https://sectorswithoutnumber.com/sector/E9FKrPjS8tsRmoryYMpe/planet/UBzrpfVGWXxJZq6C9ndC

B868744 Locked-Warm/Garden, Agri, Rich

Starport B Size earth-like Hydrography 80% Water world Government Representative Democracy Medium Law: not allowed light assault weapons and submachine guns

Planetology: Defiance is a large terrestrial planet that is tidally locked towards Teegarden’s Star, an M-class red dwarf. A significant amount of libration (‘rocking’ to and from) occurs which provides night and day around the terminator, the area most densely settled by colonists. These days last for 19 hours. The planet is wreathed in a very dense and humid atmosphere that is volatile and storm-laden. Yet the air is breathable which makes Defiance something of a garden world. The surface of the planet is covered by seas, lakes, swamps and mangrove forest. The seas are warm (27 degrees), generating what American exo-meteorologists dub, ‘hurricane fuel’. No part of the planet is immune from the super-storms, the dense, humid atmosphere allows their energy to be carried around on to the darkside where they begin to slow. Darkside weather is perpetually hurricane season. Brightside weather is perpetual super-hurricane season! Inland trees on Defiance give the planet its name, they have incredibly deep roots and are thin and pliable, their trunks are capable of being bent over 65 degrees before snapping. Most vegetation is also halophilic (‘‘salt tolerant’) due to repeated inundations of sea water during the tremendous storm surges. Mangrove forests in particular, those forests that actually grow in coastal waters, have not just massive networks of interconnected roots to protect themselves from intense wave action, but also a branch structure that interlocks co-operatively with other trees in the forest to create a vast and complex tangle of branches and vines. As storm surges abate, a large amount of the mangrove’s root system is exposed. Rainfall is perpetual on Defiance, where-ever you are and whatever time of night or day it is – rainfall. Constant. It may slacken to a drizzle, or darken the sky as a torrential downpour, weather reports simply talk of approaching storms and the amount of predicted rainfall.

Development: Yes, Defiance is a garden world, despite the super-storms and rainfall, and so colonists from the USA settled here to exploit the environment. There are 11 million colonists from the USA and a few of the other CAS nations, mainly established in the terminator region, where the planet’s libration creates a day-night cycle. Oil drilling is lucrative, as the fossil history of mangrove swamps is full of petroleum and natural gas. Farming of Kinako is also carried out inland. Defiance is a Tharsis Corporation development; a representative council has been established to air grievances, create policy on the planet and to try to circumvent the growing power of the unions.

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