Helevos

Helevos (also known as Vos, or Veeos) is a temperate terrestrial world, fourth planet of the star Cordes in the Cronox binary star systemplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigCronox System

Planets of the Cronox-Cordes system

Terrestrial planets of Cordes, to scale

Position of Cronox in Syndicate space

Cronox [CRON-ox] is a S-type detached-binary star system consisting of the stars 1GD.Pa-Cordes and 1GD.Pb-Arjos. The two orbit a common barycenter at a sufficient distance for each to have its own independent planetary system. The two stars' orbital planes are at 83 degree angle from each other, which suggests that the two stars originally formed independently o…. The stars Cordes and Arjos are distant binaries, so on Helevos, Arjos is only seen in the northern hemisphere as star, sometimes bright enough to be seen during the day, circling roughly over the north poleplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigRetzayk

Retzayk is a long, narrow continent approximately 4500 km east of Anásthias, separated from it by the Redeeming Ocean. It extends from the North Pole, crossing the equator and deep into the southern hemisphere.

retzayk

Retzayk

According to contemporary geography, Retzayk is believed to be one of the viridAnásthiasviridviridvirid.

plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAtlas: Helevos interactive map

[fmap-hemispheres.png] * Zoom in * Zoom out * Planets * Moons * North Pole * South Pole * The Obverse * The Civilised World

Physical/Political map of Helevos. Click red flags to zoom in, or nav buttons to zoom out

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atlas

Helevos

Helevos (also known as Vos, or Veeos) is a temperate terrestrial world, fourth planet of the star Cordes in the greenAnásthiasAnásthiasgreen

• Name: Helevos, Vos, 1GD.Ca.4
• Primary: Cordes
• Mean Radius: 5682 km
• Surface Gravity: 9.46 metres/sec squared (0.962 G)
• Rotation: 22 hours (standard)
• Orbital Period: 414.18 days (local) 1.04 years (standard)
• Axial Tilt: 10.6 degrees (range 10.1-18.7)
• Affiliation: Protectorate world, non-spacefaring

Relief map

Duospherical Theory map

Comparison with Earth

Helevos is cooler than Earth, with the poles being much cooler. Comfortable range for human habitation is from the equator to 40 degrees north or south.

Due to oscillations in axial tilt and orbital precession, the world goes through a cycle of cooler and warmer periods lasting approximately 30,000 years. During the cooler periods, ice builds up on the polar continents, causing a dramatic lowering of sea level causing the land masses to grow in size. In the warmer periods ice melts, inundating low-lying land. This has a profound effect on human civilisation, with climate change and flooding regularly destroying the most advanced civilisations of the era leading to a generally low level of technology.

Helevos has six continentsplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigContinents

topics geog1, depending on definition.

• Anásthias, an equatorial island continent, is the centre of human civilisation. Its inhabitants refer to it and surrounding islands as the “Civilised World”.
• Dahroshahp, more commonly known as the Icehorns, is an island continent at the South Pole.
• Voulimay, an island continent in the temperate southern hemisphere.
• Zahkdarret covers most of the north-western hemisphere including the north pole.
• Retzayk is a long peninsula extending from it into the eastern hemisphere. It is geographically connected to Zahkdarret, but isolated from it by the north polar ice.
• Zetahburook is a low-lying island continent to the west of Zahdarret

These last three are arguably a supercontinent. Anrel is part of the Polassirn oceanic plate, but too small to be considered a true continent.

Biologically the world is divided into two separate and incompatible ecosystems, poetically called the virid and the green. Humans, most domestic livestockplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigLivestock

Livestock, also called domestic animals, are animals husbanded by humans for their labour, transport, meat, fur, hides and other animal products. Most animals raised for human production are mammals, though virid species are also kept as working animals and for riding or pulling vehicles. and crop plants form the greenplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigGreen

The Green Kingdom of flora and fauna includes humans, mammals, birds, whales, greenfish, and most green plants and crops cultivated by humankind. kingdom, whereas the wild forests, jungles, and much sea life form the viridplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigVirid

Referring to the Virid Kingdom of flora and fauna, toxic to human life..

Human and green life is (as far as is known) limited to the continent of Anásthiasplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAnásthias

Anásthias [a-NAS-thee-ass / ænæsθiːæs], or [an-ass-THEE-as] is an equatorial island continent, heart of the Civilised World. The north straddles the equator and is hot and humid, while most of the equatorial centre is an upland plateau with fertile river valleys, and stretches of arid plains and desert in the shadow of the mountains. The south is temperate but more wild, separated from the civilisations of the north by the almost impassable Harthera and its surrounding islands, often referred to as the Civilised World. Anásthias has seen the rise and fall of hundreds of nations and empires, but is currently dominated by the interests of the two world powers, the theocratic nation of Ororr to the west, and the mercantile maritime nation of Harthera in the east.

Opinion is divided as to the origin of this division, and indeed the origin of humanity. Though many religions have scriptural certainty that the world was divinely created, traditional opinion in the eastern world is that humanity is descended from an ancient race called the Godmen, who came to earth approximately seventeen millennia ago. The nature of the world and its hostile environment made it difficult to sustain complex technology, so that as humanity spread out across the world, civilisation gradually regressed to a primitive state. It has also meant that civilisation has so far been limited to one equatorial island continent, Anásthias.

More modern opinion put forward by Hartheran scholars declares that in fact humans in fact evolved as a semi-acquatic species, and that green vegetation always dominated the shoreline. As sea levels rose over tens of decades, humans were driven inland

The world has a highly evolved native ecosystem, which competes with an abundance of introduced and engineered species. It has two natural satellites, Thea a small spherical moon, and Themsa an ellipsoid asteroid which rotates about its central axis and is seen spinning through the night sky. There are also four bright artificial satellites in geosynchronous orbits, known as the Fixed Stars.

Contact with Helevos is strictly prohibited by the Syndicate, in order to protect its native cultures.

Helevos is protected from solar winds by its intense magnetic field, generated by an iron core which is disproportionately large for the planet's size.

Its axial tilt is currently much less than Earth, so its axial seasonal variation is much less marked. However its more eccentric orbit creates a cycle of orbital seasons that have profound long-term effects. When axial winter coincides with orbital winter, winters are very severe and cause worldwide drops in sea level.

Helevos only has two small moons, and this has had important effects on the world’s development. Without being balanced by a large satellite, Helevos is much more prone to ‘wobble’, like a spinning top. Helevos’ tilt oscillates between 6 and 34 degrees over thousands of years. When tilt is at its maximum there are extreme winters at the poles. When these axial/orbital winters combine, several winters are enough to create polar ice sheets so thick that they do not melt. They cool the seas and reflect increasingly more sunset, triggering Ice Ages. This fluctation follows a cycle of tens of thousands of years. The world is currently in the middle of a warm interglacial.

Helevos has suffered many smaller collisions with iron-dense planetoids throughout its history, particularly during the formation of the binary star system, but it never suffered such a traumatic single impact. Subsequently the planet’s crust is relatively thick, so volcanic activity is relatively rare, rate of tectonic drift is slow.

Earth’s moon also stabilises the planet’s rotation.