks the require characteristics to sustain life passively. AS IIe is one of the worlds which, not content with simply passively killing trespassers, decides to do so actively. The moon's cold thick atmosphere is primarily made up of ammonia, with significant concentrations of nitric acid, making it highly aggressive. Only specially protected machines may operate without being slowly eaten away by the air - or rapidly, when acid rains break - and any hull breach from combat is estimated to have rather lethal effect. For those reasons, it is largely left alone.

### Anima Sola IIf

One of the few major moons that lack an atmosphere entirely and are exposed to hard vacuum, AS IIf appears as large as its settle counterparts at first glance, but is very low in density, contributing to its lack of atmosphere. In fact, so low is its density that Corsac Scientists have theorized the moon's core may be hollow. Thus far, the expense of confirming this theory coupled with the lack of any apparent benefit in doing so has ensured that the mystery endures, but some among the Scientist Caste are slowly starting to petition for their pet projects.

### Anima Sola IIg

Another cold, lifeless moon, this one with the difference of a nitrogen-based atmosphere. It is largely left alone, though prospection teams have occasionally surveyed it. With AS Ia's plentiful resources, the System is far from needing more ore supplies, but a closer source would reduce transit times and marginally increase efficiency, so it remains an active, if low priority project.

## Physical Characteristics

### Average Temperature

860°C

Anima Sola V stands at roughly the middle of the system's Outer section, flanked by two Ice Giants in its neighboring orbits on each side, and two more 'standard' Gas Giants further out. ASV itself however is far more massive than any other planet in the system by orders of magnitude, and is actually a brown dwarf. As a T-type dwarf, it features a deep, very dark purple-black outer 'cloud' cover (not actually clouds) through which streaks of faintly glowing red can be observed.

It emits heat of its own and features four noteworthy moons, of which one habitable terrestrial-sized one, but its heat is very low, making it just only barely livable.

### Anima Sola Va

Orbiting extremely close to its parent brown dwarf, AS Va is another of these 'actively hostile' moons. Though the heat itself - albeit consequent - is not catastrophic, what -is-, is the amount of radiation being emitted by AS V's magnetosphere on a constant basis, incessantly bombarding the surface of its closest satellite. The moon is nonetheless semi-regularly visited by Corsac frontline Clusters to practice combat under conditions of total sensor jamming and ion storms.

## Demographic Characteristics

### Development Index

B-C-A-C-A

By all normal parameters, AS Vb should be a frozen ice world, as it orbits 5 and a half AU past the habitable band of the system. As its parent gas giant is massive enough to undergo limited deuterium fusion and the moon's own tectonic activity contribute to internal heating, however, it manages the highly unlikely feat of being warm enough to sustain liquid water - of which it has a large amount - despite being far out in what should normally be the system's outer reaches.
AS Vb was not settled during the initial evacuation phases of Operation ANGELS' LAMENT, as the moon's status as habitable was unknown to the Corsacs at first. The discovery beget a closer look, which in turn yielded even more mystery with the discovery of an abandoned SLDF facility from the golden era of the Star League. What this facility was used for and what it is doing so far out into the Periphery has yet to be ascertained, but the mystery is being actively worked on. Asides from that, the planetoid is relatively cold, despite its skies being dominated by the colossal image of the cooly-burning brown dwarf so near it. It is mostly dominated by boreal forests and taiga regions, with a small equatorial band of milder climate.

It is the least developed of all the system's moons, but its cold climate has not deterred the growth of cold-acclimated plants like rye, which is in turn processed not only for food, but also alcohol, which is shipped throughout the system. Persistent urban legends say that the brown dwarf's gaze give the liquor a unique taste, but outsiders can't tell the difference. AS Vb also features a significant electronics and microchips manufacturing due to its readily-available deposits of silver and platinum.

**Military Deployments:**

* 10th Chasseurs Garrison Cluster

### Anima Sola Vc

In many ways a typical moon, AS Vc is cold and has only a thin, nitrogen-based atmosphere incapable of sustaining life. It is only noteworthy for its large methane seas, which are used as dropship booster fuel and as chemical feedstock. Small outposts exist to oversee its harvesting but are only staffed with small skeleton crews.

### Anima Sola Vd

A cold and lifeless rock exposed to vacuum, the only factor of interest in AS Vd is the fact that deposits of Germanium for the construction of KF drives have been detected. Schwarzstein Metall has drawn up plans to tap into this deposit, but as of the late 3070s it remains mostly a project and appreciable output has yet to materialize.