Chriirah

Chriirah as seen from orbit

Chriirah is a habitable planet orbiting around orange dwarf k-type star (presumably based on the color of the Chriirah plants), and homeworld of the Birrin species. Similar to size and density of Earth, Chriirah is by comparison a hothouse world presently dominated by eroding continents and vast, ice-free oceans. Recent activities by Birrin have resulted in significant shifts in the biosphere and atmosphere, with the resulting creation of a new geological age.

Chriirah has two moons like Mars: Kahirah and the much smaller Male, a captured asteroid.

## Geography

The equator of Chriirah, baked to lethally high temperatures by its sun, has long presented a barrier to trade and communication between Northern and Southern Birrin cultures. Prior to the first Birrin civilizations’ destruction, the region could be easily traversed: Centuries later, a legacy of industrially derived carbon dioxide and other substances has cut off the emergent societies that survived the Fall. It wasn’t until the rediscovery of the internal combustion engine that the first refrigerated ships crossed the equatorial ocean to re-establish contact. Wheeled vehicles, now with useful speed, were able to explore the Kiln at night, darting between safe houses dug deep into the cool desert bedrock.

However it took the re-discovery of powered flight to finally traverse the Kiln. Able to fly high enough to avoid the searing heat, early pressurised aircraft began hazardous day crossings to re-map the expanse. With little chance of rescue, the aircrews had to accept significant risk while also making their aircraft far more reliable. Indeed, it is largely due to the engineering necessities faced by these pioneers that later Birrin aircraft were so reliable.

Industrialisation of Chriirah has had a dramatic effect on many of the planets’ ecosystems. The equatorial zone of this world, dominated by a vast superheated region named the Kiln, has seen perhaps the most extreme changes as the desert continues to expand.

Agricultural needs necessitated the damming of several major rivers to provide irrigation for Kiln border areas, and the lakes these rivers once fed began to evaporate. Ultimately most of these lakes vanished, leaving behind shallow sandy basins and ghost towns. Unable to afford relocation, or unwilling to spare the expense, shipping companies left their craft to rust on the dry lakebeds.

To the north and south of the Kiln, there are tropical regions, with large inland seas. These waters feature "float-forests", floating mats of vegetation.

The floatforest is a constantly shifting sea of drifting plant covered islands, in some areas so dense as to be almost indistinguishable from land. Millions of Birrin call this tropical, dynamic world home, from sophisticated city dwellers to nomadic tribes with limited contact with the global civilisation.

The Birrin discovered that, when dried, the heavily compacted masses of dead plants that constitute the older larger islands can be burned as a very efficient fuel. In a short period of time mining began and factories sprung up in the old forest, large areas of vegetation being destroyed to supply fuel for cooking and industrial steam boilers. Soon steam powered ships plied the channels of the float forest, using the forest itself as fuel as they travelled, or purchasing high grade and dried peat from retailers.