WORLDBUILDING CLASS - PROJECT #2 - WILD PLANET
The windswept, sunblasted planet of Deo creaks along on its axis, perpetually subject to radioactive bombardment on both sides by the twin suns. From afar, the planet resembles a marble, its surface painted with bright candy cane swirls. The planet's axis is black and gangrenous like a patchy wound. On the planet's surface, the air is thick with plumes of red dust and the sky is an impenetrable crimson void. The planet's terrain beneath this poisonous canopy presents an even more inhospitable image: haphazardly jutting knifelike peaks clustered together like needles on the back of an irate porcupine, perilous canyons, basins filled with stagnant waters, and sprawling red wastelands. Days pass without any ostensible change in the sky. There is no moon and therefore there is no night, just a perpetual daylight like a radioactive glow, and the planet is flanked on both sides by a circling pair of suns. When the sky darkens, it is because of the dust storms broiling on the horizon -- calamities that are never witnessed by any living population.
Because the planet's surface is so desolate, the planet's population inexplicably thrives under the crust. The barren earth is more survivable than what's above it, and underground, in the networks of caverns and tunnels that snake throughout the aesthenosphere. The alien creatures that call Deo home live within underground cathedrals, apartments, and caves. Topside represents perpetual daytime, while below slumbers a world of eternal darkness.
The endemic people of Deos, the Xan, became the primary species through an unlikely contest of survivability versus constant catastrophe. They are the latest prototype that has survived previous evolutionary iterations. The remains of their descendants remain entombed in the stones above and below ground, which Xan use to document the history of their planet. Xan are typically a short and limber people, often childlike in appearance even at adult age, with drastically shortened lifespans. Their lifespans are attributed to the constant hardship of their lives, and infant mortality is high, which is perhaps why their litters tend to be so large. Most Xan die in their twenties or thirties due to some unfortunate accident, such as a disease or a cave-in, or because they were wounded in a territorial dispute.
Their spindly bodies are patterned with whorls of red and white reminiscent of the surrounding rocky environment; this patterning varies between individuals. They are athletic, but fragile, and can easily surmount the dizzying altitudes of the rocky peaks of their home, springing between the platforms. Xan are outfitted with enormous compound eyes that are enormously sensitive to sunlight but are ideal for nighttime vision. The membrane of their eyes is easily damaged but can regenerate.
They are hunter-gatherers, preying on the insectoid creatures that dwell in the caves, but agrarian advancement is curtailed because of their unpredictable environment. Technology focuses on mining, weaponry, and transportation. (Incorporating steampunk elements because I find it more aesthetically interesting than sleek metallic structures.) Xan tend to be territorial over space and resources, meaning that the separate settlements are often battling with one another. These conflicts end with the losers being ousted from their former homes, subjugated or annihilated.
Xan do not worship a specific deity. They do, however, believe in reincarnation, pointing to the fossils of their previous generations as theological evidence rather than scientific proof of evolution. People die and eventually, they're reborn, reincarnated as something slightly more perfect than their previous selves.
Xan have simplistic names: Dja, Karr, Leph, and Fror as examples.
For garb, Xan wear long, roughspun rags and masks to protect their faces. These masks often look quite terrifying, but the Xan don't think so.
Few Xanera have ventured into the outside world. Those who have returned came back sun-blinded and delirious.
Because the planet's surface is so desolate, the planet's population inexplicably thrives under the crust. The barren earth is more survivable than what's above it, and underground, in the networks of caverns and tunnels that snake throughout the aesthenosphere. The alien creatures that call Deo home live within underground cathedrals, apartments, and caves. Topside represents perpetual daytime, while below slumbers a world of eternal darkness.
The endemic people of Deos, the Xan, became the primary species through an unlikely contest of survivability versus constant catastrophe. They are the latest prototype that has survived previous evolutionary iterations. The remains of their descendants remain entombed in the stones above and below ground, which Xan use to document the history of their planet. Xan are typically a short and limber people, often childlike in appearance even at adult age, with drastically shortened lifespans. Their lifespans are attributed to the constant hardship of their lives, and infant mortality is high, which is perhaps why their litters tend to be so large. Most Xan die in their twenties or thirties due to some unfortunate accident, such as a disease or a cave-in, or because they were wounded in a territorial dispute.
Their spindly bodies are patterned with whorls of red and white reminiscent of the surrounding rocky environment; this patterning varies between individuals. They are athletic, but fragile, and can easily surmount the dizzying altitudes of the rocky peaks of their home, springing between the platforms. Xan are outfitted with enormous compound eyes that are enormously sensitive to sunlight but are ideal for nighttime vision. The membrane of their eyes is easily damaged but can regenerate.
They are hunter-gatherers, preying on the insectoid creatures that dwell in the caves, but agrarian advancement is curtailed because of their unpredictable environment. Technology focuses on mining, weaponry, and transportation. (Incorporating steampunk elements because I find it more aesthetically interesting than sleek metallic structures.) Xan tend to be territorial over space and resources, meaning that the separate settlements are often battling with one another. These conflicts end with the losers being ousted from their former homes, subjugated or annihilated.
Xan do not worship a specific deity. They do, however, believe in reincarnation, pointing to the fossils of their previous generations as theological evidence rather than scientific proof of evolution. People die and eventually, they're reborn, reincarnated as something slightly more perfect than their previous selves.
Xan have simplistic names: Dja, Karr, Leph, and Fror as examples.
For garb, Xan wear long, roughspun rags and masks to protect their faces. These masks often look quite terrifying, but the Xan don't think so.
Few Xanera have ventured into the outside world. Those who have returned came back sun-blinded and delirious.
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