Fiction > The Children of Tellus > The Outer Solar System
Note: This page will eventually have a least one pretty chart. Sadly, there is no pretty chart now.
The Outer Solar System
The Outer Solar System is the region of space beyond Jove. So far from the sun, planets maintain thicker atmospheres, and most of them are dominated by gases or volatiles. There are no lush worlds with woods and oceans, but life does occasionally find a way.
There are plenty of unmanned drones in the Outer Solar System -- there have been for centuries at this point. But, few people live here, most of them concentrated around Summanus or in the Outer Asteroid Belt.
§ 1 Summanus
Summanus is hycean planet orbiting about three AU from the sun. At this distance, one would expect him to be cold and dead, but it is not so! Summanus has a thick atmosphere with many greenhouse gases, most notably a large amount of hydrogen. As a result, the surface is covered in an ocean. In fact, he has more water than any of the terrestrial planets.
Summanus has a biosphere. Strange animals swim through its seas, there are bizarre gasbag organisms in the sky. The Summani oceans don't bottom out in a seafloor, but in a layer of ultra - compressed ice, and this traps most nutrients. But, life finds a way. All of the Summani moons are intensely cryovolcanic, and they hurl nutrient - rich ice into space. Much of it remains in orbit, but some of it trickles down like marine snow.
No people are native to Summanus -- the pressure's too great and the atmosphere isn't right. But, as of late, a few have set up shop in dirigible - cities. Most of them are fishermen.
The Moons of Summans [WIP!]
§ 2 The Outer Asteroid Belt
The outer asteroid belt is clustered around 6 AU from the sun, between Summanus and Kronos. It is less explored or settled than the inner belt, but it is far more expansive. Being entirely beyond the frost - line, it is mostly home to carbonaceous asteroids.
Being farther away from the terrestrial worlds, and of less economic value, there are fewer people here, only tens of thousands. But, the population is growing steadily, and it may be quite great in a century or so.
§ 3 Kronos
Kronos is the only gas giant of the outer solar system, about a third as massive as Jove. Its upper atmosphere is stained yellow by ammonia crystals, and it has a beautiful and expansive ring system. Its interior is thought to house a metallic core, surrounded by untold fathoms of liquid hydrogen and helium, overlain by clouds of gas.
Kronos is shrouded in mystery. No human being has set foot there, at least not within recorded history. But, it appears to be teaming with machines. Tiny drones flit about the rings, more like bees than any terrestrial construct. Each of its moons is dotted with little steel spires or terraces. Two of them, Okeanos and Titan, are covered by seas of liquid hydrocarbons, and massive mechanical complexes appear to use them as coolant.
Many have tried to explore Kronos, but none have returned the same. They've never been overtly harmed; nobody's come back maimed or seemed traumatized. But not one of them has been the same, nor very forthcoming about their experience. Sometimes, they return with no memories of their voyage. Other times, they lose consciousness and wake up duplicated. Once, they returned only speaking ancient Akkadian.
No one knows where the machines came or what their intentions are. They obviously predate modern civilization, but we don't know if they predate mankind. Many have argued that they're descended from an ancient human civilization, the same one that spread mankind across the inner worlds. Others argue they come from beyond the solar system. No one knows for sure.
The Moons of Kronos [WIP!]
§ 4 Herschel
Herschel is an gas dwarf, invisible to the naked eye on the habitable planets. He was only discovered in the early modern period, by a Tellurian astronomer named William Herschel, who chose to name the planet after himself.
In many Martian languages, "harshel" is a vulgar word for breasts (quite analogous to the English world "tiddies"). This has made the planet extremely popular among Martian schoolchildren.
The Moons of Herschel [WIP!]
§ 5 Neptune
Neptune is a cold Hycean world, its oceans kept liquid almost entirely by internal heat. Its seas go down for fathoms upon fathoms, and they eventually bottom out in ultra - pressurized ice.
Unlike Summanus, Neptune's seas appear to be totally dead. All of its nutrients are locked away in the planet's core, and would - be organisms have no way to get them.
Triton
Triton is a little icy world, probably a dwarf planet captured by Neptune. He has a thin nitrogen atmosphere and a retrograde orbit. Like many other icy worlds, he has much cryovolcanism and a subsurface ocean, but researchers have yet to discover whether anything interesting lives there.
§ 6 Dispater
Dispater is a brown dwarf -- a failed star, the Sun's stillborn sister. Once, long ago, it burned with deuterium. But those days have long since passed, and its nuclear furnaces have grown cold.
Today, Dispater appears purplish or magenta. It hosts a massive ring system -- more massive than Kronos' or Herschel's, almost as wide as the orbit of Hesperus. No human being has set seen them with their own eyes, but our probes have, and their images are beautiful. Dispater has seven major "moons," though they might better be called planets.
The Moons of Dispater [WIP!]
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