Alcazzar

From Star Frontiers Network

Revision as of 02:59, 30 June 2011 by Terl obar (Talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Current revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

Top:Frontier Travel Guide main page | Up: FTG Planets main index


Colonizers: Unsettled. Discovered 12/21/61 by the Cassidine Development Corporation Twilight Moon expedition. The planet’s existence and mineral wealth were kept secret. A mining operation began immediately.
Population:
Climate Range: Seasonal: winter and summer both move east at 3 km/hour continuously, but on opposite sides of the planet.
Average Surface Temp.: -30 to 40 Celsius
Atmopshere: 75% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 5% inert elements
Gravity: 0.81 standard
Diameter: 9,832 km
Moons: 7
Length of Day: 4,000 hours (daylight),
1,000 hours (transition summer to winter),
4,000 hours (night),
1,000 hours (transition winter to summer)

Contents

Moons

  1. A1
  2. A2
  3. A3
  4. A4
  5. A5
  6. A6
  7. A7

Description

Note: The description of Alcazzar from Zeb's Guide has been omitted as it is almost completely at odds with the description given in SF4: Mission to Alcazzar.

Climate and Seasonal Changes

Alcazzar’s climate and seasonal changes are very unusual because the planet barely rotates as it orbits its star, Rhianna. At any one time, 40% of the planet is in summer, another 40% is in winter, 10% is changing from summer to winter, and 10% is changing from winter to summer.

The entire summer is daytime, and the whole winter is nighttime. For approximately 200 days GST of the year, each hemisphere is either blessed with eternal daylight and warm, pleasant conditions, or plunged into an equally long night with frigid temperatures and snow reaching depths of several dozen meters. A 50-day GST period occurs between each extreme when each region passes through a twilight transition.

The winter area is blanketed by a heavy layer of clouds and blizzards approximately 50% of the time. During transition, the “beltline” region is cloudy 90% of the time, and suffers violent rain of snowstorms 33% of the time. The summer region is 90% sunny, but when clouds drift in from a transition zone, violent thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes are possible.

Terrain

Only one third of Alcazzar’s surface is land, but it’s covered with a wide variety of terrain. Mudlats, wet lowlands with little plant or animal life, cover 58% of the land. These areas are most noted for clouds of insects thick enough to make breathing difficult, but otherwise harmless.

Several ranges of craggy mountains cut across the land. While not large by most standards – the highest peak is 3,230 meters above sea level – constant glaciations, rock slides and wind and water erosion have carved them into rugged cliffs and crags. The higher valleys in these ranges are choked with ice fields all year around. The lower reaches are filled with rushing streams of icy water. Mountains cover 12% of the land area.

The plains and forest appear strikingly green from orbit. These fertile areas are made up of flowing grasslands and towering Karakah trees. Glaciers rolled much of these areas flat, but often piled the gravelly soil into rolling moraines along the sides of common glacial paths.

Native Life

The karakah trees, reaching more than 100 meters in height, are common to all the planets forests. The trunks are often 10 meters wide at the base. These trees have long, flexible needles that remain on the branch throughout the year. Thick, porous bark insulates them during the winter. Karakah trees have developed a sap that does not thicken appreciably or freeze during the severe cold season.

Karakah trees produce a rich fruit in great numbers. These fruit seem to be the base of the herbivorous food chain. The fruit falls throughout the summer.

Many forms of animal life inhabit the planet, but they have not been researched, so very little is known about them. All animal life must deal with the extended winters. Many animals migrate, resulting in masses of creatures moving around the planet’s surface as the year goes by. All of these creatures travel a complete circle around the planet each year. Other animals hibernate. The mammals live off of stored body fat; the insects lay eggs, then die off to be replaced next summer.

Economic Value

Alcazzar contains tremendous amounts of fairly accessible heavy metals, including gold, silver, lead, iron and uranium. These minerals are located in rich veins in mountain bedrock, as well as in many riverbeds.

Sources

  • SF4: Mission to Alcazzar
  • Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space vol 1