Primary:
Ra,
spectral class, F7V. ICN S4G0404F7V. Mass, 1.96 standard. Stellar diameter,
1.252 standard. Luminosity, 2.583 standard.
Planetary System:
Nine
major bodies. One inhabited world (Fergus, V). Four gas giants in system. Two
planetoid belts in system.
V Fergus:
Mean orbital radius, 317.15 million kilometers
(2.12 AU). Period, 1030 days (2.82 years). No satellites.
Diameter, 4302 kilometers. Density, .99 standard. Mass, .0 15 standard.
Mean surface gravity, .24 G. Rotation period: 26 hours, 8 minutes, 22 seconds.
Axial inclination, 21°7’1.6". Albedo, .23. Surface atmospheric pressure,
.45 atm. Composition, standard oxygen-nitrogen mix, breathable without
artificial assistance. Hydrographic percentage, 32%;
composition, primarily frozen water-ice. Mean surface temperature, -10° C.
Remarks:
Fergus is an anomalous world, a planet which should
not be. Though very small, it has a fairly significant atmosphere. When
discovered, it was found to support an abundance of life forms, but it was
something of a potpourri of life from radically different evolutionary
backgrounds, apparently all transplanted from other worlds to this one hundreds
of thousands of years ago. Scientists believe that the Ancients were responsible
for the world's anomalies; those mysterious, immensely powerful and intelligent
beings who scattered humaniti to the stars, genetically engineered Terrestrial
canine stock into the intelligent Vargr species, and otherwise altered worlds
and life forms across space (often, it seems, on a whim) seem to have taken a
lifeless world, Fergus, terraformed it, and seeded it with life. As with most
Ancients works, the purpose behind this action is unknown.
It is believed that Fergus was a hospitable, pleasant world in the Ancients
period, probably subject to atmosphere and temperature control. Since the
disappearance of the Ancients, however, the machinery which maintained all this
has shut down. The atmosphere has thinned, and the climate has deteriorated to
distinctly chilly conditions. Life forms left on the world are those which could
adapt to the colder weather; a few excavations have confirmed that previously a
variety of climates and weather patterns existed in which a large number of
plant and animal species flourished.
Though the original purposes of the world are now unknown, scientists today are
keenly interested in Fergus as a "Living laboratory" of evolution and
adaptation in action. Whether by accident or on purpose, the world has provided
harsh conditions in which life has been forced to adapt or die, giving rise to
many interesting variations in behavior and physiology. A large scientific
colony has been established on Fergus to study the interaction of these life
forms. Fergus also attracts both reputable archeologists and a variety of
fortune hunters, all of them searching for the Ancients complex which almost
certainly exists somewhere on the planet. As yet, no sign of this control
complex has been found, but it continues to draw seekers of knowledge, of
wealth, or of power to Fergus time and time again.